Game of Thrones ep 1

[shapinglight]

I had a little time to myself today so I started a rewatch of Game of Thrones. These will be occasional posts, as I only have time to watch TV occasionally, but anyway...

Not surprisingly, now the season is over, I noticed an awful lot more going on. More behind cut, with spoilers for the whole show.



For one thing, this time I wasn't completely bewildered by the appearance of yet another bloke with a beard (there are an awful lot of them), and all the silly names (I'm sorry, but the names are silly. They're such a muddle and don't appear to make any sense linguistically), so was able to pay attention to all the nuances.

I was very struck this time by the conversation between Jaime and Cersei on the balcony when they're watching Jon Arryn's lying in state. The way it came across to me is that neither of them knew who had killed him. I could be wrong about Cersei, I know, but I'm pretty certain about Jaime. He doesn't know.

I suppose book readers could at this point be rolling their eyes at my cluelessness, but that's how the scene played to me.

Also, because I was watching for it this time, I did see that the scene between Jaime and Tyrion in the brothel (the only Ros scene I don't dislike) shows there's great affection between the two brothers. I think the first time I watched it, I was just so bewildered as to who was who I couldn't really take it in. I also noticed more the way that scene sort of degenerates at the end, when Jaime ushers the entire troupe of whores into the room. It was all the giggling, which sounded to me like it belonged in a silly 1960s movie, where bikini-clad women drape themselves all over James Bond, or Our Man Flint, or whoever. Oh well.

What else did I notice? Well, one thing which I completely missed before because I had no idea it was significant was Dany sitting down in the scalding water during the bathing scene, while the maid protests it's too hot, and being completely unaffected. That was a big, stonking pointer to the fact that she's not quite 'normal'. I also decided that the actor playing Viserys was very good indeed. He portrayed a spiteful, not very intelligent man, who is totally out of his depth all the time and takes his resentments out on his sister just brilliantly. He's utterly hateful. Really got what he means this time when he said to Dany, "You don't want to wake the dragon, do you?" and she stares at him like a frightened rabbit and says "No."

The Dothraki scenes continue to be problematic, but I do believe the show made the right choice in depicting Dany's wedding night as more or less a rape. I just don't see how it would have worked any other way. As for Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo, I discovered he wasn't quite as inexpressive as I'd thought the first time. It's not in his face, but his hands - how he touches Dany. I think he did a good job of showing that by Khal Drogo's lights, what he was doing was perfectly acceptable, that by his standards he's even being quite forebearing and thinks he's shown Dany quite enough appreciation by giving her the gift of the horse (a beautiful creature that matches her hair) and taking her to a beautiful, private setting before basically raping her. Unpleasant as it is, that does seem to me to be the way such a person would behave. How would he know any different, given what we later learn about the Dothraki lifestyle? It also serves to point out - as if the Viserys scene hadn't already made it pretty plain - how powerless Dany is at this point. She goes along with her brother's wishes, even though she's scared and doesn't want to, because she feels she has no choice, and I realise now that her deciding that isn't good enough is all tied in with the dragons' eggs. Obvious really, though it wasn't when I watched it the first time.

Other things: I love all the 'it's grim oop north' stuff Ned has going on. He really is a fish out of water in Kingslanding, isn't he? Way, way out of his depth. Far more so than Robert, though Robert doesn't fit in that well either. Also, in this ep, Robert is basically bluff, fat bloke, who seems quite likeable. It's in the next episode you see his nasty side.

I think everyone does a great job of setting up their characters in this first episode. It's quite brilliantly done, in fact. Prince Joffrey doesn't even have to say anything. You just have to look at him and you know he'll be a right little s**t. However, first place has to go to Cersei and that pained lop-sided smile of hers. It's like she's wearing a mask that keeps slipping just a little bit.

The prologue beyond the Wall and the final scene when Jaime pushes Bran out of the window are just brilliant, the first creepy as hell, the second if not exactly unexpected (it's pretty well set up that Bran's climbing will get him in trouble), still very shocking.

Looking forward to watching more. Some time.

Comments

[ningloreth.livejournal.com]

My brother and sister-in-law and I watched the whole series yesterday (sustained by burgers, pizza and trifle)!

I agree about the names -- they make no sense (like the Forgotten Realms books, if you've ever read those), which is strange if you're used to Tolkien, but I find you sort of get used to it. It's as though Martin took ordinary names and just altered the spelling a bit. I also found the geography a bit bewildering.

I'm not sure why, but I took an almost instant dislike to Jaime. In the brothel scene I thought it was brilliant how we were led to believe that Jaime was 'good' and Tyrion was 'bad', and then Jaime ushered in the whores and we realised that things were rather more complicated. (I also thought the casting was exceptionally good -- Tyrion really does look like a dwarven version of his brother).

