Game of Thrones - Second Sons

[shadowkat]

You realize how good Game of Thrones is after you watch lesser series prior to it, a la Doctor Who, Arrow and Revolution. The dialogue alone in Game blows the other three out of the water. Although I admittedly am enjoying Arrow quite a bit, and Revolution is like watching a cracky comic book made for tv. Doctor Who is just confusing me at the moment and Matt Smith's performance giving me a killer headache.

This episode of S3 Game of Thrones was entitled Second Sons which worked quite well metaphorically for at least three story threads. And during it we got a description of what the song "The Rains of Castamare" means from Cersei Lannister...in the book I think the Queen of Thornes told us. I was happy for the reminder for I'd forgotten. Just in case you are wondering why this description is important? It's the title of the next episode.



* Eh, don't remember Melisandra having sex with Edric or whomever, before she bled them. I do remember Stannis and Melisandra doing the spell to kill the three ursurper kings - Balon Greyjoy, Joffrey Lannister and Robb Stark. (Ah Ned, see what you wrought? You thought Stannis should be King. How'd that work for you and your lineage? Next time listen when people warn you not to go with Stannis.)

Creepy scene. Felt sorry for Gendry.

But hey, look on the bright side at least we don't have any Theon this week.

* Tyrion may have been drunk at his wedding, but he was sober enough to defend his wife and himself from Joffrey and to refuse to consummate his marriage. Tywin to his credit also stopped Joffrey from getting his way.

* The scene between Cersei and Margaery was creepy and beautifully done. Lots of foreshadowing in that scene. Paving the way for wedding number two - which will take place in two weeks, but HBO is being careful not to spoil on. Clever.

* Oh poor Ayra. The Hound with the best of intentions is taking Ayra to the wedding at the Twins to see her mother. I remember this in the book, and how painful it was. It was similar to what happened in the first book. GRRM leads you to believe that Jon Snow will reunite with Ned on the Wall...only to yank that hope away tragically at the last possible moment.
Does the same thing in Book 3, he leads you to believe Ayra will reunite finally with her mother and brother...only to yank it away. It's like Lucy with the dang football for Charlie Brown, he goes to kick it and she yanks it away, so he crashes each and every time.
I hate it when writers do that. First time...is fine. Second time - shame on me. Third time - shame on the writer...and by that time, I'm fairly cynical and no longer think it will happen. GRRM has gone way way past the third time. He's as bad as Ramsay Snow with Theon.
Frigging horror writers.

So, when the Hound tells Ayra that he's reuniting her with her mother - I'm cackling in the background. Yeah, right, and I'm going to win the lottery and Charlie Brown will finally kick that football. Dream on.

I do agree with the Hound though when he tells her that she's better off with him, than alone or with anyone else. I'd agree. The other guys weren't even taking her home and would have sold her to the highest bidder. And if she ended up with Ramsay Snow ...

Both Sansa and Arya actually have it pretty good at the moment.

* Dany...I'd forgotten Dario killed the other two Second Son's leaders. I knew he did something crazily violent, just had forgotten what. You do want him to do it at the time.
Will state Dany's arc is the least frustrating and most satisfying of the character arcs to date. Well Dany's and Samwell Tarly's.

* Samwell's killing of the Wight happened differently in the books - he kills one in front of two of the Night's Watch, friends of his and Jon Snow's, who call him Slayer afterwards.
So not sure how this will work plot-wise. Actually he and Gilly don't really take off together until much later - they've shortened that storyline somewhat.

This episode truly was the calm before the storm. Did like Davos in this episode, far better than the books. The actor is 95% of the reason. His scene with Stannis - where he attempts to advise Stannis not to let Melisandra kill Gendry - is rather good. He basically points out that the way Stannis gets his throne is important. He sort of succeeds - Melisandra decides to just bleed Gendry with leeches, rather than slaughtering him outright. She also has a nice discussion with Stannis about it - where he tells her she should just get it done and overwith, and not torture the boy. Well agree. I rather like their scenes.

By the way, if you are obsessed with these books, you should go off and read the French Medieval Historical novels that inspired GRRM's Game of Thrones novels - The Iron King by Maurice Druon which have apparently been done on French television quite a few times.
The link takes you to a recent translation. Martin has recent the introduction stating that these books are the real "Game of Thrones" story and are even more depraved than his tales are.

Eh...except there's no zombies, direwolfs, and dragons...so where's the fun in that?



Arrow - like stated above, rather enjoying Arrow. . I've seen everything except the last two episodes of the year.

