Game of Thrones S05 E03&04 Review

Somewhere along all the film educationing I’ve done, I seem to have developed a habit of looking at films and TV shows in two ways. I describe them as ‘in show’ and ‘as show’. ‘In show’ is looking at a TV show (or film) within the world it has developed, as in thinking of it as real life; real people and real events. Even a high fantasy show has to believable within its world, and the actions of the characters have to be believable within their personality. From this, the audience tries to understand character decisions and predict what they might do next based on their personality. For example, a Disney princess would not murder someone in cold blood; it would go against their character personalities and as viewers we wouldn’t believe this within the world of the show.

‘As show’ is understanding what the show makers are trying to achieve, and ultimately what they are progressing towards. It is understanding that what you are watching isn’t in fact real life, but is made specifically for your entertainment. Certain shows have narrative ‘tells’ that, once recognised, help you to predict what might happen. An example of this is in The Walking Dead; when a character is going to die they almost always have a sentimental moment earlier in that episode. They do this to make you care about the character more, so that when they die you have a stronger emotional reaction – this is an ‘as show’ trait. ‘As show’ is often concerned with manipulating the viewers’ emotions, which ultimately increases the show’s popularity, and therefore the amount of money it makes. The best shows and films balance these two aspects out perfectly, so that what is happening makes sense within the world of the show, without being overly realistic and therefore boring for the viewer.

Game of Thrones does this beautifully. The characters are not simple and one dimensional, but rather are multifaceted and have many different motivations and goals. This is great for ‘as show’ because it keeps them all interesting, and helps make things less predictable. It also makes the characters more realistic in the sense that no one in the real world is purely good or bad, but everyone is some varying shade of grey, which is how they are in GoT.

Another great thing about GoT is that it isn’t generally like other TV shows. It is in no way predictable; you might guess at something, but you can never be 100% certain that you’re right. Also, it doesn’t wallow in things for too long – things happen, people deal with it; they don’t just bitch and moan. Each character’s story keeps moving and every episode is exciting and essential to the development of the plot. There is very little ‘fluff’ (random stuff that happens in a lot of shows that pointlessly drags out what you actually want to see). These are some of the reasons, I believe, that Game of Thrones has become so popular.

Now – about this season. (Once again, there will be spoilers here so be warned and please don’t read without watching!) I have been a bit reluctant to write this review if I’m honest, I don’t generally like to say anything bad about Game of Thrones. However, after so much excitement and anticipation for season 5, I can’t help but feel a little bit let down so far. We’re almost half way through the season now, and yet still nothing much has happened! To be honest, I think these four episodes could have easily been condensed into two/two and a half, and nothing would have been lost – in fact, it would have made things much better.

About the only parts that are still on GoT level are Jon Snow’s scenes, which have been amazing. Also, Sansa and Little Finger have been interesting; I liked their scene in the crypt at Winterfell in episode 4. But other than this, nothing particularly remarkable has happened so far. Don’t get me wrong, I have still really enjoyed all of the episodes, it’s just that they haven’t been as good as I have come to expect from the show.

My problem is that these episodes have felt more like other TV programmes, which is a step down for GoT which used to be a stand alone, one of a kind. I do wonder as to why this is and question if it’s because the previous seasons were closely based on the very long, dense books, the show makers had to utilise every minute of each episode to fit all the necessary information in. However, this season has departed from the books a lot more, and so the episodes needn’t be as condensed as before, because they have a less strict guideline to work from. Therefore, it seems like each event has been dragged out a lot more than usual.

Let’s talk about Daenerys first. I’m going to split my thoughts into ‘in show’ and ‘as show’.

