Game of Thrones 2.6: The Old Gods and the New

 

Joffrey Gets Slapped

I forgot how much I loved the episode “The Old Gods and the New” until I rewatched it. This episode has everything: sex, violence, town riots, blooming romance, and the kidnapping of dragons. The episode first starts off with Theon capturing Winterfell. I realize that Theon has some major father issues going on with Lord Greyjoy handing Theon’s inheritance over to his sister, Yara; however, I still do not know why he thought he could impress his father by capturing a castle where all of the able bodied men are off at war and the lord is a crippled child. The way Theon storms into Bran’s room declaring that he captured the castle, I almost expected Bran to reply, “Am I supposed to be impressed by that.” Theon further acts like a petulant child when he succumbs to pressure from his men to kill Ser Rodrik Cassel for spitting at him. I will say that Game of Thrones is not afraid to showcase the horror of certain acts of violence. Beheading has always been a type of execution depicted in films and television that deal with ancient or medieval times; however, often the violence takes place off screen. For example, in the new series Vikings on The History Channel, the viewer only sees the ax swing down and reemerge with blood when a character is beheaded. This show, however, is on basic cable so certain rules do govern what can be depicted onscreen. The Tudors, however, is on Showtime, another premium cable channel, and they shy away from close up enactments of this form of execution. The various beheadings ordered by Henry VIII are in long shot with the victims barely visible or the action takes place off screen. I don’t know if I prefer Game of Thrones showing in vivid detail the execution of Rodrik Cassel. It did, however, allow me to see that at times beheading is not always a swift death but could be painful and excruciating if the executioner is a novice and does not know how to wield a sword or an ax. 

The drama at Winterfell continues when Osha played by Natalia Tena offers her loyalty to Theon. Bran is flabbergasted by her decision to switch loyalty but little does he know that she has a plan. In a brilliant display of how easily a woman in this show can corrupt a man with her sexuality, Osha seduces Theon causing him to let down his guard. I know that since this is Game of Thrones nudity and sex are to be expected; however, before Natalia Tena’s role as Osha on this series her most notable character was Nymphadora Tonks in the Harry Potter franchise. It just seemed wrong to see a Tonks stripping for Theon and have a full frontal nudity shot. I know this is a different role, but this just illustrates that once you are part of a popular film franchise, your character will follow you forever. Despite feeling a bit uneasy seeing the X-rated Tonks, Osha’s plan works allowing Theon to pass out and the two young Stark boys to escape Winterfell.

Relive the brilliant scene by clicking on the picture

The highlight of this episode had to be the story in King’s Landing. Tyrion sends Cersei’s daughter away to be raised. Returning to the castle, Joffrey and the rest of the royal entourage get heckled by the crowd, and Joffrey gets hit in the face with a cow pie. Being the pestilent child that he is, he orders that the hurler of the poo be killed. The crowd quickly erupts into a riot. I love this scene for it is the first time that Joffrey realizes just because you call yourself king, does not mean you have power. If your people do not follow and obey you, your title means nothing. The look of horror in his eyes when he realizes that his screaming and threats will not make a mass crowd obey him, gave me pleasure and I hoped that he would get captured by the crowd. There was an odd seen, however, in the crowd chaos straight out of The Walking Dead. The crowd descends upon the priest who officiates Cersei’s daughter’s voyage and literally rips his limbs off. I almost expected Rick or Darryl to jump out from behind a corner and start plunging arrows and knives into people’s heads. The best part of this episode, however, had to be Peter Dinklage who portrays Tyrion Lannister, and his scene with Joffrey when they finally make it back to the safety of the castle. His line, “We’ve had vicious kings and we’ve had idiot kings, but I don’t know if we’ve ever been cursed with a vicious idiot boy king!” This line has to be the top quote from the season. Finally, there is a Lannister who has the balls to stand up to this boy. To add a cherry on top, Tyrion slaps Joffrey across the face. If this episode had been played in a movie theater with hundreds of people, it is this scene that would have caused the audience to erupt into cheers and applause. 

Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch continue their journey behind the wall. I will say, as I watched these scenes, and hear the dialogue discussing the hatred for the Wildlings, I do not really understand why they are such a feared enemy. They stay behind The Wall and reside in the baron tundra where no one really wants to live. Having not read the entire book series, I do not know if this topic is covered more thoroughly. The show, however, does not do a good enough job describing why the Night’s Watch needs to invade their territory and destroy these people. Also I understand that when you join the Night’s Watch, you take the black and that is all you are allowed to wear for the rest of your life. What I don’t understand is if you are supposed to protect and defend an area that is covered in snow, and expected to fight in the snow, why would you choose the most contrasting color to the surroundings of your battle ground making hiding all but impossible? Besides that, Jon meets Wildling woman, Ygritte played by Rose Leslie (the second actor from Downton Abbey to join Game of Thrones. Iain Glen plays Ser Jorah Mormant and portrayed Sir Richard Carlisle in Downton Abbey). Jon’s good heart almost gets the best of him when he refuses to kill Ygritte. She runs away, and in capturing her, Jon loses the rest of his brothers. Now he and Ygritte have to survive the cold terrain as they try to find the other members of the Night’s Watch. I would say that if it was not for the swords, White Walkers, and looming death, this could be a romantic comedy in the making.

                         

These are the main plot points of the episodes, but other characters also make an appearance. Robb does have a romantic comedy moment himself when he sheepishly tries to ask Lady Talisa Maegyr out on a “date.” It is nice to see that even kings get nervous. Arya continues to impress Lord Tywin and it seems like he almost has an affection for her. She has a moment of panic when Lord Baelish comes to talk with Lord Tywin. Baelish seems to think that Arya looks familiar. Whether he recognizes her or not remains to be seen. Perhaps his supposed love of Catelyn will prevent him from blowing Arya’s cover if he does figure out her true identity. Finally, Daenerys strikes out finding someone to give her ships, but she does manage to constantly yell that she is the mother of dragons and those who offend and violate her wishes will eventually pay when her dragons are grown and she finds an army. Defeated, she returns to Xaro’s home to find her men slaughtered and her dragons missing. It seems that the dragon-napper is taking her children to the House of Shadows. We might eventually get to see the horrors that reside in there. 

Overall an entertaining episode. I could watch Joffrey being slapped over and over again. Three more weeks until the season 3 premiere! Check out the awesome trailer right here!

Oscar Overview

Well the Oscars are over and wow what a show. I knew it was going to be great show when right off the bat Seth MacFarlane came out and kid Tommy Lee Jones at looking so sullen at the Golden Globes. I will have to say this was one of the best Oscar broadcasts I have seen in the past few years. The host was entertaining for both old and young audiences. The special performances (with the exception of the Bond tribute) were stellar. The ode to musicals and seeing Barbara Streisand made this broadcast epic. The winners were on and on pretty much predictable. I was happy to see Chistoph Waltz win over Tommy Lew Jones. He is a phenomenal actor and was born to recite Tarantino words. I guess the big "upset" if you would call it that (the critics were predicting that it would be a possibility) was Ang Lee winning Best Director. He deserved to win for Life of Pi for it is a magnificent piece of art. Plus since the Academy snubbed Ben Affleck, the award was pretty much up for grabs. The favorite was Steven Spielberg but though a talented director, I don't think Lincoln was an example of his best work. The end scene was too sentimental and staged much like the end scene of Schindler's List. Though despite all of the stars (and two previous Sexiest Man Alive Ben Affleck and George Clooney winning best picture for Argo), the biggest star of the night was Seth MacFarlane. He was able to weave his crude humor ridiculing Hollywood with classic Oscar paraphernalia that made him seem not so disrespectful. He was not afraid to offend warning the audience that if he they thought he went to far, just wait to see what he had coming up next. He kept the show moving but also kept it entertaining. If William Shatner was correct, I think the future will be correct in giving him a standing ovation for his efforts. Signing off, I hope you enjoyed the show and looking forward to the next Game of Thrones post.

Redemption with Ode to Musicals

Well I have to agree with my fellow blogger Paul. The musical tribute was phenomenal. It definitely made up for the Bond tribute falling flat. I was impressed that Catherine Zeta Jones was still as flexible as she was when she filmed the movie Chicago in 2002. The dance number and singing was right out of the movie (if only Taye Diggs could have reprized his role as the piano player). Jennifer Hudson wowed the audience (and earned a standing ovation) for her performance and stunned most of America with her dramatic weight loss. She also did an outstanding job doing the song that earned her her own Oscar. The finale of the tribute was amazing with the entire main cast of Les Miserable doing the first act finale "One Day More." Even though  it was not hard to gather the entire cast since Les Mis was nominated, it was impressive how many of the non nominated actors attended. Also I applaud Russell Crowe coming out and singing since out of all of the cast members he was the most ridiculed for his performance. Actually with him coming out singing live, I gained more respect for his performance knowing that he did not need to be pre-recorded and mixed in order to make his singing acceptable. It was an awesome tribute to musicals, reliving some of the best musicals of recent years, alerting the audience that good musicals are not dead but alive and well.

Bond Homage: Not So Much

So the much anticipated 50th anniversary of James Bond homage just occurred and all I can say is ehhhh. As an homage they thought it fit just to show clips of the different films. I was hoping that they were going to pull out a few surprises....Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, or how great would it have been if they were able to pull Sean Connery out of retirement to make an appearance. They did get Shirley Bassey to sing Goldfinger the hit song from the movie of the same name but she sounded a little flat and all we could talk about was her dress and how you could see the seams making us thing for a second that she had horrible plastic surgery. All in all it was mighty disappointing since none of the Bonds made an appearance. Another comment that has nothing to do with Bond, I like this year how they put all of the nominees for the smaller categories like Best Animated Short or Best Makeup in a box next to the stage so they could cut down on the time it takes for the winner to walk to the stage. It is definitely an improvement from the show a few years back when they had all of the nominees stand on stage making it awkward when the winner emerged and the and loser had to sink back into the darkness. The show is still going strong and there have been no big upsets yet. Let's see how night continues.

Seth MacFarlane Gets Help From the Future

So the critics were wondering how Seth MacFarlane would handle the opening of the Oscars. Would he be irreverent like his Family Guy counterparts or would he understand the honor of the ceremony and respect everyone? Well somehow he was able to combine both. With the help of William Shatner, MacFarlane was able to do the numbers that he would have liked to do as writer of Family Guy ridiculing the A-list celebrities, as well as perform the numbers that are Oscar acceptable. William Shatner allowed him to see the numbers he would have performed as the Family Guy creator (with hilarious numbers such as "We Saw Your Boobs"- the best Oscar medley ever and Seth MacFarlane making out with Sally Field). MacFarlane then corrected his errors doing "Academy acceptable" numbers such as Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron dancing to "The Way You Looked Tonight" and Joseph Gordon Levitt and Daniel Radcliff dancing to "High Hopes." In a way MacFarlane was able to satisfy the older audience that usually watches the Oscars and gain the younger audience that ABC hoped to draw to attract higher advertising dollars. With Seth MacFarlane anything can happen so stay tuned to see what else occurs during this roller coaster event.

Hey Everyone! Happy Oscar Night! Now I know this blog is dedicated to Game of Thrones but since it is the biggest night in Hollywood, and some of the actors in Game of Thrones were in Oscar nominated movies in the past (Sean Bean in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings and Peter Dinklage in The Station Agent) I figured I would take a break from the show and live blog the 85th Annual Academy Awards (plus this will give me something to do while the people no one has ever heard of make their long acceptance speeches). I will be live blogging with fellow blogger Paul Lauricella so check out his thoughts as well at www.battlestargazing.blogspot.com. Hope everyone enjoys the show! Tune in! (And don't worry I will also make my usual Game of Thrones post so the second season will be reviewed by the time the third season starts: 3/31/13)

Game of Thrones 2.5: The Ghost of Harrenhal

Trusted Advisors and Grimm Fairytales 

This week’s Game of Thrones manages to hit upon all of the storylines; however, the events while advancing the plot are still building up to a climactic scene which will hopefully come to fruition within the next few weeks. This week saw the exit of Renly Baratheon. He is killed by a shadowed man sired by his brother, Stannis and birthed by the fire priestess Melisandre. Catelyn, being a witness to the incident, flees the scene with Brienne, one of Renly’s guards. Brienne then swears her loyalty to Catelyn on their way back to Rob’s camp. Jon Snow continues with the Night’s Watch beyond the Wall and prepares for battle with the Wildlings. Tyrion discovers Cersei’s plan to beat Stannis in battle which involves the making of Wild Fire. This substance stored in pots, when hurled at enemies will burst into flames and burns hotter than standard fire. Daenerys is enjoying her stay in Qarth as an honored guest of Zara; however, she wants to get ships so she can regain the Iron Throne. Arya meanwhile still resides in Harrenhal serving Tywin Lannister. She acquires a new friend Jaqen J’ghar who will help her avenge those who have wronged her.

