The A Song of Fire and Ice series, to give it its proper title (the TV series is named after the title of the first book), has been one of my favourite reads over the past 5 years. I picked out the first book on a whim and never looked back. As you can see on the right I am currently re-reading the 5th book in the series to pave way for the next which will be released in July. Here's a pic!
Anyway, I'm digressing! I was originally going to rate each episode as it was shown but as you can see I've fallen a bit behind, sorry folks. So here are my thoughts on the first three episodes of the epic Game of Thrones.
Cast:
Eddard Stark - Sean Bean
Catlyn Stark - Michelle Fairley
Robert Baratheon - Mark Addy
Cersei Baratheon - Lena Headley
Jamie Lanister - Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Tyrion Lannister - Peter Dinklage
Danaerys Targaryen - Emelia Clarke
Viserys Targaryen - Harry Lloyd
The Hound (Sandor Cleagane) - Rory McCann
Petyr Baelish - Aiden Gillen
Jorah Mormont - Iain Glen
Jon Snow - Kit Harrington
Rob Stark - Richard Madden
Bran Stark - Isaac Hmpstead-Wright
Arya Stark - Maisie Williams
Sansa Stark - Sophie Turner
Joffrey Baratheon - Jack Gleeson
Episode 1: Winter is Coming:
Before I even start I just want to say Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister is the most perfect casting for any part ever! So back to the episode; I'm glad they started with the books prologue even though what happened in it didn't really advance the story's plot. The visuals of the world beyond the wall, and of the wall itself were breathtaking. The opening sequence was actually re-shot for artistic purposes. If David Benioff and D.B Weiss (creators) pay this much attention to detail then we are really in for a treat in the later episodes (you'll find no spoilers here). So to the meat and veg of the episode; the characters. Winter really sets up the character's nicely and highlights Eddard's reluctance to leave his home, even for an old friend. Duty seems to rule over family for him. This is apparent with his affection for his bastard son Jon. The Lannisters are evil and manipulative, plain and simple and played wonderfully by the actors. We started to see the sibling squabbles and the differences between Sansa and Arya very early on, along with Arya's tom-boy attitudes, which really come to a head later on. Even with the wealth of chracters the story was easy to follow. My wife can vouch for that, as she hasn't read the books but still knew what was going on.
Across the sea we had a fleeing King and his sister in the shape of Viserys and Danaerys, the former is looking for an army to retake Westeros. Harry Lloyd plays this selfish character brillantly with just the right amount of venom. I mean come on, he pimps out his own sister for support.
The scene was really set for whats to come and even though I know the story well I was left thinking how the worlds of the North and South and across te narrow sea would pan out, the cliff hanger ending was the perfect place to stop. Roll on episode 2.
Episode 2 - The King's Road
I realise I forgot to mention the direwolves above and I could be bothered to slot them in here. They were more noticeable in this episode as we saw one die (some what unfairly - curse those Lannisters), one get sent away and one rip the throat out of an assassin. Excellent, I really like the way that thewolf just returned to his master's side and lay there after such a bloody attack. In this episode the characters begin to spread throughout Westeros. Tyrion and Jon go north to the wall, accompanied by some excellent dialogue on the Kings Road. Catlyn and Rob remain at Winterfell to care for a crippled Bran, with the rest heading south for King's Landing where Lady meets her demise at the hand of Eddard, a butchers boy gets run down, 'the boy ran... just not fast enough.' We discover that Joffrey really is a letch. Is it me or do you just want to slap him around like Tyrion did at the beginning of this episode.
We also get a hint of some forthcoming information about Jon's mother, which I actually had to revist the book to find out and his reasons for heading to the wall and the on screen chemistry between Sean and Mark really becomes apparent when they stop on the Kings Road. Across the narrow sea there is a rift opening between Dani and Viserys which is sure to end in violence. Iain Glen as the quiet former knight Jorah Mormont really has surprised me the most so far and I think he will really come into his own later on. The ending scenes also show up the non-existent love between Cersei and Robert but he knows he must appease her every once and a while.
Episode 3 - Lord Snow:
Ah the wall, I really like Jon as a character in both the books and now the series. Kit Harrington was an unknown before HBO snapped him up and he won't be unknown for long. His story really is the most interesting journey for me and so far its been done brillinatly (You'll find that so far I really have nothing to complain about so there will be a lot of 'brilliant') The casting and portrayal of both Allister Thorne (the wall's newbee trainer) and Commander of the Watch have so far been inspiring although the latter has had little screen time to flex his character muscles.
To the south, Bran is awake but cannot walk and Catlyn has sailed south to speak to Ned regarding her thoughts on Bran's 'accident'. The only slight issue I have with this episode is the introduction of many new characters with not a lot of explaining (with the exception of Little Finger (Baelish)). Some more casting gems here and hopefully the full extent of these characters will begin to be realised.
This episode also saw the first bit that wasn't in the books at all, when Robert and Jamie had a little tete-a-tete while Robert was eating. Something I haven't touched much upon is the settings and landscapes of George's world, which to now have really been captured in the greatest of detail. I mean how many extras can be seen in the backgrounds of scenes. Good job HBO!
Roll on episode 4. The story is moving fast but everything is on track so far. We are in for some shocks over the coming weeks, mark my words! Til next time
No comments:
Post a Comment