Game of Thrones episode 4
Pretty in love with the show. I think each episode is better than the last. I'm definitely convinced that the crew behind it know and love this universe, and don't just want to commandeer it for their own purposes.
Nice introduction of Sam, and it got me thinking about...
I remember fully expecting that as the books progressed, Sam would become lean and tough and kind of show everyone up, and being really annoyed that in the fourth book he is still fat and nervous and clumsy. Now I respect GRRM for resisting that. Sam is pretty indispensable to Jon and the Night's Watch just as he is, despite not fulfilling their(/our) idea of what a man should be.
It's an interesting theme to follow through Bran and Jaime too. If Jaime becomes as good a swordsman with his left hand as he was with his right I'll be disappointed, but I don't think that's very likely. It's really wonderfully devastating when he is confronted by how useless he is without his sword hand - just by virtue of never investing himself in anything else. Overall though his sense of self was already so compromised by evils seen and done that I don't know if he ever stops going through the motions long enough to really struggle with his identity as a MAN.
Bran is more troubling for me because he seems to really question the value of his own life, and the lure of inhabiting Summer and other more able-bodied figures is both understandable and discomfiting. So a part of me goes "OMG I hope Bran gets a dragon that he can skinchange into and FLY and burn up fields full of Others" - and a part of me feels guilty for sort of buying into the idea that he needs to be fast, strong, violent, etc.
But I really do hope he gets a dragon. I also kind of want Arya to ride Nymeria into battle, Orc-style. And now that I'm on the topic of awesome creatures in asoiaf, yay to seeing Ghost in ep 4! Too bad they wouldn't show him and Jon bonding. You know, just chilling on the Wall, giving each other deep soulful looks or something.
Nice introduction of Sam, and it got me thinking about...
I remember fully expecting that as the books progressed, Sam would become lean and tough and kind of show everyone up, and being really annoyed that in the fourth book he is still fat and nervous and clumsy. Now I respect GRRM for resisting that. Sam is pretty indispensable to Jon and the Night's Watch just as he is, despite not fulfilling their(/our) idea of what a man should be.
It's an interesting theme to follow through Bran and Jaime too. If Jaime becomes as good a swordsman with his left hand as he was with his right I'll be disappointed, but I don't think that's very likely. It's really wonderfully devastating when he is confronted by how useless he is without his sword hand - just by virtue of never investing himself in anything else. Overall though his sense of self was already so compromised by evils seen and done that I don't know if he ever stops going through the motions long enough to really struggle with his identity as a MAN.
Bran is more troubling for me because he seems to really question the value of his own life, and the lure of inhabiting Summer and other more able-bodied figures is both understandable and discomfiting. So a part of me goes "OMG I hope Bran gets a dragon that he can skinchange into and FLY and burn up fields full of Others" - and a part of me feels guilty for sort of buying into the idea that he needs to be fast, strong, violent, etc.
But I really do hope he gets a dragon. I also kind of want Arya to ride Nymeria into battle, Orc-style. And now that I'm on the topic of awesome creatures in asoiaf, yay to seeing Ghost in ep 4! Too bad they wouldn't show him and Jon bonding. You know, just chilling on the Wall, giving each other deep soulful looks or something.