Ten. Which is, I suppose, about the equivalent of 13 or 14 in normal television episodes, but still seems like it's not enough. Particularly, as someone mentioned, at the pace they're going. But, (spoilers for the whole series of books below) Spoiler I suppose there is a bunch of stuff that can be cut or bumped, like a lot of Rickon and Bran is sort of irrelevant for most of the first book. It's not like Bran being a warg matters until they have to escape Winterfell. In any practical sense at least. And with the mention of Cersei's first child dying added in, they may use that as a replacement for Gendry or other various clues Ned Stark encounters in the book and thus cut time there.
Absolutely. I loved seeing Joffrey getting bitch-smacked by Tyrion, who is my favorite character of the series by far. -Peter Dinklage is perfect in this role. I know others have said as much already, but his delivery of his lines is spot-on. I'll go against the grain here - I'm in the middle of Storm of Swords, and every time Tyrion comes up, I hear his speech in Dinklage's voice and inflection. Most people say the screen falls short of the book, and it definitely will in some aspects, but with the way I read, it really helps bring it to life. -I almost, ALMOST felt sorry for Sansa at the end of the episode, Spoiler but I remembered everything that happens after. What a stupid bitch. -Lena Heady is incredibly hot, and I (vainly) hope to see her tits. Still doesn't change the fact that with every second I see her on screen, I want to see Cersei dead. -Actually, save Tyrion, I'd like to see every last Lannister wiped out. This speaks for the casting and acting quality, though.
Episode Two was better than the first. As to the series not making it through the first book, the pace is perfect. Episode 2 ends at around page 160, and the book is 800 pages. They are doing a fantastic job of cutting stuff that may be of interest, but not really relevant. Spoiler It's funny, but it took me the second read through to realize just how critical the whole episode with Joffrey and Arya was. When Sansa sells out her sister, she sets into motion a series of events that eventually destroys House Stark. I wonder (and will never know) how things might have been different if she had confirmed Arya's version of events. Maybe Ned takes a harder line with the King, maybe the King realizes and acknowledges what a shit Joffrey is, or maybe Ned walks away from being Hand over the incident. As written, however, this event was so critical.
Spoiler Not to mention it sets in motion the whole "Nymeria acquires a literal army of ravenous wolves, which will almost certainly be relevant in the next books"
Spoiler If you're referring to the three-headed dragon, then no. The three Targaryens were Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya. The idea of him not being Ned's bastard does hold merit, though, at least as far as I've read. It would make sense that Ned's rage whenever the topic is broached is due to the fact that Jon had to bear Catelyn's hatred, as well as Ned having others think he'd betrayed his honor. On top of that, living a lie would grind Ned's sense of honor even more. I don't buy into this theory, but in my opinion it does hold water.
The sets and costumes are perfect, the show seems to be following the books very closely, the casting is pretty good all around and yet there is something wrong. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but the show isn't doing it for me, even though (or because) I'm a huge fan of the series.
It's only two episodes in and already I want to hammer knitting needles into the eyeballs of the entire Lannister family, especially that smug little peckerwood boy. You can't kill the "bad" wolf, so you order the death of a different (bitch) girl's one just for spite? I'm almost rooting for that slimy albino lady-boy to take his throne from them already. It is THEIR throne (his family's former one) he's after, right? Like I said, I haven't read the books. The sets are especially impressive on this show. As little CGI as possible, and it works wonders at making watching it even more compelling. The Iron Throne itself is a marvelous set piece and I want it for my front porch. I think the most interesting plot seems to be Daenary and Drogo. Daenary's "instructor" slave on to rock Drogo's world was a smoldering, on-fire hot woman. JESUS I want to see those two doing more lesbian stuff. Right NOW. When she was giving her the Turn & Burn on top of her with those hips I nearly went into masturbation lockdown. Lena Heady is a very pretty woman, but blonde hair on her looks about as natural on her in the same way a cornfield looks natural in the centre of a hockey rink. Women with dark features cannot pull off blonde hair. That's why they're not born with it. Still a great show, becoming more alluring each minute.
