Any room on that bandwagon? A Game of Thrones review...

[cj2017]

And so it begins. Game of Thrones, one of the most hyped and anticipated television shows in a very long time (online at least, I’m sure my mum and most of the people I know in RL couldn’t give a stuff!), finally hits the small screen, or the small computer screen in my own case (and probably that of several million others)...

 

I’ll be honest, I’m not really one for Fantasy as a genre. I did make it through the entire Lord of the Rings movie saga and have vague memories of gorgeous mountains, portentous dialogue, epic battles, ridiculous talking trees and a final instalment that just flat out refused to fucking end, no matter how hard I or my numb buttocks willed it to. So, had GoT not cast Lena Headey in one of the central roles, the chances are that – hype or no hype – I would probably have given it a very wide berth. But it did, so I did the dutiful fan-girl thing and bought the first book. I left it sitting unopened for a couple of months before reading the prologue on an evening of boring telly. Kinda loved it (sorry, haters) and devoured the rest of the novel and then the series so far in pretty short order.

HBO’s adaptation of GoT is based on the first (and very much the strongest) of George R.R. Martin’s series. The premiere last night (Winter is Coming) set its stall out with a very faithful rendering of the prologue that so neatly sucked me into the books: a huge wall of ice, three mysterious men stumbling across the scene of a gruesome slaughter, and the promise of something seriously nasty lurking about in the woods.

Roll credits. And what astonishingly luscious credits they are too. One of the most striking aspects of this first episode is how much of the quite extraordinary amount of money that HBO has chucked at the show makes it onto the screen. The sets and artwork are stunning, the locations beautiful – the North appropriately dour, green and misty, while Malta standing in for Pentos is a stark contrast of sun, sea and sin. Extras teem in their hundreds and – almost as if they have a sneaky suspicion exactly to what extent their work will be scrutinised – painstaking attention has been paid to the little details in costuming, set dressing and set pieces. The only jarring note visually came from Bran’s dash across Winterfell’s walls, where the green screen stood up to take a very apparent bow, but that’s me splitting hairs really…

As ever with fantasy, the world takes a little settling into. In parts of this opener, the dialogue sounds stilted and exposition-heavy, there are more characters than you can remember the names of and past history is alluded to but not dwelt upon. Even so early in the game, this is a series that expects you to commit, to tune in again next week and to pay attention to the details. Doubtless some will turn tail and flee, but for those who stick around, the confidence evident in the sheer scope and ambition of the thing can only be encouraging.

Cast-wise there’s barely a duff note so far. Sean Bean has never really done much for me, but he’s a decent, solid presence as the decent, solid Patriarch of the North. Michelle Fairley as his wife Catelyn is sadly a huge energy-suck but the role was ever a thankless one – she’s basically a dull pain in the arse in the novels – so in this I guess they are also being faithful. Of their offspring, Maisie Williams’ Arya stands out. Despite her relatively minor introduction, she seems to have the perfect amount of devilment, which bodes well for the rest of the series.

Over in House Lannister, Peter Dinklage is obviously having a hell of a lot of fun with Tyrion – as well he might, given the Imp’s exploits. Nikolaj (whoops, watch that accent, mate!) Coster-Waldau didn’t do much till the very end where he seemed to warm to the role of Jaime quite nicely, but yeah yeah what about their sister? Personally, I reckon Headey will be just fine as Cersei. Even with a pretty small role in this first episode, her distinct air of aloof boredom had a pleasingly nasty current running just below the surface, and she displayed a nifty flair for the delivery of thinly veiled barbs. The North/South divide in the show, cutely evinced by the regional accents of the cast, might go right over the head of a US audience, but Cersei’s obvious distaste at being dragged away from her beautiful capital city to visit with the muddy peasants oop North (they even called it grim!) gave this Brit a quiet little chuckle.

This being a HBO show, it really wasn’t one to watch with mother. Beheadings, blow jobs, rampant shagging, nudity, and eviscerations (followed by more shagging) all managed to squeeze their way into this first hour, but there was one place the creators didn’t follow Martin. In the novel, the underage bride Daenerys consents to and seemingly enjoys her deflowering at the hands of the warlord she has been forced to marry. This adaptation takes a different stance, making it quite clear that there was no consent from Dany and certainly no pleasure. It may piss off the faithful but from where I was sitting it seemed a brave and common sense stance to take. If they can tone down some of the more dubious sexual aspects of the novels and instead bring to the fore the surprisingly strong cast of female characters, this show – already very good – really does have the potential to be great.

Comments

[missnyah.livejournal.com]

Generally agreed on all fronts really. I was completely amused by Dinklage. If the series is an utter flop, I feel like that guy will just grin and look back at how much fun he had. In terms of Lannisters, I'm very curious about what angle the directors are going with Jaime. I haven't read the books in a few years but I don't really remember him ever speaking for himself for the first ... few thousand pages? I liked Lena's take on Cersei. Her face said, "I don't particularly need your sympathy but I'm certainly not going out of my way to pretend I'm glad to be here."