In show
A) Dany is still refusing to reopen the fighting pits. I understand her initial point of view on this; making slaves kill each other isn’t cool, and I believe that she would say no at first. So it’s not her saying no that annoys me; it’s the fact that there has been no real explanation for her answer. It is pure stubbornness that she is right even though everything suggests she isn’t. Usually in GoT this sort of thing would be discussed with actual reasoning and debate, but instead we’ve just had:

‘Can we open the fighting pits?’ – ‘No’
‘But the people want it, what’s the point of freedom if they can’t do what they want?’ – ‘No’
Closest advisor to the queen – ‘But I wouldn’t be where I am without the pits, I owe them everything’ – ‘No’

She is just being unreasonable when there are a number of simple compromises she could (and should) make to keep everyone happy.

B) Then there’s the fight. *sigh*. I just didn’t believe it! The Unsullied are trained from birth to be warriors; fearless fighting machines. So why were they all killed so easily by a bunch of normal people? Yes, the Unsullied were outnumbered, and I understand the two dying that were ambushed, but the patrol party should not have gone down that easily. I just didn’t believe it.

I think that Grey Worm will live, but Barristan will be dead, because this will give Dany a push to forgive Jorah when he gets back.

As show
A) Why are we still hearing about fighting pits? This is not a big or interesting argument to be watching. It is these boring, dull conversations that frustrate me and the fact they keep talking about it. How many scenes have been wasted talking about the pits with no progression, no character development or plot progression? It’s just been a waste of time.

B) Fights are one of GoT’s strong points… usually. This one (the one at the end of E04) just felt sloppy and poorly choreographed. Grey Worm’s fighting was good, but that was what I’d expect from all of the Unsullied. But the rest of it, particularly Sir Barristan’s bit, was just not very good. It didn’t seem like they’d put their usual amount of effort into making it look as polished as usual. It didn’t in any way feel like a GoT

Cersei (/Kings Landing)

In show
A) Cersei’s conversation with Margaery in E03 was brilliant, very Kings Landing GoT; so manipulative. Margaery’s pars were so funny, and Cersei’s calm kindness chilling.

B) Cersei introducing the Faith Militant made sense from her. Although it was a really bad move and will almost certainly screw her over at some point, and Tywin would never have allowed her to do it. However it was a very Cersei thing to do. She is short sighted and wilful. She wanted to make a statement and teach Margaery a lesson and she did. By getting Loras arrested it showed Margaery that Cersei is still more powerful, even though Maraery is technically now Queen.

As show
A) This conversation was a good set up for Cersei’s retaliation (point B).

B) You can see the foundations being set for future events, which is exciting and a return to form.

Jon Snow (/Stannis)

In show
A) LOVED it when Jon chopped off Janos Slynt’s head! SO good. It was so reminiscent of Ned it was spooky! That first scene of Ned executing the deserter way back when. This was a good move for Jon, it showed his strength and that he wouldn’t take insubordination from anyone. Hopefully this will make some of his opposers fall into line. I also think it was good to make Alliser Thorne First Ranger; he’s a dick but he proved himself in the battle at the Wall and he deserved recognition. It was the honourable thing to do, so of course Jon did it. He really is so like Ned.

The other great thing about killing Slynt is that when he was Commander of the City Watch in season 1, it was him that conspired with Little Finger and betrayed Ned, so for Jon to kill him was so satisfying!! It is unclear as to whether Jon knows this himself, but ‘as show’ it’s great for us!

B) I’m so glad Jon turned Melisandre down! That was good. It would have been out of character for him to sleep with her so it made sense that he didn’t. I’m still so excited by her interest in him though. Her saying “You know nothing Jon Snow” though made my skin crawl! So sinister.

C) Stannis, and Jon Snow actually, are getting better with every season, I just like them both more and more. I loved Stannis’s talk with his daughter Shireen, it was so sweet! It was nice to see his softer side confirmed. We’ve seen glimpses when he’s stuck up for Shireen to Selyse so it didn’t come totally out of the blue. Shireen needed it as well I think, poor girl, she’s had a pretty rubbish life and it was clear that her father’s acceptance of her meant the world.

As show
A) Jon’s character has really progressed since season 1. He started out unconfident, quiet, kind of boring and inconsequential, but he’s grown so much! He is taking control now, he’s come out of his shell and he’s found somewhere he belongs. It has been interesting watching his development and has made me care more about his character, which is essential in keeping his scenes exciting to watch.

