Anyone gonna watch Game of Thrones?

[Wes]

For whatever it's worth, I have very little interest in fantasy and haven't read the books, but I'm really enjoying Game of Thrones. The casting is pretty terrific - Dinklage is up there with Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson for the most entertaining performance on TV right now, Sean Bean is great, Aiden "Carcetti" Gillen has just shown up and has been a top-notch addition - and I've had no problems following along with all the names and characters save for some early confusion about the sons of the main family.

And I'm not finding it boring at all: they've been setting up a great collection of total shitheads all trying to find the best angle to stab each other on the back (possibly literally!), and there's been a perfectly acceptable sprinking of beheadings, impalings, giant wolf maulings and what may or may not be Super Ice Zombies to keep the pace up while they set up all these creeps (and two nice people) on the board.

The only complaints I'd have so far is that I'm not crazy about one of the new characters they added last episode, and it's almost impossible to find any place to read discussions about/discuss the show, since I've never seen any movie/show with people so passionately eager about spoiling/threatening to spoil/not spoiling but saying "I could spoil!" and then kind of spoling anyway.

Meanwhile, The Killing started off strong and has been losing steam for me for the past few weeks, with a strong feel of just shuffling in place because it has to be so many episodes long. I think all four of the presumed leads (the parents and the two cops) are cast well, but only the parents have been given anthing interesting to do. The lead cop is really hampered by the "I have to catch a plane this week!" thread that shows up every week, and they don't seem to be willing to settle on whether the partner is a dope or is actually the interesting guy they showed flashes of in the second episode. The pacing also makes me very skeptical about whether there's a real chance to elegantly tie the seemingly superfluous political b-story stuff in by the end.

[Martin]

Yeah OK, so that's why I watch it. I agree with pretty much all of that. And I will probably stick with GoT for the time being (I got nothing going on!).

[Denim Gremlin]

For whatever it's worth, I have very little interest in fantasy and haven't read the books, but I'm really enjoying Game of Thrones. The casting is pretty terrific - Dinklage is up there with Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson for the most entertaining performance on TV right now, Sean Bean is great, Aiden "Carcetti" Gillen has just shown up and has been a top-notch addition - and I've had no problems following along with all the names and characters save for some early confusion about the sons of the main family.

And I'm not finding it boring at all: they've been setting up a great collection of total shitheads all trying to find the best angle to stab each other on the back (possibly literally!), and there's been a perfectly acceptable sprinking of beheadings, impalings, giant wolf maulings and what may or may not be Super Ice Zombies to keep the pace up while they set up all these creeps (and two nice people) on the board.

The only complaints I'd have so far is that I'm not crazy about one of the new characters they added last episode, and it's almost impossible to find any place to read discussions about/discuss the show, since I've never seen any movie/show with people so passionately eager about spoiling/threatening to spoil/not spoiling but saying "I could spoil!" and then kind of spoling anyway.

Meanwhile, The Killing started off strong and has been losing steam for me for the past few weeks, with a strong feel of just shuffling in place because it has to be so many episodes long. I think all four of the presumed leads (the parents and the two cops) are cast well, but only the parents have been given anthing interesting to do. The lead cop is really hampered by the "I have to catch a plane this week!" thread that shows up every week, and they don't seem to be willing to settle on whether the partner is a dope or is actually the interesting guy they showed flashes of in the second episode. The pacing also makes me very skeptical about whether there's a real chance to elegantly tie the seemingly superfluous political b-story stuff in by the end.

you talking about that fat blob?

he seems so anachronistic to the setting. like in that scene where they're scrubbing the table and bonding or whatever by talking about girls and he says that girls don't like him because he's fat. you'd think in the middle ages being a big dude would be totally desirable cause it means he's got money and can afford a ton of food and he's not some cabbage soup eating peasant. right?

[Denim Gremlin]

Not a fan of the actor who plays Jamie, but I wonder if that's because his character is in such a different place in my mind than in the beginning of the books.

