The final moments of tonight's series premiere of Game Of Thrones, which shall henceforth be known as GoT, are what set it apart from pretty much everything else that I have ever watched. Certainly, the rest of the episode had its fair share of gore, taboo subject matter, sex, and profanity, but these have all become fairly commonplace and even expected of shows on cable channels like HBO. This was something altogether different and, hopefully, for those of you who have yet to read the novels, completely unexpected.
If you haven't watched the first episode, entitled "Winter Is Coming", then I suggest that you read no further.
When the episode began, we were treated to a beautifully shot, wonderfully intriguing, and yet somewhat typical cold open. All was well, but a bit tense. Then it wasn't. People died. 'Nuff said.
From there, we were shown something even more typical - at least in the realm of fantasy. The body of a female direwolf, the symbol of House Stark as well as a species long extinct, was discovered by Eddard "Ned" Stark and several of his children. This was clearly an omen of some sort. Near the direwolf's corpse were five direwolf pups, one for each of Ned's legitimate children, and a special albino pup for his bastard son. It must be fairly apparent at this point that these children are special. More than that, these children are CHILDREN OF PROPHECY! That's how this stuff works in fantasy. These kids are going to be fine, right?
Wrong.
The aforementioned final moments of the episode showed us something truly horrific. Bran, a child aged ten, was intentionally and potentially irrevocably harmed. He's a child of prophecy dammit! THEY CAN'T EVER BE HURT THAT BREAKS THE RULES WHAT'S HAPPENING!?His special status aside, children just don't get hurt much on television in general. Yes, doctor dramas have dying children, but the doctors are trying to save them. Torchwood COE did some intense stuff, but most of it was to A) save children from a fate worse than death or B) save even more children.
Bran wasn't hurt for any sense of greater good. He wasn't suffering from a disease that no one intended for him to contract. He had walked in on something he (and probably we) should never have seen. During the course of one of his regular climbing expeditions, he was pushed off of the edge of the castle for having discovered Cersei Lannister, the Queen and wife of King Robert, sexing it up with her TWIN BROTHER, Jaime. Jaime's final words of the episode, "The Things I Do For Love," were beyond twisted. He clearly had no wish to hurt the child, and yet he did so because his lover/(sister) asked it of him.
The fact that the Queen is having an affair with her brother and that he would defend their secret... for the sake of love? That's weird/complex/HBOworthy. If the Queen had been married to her brother, I would have simply explained that away using medieval royal goings on as an excuse. That not being the case, let the Kind of Awkward Twincest Party Times ensue!
As a final note, I understand that the idea of "NO ONE IS SAFE, NOT EVEN YOUR SERIES REGULARS" has become almost a cliche these days; however, when those series regulars are children under twelve, it's a different matter all together.
I'll be posting a more complete review and my opinion of the rest of the episode in a few days. For now, I'd like to know two things from watchers who aren't readers:
1. Were the huge number of characters and plots difficult to follow?
2. How shocked were you by the final scene and what do you think will be Bran's fate?
For those of you who have already read the books, what did you think of the opening episode? Was it too full of exposition? Were you bored because you knew what was going to happen? Or was it the most awesome thing you've ever seen?
Hit The Comments!
- Cadence
1. No
ReplyDelete2. Crippled from the waist down... oops, sorry, I'm just cheating now.
Dude, no spoilers lol.
ReplyDeleteWe got a party together to view the premiere and the thing that interested me most is the reaction of people who haven't read the books. The last scene was just great, first I hear "wait... they are brother and sister" and then "holy fuck he didn't just do that".
ReplyDeleteI found I liked most of the departures from the books... except Catelyn's attitude. All in all I was very happy with it!
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, while I agree, I think that the actress playing her is phenomenal! She conveys so much emotion with her eyes and slight movements of her face. She is exactly how POV will translate well to screen.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, exactly the same thing happened with a few of my friends! Now they have to wait an entire week to find out what happens :P.
ReplyDeleteI think she will be great in the role... right now she is a little "mama bear" one dimensional to me. Still outstanding though.
ReplyDeleteI've read the books but my roommate hasn't. I knew she was in for a shock when she comment on how creepy the visery/dany relationship/boob rubbing was. When it came to the last scene she said "Oh please don't tell me this is what I think it is" and actually shrieked at "The things I do for love". Then she didn't talk for about 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteShe did ask me to clarify things a couple time, mostly to do with jon arryn and lyssa, but she had it figured out and just wanted to be sure. The only person she couldn't place was Theon.
Think how creepy she would have pictured that scene in the books with a 13 year old Dany!
ReplyDeleteI think the episode did a fairly good job touching on the past and explaining the important details.. well they hinted at some of it and gave an impression to the viewer more than reciting the fill story. Those that pay attention will grasp the broad strokes at least I think, but the details may be coming in later episodes anyway.