B) Kit Harrington’s acting was really good here; Jon’s naivety when it comes to women came across subtly, and you could see his inner desires warring for a second. The Red Woman’s use of Ygritte’s line was a good little narrative devise. It showed her mysterious powers in a really simple but effective way. She had no normal way of knowing Ygritte said this to him, so how? It was really creepy, and you could tell Jon thought so too. Great use of five words.

C) Like Jon, Stannis has developed well over the course of the seasons. In the beginning he was so so dull and I hated him, but now we have seen more sides to him and he’s become a more complex character, which has made him really interesting to watch. And I think he’d actually make a really good King now! The show makers are laying good foundations for his marching on Winterfell as well; this is good plot development for things to come.

Sansa (/Winterfell)

In show
A) Nooooooo not Ramsay!! Poor Sansa! She can never catch a break can she. At least she’s a little more in control now though; she’s not so much of a victim. I am very concerned though that Little Finger doesn’t seem to know how much of a psycho Ramsay is, this doesn’t bode well.

As show
A) Again, Sansa has progressed a lot since season 1 and she’s a lot more interesting now. I’m looking forward to seeing how she deals with Ramsey when LF isn’t around. This situation has been set up well and is one area that’s been kept true to GoT

So as you can see, it’s not all bad at all! It’s more just that a lot of it has taken a really long time to get going and it’s been needlessly dragged out. This is a shame because Game of Thrones used to be the one show you could count on not to do this. It is still super entertaining and I have in no way written it off! I am just hoping that the next 6 episodes will be a return to full form. Fingers crossed!

Game of Thrones S05 E01&02 Character Analyses

Hello! First off I’d like to apologise for my little sabbatical. I’ve been super busy recently and just not had the time for writing I’m afraid. I still am super busy actually but, naturally, Game of Thrones has got me far too excited to not make time for.

Before you ask, no I have not watched the leaked episodes. For reasons I don’t fully understand, I feel very strongly that it goes against my morals to have leaked these episodes before they have been released, and so I refuse to watch them. And it seems illogical anyway; if you watch all four early, you just have to wait an extra month for a new episode – a week is quite long enough thank you.

I’ll also mention that I’m only talking about the show here. I’ve only read the first book so far and I won’t be relating show to books or anything, so no book spoilers, don’t worry!

I have decided to talk about episodes 1 & 2 together because really, they could have been condensed into one episode, more or less. (Not that I didn’t enjoy them both, which I did… obviously.)

I am going to analyse the episodes by characters, discussing their current situations and what I believe to be their motivations, thoughts and futures. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS so please go watch the episodes if you haven’t already, then come back!

Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner):

At the end of season 4 we caught a glimpse of Sansa in her ‘new form’ (Dark Sansa, as she has been dubbed), and here we have seen a little more of this. She has cast aside her childhood and essentially any idea of happiness, at least for the foreseeable future. She has had so much horror inflicted upon her at this point that she can’t afford to stay as naïve as she used to be; she must grow up and change or else crumble under the weight of her depression. To do this she seems to have accepted and embraced the fact that she must ‘play the game’, and be just as, if not more, manipulative than those around her.

When Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) comes to pledge her fealty to Sansa, Sansa rejects her protection. This may seem strange to us watching, seeing as we know the depth of Little Finger’s (Aidan Gillen) loyalties, and the meaninglessness of his promises.

Here are three possible reasons for this decision from Sansa’s point of view:

1) To Sansa, Brienne is just some random woman; Sansa can’t know for sure that she is being genuine when she says she wants to protect her. On the other hand, she knows Little Finger, and is starting to understand the way he thinks and what motivates him. It’s a ‘better the devil you know’ kind of situation.

2) Brienne has no influence or power in the realm. What would happen if Sansa left LF and went with Brienne? Where would they go, what would they do? Sansa has no family left that would be able to help her. Perhaps they could go to Jon Snow at the Wall, but realistically how enthusiastic would Sansa actually be about this plan; she and Jon have no great fondness for one another, not like Jon and the rest of the Stark children.

