our reaction to the first episode of Game of Thrones

[kate_nepveu]

Yes, we're so cutting-edge with our entertainment. Anyway, I think it can be summed up in this conversation about whether to watch the second episode next:

Chad: " . . . I think I'm more in the mood for Burn Notice."

Me: "Yeah, I feel awfully grimy."

(And that's with having left the room for the scene that I knew would upset me most.)

(We are about 3/4 of the way through the current half-season of Burn Notice, btw, and is it me or are they just not even trying to paper over the plot any more? The one with the asthmatic kid and the one with the pharmaceutical guy both ended the case-of-the-week bits with "and then some magic happened" handwaves. However, I approve of Agent Pearce and of Jesse, so I'm willing to keep listening while I work on my Christmas presents.)

Comments

[mkozlows]

I forget, did you like the book?

[kate_nepveu]

I liked the first one, and still remember being impressed by that surprising thing and by the two awesome high-fantasy moments that close the book. I lost enthusiasm in the second because there were just too many people to keep track of.

Grimy is just a lot more sticky on screen.

[mkozlows]

Yeah, I thought the show inevitably played up the "realism" of it more and played down the epicness of it. Which ends up shortchanging some of the more fantasyish elements of it (the overseas bits, the raven dreams), but makes the political intrigue a lot more vivid.

[trent_goulding]

I think my tolerance for grime, or at least for viewing depictions of it, might be too high :-)
...that said, I think if I were to sum up my personal reaction to the first season, it would be that they got it probably as near close to perfect as possible, given various physical constraints...a lot closer than Peter Jackson did, for instance (insert "in my opinion" disclaimer, naturally). The casting was phenomenal; so many of the ensemble cast just kill it in their rolls.
Of course, there's always room to quibble on the margins, but I thought it was a great achievement. But getting back to the grime quotient..yeah, you're going to have a few more discomfort-making scenes, to be sure.

[kate_nepveu]

I'm not sure whether we're going to bother, as our TV time is so limited. And I just don't know how much gratuitously amplified misogyny and racism I can have shoved in my face.

[trent_goulding]

It is ultimately (supposed to be) entertainment, and if you're not being entertained, or if the entertainment factor is outweighed by the discomfort/dislike factor, there's sure to be better ways to spend one's time.
I can think of one (newly invented-doesn't appear in the book) scene that appears mid-season, set in a brothel, that engendered much comment across the ether about gratuitousness. I'm thinking if you did reach that far, you might drop it at that point....

[autumnfrostfall]

I had to leave the room for more than one scene throughout the season, eventually just staying in the bedroom & reading when it was on. I read the first book in the series, but never got around to reading any of the others. Nick's never read any of them.