I was out with friends this weekend, and after exchanging inane pleasantries with someone about the weather or something, our conversation changed to TV. I asked her if she was excited for the "Game of Thrones" premiere on Sunday. She said, "I haven't actually started watching the show yet. Should I?" After resisting the urge to call my good friend Ser Ilyn Payne, I finally replied, "It's pretty much the most awesome thing on TV." That’s the only word I could think of to use, because while "Breaking Bad" is probably the overall best, and "Justified" definitely has the greatest hair, "Game of Thrones" is just AWESOME. It earns its "Just the Badass Parts" tag.
Even in its season two table-setting premiere, “The North Remembers,” which was relatively light with action (at least when compared to other “GoT” episodes), we were still treated to: baby murder, a fool having to drink an entire barrel of wine, a Madame teaching a prostitute how to have sex, references to incest, and Arya on a sick ox cart – all in the first five, and final five, minutes of the episode. Other highlights (and GIFs after the jump):
- Give it up for the Dink, who's now first billed during the opening credits. He's already won the Emmy.
- That walking pile of snake vomit, Joffrey...is not a good ruler.
- I already like Sansa more than I did all of last season.
- Hodor.
- The show is so darn gorgeous. I loved the shot of the camera spinning around Daenerys, to show her riders going off to scout three different locations. It also looks, to quote Mr. Dink, very expensive.
- Drogon, still adorable.
- Craster should really think about turning his shack into a bed & breakfast. He can use his skulls as bowls.
- Were any non-book readers confused about the Melisandre scenes? There wasn't much set-up; writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss expected you to follow along, and Davos the Onion Knight had a sudden entrance, too.
- We barely got to meet Stannis, but we do know he’s humorless and owns a fantastic table.
- So far, I’m most interested in the happenings at King’s Landing and North of the Wall. Rob’s never been my favorite character, though his scene with Jamie (and Grey Wind!) was tense, and Dany’s plight in the Red Waste is a bit slow. Needs. More. Dragons.
- Attractive Women of "Game of Thrones" Power Rankings, Episode 1: #5. Osha, #4. Cersei #3. Shae, #2. Daenerys, #1. Melisandre. It's the hair.
Please discuss your favorite moments in the episode (there's a lot I left out), but please: NO SPOILERS. If you’ve read the books, pretend you haven’t. Only discuss what happened in “The North Remembers" (believe me, it’s tough, but it can be done). Don’t ruin it for those who haven’t read A Clash of Kings.
(Via)
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Look at the way he licks his lips. I hate him so much. (Via)
I don't care how meh the CGI is — Grey Wind is awesome. (Via)
Imagine him sounding like Goofy as he drops. So much funnier. (Thanks, Chet!)
CHUG CHUG CHUG (And again, Chet)
(Via)
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Fans of "Skins" will recognize Gilly as Cassie (played by Hannah Murray).
I’m in love…and terrified, too. (Via)
(Via)
That sly devil (you too, Chet).
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Cersei clearly never watched Schoolhouse Rock.
Anyone confused by the first scenes with Melisandre, Cressen and Davos, do yourself a favor and read the prologue to A Clash of Kings.
Also, the scene where they start killing Robert’s bastards was way more detailed than the book.
Overall a good start to the new season. Loved the Cersei and Littlefinger exchange. Can’t wait for some Arya and Brienne scenes.
Yeah there wasn’t the whole prologue build up of Maester Cressen’s character as well as who Davos is. But i guess that is what you get when you compress 80 pages in one scene.
Agreed. I actually kind of like Cersei now. She’s a boss.
Yeah, was disappointed that Dragonstone didn’t use up more of this first episode’s air time. Although I like the death scene of Cressen, it made Melissandre much more badass and scary than in the book.
Davos was great, and exactly how I pictured him, but he lacked a bit of the fear he has of Melissandre in the book chapter, I guess it’ll be clearer later.
The painted table was awesome.
Stannis seems a bit bland, book Stannis was harsher imo, but I chuckled at his corrections of Robert’s and Jaime’s in his letter of declaration. The fact that Stannis is unintentionally funny sometimes is one of the things that made me love him in the books.
Indeed the Cersei/LF scene was a great addition, well written and well played.
I liked the message behind the Cersei/Littlefinger exchange (i.e. physical power can cut your knowledgable little throat), but I thought it was the wrong character to demonstrate the point on (that is, it made LF look like an amateur. He comes off looking much more brash and belligerent than he does in the books, IMO).
Teasing the queen so blatantly about her twincestuous relationship doesn’t exactly strike me as a very smart thing to do. If Cersei had tried to provoke him like that in the books, I think he would’ve calmly smiled and said something underhanded (or better yet, let the queen feel as if she’d gotten one over on him).