True, she doesn’t know where LF is taking her, or what his endgame is; it could be just as undesirable as going to the Wall. However, at least he has power and influence throughout a lot of the Seven Kingdoms, which means that he is a lot more likely to provide her with a comfortable life, with a minimal amount of running and hiding

3) She can learn from Little Finger. He is probably one of the most successfully manipulative people in Westeros, and being a lot more like Cersei (Lena Headey) than Arya (Maisie Williams), Sansa has much more hope of surviving and winning her battles with her wits and femininity than her ability to fight physically. Just as Arya has gone to Braavos to find a fighting teacher, Sansa has found hers. She has already learnt a lot from LF, and probably couldn’t have a much better teacher for how to play the game. She also knows, or at least suspects that LF is in love with her, and she can potentially use this to manipulate him.

(I predicted, for various reasons, near the beginning of the fourth season that somehow, sometime Sansa will be his downfall and I stand by this!)

Arya Stark:

Arya has always been very different to Sansa, despite the fact that they are sisters. Although they have experienced a lot of the same horrors, they are dealing with them in very different ways. Where Sansa is learning how to fight mentally, Arya is focussed on becoming a proper Braavosi water dancer, or now even a Faceless Man.

Hearing her ‘list of death’ in episode 2, I was shocked at how few people are on it now! So many of her enemies are already dead, she’s down to the last few (although I’m not sure how she found out about Tywin’s (Charles Dance) death whilst on a boat to Braavos?).

Now, I love Arya and I’m super excited for her story at the moment, but her scenes in these two episodes could have been much shorter. There was no need for the whole pigeon section really. When she first got turned away I thought she was going to have to knock on the white door, rather than the black, then when she was just sitting there I thought it might be a Fight Club kind of deal where she has to wait three days or something… But then she just leaves. I guess without all of this you wouldn’t hear her depleted list, and you wouldn’t see how scared the Braavosi people are of the Faceless Man (not really sure what to call him?) but I think they could have done it in such a way that built more suspense and intrigue. I never once thought “oh she’s not going to go there after all, she’ll just find something else to do”, so it seems a bit unnecessary that she just got turned away.

But even so, I am super excited for her storyline. I’m so intrigued by what’s going to be behind the door and if the two doors will reveal different things? Surely they will, but I couldn’t say what. It seems as though she’s going to learn to be a Faceless Man, which would be suuuper awesome. Surely it takes like years and years though? But yes, this is going to be very exciting continuing on in the season.

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke):

Daenerys… Well she’s just not doing so hot is she really. Such a shame, I do love her. She’s had to make a few very hard decisions and not made the best choices in these cases, and she’s just generally struggling a bit with the whole being Queen situation. I have sympathy for her though, it must be very hard!

Here are two (and a half) of her more questionable decisions and thoughts on why she made them:

1) The dragons. Starting briefly with last season, she locked up two of her dragons. This was so sad. As Daario Naharis (Michiel Huisman) told her, you can’t be a dragon queen with no dragons. I can see her point of view though: they were ruining a lot of people’s lives and she has a responsibility to protect those people. However, she did lock up the two that hadn’t actually done anything, it was Drogon that killed the child and burnt the live stock, which seems pretty unfair on Viserion and Rhaegal. (But then, what else could she do?) So it’s understandable that they aren’t happy with her when she goes to visit them in their prison in season 5. I do have a problem with this scene though: someone must have been feeding the two dragons, and surely she would have wanted to do it herself? She loves them and really thinks of them as her children, I don’t believe that she would just abandon them, chained in a dungeon. I get why she locked them up, but that doesn’t mean she can’t go down there herself to look after them. But if she had, this scene would not have happened: neither she nor the dragons would have reacted like this, which bothers me a bit.

