dangermousie | Game of Thrones

I finally got around to check out the first episode. I liked some of it, had problems with other parts (more below). It's not instant love but not instant loathing so I will check out eps 2-4 and see if they click. So, likes and dislikes (keep in mind I have never read the books).

1. Like: it's gorgeously filmed but also conveys the sense of time and place well. It's fantasy that is very close to real world.

2. Like: all the actors are excellent.

3. Like: Despite lack of familiarity with the characters and the large cast, I had no trouble keeping them apart or following storylines.

4. Dislike: the treatment of women. Except for Catelyn, every other woman who had a speaking part and hit puberty was shown in context of sex (willing or un) with an 'important' male character. WTF! I don't mean the female character did a bunch of things including have sex, no, I mean they were pretty much defined by their sex scenes. Gender treatment fail!

5. Dislike: I am not emotionally invested at all in these people nor am I particularly interested in them. In fact, the only strong feeling I had the whole episode was at the end and it was "ugh, please someone, kill Jaime Lannister" but then, throwing a child out of a window is pretty much designed to get an emotional response from almost any body. Unlike most viewers on my flist, I don't have the book background which would mean that after reading 3+ books you know these characters well and develop feelings for them. I can only go on what is in the pilot and the characters are paper-thin - there is just not much there (or even much time devoted to them) to hook me. Of course, you don't always need ample screentime (I was hooked on Jeremy Irons' Alexander VI in The Borgias in about two minutes) but this instant connection is not here either.

Point five is my biggest problem and that is why I am giving the show more time. It may develop the characters to my satisfaction giving more time.

In conclusion, prettily shot this is: