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shadowkatFirst off - it is irritating me to no end that I can't get HBO Go because Time Warner, my cable and internet provider doesn't carry it. Remind me to shoot them a complaint on this at some point.
Although - I really don't have the time or the energy to watch the series on my computer or ipod touch. But still - considering how much I pay? It's the least they could do.
Just finished watching tonight's episode of Game of Thrones - and I've clearly forgotten quite a bit of the books or I've remembered them differently, because this episode has bits that well don't appear to follow the books at all? Maybe I should just ignore the books entirely and just enjoy the series as a separate entity? Which is actually what I usually do - since it is impossible to adapt something exactly from one medium to another. And this series actually comes the closest that I've seen to an exact or legitimate adaptation which stays true to the flavor and nature of a fantasy series of books in minute detail, the only one closer may be Jackson' Lord of the Rings. Other than that slight confusion - I loved the episode and once again appreciated the difference between it airing on HBO and on regular network tv. There is no way in hell, we'd have gotten some of the sex scenes and full frontal nudity on network tv that we get here.
In this episode, I find myself liking a few characters a lot more than I recall liking them in the books. Ned Stark is far more sympathetic. He's trying his damndest to stick to his code of honor - which Master Llullywn (sp?) tells Bran about. Family, Honor, Duty.
King Robert - brilliantly portrayed by British character actor Mark Addy - actually explains in detail to his Queen, why he wants to kill Danerys and Vicerys. And he may have a point - since Daenrys and Vicerys are planning to do exactly what he fears. Lead an army of a thousand Dofraki (I really wish these things would use names I could figure out to spell), across the narrow sea.
As he states to Ceresi - what is more powerful five or one. She says five. And Robert gives her a demonstration - holds up his fist (one) and open palm (five). One army, solid, behind one leader is far stronger and more powerful than five separate armies warring with each other, back-stabbing and grubbling over gold. It's been 9 years since we had a decent fight and banded together for it.
Now we are at each others throats. How long have you and I held this kingdom together in hate?
17 years?
And from Ceresi - she states that there was a moment in time that she cared for him. Before their first son died, and soon thereafter - she wonders if there was ever a moment for him. He says no.
Ever a moment they could have had a chance. Again no. He wonders if it bothers her now? And she responds, no, she no longer cares one way or the other.
The only thing he ever wanted in the whole world was Ned Stark's sister Lyanna, yet he can no longer remember her face - he can't even tell his wife what she looked like.
Ned Stark believes that Robert's desire to kill the Tarragyrn woman and child is pure vengeance, and little more. Paranoia. And Robert states honor doesn't rule kingdoms' fear does.
Yet as the Lord of Flowers declares to Robert's brother Renly who hates to kill and abhors violence, that perhaps love governs a kingdom far better than fear or violence? Except the Lord of Flowers appears to be manipulating Renly. (I'd forgotten the Lord of Flowers was gay. Or Renly's lover - that actually explains a lot of things that happened later which didn't make sense to me.
The problem with the books - is they are so dense with information and take so long to read that by the time you get to the next one, particularly with the amount of time in between, you forget things - little things - which turn out to actually be really important plot points. Such as the fact that two minor characters are gay (they aren't as minor as one might think). This story has A LOT of characters to keep track of. You almost need a chart.)
Stark's honor is starting to become a bit clearer and it is to a degree his achilees heel. Although I'd say his and Catelynne's determination to seek Justice/Vengeance for what happened to Bran may actually be both their downfall and their family's - as well as the Lannister's. It's how Balish and Varys (not to be confused with Vicerys - actually just call him the Spyder) manage between them to set House Lannister and House Stark at each other's throats. They play the two families sense of honor against each other. Lluwyn has Bran read the families codes of honor and they all sound the same - hard to see the difference - Family, Honor, Duty. What brought them together to fight the Tarragyn's is now what is setting them against one another. Tyrion is right - his brother Jaime will slaughter House Stark to free him. Tywin and Ceresi may not care, but Jaime does - and Jaime isn't someone I'd want to piss off. He's a career solider, done nothing but swing a sword his entire life. As Lord of Flowers states - I'm good at jousting and sword play because I do it all the time.