I loved it at the end of episode 2 though when Drogon came back! I’ve heard a few people speculating as to whether or not this was an affectionate visit on his part, but I totally think it was! She has this awful day where everything seems to go wrong, which sucked to watch, but then Drogon comes back and it just warms my heart! It seemed to me to be totally affectionate, because of her awful day. It was a kind of recompense to show that things might turn around for her soon. Perhaps I’m being idealistic, but Dany says it herself; Drogon could be half way around the world by now, but instead he’s come back to her. And it is clear that he has come back to her, it wasn’t just a random coincidence that he was there, and he clearly recognised her. Yes, he flies off before she can touch him, but I don’t think this means he’s dismissing her. My prediction for her future is that she’ll let Viserion and Rhaegal free. It seems to me like she’s realised the truth of what Daario said, and really what better demonstration of her power is there than three dragons roaming the skies?

2) Not killing the Son of the Harpy/killing her advisor. This was really tough. On the one hand, the masters (/Sons of the Harpy) are her enemy, and the freed slaves her allies, and her responsibility. On the other hand however, she is trying to create a new world in a place that has known nothing but slavery and violence for hundreds of years. She is trying to make it so that everyone is equal; there are no slaves and there are no masters; there are only citizens. This is one of the reasons she decided to give the son of the harpy a fair trial for killing one of her Unsullied. She has to start somewhere and the sooner the better if she wants to change a whole way of life and make it stick. This is also why she had to kill her advisor, the former slave. He broke the law and it is important for her to treat everyone equally, without prejudice. And she showed strength going through with this execution, even when all her supporters (the ex-slaves) were calling for mercy.

It’s hard to say whether or not she did the right thing here; either way would have had undesirable repercussions. I have respect for her though, sticking to her morals about justice rather than acting purely on her emotions.

3(ish) Dear old Jorah (Iain Glen). This is an ish because it’s from last season and hasn’t actually been brought up so far in season 5, but I just wanted to mention it. I don’t think she should have sent him away. I understand why she did, but he was definitely her best advisor and I think it’s costing her now not having him around. I don’t for a second think he’s abandoned her though, I am confident he’s keeping an eye on her from afar and he’ll be back when she needs him most.

During season 4 I was (as were a lot of people) annoyed that Dany decided to stay in Essos, rather than going to claim the Iron Throne immediately. However, now she’s been ruling Slaver’s Bay a while I can see that it’s good she did stay there. She is still only young and quite naïve; this is a serious learning experience for her. If she had gone straight to Westeros, I don’t think she’d have lasted all that long on the throne (assuming she won it in the first place).

Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage):

SUPER excited for Tyrion to go help Daenerys! This is going to be amazing (assuming he gets there and they agree to work together and everything, but I think they will). Dany really needs some lessons on ruling from the Iron Throne, and who better to teach her than Tyrion! He’s probably one of the best rulers we’ve seen so far. I’m sure she’ll hate him at first, but I really think she’ll benefit from his experience and wisdom. Also though, I think he’ll benefit from helping her.

Tyrion has not been having a good time of it at all, really for the whole of season 4, continuing on now. The betrayal of Shae (Sibel Kekilli) and Tywin, and subsequently murdering them both seems to have hit him very hard and understandably so. For one, these were his first actual straight up murders (by straight up I mean not during a battle or by some indirect means). But more than this, he killed the woman he loved (who betrayed him in more than one way, which is tough enough as it is) with his bare hands, and then killed his own father whilst he was in the privy! If that didn’t mess a person up I’d be worried. And then to top it all off, he’s lost absolutely everything; his wealth, his home, his brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), his power; everything he ever cared about, except perhaps his mind. This is why I think he needs Dany just as much as she needs him. He needs something to focus on; a goal to achieve, and helping Daenerys get the Iron Throne would certainly be something he could sink his teeth into, and keep that brilliant mind occupied.

Jon Snow (Kit Harington):

Season 4 was so good for Jon Snow! He really stepped up his game in terms of character development and general interestingness. This season definitely seems to be continuing on this path for him which is good.

