Game of Thrones, Season 3, Episode 3
Apr. 16th, 2013 09:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marinessAnother week, another chance for HBO actors to remove clothing and liberally apply fake blood!
1. After watching this episode, my brother has decided that the best ending for the show is for Arya to end up as "Queen of Everything" with Hot Pie as her Official Baker and Pastry Chef. I'm just throwing this out there as an idea, HBO execs and George RR Martin. Just throwing it out there.
2. Speaking of endings we were both disappointed that Joffrey isn't dead yet.
(Yes, we've both read the books. This does not change our general viewpoint.)
3. HBO, if the general idea of showing me Theon tortured, then allowed to escape on a lovely white horse, then almost raped, then saved by some excellent target shooting, was to get me to feel some stirrings of pity, then, congratulations! It worked. I have feelings of pity. For the lovely white horse.
(It was not clear in the end but just the people, not the horses, got shot, right? Because that was a very lovely horse and it jumped over things with a nicely flowing tail and tossed its mane in the proper horse tossing mane matter and this sentence is exactly why I don't exactly talk much about horse riding in my fiction.)
4. Speaking of Theon – so the guy that "helped" Theon escape and then shot arrows into everyone is Ramsey Bolton-Snow, yes? I vaguely recall a sentence or two in A Dance With Dragons suggesting that Ramsey allowed Theon to escape just to increase the feelings of torture and despair and then removed his toenails, which seems like a Ramsey sort of thing to do. My hopes that this storyline would be eliminated are thus completely dashed.
I told a couple of people in March, quite truthfully, that I would be fine if Martin never did end up finishing the series, since this feels less like a series moving forward to some grand confrontation/triumphant conclusion (like most epics) and more like a glimpse into part of the history of this world, where things happened before and will happen after. Much like reading about the War of the Roses. I meant that. But having said that, I sincerely do hope that there is a payoff to Theon's storyline in either books or show. I find Show!Theon slightly less irritating, since the actor has done a decent job of showing how isolated and insecure he is, but still, even beyond the misogyny (carried over into the show), the betrayal, the "why me," the killing of two little kids for his own ego, the ongoing torture bit, the participation in another person's torture, this has been a really unpleasant storyline to plow through, and I want some sort of payoff. What, I don't know. But some.
5. On a more cheerful note, hands down best scene of the episode: Musical chairs! Entirely made by the facial reactions and delightful insults and Tyrion's "Far be it for me to interfere with the course of true love..." Season Four series finale, I am much looking forward to you.
6. Ok, this week's HBO's Quota of Unnecessary Nudity and Lots of Breasts did at least lead to a joke, and I'm all for naked bodies, especially naked bodies, or, in this case, almost naked bodies that can bed like that, and the three women had clearly worked hard to get figures like that so we should all celebrate and enjoy this, but...HBO, this would feel slightly less exploitive if you also included more male nudity. No less completely gratuitous, but slightly less exploitive.
7. What's odd is that combined with this were three separate scenes showing the real horror of rape – and kudos to the show for showing that yes, this happens to men too. The bit where Jaime tries to advise Brienne about rape, and her terror as she's dragged off, and her fury and humiliation when she's returned....Agonizing and well done.
8. I was NOT expecting Jaime's hand to get cut off in this episode but as soon as they called for a knife I squeaked and had to grab a cat. And it's a good thing I was holding the cat because I needed SOMETHING to help me through the horror, and by horror, I mean the jarring, punk version of The Bear and the Maiden Fair that played over the credits. What was that?
Also, how is a hand severed off with so little blood spurting everywhere? I mean, this was the same episode that showed us multiple crucified people, so...er? I have nothing.
9. I say nothing, Jon Snow, because oh you are boring. Which is slightly better than emo, but, boring. Then again you look very very cold and I grant that it is hard to match the interest level of people who insist on putting their corpses into weird spiral shapes.
10. WARNING MASSIVE CLASSICAL MISQUOTE AHEAD for Rome fans only: Though, now that I think about it, how cool would it be for Edmure and Mance to meet in the show and for Mance to grin wildly at Edmure, plunge a dagger into him and say, Et tu Riverlord? RIVERUN DELENDA EST. Revenge!
More seriously, what are the chances that HBO went with that casting because Martin knows Edmure and Mance are meeting up later? Strong? Slim? Nonexistent? In actual fact a Jane Austen reference suggesting that everyone is about to be very very polite and not remove any clothing whatsoever—no, I forgot what show I'm talking about.
