OH, SISTER, I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND: I'm not the person to give Game of Thrones the full recap treatment; thank goodness for Sepinwall. I'm not a fan of the fantasy genre, not even of the Rings movies, but on the recommendation of The Critics We Like and Mr. Spaceman I did sample the HBO premiere last night and I'm going to try to stick with it for a bit. If you're a fan of Boobies and Beheadings, oh boy is this your show, and if you're a fan of Lots and Lots of Exposition even more so.
I'm still in the "now who was that again?" mode, so the HBO guide helps me not refer to Jaime as "the guy who looks like Aaron Eckhart" who's responsible for this post's title. (Less helpful: the Salon guide, which I didn't realize just how much it was spoiling until the end of this episode fell.) But there's enough plot and intrigue to have me interested in more, if not quite craving more the way I was right away with The Sopranos or Rome. My track record of sticking with HBO shows is not the best, so we'll see if I'll be speaking Dothraki in due course or not.
[As Alan suggests, our spoiler policy is this: don't talk about plots from later in the books.]
Like Alan, I have deliberately not read the books and avoided spoilers as much as I can, while still familiarizing myself with some of the basic relationships. (For instance, it was quite helpful to know going in that one of Ned's children was a bastard, as that got established later in the episode than it should have been.) That said, I inadvertently was spoiled on one major plot point in this season when looking at a character page on Wiki, so be careful.
ReplyDeleteAnd Adam, you well know that nothing kills a show like too much exposition.
Snow's bastardage was hinted at earlier when he tells Bran "Father is watching. And your mother too." (paraphrased). The kind of subtle exposition I would never in a million years have picked up on had I not read the books. Very curious to see how shocking (in a plot, not content sense) the incest was to non-readers; I thought they kind of telegraphed it in the characters' introduction, but, again, very hard to tell what I am seeing vs what I am inferring based on prior knowledge.
ReplyDeleteOverall I thought the pilot was a great introduction to the world and the characters, with the production design especially brilliantly wrought. I also think it's worth noting that the books hardly hold your hand in terms of exposition either--given the novels' structure (chapters are told from a fairly limited POV of a handful of characters), a lot of the backstory (Targaryens, for one) is hinted at in drips and drabs, and not spelled out simply so that dummies like me can easily grasp it.
But when that parentage did get established, boy howdy did it get established. I turned to the one person in our viewing room who hadn't read the books and said, "Have you figured it out yet? He's a BASTARD."
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if they'd leave in the character death that happened at the end of this first episode. I mean, I'd think you'd kind of have to and if they hadn't, I'm not sure I would've kept watching.
ReplyDeleteI don't have HBO, but my parents do, and I will be there for 9 days starting Friday, yup that's going to make me find an HBO friend near my home before I get back.
ReplyDeleteI'm not the biggest fantasy fan in the world, but I'll stick with this a few more weeks. I thought the characters were interesting, and I think I know who they are. We'll see if I can remember who's who next week. I wasn't shocked at the incest so much as confused. I couldn't remember at the end of the hour whether those two were siblings or not from their introduction. I went back and watched their first scene and then was suitable grossed out. Also, totally gasped out loud when the character died. Was not prepared for that!
ReplyDeleteMy one complaint about set dressing is what I tend to complain about all fantasy dramas set in dreary areas: Doesn't anyone in "the north" own an article of clothing that isn't black, gray or dark blue? Surely they must have access to red or green dyes, right?
If the opening scene of the first episode of The Wire is one of the best of establishing a show's universe and theme ("<span>McNulty: If Snot Boogie stole the money, why’d you let him play? </span><span>Kid: Got to. It’s America, man.") the final scene of the first episode of Game of Thrones is just about as good at establishing the stakes of this world. </span>
ReplyDeleteThe Northmen (the Starks and their bannermen) are grey and dour people, so the monochrome is both a character detail and a way to distinguish those locations from the ones in Kings Landing in particular, but also from the other locations in Westeros and across the Narrow Sea.
A friend who's read the books asked this morning if I (who have not) had any difficulty following the relationships. None at all! I was very impressed with the deftness of the exposition.
ReplyDeleteHBO had (still has?) an on demand character guide, which I watched before the episode, so I had no problem following along.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good start and I'm sticking with it (oh, who am I kidding? I'd have stuck with it anyway). Some really excellent casting so far, though as usual I'm less than fully interested in Daerys and her Adventures With The Horse Prince. Like Spider-Man and X-Men (the movies), I'm willing to let a first episode go as setup and hold it to a slightly smaller action standard, but there's some fine stuff here among the exposition. And the kid pklaying Arya? Perfect.
