Change is necessary in adaptations. What works well in print isn’t going to necessarily work well on screen, and any successful adaptation has to make the source material its own. Last night’s episode of Game of Thrones was probably the biggest departure from the books so far, and probably caused not a few fans of A Song of Ice and Fire to explode in fiery bouts of nerd rage. I enjoyed, it, though. HBO has altered a lot of the substance of the series, but in doing so they’ve left the spirit of the source material unaltered. If anything, the changes have largely made the TV series feel even more Game of Thrones-y, if that makes any sense.
Spoilers aplenty after the jump.
“It’s all just a game.”A little on the nose there, Theon.
“My father was Ned Stark.” Whatever, Jon.
Gregor Clegane: Now with dialogue! Kind of a departure from season one
More Tywin and Arya! Hurray! The rapport between these two has been one of the best bits of the season. I like to think that Tywin Lannister knows exactly who Arya Stark is, and he’s just messing with her, like she’s the world’s most dangerous cat toy. He probably knows damn well that she’s thinking about killing him, but just kind of smirks and shrugs it off, because Tywin Lannister is just that steely and confident.
“It gives me joy to kill people.” Between the Hound going on about how killing is fun, and Jaime waxing poetic about battle, this episode kind of gives the impression that fighting is the greatest high ever, and knights are all adrenaline-crazed murder junkies.
“You know nothing, Jon Snow.” I hate this line. However, Rose Leslie delivered Ygritte’s precious catchphrase the least-bad possible way. As much as I dislike Book Ygritte, I kind of have to admit that I was sort of amused by TV Ygritte taunting Jon Snow. A life of celibacy is eminently mockable, after all. She’s still an annoying manic pixie dream girl, but so far it’s not nearly as severe as in the book. Also in the North…
Jon Snow is captured now? WHAT THE HELL? Are they just taking out the part where, you know, that really dramatic thing happens? You know: THAT. The big character-defining moment where Jon Snow has to do something really dangerous and difficult before he gets captured? They’re just taking that out? Um… okay. Where are you going with this, HBO?
OMG, THEY KILLED IRRI! I guess that’s fine- in both the books and the show, she was little more than Daenerys’ accessory. Still, I did not expect that.
Sansa and Cersei have The Talk. Lena Heady, who plays Cersei, has stated that she hasn’t read any of Martin’s books specifically so she can make TV Cersei her own. Last night, that was most apparent in the interaction between Cersei and Sansa. Book Cersei gives us only brief glimpses at a real human being. TV Cersei seems deeply sad, and far more tragic than the source material.
Who the hell is Alton Lannister? He seems have been summoned into existence by HBO simply to give Jaime someone to talk to this episode and… OH SHIT! JAIME JUST KILLED HIS FANBOY! Ew.
Warlocks are jerks. Dragon-stealing jerks. So far, I’m vastly preferring HBO’s version of Qarth to book Qarth. Daenery’s storyline in A Clash of Kings is not exactly the world’s most exciting jaunt. This, though… Wow. There’s intrigue, contention, schemes, blood, magic, dragonnapping, and lot of jugular-slicing action. A straight-up adaptation of Daenerys’ stay in Qarth would have been utterly boring to watch. HBO, wisely, has given us a little extra in the way of blood and drama. Also, was anyone else surprised by seeing the warlock suddenly bust out the creepy magic? That, along with Melisandre’s shadow baby, has really driven home how deeply weird the arcane is in Game of Thrones.
Tyrion and Cersei had a moment. As enjoyable as they are as scheming adversaries, it’s nice to be reminded that they are, in fact, brother and sister, and there’s more to their relationship than just conniving and backstabbing. If anything, their familial intimacy makes the backstabbing all the more fun. They’re not just rival politicians- they’re squabbling siblings who’ve been at it since childhood.
“No matter what you do, you’re forsaking one vow or another.” I’m a big fan of Jaime, in both his book and TV incarnations. Now, even I have to admit that he was sort of a dick for defenestrating Bran, but he remains one of the most unfairly demonized characters in Westeros. He did everyone in Westeros a favor by killing the Mad King, and everyone with half a brain knows it. Robert’s Rebellion was a collective instance of spurning loyalty for the sake of practicality. It was necessary, proper, and beneficial for the realm, but it was not honorable. Jaime, being the guy who actually sliced the king up, took the brunt of everyone else’s dishonor. When he’s in chains, my sympathies are more with him than with any of the Northmen.
Oh yeah, and Theon totally killed Bran and Rickon. Yup. They’re dead. Totally dead. Never to be seen again. Immense tragedy, there. Yup. Totally sad and stuff.
Last night’s episode was great, in no small part because of its deviation from the books. (Shit, I’d love for them to split off even more from the books when it comes to all things Daenerys; her drawn-out, all-but-aimless story is, so far, arguably the weakest part of Martin’s entire series. Not counting goddamn Brienne.) I’m also stoked Cersei continues to grow into an actual character in the show; she’s far from the cartoon she is in the books, and all things Lannister- and King’s Landing-related are the better for it.
Also, everything Ygritte does or says is great. You know nothing, Joe Streckert.
“It don’t have teeth.”
Wait, what?
YOU PEOPLE WHO DON’T LIKE BRIENNE ARE WORSE THAN POL POT.
<-(is Joe) The series has lots of well-developed female characters. Brienne, though, is the Smurfette of Westeros. We’re supposed to be constantly amazed at the mere fact that she’s a woman. I’m sorry, but stating that a character is a minority, or gay, or a woman, or some other incidental trait is not the same as character development. People empathize with her because of what she is rather than because of who she is. That, and her POV chapters are a slog. Ygritte reminds me of the annoying anarchists that I constantly argued with when I lived in Eugene. TV Ygritte seems sort of okay though. So far.
@JOE: WHY YOU GOTTA HATE ON SMURFETTE? YOU’RE WORSE THAN BREIVIK.
I had way too much beer last night so I might have missed something, but I thought it was implied that the two burnt bodies weren’t Bran and Rickon. Not that it would bother me so much, except that I thought the woman who follows him around was a pretty strong character.
I think they want you to think the burned bodies are the Stark boys, but pretty sure they were the boys who were supposedly good at climbing trees, or something.
@BENJO&CHUCK: NOPE. THOSE CHARACTERS ARE DEAD IN THE BOOKS, KEEPING THEM ALIVE WOULD BE A MAJOR MAJOR DEVIATION FROM THE SOURCE MATERIAL; AND I JUST DON’T SEE THEM DOING THAT.
I have to say the use of magic really throws everything into doubt. I mean, how is this world supposed to make sense, and how are we supposed to buy in to the dramatic stakes as presented, if you can just crap out a knife-wielding ghost-baby to backstab your boyfriend’s rival brother or conjure up some warlock doppelgangers to slice up your rivals on the city council? How do these warlocks not already hold and control *everything* if they can do that AND (by the way) steal three dragons that were being guarded by badass Khals? Are the stabbing ghosts keeping the warlocks in check somehow? Vice-versa? That’s a fight I don’t want to see.
I don’t know how the likes of Eddard Stark, Rob Stark, Jaime Lannister, The Hound, Brienne, King Robert in his prime or any of the others noted for combat skill could ever match up against stabby ghosts and warlocks.