Game of Thrones ep 2
Jun. 27th, 2011 06:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightRe-watched the second episode of Game of Thrones today, looking for more nuance. Spoilers for the whole show behind cut.
Have to say, I can't for the life of me work out what it is Catelyn Stark is making while keeping watch over Bran. Seems to be lots of rather ugly looking twigs all woven together. I suppose it's meant to be some kind of good luck charm thing-y.
Anyway, that apart, I approached this episode with a degree of trepidation, mainly because of the direwolf incident at the end. I know it's silly to be more upset about the death of an animal than about a little boy being pushed out a window - I don't even like dogs!- but it was the massive injustice of it all that got to me, and not just Lady being punished for the 'sins' of her sister, but poor Micah the butcher's boy being punished for - well, nothing. He did nothing at all.
I understand some people were angry at Sansa for what happened - for not corroborating Arya's version of events. I don't know why. All right, so Sansa wouldn't have known it, but Cersei was out for blood no matter what and Robert was going to let her have it, just because he couldn't be bothered to argue. So really, saying she couldn't remember what happened - trying to let both Joffrey and Arya off the hook - was probably wise. Not that I think that was Sansa's reasoning, or that she had any reasoning. She was just a frightened teenage girl stuck in the middle of something that wasn't her fault. It was Arya's fault really, though of course Joffrey being a total little s**t is the real reason it went as badly as it did.
The whole scene in fact, with Robert stomping off and shrugging off responsibility, and Ned being left to sort out the mess, and being ill-equipped to do so is sort of a microcosm of Ned's whole time in Kingslanding, where he's constantly let down by Robert (the bastard even dies on him) and outwitted by Cersei at every turn.
Speaking of whom, I know people have said that in the books the story Cersei tells Cateylyn about her dead baby is a lie (she'd actually aborted the baby on purpose, or killed it, I forget which), but here I feel we're supposed to believe her, and I would actually prefer to believe her. She's nasty enough without that.
Sort of got ahead of myself here. Before we get to the direwolf incident there are of course lots of wonderful scenes, including another Dany/Jorah scene (:swoon:), where Jorah tells Dany 'it will get easier' and then has an encounter with the utterly deranged Viserys, who really should have listened to him and gone back to Pentos, and we discover why Jorah is in exile. We also have Jon Snow's wonderful farewell scenes with Arya, Bran and Robb and his encounters with the Lannister brothers (both are sarcastic about his choice to take the black, but Tyrion is kinder). We also have one of my favourite scenes of the whole series, which is Tyrion repeat-slapping Joffrey, and then going to breakfast with his siblings. Odd how the otherBaratheon Lannister children seem quite nice and normal compared to Joffrey. I suppose they grow up to be horrid little beasts too.
Jaime and Tyrion obviously get on very well, but I think Tyrion definitely suspects Jaime and Cersei of something.
The Dany scenes are fairly minimal in this episode, but important for her character development. Again, it's the dragons' eggs and Doreah's tale of dragons that seem to spur her on to try and make something of her marriage to Khal Drogo. When I first watched their last sex scene in this episode (the face to face one), I'd thought Drogo expressionless. Yet again, I find he's not completely. He actually conveys (somehow, I really don't know how, because his facial expression doesn't change - must be the arms again) both surprise and pleasure at Dany taking the initiative -and most of all speaking to him in his own language. Also, I think the fact that she keeps her clothes on in this scene and he's the one who is naked is meant to be significant. Hmm, maybe Khal Drogo secretly gets off on being dominated?
Still don't really get that 'ship, btw. But I do understand why Dany is so determined to make her marriage more palatable.
Other things: the assassin's attack on Catelyn is brutal. Anyone else think she got over badly cut hands rather quickly? I'd be worried about septicaemia myself.
Anyway, in large part an episode about farewells - Jon's with everyone (he will never see Ned again), Arya's with her direwolf (though I'm betting it will turn up again at some point), and about disillusionment. Ned's illusions about Robert and Sansa's about Joffrey are fatally damaged, and Jon Snow's illusions about the nobility of the Night's Watch are thoroughly punctured. It's a nasty, nasty world.
