I'm just going to start posting random thoughts about Game of Thrones: Season 2. Not necessarily a recap, and I promise to not include any spoilers, this will really just be a place to post comments about this season which I'm finding to be extremely entertaining. (Background: with the exception of 'Clash of Kings' - which I let someone borrow and never got back - I've read all of these at least twice. So, yeah, huge nerd for GOT.)- As much of a nozzle Theon is, the running gag of not one person having any clue who he is - or not caring once they find out - is fantastic. Even when all the Northmen declared Robb the King in the North, and Theon laid down his sword...it almost deflated the entire scene. All the other bannermen seemed to be snickering..."Oh, phew...we have Theon now! Lets hope he can persuade his lunatic family to join our cause..this is a great idea!" The Iron Islands, like Philly in the US, are the armpit of Westeros. Just awful.
- I still have no idea what was going on in Littlefinger's brothel. Peepholes, mulitiple jam sessions, veiled/not so veiled threats against Shae...it was like a bizarro version of HBO's "Cathouse". Was Dennis Hof consulted for this episode?? He should've been.
- Well, I think everyone who was worrying about how the direwolves looked last season can shut their mouth...Grey Wind last week, Ghost this week - they are badass. Looking forward to seeing some MacGruber-esque throat rips.
- If their verbal exchange was a game of cyvasse, I think Tyrion put Janos Slynt in check in about 2 moves (or whatever it is you do to win that game). Going to be very interesting to watch Tyrion continue to spar with Varys, Littlefinger, and the rest of the Small Council over the next few weeks - Ned Stark he is not.
- I enjoy getting the occasional glimpse into the batshit crazy mind of Cersei from time to time. Did she really blame Tyrion for Jaime's current position? Yes, the Lannisters went to war because the Starks snatched Tyrion...but, uh, maybe if Cersei hadn't been jamming her brother, had a litter of bastards, and finally watched/encouraged the act of Bran getting chucked off a roof...there would be no war in the first place. When Salador Saan named Cersei as part of his price for helping Stannis, I was really hoping Davos was going to say, "What...whoa, um...well, better idea - how about I hook you up with a free week's stay at Littlefinger's Cat House instead?"
- The Houses of Westeros contain some of most dysfunctional family dynamics in tv history...and I feel like everyone tends to look past the Baratheons. How awful would it have been to grow up in this family? Yeah, Bob, Stan, and Renly - nothing but good times with them, I'm sure. I wouldn't be surprised if their was a 4th brother who joined the Night's Watch just to get away from this disaster. Its a never-ending toughening up process with them...noogies, paralysis, declaring war on each other...the wacky Baratheon brothers are at it again!
i had some additional thoughts , but did not want to put them in the mere comment section.
so they are below these orange lines.... - cobblestone
i had some additional thoughts , but did not want to put them in the mere comment section.
so they are below these orange lines.... - cobblestone
good stuff, billy bob...
little fingers brothel.... good gods.
i almost had the rare laugh/barf (larf?) from that little hankey-wipe, make-out altercation. thats something you know the show creators were laughing their asses off when they threw that little touch... gross.
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| nice doggy... i heard you're named after a swayze movie. is your name too wong fu? |
and to add onto to cersei - big props for her "his wife's is in a coma" style joke to tyrion. here is old tyrion, zinging her left and right like he's rielly at a yankees/firestone meeting - and cersei drops the "oh yeah, well i slept with your wife" record scratcher on the imps giant dome. tyrions is usually the one who does the outwitting, but this round goes to cersei.
bbd, i wanted to put up some GoT thoughts, but also didn't want to post a new blog OR just stick them in this lame ass comment section...
ReplyDeleteso i threw on a post script to your post.
See, I totally disagree with you on the Tyrion-Cersei verbal throwdown. Cersei is so predictable, re-hashing things that happened 30-35(?) years ago - just completely unoriginal. Are we to think this was the first time Cersei unleashed the "oh yeah, well you killed our Mom!" zing on Tyrion? I doubt it. I would imagine she's been trying to hold that over Tyrion's head for years. Her hands are not big enough to hold all the straws she's trying to grasp.
ReplyDeleteThe only people that can go zing for zing with Tyrion, in order: Tywin, Varys, Littlefinger. That's the list.
well, if you watching the show you don't know that tyrion killed their mom when he was born - so for that to be unveiled in that manner is pretty crushing.
ReplyDeletenot to mention the way its played by peter dinklage, he looks pretty crushed by that joke, and his meek "she was my momther too" whimper/reply signified defeat as far i was concerned.
however many times she has used it, it didn't appear he saw it coming with cersei's delivery.
You're right about how it played out on tv - which is why I didn't really like it. The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems that Tyrion would be caught off guard or unnerved by it - he of the "take your weaknesses and make them your armor" philosophy. His reaction was totally contrary to who he is. One of the few added pieces of dialogue from the tv writers that I pretty much despise now (and I realize its a pretty damn minor/petty criticism).
ReplyDeleteagreed... it showed a weakness that tyrion does not outwardly display in the book... however, he does think about that fact, and definitely holds some level of personal shame... buts its pretty much impossible to convey that on tv, unless they give him a creepy soliloquy (soliloquoweeoy?) like littlefinger had in season 1.... (though they could easily have tyrion confess his shame to shae - but i think that woudl make him seem even weaker than having him flinch at cersei's barb.)
ReplyDeletecersei is so transparent that her character has to be one of the easiest to write for. (same for ned stark).... but then it comes to people like tyrion, varys, littlefinger... its gotta be a lot trickier... tyrion especially since he is a main Point-of-view character (unlike varys and littlefinger).. they need some way to show that he's got a lot more to him than how he portrays himself...
a compromise, but one i think they handled as best they could.
I always thought the nature of his mom's death saddened him, but he didn't necessarily feel guilty about it - it was more of a "shit happens" type situation. I thought Tywin probably could have mentioned it at some point to let the tv audience know what happened. Oh well. I always liked how Tyrion's only point of weakness was the circumstances surrounding his "wife" and what Tywin and Jaime did..it was the ONLY thing that really got under his skin. If you keep adding vulnerabilities to Tyrion's character his whole persona kind of goes up in smoke (and I don't think the writers will do this).
ReplyDeleteI always thought Littlefinger would be the most difficult to write for - he has no loyalties to anyone, and will backstab everyone. Agree on Cersei, not only is she probably easy to write for but it has to be kind of amusing as well. And in the name of R'hllor, no more creepy soliloquys. Frankly, moving forward, the less time we spend in Littlefinger's Cat House the better. Total shenanigans in that place.