1. yes, for a little bit - I'm not sure I've seen all of the Stark's children
ReplyDelete2. hope he'll live even with massive traumas)
All the Stark kids were there... 4 lined up as the King arrived and of course Jon the bastard. They did not introduce the youngest Rickon other than to have King Robert tousle his hair as a greeting and showing him sitting on a saddle laughing as big brother Bran struggles with his archery practice.
ReplyDeleteRobb and Jon Snow (the bastard) are the two older boys, Sansa and Arya the daughters, Bran and Rickon the young boys... and Theon (the light brown haired boy/man that hangs around them and said "I take orders from your father not you" as they were debating killing the Dire wolf pups is the Stark "ward". He is a royal Prince from House Greyjoy on the Iron Islands. Think of wards on here as political prisoners or a hostages basically. Offspring are often given after battles to rival houses as a sign of peaceful intentions to be raised in good faith.
Just finished watching it for the second time and I'm suspecting that Robert's son really is a child of the incestuous releationship between Cersei and Jaime... He doesn't look like Robert at all.
ReplyDeleteNo spoilers here, but when they return to King's Landing you will meet the younger children who happen to be blondes too...
ReplyDeleteFair enough. Theon and The Hound were the only regulars who appeared that weren't really made to look like regulars. I'm glad that she was surprised. That was the moment that the books went from well-written fantasy to HOLYCRAPOMGWTFISTHISHAPPENING!?
ReplyDeleteI watched the pilot with a friend, who has never read the books before, and my girlfriend, who loved them.
ReplyDeleteThe friend thought that the show was awesome and not particularly confusing. He also said that he liked that the characters "actually [came] across as people." I think that pretty much sums up the point of GoT quite nicely. He's really invested in what he saw and is ridiculously excited to continue.
At the same time, my girlfriend was kind of bored. Yes, we knew it was going to be the same story that we had read, but some of the exposition wasn't so much "THIS IS WHAT'S HAPPENING AND WHAT HAS HAPPENED", but rather, "THIS IS REALLY OBVIOUS FORESHADOWING." I'll address some of this in my review and more of it in a book-show analysis thing.
Personally, I feel that the setup was necessary, although occasionally a slog. Otherwise, I really loved the show :). The acting and writing was superb. I do agree with Urinal Turd that it just didn't draw me in as much as I had hoped, but that it was likely due to all of the hype/reviews I had read. I'm about to go watch it for a second time, so that should help.
My only major complaint was that the music was sorely lacking. It wasn't bad... It just... wasn't there. So many scenes had none whatsoever. This is the kind of show that could have developed musical themes over the course of several seasons (leitmotif style). The fact that they aren't doing that bothers me a lot.
GoT has some of the most dynamic, fully fleshed out characters in any book I have read. They aren't tokens to advance a plot by being two-dimensional vehicles. They live their lives and react to events unfolding around them. So I think your friend is spot on.
ReplyDeleteWith all the characters and back story in aSoFaI they could literally have 3 or more episodes of exposition and slog. One was absolutely necessary even it it did leave some, for lack of a better word. uninspired.
They did have a tendency to highlight scenes that made for direct foreshadowing more so than the books. It would be hard to avoid that in the limited episodes they have I guess... maybe.
I don't know that I missed the music honestly. That lends itself to "fantasy" more than reality in my mind. I am one of those people that often HATES the score music in a lot of movies or series since they make it too obvious and it stands out or they beat you over the head with how they want you to be feeling. There was so much background action and noise that it never felt hollow or void to me like say Supernatural can at times. It's kind of weird since I listen to more than a few movie/series scores on a regular basis... like Carnivale, Rome etc.
I only had minor complaints to... even if I would have added a few scenes from the books or tweaked some things. I enjoyed it a lot.
ReplyDeleteOther than the continuity errors due to reshooting the pilot and leaving old footage in the new pilot. I think I only noticed 2 of those anyway.. both around the dinner party. I think they added longer hair/wigs to both Ned and Benjen after the original pilot and then Jaime's hair was shorter and Ned's beard was darker and trimmed differently as he and Ned had their face to face. I only watched twice so far though... if I watch more I may find more.....
thanks)
ReplyDeleteHaha. Mid-way through I stopped and went to the who's who on Empire Online :P
ReplyDeleteShame on me...
Thought it was fantastic. Exactly what I hoped for. I thought the first scene was perhaps the best first scene since LOST. I was like, Woash!
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling before the kid saw the brother and sister it would be them. He was smarmy enough to be incestuous :P And he is the real-life form of Shrek's Prince Charming!
Sean Bean... is a god.
I'll be checking out episode two :P haha
I'm really glad :D! Yeah, the actor playing Jaime is doing a great job of making him slimy yet charming. Let me know what you think as the season progresses.
ReplyDelete