I hadn't thought about Dany and the scalding water until you pointed it out, but you're right, of course. I kept looking for blisters under her skimpy dress! And I agree that the actor playing Viserys is very, very good. (He played Will Scarlet in the BBC Robin Hood). I found that I couldn't help feeling protective towards him -- even though he's a complete shit -- because he's so broken. (If I have one criticism of the story, it's that a disproportionately large number of its characters do seem to be broken).

I adore Jasom Momoa (ahem) and have watched him closely (ahem, ahem) in Stargate Atlantis, and I've always found his performances very expressive in subtle ways. I think your interpretation of the wedding is spot-on. He believes he's treating her well, maybe even meeting her half way. He genuinely cares for her(and that explains how she's able to win him over so quickly and also, I think, why she falls in love with him so quickly).

I love all the 'it's grim oop north' stuff Ned has going on.

I loved the way the actors playing 'the Northerners' had been taught to use Sean Bean's accent! And, talking of 'oop North', I am so going to have a wall, with a lift, in one of my LOTR stories!

By the end of the first episode, my sister-in-law and I had a hit list of characters we wanted to see die (me by a humane overdose of tablets, her by more savage methods):

1 Jaime (aka Prince Charming)
2 Viserys
3 Joffrey!

[shapinglight]

My brother and sister-in-law and I watched the whole series yesterday (sustained by burgers, pizza and trifle)!

Blimey, quite an epic! Me and my girls did something similar a few years back, when we watched all the long versions of the LotR movies in one day. We called it the Elfathon.

It's as though Martin took ordinary names and just altered the spelling a bit. I also found the geography a bit bewildering.

I was okay with the geography (the title credits are a great help in that regard), but the names are all over the shop. I gather that the Targaryens are supposed to have come to Westeros from elsewhere so that explains them. But within Westeros itself the names don't seem to make any sense either. And just to add to the confusion, there's a new character who will appear in season two called Brienne. That just sounds French to me. In fact, it is French, no two ways about it.

In the brothel scene I thought it was brilliant how we were led to believe that Jaime was 'good' and Tyrion was 'bad', and then Jaime ushered in the whores and we realised that things were rather more complicated.

You really think so? I didn't feel that way, but then I suppose I was very slightly spoilered before I began to watch - enough to know that Tyrion was a lot of people's favourite character.

I found that I couldn't help feeling protective towards him -- even though he's a complete shit -- because he's so broken. (If I have one criticism of the story, it's that a disproportionately large number of its characters do seem to be broken).

I rather like broken characters myself so that doesn't bother me. Viserys was a particularly bad case, though. He really was hopeless, and what was most pitiful about him was that he was so self-deluded.

I think your interpretation of the wedding is spot-on. He believes he's treating her well, maybe even meeting her half way. He genuinely cares for her(and that explains how she's able to win him over so quickly and also, I think, why she falls in love with him so quickly).

I still find her falling in love with him quite problematic and can't really understand how popular the Dany/Drogo 'ship is, but I know that we're meant to understand that even though the wedding night sex isn't really consensual Dany herself wouldn't have regarded it as rape. She would, at that stage, have felt it was her duty to put up with it no matter how scared she was, so she wouldn't have been going around later thinking, My husband raped me.

The people who've read the books tell me that the scene is rather different in the book, that it is consensual. However, I don't really see how that would work. Dunno.

I loved the way the actors playing 'the Northerners' had been taught to use Sean Bean's accent! And, talking of 'oop North', I am so going to have a wall, with a lift, in one of my LOTR stories!

:) The Wall scenes are wonderful, aren't they? Also, I think by the end of ep 1 Viserys and Jaime were on my 'he has to die' list. Joffrey joined them after ep 2. Horrid boy!

So, would you say you enjoyed it? What did everyone else think?

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

And just to add to the confusion, there's a new character who will appear in season two called Brienne. That just sounds French to me. In fact, it is French, no two ways about it.
She's from the Isle of Tarth. (no idea what that means).

[shapinglight]

That they're French in Tarth? ;)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

(If I have one criticism of the story, it's that a disproportionately large number of its characters do seem to be broken).

And they're only starting.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

I am absolutely NOT shaking my head at you for thinking Jaime and Cersei don't know who killed Jon Arryn: for one thing, if thy killed him they'd probably have done it before he revealed their secret to anyone and yet there they are, wondering whom he's told. A little thing that I don't know whether you caught there but NCW does a great imitation of Charles Dance as Tywin saying "Lannisters don't act like fools.". It's so awesome!

[shapinglight]

I am absolutely NOT shaking my head at you for thinking Jaime and Cersei don't know who killed Jon Arryn: for one thing, if thy killed him they'd probably have done it before he revealed their secret to anyone and yet there they are, wondering whom he's told.

Yes, that was one of the things that clued me in that they didn't do it. Interesting. My money's on Baelish or Varys.

I didn't catch the Charles Dance impression, sadly, but will watch out for it next time (because there will be a next time).

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I think everyone does a great job of setting up their characters in this first episode. It's quite brilliantly done, in fact. Prince Joffrey doesn't even have to say anything. You just have to look at him and you know he'll be a right little s**t.