*Tommy Merlin apparently dislikes the oppressive love triangle of doom as much as I do (or rather the writer, Greg Berlanti does), and has decided to just walk away as opposed to fighting Oliver Queen for Laurel Lance. This makes me adore the character even more.
I actually like Tommy better than Oliver and I feel sorrier for him. He lost his mom, and his Dad has become a bit of a monster in his attempt to save Starling City. Malcolm Merlin reminds me a little bit of Bruce Wayne, or rather Bruce Wayne's mentor and future nemesis.
Malcolm also is a complex villain that comments on the hero, how far apart are the two really? Is Oliver really that much better than Malcolm.

* Yay, Walter is back. And Felicity rules. I've become a Diggel:Felicity fan. (Platonic!)

* Is it wrong that I want Laurel with Tommy Merlin and not Oliver? I feel like I'm going against the show's story thread somehow? But that pairing works better for me.



It's late. Shower, read, bed. Hopefully next week will be better than last week.

Comments

[sophist.livejournal.com]

In the books, Mel never gets to Edric. Davos spirits him away before she's able to burn him. Another reason to admire Davos.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

Also, Edric is a little boy, just a couple of years older than Shireen and her playmate; his mother was a noblewoman and he was raised by Renly's castellan Courney Penrose, another victim of Shadowbaby Death. So the sexytimes wouldn't have worked :P

[sophist.livejournal.com]

Ah, so you have read the books. I couldn't tell from reading your reviews.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

You mean the recaps I do for H&H? Yeah, I've read the books a couple of times, but I'm definitely supposed to keep those spoiler-free for the unspoiled tv watchers. Which is why I've been sitting on my hands for months on the "romance on GoT" post so I could include Jaime, Brienne and the bear pit :D

[sophist.livejournal.com]

You've played it so straight, I legitimately couldn't tell. Well done.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Not sure how you do that - I can't do it in my livejournal. I've tried.
And I haven't even read the books more than once nor am a fan of them.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

I think it actually helps that I know the books quite well, because that means I can recognize where the show deviates easily and also I have a good sense of what happens when. So it's probably easier for me to avoid spoilers than if I didn't know the books really well, if that makes sense.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh quite a bit. I can't always tell where they deviate so am uncertain what are spoilers. Also I can't remember when things happened. The tv series is bringing things from the books forward apparently, but only the flashbacks.
But if you don't remember the books well and know the chronological order well - you will accidentally spoil people - as various poor souls spoilt me when I asked if the torture of Theon was spoiling me on Dance With Dragons.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh Davos was always admirable, just incredibly boring to read. Well unless you find musings about the sea and ships in a fantasy world interesting - which a lot of people do. The tv series has made the character far more compelling, in part because we get less of him and it is more focused and less rambling.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

I recently tried Druon's books and they are not bad but have a similar problem as in john abercrombie's books. there are no likeable characters. zero. they are all awful and horrible human beings. makes it difficult to stick with it. i'm in the middle of book one and don't see myself getting another.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like Abercrombie, but yes, there is no one who's likable at all. (I did like Monza Murcatto in Best Served Cold, which is why it's my favorite of his books.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

This is admittedly my difficulty with a lot of books right now. If the story frustrates me too much or I can't find a character that compels me or I can invest in, I'm bored and my attention wavers.

It's a mood thing for me, at least. I remember reading books like that ten years ago with no problems. Now, I can't.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

I've always thought Melisandre didn't actually MAKE things happen with her leeches and her fires, just that she could see the future (and sometimes terribly misinterpret it - how can she NOT see how Daenerys is important? Why aren't her fires showing her the dragons?) and used that ability to make Stannis think the leeches were actually a curse that she'd fulfilled. Instead, of course, it turns out to be other people's choices that get the job done. Re: Stannis: there's a wonderful quote from the books about him, saying that "there is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man."

I don't know, this was beautifully written and acted, but I didn't find it nearly as moving as other things this season: Sam and Arya touched me but the rest of it was more of a mental exercise that I enjoyed (a la "Breaking Bad", I guess!)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

there's a wonderful quote from the books about him, saying that "there is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man."

Or rather a man who believes he is "just".

It's a common villain in literature and an excellent choice. Because the worst people historically were the one's who believed themselves to be righteous in their cause and never questioned it.

Arrow's villain this year - ironically - is a man who believes himself to be "truly just".

Agree on Melisandra...she thinks the God of Light makes things happen, but really it's just a long line of terrible choices made by the respective parties involved.