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shapinglight:Thud:
I think this show just killed me.
Spoilers within
I honestly don't know where to start. That was just so, so good. I loved (almost) every single moment of it. The two bits I didn't love were the poor minstrel getting his tongue cut out (it wasn't as graphic as I expected, but I hid my eyes just in case) and the re-appearance of Roz the exposition whore, who, predictably, ended up listening to yet more expostion while being inexplicably naked. However, at least it didn't go on for too long this time, and Master Pycelle's ramblings in front of her were a lot more believable than Baelish's in the Scene That Shall Not Be Named.
Those things apart, every single scene was wonderful. The Sansa/Joffrey scene was utterly heartbreaking. Poor, poor Sansa! But despite her terrible situation, she yet again showed that there's more to her than appearances suggest. I thought, when she first looked at the long drop below, she was thinking of throwing herself down, but no, she was thinking of pushing Joffrey. And I don't think there's a single one of us who wouldn't have applauded if she had. I'm looking forward to seeing how she develops, because there's obviously a core of steel in that girl.
Cersei didn't have a lot to do in the episode, but I did love her one scene with Cousin Lancel. Seems Cersei will only countenance sex with close relatives. I hope she's not going to turn her eye on Joffrey next.
I teared up at the scene of Catelyn breaking down away from the eyes of the soldiers. I really didn't expect to be so moved by this show, but it's that well written and that well acted that I couldn't help myself. I also found myself thoroughly loathing Jaime Lannister. He really didn't cover himself in glory in this ep, though not many people would in the situation he's in. He's going to have to do an awful lot in later seasons to make me like him, and I may never do. But I think I remember![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
flake_sake saying that the second book is mostly Lannister POV, so I'm not going to say it's impossible. Speaking of Lannisters, how good was that scene between Tywin and Tyrion? All Tywin had to do to get Tyrion on side (or sort of) was to say, "You're my son." What a vicious bastard. Loved Tyrion's assessment of him to Shae too (don't often laugh when people use the C word), but in spite of knowing what he knows about him, I suspect Tyrion still craves Tywin's approval, just as Jaime does, and that having his father actually pour him a cup of wine meant a hell of a lot to him, even though he was probably telling himself it didn't really mean anything.
Other great scenes - Baelish and Varys (Varys for the win!), Bran and the wilding girl, and Arya facing off against the bullies, and Sam and the others risking their own lives to bring Jon Snow back to the Wall. Can't believe we have to wait a whole year to find out what they discover beyond it.
The whole Dothraki storyline has been problematic from the beginning. Not enough attention was paid to it to do the Dany/Khal Drogo relationship justice, because - just as I found Dany's initial respect for her brother hard to accept - I found her love for Drogo, though obviously real to her, not very real to me. It was more like a strange fairytale she lived in and from which she has now woken. But I think the storyline has ultimately paid off, if only for that last eerie scene of Dany naked in the ashes of Khal Drogo's pyre, with the baby dragon sitting on her shoulder. :shiver: I think it's the only instance of female nudity in the series that I haven't found gratuitous. As with what lies beyond the Wall, I can't believe we have to wait a year to find out what Dany does next. Drogo aside, she really came into her own during the season. Now she doesn't need Drogo any more. She's a power in her own right.
I should do some sort of series overview, I suppose. Maybe I will, or maybe not. At the very least, I can say which were my favourite characters (not necessarily because they were nice people):
Tyrion, obviously, along with Bronn (who I missed in the finale - it should be a rule: No Episodes Without Bronn), and Shae, who I like more and more. Tywin Lannister, even though he's an utter bastard and makes Jaime and Cersei look like very nice people, because Charles Dance is that good. Sansa and Arya, Catelyn Stark, who annoys me sometimes but who I can't help liking, Dany and Jorah Mormont (never saw Iain Glen as such an action man when he was playing blind John Fielding in City of Vice), Sam Tarley and Jon Snow's other friends in the Nightwatch (who I like more than Jon Snow), and Lord Varys. I hope we get to see more of at least some of them in season 2.
