HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones - will this be just for nerds? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

interesting stuff with her character winning people over

And Joffrey being all "she's very good at this... charity thing", and not dismissing or admonishing her. I'm starting to get a kind of a Charles and Di vibe from these two.

Having black smoke wafting off a ruined Winterfell in the title sequence was another nice touch.

Gleeson's delivery of "charity" was pretty great, as if he was actually searching his head pretty hard to land on that word.

Having black smoke wafting off a ruined Winterfell in the title sequence was another nice touch.

And when you found out how Smokey gets to the Island from Lost... oops, spoiler.

the tywin/tyrian scene was great. tywin so obviously the embittered one accusing tyrian of being that.

OTM, best scene in the episode. I like where the Joffrey storyline appears to be going as well.

I can't work out whether the actor playing Stannis is poorly cast or whether the character is just boring, but the scenes with him really sag, even if he's laying siege to a city or something.

Also can anyone refresh my memory as to what happened at Winterfell at the end of last season? Like I know Theon went mental and then they knocked him out and got him out of there, but who was it who actually wrecked the place? There appears to be a conspicuous lack of victorious Lannister dudes wandering around.

I like the Stannis stuff actually, isn't he kind of meant to be sort of dead inside and excited only by power? That's the vibe I get from the way the actor is doing it.

Also can anyone refresh my memory as to what happened at Winterfell at the end of last season?"

The show hasn't said yet but based on some casting spoilers you'll be finding out in the next couple of episodes. Your instincts re: The Lannisters are correct, I think it's okay to say that much. Robb vs Tywin/Gregor is currently going on well farther south, in the riverlands. The L's don't have any significant parties in the North.

But yeah the show's lack of clarity about the sacking of winterfell late last year was a big storytelling sin imo.

i can't even remember how they fudged it but i am now recalling us discussing how weird/stupid it was here.

Also I'm struggling to remember if we've seen the shipwrecked guy and his pirate friend before, even in a minor capacity.

shipwrecked guy was Stannis' second in command and he lept off a ship at Blackwater. pirate guy was around too, as he supplied the ships.

Winterfell "cliffhanger" was clumsy as hell and totally unclear. Very poorly done.

Also I'm struggling to remember if we've seen the shipwrecked guy and his pirate friend before, even in a minor capacity.

Ah you must remember him, he was in it a lot. His (now dead) son was a big fan of the evil magic woman. The pirate guy basically backed Stannis with his boats.

There was also a long story about how the guy (Davos, I think?) smuggled in food and saved Stannis and his men's life back when they were under siege at Dragonstone.

Which is why they call him the Onion Knight.

I can't work out whether the actor playing Stannis is poorly cast or whether the character is just boring, but the scenes with him really sag, even if he's laying siege to a city or something.

He is supposed to be a fundamentally unlikable person.

It's more that he... sort of lacks presence? Maybe that's part of the point, but he's not even unlikeable in a particularly watchable way.

Yeah, he is supposed to lack presence, I think. Wasn't the point made, that Stannis is clearly the rightful king, but nobody cares about him because he is so much of a nonentity?

I loved him as Thomas Jefferson in John Adams but I do think he's a little ham-strung by the writing/character here.

I think I remember a line in Season 1 "we all know what Stannis is..."

I think the show seems to infer that Theon's peeps burnt Winterfell?

That might prove to be wrong, but not having read the second book, it didn't seem like a weird plothole to me.

Agreed, bit of a low-key start but excited to have the show back.

yeah, stannis is just supposed to be kind of a boring dude with his bloody-minded fixation on being king as his sole character trait

if i ever write an epic high fantasy series and i'm sketching out my character outlines, i'm going to try to remember:

don't make lack of presence and dullness the defining qualities of a character

Or like, use it as comic relief. Everyone going: Him?

