299 replies to this topic

[MA5Bergey]

I thought the whole of Craster's Keep was poorly done.  Not how I pictured it in my head, and I didn't like Craster that much.  I also felt like the interaction between the LC and Jon Snow, as well as the interaction between Jon Snow and Craster, felt forced, the way it was presented in the show.

I feel like Cersei, in show, is starting to match her book counterpart in terms of I-Hate-Her-Ness.

I missed Ros' boobs (sorry, I'm a guy), but the Gold Watch's murder spree made me rage.  Can't wait to see the Lannisters get theirs.

All in all, I feel like they had a lot to accomplish in the first episode, since television is such a different medium than a novel, but they did it well.

[dtones520]

koftroy, on 01 April 2012 - 10:44 PM, said:

I will write more in my blog, but I felt like they already cut out 1/2 the book, which bugged me a bit. Especially with Dragonstone, and the NW with Crastor.  I always thought his place was this huge gross hall and looked Crastor looked more like Balon Greyjoy that we see in the previews. He is described as so disgusting...and he looked too clean cut. Direwolf, perfect, but where the hell is Ghost! Jon is always has him by his side.  Robb forgot to ask for ICE!

More cool stuff: Robb has grown up a lot and even looks old, when talking to his mother....nice touch. Still do not like LH as Cersei....would she EVER take that crap from Joffrey, never...it was always clear who was boss.  The Peter Baelish thing...weird. I got the bit where they went and killed as many bastards as possible.   We knew it happened in the book, but a good segway to Arya.

Tyrion, great as always. Melisandre is very disappointing she should have had her arms in the air all crazed with the comet as she was in the book. I do not know why she isn't glowing in red...disappointing. I am on a low with Dany since ADWD, so no comment there.  I am glad they are showing the wolf dreams, and I loved how when Bran looked at his reflection, it looked like Arya's face.

But the next 2 books are all Jon, Cersei, Tyrion, Arya, as they were the main POV's. But I understand why they made changes so the non-readers got what was going on,  and it was a good overview for them. I hope they tell more of Davos' story....that is all for now.

You seem to forget that Cersei doesn't have any POVs showing her with Joffrey, and she does slap him in public.  So, I'm not really sure where you are getting this idea of her taking crap from him. I'm pretty sure she still pulls the important strings. From what I gathered in the books, Joff did what he wanted and said what he wanted, I got that impression from the episode.

Remember, we don't get into Cersei's head until book 4. Who knows what was going on in her noggin before that, Joffs death really shapes her later on

[Gravity Star]

This episode was fantastic.
Jack Gleeson/Peter Dinklage are tremendous.
The littlefinger/Cercie scene was GREAT.
Lena Headey's Cercie was even GOOD this season.
transitions were great.
Those wanting more from the adaptation of the opening of ACOK, you are unapeasable.

[Slychd]

I rated it an 8.  I deducted points for the rush on Cressen, though I'm kind of sure I will warm up to his awesome death on a re-watch.  At first I was put off by the Cersei/Littlefinger scene, but it was immediately awesome.  I didn't like the numerous deaths of the many bastards, Barra's was horrifying enough.

But in general, it was a great episode, with some great acting.

[Ser Hippie]

A couple of minor quibbles aside, I thought this episode did a fantastic job of setting the board for the season and I really enjoyed it.

[The Scabbard Of the Morning]

I thought it was excellent. Sure some scenes could have used more time to breath. But 10 episodes to fit a book in and all that.

I thought it captured the themes of the books very well. By revisiting each group and using the comet to link them.

[Corvinus]

7.5/10
When I saw Roz, I was starting to think that we won't see Arya, but at least it ended with her, and the episode had a good finish. I liked the fact that they kept showing the red comet, and was most pleased with Bran's wolf dream.

[The Bastard of Bolton]

It got a 7 from me as well.  Might have gotten more if I hadn't watched the last 4 episodes of last season before jumping into this intro.
I loved Tyrion's scenes.  Cersei looks lovier than before.  The locations are beautiful.  The CGI is amazing.  The acting was spot on.

Changing the joust to the melee was a mistake.  When you establish the scene as involving fights to the death it seems out of place for Sansa to step in a save some random fool.  It just didn't make as much sense as it did in the books.

I didn't really like the changes to Cressen's ending, I understand he took the first sip to get her to feel it is safe...  But when a poison is that fast acting it really seems like a moot move.  It was so much better in the book when she gave him the opportunity to spill it, took the first sip and invited him, to his horror, to take the last swallow.

