Game of Thrones: 2.01 "The North Remembers"

In addition, I will talk about the books a lot, so if you don't like to hear about them, then this is not the block.

Admittedly I am having such a hard time writing these this year. I think that since I re-read, and finished ADWD, I'm having a hard time with seeing characters in the now. There was a lot of resolution, and a lot of exciting turning points in that book.

I had written a recap of the first episode, but for some reason it was deleted. So I am going to write an overview of episodes 2-3, because now I am so far behind, it is embarrassing.

King Sociopath Joffrey

Yeah! More blood! I thought 
we had them lined up as we killed them. 

Well, it seems that our favorite sociopath king is enjoying more blood sport, and torturing Sansa these days. Sansa does manage to save a Knight who becomes the fool (Ser Dontos who was just the fool in the books, no torture first).  She also has her litany down: "Joffrey is my beloved King...blah,blah,  and he actually looks at her like WTF, and I'm thinking, this what you asked for you psycho!

Then we have the best moment with Tyrion arriving w/Bronn. I have to say that the location is spectacular, absolutely amazing. So Tyrion comes in:

"Beloved Nephew, we looked for you on the battlefield?" of course Joffrey gets up looking worried, and says "I was ruling the realm" and "I thought you were dead." Mmmm, seems Tyrion worries Joffrey. Tyrion cruises by, says hello to his niece and nephew and gives his condolences to Sansa. Naturally Joffrey gets all worked up about how he's a traitor, and Tyrion says he also lost his father and should be able to relate. So Joffrey looks at Sansa who repeats her lines: "I love my beloved Joffrey.......", Tyrion heads for the High Council.

At the meeting of the High Council,  Cersei kicks everyone out after Varys reads Lord Tywin's letter. Cersei rips up yet another piece of paper, and becomes enraged because Lord Tywin has sent Tyrion in his place as Hand of the King. It should also be noted that this book is the rise of Tyrion, the next book is the fall,  yet only to rise again.

So, we have another special moment between Cersei and Tyrion, where he actually scolds her.  I love it!  So Cersei is all screaming, until Tyrion says father is very angry. He says "You did nothing", Cersei is like "I tried"  (he repeats words after her)Tyrion says it looks like you have lost control of your little sociopath, who cut off Ned Starks head, which PS and BTW will stain our family for generations, and thus began a war, which we are losing.  So, then the discussion turns to getting Jaime back.  Tyrion says "You had 3 Starks, you cut one's head off, and lost the other, and now have one. Father will not be pleased. How does it feel to be the disappointing one?" You rock Tyrion, and I am happier with Cersei this season; now she is acting more like Cersei! But the bad thing is that she is annoying, not fun mean and annoying, like Regina from Once Upon a Time.

She and Tyrion have some other good scenes, when she says "you need to keep pulling all of the weeds out until they are gone", but that is not how you rule. Her paranoia grows as the books go on, as she never understands the idea of having good people around you, and pleasing the people. She thinks only the protection of herself and her children, which is leading her to madness.

Jon Snow
Jon Snow, where the hell is Ghost? Don't even get me started on how important he is to the story and yet still, even tonight we did not see him amongst the NW. Poor Sam is struggling up the hill as he breaks the sleigh with the crows. Then we finally meet Dolores Ed, who informs the boys about Craster's happy family! He has lots of daughter/wives and adorable Jon asks the obvious question "Where are all the boys?" Now as we know, Jon is very sensitive to what happens to young boys/children, because he is a Bastard.  So, now he's po'ed, and has go sit in the tent with Mormont, Rangers and Craster. Craster does not like him immediately and calls him "pretty", which provides for a po'ed look. Now, Kit Harrington plays him really well, but he is wayyy hotter than the actual Jon, so saying he's pretty, is so wrong. But I like it as he is a major character and my fave. In addition I do not remember his having an issue with obedience or his temper. However he is smart, ambitious, loyal, and never smiles.

Craster, you bastard, look at this dump and all these girls you torture.

Oh Jon, sometimes you act just like Lyanna; too bad Ned did not tell you what he told Arya: that acting without thinking is just like Lyanna and Brandon, and it got them killed.

Dragonstone

Moving on, we go to Dragonstone, which is not as impressive as described, but I can accept it. We meet Melisandre; the red sorceress of R'Hllor, and Stannis' marketing tool.
So, she has him burn all of the idols of the 7 gods on the beach, with all of his/her followers. She is walking in her read dress saying "The night is dark and full of terrors", and also predicts in her own way the coming of the Others.

Craestor: well they wasted what happened and his relationship with Stannis in this scene. Craestor is important because he had known Stannis since he was a child, and loved him like a son. He knew Melisandre had poisoned Stannis against him, but Stannis saw it as Craestor becoming old. He knew the end had come when he was not called to dinner, and not given his seat at the table. Thus when he decides to poison Melisandre, he uses something, I think it was called ...lys or something, which is tasteless, and cannot be found in the body. However, Melisandre is immune to the poison, and many others as well, so she lives and he dies.

Robb Stark :  King of the North
The King of the North is looking sexier than ever, with his low voice, and he is the only one acting like a true King.  He pays a visit to Jaime Lannister, to inform him that he knows all of his dirty secrets, and that he pushed Bran out of a window. Jaime calls him "boy", and that three victories do not make him a conqueror, then the line that will go down as one of the best: "It's better than three defeats". Then Greywolf decides to stop by, and Jaime finally looks afraid, and he should. The wolves are spectacular, they look real, and Robb looked so like the rock'in King of the North. He also sends terms to the Lannisters, and for some reason does not include a request for Ice. This is disappointing because the death of Ned was so painful, because he was a good man and they defile ICE and the Lannisters turn it into Oathbreaker.

Kings Landing
Well Cersei is walking around acting like I thought she should be, but she's no fun at all. Her character is so much better in the books, as you watch her descend into paranoia and madness, which is much more interesting than this Cersei. She is back, after last year, but now she is just annoying.

She takes her entourage which is following her around, to see Joffrey redecorating the throne room. Her sociopath son ends up getting slapped after asking how many bastards his "father" had, when he tired of her. Then he threatens her, so it looks like Cersei has lost control of her little sociopath.

So we see the city guard going around the city killing Robert's bastards. The worse one being the baby at the brothel. FYI: it is Janos Slynt who does it, and happy times are not his when he is at the wall with Jon.

But they do a nice transition to Arya and Gendry as we see Gendry pulling Arya up onto the wagon, as it rides along the Kings Road.  I believe Ned put Gendry there as he was the exact image of a young Robert, and he also wanted to have him trained to be a knight. Yoren was taking him to the wall for his safety and he was taking Arya, per Neds final word "Baelor" , with him to the Night's Watch, and drop her at Winterfell along the way.

So, that's it, and there is only one more post: 2.6

"Images and Quotes courtesy of HBO's "Game of Thrones"