In the book she is scheming, but stupid and clumsy about it. She is also pathologically paranoid, almost maniacal. She is full of passion for power and hatred of her husband. But she also can play the part of beloved queen. In the show she is jaded and subdued, she comes off as clever and in control. And she is entirely unapproachable and off-putting as queen. She is supposed to be bats**t crazy and full of reckless energy, the opposite of her father.
I have read the books (although it was 5-6 years ago) and don't think the sex is toned down. It is turned way up to the point of being annoying to me.
If the show was accurate, we would have way, WAY more dwarf blowjobs and Ned boners... Not to mention Khal Drogo's bloody rape-poundings... (We haven't even had much Lannister bro/sis sex) Booooooooooo! Spoiler The day that hot lesbian sex is annoying, is the day I sit down when I pee Compared to Spartacus B & S, this is NOTHING!
I've been reading some episode reviews that make it a point to say the sex scenes are excessive, which is strange to me. I don't remember there being such a backlash when it came to the nookie with True Blood and Spartacus and I think they are way worse than GoT. Some of these reviews go as far as saying GoT is portraying women poorly even with strong female characters.
Maybe because it's a fantasy and some are thinking of Lord of the Rings, where Tolkien made women almost an afterthought. They were princesses. They were good. They were placed on a pedestal. Yes, there is a woman who fought like a man, disguised as a man, but the young girl who learns to fight with a sword in Games couldn't be any more different from Tolkien's Eowyn of Rohan, despite what Eowyn does, at least in my opinion. Game of Thrones, the whole series, is nothing like that. The women are portrayed in a vastly different fashion, and a more realistic one, in my opinion. That may make some uncomfortable. