Garden of Bones
Warning: Here be spoilers for the entire book!
Now - who the hell picks these titles anyway? They are just horrible. I already commented on "The North Remembers". "The Night Lands" and "Garden of Bones" are both very much out of context and "What is Dead May Never Die" has lost all meaning when the ironborn don't baptize people by drowning and resuscitating them.
Then there is the issue of this episode spending almost all time inventing story-lines that weaken the plot.
Fart-jokes? Really? I expected a bit more - even if they were from Lannisport. I guess we open with the battle of Oxcross, and Robb meets Talyssa from Volantis. Do we really have to watch this?
Robbs marriage to Jeyne Westerling happens off-screen in the books - and for good reason. These books are dark and full of terror - not sweet kisses and whispers of love. This love-story just doesn't feel like anything Martin would write. It only ends up grabbing focus from plots that might have been far more interesting! Roose Bolton's opinions of torture for example should be far more interesting than this. Things going on in Winterfell - or what about the Tullys? I would have liked to see Hoster, Brynden and Edmure so much more than seeing this nonsense.
The scene in the throne-room is one of the few that are actually taken out of the book. It is wonderfully played by both Peter Dinklage and Sophie Turner. It does however turn into another faux-lespian sex-scene. Is that really necessary? Have they been given a quota by HBO that they have to fill?
Showing Joffrey's sadism and malice was however a good choice.
Tyrion chastising Lancel was also very good. They should have mentioned Lancel's name though, since he wasn't that prominent a character in series 1.
One thing I really liked about this episode were the scenes in Harrenhal!. First and foremost Harrenhal looks amazing. I know it is not really supposed to be all a ruin, but having created it like this makes it so much more ominous and scary. The torture is of course horrible to watch, but very much in line with the story they are telling. We haven't seen Arya's march through the Riverlands, but we do hear some of the stories here - seen through the eyes of the other prisoners. We get introduced to the torturers in a subtle way, but see them quickly included in Arya's nightly prayer. Oh - and was anyone else made to think of Lady Stoneheart by the woman who'd lost her entire family? Now Arya meeting Tywin might have been a bit unnecessary, but it does show Tywin's practical approach to war. The question of "Where is the brotherhood" pops up. Looking forward to hearing more about them and about the lightning lord - as they are big favourites of mine.
They totally botched Dany's entrance into Qarth! The welcome she received in the books was supposed to fuel her confidence - not the other way around. It wasn't very believable how she just screamed her way into the city. It felt horribly undignified and unlike Dany to talk about burning her enemies to the ground before she has even learnt how to feed her dragons. In previous episodes she has feared her dragons being taken. What is the difference here? What makes her take a chance on Qarth here? I miss Pyat Pree and Quaithe helping persuade her to come there at all!
Littlefinger then suddenly shows up in the Stormlands for some more comments and propositioning. Fun scenes, but they didn't really serve the plot at all. Nor did they serve to shed light on anything we didn't already know. Nice to see Renly's lack of respect for Baelish, and Maergary obviously wearing Renly's tub which Cat talks about in the books. But then again not really necessary.
His scene with Catelyn was quite horrid. It certainly didn't give the impression that he loved her. The way he lied about Arya and handed over Ned's bones was another out of character move from him! He is not coming across as a very convincing version of Littlefinger anymore.
The parlay between Stannis and Renly was actually okay - and very much by the book. I did think it was a bit sudden, though. They might have taken some time out of the unnecessary scenes with Littlefinger to announce that Stannis was on his way. This is also obviously in the Stormlands, and therefore I would very much have liked to see Storm's End, hear about the previous siege of the castle by Macy Tyrell or hear some of the castle lore. We do see Davos entering the cove underneath the castle, and also that it is barred off, but the castle is sorely lacking. Some CGI would not have gone amiss here.
The birth of the shadow-baby did look very good, though. There was some cutting of content here, but I guess the story will be equally well told like this.. It was a bit of a strange place to end the episode, though? why not include the murder of Renly as well? Oh well - I guess we sill see that next time!
