netgirl_y2k | Valar Dohaeris

I'm not sure my sister's working sojourn to Germany got off to the best start as she called me from Hamburg (roughly 200km from the town she was aiming for) to ask me, and I quote, to "...go down to western union and wire me some money before this hotel realises I don't have any money to pay them."

In less dramatic news, I spent the holiday weekend mainlining S2 Game of Thrones with Tequila Boy. A tip for you all, do not allow yourselves to be suckered into a drinking game where you drink every time Cersei does. Oh. God. The. Pain.

Oddly, some things about series two work much better when you watch it all in one go. I mean, the attempt to engineer Dany a story out of nothing still doesn't really work, and Robb is still a dick, but the whole thing flows much better, and the pacing seems much less fractured.

Does this mean that I am going to save up series three to watch over a weekend, on the assumption that the same thing will be true? It absolutely does not.

Game of Thrones

-It was sort of a slow-burn of an episode, and felt much more like an episode from the middle of the series than the opener. I mean, there was nothing wrong with it, in fact there was a lot of good stuff there, but it was definitely less of a spectacle than I'd been geared up for.

-Show!Robb, why are you such a dick? Such. a. dick.

-Oh God, Margaery, I just want to draw hearts around your face. It's an excellent face. You're excellent. I very much enjoyed the most awkward dinner with the in-laws ever.

-Most of all I liked Cersei's "wine is the only thing at this table that I like, including my son" face.

-What was I saying? Oh, yes, Margaery, the Player of Games herself, I may die when she has scenes with Sansa.

-And Sansa. The shot where she and Shae turn their heads in unison, love love love. Oh, I adore their friendship, please let me have at least a little more of it before everything goes to hell. And the bells of Winterfell rang all day when Sansa was born. Oh, the feelings. My poor precious wolf girl.

-And I fucking adored the exchange between Shae and Ros, everything from, "Look after her, especially around him," to "it's hard for girls like us..."

-Unpopular opinion time: I really like Ros. At least, I really like the idea of Ros. Okay, it sucks that she gets stuck with all the sexposition scenes and not much else. But the idea of giving one of the innumerable voiceless whores of Westeros a name and a point of view, I like very much. The scene where Varys tries to recruit her is one of my favourites of S2.

-Dany. Dude, the blue overdress and leather trousers is a good look for her. I was looking forward to her stuff the most, because Dany in the slaver cities is easily her best plotline and the trailers had made it look pretty epic. But, I was expecting to have four or five episodes of her sailing about before she got to Astapor, and her arriving this soon says good things about her forward momentum this series, yay!

-I am torn on Missandei though; I mean the actress is gorgeous, but I'm a little... squirmy about how heavily she's sexualised. But that's just me as a book reader where Missandei is a child.

-Mance was brilliantly cast, I thought. But is it just me or is the show being more ambiguous than the books in whether Jon has gone over to the wildlings for real or not?

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I was just kind of muddling along with it at first -- even the Tywin scene didn't do much for me -- but then there was the whole sequence with Sansa and Shae and then Ros, and there was Margaery, and the horrible in-law dinner, and basically the women of King's Landing are winning this show so far.

(I liked the Dany stuff, too, but it was pretty much like the book, whereas there's a lot of inventiveness to what's happening in KL.)

Oh, and the whole Stannis/Davos/Melisandre (am I getting her name right??) dynamic was nicely done, as well.

I can easily see the women of King's Landing being the main thing I tune in for this season, yeah.

With the Dany stuff-- I think I'm just relived because they veered away from the books in S2, and it didn't really work. But then sometimes they invent stuff that wasn't in the books, for example the relationship between Sansa and Shae, and it's fucking epic.

I meant to talk about the Stannis/Davos/Melisandre dynamic, mostly to say that I'm surprised by how compelling I find it on the show, because in the books for me that entire plotline disappeared into the charisma sucking black hole that is Stannis Baratheon.

I think all three corners of Stannis/Davos/Melisandre are strong, acting wise, and the scene where she turned the defeat into THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED BECAUSE DAVOS DIDN'T LET ME GO was pretty epic.

(I will also be watching for Jaime & Brienne, ngl, but if the King's Landing stuff is this strong throughout, I have no complaints.)

Why am I getting this image of Cersei on Absolutely Fabulous? Does that even -work-?

Bloody hell. All Cersei needs to do is start smoking and that's it, Absolutely Fabulous: Westeros.

OMG can never unsee this now!