Characters I would happily never see again: only one. Guess who it is. Go on, guess.
I think this show just killed me.
Spoilers within
I honestly don't know where to start. That was just so, so good. I loved (almost) every single moment of it. The two bits I didn't love were the poor minstrel getting his tongue cut out (it wasn't as graphic as I expected, but I hid my eyes just in case) and the re-appearance of Roz the exposition whore, who, predictably, ended up listening to yet more expostion while being inexplicably naked. However, at least it didn't go on for too long this time, and Master Pycelle's ramblings in front of her were a lot more believable than Baelish's in the Scene That Shall Not Be Named.
Those things apart, every single scene was wonderful. The Sansa/Joffrey scene was utterly heartbreaking. Poor, poor Sansa! But despite her terrible situation, she yet again showed that there's more to her than appearances suggest. I thought, when she first looked at the long drop below, she was thinking of throwing herself down, but no, she was thinking of pushing Joffrey. And I don't think there's a single one of us who wouldn't have applauded if she had. I'm looking forward to seeing how she develops, because there's obviously a core of steel in that girl.
Cersei didn't have a lot to do in the episode, but I did love her one scene with Cousin Lancel. Seems Cersei will only countenance sex with close relatives. I hope she's not going to turn her eye on Joffrey next.
I teared up at the scene of Catelyn breaking down away from the eyes of the soldiers. I really didn't expect to be so moved by this show, but it's that well written and that well acted that I couldn't help myself. I also found myself thoroughly loathing Jaime Lannister. He really didn't cover himself in glory in this ep, though not many people would in the situation he's in. He's going to have to do an awful lot in later seasons to make me like him, and I may never do. But I think I remember
flake_sake saying that the second book is mostly Lannister POV, so I'm not going to say it's impossible. Speaking of Lannisters, how good was that scene between Tywin and Tyrion? All Tywin had to do to get Tyrion on side (or sort of) was to say, "You're my son." What a vicious bastard. Loved Tyrion's assessment of him to Shae too (don't often laugh when people use the C word), but in spite of knowing what he knows about him, I suspect Tyrion still craves Tywin's approval, just as Jaime does, and that having his father actually pour him a cup of wine meant a hell of a lot to him, even though he was probably telling himself it didn't really mean anything. Other great scenes - Baelish and Varys (Varys for the win!), Bran and the wilding girl, and Arya facing off against the bullies, and Sam and the others risking their own lives to bring Jon Snow back to the Wall. Can't believe we have to wait a whole year to find out what they discover beyond it.
The whole Dothraki storyline has been problematic from the beginning. Not enough attention was paid to it to do the Dany/Khal Drogo relationship justice, because - just as I found Dany's initial respect for her brother hard to accept - I found her love for Drogo, though obviously real to her, not very real to me. It was more like a strange fairytale she lived in and from which she has now woken. But I think the storyline has ultimately paid off, if only for that last eerie scene of Dany naked in the ashes of Khal Drogo's pyre, with the baby dragon sitting on her shoulder. :shiver: I think it's the only instance of female nudity in the series that I haven't found gratuitous. As with what lies beyond the Wall, I can't believe we have to wait a year to find out what Dany does next. Drogo aside, she really came into her own during the season. Now she doesn't need Drogo any more. She's a power in her own right.
I should do some sort of series overview, I suppose. Maybe I will, or maybe not. At the very least, I can say which were my favourite characters (not necessarily because they were nice people):
Tyrion, obviously, along with Bronn (who I missed in the finale - it should be a rule: No Episodes Without Bronn), and Shae, who I like more and more. Tywin Lannister, even though he's an utter bastard and makes Jaime and Cersei look like very nice people, because Charles Dance is that good. Sansa and Arya, Catelyn Stark, who annoys me sometimes but who I can't help liking, Dany and Jorah Mormont (never saw Iain Glen as such an action man when he was playing blind John Fielding in City of Vice), Sam Tarley and Jon Snow's other friends in the Nightwatch (who I like more than Jon Snow), and Lord Varys. I hope we get to see more of at least some of them in season 2.