Now - who the hell picks these titles anyway? They are just horrible. I already commented on "The North Remembers". "The Night Lands" and "Garden of Bones" are both very much out of context and "What is Dead May Never Die" has lost all meaning when the ironborn don't baptize people by drowning and resuscitating them.
Then there is the issue of this episode spending almost all time inventing story-lines that weaken the plot.
Fart-jokes? Really? I expected a bit more - even if they were from Lannisport. I guess we open with the battle of Oxcross, and Robb meets Talyssa from Volantis. Do we really have to watch this?
Robbs marriage to Jeyne Westerling happens off-screen in the books - and for good reason. These books are dark and full of terror - not sweet kisses and whispers of love. This love-story just doesn't feel like anything Martin would write. It only ends up grabbing focus from plots that might have been far more interesting! Roose Bolton's opinions of torture for example should be far more interesting than this. Things going on in Winterfell - or what about the Tullys? I would have liked to see Hoster, Brynden and Edmure so much more than seeing this nonsense.
The scene in the throne-room is one of the few that are actually taken out of the book. It is wonderfully played by both Peter Dinklage and Sophie Turner. It does however turn into another faux-lespian sex-scene. Is that really necessary? Have they been given a quota by HBO that they have to fill?
Showing Joffrey's sadism and malice was however a good choice.
Tyrion chastising Lancel was also very good. They should have mentioned Lancel's name though, since he wasn't that prominent a character in series 1.
One thing I really liked about this episode were the scenes in Harrenhal!. First and foremost Harrenhal looks amazing. I know it is not really supposed to be all a ruin, but having created it like this makes it so much more ominous and scary. The torture is of course horrible to watch, but very much in line with the story they are telling. We haven't seen Arya's march through the Riverlands, but we do hear some of the stories here - seen through the eyes of the other prisoners. We get introduced to the torturers in a subtle way, but see them quickly included in Arya's nightly prayer. Oh - and was anyone else made to think of Lady Stoneheart by the woman who'd lost her entire family? Now Arya meeting Tywin might have been a bit unnecessary, but it does show Tywin's practical approach to war. The question of "Where is the brotherhood" pops up. Looking forward to hearing more about them and about the lightning lord - as they are big favourites of mine.
They totally botched Dany's entrance into Qarth! The welcome she received in the books was supposed to fuel her confidence - not the other way around. It wasn't very believable how she just screamed her way into the city. It felt horribly undignified and unlike Dany to talk about burning her enemies to the ground before she has even learnt how to feed her dragons. In previous episodes she has feared her dragons being taken. What is the difference here? What makes her take a chance on Qarth here? I miss Pyat Pree and Quaithe helping persuade her to come there at all!
Littlefinger then suddenly shows up in the Stormlands for some more comments and propositioning. Fun scenes, but they didn't really serve the plot at all. Nor did they serve to shed light on anything we didn't already know. Nice to see Renly's lack of respect for Baelish, and Maergary obviously wearing Renly's tub which Cat talks about in the books. But then again not really necessary.
His scene with Catelyn was quite horrid. It certainly didn't give the impression that he loved her. The way he lied about Arya and handed over Ned's bones was another out of character move from him! He is not coming across as a very convincing version of Littlefinger anymore.
The parlay between Stannis and Renly was actually okay - and very much by the book. I did think it was a bit sudden, though. They might have taken some time out of the unnecessary scenes with Littlefinger to announce that Stannis was on his way. This is also obviously in the Stormlands, and therefore I would very much have liked to see Storm's End, hear about the previous siege of the castle by Macy Tyrell or hear some of the castle lore. We do see Davos entering the cove underneath the castle, and also that it is barred off, but the castle is sorely lacking. Some CGI would not have gone amiss here.
The birth of the shadow-baby did look very good, though. There was some cutting of content here, but I guess the story will be equally well told like this.. It was a bit of a strange place to end the episode, though? why not include the murder of Renly as well? Oh well - I guess we sill see that next time!
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