One thing that just gets me SO excited is the way Melisandre (Carice van Houten) looks at him! I won’t go into this now but I’m sure a lot of people know the R+L=J theory, and I am completely convinced by it! In my mind it’s fact, although I know I could be as woefully wrong as Humphrey Belcher. But this is why The Red Woman’s creepy stares get me so excited. I freaked out in season 4 when they made their first eye contact through the fire, and I love that it’s continuing now. She clearly knows he’s got powerful blood and you can just see her plotting how she can use it!

For now though, Jon has two paths in front of him; to become the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch; or to bend the knee to Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) and become Jon Stark (that sounds so weird!!!) and be the Lord of Winterfell. He seems to have already made up his mind to stick to his vows (very ‘Ned’ of him) and stay at the Wall, but let’s look at the benefits and negatives of each choice anyway, just for fun. To make things simple I will use a + for the positive points and a – for the negative.

1) Lord Commander. Firstly, I loved when he got voted in! That was so good. He’s young but he’s earned it, and he’s going to do a great job. This whole scene actually I really enjoyed, I think the scenes at the Wall have been some of the best for this season so far.

+ As I said, he’s earned it. He was handpicked by Commander Mormont (James Cosmo) for a reason; he’ll make a great Lord Commander. He’s intelligent, brave, a great fighter and he’s proven himself a great leader under pressure.

+ He was chosen specifically by his brothers. This is a big deal for Jon; he’s been referred to as a bastard his entire life, having nowhere that he felt he fit in. The fact that the men of the Night’s Watch voted for him to lead them is a huge deal. Finally it no longer matters that he is a bastard; he has been accepted and recognised for who he actually is, rather than who his parents are.

+ The Wall needs him. The White Walkers are coming (slowly) and there needs to be a strong leader in place who can make hard decisions.

+ He’ll be a lot fairer than Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale)! Even if he doesn’t like someone, he wouldn’t let this cloud his judgment or affect his decision making, whereas Thorne has already done this a number of times.

– There is no real opportunity for progression; Lord Commander is as good as it gets at the Wall. Not to knock it, LC is very impressive and a great personal achievement, no doubt. But I’m not sure what more excitement he’ll have in store for him moving forward, in terms of promotion within the world of the show, but also in terms of us watching. Deciding what to do with the wildlings will be tricky, so that’ll be interesting, but then I’m not sure where he’ll go from here, because I’m assuming the White Walkers are a pretty long way off yet. We will have to wait and see!

2) Jon Stark (I’ll never get used to that). I also loved when Stannis offered him this deal! I literally gasped out loud haha.

+ It’s literally what he’s wanted his entire life. To be made an official ‘Stark’ would be a dream come true for Jon, and again, he deserves it!

+ Potential to become Warden of the North. If Stannis succeeds in becoming King, he’ll need a new Warden of the North, and why not Jon? It’s always been a Stark, so why break the tradition. And if Jon helped Stannis win the throne, Stannis would be in his debt.

+ Winterfell is currently being held by the Bolton’s. This isn’t good for anyone. The sooner Roose (Michael McElhatton) is unseated the better, and all the better if he’s replaced by Jon.

+ The same as the first point for LC really; he would make a great leader, whether this is at the Wall or at Winterfell.

– There is no guarantee the Northerners would follow him. He might remain a bastard in their eyes, and people might not be happy about his taking the reins with only the blessing of Stannis, who the Northerners have no loyalty to.

– Relating also to the previous point; he would be breaking his vows. People don’t like that, just look at Jaime Lannister! He could be totally shunned for abandoning the Wall and his honour. Just like Daddy Ned (Sean Bean), Jon is truly a man of honour (one of the very few), which is why he turned down the offer in the first place. I’m sure his father would be proud of him for this as well, it can’t have been easy.

All in all, I’m not sure what the right decision would be in the long run. I’m definitely not surprised he chose the Wall, sticking to his vows is very in character for him (although saying that he has broken them before with Ygritte (Rose Leslie)). He could do a lot of good in both situations, but I think maybe Lord Commander was the safer choice, and they do really need him.

