A few quick thoughts on Game of Thrones

[beer_good_foamy]

(Please note - I'm unspoiled on the books and want to remain so)

1. Am I the only one who thinks Mance Rayder looks and acts exactly like Tom Baker in Blackadder? I keep expecting him to look at Jon Snow and gasp "You have a WOMAN'S sword, milord!" Whereupon Ygritte would kick his ass, because she's just that awesome. (And Jon would look unhappy, because it's what he does.) Seriously, I loved Ygritte essentially telling Jon she's his now and he better be loyal.

2. A bit disappointed that we didn't get to hear exactly what Tyrion told Sansa and Shae. Then again, I can understand why; that had to be one of the most cringingly uncomfortable proposals in television history.

3. Roose Bolton is a fun villain. So far.

4. Gendry's in trouble, isn't he? Seriously, why would anyone fall for that "You're more important than all of these people" schtick. This isn't a story where being important is a good thing. Look at the title of the show, feroldgodssakes. It's a chess game, and contrary to popular imagery, you don't just sacrifice pawns - the bigger the play, the bigger the sacrifice.

5. Speaking of which, Ros and Gil is dead. Littlefinger is really making his moves this season, isn't he? I knew it wouldn't turn out well for her when Ros was adamant about being a former prostitute the other week.

6. Olenna vs Tywin. Please, sirs, can I have some more? And the Tyrion-Cersei alliance is... very very awkwardly proceeding to almost actual existence.

7. There's something here about what I said in this meta a year ago. Tommy Carcetti Littlefinger is playing the full ruthless The Wire-like politician, playing the system for his own needs - "chaos is a ladder" and all that, subverting the traditional high fantasy story about honour and swords and stuff. But is that the story he's in? There's lots in this season about social climbing - the not-so-merry-men Arya and Gendry have taken up with, the Tyrells essentially setting themselves up as the new dynasty, Ygritte and Osha being working-class heroes (Osha knows how to skin a rabbit; Sam doesn't know how to build a fire), etc. That's a different story, one of power structures changing to a different order, but there's still a climb. And then there's Arya's archery scene (significant, that's how she was introduced in the first place back in s1); don't hold back, don't aim, just trust your eye to know where the arrow will land. Very Stephen King's Gunslinger:

I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I aim with my eye.

I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my mind.

I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart.

And like Dany (and Buffy), Arya has more experienced men tell her that she isn't as good as she thinks she is, that she needs to stop and learn and do things the right way. The trick is to separate the useful wisdom (how to fire an arrow) from the bits that say "wait for us to handle things the way we're used to." As Joffrey demonstrated, firing an arrow is easy. The trick is to know when and who to shoot. (Right, Katniss?) There's those who climb, and there's those who tear down walls.

These days, of course, we don't use bows and arrows to kill anymore. But we still use arrows as roadsigns, as turn indicators, and in flowcharts. Fire an arrow in an unexpected direction and you can show people entirely new roads. Or old forgotten ones. (Then again, they're used in weathervanes too, turning when the wind changes. And how gorgeous is that shot of the winter wind blowing in over the North at the end...?)

8. Nobody slapped Joffrey again. I can only assume they're saving up for a huge slapfest in the last episode. They'll have to bring in caterers to feed the people waiting their turn.

Comments

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I'm both surprised and not surprised they went there with Gendry. This is merging Gendry with another character (which doesn't completely surprise me as they've never introduced Robert's other surviving bastard son so I always considered it to be a possibility that Gendry might be turned into both at once.) Makes me curious about the rest of Gendry's story...

Similarly, I laughed at the Meera/Osha fight earlier in the episode as it seems a bit meta that these two are essentially sharing a character at this point. :)

Poor Arya. Glad she was getting archery pointers (could come up useful someday!) And unnerved by Melisendre's sight re: Arya. I'm wondering how exactly to interpret that.


I also shocked myself at actually feeling sorry for Ros. What a bad way to go. Ughh!

And I was thinking this morning that what works for Sansa is that she's just such a normal girl. The girl has no game and is never three steps ahead of anyone. She just wants what a teenage girl wants and reacts like a normal teenaged girl would react. Loras is her boy band crush (more than that, it was her ESCAPE! Poor girl.) So while we may shake our heads at her naivte, it's a understandable and identifiable naivte. She's just a kid and just behaving like a normal person... caught in hell.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Oh, intriguing. I've wanted more story for Gendry for some time now, and it's nice to know that someone at least knows who he is... not that I suspect it's going to be all that nice for him.

The Meera/Osha fight was great even without that background, so I can imagine what it must be like for someone who's read the book. "Are you going to punch the rabbits to death?"

I'm taking Melisandra a lot more seriously now than I did before. Whoever that god is, it clearly grants its followers very real power that's not limited to just her personal magic. I'm wondering if we were supposed to think she was genuinely shaken by what she saw, or if she's just playing it up to impress.

I also shocked myself at actually feeling sorry for Ros. What a bad way to go. Ughh!

Yeah, there were quite a few arrows that wouldn't have killed her outright, weren't there? Ewww. (And intriguing parallel between Joffrey and Arya.)

And I agree about Sansa, though I can't help but think that they've pulled her back a bit - she seemed on her way to becoming a lot more savvy in s2 than she is now. Ickiness notwithstanding, I'm looking forward to seeing her and Tyrion interacting more - I wouldn't expect Tyrion to forget that she's a Stark, but at least he's a not-actively-malicious person and has never shown her anything but respect, and he's not afraid of being frank. We'll see.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I sympathize with the show having to deal with roughly a bazillion characters from the books, especially since Martin has a way of having characters disappear from the narrative for a period only to return in a later novel. That has to be really tough for a television series, so I sympathize with their having to make some choices regarding which novel characters to retain and which can be eliminated, with their duties shifted to a better established/previously established/more essential character rather than introducing yet another new face. I've long wondered whether Robert's two surviving bastards might be merged into one, especially since the show's hunt for Robert's bastards never mentioned the existence of the other one. Their taking Gendry to Dragonstone confirms that Show!Gendry is now both himself and his half-brother (How Westeros!)

I think this was probably a smart move by the show. We already have more emotional attachment to Gendry.

My impression of Mel is that she has power but is not all-powerful. So... I don't know.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

My impression of Mel is that she has power but is not all-powerful. So... I don't know.

Yeah, that was kind of what I meant. What she did with Renly could have been dismissed as just her doing it. If that power (and even more of it, since she seems truly shocked that someone can be brought back that many times) isn't exclusive to her but is actually something that others can use too, she becomes a more interesting character IMO.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Kind of makes you wonder whether there's a Westeros Olympus where all those gods are duking it out. I've never had the impression that the Three-Eyed-Crow who is associated with the Weirwoods and Bran was connected to the Lord of Light, but both seem to lend some sort of power to mere mortals.

And then there's whatever it is leading the Zombie horde...