Monday, May 7, 2012

Game of Thrones WTF?


So, I'll admit that I missed the bit about Renly being gay in the books.  Guess I just sort of glossed over that because it didn't really mean much to me.  And I'll grudgingly admit that perhaps Stannis is having sex with Melisandre, even though it isn't overtly mentioned in the books I've read so far.  But . . .

Last night's episode had a whole lot of stuff I am pretty freekin' positive did not occur goin' on!

Don't recall reading anything about Dany's khalasar being slaughtered and her dragons stolen from her!  In my recollection [Spoiler Alert] she and her followers grow full and comfy in the city of Quarth and she accepts an invitation to visit the House of the Undying Ones to learn about her future and such.  The entire set up in the book is completely understandable, so why bother with the contrived business about stealing the dragons?  Seems like pointless dramatic license to me.

Then there's this bit about Arya using the mysterious Jaqen H'ghar to kill some random guard who saw her reading a missive she had stolen.  Where the eff was that in the book?!  As I recall, the second guy Arya has killed is some bully who slaps her around and threatens her.  I guess that's a minor plot change considering how they're compressing stuff for the series, but it's a bit more palatable to me than the faux dragon kidnapping I mentioned earlier.

Hmpff

And here's another bit on the casting so far:


Also liking the casting of Natalia Tena as Osha the wildling who ends up befriending Bran Stark.  And this Tom Wlaschiha who is portraying Jaqen H'ghar.  I loved Jaqen's character in the book, with the third person speech and all and this guy is doing a wonderful job making him seem real.

And like most casual folks, I had first seen Natalia as Nymphadora in the Harry Potter movies and thought she was kind of cool looking -- offbeat and such.  She's got a much bigger part in this ongoing series and frankly, after last night's nude scene, she's got a pretty bangin' body too.  I felt a bit like Theon there thinking how much I had wondered just what she actually looked like.

And I had meant to mention this in an earlier post, but I wonder if the actors involved in this series are enjoying not having to tamp down their accents on camera?  I've seen Liam Cunningham in a number of things, but have never heard his Irish accent like I have in Game of Thrones.  And all these other actors/actresses . . . it has got to be nice to just let your voice be itself with all the varied nuances of the British accents that exist and not be trying to sound like a non-descript American.

Still enjoying the series as a whole and if you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it highly.  Just remember, it is not for the faint of heart in terms of sex and violence.