As far as accents go, I'm sure a lot of it went over my head. But I did find it kind of telling that Jon Snow and Ned sounded more "Northern" than anybody else.

[cj2017.livejournal.com]

I was completely amused by Dinklage.

Oh he has fantastic potential. He was fan fave for the role before he had even been cast and it's pretty obvious why. Just perfect for Tyrion. IIRC he has more scenes with Cersei in the second book, which we should now get to see with the show already being renewed.

I haven't read the books in a few years but I don't really remember him ever speaking for himself for the first ... few thousand pages?

No, I don't think he had much to do at all. I wonder if the expansion of his role has something to do with giving Lena more screen time (Cersei is also a very minor role in GoT). She's one of the bigger names in the project so that might have a part in it. I found him a little insipid (and his accent slightly bizarre!) and now I can't look at him the same way after reading someone on TWOP likening him to the Prince in Shrek! There is a remarkable LOL-worthy resemblance!

Jon and Ned definitely had Northern accents (Bean's a Yorkshire man with a very broad tone!) The Lannisters were more "proper" BBC English. I don't know whether the North/South thing was even intentional with regard to it referencing the N/S split over here, but it did make me smile.

[badforthefish.livejournal.com]

Ayup Duckie,

I haven't watched GoT yet, but I'm about to right now, got my mits on the 720 HD version *beams*. I'm quite excited by your review. I hope this becomes a regular thing. Have you checked out the com?

http://game-thrones.livejournal.com/

[cj2017.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched GoT yet, but I'm about to right now, got my mits on the 720 HD version *beams*.

My lovely missus found me a mint copy to um... obtain. Not had the chance to watch it on the telly yet but once tonight's shift is done with, I will be settling down to do just that. It looked lovely enough in streaming so I have high hopes for the copy sitting on my disc.

I'm quite excited by your review. I hope this becomes a regular thing.

Who knows?! I was just in a writerly mood and not quite coherent enough to write fic!

I think I might be watching that comm. To be honest, I only joined it to see if there were ep uploads. I might nick an icon or two... I'm not sure about leaping into the fandom. I've been lurking on the TWOP pages where the discussion seems quite sensible but the fandom for the books is full of nutters and I can't help but think there will be a clash! It's very difficult to discuss things in terms of the TV show only when people already know where it's going because the books are so widely read. The show is already indicating that it won't follow the books religiously but fans seem to treat the two versions as one entity so it makes it tricky.

[gothamite66.livejournal.com]

I’m not really one for Fantasy as a genre.

I'm not either and I was quite surprised when I found myself all caught up in the the GoT snare. I loved the book and I'm currently working through the second one now. I really enjoyed the first episode. I gave it two watches which rare for me. I absolutely love the photography. Very beautifully photographed.

I'm eagerly awaiting next week.

[cj2017.livejournal.com]

I'm not either and I was quite surprised when I found myself all caught up in the the GoT snare.

I think the closest I come to in terms of liking fantasy is Jacqueline Carey who writes a huge cast and has a map at the front of her novels but I wouldn't really stick her in the fantasy genre somehow (although I'm sure she is categorised that way).

I really enjoyed the first episode. I gave it two watches which rare for me. I absolutely love the photography. Very beautifully photographed.

Oh it looked gorgeous, strikingly so. I think visually they've done an amazing job (and an amazing job for Malta's tourism industry!) I'm looking forward to a rewatch on a bigger screen.

I know ASOIAF has its issues and the first episode shared some of those same issues with race portrayal and male gaze being somewhat problematic. I hope they tone down the rampant female nudity (or at least balance it with some nekkid blokes - not for my benefit but just to level the field a little!) and that the Dothraki become something more than savages being regarded with fear/curiosity/revulsion by their white visitors. I'm pretty optimistic (after what they switched around with Dany) that the show knows what it's doing. One of the things I loved about the books - despite the accusations of misogyny levelled at Martin - was the really strong writing for the female leads; that the characters who are established as obvious heroes at the start aren't necessarily the ones who come to the fore later. With a bit of luck, the TV series will embrace this with open arms!

[lamaudite.livejournal.com]

I'm up to EP 7 or 8... never read the novels so for me it's a total discovery and it's so full and complicated that more than once I found myself online checking out the wiki to know who's who and from which house and who screwed whom, etc.

I find Ned a very strong presence as you mentioned (but then I'm a Bean fan so I'm biased) but you just know that his damn honour is going to cost him, and at the end of the last episode I watched last night, with the Robert dead, I think he's about to find out just how much.

