Game of Thrones Season Two Thoughts

[themostepotente]

I hate prefacing my thoughts with a negative, but I am *not* enjoying season two half as much as I did season one. I watched season one *three* times and probably will a fourth time, because Ned and Robert ruling together? Fills my heart with unspeakable joy. And it's all gone :(((

My initial reaction to the first episode of season two was 'Wait, what? They're at Craster's place already???' This season feels poorly paced only three episodes in. SWTAF.

Also, the gratuitous b & f scenes (that's boob and fuck in case you didn't know :P) are becoming an irritation. I am no prude by any stretch of the imagination, but it's become tiresome. The worst of it being that scene with Littlefinger and the two girls. It's been a while since I read the books, but to the best of my knowledge, Stannis never fucked Melisandre either. Please correct me if I am wrong. On the plus side, yay for casting Stephen Dillane as Stannis. He played Thomas Jefferson in the miniseries John Adams, and I was shipping him HARD with both Adams and Washington. Because, you know, Founding Fathers slash FTFW.

Now, the Greyjoys? Hands up, who else is seeing Denethor, Boromir, and Faramir? And really, was it necessary to dumb the fuck down out of your audience? Are we really incapable of distinguishing between Asha and Osha? Yara? Go fuck yourselves on that one. Why the hell didn't they change Osha's name instead? Minor character she is, people, use your fucking heads.

On the plus side, I LOVED Brienne. And yes, another LotR reference cometh. Because I'm seeing a little of Galadriel in her. Galadriel was nicknamed 'Man Maiden' because she was a woman of formidable stature. And look how fucking awesome she was? Great scenes with her and Catelyn. And speaking of Cat, apart from her being mean to Jon (that hurts my black heart :P), I really love Michelle Fairley.

I also love Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell. I was put off a bit by them cheapening her so quickly, though. Please to not be doing this all season writers, or I will have to consult my spear and magic helmet for some ass kicking Fudd-style :P

Tyrion continues to be a dynamic force. Peter Dinklage is fucking amazing. Curious, though. I wonder why Warwick Davis wasn't a consideration. I think he would have made a good Tyrion, also. But yeah, Peter is making me flail all over the damn place with his awesomeness ♥ ♥ ♥

Twas finally nice to see a scene with Renly and Loras. Although, fail faily fail for them being clothed. Finn Jones's hair looks ridic that curly, too.

Arya and Gendry. I am starting to ship them. How is this even happening???

My biggest and still not-going-to-change complaint of the series, however, is the casting of Jaime Lannister. I am a HUGE fan of book!Jaime and Nikolaj whatshisnuts infuriates me to no end. I know a few of my friends take issue with Lena Headey as Cersei, and we're agreed that she's not our first choice, but Nikolaj is fucking subpar. Everything about him screams WRONG! Jaime and Cersei are supposed to be twins with long 'golden' hair and bright green eyes, and fucking hello make-up and wardrobe, but maybe you need to rethink their look. UGH. HATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATE that dude's ass as Jaime. Fuck you very much for ruining my favourite character. I am actually looking forward to Vargo Hoat lopping off his hand now, I hate him so much. Ugh.

Your thoughts, people, share them with me.

--P

Comments

[lolafeist.livejournal.com]

I like sex a lot and I've been utterly annoyed by the Expository Fucking Scenes. And then Renly and Loras didn't even get properly naked. Sigh.

I haven't read the books so I'm enjoying it, and shipping like, everything. Especially Arya and Gendry HOW CUTE ARE THEY AWWWWWWWW.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

ARYA AND GENDRY ARE TOTES CANON ♥

[musamihi.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's implied that the shadow children Melisandre uses to kill Renly (and ... some other dude at Storm's End?) were the product of some kind of sexual act with Stannis. I was still a little annoyed by how quickly she was able to convince him to do it, though. It's Stannis! Come on!

As much as I love Petyr, I think he's suffering from the dumbing-down the writers are giving the entire show. I liked the idea of his little clash with Cersei in the first episode, but having him basically outright say that he thinks she's sleeping with her brother - in front of other people, no less - is just ... not Petyr.

And, lol. Totally Denethor, Boromir, and Faramir. Can't unsee.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Mm, I thought that was implied too. But Melisandre would never be on the bottom I can't imagine Stannis being that... passionate and aggressive. I picture sex between them as something he endured while she performed a ritual.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm having a hard time with Petyr this season through no fault of the actor's.

And Ros? They are spending way, WAY too much time on an original character. Is she really the only whore in King's Landing?

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen series 2 yet so I'm living vicariously through the posting of others, but my main take away is that I am now super intrigued by Founding Fathers slash. Oh man, how did I not know this was a thing?

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

YOU SHOULD TOTALLY WATCH THE JOHN ADAMS MINISERIES.

Srsly, I think it might still be available through HBO On Demand.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

LJ ate my comment. Fuck you, LJ.

Anyway, I agree with most of this. *nods* Why the hell didn't they change Osha's name?

(I suspect they haven't read the entire series. Some of the choices they're making are making me wonder.)

Also, Xylo's theory about Arya and Gendry is lodged in my brain and isn't coming out again.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

I go to Julie for all my shipping theories, crackpot or otherwise. *G*

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

I never bothered to finish reading the first book so I can't speak on pacing, but I am also getting annoyed with the gratuitous sex. How many times do we need to see prostitutes practicing on each other? I am still not sure which one is Brienne, but every one is talking about her. Is she the red priestess?

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

The Red Priestess is Melisandre.

Brienne of Tarth is the imposing female knight who towers over most of the men "P

[carolinelamb.livejournal.com]

Also, the gratuitous b & f scenes (that's boob and fuck in case you didn't know :P) are becoming an irritation.

Yes, same here! I was wondering, if that was only me, but even The Beau (=aka my husband ;) rolled his eyes a few times.

What really irritated me was that in most sex scenes the women loll around naked while the men remain clothed. Also that most men look under-average (except for Jon Snow and his brothers) while all women have perfect figures, etc., etc.,

Also–one of my favourites is Littlefinger. I loved him in Season One, but somehow the magic is lost. I still find him pretty, but his lines are predictable and the whole being cruel to his employees behaviour is so boring.

I wonder why Warwick Davis wasn't a consideration.

Ha! Same here ;)
I assumed though that maybe conflicting production schedules might have been involved as he was also playing two roles in the last HP instalments? Also he's one of the best known dwarf-actors so maybe the Game Of Thrones producers wanted a new face?

HATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATE that dude's ass as Jaime.

I don't hate him (I haven't read the books, so I don't have any ideas about how the characters should look like) but he's the only one who somehow ... doesn't sit right with me. He looks so so ... second millennium. So seventies. He looks as if the producers pulled him out of a gym in LA in 1976. I don't know.

I think it's his hair. I don't like his hair.

(I would run barefoot through Jon Snow's hair though ... :P)

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can't stand his hair either. It's supposed to be golden and curly. Or, at the very least, wavy. And it's short and bordering on brown. His looks throw me off. And he looks NOTHING at all like Cersei. Like no family resemblance whatsoever.

[tarotemp.livejournal.com]

Totally concur with all your gripes x1,000. Season one had a kind of... hmmm... *gesticulates*... world-building excitement and wonder that I'm just not seeing or feeling with season two, at all. Which is disappointing, really.

Even though Stannis' marriage is obviously a political one as opposed to a love match, I cannot see him having much in the way of the hots for Melisandre either. More of a "she is the tool in which will win me what I want most" sort of thing.

Urg. Don't even get me started on the whole Asha/Yara name debacle and assuming we watchers of said programme are complete blinking IDIOTS. HBO gets absolutely no love from me on this stupid decision. No love!

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Now, my latest gripe is with not!Jeyne. Um, is that chick from Volantis supposed to replace Jayne Westerling? Or, was that Jeyne in disguise? SO CONFUSED.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Sadly, I have not seen any of season two yet. I wanted Loras/Renly with clothes off. Been waiting for that! Oh, well. I am not even shallow either--it just irritates me from the side of women=naked, men=clothed. Apparently we get more skin form Margaery than them. How old is she in the TV version anyway? Older than Loras apparently by about ten years? Really? That's a bit of jump, even for this series which has made everyone across the board older, even the older people. So you and everyone else has been convinced, however. I still have to wait and see. I really find it a difficult reconciliation with how I read the books.

I don't mind Jaime at all really. A little more humor and personality would match book!Jaime better for me. And if they can put Cersei in that godawful wig to match the book verse, why cannot they highlight Jaime's hair at least to make him a little blonder?

I am so excited about Stannis's casting. I hated him in the books, but I cannot hate Stephen Dillane. That automatically makes him more complex for me, even before he opens his mouth. Nodding at the remarks about the John Adams series and Founding Father slash! Yes.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wasn't crazy anout book!Stannis either, but Stephen Dillane is yummy. I would even ship him with Jon. *nodnodnod*

[lyras.livejournal.com]

During that Renly/Loras scene, I was just saying to the boyfriend, "finally I get some eye candy"...and then it was gone. :(

Arya and Gendry are just 100% cute together!

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

ARYA AND GENDRY FOREVER AND ALWAYS <3 <3 <3

[essie007.livejournal.com]

I've never read the books so most of the things you mentioned didn't bother me. But then I wasn't expecting anything specific.

But, you are so right about Renly and Loras needing to be more naked. ALSO with all the naked people f*cking I feel very cheated that Kit Harrington is wandering about on screen bundled to his ears having sworn a vow of celibacy. Something is not right with this picture. (Maybe it has to do with following the book. IDEK. I just know Jon Snow also needs to be more naked.)

Also, Arya and Gendry. I so ship it.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Patience, grasshopper. Jon has certain 'scenes' coming up. *G*

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

'Wait, what? They're at Craster's place already???'

I suppose it wouldn't have been very interesting to show them marching through the snow for days and days. And my own initial thought last episode was "Yoren is killed and the kids are captured already???" But yeah, same thing. BUT. They do seem to be spending much more time than needed to those gratuitous b & f scenes, like you say. I'm not happy about changing Asha's name to Yara either. Overall, though, I don't mind most of the changes and I'm willing to overlook them if I'm happy about most other things. I still think it's a great adaptation of the books and I'm loving S2 so far. The one thing that DOES annoy me is how they've dumbed down Littlefinger. He'd NEVER confront Cersei the way he did, he's much more cunning and subtle than that.

I thought it was hinted in the books that Melisandre had sex with Stannis. Maybe in the form of some sexual ritual or something. It's hard to imagine Stannis doing it on the table like that, though. ;)

BRIENNE!!! <3 I'm SO EXCITED about seeing more of her! And Peter Dinklage IS fucking amazing.

I know he should look totally different, but I do like show!Jaime and find him sexy. ;) I do get your hate, though. It's how I feel about Snape in the HP movies.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

And now that Melisandre has birthed the shadow creature, my next thought will be; 'Wait, what??? Renly is dead already???'