If it's that bad to watch a 4-minute scene with him in it, imagine how all his friends and relatives feel...which is why Robert gave him a remote island to rule, iirc, that would keep him far away from court.

i'm hoping that after the level 47 red mage woman dies off (she DOES die off, right? everyone hates her, right?) that he has some sort of awakening and realizes that he, too, can say interesting things

The women in this are doing pretty well at outliving their husbands, and most of them can't make people burst into flames. I'd guess she'll be around a while longer. She is awful though.

does anyone in the show have enough MP to just blow up Dragonstone Island?

I like her Foreboding Synth Background Nusic, though

Or music, even

Yeah, I love that music.

I imagine Stannis hears that on loop in his head, blocking out all other thoughts.

It is interesting to see everyone sway to a collective anti-Stannis (actor) position but I don't find him very dull. The "dead inside" description was apt. As someone who hasn't read the books it will be fun to watch him come apart even more at the hands of the fire lady. I just wonder why their demon baby seemed to be a one-use disposable prince-killer...

And as far as Winterfell I agree that it was suggested that Theon's not so loyal goons destroyed it as they exited. What was clumsy was the fact that we knew they were surrounded by Winterfell soldiers before they left so I don't know how they would gotten away with any vandalism if they were going to escape alive. They certainly didn't know about secret tunnels the kids escaped through.

Wait, that's not what happened, is it? Is it spoilering to say that?

I can't remember if we, the readers/viewers are supposed to know this at this point, not that it's any kind of big deal.

I can only speculate based on the show, I didn't read any books.

From above: The show hasn't said yet but based on some casting spoilers you'll be finding out in the next couple of episodes.

In other news, closed-caption from the first episode:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/7fe8ca008b24dfdb6f22ea9ab614150d/tumblr_mj82j1QxLL1qmqh7go1_500.jpg

Bah http://25.media.tumblr.com/7fe8ca008b24dfdb6f22ea9ab614150d/tumblr_mj82j1QxLL1qmqh7go1_500.jpg

The burning of Winterfell and the massacre at Harenhal were both skipped over, and for both times we see characters walk into the aftermath and it's like 'wha happen?'.

Melisandre is a pretty good character, imo - she livens the Stannis-is-brooding scenes up, anyhow. Oh, and Carice van Houten is kind of stunning.

Ah that explains it, I thought Robb and Catelyn were back at Winterfell in that scene. These ruined castles full of bodies all look the same to me.

I believe the whole liberation of Winterfell was just as ambiguous at this point in the book as it was at the end of season 2. I think what we are supposed to assume from the tv show is that Theon's men were allowed to walk out of Winterfell since they were handing it over and leaving Theon to the liberators, but this isn't really spelled out.

There was a discussion at one point in s2 between Robb Stark and Roose Bolton concerning what to do about Winterfell.

Stannis and Melisandre are two of my favorite characters from the books so I think I'm a bit biased toward them. I'm always happy when they show up, but I haven't watched the new episode yet.

the expression that flashed across his face when he finds out Davos survived cracked me up.

Thinking about it, Davos is a bit crap at everything, isn't he?

Onions. He's good with them

Trying to think how to phrase this without spoiling anything for the guys who haven't read the books, but I don't Stannis should be written off yet, although I do kinda agree about the tv show depiction not being too enthralling.

But srsly, being a merciless, dead-behind-the-eyes and entirely unbending monomaniac who is not only in a position of power and influence but, more importantly, believes 110% in the validity of that position - well it can make for some interesting developments in a world where basically everyone else is either a craven little bitch or a treacherous backstabber.

they did paint him as quite a fierce warrior in the battle at the end of the last season.

I've enjoyed Stannis's characterization for the most part.

^^^ stannis stan

they did paint him as quite a fierce warrior in the battle at the end of the last season.

― Tioc Norris (LocalGarda), Tuesday, April 2, 2013 5:30 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark

i think this is important to his depiction overall. like even in that big battle i remember him having a determined stoicism that was quite powerful so the flipside of him being just kinda subdued during everyday life works for me

http://24.media.tumblr.com/ef22c5774f746e02a41d165c9758c783/tumblr_mkk7482WjV1qlsifao2_250.gif

^looks like he's using that Klaus Kinski trick w/ his feet to make that turn

just thinking the same thing

Maybe he can make that his outstanding feature