Catelynn is also struggling with honor. As Tyrion states - when was the last time you saw your sister? Five years? Ah, she's changed. A bit touched in the head. She'll kill me. Catelynn insists she's no murderer. I'm not sure Catelynn in her rush to avenge her son (who notably cares little for this course of action and would like his mother to stick by him instead), has thought this through. And while it was seemingly a brilliant plan - it has a few key flaws in it, one Lysa, Catelynn's sister is clearly deranged. Two, Ned doesn't have as much power in Kings Landing as one might think - actually he has none. Because he and King Robert do not share the same code or value system. Like Catelynn - it's been a long time since he knew Robert and Robert has changed. 17 years holding a kingdom together with hate will do that to a man. He's grown fat and poisonous, surrounded by poison. Robert states that Ned wants to run off to Winterfell and bury his head in the snow...while he didn't want it either. Who to be Hand? Jaime? No, states Ceresi, he's not serious enough - Ned at least is, but Ned is also far too honorable.
Tyrion saves Catelynn's life...and ends up her sister's prisoner - in a dungeon that requires no walls. Excellent set design by the way - exactly as I imagined it in my head. (The things I remember clearly from the books are being replicated here fairly well, there's just a few things I don't recall being in them that keep popping up - the three in this episode were the conversation between Cersei and Robert - which didn't happen unless it was in flashback in Feast, because we aren't in either pov until Feast. Ned being attacked by Jamie this soon - I remember it being later, but I may be wrong about that. And Lord of Flowers and Renly being lovers - which was most likely implied, we are never in their povs' in the books.
Ayra - I love in this series. She's my favorite female character in the books. Chasing the cat, she finds herself in the hall of Dragon skulls. Those were Dragon skulls on the walls. And over hears a conversation about the Wolf and the Lion being set at each other's throats so that the way will be made clear for the Dragon kings.
Sandor Clegan's character arc becomes more interesting and sympathetic - he goes out of his way to stop his brother from killing the Lord of Flowers - the question is why? I can't remember if he did it in the books. But I find myself wondering at the motivation.
I admittedly cringed during the shaving scene - I kept waiting for Lord of Flowers to cut poor Renly, he does but not badly thankfully. I find shaving scenes hard to watch - although it does go a long way to explain how these guys are so clean shaven - chest-wise. They shave. Wonder if it itches?
Honor is interesting here...what it means to each character. They all have their own codes of honor I think - well except for Lord Balish (Littlefinger), Lysa, and The Spyder - which seem to
be mainly hunting ways to obtain power. Honor whether it is code of battle, family, duty, it gets confused. Is Ned the most honorable man? Or the most naive? Or the most foolish? Hindsight being twenty-twenty, hard to say. He should have taken off immediately instead of giving in to Balish's suggestion to undercover more of Aryn's actions. Aryn made his own bed so to speak - suggesting and pushing for Robert and Cersei to marry each other, then going off to hunt down information that
exposed Ceresi, when I have a feeling Aryn's true threat may have been closer to home. Catelynn and Ned appear to be following suit - focusing on the Lannister's as their enemies, when they have far cleverer and far more dangerous ones close to home. Littlefinger, Lysa, the Spyder, and
Theon Greyjoy - all manipulating their way towards power.
As Tyrion states - only a fool would hire a guy and have him use his own dagger to do the job.
I'm not that stupid. That should tell you that Jamie and Tyrion nor Cersei did it. They wouldn't have used Tyrion's dagger. And Jamie would have done it himself. Jamie in that way at least is a lot like Ned Stark - as Ned chops off the man's head at the beginning, Jamie confronts and fights Ned Stark to his face.
This tale is heating up. Ned is trapped. He who once had power, has none. And Robert is surrounded by foes who wish for his end - because he's ruled with the fist and the sword and the bellow. There may well be something to the Lord of Flowers words after all - honor and duty to others not oneself. But in Robert's head - he is doing what he thinks best. He reminds me a great deal of
King Henry the Eighth. Not so much Henry the II, who was smarter.
Ah favorite bits? Tyrion, Ayra, and the scene between Cersei and King Robert.
Although - I really don't have the time or the energy to watch the series on my computer or ipod touch. But still - considering how much I pay? It's the least they could do.
Just finished watching tonight's episode of Game of Thrones - and I've clearly forgotten quite a bit of the books or I've remembered them differently, because this episode has bits that well don't appear to follow the books at all? Maybe I should just ignore the books entirely and just enjoy the series as a separate entity? Which is actually what I usually do - since it is impossible to adapt something exactly from one medium to another. And this series actually comes the closest that I've seen to an exact or legitimate adaptation which stays true to the flavor and nature of a fantasy series of books in minute detail, the only one closer may be Jackson' Lord of the Rings. Other than that slight confusion - I loved the episode and once again appreciated the difference between it airing on HBO and on regular network tv. There is no way in hell, we'd have gotten some of the sex scenes and full frontal nudity on network tv that we get here.