11. Ugh, Craster. Ugh. Nothing more to say here really, but, ugh.
1. After watching this episode, my brother has decided that the best ending for the show is for Arya to end up as "Queen of Everything" with Hot Pie as her Official Baker and Pastry Chef. I'm just throwing this out there as an idea, HBO execs and George RR Martin. Just throwing it out there.
2. Speaking of endings we were both disappointed that Joffrey isn't dead yet.
(Yes, we've both read the books. This does not change our general viewpoint.)
3. HBO, if the general idea of showing me Theon tortured, then allowed to escape on a lovely white horse, then almost raped, then saved by some excellent target shooting, was to get me to feel some stirrings of pity, then, congratulations! It worked. I have feelings of pity. For the lovely white horse.
(It was not clear in the end but just the people, not the horses, got shot, right? Because that was a very lovely horse and it jumped over things with a nicely flowing tail and tossed its mane in the proper horse tossing mane matter and this sentence is exactly why I don't exactly talk much about horse riding in my fiction.)
4. Speaking of Theon – so the guy that "helped" Theon escape and then shot arrows into everyone is Ramsey Bolton-Snow, yes? I vaguely recall a sentence or two in A Dance With Dragons suggesting that Ramsey allowed Theon to escape just to increase the feelings of torture and despair and then removed his toenails, which seems like a Ramsey sort of thing to do. My hopes that this storyline would be eliminated are thus completely dashed.
I told a couple of people in March, quite truthfully, that I would be fine if Martin never did end up finishing the series, since this feels less like a series moving forward to some grand confrontation/triumphant conclusion (like most epics) and more like a glimpse into part of the history of this world, where things happened before and will happen after. Much like reading about the War of the Roses. I meant that. But having said that, I sincerely do hope that there is a payoff to Theon's storyline in either books or show. I find Show!Theon slightly less irritating, since the actor has done a decent job of showing how isolated and insecure he is, but still, even beyond the misogyny (carried over into the show), the betrayal, the "why me," the killing of two little kids for his own ego, the ongoing torture bit, the participation in another person's torture, this has been a really unpleasant storyline to plow through, and I want some sort of payoff. What, I don't know. But some.
5. On a more cheerful note, hands down best scene of the episode: Musical chairs! Entirely made by the facial reactions and delightful insults and Tyrion's "Far be it for me to interfere with the course of true love..." Season Four series finale, I am much looking forward to you.
6. Ok, this week's HBO's Quota of Unnecessary Nudity and Lots of Breasts did at least lead to a joke, and I'm all for naked bodies, especially naked bodies, or, in this case, almost naked bodies that can bed like that, and the three women had clearly worked hard to get figures like that so we should all celebrate and enjoy this, but...HBO, this would feel slightly less exploitive if you also included more male nudity. No less completely gratuitous, but slightly less exploitive.
7. What's odd is that combined with this were three separate scenes showing the real horror of rape – and kudos to the show for showing that yes, this happens to men too. The bit where Jaime tries to advise Brienne about rape, and her terror as she's dragged off, and her fury and humiliation when she's returned....Agonizing and well done.
8. I was NOT expecting Jaime's hand to get cut off in this episode but as soon as they called for a knife I squeaked and had to grab a cat. And it's a good thing I was holding the cat because I needed SOMETHING to help me through the horror, and by horror, I mean the jarring, punk version of The Bear and the Maiden Fair that played over the credits. What was that?
Also, how is a hand severed off with so little blood spurting everywhere? I mean, this was the same episode that showed us multiple crucified people, so...er? I have nothing.
9. I say nothing, Jon Snow, because oh you are boring. Which is slightly better than emo, but, boring. Then again you look very very cold and I grant that it is hard to match the interest level of people who insist on putting their corpses into weird spiral shapes.
10. WARNING MASSIVE CLASSICAL MISQUOTE AHEAD for Rome fans only: Though, now that I think about it, how cool would it be for Edmure and Mance to meet in the show and for Mance to grin wildly at Edmure, plunge a dagger into him and say, Et tu Riverlord? RIVERUN DELENDA EST. Revenge!
More seriously, what are the chances that HBO went with that casting because Martin knows Edmure and Mance are meeting up later? Strong? Slim? Nonexistent? In actual fact a Jane Austen reference suggesting that everyone is about to be very very polite and not remove any clothing whatsoever—no, I forgot what show I'm talking about.
11. Ugh, Craster. Ugh. Nothing more to say here really, but, ugh.