Agreed.  The guy playing Jamie is a little too John Wesley Shipp for my tastes.  I pictured someone nicknamed "The Kingslayer" to be a little more rough around the edges.

I inferred the whole "kingslayer" thing to be kind of an insult. Like calling him kingslayer is sorta like saying "hey you back stabbing traitorous prick."

[Denim Gremlin]

sorry for posting a ton at once, i just got into the show so there's alot of stuff on my mind.

one last thing, I know it's kind of a tired argument but seriously, why's everyone getting all upset about the sex and nudity? sure it's seems a little gratuitous at times but i don't see what the big deal is. are people that scared of nudity that it ruins the show for them? in the first episode there's three graphic beheadings. one of which is done by one of the main characters we're supposed to root for, who also forces his ten year old son to watch! that's totally cool but a few bare breasts are so offensive?

and don't say it does nothing to further the plot or is pointless because so far almost all the sex or nudity I've seen n the show has some sort of purpose, whether it's a crucial plot point, like all that incest stuff, or it sets the tone of the scene and puts you in the character's head, like all the scenes with the exiled targaryans (sp?). Those nude/sex scenes with the sister are supposed to come off as creepy and uncomfortable and exploitative because that's exactly what that character is going through. Shes basically being pimped out by her brother. As far as any of the other random nudity, like with peter dinklage at the whorehouse, well he's at a freaking whorehouse! plus it's part of his character, he's a little pervy drunk.

sorry if that's a bit ranty. it's not really aimed at anyone here specifically, since most of the sex talk on the board was about the book (which haven't read yet) but i have read alot of reviews of the show, especially the stuff on the AVclub, where the sex complaint keeps getting brought up. 

[fonpr]

sorry for posting a ton at once, i just got into the show so there's alot of stuff on my mind.

one last thing, I know it's kind of a tired argument but seriously, why's everyone getting all upset about the sex and nudity? sure it's seems a little gratuitous at times but i don't see what the big deal is. are people that scared of nudity that it ruins the show for them? in the first episode there's three graphic beheadings. one of which is done by one of the main characters we're supposed to root for, who also forces his ten year old son to watch! that's totally cool but a few bare breasts are so offensive?

and don't say it does nothing to further the plot or is pointless because so far almost all the sex or nudity I've seen n the show has some sort of purpose, whether it's a crucial plot point, like all that incest stuff, or it sets the tone of the scene and puts you in the character's head, like all the scenes with the exiled targaryans (sp?). Those nude/sex scenes with the sister are supposed to come off as creepy and uncomfortable and exploitative because that's exactly what that character is going through. Shes basically being pimped out by her brother. As far as any of the other random nudity, like with peter dinklage at the whorehouse, well he's at a freaking whorehouse! plus it's part of his character, he's a little pervy drunk.

sorry if that's a bit ranty. it's not really aimed at anyone here specifically, since most of the sex talk on the board was about the book (which haven't read yet) but i have read alot of reviews of the show, especially the stuff on the AVclub, where the sex complaint keeps getting brought up.

I like sentences that start with capital letters.

[orangewhip]

I think the issue people who have read the book have with the Dany/Drogo wedding night scene is that in the books she was still not totally into it but did give consent (even if it may have been just "biting the bullet").  In the show he pretty much just flips her over and has at it.  Through modern, civil eyes that's rape.  But I remember seeing news stories about whether a husband forcing himself on his wife even counted as rape.  And this was in the 80's, in the United States!  Even though the world the show takes place in is fictional, I think it does a pretty accurate job of showing how fucked up the feudal era was.  Life was dirt and slaving and shit for 99% of the population and if you weren't a highborn male your options in life were pretty slim.  Even the highborn females didn't have much say as to who they married.  And as for the highborn males, it was probably still pretty rough compared to today.