In this episode, I find myself liking a few characters a lot more than I recall liking them in the books. Ned Stark is far more sympathetic. He's trying his damndest to stick to his code of honor - which Master Llullywn (sp?) tells Bran about. Family, Honor, Duty.
King Robert - brilliantly portrayed by British character actor Mark Addy - actually explains in detail to his Queen, why he wants to kill Danerys and Vicerys. And he may have a point - since Daenrys and Vicerys are planning to do exactly what he fears. Lead an army of a thousand Dofraki (I really wish these things would use names I could figure out to spell), across the narrow sea.
As he states to Ceresi - what is more powerful five or one. She says five. And Robert gives her a demonstration - holds up his fist (one) and open palm (five). One army, solid, behind one leader is far stronger and more powerful than five separate armies warring with each other, back-stabbing and grubbling over gold. It's been 9 years since we had a decent fight and banded together for it.
Now we are at each others throats. How long have you and I held this kingdom together in hate?
17 years?
And from Ceresi - she states that there was a moment in time that she cared for him. Before their first son died, and soon thereafter - she wonders if there was ever a moment for him. He says no.
Ever a moment they could have had a chance. Again no. He wonders if it bothers her now? And she responds, no, she no longer cares one way or the other.
The only thing he ever wanted in the whole world was Ned Stark's sister Lyanna, yet he can no longer remember her face - he can't even tell his wife what she looked like.
Ned Stark believes that Robert's desire to kill the Tarragyrn woman and child is pure vengeance, and little more. Paranoia. And Robert states honor doesn't rule kingdoms' fear does.
Yet as the Lord of Flowers declares to Robert's brother Renly who hates to kill and abhors violence, that perhaps love governs a kingdom far better than fear or violence? Except the Lord of Flowers appears to be manipulating Renly. (I'd forgotten the Lord of Flowers was gay. Or Renly's lover - that actually explains a lot of things that happened later which didn't make sense to me.
The problem with the books - is they are so dense with information and take so long to read that by the time you get to the next one, particularly with the amount of time in between, you forget things - little things - which turn out to actually be really important plot points. Such as the fact that two minor characters are gay (they aren't as minor as one might think). This story has A LOT of characters to keep track of. You almost need a chart.)
Stark's honor is starting to become a bit clearer and it is to a degree his achilees heel. Although I'd say his and Catelynne's determination to seek Justice/Vengeance for what happened to Bran may actually be both their downfall and their family's - as well as the Lannister's. It's how Balish and Varys (not to be confused with Vicerys - actually just call him the Spyder) manage between them to set House Lannister and House Stark at each other's throats. They play the two families sense of honor against each other. Lluwyn has Bran read the families codes of honor and they all sound the same - hard to see the difference - Family, Honor, Duty. What brought them together to fight the Tarragyn's is now what is setting them against one another. Tyrion is right - his brother Jaime will slaughter House Stark to free him. Tywin and Ceresi may not care, but Jaime does - and Jaime isn't someone I'd want to piss off. He's a career solider, done nothing but swing a sword his entire life. As Lord of Flowers states - I'm good at jousting and sword play because I do it all the time.
Catelynn is also struggling with honor. As Tyrion states - when was the last time you saw your sister? Five years? Ah, she's changed. A bit touched in the head. She'll kill me. Catelynn insists she's no murderer. I'm not sure Catelynn in her rush to avenge her son (who notably cares little for this course of action and would like his mother to stick by him instead), has thought this through. And while it was seemingly a brilliant plan - it has a few key flaws in it, one Lysa, Catelynn's sister is clearly deranged. Two, Ned doesn't have as much power in Kings Landing as one might think - actually he has none. Because he and King Robert do not share the same code or value system. Like Catelynn - it's been a long time since he knew Robert and Robert has changed. 17 years holding a kingdom together with hate will do that to a man. He's grown fat and poisonous, surrounded by poison. Robert states that Ned wants to run off to Winterfell and bury his head in the snow...while he didn't want it either. Who to be Hand? Jaime? No, states Ceresi, he's not serious enough - Ned at least is, but Ned is also far too honorable.
Tyrion saves Catelynn's life...and ends up her sister's prisoner - in a dungeon that requires no walls. Excellent set design by the way - exactly as I imagined it in my head. (The things I remember clearly from the books are being replicated here fairly well, there's just a few things I don't recall being in them that keep popping up - the three in this episode were the conversation between Cersei and Robert - which didn't happen unless it was in flashback in Feast, because we aren't in either pov until Feast. Ned being attacked by Jamie this soon - I remember it being later, but I may be wrong about that. And Lord of Flowers and Renly being lovers - which was most likely implied, we are never in their povs' in the books.
