on my tv. or laptop, as the case may be.
May. 24th, 2011 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaydeefalls
I don't watch much TV while it's actually airing, but damn, am I ever loving Game of Thrones. It's been long enough since I read the books that while I recognize all the characters and plot points as they happen, I don't remember enough to know what they're changing or leaving out, which I think is for the best all around. And knowing certain characters' fates keeps me happy when they're busy being COMPLETELY DESPICABLE onscreen.
Incidentally, casting I approve of that I haven't seen anyone else mention: AIDEN GILLEN AS PETYR BAELISH, OMG. I don't know whether I'm more gleeful or disturbed watching Stuart Alan Jones portray that sneaky SOB Littlefinger, but either way, I'm enjoying him thoroughly. Especially given that he's going to be around for quite a while, and if I remember the books correctly, is kind of shaping up to be the dark horse Big Bad for the series as a whole.
And casting that made me giggle inappropriately: Thorne, the training master at the Wall, is played by the chief cannibal in Torchwood's "Countrycide" episode ("Because it makes me happy."). AND HE HAD A CREEPY LITTLE SPEECH ABOUT CANNIBALISM IN EP 4. Talk about typecasting!
Without being too spoilery, Tyrion's speech this episode was MADE OF WIN. Also, Viserys's comeuppance, though disturbingly graphic, was perfect, and seeing Ned Stark finally figure out the truth about Joffrey was immensely satisfying. (Joffrey being one of those characters whose graphic death I am avidly anticipating, though I'll have to suffer him for another season or so yet. Can't remember which book he dies in, only that it was excruciatingly painful and very, very justified.)
I'm...enjoying GoT more than this season's Doctor Who, actually. Apart from the Gaiman episode, and of course my undying love for Amy, Rory, and Eleven (and River, and Canton!), this series hasn't really been doing it for me so far. I dunno. I feel like it's lost some of the fairytale magic of S5, and I really dislike the framing arc of the season around the Doctor's death. It has zero urgency for me, largely because I cannot suspend my disbelief enough to give it any credence whatsoever. If the Doctor dies without regenerating, the show ends. The show would never write itself into a permanent ending like that. Therefore it's not even a remote possibility. Normally I don't have a problem with this sort of thing -- hello, there's "mortal danger" in almost every episode that I know they'll survive somehow; as long as the characters are invested in it, I am -- but for no discernible reason, I'm hitting a wall this time. And for the record, I also largely despise pregnancy storylines, so the Schrodinger's baby subplot just irritates the hell out of me. UGH. I hate being negative about one of my favorite shows ever, and I do still love all the characters deeply. I just haven't been enjoying this series as a whole anywhere near as much as I have S1-5, though it's certainly still better than the endless last year of Ten's holiday specials. It just all feels at about the level of S5's "Hungry Earth"/"In Cold Blood", my least favorite episodes for their sheer boringness, as opposed to...well, everything else. But yeah. "The Doctor's Wife" is the only episode so far this year that truly made me gleeful. The others have all been brief sparks of awesome moments and great characters wrapped up in storylines that didn't hold my attention at all. And I'm not looking forward to the mid-series break, because if there's one thing Doctor Who consistently does well, it's pulling everything in the series together as it builds toward the end, and I don't want to wait another five months or whatever for the really good stuff.
Incidentally, casting I approve of that I haven't seen anyone else mention: AIDEN GILLEN AS PETYR BAELISH, OMG. I don't know whether I'm more gleeful or disturbed watching Stuart Alan Jones portray that sneaky SOB Littlefinger, but either way, I'm enjoying him thoroughly. Especially given that he's going to be around for quite a while, and if I remember the books correctly, is kind of shaping up to be the dark horse Big Bad for the series as a whole.
And casting that made me giggle inappropriately: Thorne, the training master at the Wall, is played by the chief cannibal in Torchwood's "Countrycide" episode ("Because it makes me happy."). AND HE HAD A CREEPY LITTLE SPEECH ABOUT CANNIBALISM IN EP 4. Talk about typecasting!
Without being too spoilery, Tyrion's speech this episode was MADE OF WIN. Also, Viserys's comeuppance, though disturbingly graphic, was perfect, and seeing Ned Stark finally figure out the truth about Joffrey was immensely satisfying. (Joffrey being one of those characters whose graphic death I am avidly anticipating, though I'll have to suffer him for another season or so yet. Can't remember which book he dies in, only that it was excruciatingly painful and very, very justified.)
I'm...enjoying GoT more than this season's Doctor Who, actually. Apart from the Gaiman episode, and of course my undying love for Amy, Rory, and Eleven (and River, and Canton!), this series hasn't really been doing it for me so far. I dunno. I feel like it's lost some of the fairytale magic of S5, and I really dislike the framing arc of the season around the Doctor's death. It has zero urgency for me, largely because I cannot suspend my disbelief enough to give it any credence whatsoever. If the Doctor dies without regenerating, the show ends. The show would never write itself into a permanent ending like that. Therefore it's not even a remote possibility. Normally I don't have a problem with this sort of thing -- hello, there's "mortal danger" in almost every episode that I know they'll survive somehow; as long as the characters are invested in it, I am -- but for no discernible reason, I'm hitting a wall this time. And for the record, I also largely despise pregnancy storylines, so the Schrodinger's baby subplot just irritates the hell out of me. UGH. I hate being negative about one of my favorite shows ever, and I do still love all the characters deeply. I just haven't been enjoying this series as a whole anywhere near as much as I have S1-5, though it's certainly still better than the endless last year of Ten's holiday specials. It just all feels at about the level of S5's "Hungry Earth"/"In Cold Blood", my least favorite episodes for their sheer boringness, as opposed to...well, everything else. But yeah. "The Doctor's Wife" is the only episode so far this year that truly made me gleeful. The others have all been brief sparks of awesome moments and great characters wrapped up in storylines that didn't hold my attention at all. And I'm not looking forward to the mid-series break, because if there's one thing Doctor Who consistently does well, it's pulling everything in the series together as it builds toward the end, and I don't want to wait another five months or whatever for the really good stuff.
