Emilia Clarke's range

[Nami]

Emilia was at her best in season 1

Though I think part of the problem is the directing, because almost everyone is not as good as they were in season 1.

[Nami]

Seriously! Emilia is beautiful. Granted she does look better as a brunette.

http://cdn02.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/headlines/2014/02/emilia-clarke-covers-wsj-magazine-march-2014-exclusive.jpg

That's because that wig and dark eyebrows are ridiculous. How hard is it to dye her eyebrows lighter? Jfc it was lighter in the first season

[sj4iy]

Emilia was at her best in season 1

Though I think part of the problem is the directing, because almost everyone is not as good as they were in season 1.

She was at her best in Season 1 because she actually had something to do other than ride around on a horse shouting orders. I would say it's the fault of the story more than the fault of the actress or director.

[Wayfarer]

The problem is some people want to see more emotion from her but she doesn't write the script. When she was alone with Ser Jorah the script writers should of had a more personal Daenerys come out instead they stuck with the cold stoic ruler figure they want her to be.

This is the problem, I find the direction is confused when it comes to Daenerys, shes blonde, slender a gracile figure and soft on the outside and they want to keep that side of her while at the same time they want this natural ruler of Tagaryn stock in the Dothraki style. In the first series where she didn't have the ruler persona she done well portraying this innocent girl caught up in a bad world, when she addresses her men she can be the strong leader, but when the directors want her to be both at the same time poor Emilia doesn't know what to do and the directors aren't much help either.

My advice to the show producers, flesh her character out, let her be the gentle girl in a brutal world when shes being herself and let her be the strong ruler when she needs to be, don't try to make her both.

Also to some of the haters on here, wow your blaming her for things entirely out of her control, hate the character by all means but the actress behind it can only do what she given with and perhaps you need to look inside yourselves to see where the hate is really coming from. Emilia Clarke has shown she can play the character brilliantly so it is not her acting abilities that are to blame here.

[Tori Targaryen]

I think people are confusing Daenerys' acting for Emilia's.... Dany IS acting, she's playing a role, it's obvious that she is. Where Emilia works is in the eyes. I can call out several GOT actors I'd consider below par, but Emilia isn't one of them.

[Mother of Flagons]

I think people are confusing Daenerys' acting for Emilia's.... Dany IS acting, she's playing a role, it's obvious that she is. Where Emilia works is in the eyes. I can call out several GOT actors I'd consider below par, but Emilia isn't one of them.

Which actors? Just curious!

[Fat Trell]

I would like to see Emilia explain her portrayal of Dany. I was surprised to find out she was one of the only actors on the show to have read the books, and that she consults them regularly. I wonder if she is trying to show Dany's queenly mask(her bunny ears as well), and trying to keep her internal doubts just that.

[bobbybuilderton]

I think people are confusing Daenerys' acting for Emilia's.... Dany IS acting, she's playing a role, it's obvious that she is. Where Emilia works is in the eyes. I can call out several GOT actors I'd consider below par, but Emilia isn't one of them.

It thoroughly irritates me when someone tries to tell me why I think a certain way.

It is possible to portray that your character is putting on a show without it being obvious that you yourself are putting on a show. Do you know what that requires? A talented actress, which Emilia Clarke is not. For example, Tywin talking to Tommen after Joffrey died. It's obvious that Tywin is trying to mold him. It is not obvious that Charles Dance is acting as Tywin trying to mold him. You claim Daenerys is playing a role, fine. But it's also extremely obvious that Emilia is playing Daenerys.

The issue for me, if I had to summarize it, is that when I watch her act, it's very obvious that I'm watching someone act. I never had much of a problem with Kit because even though he was a one note portrayal, I still could buy that he was that character. Mopey kid who went to the wall to be grumpy. With Emilia I find it more and more obvious that this is a person reading lines. I have the same issue with Shae.