Characters I would happily never see again: only one. Guess who it is. Go on, guess.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 04:54 pm (UTC)Brilliance from the first shot to the last: Dany reborn from fire, with the dragons - wow!
Amazing scene. I hope someone icons it.
And even Roz the whore served some purpose - I may be confused but didn't Pucelle suppose to be blind? Or feeble? And here he shows he's none of those things, so he's a player too, the only one who hasn't shown his cards.
Hmm, I dunno if I agree Roz served any purpose. I think the showrunners just like getting that woman naked, which - well, I know she has a nice body and her getting naked isn't for my benefit, but I still resent it, especially since they describe the scene where that giant idiot character who helps look after Bran took all his clothes off as equal opportunity nakedness. To compare, we would have to be seeing Jaime Lannister or Robb or one of the other attractive young male characters naked in every other scene. Oh well. I do agree that Master Pycelle is probably putting on an act about how feeble he is. His little knee-bending practise made that very clear.
And Sansa - wow! She's got a great idea going, just needs to work on the execution. I wonder if Joffrey is too stupid to realize he can't be safe alone with her now
I think it would never occur to him that she might try to hurt him. He certainly didn't interpret her stepping towards him in that way. However, I don't think she'll do it again. I think she'll find some other way to fight back. Hope so anyway.
Don't know what to expect from Dany now - I was scared of her ever since she was enraptured by Drogo's rants about raping, enslaving and killing people for her sake - heh, which girl wouldn't love to hear her bf wanting to rape other women? And her also enraptured by the death of her brother.
I don't know what to expect of her either. On the one hand, I like that she's now a power in herself rather than having to rely on being Khal Drogo's wife, but she seems to believe in her own destiny (and why wouldn't she, given what's happened?) and people like that can be very destructive.
On the other hand, I don't think that she thought rape and pillage was fun exactly. I don't think she really understood what it meant until she saw what the Dothraki did to that village. Then she tried to save the victims as well as she could. I do like your point about the give and take with Drogo, though. She was powerless when Viserys gave her to Drogo. He empowered her, if only because she had to find a way to make her life with him bearable. As a consequence she's become more powerful than he could ever have been.
Jon stays in Night Watch and rides out beyound the Wall, as he should, making his song of Ice. I wonder if he and Dany cross their paths, Ice and Fire, and be main heroes in the end.
I've seen other people suggest that. I like the idea but am beginning to suspect it's too pat for GRRM. He seems to be someone who can always find more down.
It was a mix of a prison and an army, and how it could exist as being both a worst punishemnt and an honour - just wasn't working for me, was against all human nature. So was nice to see those guys mitigating it. :D
:) Must say, the Nightwatch scenes have ended up being some of my favourites.
Re: Cersei, I really can't guess what she thinks of Jaime being captured from this last episode, but then she was hardly it it. I think she loves him, but who knows?
no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 05:33 pm (UTC)They could be fighting each other when they meet... Agree that Dany could turn out to be the worst dictator of all, as she's so righteous. While Jon is the most moral character we've seen, with a lot of self-doubt. He's the likeliest hero, while Dany - I don't know.
To compare, we would have to be seeing Jaime Lannister or Robb or one of the other attractive young male characters naked in every other scene
They did get a Lanister naked there, but he had such a childlike body, it was just creepy. Yes, I agree, they just like to show her naked.
But was I right that Pycelle was supposed to be blind? Or it was just me thinking that he's blind?
no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 05:46 pm (UTC)I think you might be thinking of Master Aemon of the Nightwatch. He's blind.