Show!Robb is such a dick. At this rate, I am not going to be entirely sorry when shit goes down at the Red Wedding. I still maintain that Talisa is a Lannister plant.

I was also kind of underwhelmed by the episode. Sometimes I think it all gets spread a little too thin. i have wondered if that gets evened out if you watch it marathon-style. and many of my faves were absent. but the acting is really just perfect. i have faith that things will pick up.

i am *loving* what the show is doing with Margaery. in the books, i feel like it comes as a surprise what a player she is. here it's out in the open. i can't wait for Olenna to show up next week, as she is the Dowager Countess of Westeros. And I hear you on Missendei but honestly i was just excited to see another person of color on the show.

(btw- do you prefer to talk on dw? i can friend you over here)

I do think that the spy in Robb's camp is going to turn out to be Bolton. But the thing about Talisa is that she turned up from nowhere with an unverifiable backstory, and almost immediately became very close to the king... I mean, does no-one find that just a tad suspicious? And actually, just when I thought I couldn't get more annoyed with Robb he didn't release Cat after he got married, when you'd think he might have gained some perspective into how love can lead you to make rash decisions.

It was a pretty low-key episode, which seemed like an odd choice for the season opener, but the acting is so strong, I think, that it can get away with it. Anyway, next week looks like it'll have a big set piece with Dany taking Astapor as well as Diana motherfucking Rigg, so, yeah, looking forward to that. I do agree that it's nice to see another person of colour in Missandei, I just wish that it didn't seem to be on a one-in-one-out basis.

(btw- do you prefer to talk on dw? i can friend you over here)

Whichever you prefer, really. I read and comment on both sites, but most of the conversation does seem to be over here now.

oh the Boltons are in on it, too. i just seem to remember that Jayne Westerling's grandmother or something was a blood witch from Volantis. so it's possible that "Talisa" could be from the westerlands and would still have enough knowledge about Volantis to make up that story. like, i get why the show would want to introduce a real romance for Robb because there's not a lot of romantic plots in the books. but i hate what this storyline has done to Robb and Cat. and i don't know if i like the idea of Robb dying for love more than him dying for a stupid mistake. because now he seems like a cocky bastard that might actually deserve what the Frey's are going to dish out.

When I was re-watching S2 I developed a bizzarre sympathy with Roose Bolton of all people, because he kept trying to talk to Robb about the war effort, and Robb kept brushing him off to go gazing mournfully after Talisa.

I always liked the parallels with Robb and Ned that they both died of a surplus of honour, and while that ship has probably sailed I do hope there's a twist to the Robb/Talisa relationship, because playing it as a straight romance is doing neither character any favours.

I like Ros, too! I like her ambition, and the fellowship she obviously sees with Shae. (And oh, Shae and Sansa! I love that friendship so much, and can't wait for Margaery to join the group.)

I saw it suggested somewhere that Ros is going to take over the Dontos arc from the books, I do hope that's true.

The Sansa/Shae and Shae/Ros bits were brilliant and I loved every second with those three. I also love everything Margaery chose to be and do and wear in this episode and yes, she has a very good face :)

The rest of the episode fell a bit flat for me. It was all interesting enough but as you said, it was a very slow start to the season and it took a while for me to actually get into the episode.

Yeah, I don't know if it's that I'd only watched the season two finale the night before, but this felt much more like part two of two than part one of ten, if that makes sense?

Yeah, I want more of Sansa and Shae's friendship, and I want to know if Ros is reporting to Varys now. Basically the ladies of King's Landing are owning this show for me right now.

I have far too many feelings about Sansa and Shae. Far too many.

Also, Margaery is glorious. That look she exchanged with Loras after Joffrey insulted Cersei and didn't understand charity was PURE GOLD. It basically said "this family is so messed up omg"

And I just cannot wait for Dany to unleash her dragons. Knowing that she could speak Valyrian made that scene so awesome because of little things that slipped past her mask.

Some of the changes the show makes are excellent, some... less so. But the Sansa and Shae relationship is basically flawless. I'm still rooting for them to go and live in a little cabin by the sea where no one will hurt or use them (Tyrion can visit.) Sometimes denial is the only way to survive this show :-)

Oh, I shall have to re-watch that Dany scene, and not only because I like looking at Emilia Clarke's face.

Like show!Robb? I want to punch show!Robb in the face.

Argh that final image of Shae watching Sansa look off into the distance? <3<3<3

I'm still in denial over what they did to Doreah. I just keep telling myself that she got out/Dany let her out and she'll pop up again any episode.

She does have a very good face.

Valar Dohaeris

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