I liked his exchange with Varys in season 1 much better. But the message itself was a good one.
it was a great episode, but I think Ros the whore is definitely in the top 5 of hottest westeros ladies
The silly nerd part me has issues with her not being in the books. Then the wang part of me makes a much better point.
“Attractive Women of “Game of Thrones” Power Rankings”
Brienne will never make this list. Also, Stannis’ table is in the shape of a map of Westeros.
Good for playing Risk.
I’m gonna update it every week (it’s why I wanted this gig). It’s gonna be tough to knock Melisandre off the, um, throne.
I’m generally not a fan of red heads, I expect Asha Greyjoy, renamed Yara for the show, to crack the top five when she in introduced.
The only other new female characters I can think of are Brienne and Ygritte. Josh, if you like red heads you’ll like Ygritte.
Oh, I can’t wait. (I’m in the middle of the fourth book, so I know all about Ygritte. DAMNIT, I’M BREAKING MY OWN RULES.)
I don’t know what Asha/ Yara will look like on the show, but she definitely cracks the top 5 on the awesomeness scale. As does Brienne.
Josh, just re-read the post. Sorry for talking about the books.
Didn’t really spoil anything. “Some hot character will appear in the distant future.” No worries.
What the hell is wrong with you people to not give some love to Doreah?
And I know it’s a long way off, but I expect at least a few of the Sand Snakes to be knockouts.
Always liked Osha. I mean she looks ratty but thats the character. Has anyone noticed the lack of buxom women like christina hendricks type.
I think Val and Arianne Martell sound pretty hot in the books but we’ll see. maybe.
Also Dontos will forever be the paperboy who Daisy accepts a half a mint from and later makes out with on Spaced.
YES. And as the Pest Controller on Saxondale.
I haven’t seem GoT yet as I don’t get HBO, but I plan on picking up the Blu-ray set of Season 1 this weekend, but I’d like to say it’s nice to see Spaced and Saxondale get some love. Now, off to listen to The Mighty Jethro Tull, and read some more about Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Loved it- I want to have Stannis’ map of westeros table in my dining room. I was a little skeptical when I read some of the casting releases but they hit almost every new character out of the park. Did they introduce the Tyrell’s? I don’t remember them from last season and I don’t think they were referred to in the premier- just shown.
No Tyrells yet.
Tyrells next week when Catelyn goes to Renly’s camp in all logic.
Baby Drogon is the cutest thing since direwolf puppies.
Also, I reached my goal of finishing the books (so far) before the second season. SUCK IT, INTERNET, I’M SPOILER-PROOF.
Patty, you should spend a few minutes on [asoiaf.westeros.org] if you have the time. Unless you read like Kim Weeks I am willing to bet there are quite a few “spoilers” you can find on there… Definitely worth a look around.
The Dunk and Egg ones as well Patty?
Which one is Shae?
Tyrion’s whore. See gif #12
Thank u kindly good sir
I like the actress who plays her. It always seems like she’s holding something back, like she has a secret but won’t tell you. A wonderful pairing with Tyrion.
I liked the not in book scene with Robb and Jaime but not the Cersei and Joffrey (although it did include a Joffrey slap). In the books it seemed like Cersei still had complete control over Joffrey well except the Ned beheading.
Tyrion’s entrance in the courtyard and small council was boss. Anyone know the quote Tyrion says walking in pointing to The Hound? Something like “this man doesn’t like me?” Bronn replying “I don’t see why not.”
Here you go.
going on memory but I think he says ‘this one doesn’t like me’ and Bronn follows with ‘can’t imagine why’
Damn it UU, you and your fancy commenting privileges diminish the impressiveness of me remembering that exchange verbatim. How dare you sir.
@Chazz, just trying to help.
Yep that’s it. Thanks!
I kid of course- that scene is definitely worth watching again.
Headlining the credits, opening up with this scene, owning Cersei. Pure Dink bossness last night.
King Joffrey is a Baratheon
Oh is he? (Smirk)
Robb was awesome in that scene
There’s no way Craster could have that many inbred daughters without one of them looking like Queen Elizabeth.
I’ve been completely apathetic towards Robb until that scene last night. It was swag-tastic.
Robb Stark seems to know what shit he needs (IE sending catelyn to renlys camp and theon to the iron islands).
“you’re not a commander from 3 victories”
“better than 3 defeats”
what a boss.