The Littlefinger thing didn't bother me as much as I thought it would...  Obviously the rumours of the incest were common knowledge at this point if even Joffrey heard of it, it is no longer a trump card, no longer a very well kept secret... In my interpretation this was just LF being a smartass and checking how much he can toy with the Queen.  Cersei knows that the cat has been let out of the hat at this point, elsewise she would have had him killed.

Crasters keep felt a bit off for me as well yet I still enjoyed it visually and had I not read the books I still would have known there was something very wrong about the place, the biggest problem is that it felt a bit rushed and not fleshed out enough.

Cersei slapping Joffrey made sense given the situation and I felt it played well into showing how sinister and power mad Joffrey is becoming when he would threaten the life of his own mother.

Honestly though, where the fuck is my Greatjon?  If he isn't going to be present this season at least make mention that he is fighting important battles on some other front or something.  I just spent a few episodes seeing him constantly as a sort of right hand man to Robb, the very man who called him King in the North first... and now I'm supposed to shrug off his complete absence?

Ros being the main Madame at the brothel is a bit sudden, happy that I had infanticide to take my mind off that one...

I know I'm sounding more negative than someone who gave it an honest 7, it is just easier to voice criticism than it is to praise.

[Grunkins]

Much depends on Mel's ability to shout "FREEFOLK!"

[Binadas Sengar]

It seems like I am supposed to give the episode a 7.

I dug it big time and thought craster's Keep looked about right but I always imagined him with a big wooley beard not an R & B singer's shadow.

I watched the show with my buddy's Dad who has never read the books.  He offered up that Gleeson has a punch me face. Ha!

10 seconds of Arya was not enough and Daenarys got only slightly more time.  It kind of bugged me how little screen time each character got but what can they do stuck in the hour long format with an ever expanding plot and cast?

I still can't wait to see Ygritte and Brienne.

[Harle The Handsome]

Jack, on 01 April 2012 - 10:13 PM, said:

I gave it a 9. We only saw a little of Craster's Keep but the outside looks awesome. Some people are upset about it jumping around too much but I expected it. My two complaints are why the creators added two pointless scenes. The Littlefinger bit I get. It establishes why he would work against Cersie but I hated the Ros scene. It was just pointless and the Ros character adds NOTHING to the series. There are already a shitload of cahracters I don't see the need to add another one. Other than that I loved it and it has me pumped for the rest of the season.

I took the opposite viewpoint regarding that scene. I understand Cersi's PoV - where power is power and there is nothing like it in the world, and you can stick your knowledge up your ass and scurry away you little rat- but I don't get it from Littlefinger's perspective. He is much too clever to let something like that slip from his tongue around Cersi, to whom no slight is too small to cruelly repay.

[SFA-OK]

I'll give it a 5. Not a fan of any of the new casts so far except for maybe Davos, too early to tell maybe. I'm hoping the actress they cast for Brienne does a good job. I think maybe the two guys writing/adapting the books just aren't very good writers, pretty cliched stuff, IMO.

[EgoistMusketeer]

I have mixed feelings about this episode.

First off, the beginning had that idiotic vibe that HBO creates in season premiers for shows like entourage.  Its that weird vibe that sort of like all the characters were on summer vacation and now they're back and telling their friends how they've been. Luckily it only lasted the first few minutes.

I also hated the Ros scene, when she talked to the new whores in the same way that littlefinger had talked to her when she first arrived.  Did anyone at HBO think that was clever?

Clash is more spread out than Thrones so in order to update the viewer on every character we got maybe five minutes of screen time for Dany, Jon, Tyrion,
but a decent helping of Cersei.

It seems like they are already trying to make Cersei sympathetic by making the bastard purge Joffrey's plan.

Its expected from a premier, especially one that has a year between 10 episodes, to have a slower pace.

I actually loved the snippets we got on Dragon Stone and Melisandre, Stannis, and Davos are all great.

I didn't like the Craster casting, he didn't seem as haggard or wild as he could have been.  

I did enjoy the city guard montage at the end, and Tyrion's confrontation with Cersei in the small counsel was brilliant.

Overall there were a few things I didn't like but it was a solid opener for what is prepping to be a great season.

[Gravity Star]

SFA-OK, on 02 April 2012 - 12:46 AM, said:

I think maybe the two guys writing/adapting the books just aren't very good writers, pretty cliched stuff, IMO.

I think almost every scene that hasn't been in the books has been great, and often better than the word for word book scenes. (the maester Pyclle/Roz scene aside)

[footballcoach]

5/10.  It was a mess imo.  I have read the books several times and I was confused with all the plot and time leaps.  I realize it's going to move faster and some areas are re-written to fit a television series. However, I don't recall feeling jarred with plot differences and time leaps so much in any other episode.

