GoT 2.1 - First Thoughts

Game of Thrones 2.1? Sooo bloody good! Rather happy they kept the Game of Thrones titles - I like it better than the other titles. Best thing I've seen all week. I kept rewinding to rewatch and re-hear the dialogue. They don't mince words and no missed dialogue. Also much better than the book!

( insanely vague spoilers )

Here's the problem with gardener's like George RR Martin, Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Joss Whedon (also for that matter Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare) - they require editorial support - leave them to their own devices and they wander all over the place.
And the garden gets so thick with foilage...you can't find the bloody orchids. These are people who work better with constraints, even though they hate them...because much happier if they can grow at will. Martin became a novelist because he hated the constraints of television, and believed his books could never be adapted for tv. Whedon went into comic books - because he loved the fact that he could do whatever he wanted without constraints.
Anne Rice loves the fact no one edits her novels any longer. And King's barely are edited.
Shakespeare's later plays Titus Adronicus Hamlet...begin to wander. [ETA: As is pointed out in the comments, Titus Adronicus was actually an early play. Also, should be noted that actually all of Shakespeare's plays wandered...that's why people who perform them are always cutting huge junks out with the exception of the purists, who just do it in its entirety. A recent example, okay not that recent, is Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet - which he chose to do in its entirety...and it clocked in at nearly 4 hours? Maybe longer, felt longer. Thanks to beer_good and selenak for the correction on Titus Adronicus.] Dickens got paid by the word...and stretched his prose to insane lengths. Fans loved it...all those hidden nicks and crannies. But I don't know, there's something to be said for lean and net, Elmore Leonard, plot tight, no mincing of words. Sometimes you need to hire a landscape architect to see the trees and garden, not just an over-grown hedge. The Game of Thrones series seems to prove this to me....I find it far better paced and far more enjoyable.

Although knowing what's going to happen next makes certain scenes ironically funny.
Feel like telling the characters, I hate to say this, but your creator is laughing at you,
and having a sadistically good time doing it.

Once Upon a Time wouldn't tape, had to reboot the bloody DVR, so only caught the tail end. Methinks, I need to watch it tomorrow on my ipad. Annoying.