Just finished watching episode two and I must say that I'm completely hooked and can't wait for more. I had only seen a few previews of this before watching (didn't even know it was a series of books, not sure how I ever missed that), I think I had confused it with a few other shows and had assumed that it was some Spartacus knock off. How ignorant and wrong I was. My buddy showed me the first episode on Saturday and I couldn't wait to torrent the second one since I don't have HBO. Now I really want to read the books so I'm trying to decide if I should finish the Sci-Fi duology that I just started or get started on A Song of Ice and Fire.
I don't know what was up with Cersei's heartfelt confession to Catelyn. I tried to see an angle to it, but I just couldn't, and given that I feel like Cersei is all angles, I'm just left confused. But I find it hard to care, given that next week Spoiler Petyr gets to throw in his ridiculously complicated chip to the game of thrones that I hope gets a little damn clearer in the fifth book.
Spoiler My take on this was that she was 'confessing' that she killed her first born just like she (thought) she had caused the death of Catelyn's son. The phrasing of her baby burning out was very similar to the death of the hand of the king who is supposed to have been poisoned ater finding out about her and her brother. She also mentioned that the baby had dark hair which sets up 'the blood runs true' as all of Robert's actual children have his dark hair, whereas his 'son' and heir is blond. I might be reading too much into it from my ancient recollection of the books though.
Spoiler As far as I recall, the dead first baby is not in the books, something new for the show. I could be wrong, but I don't recall it in the books. I also assume that it's a setup for the discovery of her incest, particularly that it will be used as a time saving replacement somehow for the time Ned spends dealing with Gendry and the baby at the whorehouse, etc.
Only seen the first ep so far, but am stoked. Been following the books since it was first released and for me this series might be able to roll Rome as the best TV series ever made.
As others have previously stated, the acting by the Lannisters is quite incredible. It is so good that it is painful to re-watch episodes because I fucking hate all of them so fucking much. The second I see Joffrey and his stupid face and fucked up ears, I want to cut his head off and shove his torso through a wood chipper. So yea, they act pretty well... Spoiler On a different note, it's going to suck having to watch Boromir die a second time on screen. Sean Bean's the fucking man.
I haven't read the books yet, but I'm hooked on this series for sure. Phenomenal acting and casting. All I want though, is for Dave Navarro to take a minute from railing his albino wife and go bury an axe in every single Lannisters face with the exception of Tyrion.
Spoiler I have to say, I'm really excited to see who they got to play Syrio Forel. I was always upset they (supposedly) killed him off when he helped Arya escape when the Starks were being rounded up. I hoped they could run off and he would continue to teach her, becoming a surrogate father.
Spoiler I'm interested to see who they cast for Varys. A seriously dangerous eunuch who wears makeup and giggles like a, well, eunuch? Lollys should be interesting too, if only for laughs. The direwolves will hopefully be either excellent CGI or at least big, and the dragons....who knows how they're going to do realistic CGI dragons without bankrupting themselves.
A suggestion: when adding a spoiler, mention which book it's from. I haven't read the 4th yet and these spoilered posts are so scary and mysterious and inviting.
Oh, and don't put spoilers under NSFW tags. This should be pretty obvious, but apparently it's too much to ask. Loving this show. It has enough mythology behind it to (fingers crossed) get me over the loss of LOST. Yes, I speak about it as if it was a relative, bite me. Plus, tits. So that's always nice, too.
Amen to that. I watched the first two episodes again with The Girlfriend, and I think I've got her hooked too. I've decided that my plan is to watch the first season, and then start reading the books.
Am I the only one who clicked on the "TV Shows" sub-forum, saw the thread named "The Wall" and clicked it thinking it was a second Game of Thrones discussion?