Ayra - I love in this series. She's my favorite female character in the books. Chasing the cat, she finds herself in the hall of Dragon skulls. Those were Dragon skulls on the walls. And over hears a conversation about the Wolf and the Lion being set at each other's throats so that the way will be made clear for the Dragon kings.
Sandor Clegan's character arc becomes more interesting and sympathetic - he goes out of his way to stop his brother from killing the Lord of Flowers - the question is why? I can't remember if he did it in the books. But I find myself wondering at the motivation.
I admittedly cringed during the shaving scene - I kept waiting for Lord of Flowers to cut poor Renly, he does but not badly thankfully. I find shaving scenes hard to watch - although it does go a long way to explain how these guys are so clean shaven - chest-wise. They shave. Wonder if it itches?
Honor is interesting here...what it means to each character. They all have their own codes of honor I think - well except for Lord Balish (Littlefinger), Lysa, and The Spyder - which seem to
be mainly hunting ways to obtain power. Honor whether it is code of battle, family, duty, it gets confused. Is Ned the most honorable man? Or the most naive? Or the most foolish? Hindsight being twenty-twenty, hard to say. He should have taken off immediately instead of giving in to Balish's suggestion to undercover more of Aryn's actions. Aryn made his own bed so to speak - suggesting and pushing for Robert and Cersei to marry each other, then going off to hunt down information that
exposed Ceresi, when I have a feeling Aryn's true threat may have been closer to home. Catelynn and Ned appear to be following suit - focusing on the Lannister's as their enemies, when they have far cleverer and far more dangerous ones close to home. Littlefinger, Lysa, the Spyder, and
Theon Greyjoy - all manipulating their way towards power.
As Tyrion states - only a fool would hire a guy and have him use his own dagger to do the job.
I'm not that stupid. That should tell you that Jamie and Tyrion nor Cersei did it. They wouldn't have used Tyrion's dagger. And Jamie would have done it himself. Jamie in that way at least is a lot like Ned Stark - as Ned chops off the man's head at the beginning, Jamie confronts and fights Ned Stark to his face.
This tale is heating up. Ned is trapped. He who once had power, has none. And Robert is surrounded by foes who wish for his end - because he's ruled with the fist and the sword and the bellow. There may well be something to the Lord of Flowers words after all - honor and duty to others not oneself. But in Robert's head - he is doing what he thinks best. He reminds me a great deal of
King Henry the Eighth. Not so much Henry the II, who was smarter.
Ah favorite bits? Tyrion, Ayra, and the scene between Cersei and King Robert.
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 09:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 05:05 pm (UTC)As does Catelynn - who puts her honor before her children.
It was stupid. I remember thinking as I was watching, Catelynn - you idiot, listen to Tyrion - he's right. You are putting your husband, yourself, and your kids in danger based on a theory!
Thought the same thing in regards to Ned.
"Ned, you nitwit - you just got word that your wife took Tyrion into custody, and this is the time you decide to get into a disagreement with the King? Or stay to gather what, more evidence that the King's bastards are all dark-haired? What do you hope to accomplish by this??? Get yourself and your daughter's to safety first, then make accusations, you nitwit!"
(Thought it in the book too. He irritated the heck out of me. Could see his downfall coming a mile away.)
But it does make sense he'd do that. Completely in character and a perfect depiction of how placing honor above everything else can destroy you.
The Hound did save Ser Loras
Date: 2011-05-16 09:32 am (UTC)"Thrice Ned saw Ser Gregor aim savage blows at the hound's head helmet, yet not once did Sandor send a cut at his brother's unprotected face."
I think that no matter how much of a thug Sandor has been, he did seem to have a moral code of his own. Need I mention that Gregor is a sore loser.
Rufus
Re: The Hound did save Ser Loras
Date: 2011-05-16 04:29 pm (UTC)Loras and Renly were added though.
I do vaguely remember Jamie attacking Ned and his guardsmen after news came down that Tyrion was being held captive by Catelynn Stark at the Vale of Eyrie.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 12:51 pm (UTC)Oh well, I knew Littlefinger had to have his own agenda.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 04:27 pm (UTC)No, just that from the evidence on screen it's clearly not either Jaime or Tyrion. I'm not saying Jamie wouldn't kill Bran, just that he wouldn't hire someone else to do it with his brother's dagger (he likes Tyrion and Jamie's not dumb, also it's not his style).
Ceresi? Not her style either. She'd have had Jamie do it or do it herself, and would not have set up her brother for it. There are, however, other Lannisters...
no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 04:44 pm (UTC)