The Screaming Viking

I got busy last week with basketball camp so I wasn’t able to post my thoughts on Thrones ep 7, this week will combine both episodes.

I’m starting to appreciate what HBO is doing for the story verses what the book has done.  HBO moves really quick and some spots seem choppy to me, but from what I can see in various social networking areas they are holding on to fans.  On twitter I follow some people that you would not expect would be in to this kind of show and they are carving out that time slot on their Sunday to watch…my house must be the only place in the free world that uses tivo for everything.  When the new season for shows I follow is in full swing I don’t even bring up the guide…I very seldom will watch live T.V.  It’s like “power watching t.v.” I guess.  Anyway…

Episodes 7 & 8 can be summed up in pretty much the same post as they both serve the same purpose…they build up a little more story for the excitement that is going to be 9 and 10.  Both shows setup that which is yet to come.  I liked the scene in 7 with Baelish and the whores where he tells the story of him and kat.  That scene added so much to the end when he put the dagger to eddard’s throat…you get a feeling for why he’s doing what he’s doing.  You understand that in the end he has his own interests at heart.  It brings in to question all of the old advise that he gave ned along the way.  A person almost should go back and watch the season again with the “new” information to understand all the nuances about how these people move around on this chess board.

About 1/2 way through episode 8 you have to start feeling sorry for ned.  It’s almost pathetic how “stupid” he is about what’s going on around him.  He seems to operate under the assumption that everyone is interested in ‘doing the right thing’ like he is.  All the people around him are playing this long drawn out chess match to best position themselves to reach their own goals…and this poor guy comes barreling in under the banner of “good” only to get slaughtered by the vipers.  It doesn’t occur to him that someone is giving him less than the truth or that their “word” won’t mean anything when steels starts flying.  You hope that the Starks can catch up to the southerners and their games.

I wasn’t impressed with the rape and pillage scene in ep 8.  It was far more graphic in my mind than what they were able to show on even HBO.  I think that’s my whole problem with the dothraki…I picture their culture so violent and brutal that it just can’t be shown to my satisfaction on HBO.  It’s good to see the Kaleeshi step in to her role. Her failure to embrace the brutality of their culture, I think, will ultimately cost her.  Does anyone else question the motives of the witch doctor treating drogo?  In the book I didn’t give it much thought…but watching it on the screen it seemed like a really stupid thing to allow her to treat Drogo’s wound.  Not sure why that didn’t stand out more to me in print.

Another thing I’m not happy with in the show compared to the book is how old the boys look.  Rob is suppose to be about 15ish, on screen he looks more like mid 20′s.  The other lords treat him like he is a boy, but he doesn’t look the part.  I would have liked to see a much younger actor in that role.  Jon, I think, looks about right, Joffery looks about right…which should be the same age as Rob I think?  Why was Rob chosen to be played by such an old looking actor?

I don’t remember arya killing someone during her escape…but it’s possible I overlooked it.  Come to think of it, there have been several things I don’t remember in the book that is showing up on screen.  Some of it helps build the background, but some of it doesn’t seem necessary.  Trust in HBO though, they are selling this show.  The ratings seem to be right around the 2.5 million per episode mark.  They go a little over 3 million for Sunday once you figure in the repeats.

I read someone in a review posted a quick note about how they think T.V. shows like this are eclipsing movies.  I can see that as far as character development is concerned.  It seems rather obvious.  With new ways to deliver this content (box sets, paid downloads…etc) people like HBO that are willing to put in time and money are able to reap some reward for their effort.  I got all the movie channels for free for 3 months with my direct tv subscription.  I’m going to be holding on to HBO, but the rest of them can be cancelled.  No other network is coming close to holding my attention with their original series like HBO and in the end, that’s what it takes to get my dollar.

Game of Thrones episode 6 I found to be kind of…blah.  I found it to be by far the least interesting episode of the lot.  The crowning was interesting…but other than that I just didn’t find it all that good.  I don’t have much to say really…eh, maybe I wasn’t all that in to the show last night.

Finally caught episode 5 of thrones last night.  It was probably the best episode so far.  It had some good drama, character development, sex and action.  Again though, one of the scenes I looked forward to from the book was a bit short changed.

I like how they have built up the Ned Stark character.  I think you really get a feel for his uncompromising sense of morality.  He’ll kill, go to war but he has a sense of his own morals behind why he does it and there are certain lines he won’t cross.  He calls the king on his B.S. to a point, and in essance gives him the finger when he doesn’t agree with him.  No one wanted to tell Robert he couldn’t joust, but Ned marched in there hell bent on keeping him out of the competition….even telling him he was too fat for his armor.

The mountain killing his horse was cool, but the editing was kinda poor.  It did a good job of showing him hacking off the head of the horse, but when it cut back to the horse falling and all that it didn’t look like it was cut at all.  Obviously this is a very challenging scene to pull off, but I didn’t think they did it that well.  Did the hound kneel knowing he wouldn’t be hit by the mountain’s swing? or was he showing obedience to the crown?  You know that they are brothers, but there is no way the hound could know the mountain would stop.  Either way, that was a pretty cool scene.  I think they did a good job showing how massive this guy is, and the kind of street brawler/thug he is.  The character is what I expected.  What about the hound?  There are glimpses of humanity in him that I didn’t get a sense of until later in the series.  I’m sure that’s necessary for the abbreviated time they have for character development.