A few extras:

1) The flashback. I thought it was really well done. Nell Williams, the actress playing young Cersei, did an excellent job; she really captured Cersei’s demeanour (emphasis on the mean) perfectly, so that you could guess right away that’s who it was.

I don’t really feel like it added that much though. I would have liked it to hint at something that was to come, but instead it just told us things that have already happened. It is possible it’s setting up for something later in the season (maybe the witch will come back in the present, or there’ll be another flashback with her talking to someone else or something), which would be interesting, but we will have to wait and see on that. I just feel like, seeing as they’ve never used flashbacks before, breaking that pattern should have been for something that tells us something we didn’t already know, but it didn’t as far as I can tell.

2) I’m excited to see more of Dorne. I didn’t love the first glimpse we got, it wasn’t all that exciting, but I’m so excited to see the Sand Snakes! That’s going to be awesome, can’t wait to see what happens there.

3) Jaime and Bronn (Jerome Flynn)! Great coupling. I love all the little twosomes GoT gives us; Arya and The Hound (Rory McCann) (this was amazing), Brienne and Pod (love Pod!) (Daniel Portman), and I’m sure this one is going to be great too. It’ll be exciting to see what happens with this actual storyline as well (them going to Dorne).

So, loads to look forward to! I can’t wait for more. In fact, I won’t wait for more; I’m going to watch the 3^rd episode right this minute! 😀 (Expect more ramblings soon enough!)

Game of Thrones Season 5!

Finally they have given an exact date for when season 5 of Game of Thrones will start!! I’ve been waiting for this news for months and months!! It will air at 9 on the 12th of April in America, which means it will be with we fine Brits on the 13th.

With season 4 they aired each episode at the same time in England as it was played in America, so that it played in the US in the evening, while it was on at around 2 in the morning in England. This is definitely a good thing; it’s far too mean to make us wait when America gets the goods a whole day before! And it’s just so hard to avoid the internet for that long (which is definitely necessary, there is way too much danger of spoilers otherwise!). So I’m hoping, and assuming, that they will do the same this time around.

The last two episodes of GoT season 4 are being aired in American IMAX’s as well which is super cool… if you live in America… which I don’t! D’:  I’m so disappointed, I got so excited when I heard they were going to be in cinemas and I don’t even like IMAX! AND they’re going to show an exclusive trailer for the new season! So devastated I can’t go.

Also, HBO are setting up a streaming service to allow people to watch Game of Thrones for free, which I just think is super nice. I mean, it does apparently ‘win’ the most illegally downloaded show of the year pretty much every year, so in a way (for some) it is free anyway. But for those upstanding citizens in the world, it is really good of HBO to make it even more accessible. Apparently, they are hoping to launch the service alongside season 5, which would be perfect for those without Sky or cable.

So, 12 April – definitely a date for the diary. I cannot wait!

Christmas Geekery

Happy Christmas and New Year! I hope you’ve all had lovely holidays. Mine was, as per, filled with family, friends, food, booze, presents, fun and a touch of trouble.

After my little holiday break (I hope you didn’t miss me too much!) I thought I’d start back by sharing with you some of my Christmas presents. Clearly my obsessions are well known amongst my family and friends because everyone seems to have catered to them very thoroughly! Here is a picture of my geekiest presents…

I’m definitely sensing a Game of Thrones theme. Even the people that downright refuse to watch it (fools, I know) have finally given up and got me GoT related stuff haha.

Also, in case you were wondering – those four brightly coloured shapes dotted about are Star Wars cookie cutters! There’s Chewbacca, Yoda, Dath Vader and C3PO. You cut out the shape of their heads, but also you can press their faces into the dough so it really looks like them! So amazing.

I also got a whole bunch of comic books…

I know nothing about ‘Serenity’ (apart from that it’s related to the show Firefly, which I haven’t seen), ‘Hinterkind’ or ‘The Sandman’. Can anyone tell me anything about them?

