If you could choose the order in which the actors were billed in the opening credits, what would it be?
Hi anon.
Well I’m fine with Dinklage and Headey’s. But I could probably move back Clarke, Harington and Madden, and place in their spots, some of the better actors of the show. Like Fairley, Cosmo, Hill, Dance, Cunningham, and the rest.
Of course their placement is due to the screen time their characters get, so I get why it is the way it is. Still there’s no need to bill the 3rd, 4th and 5th current ones, in the order they are billed.
ACTING RATING: Much Improved. With some standout performances.
VIEWER RATING: Boring. This is not good tv.
READER RATING: Glad they were able to squeeze in some of the essence of a few characters.
FAVOURITE PERFORMANCES:
MUCH IMPROVED PERFORMANCES:
FAVOURITE MOMENTS: "new" prologue.
Well here we go!
Point by point review:
1- Prologue: I was not happy about the book prologue getting replaced by a blackout with some yelling. It would have been awesome, and made for a good couple of scenes, if they had included it.
Nevertheless, my favourite part of this episode, was in fact, the "new" prologue. It was exciting, promising, nerve-wracking at times, and quite surely sets the mood for what is going to happen beyond the Wall.
James Cosmo and John Bradley worked pretty good for that one.
2- Jon Snow-Ygritte-Mance Rayder: I liked this part of the episode. The giant was something I wasn't expecting to see, and loved it, even though they don't look like I had pictured them. Jon's face when he sees it, was pretty much the expression I had in my face when that came up. And I loved the kids throwing rocks at the Bastard Crow!
Kit Harington was able to hold his ground when working with Ciaran Hinds. For the first time, I didn't get some second hand embarrassment watching his scenes. In this particular scene, he was better than most of his work on season 1 and 2 combined! Pleasantly surprised.
The rest of the actors were ok, or good, but my favourite was Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane). Perfect casting, good performance. He definitely gave the character the feeling I got when I read about it.This is what makes me excited about this show!
3- Bronn- Podrick- Tyrion: My absolute favourite part of these scenes was Jerome Flynn (Bronn)! The actor has an certain ease for this role. I love that he doesn't seem to be acting, he just is Bronn. The character definitely benefits from good writing, but at the same time, the actor takes it to a whole different level.
Good timing is everything in a character like this, and Flynn surely gets that. He owned these couple of scenes. He went from "I fear nothing", to "oh shit i'm gonna have to fight against two guards with swords and armour with just a knife". His face expressions were on point. Check the scene again and tell if it isn't so!
If there was a spin-off, I would definitely want him to take the lead character status on that one!
4- Tyrion-Cersei: Yes, good!
I think Lena Headey improved immensely in just that scene. She didn't use as a resource her 10 expressions repertoire, and was able to make good connection with her own character, challenging Dinklage.
Both actors worked pretty good in this one. But Lena takes my heart for stepping up.
5- Davos Seaworth: Liam Cunningham wants you to know he was a great casting choice!
Perfection! Inspiring performance! I don't know how else to describe it. I'd probably watch a movie with just him stranded on an island (I know it's been done, but humour me!).
The different emotional struggles his character goes through in this episode, were perfectly represented by the actor. I tend to run out of words when there's a good performance. Just watch it and enjoy!
The scene with Salladhor Saan (Lucian Msamati) was particularly character driven.
I liked both actors, and enjoyed the extra effort the writers put on it.
6- Davos-Melisandre-Stannis:
I 'm not even sure what to make of this. I think I'll just stick with acting critique.
Carice van Houten is a miscast. I have no doubts now, that she is not playing Melisandre in a good way. She gives the scene a certain underwhelming feeling, and always seems to be out of sync with her line delivering.
7- Robb-Catelyn-Talisa:
I have no idea what they are doing with this storyline. Robb is not Robb Stark. He's not even a Stark, to be perfectly honest.
Michelle Fairley had her screen time reduced even more. Se had one line. ONE LINE! Even freaking Talisa had her moment!
I think I could rant forever about this, but you might already know what I feel about it. No hopes for the RW whatsoever.
I'M SO DONE WITH THIS!
The acting was good, and ok at times. No complaints on those terms.
8- Tyrion-Tywin: I love that the writers were able to include one scene that gives us perfectly the essence of these two characters. Seems extracted from top to bottom from the books. I LOVED IT!
The acting was good. Charles Dance is a superior actor. Peter Dinkalge didn't do it for me this time, as much I would hope so. His accent is distracting. He needs to work hard on it, and maybe hiring an accent coach would make a tremendous difference.
9- Shae-Sansa-Littlefinger-Ros:
I was fine with this scene, till show!Littlefinger betrayed once more the basis of his character. The adaptation has bastardized the entire point of his book counterpart. I feel is an insult to the viewers to feed them with "in your face" character motivations. Completely disappointed.
Aidan Gillen's acting is so bad. So, so bad. I just can't deal with that. He happens to be a good performer in other things I saw him in, so this is baffling to me.
I kinda liked the Ros and Shae interaction. I'm happy some of their arcs, as made up as they are, are getting their own place on the show.
10- Joffrey-Maragery-Cersei:
Not really happy with the direction they are taking Joffrey to. I doubt a King who says "A King can do as he likes", would allow his fiancee to decide when to march, when to stop and when to walk around in the poorest parts of the Capital.
Margaery "Queen of the people" is not cute, and not fluent. Seemed pretty forced to me. It was like I was seeing through the writers' intentions with this. A more "causal" encounter with the poor, would have had a better effect, even if they were going with a "Marg wants to show she can be a good queen in front of her future people". But I'm happy they are expanding the character.
The dinner scene: I just don't buy the Queen and the King bowing down to the flower girl. Not sure what they were trying to do. I actually prefer bad old Joffrey. But I do like the attempt to give the characters some layers. And after seeing this scene, I plead to the writers, not to pin mother against son again. We have enough with Cat and Robb.
The performances were good. Natalie Dormer stepped up majorly in this one episode. Jack Gleeson never disappoints. And I liked the actors interactions.
11- Dany:
I was surprised that, in the first part of her appearances, she didn't suck. She was ok. She seemed, for a moment, to have averted the problems she had on season 1 and 2. But when I re-watched the scenes, I realized her parts weren't so demanding, and it was just an easy couple of scenes, so I can see why she didn't have much problems. It was just a few beautiful scenes, with her staring at her dragons.
Now on the second part of her appearances, the last scene of the episode: she came back with dead eyes, no reaction, and basically falling flat for scenes that should have had more drama and more strength. I think she killed the excitement of the moment when the manticore come out of the box. There was barely any fear in her eyes, when she was about to be killed by it. I just think she can't really engage in a good performance (and I mean "g o o d", not average, not ok, good)
When she thanked Barristan, her line delivering was anticlimactic, to say the least. That man had just saved her life, and she seemed less than thankful for it. She made it sound like he was giving her compliment instead of just having saved her. She wasn't in synchronicity with the moment in general. And it made the scene less interesting, and less thrilling, when with a little more work, it could have made it for a better ending. Completely anticlimactic and uninspiring performance
But she wasn't the worst part of the episode. Some actors just took her podium! I think she toned down, or worked around the issues she had in previous seasons, so it wasn't a train wreck like before. I found her performance average, embellished with a few character driven lines, that will surely appeal to people. And if not, you always have dragons.
On Dany as a character:
I was surprised they moved so fast with her storyline. They went from Dany on Clash of Kings, to Dany on Dance with Dragons. And maybe not even there. She as a character lost the complexity, and got reduced to a bare minimum by just jumping the problematic decisions and moments Dany has on the books. I knew they were going with this, but I was surprised how fast they are burning bridges.
At this pace they will have to make a lot of stuff up to compensate. And I'm not sure I can even like that. I'm just not interested in complete made up storylines for canon characters.
I said before, that I don't think the character would have problems getting people hooked to her scenes. I think is safe to say now, that even if the acting is not good, the storyline is made up, and nothing really happens, still people will find it appealing since there will be dragons, more dragons, beautifully stunning scenery, big scale production, and more dragons.
Going back to her acting, there was clearly a sign she can't let go of her old gimmicks. The following gifs say it all.