I love the portrayal of the imp and I think the little tomboy, Ned's youngest daughter, is simply delightful. Can't stand the other one but that's probably the whole point. Jaime and his sister, I think it works. They're conniving, manipulative players but their badness is slowly getting more nuanced maybe, with them being given more than the boring two-dimensional black and white evilness to work with. Though I can't find myself liking them, except maybe the fact they have the strength of doing what they see has needing to be done. I think that goes for all Lannisters really. As opposed to Ned.

The ones I've enjoyed the most are Daenerys and Kahl Drogo, and that fallen knight... his name escapes me. But of course, all this is from a viewer's standpoint, as I've never read the books.

What do you think, now that the show is further along? Enjoying it?

[cj2017.livejournal.com]

Oh this damn show! Episode 7 made me want to throw in the towel with its gratuitous, ludicrous girl-on-girl Littlefinger sexposition scene and then two weeks later and episode 9 is just so fucking brilliant it makes you want to stand on a rooftop and cheer. It's so bloody frustrating!

On the whole I have enjoyed it, there's been more good stuff than bad but I think it's struggled with the multiple locations and binding them together coherently and making the episodes flow logically. Some scenes have been clunky with exposition, some eps have felt flatter than others and some of the cast seem to struggle with the dialogue and end up making it too stagey. And then along comes episode 9 and it's just so stunningly good it gives me hope for Season 2.

I love Maisie Williams as Arya, she's been brilliant and it's such an important role so getting that casting right is a real coup. I think most of the main cast are spot-on. Still not keen on Fairley as Catelyn but that might be linked to my dislike of the character in general and I don't like Aiden Gillen as Littlefinger either, he's regularly knocked off the screen by Varys who has been really excellent. I also love hearing lots of Northern accents that always makes me smile. Tyrion and Arya are probably my faves which gels with the novels, theirs were always the chapters I looked forward to. I'm still a little undecided about the Lannister twins. Jaime had more of a journey in the books, I think he's been made more sympathetic (as has Cersei) for TV and that will potentially make his story less interesting. Cersei has had some nice scenes but she's not been in it all that much so it's hard to get a handle on her.

I think overall, I like it but I wouldn't consider myself a fan of it. Emotionally, I'm not completely hooked, I don't find myself thinking about the eps after they've finished (and yet I was absolutely drawn into the novels). Having said that, that last ep was a real, palms sweating, stomach churning game-changer and I knew exactly what was going to happen. Which suggests that they got something very very right with that one!

Now that the story is well under way I'm hoping that things will smooth out in the writing for S2. With the world and the central characters established it might make it easier for the writers to keep things flowing.

PS - the fallen knight is Ser Jorah Mormont ;-) You cannot imagine how many times I had to check the bloody cast list when I was reading the novels!

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

I wonder if not reading the book ahead of time made for a better viewing experience. the series started a bit slow, but it still pulled me in right away and I thought it got even better as it went along. I absolutely loved the first season and am looking very forward to the next one.

Tyrion and Arya are probably my faves which gels with the novels, theirs were always the chapters I looked forward to

Those are my faves too :)


Cersei has had some nice scenes but she's not been in it all that much so it's hard to get a handle on her.

Lena Headey was the whole reason I even gave this show a watch, but I really don't have much opinion about Cersei yet either. With all the talk I heard about the role aead of time, I kept waiting for her to do more. Then I remembered you telling me she's not a major player in the first book. I guess I'll have an opinion about her next season.

[cj2017.livejournal.com]

I wonder if not reading the book ahead of time made for a better viewing experience.

I wondered that myself. But then I pretty much preferred the novels to the show so I was torn really. It's been interesting to see what they've changed, edited out etc. I think one of the very best things was their handling of Ned's death which was a remarkable bit of television. I knew what was going to happen and I still ended up with sweating palms and butterflies!

I think the inconsistency of quality was what bugged me the most. There were probably three eps in all that I thought were really excellent, some of the rest were instantly forgettable and others had excellent scenes intermingled with shite ones. It was an all but impossible task that they set themselves (a task that's certainly not going to get any easier!) and for the most part I do think that they pulled it off. It's just one of those shows that I admire but don't love if that makes sense. It leaves me cold emotionally (conversely, I found the books much more involving) and I don't find myself thinking about it after the credits have rolled. But I'll be there for S2.

The other thing that's been interesting is the fandom fall-out, particularly over Ned. I can't think of another show that's wrong-footed its viewers so very well about who are the actual stars. The novels were never really about the adults and one thing I have loved about the show is how subtly it managed to shift the balance towards the characters who will become more central throughout the coming seasons.

Lena Headey was the whole reason I even gave this show a watch, but I really don't have much opinion about Cersei yet either.

Me too, obviously *g* They actually gave her more to do than she had in the books (which didn't surprise me with her being one of the bigger names) but she didn't make much of an impact on me really. Be nice if S2 gave her more to do than sit in the background and raise her eyebrow!