@Maske – it really was swagtastic. The fact that it stood out in an episode with two other AWESOME scenes of verbal dominance (Tyrion + Cersei, Petry + Cersei) was even better. And I had seen it as a sneak preview clip before – but it was still damn cool
I do love Cersei’s show of power. Glad someone put that guy in his place, even if it’s her. Maybe even because it’s her. After all, he’s the vengeful sort.
For book readers, this book to screen recap is excellent [www.westeros.org]
Stannis was older than Robert,right?
He’s younger than Robert, but older than Renly.
Classic middle child syndrome.
Thanks, Josh. I thought I heard a someone say Stannis was the oldest, but maybe they meant the surviving Baratheons.
Or I’m just crazy. I did eat a bowl of AA batteries this morning.
Stannis is the eldest Baratheon. Robert became a king because he rebelled with Ned Stark against the Mad King Targaryen (Daenerys’s father) who Jamie L. stabbed in the gut being one of his elite bodyguards (hence the nick: Kingslayer). Stannis is resentful of his younger brother whom he thought would give up the throne for him because of seniority, the fool…
You are incorrect, triprunner. Josh is correct.
Robert did win his crown on the field of battle, it’s true; but he also claimed his right to the throne because the Baratheon line was started from a supposed Targaryen bastard back in the day. This lineage is described in the Appendix of AGoT. He’s resentful of Robert because he feels he should have been awarded Storm’s End (the Baratheon seat,) instead of Dragonstone, rather than his younger brother Renly (who was a child at the time of Robert’s Rebellion.)
Anyone else pick up on the fact that Ros’s speech was almost verbatim the speech she heard from Little Finger when she first showed up in King’s Landing?
I did. I know the scene she was quoting like the palm of my hand.
Game of Thrones Sporcle quiz! [www.sporcle.com]
So did anyone else notice that the fat, drunken slob Ser Dontos’s breastplate looks kinda like an American flag?
Haha, I did notice that. Take THAT, America.
Pretty awesome. Like Captain America got frozen but woke up north of the wall… and in the thirty of forty years it took for him to become a knight he turned into a fat, slobbering alcoholic.
Holy shit Tony Stark… I just blew my own nerd brain…
I don’t need a reason to rewatch an episode, but it’s nice to have one.
“OH SNAP, GREY WIND IS HUGE. AND JAMIE IS THE HOT GERMAN GUY FROM WIMBLEDON” is what I kept saying during that awesome scene last night. Also, I despise Little Finger almost as much as I hate Joffrey.
QUESTION: Starting Book 2, so bear with me here – what was the deal with the perspective from the animal (or something) before the Bran / Hodor / Osha scene by the puddle??? And where is Bran’s direwolf again?
Its deliberately confusing at first- as the book and presumably the show continue more will be revealed but I don’t think you’re meant to know anything beyond what has been shown so far.
The wolf is around- just not shown
the wolf’s reflection in the puddle is Bran’s direwolf.
It’s a dream Bran was having from a wolf’s perspective.
It becomes a very important element of the story.
Having not read the books, I thought they made an allusion to Bran being connected to wolves when he woke up the exact moment his sister’s wolf was killed by Ned. A life for a life as it were….
Ahhh, okay. I wasn’t sure if that was Bran’s or not. Thanks for the clarification everyone!
One of my favorite (really minor) parts is the NBA floor-toweler-but-for-blood.
well played.
Would have liked Cersei to slap Joffrey again after his threat. Was quite surprised by her submissiveness but she was good with Littlefinger. Littlefinger’s moustache was a bit rubbish.
Totally expected a second slap. A good omage to Tyrion’s double/triple(?) slap from last season. But I guess it was also a good moment for everyone to be “OOOOOOOH fuck she’s lost control.”
I am still waiting for the side by side gif’s of Joffrey getting bitch slapped.
Hold on. The comments are right way round again. Is this a test?
Did anyone else keep screaming at Daenarys to feed the horse to the dragons? They want fresh meat, not jerky! FOOL! Don’t let those adorable babies starve… put your late hubbies gift to good use and let the dragon feast begin!
she clearly never saw Jurassic Park. “They want to hunt”
So… I write new comments on the bottom but read new comments at the top…. hrrmmm…
I thought that the guy playing Craster nailed it. It does help that he looks like a pedophile.
Wall Street Journal…(this weekend….or recently)….
Reading between the lines….figuratively speaking……Thrones is going to spend itself into cancellation like “Rome”…….if they don’t keep an eye on budget……
Would anyone else regret seeing the practicalities outweigh the ratings……?
Am I the only one who was bothered by the intro credits where it says “Based on ‘A Song of Ice and Fire”?
C’mon. Give Clash of Kings it’s due.
A Clash of Kings is the second book in the series ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’
Wow. Nerd card removed.
