Game of Thrones 1x03
May. 4th, 2011 05:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbeeAssume spoilers for both book and series. And capslock.
Sadly there haven't been any renditions of "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" in the TV series yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. (SUBTLE CASTING HINT: MAGGIE SMITH FOR OLENNA TYRELL!) Other than that EXTREMELY UNFORTUNATE EXCLUSION, I'm pretty happy with how things are unfolding. To whit:
After the initial dodginess, Danaerys and Drogo's marriage is sort of settling into its canonical form.
This is still pretty dodgy, what with all the marital rape with which they started off, but that was in the books, too. (As was the scene where Doreah teaches her how to pleasure her husband, although that was knocked off in a paragraph, and was hence FAR LESS HILARIOUS.) It makes sense that, in a culture where arranged marriage and marital rape are the rule rather than the exception, Dany wouldn't regard it as a matter for long-term trauma, so much as a problem to be overcome. But it's awkward for the modern audience, and that was a problem with the book as well. Mostly I'm glad that now that's over, and we can concentrate on important things, like how Dany and Drogo are great.
Also improving: we've now seen individual Dothraki, and seen them interact with each other. Granted, said interactions basically amount to LOL WHITE PEOPLE, but it's a start. And the guy playing Rakharo is hot.
Additionally:
SERIOUSLY, MORMONT!
I'm SO TORN ABOUT HIM. As I am with the books, come to think of it. Because I generally groove on powerful woman/subordinate honourable man pairings, and he's also in a sort of mentor role to Dany. On the other hand, as I was just reminded as I finished A Storm of Swords day before yesterday, he's not actually that honourable, and is basically nice guying his way across the eastern continent.
ON THE OTHER HAND: he is quite handsome.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN KINGS LANDING, various people are a bit hilarious. Jaime gives the impression of being drunk all the time. Robert actually is drunk all the time. Cersei spends a lot of time metaphorically beating her head against walls and going, "WHY SO STUPID, MENFOLK?" And then raising her evil incestspawn son to be EVEN WORSE THAN EVERYONE ELSE. I don't even know, Cersei. I love her a lot as a character, but she reminds me very much of Mary Queen of Scots -- a woman grabbing onto power with both hands, but with nothing more than raw instinct to weild it, and falling back to stereotypically feminine tactics that she despises in other women, and cause everyone else to despise her as well.
I kind of picture Margaery Tyrell sitting on the sidelines, chewing gum and going, "Whut? Are you sure it's not too late to elope with the Maid of Tarth?"
PEOPLE WHO ARE ALSO HILARIOUS: the Stark Family Comedy Hour. And Littlefinger.
I love Sean Bean's face there. It's just pure, wordless, "Oh, hello, dear. I was just strangling your ex-boyfriend. You want me to stop? Oh. Well. Yes, dear."
I really wish the show actually was the Stark Family Comedy Hour. Like an AU where Ned and Catelyn and their many, many children (and, y'know, emo bastards) live on a big farm outside town, and they'd be really happy if their daughters weren't trying to kill each other, and their sons weren't engaging in competitive emo, and Ned's old college buddies didn't keep trying to take him out to relive their glory days. That would be nifty.
Also, LITTLEFINGER! ♥ ♥ ♥ I have this terrible quandary, in that he's a sleazy, manipulative douchebag who is responsible for a pretty vast proportion of the body count in the series. BUT I LOVE HIM.And ship him with Sansa, only I also ship Sansa with Tyrion, because I have this thing about arranged marriages that actually work out, and I get genuinely upset that those crazy kids couldn't make it work.
Hey, you know who else is great? Sansa and Arya. I loved the bit where Ned explains why Sansa's choice was not actually terrible, though I strongly feel that maybe he should have explained these things to both daughters before they left Winterfell. I liked his attempt to connect with Sansa via a doll. Fortunately, Sansa is not Azula, and doesn't set the doll on fire. Although I think the series would be a lot more amazing if Sansa was Azula.
