Game of Thrones, Fire and Blood, 6/19/11

[Declan]

Joffery is still a douchebag, nuff said.

Sansa : I’ll have to wait until the next season, to find out if she has lost that naive harlequin romance view of the world yet.

Robb Stark: Took too long to get him some meaningful screen time to flesh out the character.

Arya rocks, nuff said.

Jon: No attachment to this guy, given the screen time he had, the actor did the best he could do.

Littlefinger: very slimey character, needed but I would not cry a drop if he came to a bad end.

The Spider: He says he is for the realm, but he handles it too complicated, makes me think he has his own agenda.

Bronn: Can’t say enough about this guy, people like him make me think there is hope for the world

Jorah: The other side of the coin from Bronn.

Jaime Lanister: I find that I like this guy, reminds me of Han Solo

Cersei Lanister: This chick is in desparate need of a school bus

Tyrion Lanister: Best character of the entire season

Tywin Lanister: Has potential to be the most memorable character

Cat Stark, nee Tully: Give this chick some nails and a cross and put her up for the night, she annoys me.

Bran Stark: Should have died, when pushed out the window. I’m still awaiting on what his fate will be.

Rickard Stark: No real thoughts on him, he was only there to flesh out the character development of the others.

Theon Greyjoy: That was painful watching him pledge to King Robb

Dany Targaryen: So far I am not liking her as a character, even though as a bride price for drogos army , she and drogo had the most normal relationship in the entire series.

This is the first television show in years that I have bothered to watch, rather than wait a year and watch on DVD. HBO did a great job.

Declan

[Declan]

@quixotic78

Most perfect casting: Jamie Lannister. Someone pointed out that he looks like Prince Charming from Shrek, and holy shit does he ever. Just like he’s supposed to. And he does disdain really well. Perfect. Runner-up: Petyr Baelish. I figured the crooked mayor from The Wire would do a great job as a duplicitous bastard, and he does.

I was one of the ones who mentioned that he looked like P Charming, back about two episodes in. I still have to check the IMDB to make sure, but someone mentioned to me that he is (the actor) in fact, the same guy who played Charming.

Declan

[voltaire]

Hmph, they never did resolve what happened to Syrio. And no, don’t tell me.

ETA: Unless, by some chance his was one of the heads on a pike, and I missed it, in which case you can tell me.

[Snarky_Kong]

@Tarwater

I have a question for those of you who have read the books. Is there ever any explanation for why Dany is impervious to heat or flames and her brother wasn’t? Are we supposed to notice the disparity, even? It’s been bothering me. A simple yes or no will be sufficient, in a spoiler-box. I don’t want to ruin it for myself if there’s an involved explanation.

I’ll make a post in the background thread.

[gallows_fodder]

@quixotic78

Most Overrated: Tyrion Lannister. Yeah, I know, I’m in a minority of one here, but Dinklage’s performance just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know if it’s his phony sounding accent or his (probably deliberate) overacting, but… yeah, he just didn’t do it for me. No runner-up.

You’re not alone. I don’t think Dinklage is bad by any means, but he’s not HOLY SHIT THIS GUY IS AWESOME either. But then, I don’t have any great love for the character, whose famous wit has never struck me as especially witty. I don’t dislike him and I find his interactions with his family interesting and entertaining, but…eh.

I thought Sean Bean was fantastic as Ned, particularly the way he sold Ned’s utter visceral horror at the all-pervading corruption in King’s Landing.

[Dewey_Finn]

@Snarky_Kong

@Tarwater

I have a question for those of you who have read the books. Is there ever any explanation for why Dany is impervious to heat or flames and her brother wasn’t? Are we supposed to notice the disparity, even? It’s been bothering me. A simple yes or no will be sufficient, in a spoiler-box. I don’t want to ruin it for myself if there’s an involved explanation.

I’ll make a post in the background thread.

I’ll answer that right here (and this is as a non-book reader).

It’s a supernatural thing. When her brother was “crowned,” she said something about how a dragon would not be affected by fire, so therefore he was not a dragon. (That’s why she insisted on watching the crowning. So apparently she is the one who is the true heir.

[DigitalC]

People complaining about a 1 year wait? Oh my sweet summer child. What do you know of waiting? Waiting is for the long night, when GRRM hides for years and children are born and live and die all before the next book comes out.

