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[shadowkat]

The second episode of Game of Thrones was much much better than the first. And they are moving rapidly through the book. In some respects it works better - the jumping from points of views, which in the book often felt jarring, you'd be in one, there'd be a cliff-hanger, and suddenly you are in another for about 30 pages. Here it's faster. Less plodding through intricate and textured description. We don't need descriptions of each character, their clothing, etc.


And the casting is pitch-perfect. I don't care what anyone else says - Lena Headley is perfect as Cersei...she has the right blend. Of course I loved Headley long before SCC, seen her in a lot of films and tv shows over the years. Excellent actress - she disappears into her roles with a quiet grace, embodying each character with fierce strength.

Also Ayra - the little girl playing Ayra is blowing me away. There's not a false note here.
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion is inspired, and more or less how I envisioned him. He's amongst my favorite characters. And whoever they found to play Prince Joffrey? He's exactly what I envisioned and just as repulsively beautiful - Prince Viserys twin.

I think the fast pace is a good idea - because in some respects it plays out like a Shakespearean Tragedy of epic proportions. Think MacBeth meets Hamlet with more than a touch of Richard the III, and you'll know what I mean. Dwell too long, and things get unbelievably grim and a bit plodding - which is sort of my problem with The Killing - it's too slow, although different genre, different rules, so not fair to compare them. We've been through this before - comparing two different genres gets dicey, because their aims are so different.

Anyhow...no time to do a lengthy review. Just extremely pleased with this show. It's right up there with the Good Wife and Justified in the quality department. Direction, writing, acting, production value are all working for me. Along with pacing.


Do wonder if it works as well for people who haven't read the books? I don't remember Game of Thrones all that well, if anything the series is bringing the books back to me. I read Game five years ago. Example - I forgot most of Catelynn's arc (mostly because the character grated so much on my nerves in the books that I kept scanning, here - I find I like her a lot better). So I can't tell you precisely what is different between the two. It feels fairly faithful, just a bit faster paced and I think they combined some things and left other things out? Focusing on the important bits. There's a few side stories...that may have gotten dropped. Martin is incredibly thorough with his world-building. I kid you not about the amount of detail in these books. It may help watching this - to know exactly where each character is headed more or less. Makes certain bits, ironically amusing. And other's far less painful.

Comments

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I always thought Catelynn and Ned were idiots in the book, had a really hard time identifying with or caring for either in the books - which meant that I was often rooting for the wrong people. LOL! Here, though, I find myself caring a great deal for both of them. Not sure why exactly...it may be how the actors are interpreting the roles or how it's written.

And it works a lot better with Cersei...I rather like the two additions they made. The scene with her and Jaime in the first episode at the beginning, and the scene in the second episode where she discusses her own dead son with Catelynn.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

The one were Cersei talks about her dead son was interesting, especially because she said he had a black head like Bran's, which means it was Robert child. And in the books Cersei aborted (and killed one baby) every time she was pregnant from Robert instead of Jamie.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

That's what I remembered as well from the books - that Cersei hated Robert and any man her father forced on her that wasn't Jamie. She felt, and rightly so, that she was nothing but chattle in the eyes of her father.

Lena Hedley in an interview states she believes her character at one point loved Robert, but in the books, it's clear she didn't.
Of course Robert is not likable in the books, he's more likable here actually, as is Ned. (Ned by the third book comes across as bit less heroic...when we start to see him from another set of povs.)

I find the slight changes intriguing.