That probably wouldn't end well for Arya, though. I don't understand why people feel compelled to choose between Stark sisters, because they're both great. Arya has the superficially stronger tomboy storyline, but at the end of the day, she's just as psychologically damaged as Sansa. Which I think was nicely foreshadowed in the water dancing scene, with the addition of Ned watching. And how great was that scene? This series is going to be so viddable.
...oh yes, and there are some Stark brothers. We apparently don't get to see Bran's dream of the three-eyed crow, which is disappointing. I like Bran in the books, but so far in the series I'm a bit, "WHATEVS, WAKE ME UP WHEN NATALIA TENA TURNS UP AS OSHA." Robb was ... there. WHY DO YOU EXIST, ROBB? Theon was, thankfully, not there. At the end of the season, I really hope someone makes a Theon vid to "Alfie" by Lily Allen. Or maybe at the end of the second season.
And, a bit further north, Jon is emoing his way along the Wall. I don't hate Jon, I just like him best when he's actually doing stuff. (SUBTLE CASTING HINT: KAREN GILLAN FOR YGRITTE!) Jon is automatically thirty times more entertaining when he's interacting with Tyrion. DON'T GO, TYRION! NOTHING GOOD WILL COME OF YOUR JOURNEY SOUTH! *weeps*
Sadly there haven't been any renditions of "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" in the TV series yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. (SUBTLE CASTING HINT: MAGGIE SMITH FOR OLENNA TYRELL!) Other than that EXTREMELY UNFORTUNATE EXCLUSION, I'm pretty happy with how things are unfolding. To whit:
After the initial dodginess, Danaerys and Drogo's marriage is sort of settling into its canonical form.
This is still pretty dodgy, what with all the marital rape with which they started off, but that was in the books, too. (As was the scene where Doreah teaches her how to pleasure her husband, although that was knocked off in a paragraph, and was hence FAR LESS HILARIOUS.) It makes sense that, in a culture where arranged marriage and marital rape are the rule rather than the exception, Dany wouldn't regard it as a matter for long-term trauma, so much as a problem to be overcome. But it's awkward for the modern audience, and that was a problem with the book as well. Mostly I'm glad that now that's over, and we can concentrate on important things, like how Dany and Drogo are great.
Also improving: we've now seen individual Dothraki, and seen them interact with each other. Granted, said interactions basically amount to LOL WHITE PEOPLE, but it's a start. And the guy playing Rakharo is hot.
Additionally:
SERIOUSLY, MORMONT!
I'm SO TORN ABOUT HIM. As I am with the books, come to think of it. Because I generally groove on powerful woman/subordinate honourable man pairings, and he's also in a sort of mentor role to Dany. On the other hand, as I was just reminded as I finished A Storm of Swords day before yesterday, he's not actually that honourable, and is basically nice guying his way across the eastern continent.
ON THE OTHER HAND: he is quite handsome.
MEANWHILE, BACK IN KINGS LANDING, various people are a bit hilarious. Jaime gives the impression of being drunk all the time. Robert actually is drunk all the time. Cersei spends a lot of time metaphorically beating her head against walls and going, "WHY SO STUPID, MENFOLK?" And then raising her evil incestspawn son to be EVEN WORSE THAN EVERYONE ELSE. I don't even know, Cersei. I love her a lot as a character, but she reminds me very much of Mary Queen of Scots -- a woman grabbing onto power with both hands, but with nothing more than raw instinct to weild it, and falling back to stereotypically feminine tactics that she despises in other women, and cause everyone else to despise her as well.
I kind of picture Margaery Tyrell sitting on the sidelines, chewing gum and going, "Whut? Are you sure it's not too late to elope with the Maid of Tarth?"
PEOPLE WHO ARE ALSO HILARIOUS: the Stark Family Comedy Hour. And Littlefinger.
I love Sean Bean's face there. It's just pure, wordless, "Oh, hello, dear. I was just strangling your ex-boyfriend. You want me to stop? Oh. Well. Yes, dear."
