|
|
| Monday, May 9, 2011 12:48 PM |
| On the Viewer - Game of Thrones (Episode 3 - "Lord Snow") |
 by Fëanor |
As usual, beware the spoilers.
It's slightly hard to believe that Sansa and Arya would still consent to ride on a wagon right next to each other after the events of last episode, but maybe Ned ordered them to.
Ned gets called to a meeting of the Small Council almost before he gets down off his horse! When the messenger suggests he should change into something more appropriate, Ned just stares at him. Ha!
The throne room is beautiful. Nice job, set design folks!
Ned and Jaime engage in some verbal sparring.
Jaime: "People have been swinging at me for years, but they always seem to miss."
Ned: "You've chosen your opponents wisely, then."
Jaime, with much tact, brings up the horrible deaths of Ned's father and brother at the hands of the previous king.
Jaime: "Five hundred men, and this room was silent as a crypt. Except for the screams, of course. And the Mad King, laughing."
Ned: "Is that what you tell yourself at night? That you're a servant of justice? That you were avenging my father when you shoved your sword in Aerys Targaryen's back?"
I think he hit Jaime pretty close to the mark there, judging from Jaime's face.
Varys: "We are all praying for Prince Joffrey's full recovery."
Ned: "Ashame you didn't say a prayer for the butcher's son."
Ned: "Perhaps you chose the wrong man to duel with."
Petyr: "Well, it wasn't the man that I chose, my lord; it was Catelyn Tully - a woman worth fighting for, I'm sure you'll agree."
Renly: "Winter may be coming, but I'm afraid the same cannot be said for my brother."
Varys: "The King has many cares. He entrusts some small matters to us so that we might lighten the load."
Petyr: "We are the lords of small matters here."
Ned's starting to see what he's really in for: fulfilling all Robert's ridiculous demands while the King's off whoring. Of course, Robert pretty much told him that, but turns out he wasn't kidding!
Next comes an odd, added scene between Cersei and Joffrey. Joffrey actually criticizes himself, and admits to being pathetic! But Cersei schools him in the arts of deception and transformation. "Some day you will sit on the throne and the truth will be what you make it." Interesting. It's probably a good move, making Joffrey a slightly more rounded character, and not completely despicable and stupid and awful from top to bottom. But it feels a bit wrong.
Cersei: "And if you'd rather fuck painted whores, you'll fuck painted whores. And if you'd rather lie with noble virgins, so be it. You are my darling boy, and the world will be exactly as you want it to be."
Joffrey actually has ideas about what to do with the kingdom! Most of them are completely stupid, but still. The idea of an experienced, standing army, loyal only to the crown, is actually pretty good, especially considering all the back-stabbing and old enmities between the royal houses.
Joffrey: "So you agree. The Starks are enemies."
Cersei: "Everyone who isn't us is an enemy."
I very much like that final line - that's Cersei up and down. But I'm not sure how I feel about that scene. In the books we never get to see those two characters alone together, and we don't get to see anything from Cersei's perspective until much later on. It's strange to get a look at Joffrey behind closed doors, when he's being vulnerable and truthful.
Ned comes home to find he doesn't know his children very well anymore. "War was easier than daughters."
Ned: "And who were you hoping to skewer with 'Needle?' Your sister? Do you know the first thing about sword fighting?"
Arya: "Stick them with the pointy end."
Ned: [laughs] "That's the essence of it."
Back in Winterfell, a crow lands on Bran's windowsill and caws at him.
Nan: "Don't listen to it. Crows are all liars. I know a story about a crow."
Bran: "I hate your stories."
Nan: "I know a story about a boy who hated stories."
Man, I hope that's not the only thing we're going to hear about crows. I want my three-eyed crow, damn it!
Nan: "Oh, my sweet summer child. What do you know about fear? Fear is for the winter, when the snows fall a hundred feet deep. Fear is for the long night, when the sun hides for years, and children are born and live and die, all in darkness. That is the time for fear, my little lord, when the White Walkers move through the woods."
And she goes on like that. What an awesome story!
Robb: "One time she told me the sky is blue because we live inside the eye of a blue-eyed giant named Macumba."
Bran: "Maybe we do."
I hope we still get to see Tyrion design the special saddle for Bran. I always liked that he did that. It was one of the major signs that he was really a decent man after all.
Huh. We skipped Catelyn's journey to King's Landing entirely. I guess that makes sense. She's not so happy about being brought to a whorehouse to meet Petyr.
Petyr tells Catelyn that the dagger is Tyrion's, thus striking the slow spark that eventually leads to war.