My description of the problem also explains why she's generally better when speaking made up languages. Mannerisms and inflection can change quite a bit in other cultures, so we naturally don't think much of it. You know this if you have a friend who doesn't have much of an accent, but then they speak another language when talking to a relative and you're like ":O was that really her?"

Now if this is the fault of Emilia, the writing, the directing, or a combination of all three, I don't know for sure. Leaning towards mostly writing and Emilia though. "All men must die but we aren't men am I right?! Burn ALL the bras! Look at me I am a strong female character who only knows how to portray confidence by exaggerating everything I do!"

For the show in general, the writers are trying too much to write things that sound cool. This was not the case in the first season. Watching a conversation in this show now is like hearing two people compete for who can get the most trailer time. If they would write dialogue that actual people would say, it would increase in quality dramatically. This isn't an issue limited to Daenerys's story, but it shows up most often there. It's very apparent you're watching people act. Little things like "kill the masters" written in English break your immersion and make you aware of the experience.

[Veltigar]

I think people are confusing Daenerys' acting for Emilia's.... Dany IS acting, she's playing a role, it's obvious that she is.

/end thread. If only the writing wasn't as shitty than that would be more clear.

[Fat Trell]

I thought both Emilia and Iain Glen were very disappointing in their scene together... They honestly both looked stoned. :dunno:

The scene was far too rushed, the dialogue was weak and completely lacked the severity that the book scene had, the directing was poor, and it seems like the showrunners don't know what they're doing with the characterisation of anyone in Dany's retinue.

Most of these problems would be resolved if they stuck closer to the book dialogue and spent more time on Dany's scenes instead of wasting it on pointless filler. Dany has felt like an after-thought in every episode this season with the exception of episode three. Considering she's THE iconic character of the show, it's a very strange decision (particularly in an episode without Tyrion, the other iconic character).

I agree that the scene felt rather rushed. That is honestly one of my favorite Dany moments in the whole series. As well as one of the most important decisions she has made in her entire arc. It felt too casual; like Dany was explaining to Jorah how they would be having goat, not horse for lunch.

[Nami]

The directors are not doing the directing. I thought it was obvious by now and we even have a scene that was supposed to be something but it came out another thing to the audience.

[jabulaniman]

Totally. I'm not sure if it's Emilia's fault, but I'm so sick of the ridiculous melodrama. "Who told you to take the navy?" "Ill do what a queen does. RULE!"

I just rolled my eyes and shook my head.

Cant stand the direction Dany and Cersei have gone in the show. The rest if the ep was awesome though, as usual.

[Cas Stark]

Yeah, who told you to take the navy...oh, right, I might need it, nevermind was really, really bad on all levels, writing and delivery.

[MoIaF]

The directors are not doing the directing. I thought it was obvious by now and we even have a scene that was supposed to be something but it came out another thing to the audience.

Good point!

I agree that the scene felt rather rushed. That is honestly one of my favorite Dany moments in the whole series. As well as one of the most important decisions she has made in her entire arc. It felt too casual; like Dany was explaining to Jorah how they would be having goat, not horse for lunch.

I think that's the part that bothered me the most. She acted kind of blasé about it, when in the books it's a big deal. She needed to be more contrite especially when she was talking with Jorah alone. The last line really bothered me in the deliver (the it will rule), this was the right decision but it should have been a hard decision.

I don't know if I already posted this from D&Dnnnit clearly shows they get it, but somehow it's not translating on screen:

D. B. Weiss: This scene shows Dany learning a lesson that I think all revolutionaries learned at one point or another, which is that conquering in many ways is a whole lot easier than ruling.

David Beniof: This is a pivotal moment for Daenerys because for so long, her sole goal was getting back to Westeros, conquering Westeros, sitting on the Iron Throne, and becoming the queen that she believes she has every right to be. And now she has the opportunity.

D. B. Weiss: She’s driven by a kind of a deep empathy — a much deeper empathy than probably anybody else on the show. It’s something that makes her as charismatic as she is to people because they can sense the sincerity of it. Her empathy allows her to look at the people of Westeros and say ‘Why the hell would they ever follow me if I haven’t proven myself through my actions to be somebody worth following? Why would they let me rule if I hadn’t proven myself to be someone who has ruled well somewhere else?’

