Game of Thrones...
Apr. 21st, 2019 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFinally got caught up on GoT. And the second episode was really good, much better than the first. After the first episode, I was rooting for the White Walkers to take out over half the cast. Honestly, when an army of dead is coming for you -- it hardly matters who is sitting on the Iron Throne. Apparently only Jon Snow got this?
But the second really delivered and made me care about everyone again. Also gave some definitive closure to a few things.
I'm less critical of the television series than some -- mainly because I read the books. And the television series improves on them. The books ended with Jon's death, Jamie's imminent death, Cersei's imminent demise, Tyrion's imminent death, Brienne's death, and well...the continued life of Stannis and others that I could really do without. The reason GRR Martin hasn't come out with another book is he wrote himself into a corner with Dance of Dragons. The television series corrected his mistake and wrote itself out of the corner he'd written the story into.
Unless you've read the books (which I don't recommend), you won't get that. Okay, no, I take that back I do recommend that you read the books, if only for the innovative narrative approach Martin utilizes that not many have attempted and how, for the most part, he pulls off to startling effect. He basically goes into the points of view of over a thousand different characters of varying walks of life. Outdoing people like Tolkien, Dickens, and Hugo in the process. To see how he pulls it off -- is worth reading it. It's not an easy thing to do. And he keeps the continuity of the plot throughout, while staying real. Reading the books taught me how to play with point of view, why going for pure reality is deathly dull and not to do it. (We do not need to know all the mundane details of the journey. And it is frustrating when it doesn't move the plot forward and just stagnates it.) The books are far more realistic than the television series, albeit less satisfying. Characters you desperately want to meet up? Never do. Which in reality they wouldn't. Brienne dies before she ever really finds Sansa or Ayra. She fails. It got to the point in the books, that whenever a character went off on a quest to meet up with another one, I'd think -- don't bother. Seriously save yourself a trip. You'll never meet up with them. Makes it extremely frustrating to read. I mean you're reading this character's journey and they never reach their goal. And often not even their destination. Example of how hyper-realism doesn't work that well in fiction. Trust me, if you think the television series plot arcs are a tad contrived, try reading the opposite first -- it will make you appreciated the contrivances.
Reading fiction that is deeply flawed in places can often be more educational as a writer than reading brilliant stuff. Because it shows you what doesn't work.
This episode... finally has an adult Bran confront a very different Jamie Lannister. And what Bran states is interesting -- "If you hadn't done what you did, you wouldn't be the man you are today and neither would I. You did what you did to protect your family." He's moved past it. "I don't care about it any longer. It happened. And I didn't tell them, because you wouldn't be able to fight for us if they tore you apart."
Bran unlike his sisters realizes that there are more important things than power.
I kept wanting to smack Sansa. Also, for that matter, Danerys. Both of which are out of their depth when it comes to the White Walkers.
Loved the bits with Brienne, and the group around the fire. Any scene with Tyrion and Jamie was entertaining. So too was just about any scene with the Hound, Brienne,
the Giant Slayer, Davos, and Ayra. And Jon Snow has grown on me. I don't find the actor at all attractive -- but I do like the character. Ian Glenn and Jamie Lannister are more my type. I do like his relationship with Danerys, and the fact that he was finally honest with her about what he learned regarding her brother and his parentage. She is right -- he doesn't really have proof. Although the fact that her dragons befriended him should be truth enough. I don't see why they can't be together though...look at Jamie and Cersei. There's actually more distance between them than most of Danerys family members.
But the second really delivered and made me care about everyone again. Also gave some definitive closure to a few things.
I'm less critical of the television series than some -- mainly because I read the books. And the television series improves on them. The books ended with Jon's death, Jamie's imminent death, Cersei's imminent demise, Tyrion's imminent death, Brienne's death, and well...the continued life of Stannis and others that I could really do without. The reason GRR Martin hasn't come out with another book is he wrote himself into a corner with Dance of Dragons. The television series corrected his mistake and wrote itself out of the corner he'd written the story into.
Unless you've read the books (which I don't recommend), you won't get that. Okay, no, I take that back I do recommend that you read the books, if only for the innovative narrative approach Martin utilizes that not many have attempted and how, for the most part, he pulls off to startling effect. He basically goes into the points of view of over a thousand different characters of varying walks of life. Outdoing people like Tolkien, Dickens, and Hugo in the process. To see how he pulls it off -- is worth reading it. It's not an easy thing to do. And he keeps the continuity of the plot throughout, while staying real. Reading the books taught me how to play with point of view, why going for pure reality is deathly dull and not to do it. (We do not need to know all the mundane details of the journey. And it is frustrating when it doesn't move the plot forward and just stagnates it.) The books are far more realistic than the television series, albeit less satisfying. Characters you desperately want to meet up? Never do. Which in reality they wouldn't. Brienne dies before she ever really finds Sansa or Ayra. She fails. It got to the point in the books, that whenever a character went off on a quest to meet up with another one, I'd think -- don't bother. Seriously save yourself a trip. You'll never meet up with them. Makes it extremely frustrating to read. I mean you're reading this character's journey and they never reach their goal. And often not even their destination. Example of how hyper-realism doesn't work that well in fiction. Trust me, if you think the television series plot arcs are a tad contrived, try reading the opposite first -- it will make you appreciated the contrivances.
Reading fiction that is deeply flawed in places can often be more educational as a writer than reading brilliant stuff. Because it shows you what doesn't work.
This episode... finally has an adult Bran confront a very different Jamie Lannister. And what Bran states is interesting -- "If you hadn't done what you did, you wouldn't be the man you are today and neither would I. You did what you did to protect your family." He's moved past it. "I don't care about it any longer. It happened. And I didn't tell them, because you wouldn't be able to fight for us if they tore you apart."
Bran unlike his sisters realizes that there are more important things than power.
I kept wanting to smack Sansa. Also, for that matter, Danerys. Both of which are out of their depth when it comes to the White Walkers.
Loved the bits with Brienne, and the group around the fire. Any scene with Tyrion and Jamie was entertaining. So too was just about any scene with the Hound, Brienne,
the Giant Slayer, Davos, and Ayra. And Jon Snow has grown on me. I don't find the actor at all attractive -- but I do like the character. Ian Glenn and Jamie Lannister are more my type. I do like his relationship with Danerys, and the fact that he was finally honest with her about what he learned regarding her brother and his parentage. She is right -- he doesn't really have proof. Although the fact that her dragons befriended him should be truth enough. I don't see why they can't be together though...look at Jamie and Cersei. There's actually more distance between them than most of Danerys family members.