# Game of Thrones: Season 2, Episode 2



## Mike Rapino (Apr 9, 2012)

I was running about 30 minutes behind live TV and about 20 minutes through the episode I was thinking "they are doing a really good job sticking to the book". At around the same time Nathan Lauffer sent me a message saying "Wow this episode really deviated from the book". So here I am halfway through the episode thinking either something big was going to happen, or Nathan was just crazy. By the time I finished the episode, my head was swimming with change. I had to open the book up and see if I had read something wrong, or if indeed Nathan was crazy. As it turns out they made some interesting changes to the story but Nathan is still crazy -

All of this amounted to me deciding I wanted to post an episode review each week that discussed the episode and the deviations from the book. In my attempt to do this analysis I will avoid spoiling events that have not happened in the show yet since one of the major things I've noted is that they are shifting forward/backward when evens occur. Also I will say that my analysis may not be flawless. I've read all the books twice except Clash so it is the least clear in my mind. Enough rambling... here we go:

*Tyrion/Varys/Janos/Cersei/Bronn*

"I am not Ned Stark, I know how this game is played" - What more can be said about Tyrion? This conversation happened much like I imagined it in my mind. The work of Conleth Hill is being overlooked. Other than Dinkage and Maise Williams (Arya), Conleth's portray of the Keeper of Secrets is about as dead on as they come. I am continually impressed at how well he fits my vision of him.

*Janos Slint* - Oh how I hate you. This event occurs just like it did in the book. However in the book Bronn is not named Gold Cloak Captain. This change doesn't bother me much as it fits into a need to consolidate some roles otherwise there would be 4 million different people on the show.

*Cersei* - As I mentioned last week in this post the book leads you to believe but never says specifically that Cersei not Joffrey ordered the death of all the bastards. I am not certain why the writers have chosen to make this change. It could be that we/me the reader just had it wrong. Since GRRM has some creative control, this could have been his attempt at clarification. As I noted in my previous post I always felt that this fed Cersei's character development well. Now instead she looks <somewhat> like a victim to her son (just like Ned's death) and makes Joffrey look even more like an evil bastard, which as this point he is in the running for Satan of the Year award. This change remains mixed on for me.

*Petyr/Roz* - I still don't get the point of Roz. She doesn't exist in the book and the only explanation of her character is to assist with developing Petyr's character more. This is another deviation I am mixed about.

*Stannis/Melisandre* - Nothing to surprising here, the book always implied that while Stannis is a rigid honor type (much like Ned) it was never flat our written that Mel & Stannis had "read sex" . I am quite okay with the showing of them doing the deed.

*Davos* - This was another excellent casting and this scene hit the mark "Stannis is my God" Yes!

*Dany* - Not much happened here and to be honest I can't recall if one of the Khal's killed one of her riders from the red waste. I will need to check into this. IMO the show runners have a difficult task this season with Dany (and Jaime who I will mention later) because in the book, 
*Theon/Yara/Balon* - WOW! They really nailed this, with only one exception. First off I must say that in the book Theon's sister is named Asha not Yara the change was made because it was to similar to the wildling in Winterfell Osha, so if I say Asha you will know I really mean Yara. When I first saw the casting photo of Gemma Whelan as Theon's sister I was puzzled. She was not at all how I viewed her in my head; I viewed someone more like Xena. Now looking at this episode last night, I can say they nailed her. The scene on the horse, the facial expressions in Balon's chamber, she had it all. To me it was perfect.

The one notable missing piece from the book was the absence of Aeron Greyjoy, Theon's uncle. In the book they establish early on that not only is Balon yet another King, but the Isles worship yet another God different from the 3 others we were introduced to (The Drowned God). I thought this was important to note, but I can see why the writers chose to leave it out, as this isn't the Borgia’s, its Game of Thrones.

*Arya/Gendry/Lommy/Hot Pie/ and Jaqen!* - I love the Jaqen and I look forward to seeing him in the future. Lommy and Hot Pie are perfect as well. Not to much happen in these scenes, but what did are of note only because they were moved up from the book. In the book they happen much later. I am interested to see how long they take to move this part of the story a long; Arya is one of the more interesting characters this season.

*Jon/Samwell/Craster/Gilly* - One thing to note, during small council Varys mentioned "The King Beyond the Wall", a nice touch even though we won't see him this season. 

Where to start, Well first off most of what happened was exactly in the book, until the end. No Craster did not hit Jon over the head, but I don't think this will matter much to the story but I am interested to see where this goes. The Sam and Gilly scene with Jon was accurate and good. One thing I am somewhat disappointed about is Sam. In the book they make it very clear that Sam is a wimp and a serious coward. I hope moving forward the show can remind viewers about this. It is important to events that come.

*Who was missing?*

*Robb* - A little surprising since they fit Dany in for 10 seconds I thought Robb would as well. 
*Catelyn* - She is busy traveling south.

*All of Winterfell* - Not important right now

*Jaime* - As I mentioned earlier he .

That about sums up my thoughts,  Please let me know what you think or if you have a question about or you question my sanity.

Mike

Oh I almost forgot *GHOST LOOKS AWESOME!*


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## Nathan J. Lauffer (Apr 9, 2012)

They say you haven't truly arrived until you've had your sanity questioned on a public internet forum. 

I'm only 230 pages into Clash, and I agree with everything above.  In the book Aeron Greyjoy took Theon to daddy dearest when he got off the boat. The sister-groping hasn't happened yet in the book for me.  I'm glad I have something to look forward to.  I was concerned that GRRM was getting a little light on the incest.    I actually hope that they don't ignore The Drowned God stuff.  I'm really liking the religious stuff.  I count about 4 different religions right now.

By the way, some people on Twitter made comments about how poorly Theon treated the Captain's Daughter.  He was definitely worse to her in the book.  This, along with the treatment of Cersei and the bastards, makes me believe that they humanize the characters a little more in the series.  This is consistent with other shows I've watched that were based on books.  Dexter is a good example.

One thing in this book that I really like is that, when it's in being told from Tyrion's point of view, we get to "hear" his inner-dialogue which is as funny as his outer-dialogue.  It was probably the same in the first book, but I didn't notice as much.

The dire-wolves, in general, look awesome.  Ghost is the best, though.  I'm thinking of dying my black lab white and calling him Ghost.

One more thing, all the riders came back to Dany in the book.  So, that was a surprise to me.


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## Nathan J. Lauffer (Apr 9, 2012)

Mike's initial post disappeared after he edit it.  We're trying to figure out what happened.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Apr 9, 2012)

It's back!

Also, that episode had A LOT of sex scenes. Now I am absolutely certain that my wife doesn't mind those scenes.

Still disturbed by the girl who wears a belt getting her mouth wiped, and then...


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## Mike Rapino (Apr 9, 2012)

So some of my sentences may seem incomplete. It appears that I cannot properly use the spoiler tag. I apologize and will look to remedy this next time.


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## Mike Rapino (Apr 9, 2012)

Legendary Sidekick said:


> It's back!
> 
> Also, that episode had A LOT of sex scenes.



Some of it unneeded IMO. The three sex scenes in a row were irritating. Theon's was directly from the book and fine. The brothel wasn't needed and I would have preferred Stannis's to be much more subtle.


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