Immediately afterward I felt like I needed to watch half of it again in order to reconcile it with what was in the books.  Overall it was just a weird, disjointed episode for me.  

Poor casting for Stannis and Craster.  Davos seemed pretty good.  Craster visit was very anti-climactic and disappointing.  Melisandre I am on the fence about still, but she seemed appropriately dangerous I suppose.

[The Bastard of Bolton]

Binadas Sengar, on 02 April 2012 - 12:42 AM, said:

It seems like I am supposed to give the episode a 7.

That is why you should have rated it before reading the post.
That is what I did and still ended up choosing 7.

It was good, but I feel like the episodes are going to be exponentially better.  If I'm giving away nines and tens now it'll just seem wasted for when I really am blown away.

[Lord Ravenfrost]

Overall I liked the season opener I thought they did a clever job in condensing some of the early chapters and Gleeson makes Joffery even more repugnant (if that's even possible). I gave it a seven because I think that the writers take the things implied in the books a little too far sometimes like killing Roberts bastards and I don't really remember Cersei threatening Littlefinger directly with bodily harm. I also don't remember Osha knowing a damn thing about dragons either. These are but small gripes the real injustice to the original material is how Crasters keep played out I think the scene could have done with more of a sinister tone I hope when we see the black brothers return there will be a darker tone to things. Cressens scene could've played out better too I don't like how quickly the poison took effect. I'm really looking forward to the next nine episodes.

[Lord Florent]

Did anyone else love Stannis? I kept trying to see if he'd grind his teeth and you'll notice it from time to time.. and he moved so awkwardly. It was perfect. I was just rereading the book and I remember reading the scene where he grabs the sword and I remember envisioning it exactly the same way he walked it on the shot. I just wish he had a deeper voice.

Am I the only one who didn't like the Littlefinger scene? I liked him as a psychopath that keeps planning his elevation within the game. He always expected to backstab the Lannisters and was waiting for his opportunity. But if they use that scene to explain his betrayal.. not cool!

Varys is so great too!

[SFA-OK]

Gravity Star, on 02 April 2012 - 12:52 AM, said:

I think almost every scene that hasn't been in the books has been great, and often better than the word for word book scenes. (the maester Pyclle/Roz scene aside)

I feel pretty much the opposite. All the expository writing just makes me roll my eyes at this point. I know some of it is necessary but it could be done in a lot better, less obvious way. And just not a fan of most of the changes either or how they are all put together. Just seems so jumbled and mixed together. Even little stuff like Robb's direwolf snapping within an inch of Jaime's face, ugh.

[KhaleesiDany]

lol mine is the only vote at <5.

What do you guys even see in this show?

Granted, I don't watch much television. I'm glad game of thrones is on TV and that it will bring more people to read the books. I think they do an OK job with the casting and I understand that there are limitations in the film medium that have to be worked around to bring this story from the page to the screen.

But when I'm watching the show I feel like I am seeing some unimaginative person's impression of the books. Maybe unimaginiative is too harsh of a word but I feel like all the scenes are pale visions of what happened at that point in the story. I feel like I am watching a rewrite with all the scenes contrived to fit together instead of just flowing along, all the best parts like the battles are cut or edited out and the characters all come across as dull (except Tyrion)--how is this possible when I read these books and feel like I am ALIVE alongside them? In the books, I don't even like Tyrion!

This episode in particular was kind of slow paced--really bad mistake for a premiere, IMO. They move things around all the time they could have put some exciting stuff in here!

None of the characters looks like how I imagine them but I forgive it every time if the actor is even the littlest bit good. But Jon Snow is the worst not only does he not remind me of book-Snow at all, the actor who plays him just stands around gaping all day at nothing.

And where was Gilly? If they introduced her it flew over my head.

Jaime Lannister looked like he was SLEEPING when Grey Wind came up to attack him--I laughed. And why put fake-outs like that in the show in the first place? They could make Grey Wind actually intimidating by showing him ripping out people's throats in a battle--but they never seem to show any battle scenes.

Cersei talking to Littlefinger was a good scene until she told her soliders to close their eyes--and they all turned to follow her when she left! I guess they have eyes in the back of their heads and x-ray vision so they can see through their helmets. That mistake could have been fixed by one line, "GUARDS!"

I thought Melisandre was okay until she opened her mouth.

I just can't take this show seriously and it does not give me anywhere near the rush I get from reading. To all y'all who watch the show and haven't read the books do yourself a favor and READ THEM I don't care if the only time you read is when you take a shit in the morning and it takes you a year, you will not regret it because this show is like a window to someone else's window of Westeros and you will not regret it if you just take a peek outside your own head.