ReplyDelete(Also, for readers of the books, if you want to have a pleasant SQUEEE feel free to look uo who's going to be playing Osha.)
It was pretty much slavishly true to the original, which is probably just fine. There has to be a lot of exposition -- it was covering something like 150 pages of the novel. I thought it was generally well acted and gorgeous. The show actually has a lot more explicit sex than you get in the book. With a few exceptions, I think that Martin leaves the details out of most of the sex scenes. I guess there's a difference between reading "Tyrion and his prostitute finished up and started talking" and watching it.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, did we even see a shot of Rickon, the youngest Stark kid?
ReplyDeleteI have read the books and do not want to spoil anything, so I will just say that generally in fantasy, unless you see a dead body (or a rolling head), you can never assume someone is dead.
ReplyDeleteI loved it, and am glad to see positive reviews, considering the opening. I appreciate as a fan that they kept the prologue as an opening, but I was surprised they did, as the first fifteen minutes don't tie into the rest episode very well.
Also, loving the cast, especially Arya and Jon Snow. And Dinklage, which goes without saying.
Yeah, I get it, but it's one of the things about the fantasy genre that drives me crazy. Maybe I just focus on it more in these worldscapes than I do on non-fantasy things. I mean, it's not like the characters on "The Good Wife" are wearing loads of bright reds and vibrant blues
ReplyDeleteHe was sitting off behind Bran, Jon and Robb during their first scene (archery) and was also in the lineup with the other Stark children when the King arrived. If you didn't know he existed as a character from reading the books, you might not have noticed him as one of the five non-bastard Stark children.
ReplyDeleteInstead of death, I should have said, "Incident which, because my brain is twisted, had me humming a Violent Femmes song."
ReplyDeleteAside from ponderous multi-generational novels about the antebellum South or Victorian England, the one genre I have trouble getting into from the outset is sprawling fantasy epics. Don't get me wrong, I'm down with all the castles and kings and snow zombies and palace intrigue, but anytime I feel like there's required reading (maps, family trees, histories of the world) before I actually read the thing Iwant to be reading... Well, it just feels like a better writer would weave that into the fabric of the story and pace/structure the plot appropriately.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not to say that GRRM does that here, because I haven't read the books, but I thought they handled the exposition quite well. It never felt too anvilicious, and if the INCEST and BASTARD parts were loud I can only imagine it's because they're important plot threads.
I wish that BASTARD scene had come off a little better - it was supposed to be Tyrion (the dwarf) giving some damn good (and hard-won) advice to Jon: that thing they're going to use to take you down? Twist it so that it's your strength. I don't know why that didn't come off as well on-screen as it did on the page. On-screen it felt more like Tyrion making sure the audience knew that Jon Snow is a BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD and less like a very interesting revelation about Tyrion's character.
ReplyDeleteI actually did get the emotional judo aspect of the conversation, but it was definitely underplayed in favor of "THIS GUY WAS BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK".
ReplyDeleteNot just about Tyrion's character, but about Jon Snow's as well. TV-Snow seemed more dense about that than book-Snow, who knew enough to hold on to the advice, even if he didn't really use it until later.
ReplyDeleteA little late to the party, but enjoyed it. Far easier to follow than was generally suggested pre-viewing.
ReplyDeleteOne honest, albeit, not for everyone question: As Eddard is to Edward is dog-style to missionary style in this fantasy world?
Didn't realize we had a sneak-peak of HBO until last night. Watched the whole episode quite riveted. I haven't read the books and knew the story only in the sort grossest sense, and missed a couple of nuances given that it was way, way past my bedtime, but I may well order HBO for the duration for this one.
ReplyDeleteI confess, being the youngest of five, I loved the Eddard-Bran relationship there as well as the relationship between Bran and his brothers. Too often it's Primogentiure-Up-Your-Arse in these costume dramas, where the oldest son is awesome and the younger sons just go off and sulk or try to prove themselves in battle to win their father's long-withheld approval. Here, it was a father who loves his family. I liked that.
Game of Thrones picked up for season 2. Clock is ticking, George.
ReplyDeletehttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/04/hbo-renews-game-of-thrones-for-a-second-season.html
Ticking or not, let us take Mr Gaiman's advice to heed: George R. R. Martin is not your bitch. http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html
ReplyDeleteVery true. That way lies madness.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/11/110411fa_fact_miller
Nigel from Cameroon, are you really from Cameroon? Because -- I'm pretty sure; correct me co managers -- I think you are our first African correspondent.
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