I’ve read and enjoyed most of the others already. My favourite of these is probably ‘Batman: Death of the Family’, which is just so creepy and interesting.

So all in all I have plenty to read this year! I will truly be a Game of Thrones expert after reading all of these books! And if you’re lucky I might just review some of them and the comics for you. Can’t wait to get stuck in!

Nudity and Sexism in ‘Game of Thrones’

I just read a blog post by For Stories called “Game of Thrones: The Responsibilities of Female Representation“. It discusses the nudity and sexism in the Game of Thrones TV show, and I really just wanted to say a few things myself. (Don’t worry there won’t be any spoilers for those that haven’t seen it yet!)

I love the show and watch it religiously. I am in the process of reading the books as well but admittedly I haven’t got that far, although I do really enjoy them. I also feel the need to say (as I do every time GoT is mentioned) that I have met George R R Martin and it was amazing! Shook his hand 😀 I was such a little fan girl, he seemed pretty taken aback haha.

But anyway! Back to the matter at hand. The blog post I read (the link is in the introduction, so you guys can visit her blog and read it too, just click the title of her post) was essentially trying to suss out whether or not Game of Thrones could be classed as sexist, and if the female nudity was excessive and unnecessary.

Personally I have never really been bothered by the use of naked women in the show, I think that most of the time it is used as a tool for narrative or character development, and so can be understandable. To give an example, women in the Dothraki camp are often topless and dancing around. I don’t feel that this is just for the fun of having some boobs flying about though; it demonstrates the inequality within the Dothraki and is a simple visual tool used to show what kind of a society they are, which is important to the events that surround the Dothraki within the narrative. The nudity in the show can be a visual demonstration and a reminder that women and men in this world are not equal, and that women must fight harder than men to be taken seriously.

This being said, I do also agree with the original blogger in that I think the show wouldn’t lose anything if there were less naked women in the brothels. There isn’t always a need for them to be completely naked and such scenes would have the same impact if the women were clothed. In this way I can see the excessiveness and the unnecessarity of the nudity.

However, I do not view the show as being sexist or as promoting the subservience of women; in fact I think the opposite. Yes, it presents a sexist world in which such things happen, however this is very different to saying that it is the right way to act in real life. Although some of the women depicted are subservient to men through the use of nudity, generally these are sideline characters that aren’t really dwelled upon. The majority of the female characters that have central roles in the show are strong (mentally and/or physically), highly capable, and willing to stand up for what they want and believe in. They are strong female characters that do hold power over men, and that defy their stereotypical female role.

The post I am speaking about says that nudity should be used as a storytelling tool, rather than just a gimmick, and this is what would promote equality. I think this is a really good point – if there is nudity just for the sake of it, it becomes twisted and likely just an attempt at boosting ratings, which is definitely a misuse. I don’t feel that GoT does this excessively though. Yes, perhaps there is more nudity in the brothels than is strictly necessary, but I really don’t think that it is so over the top as to be classed as sexist (which by the way, is not exactly what the blog is saying, I don’t want to give the wrong impression).

To be honest, I think that in general a lot of people exaggerate the amount of nudity that actually occurs in Game of Thrones. Incidentally I also think this about the violence. Whenever I tell someone to watch it for the first time I am always asked “isn’t it just loads of naked women and people getting their heads chopped off?” And yes, of course there is a fair amount of nudity and head chopping, but it is so much more than that as well! These are by no means the defining characteristics of the show.

I think that the makers of any piece of media, be it film, TV or anything, do have a responsibility to not present sexist material and to not promote or condone such behaviour in the real world. Yes, I think there could be less unnecessarily naked women in GoT, however I feel that the fully fledged female characters and their strength outweigh this. Surely the characters that are given back story and a full and vital place in the narrative are more important to the way the show is perceived than the sideline characters that only exist in the screen’s periphery? Perhaps it is possible that I am being naïve and somewhat forgiving due to my love of the show, but I don’t see nudity as a distinct flaw, and I don’t think it warrants the title of sexist.