Who’s been watching? What do you all think?
I don’t have HBO at home so I’ve had to put a little work into finding venues from which to view the last two episodes. A friend’s couch, after work at my office… I have a feeling the after work on Monday nights is going to be my regular viewing method. Possibly for True Blood as well when that comes back. I don’t think I can get OT for this, can I?
But hey, distracted much. Game of Thrones! Episodes 1 & 2!
A couple of thoughts:
First, I love it. But I think I’d love it almost no matter what given how much the anticipation has been built. I mostly love it. I like it?
Even if Episode 1 left me wanting… a little bit more? Episode 1 was just LOTS of set up which got to be tedious at times. I’m interested to know what people who haven’t read the books think?
Also, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about how the relationship between Dany and Drogo is portrayed. I know there’s been talk online about how they’ve changed certain things and well… yeah… I don’t know. It’s super exhausting to see female characters in a billion different versions of rape scenarios, metaphor or otherwise. At the same time, I can see how it could be difficult to convey the complexity and nuances of how their relationship is built in the book. Honestly, it’s pretty rough for Dany in the book at first too. She’s married to man who is way older than her, doesn’t speak her language, and used to customs she finds barbaric. On top of being raised by an insane, abusive older brother in a constant state of uncertainty over their future and knowledge that their parents were betrayed and murdered in the past. Her life in the beginning is nothing but fear.
Long story short, I’m reserving judgement until I see how it plays out over the next couple of episodes.
Episode 2. Arya! Love her. Love the scene between her and John. And her at the river. And just everything her.
Still not sure how I feel about the kids being older. I mean, I know it’s sort of an obvious thing that had to happen with logistics of television production. But mostly with Jon Snow and Rob and Theon, it’s just been kind of throwing me off. I’m sure I’ll get over it.
I still feel like a lot of this is establishing stuff and I’m anxious to move further into the story. It’s fun seeing a visualization of the books but I think when all is said and done, I like the show because I love the books.
People who haven’t read the books need to tell me what they think!
April 28, 2011 at 1:46 pm
I know that plenty of stories tend to show women in shitty positions to acknowledge that, in these types of governing systems, women will always get the short shrift. But yeah, at the same time, I hate constantly seeing women getting raped for the writers to get a point across.
April 28, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Seriously. I think I’ve learned enough about history and other cultures (and, frankly, our own culture) to know that yes, women’s place in society frequently sucks, women are raped. I don’t need to constantly be reminded of that in fiction, it’s lame/terrible/traumatizing enough in real life. Use a different literary device already.
I think what really needs to happen here is that there need to be more women writing* these things. Less rape, possibly more slashy sexy times, awesomeness all around!
*This might be a slightly selfish but excellent opinion of mine.
April 28, 2011 at 4:47 pm
As a fan of the books, I too am interested to see what people who haven’t read them think of the show.
I felt a lot better after seeing the 2nd ep, as the first one was all over the place, not a lot of focus, buckets of information, too much too fast, you know? 2nd ep was more focused, as we already know who everyone is they can get past the introductions and into the story.
I think it’s really gonna get good when Viserys gets his “crown”.
May 13, 2011 at 10:58 am
So after watching the next two episodes, I’m getting really sucked in. I think they’ve really hit their stride in episode 4. And I think you’re right, it’s gonna be good when Viserys gets his!