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i lose at life. and by life i mean understanding some of the subtler hints tossed out in these books-- which is a little silly, given that i've read them all at least five times, and with all the excerpting i did for TR over the years, i've probably read 'storm of swords' eight times. yet it took me until reading this post to realize that the other guy having that conversation with varys while arya is hiding in the skulls was illyrio. is that something you guys (you fans who are as nuts as me) had already picked up on? i'm pretty sure i knew that one of them was varys, though when i reread GoT last month it didn't really stick with me. but it makes a ton of sense given the revelation in book 4 about the martell girl (whose name i still don't remember, oh god, AFFC really is not my favorite book) and viserys.
this episode had me even more on the edge of my seat than most of them have. the scene with sandor saving loras in the tourney has always made me grin and flail; i love how in the book it says that loras makes him take the champion's purse, and for the first time ever sandor has the affection of the crowd. i did like that they're making the loras/renly relationship explicit from the get-go, though i'm sure casual fans of the books (my brother, for example, which had me loling SO hard) might not have picked up on the subtext there. i have always loved/hated the scene with jaime and ned; it's so wretchedly brutal, and so sad for ned, but the setup of jaime's insane protectiveness of tyrion is so good. and speaking of tyrion, i kind of have to admit right now that he's equally my favorite character in these books along with jon, arya and sandor. i can't explain it, i've always been loath to say he was my favorite simply because of how dauntingly awesome he is-- he's so clever and wins at everything just by virtue of being incessantly, annoyingly, sarcastically right about everything. and i love him even though i know that i could never, from an RP standpoint, play him, sadly. he's far too clever for me and far too nuanced. it would be too hard, i think, to play him in any setting other than westeros and not lose pieces of him. but regarding the show, i look forward to his scenes as much as jon's, and that's saying something.
also, can i just have a sidebar to say, it is my fervent hope that at some point in book 5 or 6, i will see jon, arya and tyrion all teaming up with dany to kick whole shit-tons of ass. i don't know how it will happen (except that arya and tyrion are both on dany's side of the narrow sea, so that might be easy to facilitate) but i want to see it. i also want to see dany swooping down on a dragon to lay waste to the others. :3
i've been meaning to do recaps of the episodes of the show (like vega_ofthe_lyre's for the borgias) but i've lacked the time and stamina to do anything other than flail a lot. but i've been loving sam and jon's friendship developing, lena headey as cersei is more perfect than i could have ever imagined (the conversation between her and robert is, as the post i linked above says, incredible), sansa's stubborn naivete and idealism make me insanely excited for the ways she starts to come into her own in AFFC, and dany is just so perfectly herself that it hurts me. the scene with her and viserys last ep was so good. and i like the insert of ser barristan this ep too, it'll set up his appearance in dany's khalasar nicely.
but i'm also curious, flist, at who you think is being given short shrift in terms of characterization. i've read the books so many times it's hard for me to remember or realize what they're leaving out. like, stuff that's just ingrained about the characters and relationships for me; i can't forget it, so i don't notice that the show isn't being explicit about it? idk. i know i wish there was more sandor, because there is more in the books than we've gotten so far. and i'm glad to see they're making more of a point of alliser thorne being a horrible cunt to jon.... anything you guys have noticed they're leaving out?
welp, now that i've written all of that, i'm going to go get in bed and read ACOK and drink a glass of wine. i have to get my teeth cleaned tomorrow for the first time in over 5 years, and they're going to have to numb my whole mouth, which means tons of novocaine shots. frabjous agony. wish me luck. :(
This post crossposted from Dreamwidth (
comments)
this episode had me even more on the edge of my seat than most of them have. the scene with sandor saving loras in the tourney has always made me grin and flail; i love how in the book it says that loras makes him take the champion's purse, and for the first time ever sandor has the affection of the crowd. i did like that they're making the loras/renly relationship explicit from the get-go, though i'm sure casual fans of the books (my brother, for example, which had me loling SO hard) might not have picked up on the subtext there. i have always loved/hated the scene with jaime and ned; it's so wretchedly brutal, and so sad for ned, but the setup of jaime's insane protectiveness of tyrion is so good. and speaking of tyrion, i kind of have to admit right now that he's equally my favorite character in these books along with jon, arya and sandor. i can't explain it, i've always been loath to say he was my favorite simply because of how dauntingly awesome he is-- he's so clever and wins at everything just by virtue of being incessantly, annoyingly, sarcastically right about everything. and i love him even though i know that i could never, from an RP standpoint, play him, sadly. he's far too clever for me and far too nuanced. it would be too hard, i think, to play him in any setting other than westeros and not lose pieces of him. but regarding the show, i look forward to his scenes as much as jon's, and that's saying something.
also, can i just have a sidebar to say, it is my fervent hope that at some point in book 5 or 6, i will see jon, arya and tyrion all teaming up with dany to kick whole shit-tons of ass. i don't know how it will happen (except that arya and tyrion are both on dany's side of the narrow sea, so that might be easy to facilitate) but i want to see it. i also want to see dany swooping down on a dragon to lay waste to the others. :3
i've been meaning to do recaps of the episodes of the show (like vega_ofthe_lyre's for the borgias) but i've lacked the time and stamina to do anything other than flail a lot. but i've been loving sam and jon's friendship developing, lena headey as cersei is more perfect than i could have ever imagined (the conversation between her and robert is, as the post i linked above says, incredible), sansa's stubborn naivete and idealism make me insanely excited for the ways she starts to come into her own in AFFC, and dany is just so perfectly herself that it hurts me. the scene with her and viserys last ep was so good. and i like the insert of ser barristan this ep too, it'll set up his appearance in dany's khalasar nicely.
but i'm also curious, flist, at who you think is being given short shrift in terms of characterization. i've read the books so many times it's hard for me to remember or realize what they're leaving out. like, stuff that's just ingrained about the characters and relationships for me; i can't forget it, so i don't notice that the show isn't being explicit about it? idk. i know i wish there was more sandor, because there is more in the books than we've gotten so far. and i'm glad to see they're making more of a point of alliser thorne being a horrible cunt to jon.... anything you guys have noticed they're leaving out?
welp, now that i've written all of that, i'm going to go get in bed and read ACOK and drink a glass of wine. i have to get my teeth cleaned tomorrow for the first time in over 5 years, and they're going to have to numb my whole mouth, which means tons of novocaine shots. frabjous agony. wish me luck. :(
This post crossposted from Dreamwidth (
comments)