Petyr: "Good news? Perhaps you'd like to share it with your wife."
Ned: "My wife is in Winterfell."
Petyr: "Is she?"
Ned doesn't take kindly to learning that Petyr has put his wife up in a whorehouse, and chokes him for a bit.
Petyr: "Starks. Quick tempers, slow minds."
Another great scene between Jon and Tyrion, as Jon deals with his disillusionment about the Night's Watch, and Tyrion points out where his thinking is wrong. The other boys are in the same boat he is, they're just even worse off, as they haven't had his preparation and training.
Petyr, to Ned: "I'll try to keep you alive, for her sake. A fool's errand, admittedly, but I've never been able to refuse your wife anything."
Catelyn calls Petyr "a true friend." Oh, if only she knew.
Jaime: "I think we can out-fox a 10-year-old."
Cersei: "And my husband?"
Jaime: "I'll go to war with him if I have to. They can write a ballad about us. 'The War for Cersei's Cunt.'"
Jaime: "The boy won't talk, and if he does, I'll kill him - him, Ned Stark, the King, the whole bloody lot of them, until you and I are the only people left in this world."
Next comes an interesting scene where Robert discusses first kills with members of the Kingsguard. Robert rather unwisely (in retrospect) insults Lancel Lannister, and then goes after Jaime. Man, he is really a dick in this show. I mean, I guess he's a dick in the book, too, but actually hearing a live person say these lines while looking deadly serious gives them a bit more weight. I got the sense in the book he was laughing as he talked half the time. Not so in the show!
Robert asks Jaime what the Mad King's last words were. "He said the same thing he'd been saying for hours: 'Burn them all.'" That takes Robert aback.
That was a mostly pointless scene, except for a bit of character development, and a bit of foreshadowing of Lancel's wine-related revenge on Robert. Still, it worked.
Back with the Dothraki, Viserys doesn't take kindly to being ordered around by his sister, and Rakharo doesn't take kindly to Viserys manhandling his khaleesi.
Handmaid: "Rakharo say you should take ear, to teach respect."
Heh.
Viserys: "Mormont, kill these Dothraki dogs!"
Mormont: "..."
Viserys: "I am your king!"
Mormont: "Shall we return to the khalasar, khaleesi?"
Nice. Mormont shows where his true allegiance lies, and Viserys finds out just how much power he really has. And he gets to walk instead of ride! Ha! I knew this was going to happen, of course, but it's a true pleasure to watch Viserys get knocked down a peg in live-action.
Benjen: "You're not going, Jon."
Jon: "But I'm better than everyone-"
Benjen: "Better than no one! Here, a man gets what he earns, when he earns it. We'll speak when I return."
Another Stark promising Jon to talk to him when he sees him again! We'll see how well those promises work out...
Benjen: "Is that what we are to you, Lannister? An army of jesters in black?"
Tyrion: "You don't have enough men to be an army, and aside from Yoren here, none of you are particularly funny."
Benjen: "They die in pain. And they do it so plump little lords like you can enjoy their summer afternoons in peace."
Tyrion, to Yoren: "Do you think I'm plump?"
Good old Tyrion.
I'm kind of disappointed that the handmaid had to tell Daenerys she was pregnant. In the book, she knew herself, immediately. There was something a little mystical about it. Anyway, this scene is followed by a neat little conversation between Mormont and Rakharo, highlighting the differences between the Dothraki and the knights of the Seven Kingdoms. When Mormont hears the news about Dany's pregnancy, he leaves the horde and rides off elsewhere. Readers of the book know why...
Maester Aemon: "The Starks are always right eventually. Winter is coming. This one will be long, and dark things will come with it."
Dany does at least have one premonition about her pregnancy: she's sure it's a boy.
Heh. Tyrion fulfills his wish of pissing off the Wall.
Yay! It's Syrio Forel!
Forel: "You are late, boy. Tomorrow you will be here at midday."
He throws Arya a training sword, which she drops.
Forel: "Tomorrow you will catch it."
Forel: "The steel must be part of your arm. Can you drop part of your arm? No."
Arya: "I'm a girl."
Forel: "Boy, girl. You are a sword. That is all."
Forel: "All men are made of water. Do you know this? If you pierce them, the water leaks out, and they die."
Man, I love the way they've done Syrio Forel. He's perfect!
In probably my favorite scene so far, as Ned watches Arya practice sword-fighting with Syrio Forel, he hears actual blades striking each other in the background, and other sounds of real battle. A look of deep disquiet enters his face. Fantastic.
Another fine, fine episode. They've left out a couple of things that I think are pretty important, but overall they're doing quite well. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