Meaning MY nerd card. I’ve never been so ashamed.
Fans of “Skins” will recognize Gilly as Cassie (played by Hannah Murray).
Also, the guy that played Chris is Gendry.
Zack and I know what’s up.
Mushroom is that a joke or are you serious? Yo the onion knight is my boy……. Get ready to have a #2 favorite character people. Besides the Dunk of course.
Great episode overall, even if I wanted more Dragonstone, no Patchface makes me sad, and a lead up to the burnging of the seven would have been nice, as well as more exchange between Davos and Cressen, and maybe Davos advising Stannis not to burn the seven, in any case: NEEDS MORE DAVOS. (always)
Like the added scenes overall, especially Cercei/LF.
A bit disappointed in the looks of Dragonstone in the title sequence. No dragon statues? But they made it up with a nice stone dragon in the actual scene, and the Painted Table is gorgeous.
But am I the only one who has issues with the look of the CG direwolves? They seemed very fake to me, the eyes and muzzle seemed unnatural. I think the dragons actually look better.
I think the CGI on the direwolves looks funky because they just made video of a normal wolf bigger as opposed to creating them entirely in CG, most likely for cost control. I think they had some problems matching the focus and lighting on the two sources.
The Hound is such a beast, his ass-kicking tally should reach high score numbers by the end of series.
Direwolves should be ripping more throats than MacGruber soon hopefully.
I was watching the show with a friend who hadn’t read the books and he was confused during the Melisandre/Cressen scene so I tried my best to explain. I think it was well done to save time and just show the new priestess > old priest.
I super enjoyed this ep! I was a little nervous about the casting but everyone seems amazing. Craster really creeped me out more so than in the books. I wish every episode someone would slap Joffery, as those are easily my fav.
great episode. great show. complaining about lack of set up for melisandre or davos are either too slow to understand that they’re new characters or overly picky fanboy types. i’ve read the books. love em. the show is doing a great job. as far as casting stannis’ casting was a surprise to me. personally i had stannis looking a lot more like jeremy irons in my head but whatever. and melisandre. oh melisandre! watching her look down on cressen dying mad me santorum my pants. and i;ve never taken it in the keister.
Quick question. And I don’t want to get too spoiler-y so maybe just a yes or no answer if anyone knows it.
The new place on the map is Dragonstone and that is where Stannis is hanging out. Am I to assume because of the name, that he has taken over the place from the banished Targaryens?
Dragonstone was the Island where Daenary’s was born. She and her brother were taken away to safety from there as Robert’s rebellion was coming to an end. Robert gave Dragonstone to Stannis to lord over after the war.
Thanks.
You’re crazy for having Osha on that list instead of Irri – [www.imdb.com]
Agreed. I was glad to see that she’s still around, especially now that the dragons are there. She seemed to kind of disappear last season after “A Golden Crown.”
She’s crazy hot, amirita?
what you did there, i see it.
I wasn’t confused by the Melisandre scenes. It did seem like kind of an over-the-top scene to start with in our introductions to these characters, but it worked, and was followable. Mind you I’m pretty assiduous in my acquisition of information about the show, minus actually reading the books, so I might have known more about these characters beforehand than the average philistine viewer would. For example, I only caught little details like that line that Stannis said about “I give thieves what they deserve, as Davos knows,” or Davos picking up that flaming sword with his left hand, because I had read a little bit about Davos somewhere before I saw the episode.
Loved the episode (inevitably); very happy GOT’s back; might’ve been better had it jumped around a little less, such as perhaps leaving the Daenerys scene until episode 2, and spending that time in King’s Landing or Dragonstone instead, but whatever.
Great episode overall, even if I wanted more Dragonstone, no Patchface makes me sad, and a lead up to the burnging of the seven would have been nice, as well as more exchange between Davos and Cressen, and maybe Davos advising Stannis not to burn the seven, in any case: NEEDS MORE DAVOS. (always)
Like the added scenes overall, especially Cercei/LF.
A bit disappointed in the looks of Dragonstone in the title sequence. No dragon statues? But they made it up with a nice stone dragon in the actual scene, and the Painted Table is gorgeous.
But am I the only one who has issues with the look of the CG direwolves? They seemed very fake to me, the eyes and muzzle seemed unnatural. I think the dragons actually look better.
(somehow this comment appeared under another comment at first, but I can’t delete it, so can any moderator do it please? Thankskaybye.)
I need to re-watch this ep like 5 more times. I feel like I missed all the things.
Word. Kinda bummed I missed out on episode 2, which was briefly unleashed on HBO Go yesterday, supposedly. I’m sure I could find it somewhere on the interwebs, but, HDorGTFO.