[Acsenray]

Somehow I can’t believe that all of a sudden now Tywin realizes that Tyrion’s got some intelligence. That happened a little too suddenly.

[DigitalC]

I think it was more that he realized that he might be his only son left.

[Snarky_Kong]

@Dewey_Finn

I’ll answer that right here (and this is as a non-book reader).

It’s a supernatural thing. When her brother was “crowned,” she said something about how a dragon would not be affected by fire, so therefore he was not a dragon. (That’s why she insisted on watching the crowning. So apparently she is the one who is the true heir.

This is an interpretation based on the show and not what George or the books say, so it’s not a spoiler.

[Anonymous_Coward]

@DigitalC

People complaining about a 1 year wait? Oh my sweet summer child. What do you know of waiting? Waiting is for the long night, when GRRM hides for years and children are born and live and die all before the next book comes out.

Very nice! Funny yet sad because it’s true.

[VinylTurnip]

I thought it was a good episode and I’ve really enjoyed the series, but I was mildly disappointed in the CGI used for the dragons. It wasn’t exactly Harryhausen-esque, but it took me out of the moment for a moment. I hope the next season doesn’t rely too heavily on CGI.

[Kylede]

@DigitalC

People complaining about a 1 year wait? Oh my sweet summer child. What do you know of waiting? Waiting is for the long night, when GRRM hides for years and children are born and live and die all before the next book comes out.

LOL, it would have been okay if he was hiding…in actuality he has been writing a bunch of crap “Wild Card” books and doing hundreds of personal appearances. And each appearance hundreds of people show up to ask him about the next book, he gives really vague answers dedsigned so that more people will show up at the next appearance and he pockets the paycheck he gets for said appearance and laughs at us all the way to the bank… Please people, stop going to see him live, if people stopped showing up in protest, maybe he would write the frakking books!!!

[Tixenfleaz]

So is it safe to read the first book in the series without spoiling next season?

I’ll be heading to the book store at a dog’s run if the answer is yes.

[Acsenray]

@Tixenfleaz

So is it safe to read the first book in the series without spoiling next season?

I’ll be heading to the book store at a dog’s run if the answer is yes.

That’s what I want to know too.

[Alessan]

I think Martin has serious commitment issues. There’s a reason why, in the 25 years of prior to Game of Thrones, he wrote just three shortish full-length novels, each in a different genre.

[DigitalC]

Yes it is safe to read the first book now. There was even some second book stuff already shown.

[gonzoron]

@DigitalC

People complaining about a 1 year wait? Oh my sweet summer child. What do you know of waiting? Waiting is for the long night, when GRRM hides for years and children are born and live and die all before the next book comes out.

LOL! Perfect! (especially when you vividly imagine Old Nan’s voice while reading it.)

Final episode of the season was very good, though like many, I thought it felt like a preview for season 2 rather than a season finale. But there’s not much to be done about that unless you wanted to push the dragon scene into the previous episode and most of the rest into next season. After Ned’s death, the Westeros scenes are all denouement. TV Season finales rarely give you denouement (Buffy S4 is a notable exception).

The Pycelle scene was weird and felt unnecessary, though the fake hunch was cute. But please, no more Ros. Please, enough is enough. I was pleased that the dragon scene came off well, I was worried it might look cheesy, but it was pretty perfect (book quibbles aside).
Overall, I loved watching this season, and loved watching the non-book-readers’ reactions to things. Sadly, I don’t know if I can woo my wife back to watching. Drogo and Rhaego’s fate was the last straw for her (or rather, that their fate was a direct result of Dany’s attempt at mercy.) I may be watching next season on my own.

Can’t wait to see who’s cast in all the new roles for next season; the casting director should get an emmy this season, if an emmy for casting exists. Every single character was spot-on, IMHO. Even Cat, who was not as I pictured, really came into her own in the last few episodes.

[Tixenfleaz]

@DigitalC

Yes it is safe to read the first book now. There was even some second book stuff already shown.

Thank you. Time to gather up the fleas, and I’m off!

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@DigitalC

People complaining about a 1 year wait? Oh my sweet summer child. What do you know of waiting? Waiting is for the long night, when GRRM hides for years and children are born and live and die all before the next book comes out.

:: golf clap ::

That episode ended the first season just right - I really, really enjoyed it. Hard to imagine improving on it. Kudos to HBO.