GoT thoughts
Okay, so I slept on it and...Iâm not sure things lived up to my expectations.
In some ways I know, nothing can ever live up to the first time you read the Red Wedding chapters, the feel of menace leading up to it, the shock as you watch it happening, the desperation clear in Aryaâs and Catâs views on whatâs going on around them. But on reread, it still works; the writing is still crisp and horrific even when you know the end.
And the show...didnât have that. Knowing it was coming was about the only way I felt the dread that was so clear on the page. And it just doesnât feel like as much of a massacre as it does in the book. A lot of people die sure (and I will give props for changing out the half-wit Frey son for the wife, that was a good change), but theyâre all nameless faceless background players; except for the leads of course
Part of the problem is I really feel like this season of the show hasnât quite gotten whatâs important set up in the books. And some of that is a consequence of decisions in seasons past, but some of it is just from recent ones. I know there are reasons why we donât get all the minor characters we do in the books, but I feel like itâs really important to have them as representations of the larger picture especially for something like this.
I also have mixed feelings about the use of Rains of Castamere. They would have never have been able to leave it out, itâs so iconic in the books that they spent a year building it up so that it could be used here, but...itâs use was weird, especially when I was expecting something loud and driving like in the book rather than slow and mournful we got here.
It may benefit from a rewatch in a few months, knowing what Iâm actually going to get rather than how I picture it in my head. But knowing Nedâs death was coming back in season 1 didnât matter much when it came to seeing it, it still got to me. This...it was well acted and shot for what it was, but it just wasnât enough for me apparently. I think this whole season has had the drawback of me going into it thinking that by splitting the book in two they would be able to include more of the things I loved about the story and they really havenât, so again maybe watching it as a whole and taking it for what it is will help later, but right now Iâm feeling a touch let down.
P.S. Rickon is not nearly screwed up enough for my taste.
In some ways I know, nothing can ever live up to the first time you read the Red Wedding chapters, the feel of menace leading up to it, the shock as you watch it happening, the desperation clear in Aryaâs and Catâs views on whatâs going on around them. But on reread, it still works; the writing is still crisp and horrific even when you know the end.
And the show...didnât have that. Knowing it was coming was about the only way I felt the dread that was so clear on the page. And it just doesnât feel like as much of a massacre as it does in the book. A lot of people die sure (and I will give props for changing out the half-wit Frey son for the wife, that was a good change), but theyâre all nameless faceless background players; except for the leads of course
Part of the problem is I really feel like this season of the show hasnât quite gotten whatâs important set up in the books. And some of that is a consequence of decisions in seasons past, but some of it is just from recent ones. I know there are reasons why we donât get all the minor characters we do in the books, but I feel like itâs really important to have them as representations of the larger picture especially for something like this.
I also have mixed feelings about the use of Rains of Castamere. They would have never have been able to leave it out, itâs so iconic in the books that they spent a year building it up so that it could be used here, but...itâs use was weird, especially when I was expecting something loud and driving like in the book rather than slow and mournful we got here.
It may benefit from a rewatch in a few months, knowing what Iâm actually going to get rather than how I picture it in my head. But knowing Nedâs death was coming back in season 1 didnât matter much when it came to seeing it, it still got to me. This...it was well acted and shot for what it was, but it just wasnât enough for me apparently. I think this whole season has had the drawback of me going into it thinking that by splitting the book in two they would be able to include more of the things I loved about the story and they really havenât, so again maybe watching it as a whole and taking it for what it is will help later, but right now Iâm feeling a touch let down.
P.S. Rickon is not nearly screwed up enough for my taste.