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| Monday, April 25, 2011 03:41 PM |
| (Last updated on Monday, May 23, 2011 10:40 AM) | | On the Viewer - Game of Thrones (Episode 2 - "The Kingsroad") |
 by Fëanor |
(UPDATE: Much thanks to the always-generous Tina for making it possible for me to watch this episode!)
Spoiler alert! Just so you know.
Watching Tyrion slap Joffrey is incredibly satisfying.
Clegane: "The Prince will remember that, Little Lord."
Tyrion: "I hope so. If he forgets, be a good Dog and remind him."
Myrcella: "Is Bran going to die?"
Tyrion: "Apparently not."
Cersei: [pregnant pause] "What do you mean?"
Heh heh.
Tyrion: "I just want to stand on top of the Wall and piss off the edge of the world."
Jaime: "Even if the boy lives, he'd be a cripple - grotesque. Give me a good, clean death any day."
Tyrion: "Speaking for the grotesques, I'd have to disagree. Death is so final. Whereas life - life is full of possibilities."
One thing that bothered me a little about the first episode was that it focused more on Tyrion's drinking and whoring than it did on his wit and cleverness. I didn't complain about it because I figured they'd make up for it later - and now they have! Excellent.
Cersei tells Catelyn the story of the loss of her first child, and then claims convincingly that she prays for Bran to survive. A very effective scene.
Jaime takes some time out of his busy day to make fun of Jon Snow, apparently for no other reason than he felt like ragging on somebody. Man, what a dick. Meanwhile, in the background, the blacksmith is putting the finishing touches on Needle! Very cool.
I love the scene where Jon presents Arya with Needle, especially the part where Arya tries to make Nymeria do tricks and the direwolf just looks at her like she's crazy.
Jon: "First lesson: stick them with the pointy end."
The scene between Jon and Catelyn isn't quite as horrific and uncomfortable as it could have been, but yeah, you could taste her hate. I like that we get to see Jon telling Robb that utter lie about her afterwards, too - Robb: "My mother?" Jon: "She was very kind." Robb: "Ah, good."
Ned, to Jon: "The next time we see each other, we'll talk about your mother. I promise."
Yeah... the next time you see each other. Uh huh.
Robert tries to make Ned talk about Jon's mother, too - also in vain.
Ned: "The worst thing about your coronation: I'll never get to hit you again."
Robert and Ned argue about the idea of killing Daenerys. It's a good scene. Robert's passion and Ned's honor butt heads again.
Robert: "There's a war coming, Ned. I don't know when, and I don't know who we'll be fighting. But it's coming."
Tyrion: "Life is full of these little ironies. My sister married the new king, and my repulsive nephew will be king after him.... My brother has a sword, and I have my mind, and a mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone. That's why I read so much, Jon Snow."
Catelyn won't leave Bran's bedside, though Robb implores her to do so. Then there's a fire, a man comes to finish off Bran, and Bran's direwolf comes to finish off him. What a fantastic scene. Great acting, drama, suspense, action.
Time to switch back to Dany, who is being attended to by her handmaids.
Handmaid #1: "No dragon. Brave men kill them. It is known."
Handmaid #2: "It is known."
A third handmaid tells a story: The moon is an egg. "Once there were two moons, but one wandered too close to the sun and it cracked from the heat. Out of it poured a thousand thousand dragons, and they drank the sun's fire."
Handmaid #1: "Moon is no egg. Moon is goddess, wife of sun. It is known."
Handmaid #2: "It is known."
Wow. The Wall is impressive.
This is an interesting addition: Catelyn investigates the scene of Bran's fall and finds a long, golden hair. Dun dun dun!
Catelyn has fashioned a series of small figures and attached them to a wheel which she hangs by Bran's bedside. Clearly it's meant to be a religious object, to protect and heal him. I can't remember if this was mentioned in the book or not. Regardless, I like it as a cultural detail.
Dany's handmaid teaches her how to love. Oh my.
The stage is set for the tragedy that ends with the death of one direwolf and the exile of another. This is going to be hard to watch.
Man, I love the direwolves. Go Nymeria! If only she could have just eaten Joffrey right there. If only Arya had just run him through with his own sword. Although throwing it in the river instead was a nice touch.
Arya having to throw a rock at Nymeria to get her to go away: heartbreaking.
Cersei: "We have another wolf."
Robert: "As you will."
Ned: "Is this your command... your Grace?"
Ned: "If it must be done, then I'll do it myself.... The wolf is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher."
Ned: "The butcher's boy... you rode him down?"
Clegane: "He ran. Not very fast."
Inter-cutting the agonizing execution of Lady with Bran's waking was a brilliant move. But I'm really disappointed we didn't get to see Bran's mystical dream of falling, where the crow gives him his third eye, which is so important for later on, and we don't get to see Bran naming his wolf as soon as he wakes, which was such a great moment in the book.
But besides those few rather glaring omissions, this was another really powerful, really well done episode. They're still firmly on the right track with this series, I think. |
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