Though a lot occurs this episode a main theme resonates throughout the entire show: the importance of good advisors. It seems everyone in power has someone close to them, giving them their opinion on a subject. In fact the strength of the ruler is tied to the quality of his or her advisors and how well he or she listens to them. This episode is full of characters in power heeding the advice from their most trusted and loyal friends and being better prepared for future events in the long run. Ser Davos confronts Stannis about bringing Melisandre into battle with him when they sail to King’s Landing. He warns him that with her being a foreigner, Stannis’s men would take it as an affront if she were to enter into the city with him after their victory. Bronn comments to Tyrion that fighting with Wild Fire in a walled up city with inexperience soldiers would do more harm than good, most likely leading to the destruction of their own city instead of Stannis’s ships. Ser Jorah warns Daenerys not to marry Zara for his money even though Zara claims he can buy her the fleet she needs to take back the Iron Throne. Ser Jorah advises that after taking money from rich men, one is always in their debt. He offers his service to procure one ship to sail away from Qarth and to lead them to a friendlier land where they can acquire the army they need without strings attached. Stannis, Tyrion, and Daenerys heed the advice of their advisors which set them on the right track.

This theme of loyal and wise seconds in command always manifests in two ways: the rulers who listen to their advisors and end up being wise, successful and most often supported by their followers and rulers who ignore their advisors getting into trouble and becoming tyrannical and hated by their people. Game of Thrones exemplifies this dialectic. Obviously Stannis, Tyrion, and Daenerys though all enemies of one another show that they know how to rule their people and gain their support. Goffrey on the other hand constantly snickers at those on his council and proceeds to do whatever he wants causing his subjects to speak out against him in the streets. Even Renly ignores the sage advice from Catelyn to make amends with his brother Stannis and ends up dead. This dialectic is seen all throughout television and film in similar genres as well as in genres completely different. In The Tudors, Henry VIII constantly defies his council when they speak against him. Henry even puts Sir Thomas Moore to death for refusing to acknowledge his break from the Catholic Church. Ignoring his closest advisors leads to his subjects rising against him in revolt and the Catholic Church waging warfare to get him overthrown. In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Froto has Sam who keeps him on the path of good even when the ring pushes him to succumb to its power. Because Froto accepts Sam’s advice and friendship, he is able to destroy the ring in Mount Doom. Even shows completely different from Game of Thrones like Dexter portray the importance of accepting the advice of an advisor. When Dexter follows the code his father taught him as a child, he is able fulfill the hunger inside of him and kill without being caught; however, when he strays from the code chance of his true identity being discovered increases exponentially.

Besides showcasing the value of trusted advisors and following their advice, this episode took an interesting turn with Arya’s storyline and almost added a whimsical twist. In a story that the Grimm brothers would have loved to tell, Ayra seems to have become a part of a twisted fairytale in this episode. Harrenhal while portrayed last episode as hell on earth, seems to have transformed into the setting for Arya’s fairytale. Much like Cinderella, she waits on Tywin Lannister jumping at his beck and call when he needs her but being banished to the corner when she is not needed. To add to her fairytale, she meets Jaqen J’ghar, the man she saved during the skirmish in the woods. He becomes her genie in a way. Though instead of granting her three wishes, in a tradition even darker than Grimm’s, he offers her three deaths (however, after everything she has been through maybe her three wishes would have involved death). It will be interesting to see how her fairytale continues to unfold…maybe a romance between her and Gendry, the long lost king turning her into a queen?

Though not an incredibly action packed episode, the story development definitely covered some interesting themes. With half the season already behind us, I predict that the next five episodes will be action packed.