[lostinwesteros]

I actually had a hard time with Dany's POVs from the beginning. I thought her chapters were too long and pretty boring when compared to the others. I do know that some of that results from my strong preference for Westeros and the action there, but nonetheless I just found her storyline a bit disjointed. By the time I got to Book 5, it was really, really hard for me to get through her chapters.

That said, I'm not sure I can be terribly objective about the actor's portrayal of her, even though I know they're two separate things. I will say that I have liked Emilia's portrayal of her somewhat better than I liked the character in the books, but by the time I got to the Mysa episode last season, I was ready to throw up. Things haven't improved for me this season. It's like listening to the same note being played over and over. I think 4.05 was the second worst so far.

[Ella Dendron]

She was tolerable in season 1, especially when Harry Lloyd was around (he totally stole her spotlight - I was always more focused on Viserys than on Daenerys when they were both on screen). Once his character died there was nothing but dead eyes from Emilia. She is always staring into an empty space with no expression whatsoever. Once she became "queen" she added her "commanding voice" to the mix and the result is almost unbearable. There is no story behind her facade, she is like an empty human being with no emotional depth. It's almost like Drogo and all the other shit didn't happen at all or happened to someone else. Sophie Turner is not the best actress on the show (far from it) but you can actually see all the emotional suffering she went through on her face even when she is talking about lemon cakes. It would be nice to see that Daenerys is actually a person with real feelings one of these days.

[Cas Stark]

She was tolerable in season 1, especially when Harry Lloyd was around (he totally stole her spotlight - I was always more focused on Viserys than on Daenerys when they were both on screen). Once his character died there was nothing but dead eyes from Emilia. She is always staring into an empty space with no expression whatsoever. Once she became "queen" she added her "commanding voice" to the mix and the result is almost unbearable. There is no story behind her facade, she is like an empty human being with no emotional depth. It's almost like Drogo and all the other shit didn't happen at all or happened to someone else. Sophie Turner is not the best actress on the show (far from it) but you can actually see all the emotional suffering she went through on her face even when she is talking about lemon cakes. It would be nice to see that Daenerys is actually a person with real feelings one of these days.

I think Sophie Turner does a very good job, actually. She can show emotion just through her eyes and her bearing, that to me is a sign of a real actress. Emilia Clark, all she can show with her eyes is "steely determination/stoicism" and she's lost whatever ability she had to convey any emotion through inflection or anything else. She's like a robot.

[Ramsay Gimp]

"I will ruuuuuule" and then the back turn made me want to hurl. I'm this close to just fast forwarding through her scenes this season

[Ella Dendron]

I think Sophie Turner does a very good job, actually. She can show emotion just through her eyes and her bearing, that to me is a sign of a real actress. Emilia Clark, all she can show with her eyes is "steely determination/stoicism" and she's lost whatever ability she had to convey any emotion through inflection or anything else. She's like a robot.

That's what I said. I am not criticizing Sophie I am actually praising her. I just said that there are better actresses on the show than her (Lena, Michelle, Gwendoline).

[ipsuel]

I honestly don't like Dany's storyline past GoT (it's getting better for me in ADwD, though)... but...that being said, I think Emilia Clarke has taken way too much heat for her portrayal of Dany.

I think people really need to lay some blame at the writers/directors here. For example, when she tried to pull off her regal voice this episode (and failed miserably) -- why didn't the directors say, "Hey, I see what you're trying, but remember, Dany's a young girl and still learning -- don't try to sound like Queen Elizabeth. It's inauthentic."

Did they not hear what we all heard? Of course they did -- why didn't they make her re-shoot it? Because they clearly LIKED it.

So... who, ultimately, is to blame? The young actress trying, or the people who are putting out sub-par performances w/o having them fixed?