The whole opening sequence is awesome; one of the few opening sequences I don't want to skip. The soundtrack is great, and I love the clockwork castles.

And Syrio Forel is indeed a boss. He's one of the best-acted characters in the series so far.

Spoiler

Not looking forward to him getting killed off, even if he does get to kick ass in the process.

I didn't like Petyr though. I'm not sure if it's a bad interpretation of him, or if the actor just sucks, but he has no inflection to his speech whatsoever. I always mentally voiced him with one of those classic "villain voices," so hearing him talk in a monotone just rubs me the wrong way. It doesn't help that the actor doesn't look a thing like I imagined him.

 

Littlefinger's exactly as I imagined him except for his looks. I imagined him to have more defined, stronger facial features. His tone though- it's just right. It could use a little bit more emphasis on some words, true, but the point to Littlefinger is that we never really know what he's thinking, not really. I quite like it.


Although I imagined him to be thinner and more whispy, Syrio is just so :awesome. I was grinning my face off for his entire scene, lol.

 

Petyr's actor annoyed me quite a bit. Petyr was always much more suave (not sure if it's the right word) in the books, and while the dialog is mostly the same, it seems forced, not the natural flowing speech I imagined him capable of. Although I do agree that his looks are pretty much spot on.

And why have we yet to see Ghost? He is an integral part of John's chapters, a constant companion, and yet he barely got half a minute in the first episode, and no screentime at all in the other two episodes.

/end of rant

Aside from that, I enjoyed this episode immensly. I generaly enjoyed The Wall and Winterfell scenes more then the King's Landing ones, but then Siryo showed up and I was like :awesome.

 

I always saw Petyr as being shorter, and maybe a bit chubby, like he never quite grew out of his baby fat. Ad for his tone, I thought it was more that he hinted at everything and told nothing with his tone, rather than revealing nothing of his thoughts. As Danisama said, he struck me as being more suave.

 

She has her moments. Although Ned's speech in her favor diminished my hate for her, I still think she needs to die painfully and alone.

 

She does kinda figure things out by Feast for Crows (pretty sure she appears in that one; if not, it's in Storm of Swords) when:

Spoiler

Petyr steals her away to the Eyrie, murders Lysa, and starts plotting to kill Robert Arryn so he can set up "Harry the Heir" with Sansa and have them rule the Eyrie. Her marriage to Tyrion is pretty humbling as well.

 

Dance with Dragons isn't out yet. :facepalm

Spoiler

She begins to become smarter under the care of Littlefinger starting in A Storm of Swords, and through A Feast of Crows.

She also takes the name Alayne Stone, posing as his bastard daughter.

 

D'oh, I'm an idiot...meant Feast for Crows.

 

Arya was my second favorite in The Game of Thrones (book) but I absolutely adore her in the episodes. She is everything I imagined her to be and more. I thought all her scenes were done brilliantly and she is a amazing actress for someone her age.

I loved the ending where Ned was watching them laughing, before he was reminded about all the battles he was in and how dangerous the land is. It was great foreshadowing on all accounts.

Littlefinger, I imagined to be more pump and short but with a way with words and being able to twist everything situation so it fits him.

Sadly enough, I do not like Daenerys as much as I did in the books. I thought she shone in the first episode (especially with the bath scene) but as time went on, I feel like her lines are more forced. Maybe it just threw me off how Daenery's and Drogo are in love compared to the last two episodes. I will have to see what happens and how the actress plays Daenerys to figure out how much I like her.

Everyone else so far I've enjoyed. I thought Arya's fighting teacher was hilarious.

 

It's been about 2-3 months from the events of the first episode, if you think about it. It took Robert's entire entourage 2 months to travel from King's Landing to Winterfell, so it'd take at least that to go back to King's Landing again, considering that there's more people on the return trip.

Then Catelyn set out after them, and that's an additional x number of days assuming overlap with the king's entourage.

That's long enough for someone as young as Dany to adapt into what she is right now, I think. Personally, I think Emilia Clarke's doing a wonderful job so far- Dany's still very much a character experiencing great amounts of change, and the Dany we see in Storm of Swords has at least a couple of years on this one. A couple of years with experience waging war, I might add.

Seeing her nipples nearly every episode doesn't hurt either. :awesome

 

Just got a mail from amazon, saying it the release date will be earlier than expected: 16th of July.

 

I'm pretty sure I pre-ordered for July 12th.

EDIT: Oh wait, you're in Germany. Dates must be different.

 

I preordered the English edition. And the last time I checked it was set for the 12th of November. Sorry for the false alert then.

 

The show looks great so far. I think Dinklage is doing an amazing job as Tyrion, and the Arya actress is great too. I just hope the character of Ned gets a bit smarter, as both Cersei and Joffery got intelligence and pragmatism upgrades from the book.

also, I just can't wait for the line:

Spoiler

"The First Sword of Braavos does not run."

 

Something striked me as odd... Wasn't Ned highly opposed about sitting on the throne? So much that one of the reasons he can't stand the kingslayer was due seeing him sitting there after he betrayed the king?

So why imdb pic for the game of thrones shows Ned sitting on the throne?

Link

 

I agree that Littfinger's tone is odd. I assume that it's deliberate: it would be hard to be that monotone without doing it deliberately. Perhaps they're trying to hint at him having some kind of behavioural disorder e.g. sociopathy.

 

Promo pic. There's also another out there with Cersei, and one with Jon and Ghost. Probably a bunch for the whole cast, too.

So yeah, another great episode tonight. After every episode I've been reading the chapters they covered, and I think everything's solid so far - the backstory is being handled well enough for how much of there is, and everyone plays their roles well. Tyrion, Arya and now Littlefinger are my favourite characters easily, but dammit all if one scene of Syrio Forel last week made me almost put him there too. I'm also really liking Jamie a lot - dude feels a little more sympathetic, kind of. Hard to explain, but will probably be easier by the end of the season/book.

 

The ending to this episode was pretty boss. I've been pretty "meh" towards the show's version of Catelyn so far, but this ending definitely raised her in my estimation. I can forgive her not being hot and naked.

Also, Doreah is fucking hot.