Game of Thrones 1x04 Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things
I'm...not sure yet what I think of this episode. I think I may like it a little less than last week's, in terms of pacing, despite the introduction of SAMWELL FUCKING TARLY! And some other things that I really liked.
So, first, the stuff I didn't like so much - some of the exposition seemed a little forced in this ep. I... am wondering why they chose this episode to explain who Theon Greyjoy is and why he's at Winterfell, etc. It was okay, in terms of seeming to come up naturally in conversation (unlike some other stuff I'll mention), but I'm not sure what its purpose is except maybe "well, it's episode four, maybe we should explain who the hell this guy is".
I'm also not sure what I thought of Littlefinger telling Sansa ~all about~ the Hound and the Mountain. (And, honestly, I was sort of hoping the tournament would be a slightly bigger action set piece than it ended up being). And, uh, where's Petyr's "life is not a song" line to Sansa?! THEY BETTER NOT HAVE CUT IT OUT ENTIRELY. THAT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE LINES IN GOT.
But honestly, I was sort of hoping to have Sandor kind of menacing her and scaring the crap out of her with the story. IDK it's probably me being a sadistic sort of Sandor/Sansa shipper. Wargh.
And, okay, having Pycelle tell Ned helpfully that Varys is a eunuch? C'mon, they could've done a WAY better job of putting that in somewhere.
BUT!
There was much stuff I liked!
HODOR! HODOR! HODOR!
Also, the little scene outside the king's bedroom, with Jaime and Jory - that was awesome. And, hey! Ned and Cersei get another scene! Always fun to build that tension and remind us that ultimately it's a Stark vs. Lannister game that's being played (at least as far as anyone knows...)
And, Dany. Oh, Dany. ♥ THE YOUNG ONE IS LEARNING. Viserys might be no more than the shadow of a snake, but I'm not sure Rhaeger was the last dragon. She's finding her strength - of course, she's still got a lot of hard lessons to learn, but now that we're past the rather painful first couple of episodes, I'm falling in love with her arc as much as I did with her in the books.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about Sansa's blaming of her father - on one hand, it's a pretty typical teenage thing, so, makes sense. On the other... I never got that from the book. Am I wrong? Meh.
And Arya, who was only in about two scenes this week and, as usual, totally stole them.
Of course, the real juicy stuff this week was happening at the Wall, and I pretty much loved every minute of it. Sam! Jon! No one hurts him ever again! A WILD GHOST APPEARS TO SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF EVERYONE! I just adore the early rapport between Jon and Sam. Be still, my heart! Laughing and joking and confiding deep secrets to each other. BROMANCE. EPIC BROMANCE.
Oh, and of course, THREE-EYED CROW!
So, first, the stuff I didn't like so much - some of the exposition seemed a little forced in this ep. I... am wondering why they chose this episode to explain who Theon Greyjoy is and why he's at Winterfell, etc. It was okay, in terms of seeming to come up naturally in conversation (unlike some other stuff I'll mention), but I'm not sure what its purpose is except maybe "well, it's episode four, maybe we should explain who the hell this guy is".
I'm also not sure what I thought of Littlefinger telling Sansa ~all about~ the Hound and the Mountain. (And, honestly, I was sort of hoping the tournament would be a slightly bigger action set piece than it ended up being). And, uh, where's Petyr's "life is not a song" line to Sansa?! THEY BETTER NOT HAVE CUT IT OUT ENTIRELY. THAT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE LINES IN GOT.
But honestly, I was sort of hoping to have Sandor kind of menacing her and scaring the crap out of her with the story. IDK it's probably me being a sadistic sort of Sandor/Sansa shipper. Wargh.
And, okay, having Pycelle tell Ned helpfully that Varys is a eunuch? C'mon, they could've done a WAY better job of putting that in somewhere.
BUT!
There was much stuff I liked!
HODOR! HODOR! HODOR!
Also, the little scene outside the king's bedroom, with Jaime and Jory - that was awesome. And, hey! Ned and Cersei get another scene! Always fun to build that tension and remind us that ultimately it's a Stark vs. Lannister game that's being played (at least as far as anyone knows...)
And, Dany. Oh, Dany. ♥ THE YOUNG ONE IS LEARNING. Viserys might be no more than the shadow of a snake, but I'm not sure Rhaeger was the last dragon. She's finding her strength - of course, she's still got a lot of hard lessons to learn, but now that we're past the rather painful first couple of episodes, I'm falling in love with her arc as much as I did with her in the books.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about Sansa's blaming of her father - on one hand, it's a pretty typical teenage thing, so, makes sense. On the other... I never got that from the book. Am I wrong? Meh.
And Arya, who was only in about two scenes this week and, as usual, totally stole them.
Of course, the real juicy stuff this week was happening at the Wall, and I pretty much loved every minute of it. Sam! Jon! No one hurts him ever again! A WILD GHOST APPEARS TO SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF EVERYONE! I just adore the early rapport between Jon and Sam. Be still, my heart! Laughing and joking and confiding deep secrets to each other. BROMANCE. EPIC BROMANCE.
Oh, and of course, THREE-EYED CROW!