Game of Thrones

[tardis_stowaway]

I belatedly discovered HBO's Game of Thrones and promptly got sucked in.  It was stellar!*  Arya Stark is my favorite by a mile, followed by Tyreon Lannister and Jon Snow (with his sad puppy eyes).  Now I want to read the books, so I suppose that's mission accomplished for this adaptation.   Season 2 in spring 2012 has now been added to the list of long-range fandom things I'm looking forward to, especially since that finale had more loose ends than a yarn store invaded by kittens. 

Random note (very mild spoilers):  at the moment in one of the episodes where Arya is going down a staircase in the palace and I thought, hey, for some reason this reminds me of Merlin going downstairs to visit the dragon.  Moments later, Arya found a giant frickin' dragon skull.  I'm inordinately proud of myself for randomly calling that. 

*I give it that thumbs-up despite the way the arranged marriage between Daenerys and Khal Drogo started out way too rapey for me to ever stop being squicked out by her apparently developing feelings for him later.  So much wrong and no.  In a lesser series that might be enough to make me quit, but since there's so much interesting stuff going on in this show (including great empowered female characters in the Stark clan), I'll chalk Daenerys's situation up a combination of Stockholm Syndrome and appreciation of the way the marriage made her a queen and just look forward to next season, when it looks like we get Daenerys with no Drogo but instead a bunch of dragons. 

Comments

[kitsune17.livejournal.com]

In the book, Dany/Drogo is way less rapey. He asks her permission while slowly seducing her. I think they changed it for the show to show the ferocity of the Dothraki or sommat.

[netgirl-y2k.livejournal.com]

I actually find the books more offputtingly rape-y than the show, but am unable to stop reading them because of, among other things, the amazing women of the Stark clan. Arya is amazing and the kid who plays her on the show is just perfect. I am very much looking forward to season 2.

[kylara.livejournal.com]

Ugh, yes, Dany/Drogo. As far as I'm concerned TV!Drogo rapes Dany on their wedding night, which is truly unfortunate because it drastically changes the likability of their relationship. I guess they didn't have time to develop it in the beginning so they were like, "he'll just rape her, we'll fix it later," or whatever, but it comes off as lazy writing to me. Kitsune17 is probably also right; they wanted to make the Dothraki seem so very ferocious, which is also lazy writing to me.

I'd probably have a very different feel for their relationship if I'd only seen the TV show.

Read the books! Not just for a more respectful, less rapey Dany/Drogo, but because they're awesome. The prologue sometimes turns off new readers, so don't be afraid to skip it; the first chapter is amazing and will have you hooked, and then you can go back and read the prologue later.