With last week’s mind-blowing finale behind us, our regular book reader version of the Game of Thrones review series is back to complaining about changes from the books and other complaints people that just watch the show can’t understand! Hooray!
But, oh, what can we complain about this week? Don’t worry: there’s a whole bunch. (In a good way, of course.)
1. Who’s that Queen?
Lets be real here: that opening scene with Cersei and Margaery where Cersei catchs Margaery staring at Tommen? That was 100% this:
That awkwardly staged moment aside, is it just me or was Cersei acting out of character? It seemed like the episode spent a lot of time trying to make you relate to Cersei a bit more, and as a book reader who has literally seen inside Cersei’s head, I can tell you that that’s impossible. Cersei, for better or for worse, is one of the least relatable characters in the series; she’s hard, she’s angry, and while she has great reason for it it doesn’t change the fact that a very discernible wall is erected between her and not just other characters but the readers as well.
So what’s up with all her actions this episode?
Cersei is always tough to read, and the performance Lena Heady brings to the character speaks volumes to her ability to mask who Cersei is, what she’s really up to. It was clear that she was trying to manipulate her father and Oberyn, but I have no idea why she would suddenly relent to Margaery wedding Tommen. Cersei hates Margaery; it’s her prime motivation throughout all of “Dance,” which leads to her downfall. It’s certainly a curious thing, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it.
2. A Very Peculiar Change (or, How To Kill Impact 101)
At time of writing this, I do not know what my Game of Thrones coverage partner in crime David Harper has written for his non-book reader audience. However, I am wondering out loud to you book readers in that I am curious to see if Lysa’s reveal that Petyr set-up the death of Robert Arryn (the domino that set everything in motion) was impactful at all? (Update: it wasn’t). After all, the Night’s King went over many show watcher heads; given the changed context of this scene, did anyone else almost notice that moment go by like it was nothing?
There are changes about this show that I certainly dislike, and this is one of them. The reveal in the book is one of the most shocking: it’s done in the heat of the moment, in this crazy climactic scene in which you can barely tell what is going to happen until it does. While this episode foreshadowed the “Only Cat” event quite heavily, part of what made that scene so crazy was the truth bombs dropped before Lysa went flying. So, what, was one of the book’s best scenes not good enough for the show? And not even good enough for some dark, foreboding musical score in the background to really emphasize the reveal?
It was a huge reveal. The implications of it are staggering. But it felt like a tossed away line of dialogue. What a waste.
3. Hodoring
In this episode, Bran once again took to Hodor’s mind and used Hodor’s powerful build to crush Locke. It was perhaps the darkest moment of the episode, all things considered, but the reason that I think it’s so noteworthy is that — unlike the previous bullet point — this was made much more impactful than what we see in the books.
Yes, in the books, Bran takes over Hodors mind at multiple points. And yes, it’s a bit weird and uncomfortable that Bran would do that; that he would treat this man like a pointless beast to own. The overtones there are… murky. But we can only read about Hodor’s discomfort from Bran’s perspective, right? We can’t see Hodor’s realization of what just happened to him. And, man, when Kristian Nairn looks down at his hands and sees the blood there… wow. That was well done. Poor Hodor. You feel bad for him in the books, but you feel much worse for him in the show.
Continued below4. Lori, Where’s Karl?
And so, the story of Karl has come to a close. A change from the books, sure, but an interesting diversion that allows for some filler in the season. Yet, it never did feel like filler; in fact, it actually felt like a pretty decent change. Sure, it means no Coldhands, but I’ll get over that some day (not today!). Burn Gorman brought that character to horrifying life, someone terrible and awful and vile and to be feared, and this episode allowed Burn Gorman to give Karl a twisted swan song. I won’t miss the character at all, he was horrific, but I do have a newfound respect for Burn Gorman as an actor. He really made me believe in the character of Karl, so much more so than I did in the book.
Though now Bran doesn’t get to eat him. Ah well.
Also, holy shit, what a way to take him out. Brutal. Wonderful. Well deserved!
5. So What’s Dany Up To Next?
I’m sure many of you, like me, are big fans of Daenerys. And I’m sure many of you, like me, now realize that Dany has kinda sorta run the course of her storyline for “A Storm of Swords.” I mean, a lot of characters are in places they shouldn’t be already, right? Brienne is with Pod, Arya has needle, etc. But I’d remind you that at this point in the book, we were just learning that Arstan Whitebeard was Barristan Selmy (oops?) and Jorah Mormont was taking a long, lonely walk away from his precious Khaleesi.
And, hey, look at that. Dany’s realized that going to Westeros is probably pointless, and Jorah is still around. Oh?
In Season 2, the showrunners extended the Qarth storyline quite a bit, and I suppose it makes sense why they did it. They needed to fill it out. Dany is moving into “Dance with Dragons” territory now, though — and while the show has certainly dipped its toes into those waters, I am curious to see how far they’re going to take it in order to pad out the rest of the season. My guess? Next week we’ll see the death of the farmer’s son, and by the end of the season Jorah will be exiled and Dany will be putting her dragons in captivity. Probably a good place to leave that.