Speaking of characters…I think HBO has done a really good job of casting the characters.  While I feel they have glossed over some points and rushed things along…the characters themselves “feel” about like I would expect them too, with the exception of Drogo.  I don’t think they made him out to be the savage as much as I had pictured in my head.  While HBO has done a decent job of developing the characters…Martian did so much better in print.   I don’t think I’ve read another fantasy writer do as much character development that I didn’t find excruciatingly boring.  Martian has done it in such a way that it’s very interesting and makes it difficult to put the book (my phone) down for the evening.

Lysa’s keep (I can’t remember the name of the place) was a scene I was really looking forward to…and it didn’t pay off.  The only thing said in the show about it was that it is “impregnable” (and a nice bit of dialogue followed, “gimme 10 men and climbing spikes…I’ll impregnate the bitch”).  The book goes in to great detail about the massive undertaking it is to make it up to the castle.  It’s a days travel just to get from the bottom of the mountain up in to the thing.  I have no idea if, in later books, the impenetrability of this place will be key or not…but it did help to put an exclamation point on how far off the deep end Lysa has gone.  ”I want to see him fly!”  Really meant something…like they were above the clouds in this place.  I was also disappointed that there was no delving into the relationship between the dwarf and the sell sword.  It will be worked on a bit at the castle…it has to be, but it started on the road to the castle.

The boy sucking on his mother’s breast was kind of disturbing to me.  I knew it was there…and that it was coming but that was one aspect of the book that I glossed over in print, but on the screen it made much more of an impact.  I didn’t like it.  I joked to a buddy that it was “kiddie pr0n”.  I really have no idea what the laws are governing that sort of thing.

The end scene with Ned and Jamie was pulled off -really- well IMO.  Jamie stabbing that dude through the eye was gruesome and cool all at the same time…then his dance with Ned was orchestrated nicely.  The range of feelings the viewer could got (or at least I did) while they were going back and forth really surprised me.  When it starts there is almost a panic in Ned’s eyes and a cold calm in Jamie’s…as it progresses you see that switch, it’s as if Ned finally believes he can take him and Jamie gets worried…then of course…Ned is stuck in the leg.  I would have liked to see Jamie decapitate the guard instead of just hitting him.  I don’t remember how that played out in print.  I know the fight scene was quite a bit different, but stuff like that has to change a little bit to even be shown on T.V.  You can’t really show off fighting on horse back too much.

I’m pretty stoked up for next week.  ”A golden crown” seems to indicate the playing out of a scene that I’ve been anticipating.  I’m very curious to see how they pull it off…I’ve got an image in my head of how it went down…and I’m hoping the on screen version doesn’t disappoint.

From what I’ve read online, the viewer numbers for Thrones have been going up episode to episode.  I like hearing that.  While it’s not necessarily what I had hoped for compared to the text, it is an entertaining series.  I’m hoping the numbers are strong enough to give it a five year’ish run.  It would be nice if it could run out to the end of the text series…but we don’t want to see Martian put in a position where he is rushing to push out a book to keep ahead of the show.  I don’t want to see any of that amazing writing rushed.  Maybe they have a plan and if the series is renewed for a 3rd season and beyond (HBO already picked up a 2nd) things wouldn’t be rushed.  Book #5 is slated for a July 12 2k11 release and there are 2 more planned after that.  I’m hoping he ends the series, I don’t like open ended stories…when I read through a book or even a series of books I like there to be some sort of conclusion or wrap up to everything.

Caught episode 4 of thrones last night and as per the HBO original series formula it is hitting it’s stride.  Over the last 3 episodes though I have noticed that they get a little slow around the 20min mark.  It seems like each one I’ve contemplated turning off at that point and going to bed.  maybe it’s a function of me watching them a little later in the evening than I’d like or maybe they are dragging a bit at that point…either way if I push through that little dull spot it seems like they pick up quite nicely.

I like how they are starting to show some of the abuse of Dany and how they are showing her stand up for herself, “Next time you raise a hand to me you won’t have hands to raise” was a pretty classic line, and her whoopin up on him a little was good too.  It still lacks a bit of foundation, but by this time I’m sure the viewer is drawn in to it and gets the idea.  What I don’t get is how Drogo is going to see the bruise on her face and not go nuts.  It’s not like this is any regular woman in the tribe, this is their queen and he’s going to allow someone to hit her?  Maybe they will play off of that a little bit and the crowning will work itself out….we’ll see I guess.  I will say though I am interested in seeing how this plays out.  I’d like to see Drogo take a little more prominent role, so far he’s been just some guy and everyone talks about how tuff he is.  The end isn’t going to mean a whole lot if he doesn’t become more prominent.  I pictured their party to be bigger as well, but I guess you can’t reasonably show 40k people.

There was some good action at the wall this episode.  Jon is showing how he’s becoming a leader and we finally got some interaction with a wolf!  They have been far too absent, but maybe it was just too hard to show.  Who knows…either way, I’d like to see more of them.

Does the viewer know what Eddard has stumbled on yet…or the significance of it?  I pictured the little bull much larger.  I expected bowling balls for biceps…it’s how I picture every black smith in all the books I read, this mountain of a man bending and shaping iron…

This is probably the first episode where I wasn’t pissed the show differed from the book.  I’m trying to take them as two separate things and it’s pretty hard.  I’m trying to carve out more time to read so I can get through the rest of the books and be ready for #5…but I don’t think I’ll make it by July.