![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.