Monday, May 9, 2011

Game of Thrones - Episode 4 - "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"

In these writeups I'm not recapping or reviewing the episode as much as offering my impressions as a big fan of the A Song of Ice and Fire series. With that in mind, these discussions will include spoilers aplenty for all published A Song of Ice and Fire books.

Click through to read my thoughts on "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things."

I think at this point my biggest complaint about the show is having to wait a week between episodes. I don't know about you, but every week when the credits roll I think that there is no way that an hour could have passed. A lot is packed into each episode, and I look forward to the time when I can watch the season on DVD and see the episodes back-to-back.

Because I love to nitpick, I did think some of the scene changes, especially towards the beginning of the episode, seemed abrupt. Almost like they were just covering the bare minimum, and jumping to the next thing, focusing so much on plot that the scenes didn't have a chance to show any real character moments - but towards the middle of the episode it slowed down and we had great scenes with Jon and Sam at the Wall, with Ned and Cersei, and a scene I especially liked with Jaime and Jory Cassel (and doesn't that scene make our foreknowledge of what happens to Jory so much worse?).

This week I enjoyed Jon's arc most of all. I didn't dislike the actor portraying Jon before this episode, but I hadn't made up my mind about him either. After seeing the scene with Jon holding off the other boys from attacking Sam, his icy cold stare at Rast, and his conversation with Sam at the top of the Wall, I decided that I'm on board with this depiction of Jon Snow. All very well done. And I liked Sam too, he's already shown much more humor than he ever has in the book, and I enjoy that.

And now some shorter thoughts, in easy to read bullet-point format:
  • Everyone worryied about Bran's depiction so far should have their fears allayed, as we finally see his dream of the three eyed crow.
  • Direwolves! We got to see Ghost, Summer, and Grey Wind, and I hope this is a sign we will see more of the beasts. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to see Summer, Grey Wind, and Shaggydog attack Tyrion in the audience chamber, but I understand the decision to cut it. And speaking of Shaggydog, have we seen him or Rickon since the first episode?
  • Ghost growling? I guess I'm okay with it. It's such a cool train in the books to know that Ghost is completely mute. He moves silently, and never howls, nor growls, and it's an awesome trait. In the show I don't know if this is necessary (and him growling at Rast was pretty fun).
  • Time for the Greyjoys! After Theon doing nothing but lurking in the background for the first three episodes, we sure got an infodump about the Greyjoy rebellion in this episode. I don't mind the infodups so much when they're done in such an engaging way as the Jaime/Jory conversation.
  • I didn't understand why Littlefinger was the one that told Sansa how the Hound got his scars. When the Hound walked Sansa home from the feast and confided his story to her (and then threatened to kill her), that was really the start of the complicated Sandor/Sansa relationship. I'm hoping this isn't a sign they're dropping the Sansa/Sandor subplot.
  • They're going to show the rest of the tourney next week, right? I have no reason to worry that the entire Hand's tourney was just Gregor killing Ser Hugh?
What did everyone else think?

2 comments:

  1. I am enjoying every episode more and more! I had to make kind of a mental adjustment so that I give my full attention to the show. Typically when I watch TV/movies I tend to space out when my brain expects me to be bored with filler dialogue, drawn out scenes, etc. Since there's absolutely no room for filler here, I have to make a conscious effort to catch every word and every look passed between characters.

    Yay Ghost and the three-eyed crow! I still would have liked to see more of Bran's dream, but I'm just hugely relieved at the reassurance that they will develop that storyline. Same thing for Ghost, just want to see more of him. My friends responded with "Oh yeah, he got that albino one" so definitely not enough exposure up to this point. Seems pretty simple just to have had him on screen with Jon up to this point.

    They are going to show the rest of the tourney- there are at least 2 other scenes that I saw in some of the On Demand extra stuff. One is Loras Tyrell giving a rose to Sansa, and the other is the Hound fighting the Mountain. (Unless that's just going to be extra scenes for DVD but I doubt it).

    The only reason I could think of to have Littlefinger tell Sansa about the Hound's scars is to set up the Mountain/Hound relationship in anticipation of their fight next episode. But I agree, I hope they manage to keep the Sansa/Sandor thing.

    My other minor complaint is that Sansa's character is coming across mostly as a cranky teenager. I expect her to snap at Arya of course, but she is nothing but proper to everyone else. Either way I don't like her, but it's a little strange that every time we see her, she's whiny ("What if I have only daughters? Everyone will hate me") instead of idealistic ("Joffrey's my gallant prince and will do the right thing").

    I was glad to see Theon stepping out of the background to show that he's a jerk. Also, a nice setup for the Greyjoy story.

    Also really liked Jon and Sam this episode. They condensed that nicely, and there's a lot more exposure to what's going on at the Wall.

    Lastly, I liked Ned's line about how attaching your name to something doesn't make it yours- talking about the Hand's tourney, but also very relevant to "Robert's" children.

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  2. Pretty lame 3 eyed crow dream for Bran. I wanted more.

    I really loved the scene with Eddard and Peter. Its almost as I depicted in my head while reading. the actor they have playing LittleFinger is doing a great job with his character.

    Here's to hoping Vicerys gets his crown this coming week

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