"Winter is Coming", Round 2

Maybe the reason that I stopped watching Game of Thrones wasn't the amount of nudity, or the people getting beheaded but rather that I was so fucking confused. I have no idea if I was trying to read or doing something else when I was watching the first time, but if I hadn't taken notes while watching it again I wouldn't have been able to keep track. I certainly think that knowing what I learned in the time that I didn't watch the show has helped me understand it a bit more. Reading the wikipedia article for this episode after I watched it was also helpful. And I guess I've changed my mind? I put off actually watching this for a week because for some reason I managed to convince myself that I hated it, but it could also be because of the emotions I have attached to the show or that I don't want to be wrong. I have a feeling I could end up loving this show by the end of the first season. So there's that.

The two things that put me off the series were the violence and the nudity. As a fan of Girls, I've gotten used to seeing boobs on my television screen, but when I first saw this I was a bit shocked. There was a little more nudity than I remember, and why were the Dothraki taking turns to have sex with a woman in the middle of a wedding? I hestitate to call them savages - I haven't read the books, but there seems to be some sort of connection between these people and colonialism which could be interesting. As for violence/gore, nothing I saw was as disgusting as the second episode of Breaking Bad (it took about a week for me to start watching again, and I only just watched episode three all the way through about a month ago), but I still get a bit queasy. I really wanted to look away for Will's execution. Blegh. So we'll see.

The first scene was the one which left me with the most questions. They were going through a tunnel which turned out to go through the wall to 'Beyond the Wall' (I figured that out on my own!). Someone needs to come up with a better name for that region. How far north is The Wall? It's a barrier of ice, but has winter already struck there before it makes its way to Winterfell? I get that it could be so far north that it's a permafrost/tundra situation, otherwise the decade long summer would have had to have led to a long melt. (Signs you're an environmental student). So the White Walkers are possibly what people are calling the Ice Zombies and are believed to be extinct and killed a bunch of people. Even so, the corpses/body parts were arranged in a specific way and I want to know if that's significant. Except don't tell me what it means.

The Starks
From what I've read, but mainly heard on television podcasts, I know that this first season is the story of Ned Stark. Bran Stark, the kid who falls off the tower (I remember that bit) is possibly the least interesting of the five Stark children (although they haven't done much with the youngest). I remember seeing the archery scene the first time I saw the episode, and it establishes Arya quite well - the obvious tomboy, compared to her older sister who can only think of marrying Joffrey (did he even have lines?). Despite the fact that Ned Stark was once unfaithful to Cat (which resulted in Jon Snow, who is a babe), they have a good marriage. That was all I wrote in my notes about that, but given what's going on with the Lannisters and Daenerys, I like that there is one happy marriage. Aside from the girls, and learning that Bran likes to climb and it gets him into trouble, there's not much on Robb Stark or the youngest Stark child (no, I don't know his name yet). Understandably, it seems they wanted to establish Jon Snow's place within the House of Stark, even though he's an outsider.

The Lannisters
I remembered that it was the Queen having sex in that last scene but I didn't make the connection that she was involved with her brother. The other option is that I did make the connection and was so shocked that I did my best to forget it. They're painted as the villains of the piece at this stage and there's not really that much to say about the twins. Lord Tyrion is much more interesting -  his conversation with Jon Snow is about establishing Snow's relationship to the Starks, and there is an attempt to connect the situations of the two characters which I would appreciate more if the dialogue wasn't so clunky. I'm also interested in whether he knows about his siblings' relationship.

The Targaryens
Poor, poor Daenerys. I remember the part where her comes in and talks about her marriage. Given that their father was considered the 'Mad King', I can sort of understand, wait no I can't, because he is willing to let his sister be raped in order to reclaim the throne. (Has he inherited some of his father's madness? I doubt this show is seriously going to explore issues of mental health). Because of this, I will make very little effort to learn his name. It's weird knowing so much about a show I haven't watched, so I know to take note of the fact that Daenerys is presented with the dragon eggs at the wedding . At this stage, Daenerys is just a pawn and has absolutely zero agency. I have to say that from what I've heard about the show, I'm more interested in her development than any other character. Along with Peter Dinklage, I'd say that the best acting so far has been Emilia Clarke's.

The Iron Throne
It appears that Joffrey is not yet the King and he and Sansa were making eyes at each other the entire time. So: Ned Stark helped the Robert become King, and at the end of the episode, Robert asks Ned to be the Leo McGarry to his Jed Bartlet because he doesn't trust anyone else. Ned goes because Cat gets a letter that explains that the King's previous Chief of Staff (this is a frame to help me understand things) was murdered by the Lannisters, which makes sense from the first scene that takes place at King's Landing. This episode relied a lot on exposition and it's weird to rehash the plot to the internet, but whatever. My guess is that the Lannisters are plotting to claim the throne by removing everyone close to the King in order to be able to kill him. This is the problem with so much exposition - it's not a difficult guess to make.

The main thing that interests me about the Iron Throne however, is that Ned Stark didn't want it. He helped Robert claim the throne and is now to help run the Kingdom of Westeros. There are talks of arranging a marriage between Joffrey and Sansa, which would give the House of Stark a quasi future claim to the throne, but she would take his name.

The Men of Westeros (in which I objectify the men of Westeros)
Jaime Lannister is pretty darn attractive, but he's sleeping with his sister, so he loses points for that. A friend told me that Robb Stark was her favourite but I like Jon Snow the most. It would be a shame if he chose a life of celibacy and watching ice zombies atop the Wall.

Bullet points:

• Apparently you just ask girls if they've started menstruating. So there's that.
• I like the direwolf puppies. I read on wikipedia that Sophie Turner adopted her puppy after season one, which is the best thing ever.
• I know this world is going to expand a lot, and I'm very glad that I took notes and sort of understand the characters so far.