Yeah, I'm getting the impression that it's just really not my sort of thing. If I want to be unrelentingly depressed and horrified, I watch the news; I generally prefer my fiction a bit more upbeat. I'll probably give it another episode or two, but I suspect I may end up dropping the show and just skimming wikipedia entries on the books to find out what I want to know in terms of the world-building and what happens to the characters I like.
I'm still surprised that I don't hate Cesare/Ursula, it's basically the only canon romance (other than Amy/Rory and sort of Doctor/River, I suppose) in my current roster of shows that isn't pissing me off in one way or another. She's a fictional character rather than a historical one, so they're obviously not going to get married and live happily ever after, but I dunno, it might okay for a while at least. The real Cesare did eventually quit the church and later get married, but that was several years after the point they're at now so who knows if the show will ever get there.
As far as I can tell, so far the series is staying relatively faithful to the books. Granted, the books are HUGE and we're only on episode two, but still.
The thing with Game of Thrones is this: it's a political series based in a fantasy world. And, as in just about any political scene anywhere else in the world/someone's imagination, there are no good guys. Everyone -- even the likable characters -- make really fucked-up decisions and have moments of weakness that are *disastrous* and sometimes get mugged in an alleyway and end up dying to a knife wound.
So yeah. If the set up for the characters so far has you squirming and uncomfortable? You're probably not going to enjoy the rest of it. IT GETS VERY DEPRESSING.
Yeah, I think it's just not the kind of fantasy I enjoy, which isn't the show's fault, but still means there's a pretty good chance I'm just going to drop it and use wikipedia to answer my lingering questions about the world-building and the couple of characters I like. I mean, I guess this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, I've almost certainly looked at the books in a bookstore or library at some point and decided I wasn't interested, it's not like I'd never heard of them or planned to read them but not got around to it. Ah well.
I think I love these shows exactly because it's about people who aren't good and make wrong decisions? I'm always more fascinated by that as painful as it is to watch and GoT will be extremely painful. I actually fangirled about Machiavelli in the latest Borgia ep so much that everything else might've been terrible I would still have enjoyed it immensely. *facepalm*
There's more I want to say but I have to get ready. Will come back to this later.
About the love thing between Cesare and Ursula: I never took it really seriously. I mean, love back then was a different thing entirely and I saw it much more as the Renaissance version of love that to us just looks silly. Maybe it's just me having read too many love poems from that time. ;)
I was utterly enchanted by the location and shot they chose for the duel, but yes, what was that? Basically foreplay with not so metaphorical swords.
It definitely needs more Lucrezia & Cesare again though. And John Lynch as Da Vinci.I think GoT really suffers if you haven't read the book? I mean, Dany's story is squicky even then, but I really liked her story arch towards the end of the first book because her development is wonderful. I'm really curious to see where she goes from there, having gone through all that. But yeah, since it's GoT and everyone and their mother warned me, it's probably always going to be a painful experience
( ... )
Re: Cesare & Ursula, I think I was mainly poised to be very cranky because the whole Oh Noes Forbidden Love thing has come up in, cough, Certain Other Shows, and the execution has driven me nuts there, so I've kind of lost faith in tv writers' abilities to do it in a way that isn't annoying to me. But I was pretty happy to be proved wrong
( ... )
What are those Certain Other Shows you are speaking of? *g* Jokes aside, I get it and agree that it was handled well here, considering.
And that's fine. We all want something different from the shows we watch and if it's not what you enjoy, then I don't think you have to stick with it even if a majority of people like it. I'm giving Glee a wide berth for example and lots of people enjoy that.
Yeah. I get that he modelled it after the real medieval world, but unlike, say, Umberto Eco, who wants to show the medieval worldview as accurately as possible in his books, this is fantasy. GRRM gives a lot of insight into the Dothraki way of life and I think it takes a bit away from it, but ultimately it's still fantasy and he is free to create the world as he likes. :/
Oh, let me guess... I wanted to like him because I like the actor, but just no. He's even worse in the books.
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I'm still surprised that I don't hate Cesare/Ursula, it's basically the only canon romance (other than Amy/Rory and sort of Doctor/River, I suppose) in my current roster of shows that isn't pissing me off in one way or another. She's a fictional character rather than a historical one, so they're obviously not going to get married and live happily ever after, but I dunno, it might okay for a while at least. The real Cesare did eventually quit the church and later get married, but that was several years after the point they're at now so who knows if the show will ever get there.
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The thing with Game of Thrones is this: it's a political series based in a fantasy world. And, as in just about any political scene anywhere else in the world/someone's imagination, there are no good guys. Everyone -- even the likable characters -- make really fucked-up decisions and have moments of weakness that are *disastrous* and sometimes get mugged in an alleyway and end up dying to a knife wound.
So yeah. If the set up for the characters so far has you squirming and uncomfortable? You're probably not going to enjoy the rest of it. IT GETS VERY DEPRESSING.
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I actually fangirled about Machiavelli in the latest Borgia ep so much that everything else might've been terrible I would still have enjoyed it immensely. *facepalm*
There's more I want to say but I have to get ready. Will come back to this later.
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About the love thing between Cesare and Ursula: I never took it really seriously. I mean, love back then was a different thing entirely and I saw it much more as the Renaissance version of love that to us just looks silly. Maybe it's just me having read too many love poems from that time. ;)
I was utterly enchanted by the location and shot they chose for the duel, but yes, what was that? Basically foreplay with not so metaphorical swords.
It definitely needs more Lucrezia & Cesare again though. And John Lynch as Da Vinci.I think GoT really suffers if you haven't read the book? I mean, Dany's story is squicky even then, but I really liked her story arch towards the end of the first book because her development is wonderful. I'm really curious to see where she goes from there, having gone through all that. But yeah, since it's GoT and everyone and their mother warned me, it's probably always going to be a painful experience ( ... )
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Jokes aside, I get it and agree that it was handled well here, considering.
And that's fine. We all want something different from the shows we watch and if it's not what you enjoy, then I don't think you have to stick with it even if a majority of people like it. I'm giving Glee a wide berth for example and lots of people enjoy that.
Yeah. I get that he modelled it after the real medieval world, but unlike, say, Umberto Eco, who wants to show the medieval worldview as accurately as possible in his books, this is fantasy. GRRM gives a lot of insight into the Dothraki way of life and I think it takes a bit away from it, but ultimately it's still fantasy and he is free to create the world as he likes. :/
Oh, let me guess... I wanted to like him because I like the actor, but just no. He's even worse in the books.
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