Maybe. It’d be a bit odd to talk about Rhaenys as “the babe” when she was old enough to hide, and Aegon - dead or otherwise - was more literally a baby. Then again it’s a bit odd to imply Doran’s just mourning one of them.
Ella had a baby and two other kids, right? The baby being
adwd styff
Supposedly killed but “in fact” that young knight whatshisname.
Well, I think “the babe” just highlights the tragedy of a murdered infant, let alone the two other dead kids?
I probably remembered that all wrong.
jostly
3603
He does it with Varys all the time. I saw it as a miscalculation on his part. She goaded him, he replied as he would have with Varys, and got a hard lesson in the difference between courtiers and the queen.
Yeah, but that’s a game that Varys and Littlefinger play, each trying to get one up on the other. Plus, Littlefinger would know or at least suspect that Cersei has murdered to protect this secret (even though at this point it’s not much of a secret) so it just seems pretty cavalier for a schemer like him.
Kadayi
3605
Agreed. However it’s an adaptation and the writers are having to utilize people to fill in the narrative at times. The important thing really was that they wanted to emphasise the fact that Cersei believes she’s running the show in Kings Landing, but then of course we have the scene with Joffery where it becomes clear that she doesn’t really hold any sway over him. They’re setting up for the power play between Joffery, Cersei & Tyrion over this season.
I get that, and I do not intend to imply that this change pissed me off or is a huge betrayal of the character. It just seems like an instance where the seams don’t quite fit.
Dave47
3607
The more I think about the scene, the more I like it. In addition to the themes discussed above, it also helps show just how weak Littlefinger’s grasp on power (currently) is. He may have a bunch of plans, but any of the major players could kill him on a whim. That idea is echoed again in the scene where the guards invade the brothel: Littlefinger’s name doesn’t carry much weight in King’s Landing.
The books never bother to make that point as explicit as the scene with Cersei, but they have a lot more space to convey these ideas less directly.
Yeah hated this scene but it’s another instance of the writers trying to cope with the medium and getting the audience into LF’s head. Plus another excuse for more T&A.
I was disappointed with Craster and his keep. Not at all what I was expecting. Also the Melisandre attempted poisoning…wtf?
Joffrey was probably the only highlight for me. Man, that kid can act.
Hammet
3609
I really liked the kid who plays Gendry. Hope they do more with him than GRRM did. I mean, does.
Wasn’t the Melisandre attempted poisoning pretty much the same as it was in the book? Obviously, from a different point of view, but…
And I just realized where I recognized Craster from. I’m pretty sure he’s the guy from the first season of Hustle with the crooked casino that messes Albert up and loves film musicals.
I agree. The obligatory nudie shot where HBO “proves” once again that they are not a network show and can do as they damn well please is wearing a little thin. Don’t get me wrong, I see few reasons to cover an attractive woman with unnecessary clothing, but boobies for boobies’ sake is becoming a running joke in the show.
That seemed spot-on for me. Maybe Craster’s hall was a little too architecturally grand compared to my mental image, but the size of it and the quasi-feral look to his “wives” worked well, I thought.
I liked those scenes. They served to introduce the characters well (though I hope they do a better job of filling in Davos’ background later), and put the “heathen” nature of the Red Priestess’ faith front and center. I would have preferred a slightly more mystical feel to here immunity to the poison – I think in the book they mentioned that the ruby at her neck glowed (or maybe “seemed to glow”) when she drank the wine. Here, her failure to collapse seemed more shrug-worthy.
Razgon
3612
The ruby glowed here as well. The scene was just way to fast, and in the books she warns him as well.
One comment: while I absolutely love Peter Dinklage as Tyrion, God how I wish he would work harder on (or have better better diction coaches for) his British accent. It’s so close sometimes, but then he flubs it on a word or two in any longer sentence and just blows it, aargh. It’s so distracting. So many Brits can pull off American accents with aplomb, but the reverse is rarely true (except for the guy who played Spike on BtVS, he nailed it).
If this were a show that was set in 14th century London, I’d have a problem. But can you honestly, totally say his accent isn’t 100-percent Westerosi?
Meanwhile, it seems like all the accents are a wash.
NCW has his Danish accent leak out all the time, for godsakes, and he’s brother to Cersi as well as Tyrion.
Richard Madden’s Scottish brogue breaks out half the time. Sean Bean sported his Yorkshire accent.
Razgon
3615
really? You can hear his danish accent? I never can, and I’m Danish.
It may be that he’s going for British and we’re just interpreting his not-quite-British as British-and-Danish. It isn’t as though Peter Dinklage sounds particularly “American,” he just sounds like he “isn’t doing his accent right.”
Bean’s accent made perfect sense, even if they didn’t tie themselves to any rigourous Northerners speak like Northerners rule. Coster-Waldau for whatever reason’s never bothered me; I guess my ear just reads how he sounds as a privileged bilingual drawl? Whereas Dinklage, unfortunately, sounds like he’s doing an accent.
EDIT: It’s possible that GRRM or the show-runners had in mind some sort of super-drawlly public school accent for Tyrion’s character, and that’s partly why it sounds so affected.
Hugin
3617
One of my greatest wishes is, whenever possible, just letting British actors have their regular accents when they come over here and get on American TV shows and movies. Because with few exceptions, I don’t think they pull off the accent all that well. And there’s been such a rash of British actors getting lead roles particularly on American TV, the past several years.
So you don’t think Lena Heady sounded right as Sarah Connor, or that the “Awake” guy sounds right? To me they both sound completely authentic. Also the (I think, Irish) guy who played the Polish-American cop on The Chicago Code, and the guy who played McNulty on The Wire <–these last two, I could have sworn they were American, not to mention Idris Elba as Stringer Bell.
Now for an example of a completely fake-sounding American regional accent, nothing could be worse than Cate Blanchett’s attempt at a Southern accent in Hannah. It was awful. Of course, she’s Australian, not British.
Jamie Bamber did an excellent American accent in BSG, to the point where I didn’t even know he was a Brit.
Hammet
3620
And I recognized him from his epic bad guy role in How The West Was Won from the late seventies. I think it’s him at least.