Mind you, not everyone is bad. That Maester Luwin seems like a nice bloke. The way this goes, it'll probably turn out he's the evil genius behind the murder attempt on Bran.
Have to say, I can't for the life of me work out what it is Catelyn Stark is making while keeping watch over Bran. Seems to be lots of rather ugly looking twigs all woven together. I suppose it's meant to be some kind of good luck charm thing-y.
Anyway, that apart, I approached this episode with a degree of trepidation, mainly because of the direwolf incident at the end. I know it's silly to be more upset about the death of an animal than about a little boy being pushed out a window - I don't even like dogs!- but it was the massive injustice of it all that got to me, and not just Lady being punished for the 'sins' of her sister, but poor Micah the butcher's boy being punished for - well, nothing. He did nothing at all.
I understand some people were angry at Sansa for what happened - for not corroborating Arya's version of events. I don't know why. All right, so Sansa wouldn't have known it, but Cersei was out for blood no matter what and Robert was going to let her have it, just because he couldn't be bothered to argue. So really, saying she couldn't remember what happened - trying to let both Joffrey and Arya off the hook - was probably wise. Not that I think that was Sansa's reasoning, or that she had any reasoning. She was just a frightened teenage girl stuck in the middle of something that wasn't her fault. It was Arya's fault really, though of course Joffrey being a total little s**t is the real reason it went as badly as it did.
The whole scene in fact, with Robert stomping off and shrugging off responsibility, and Ned being left to sort out the mess, and being ill-equipped to do so is sort of a microcosm of Ned's whole time in Kingslanding, where he's constantly let down by Robert (the bastard even dies on him) and outwitted by Cersei at every turn.
Speaking of whom, I know people have said that in the books the story Cersei tells Cateylyn about her dead baby is a lie (she'd actually aborted the baby on purpose, or killed it, I forget which), but here I feel we're supposed to believe her, and I would actually prefer to believe her. She's nasty enough without that.
Sort of got ahead of myself here. Before we get to the direwolf incident there are of course lots of wonderful scenes, including another Dany/Jorah scene (:swoon:), where Jorah tells Dany 'it will get easier' and then has an encounter with the utterly deranged Viserys, who really should have listened to him and gone back to Pentos, and we discover why Jorah is in exile. We also have Jon Snow's wonderful farewell scenes with Arya, Bran and Robb and his encounters with the Lannister brothers (both are sarcastic about his choice to take the black, but Tyrion is kinder). We also have one of my favourite scenes of the whole series, which is Tyrion repeat-slapping Joffrey, and then going to breakfast with his siblings. Odd how the other
Jaime and Tyrion obviously get on very well, but I think Tyrion definitely suspects Jaime and Cersei of something.
The Dany scenes are fairly minimal in this episode, but important for her character development. Again, it's the dragons' eggs and Doreah's tale of dragons that seem to spur her on to try and make something of her marriage to Khal Drogo. When I first watched their last sex scene in this episode (the face to face one), I'd thought Drogo expressionless. Yet again, I find he's not completely. He actually conveys (somehow, I really don't know how, because his facial expression doesn't change - must be the arms again) both surprise and pleasure at Dany taking the initiative -and most of all speaking to him in his own language. Also, I think the fact that she keeps her clothes on in this scene and he's the one who is naked is meant to be significant. Hmm, maybe Khal Drogo secretly gets off on being dominated?
Still don't really get that 'ship, btw. But I do understand why Dany is so determined to make her marriage more palatable.
Other things: the assassin's attack on Catelyn is brutal. Anyone else think she got over badly cut hands rather quickly? I'd be worried about septicaemia myself.
Anyway, in large part an episode about farewells - Jon's with everyone (he will never see Ned again), Arya's with her direwolf (though I'm betting it will turn up again at some point), and about disillusionment. Ned's illusions about Robert and Sansa's about Joffrey are fatally damaged, and Jon Snow's illusions about the nobility of the Night's Watch are thoroughly punctured. It's a nasty, nasty world.
Mind you, not everyone is bad. That Maester Luwin seems like a nice bloke. The way this goes, it'll probably turn out he's the evil genius behind the murder attempt on Bran.