Absolutely, the way he was smirking at Sansa, such a spoiled young lad, and you absolutely know what an idiot he is.

Everyone from the North sounds so Yorkshire. I know quite few of them are from Yorkshire (like Sean bean, my neighbour), but I think they lay the accent thick on purpose. I love it.

[shapinglight]

Everyone from the North sounds so Yorkshire. I know quite few of them are from Yorkshire (like Sean bean, my neighbour), but I think they lay the accent thick on purpose. I love it.

The accent are great actually. Very consistent. Except for Tyrion and Jaime, which is understandable, and neither of them are so off-beam that it's offputting.

[seadragonlady.livejournal.com]

You said:
"I still find her falling in love with him quite problematic and can't really understand how popular the Dany/Drogo 'ship is, but I know that we're meant to understand that even though the wedding night sex isn't really consensual Dany herself wouldn't have regarded it as rape. She would, at that stage, have felt it was her duty to put up with it no matter how scared she was, so she wouldn't have been going around later thinking, My husband raped me.

The people who've read the books tell me that the scene is rather different in the book, that it is consensual. However, I don't really see how that would work. Dunno."

It does go differently in the book. I think it is a matter of context and mind set. Danys is a young girl who has always been treated as a commodity in a society where females are seen as second class. She accepts that once she has married Drogo that there will have to be a heir however he sadly has no concept of foreplay. Well that is how I read it anyway mind you it has been years since I read the book. I must go back and read it again.

[shapinglight]

It does go differently in the book. I think it is a matter of context and mind set. Danys is a young girl who has always been treated as a commodity in a society where females are seen as second class. She accepts that once she has married Drogo that there will have to be a heir however he sadly has no concept of foreplay.

I have the first book on order so will be able to see for myself how it differs fairly soon. I thought the show set it up pretty well that the Dothraki are so wedded to their horses that they even have sex like them. That said, I would have expected Khal Drogo to be a little more taken aback when Dany initiates face to face sex with him in ep 2 and insists on taking it more slowly. He just seemed to take it in his stride, with an almost "I wonder what she'll do next?" attitude.

Mind you, I haven't re-watched ep 2 yet. I may change my mind when I see the scene again.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

The way it came across to me is that neither of them knew who had killed him. I could be wrong about Cersei, I know, but I'm pretty certain about Jaime. He doesn't know.

You read that right. They really don't know who did it.
Nor do they know if Arryn told anyone their secret, Jamie assumes he didn't or they'd both be dead. It reinforces two things - the fact they don't know. And that they have a secret that both are afraid of Robert finding out and killing them over - Cersei far more so than Jamie.

In the second episode and third - please check and see if there is a scene with Robert and his family, where they discuss what happened to Bran? It's in the books. But I can't remember if it is in the series.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

In the second episode and third - please check and see if there is a scene with Robert and his family, where they discuss what happened to Bran? It's in the books. But I can't remember if it is in the series.


It's not in the series. We don't see Robert at Winterfell again after he goes hunting with Ned just before Bran's fall.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

At all?

Okay, that's three scenes they left out, which makes me wonder how they are going to resolve those two mysteries. No one, who hasn't read the books, could even begin to figure out who the killers are at this point. While you definitely could at the end of Game of Thrones.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

End of Game of Throne the book, not the series.

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Nope! We see Robert go hunting with Ned at the end of episode 1, and then the next time we see Robert is when he and Ned are having picknicking in the meadow talking about how Danaerys has married the Dothraki warlord. Trust me, I watched these episodes at least 4 times for the recaps :P

[shapinglight]

In the second episode and third - please check and see if there is a scene with Robert and his family, where they discuss what happened to Bran? It's in the books. But I can't remember if it is in the series.

No, it's not in the series. I just rewatched ep 2 and the only scene anything like that is of the Baratheon-Lannisters at breakfast. No Robert. All that happens is that Tyrion spoils Cersei's appetite by saying that Bran will probably live.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I just rewatched ep 2 and the only scene anything like that is of the Baratheon-Lannisters at breakfast. No Robert. All that happens is that Tyrion spoils Cersei's appetite by saying that Bran will probably live.

That's the scene! Except in the book Robert is there and he adds that if only Ned had the guts to put the kid out his misery...since there's nothing worse than to be a cripple (or something like that) - which Tyrion makes a snarky comment that annoys everyone.

[shapinglight]

Oh right. In the episode, Robert's words about putting Bran out of his misery are put in Cersei's mouth.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Damn, I preferred what they did in the book better.
I guess they wanted to make Robert more likable?

[shapinglight]

Possibly - or they were still playing the 'Robert is a decent bloke' card at that point and wanted to spring his not so decent side on people at the end of the episode.

They sort of do it slowly as they go - first in his scene with Ned where he brings up the subject of Dany and having her killed for the first time, and then at the end where he lets Cersei have her way about poor Lady.