I really wish the show actually was the Stark Family Comedy Hour. Like an AU where Ned and Catelyn and their many, many children (and, y'know, emo bastards) live on a big farm outside town, and they'd be really happy if their daughters weren't trying to kill each other, and their sons weren't engaging in competitive emo, and Ned's old college buddies didn't keep trying to take him out to relive their glory days. That would be nifty.
Also, LITTLEFINGER! ♥ ♥ ♥ I have this terrible quandary, in that he's a sleazy, manipulative douchebag who is responsible for a pretty vast proportion of the body count in the series. BUT I LOVE HIM.
Hey, you know who else is great? Sansa and Arya. I loved the bit where Ned explains why Sansa's choice was not actually terrible, though I strongly feel that maybe he should have explained these things to both daughters before they left Winterfell. I liked his attempt to connect with Sansa via a doll. Fortunately, Sansa is not Azula, and doesn't set the doll on fire. Although I think the series would be a lot more amazing if Sansa was Azula.
That probably wouldn't end well for Arya, though. I don't understand why people feel compelled to choose between Stark sisters, because they're both great. Arya has the superficially stronger tomboy storyline, but at the end of the day, she's just as psychologically damaged as Sansa. Which I think was nicely foreshadowed in the water dancing scene, with the addition of Ned watching. And how great was that scene? This series is going to be so viddable.
...oh yes, and there are some Stark brothers. We apparently don't get to see Bran's dream of the three-eyed crow, which is disappointing. I like Bran in the books, but so far in the series I'm a bit, "WHATEVS, WAKE ME UP WHEN NATALIA TENA TURNS UP AS OSHA." Robb was ... there. WHY DO YOU EXIST, ROBB? Theon was, thankfully, not there. At the end of the season, I really hope someone makes a Theon vid to "Alfie" by Lily Allen. Or maybe at the end of the second season.
And, a bit further north, Jon is emoing his way along the Wall. I don't hate Jon, I just like him best when he's actually doing stuff. (SUBTLE CASTING HINT: KAREN GILLAN FOR YGRITTE!) Jon is automatically thirty times more entertaining when he's interacting with Tyrion. DON'T GO, TYRION! NOTHING GOOD WILL COME OF YOUR JOURNEY SOUTH! *weeps*
no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 07:29 am (UTC)Everyone becomes 200% more interesting when interacting with Tyrion.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 07:36 am (UTC)It's the ultimate superpower. I even forget I have issues with Dinklage's accent!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 11:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 07:54 am (UTC)I've been reading some recaps by people who haven't read the books, and they're like: What, huh, WHO IS THIS GUY HE IS AWESOME. And then I'm like, DUH.
I think Gillen has carved out a niche for himself playing sleazy, manipulative douchebags who you cannot help but love.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 08:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 11:36 am (UTC)Poor Joffrey. I don't think he'd be able to handle that.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 03:09 pm (UTC)It makes sense that, in a culture where arranged marriage and marital rape are the rule rather than the exception, Dany wouldn't regard it as a matter for long-term trauma, so much as a problem to be overcome. But it's awkward for the modern audience, and that was a problem with the book as well.
Ssomething I have been pondering in general about historical/fantasy arranged marriages (not this canon specifically, since I don't know it) is the widespread assumption that the sex is only really nonconsensual for the woman, which I'm not so sure about...in some particular cases, maybe, but if the marriage is entirely for political reasons, even if the man had somewhat more say in it (which he might not have), and they're both Doing It To Make Heirs Out Of Duty or whatever, it seems like it wouldn't exactly be consensual for either of them. Or consensual but not wanted--dutiful consent versus enthusiastic consent. If one party wants the sex but the other does not, does that change the dutiful consent of the other party, versus where both are consenting dutifully? I am not sure modern concepts of enthusiastic consent are applicable to political marriages.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 08:44 pm (UTC)Indeed. I mean, various gay kings had problems with it, and Henry VIII couldn't even manage to perform with Anne of Cleves. (Lucky, lucky girl.)
Also, I've been reading about the Hapsburgs lately, and wondering just how many uncles were delighted to be marrying their nieces.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-04 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-05 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-05 03:12 pm (UTC)