When I watch/read L.O.T.R., there are some fucked up things in that world like Mordor and dragons and whatnot, but there are also places like The Shire and Hobbiton.  When I watch LOTR and see the scenes in Hobbiton I'm like "I could totally live there and just grow a garden and smoke pipe weed with wizards and it would be pretty chill.".
Not the case with these books.  It's a horrible world that nobody would want to live in (just like the real middle-ages). 

[senorcorazon]

GoT:
- The sex is not the problem, the fact that it's mostly gross rape and incest is.
- Ice Wolves and beheadings are too few and far between
- " Aiden "Carcetti" Gillen has just shown up and has been a top-notch addition" AGREED, but that mainly because I can't get past thinking Carcetti has time-traveled.

The Killing:
- Yes, totally filled with some real issues (reliance on drum track to build tension, the sidekick's dumb "accent", the "Sonoma" nonsense). And yes, the name of the show should be "Frowning and Red Herrings, from the original series Frowny Herrings". But I still like it.

I would still give them both up forever in exchange for one more season of Party Down.

[buffcoat]

Considering picking up both these shows.  I'm counting on you all for a consensus and not getting it yet.   

[Big Plastic Head]

For whatever it's worth, I have very little interest in fantasy and haven't read the books, but I'm really enjoying Game of Thrones. The casting is pretty terrific - Dinklage is up there with Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson for the most entertaining performance on TV right now, Sean Bean is great, Aiden "Carcetti" Gillen has just shown up and has been a top-notch addition - and I've had no problems following along with all the names and characters save for some early confusion about the sons of the main family.

And I'm not finding it boring at all: they've been setting up a great collection of total shitheads all trying to find the best angle to stab each other on the back (possibly literally!), and there's been a perfectly acceptable sprinking of beheadings, impalings, giant wolf maulings and what may or may not be Super Ice Zombies to keep the pace up while they set up all these creeps (and two nice people) on the board.

The only complaints I'd have so far is that I'm not crazy about one of the new characters they added last episode, and it's almost impossible to find any place to read discussions about/discuss the show, since I've never seen any movie/show with people so passionately eager about spoiling/threatening to spoil/not spoiling but saying "I could spoil!" and then kind of spoling anyway.

Meanwhile, The Killing started off strong and has been losing steam for me for the past few weeks, with a strong feel of just shuffling in place because it has to be so many episodes long. I think all four of the presumed leads (the parents and the two cops) are cast well, but only the parents have been given anthing interesting to do. The lead cop is really hampered by the "I have to catch a plane this week!" thread that shows up every week, and they don't seem to be willing to settle on whether the partner is a dope or is actually the interesting guy they showed flashes of in the second episode. The pacing also makes me very skeptical about whether there's a real chance to elegantly tie the seemingly superfluous political b-story stuff in by the end.

Dinklage truly is great in this.

[James W]

Half the time he is hilarious because he's a good actor and they write him good lines, and half the time he is hilarious because his English accent is appalling. But he is always hilarious.

[Kim Kelly]

Can we talk about last night's graphic violence and also the crazy sister and her alternative child-rearing methods??

[Denim Gremlin]

Can we talk about last night's graphic violence and also the crazy sister and her alternative child-rearing methods??

shit kicked off hard last night!

This was the episode I was waiting for and in my opinion I think it did well. After 4 slow moving, world building episodes the stakes suddenly become really high, and I think in retrospect it's so much better this way because we've had 4 episodes to actually understand what's going on and get invested in these characters.

Also, as much as I'm fascinated by what's going on at The Wall and across the narrow sea, I think this show can really benefit from keeping the action in one or two places per episode.

[Sarah]

The HoundMountain's sword sure is sharp.

[Martin]

Illustrated guide to relationships in Game of Thrones (spoiler-free):

http://pics.blameitonthevoices.com/s.php?f=052011&p=relationships_in_game_of_thrones.jpg

(cross-post in Maps, Charts, and Shit thread)