Just caught up with the first two eps - they seem to be maintaining quality superbly. I got a bit confused with Stannis since they referred to him in the first series but never showed him. I also thought the priestess was Lady Stark for the first minute or so of her being on screen.
I really like whatever fog filter they are using to get that lovely glow from the candles in this series, the lighting has always been superb but it’s getting even better here. I think the dragon looks better than it did in the first series too.
The title is starting to make more sense now too, with kings popping up everywhere you are starting to get a real sense of the different factions spread across the land. It’s really widening it’s scope without losing focus.
Hope it keeps up!
GRRM said season three will only cover (roughly) the first half of Storm of Swords.
Interesting. I can think of a few places to chop the book up, especially given what they’re pulling forward into this season.
I didn’t care for the sex scene between Stannis and Mel. I like that even by book 5 it’s still open to interpretation on the nature of their relationship (and I write this despite leaning toward the take that he’s been banging her since book 2).
rowe33
3644
I agree - it really rubbed me the wrong way also. I don’t see what it added at all and it also makes her less sympathetic of a character.
The explicit sex is required for Storm’s End.
From my perspective they are struggling to cram information into the time available, so they are forced with Stannis to carve a very clear path towards Storm’s End and his confrontation with Renly.
Going back to Craster - don’t see any mention of a confrontation with Jon here: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Craster
I’ll have to re-read the chapter to see if they diverged from the book.
I’ll save you time. Yes. The whole bit with Jon following Crastor out and everything after does not happen in the books.
I don’t see why it’s required. It would’ve been far more informative to viewers to have the scene where Stannis tells Davos he’s going to try a red hawk. And this episode was getting a little silly with all the sex scenes, particularly the nasty wipe followed by a kiss in Littlefinger’s brothel. And the producers wasted roughly 5% of the episode’s time reminding viewers that Littlefinger is a pimp. I’d really prefer they not continue skimping on minor characters from the books in lieu of these filler scenes revolving around invented characters. They way they’ve spent time on this prostitute from Winterfell, she’s going to end up as the PWWP in their production.
PWWP?
I haven’t yet watched the episode, but my brother told me about the “jizz on face” scene. That’s pretty over-the-top, and I’m no prude. Do they really think they’ll get greater ratings this way? I watch Boardwalk Empire as well, and they have no shortage of gratuitous nudity on there, but it’s not embarrassing like it’s been a couple of times on GoT.
Pogo
3649
It was a little gross. I’m with others in perhaps not understanding why they try to reiterate in some episodes that GRRM’s world is full of shameless shit.
olaf
3650
Agree 100%. I love porn, I am not a prude. There have been some sex scenes that make you like, ugh, uncomfortable to watch, the early Drogo-Dany stuff namely, but they made sense overall, especially having read the books and understanding what they are trying to condense. But that scene…unnecessary, added nothing from my perspective.
Prince Who Was Promised.
Honestly, to me the most annoying Dany-Drogo sex scene was the one where she was on all fours and was looking up at the eggs. Seriously, do you really need to foreshadow the eggs in such a heavy-handed, obvious way as during a sex scene?
I loved the littlefinger scene with the way he slides from faux caring to sinister “I’ll sell your ass off if you don’t produce”.
Theon was fantastic. He was never that sympathetic in the books.
rowe33
3654
The sex scenes in GoT have at best been uncomfortably awkward and at worst horribly embarrassing in my experience. The jizz/face scene was just overly juvenile in my opinion.
Spoiler for book three:
I’m seriously cringing at what awaits us at the end of season 3.5, given HBO’s current porn pace…will Tyrion off Tywin while he’s on the shitter or will HBO instead have Tyrion discover the pair in the midst of some serious royal scat play?
His slide is going to be fantastic, and all the more awful. I love what Alfie Allen is doing with the role.
Really? I thought it was another embarrasing attempt at making an uninteresting character interesting with a boring and predictable monologue.
I didn’t mind the sex between Stannis and the Red Priestess – in fact I liked the way that Stannis was focused on the possibility of a son. As a stickler for the rules it would make sense for him to be obsessed with producing an heir… or at least more interested in the subject than he was in the books. Of course, any son that Melisandre gives him would be a bastard, but if a hot redhead is stripping down in front of you promising you a male heir, I think some latitude can be given.
Likewise, the scene between Theon and the captain’s daughter was useful. I thought it was an informative scene in the books, and it seemed to translate well onto the screen. Certainly it establishes Theon as a spoiled cad… though we had seen that with the additions last season.
The stuff in the brothel was mostly over-the-top, I agree. However…
Littlefinger’s monologue to the hooker wasn’t too bad. The rest of the episode had been a bunch of plot-oriented scenes with new characters sputing off exposition, so I can see the appeal of stepping back and letting an established role do some character-driven stuff. It doesn’t hurt that Gillen delivers the lines so well.
Now, the prostitute that he was lecturing – I think I’ve lost the bubble on this one. Is that “Roz” from Winterfell? I know it was supposed to be the same girl that was being shown around in the previous episode (when the Goldcloaks killed the baby), but I thought that Roz arrived in the brothel last season and that this was a new girl. I didn’t think that we had seen Roz at all this season. Help me, pedantic Qt3 omni-mind!
nogwart
3659
I don’t recall her name, but it was the same prostitute that Theon had fun with and bade the sad farewell to in season 1 (with the parting flash on the wagon). She was also one of the two that Littlefinger told his sad Cate story to while coaching them on proper girl-on-girl technique.
Also, I agree that the sex does cross the line too often, making it awkward and uncomfortable viewing which I can now only watch when kids aren’t around or HBO GO on PC.
My only complaint with the Roz and Littlefinger scene was that it seemed really out of character for a clever and ambitious whore to get all emotionally tied up in knots because another whore’s bastard infant was killed. I think it would be upsetting, yes, but I just didn’t expect the character that seemed world-wise enough to play on Tyrion’s arrival in Winterfell, deflect Theon’s bragging, and cheerfully leave to “follow the gold” to King’s Landing would be incapacitated by sadness.
That said, I actually liked Littlefinger’s morale-boosting pep talk.
