I just saw nine episodes of Game of Thrones in one night. (Updated)
Add the season premiere I saw in May and that means I am done with the series. And I’m alive! Even if many of the major characters are not.
Quick reactions (I’m sleepy):
1. My love for Peter Dinklage/Tyrion Lannister is undimmed since the first episode. What a voice! What panache! Appropriately, he gets the best lines.
2. The series is much better-written than the books. Confession: I hurled the first book across the room unfinished. It had exceeded my cliche-stilted dialogue-purple prose tolerance level for the last time.
Photo from snarkerati.com.
3. I knew I’d seen Littlefinger in a series, I just couldn’t remember which. My friend said Queer As Folk but I never saw Queer As Folk so finally we googled him and of course! He was Mayor Thomas Carcetti in The Wire!
4. We took a break from testosterone after four episodes to watch Neil Patrick Harris’s opening number at the Tony Awards, Not Just For Gays Anymore. Brilliant! Then we fast-forwarded to Hugh Jackman’s dance number. Much discussion ensued.
5. Needs more direwolf!
6. Here’s a GOT drinking game: Every time there’s a sex scene or frontal nudity, take a shot.
7. Although the series abounds in evil, cruel, scheming characters, the one I want to slap around is the stupid simpering girl.
8. And I’d like to drop an anvil on (Spoiler) Joffrey that inbred little prick. What made ___’s death more horrendous was the fact that it didn’t come in battle or at the hands of a “worthy” adversary but from the inbred little shit. No dignity in that death.
9. Did we need to see the simple-minded giant and the wine merchant stark naked? Or Littlefinger directing the prostitutes (totally gratuitous)? The creepiest scene is not the one of Cersei banging relative A or relative B, but of the madwoman breastfeeding her four-year-old. Eek!
10. What have we learned from ten episodes of Game of Thrones? That honor and mercy will get you and your loved ones killed. That courage is no match for cunning. That weakness is a stratagem for survival (but what kind of life is that). That the tiniest old slights are never forgotten. That people will follow the money. That marriage is complicated. That dwarves kick ass.
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July 10th, 2011 at 09:05
I did a similar series-a-thon after I got HBO last month. Totally agree with your comment about Peter Dinklage getting the best lines. Can’t wait for the next season. Meanwhile, True Blood is filling the void for me.
July 10th, 2011 at 09:35
I did the same thing about a month ago. I felt dizzy and woozy afterwards, but it was well worth it. I loved the costumes, the pacing, the witty dialogue, and the fact that watching a bi-polar boy king is strangely gratifying. Adored Daenerys’ character. I absolutely can’t wait to see her some more. Am seriously hoping that those dragons grow up to do some serious damage.I’m also desiring less animal mutilation (horse beheading, dog murder, etc). But knowing RR Martin, that won’t happen.
July 10th, 2011 at 10:56
Sansa Stark: “I don’t want someone brave, gentle and strong, I want [Joffrey]! He’ll be the greatest king who ever lived, a golden lion, and I’ll give him sons with beautiful blond hair.”
July 10th, 2011 at 11:37
While reading the book, when it’s time for Sansa’s story, I rage. I rage so hard.
July 10th, 2011 at 23:25
Sansa Stark is also my least favorite character. She is 10x more irritating in the books though. Which makes Arya 10x more lovable.
July 11th, 2011 at 14:09
On the nudity: It’s not that I mind naked people, but they never showed us the hot, naked people we ALL want to see (Ned, Jon, Jaime, Khal Drogo, etc.). It’s like HBO talking about it and going, “Oh the fans want to see naked guys? Let’s show them naked guys! RANDOM naked guys.”
On the creepy: My face was like Tyrion’s when I watched the breastfeeding scene. Second place for creepiest was the maester’s aerobics (I was afraid they’d show him naked).
On Sansa: I hated Sansa at the start of GoT (you want to be a princess, we don’t care), but I learned to give her some slack after the beheading. She is the weakest Stark (Arya, Bran, and Rickon can kick her ass) BUT she is literally alone in King’s Landing, she saw the beheading firsthand, and she also had to deal with all these Lannisters and all these betrayals and deaths happening around her. I don’t know why GRRM keeps her alive, but she’s been kicked around and she survives.
July 11th, 2011 at 19:10
Don’t forget the dancing master, Syrio Forell! He is the ONLY badass of the series. My best wishes go to Daenarys, Jon Snow and Arya.
July 14th, 2011 at 22:48
Update: Peter Dinklage is nominated for an Emmy in the best supporting role. He’s the lone acting nominee from the series. Hope he wins!
July 14th, 2011 at 22:55
One acting nomination?? They got gypped.
July 15th, 2011 at 17:39
I wanted Sean Bean to get a nomination, too! And Kahl Drogo’s bare chest. Disappointed as well that Emmy Rossum didn’t get a nomination for her role in Shameless. Tsk tsk.
July 16th, 2011 at 22:36
I agree completely that the show is seriously well-written. There were subtle changes, and many were improvements. Catelyln and Sandor were presented in a more sympathetic light, which I particularly liked. Dinklage’s portrayal of Tyrion is as fine an acting job as I have seen.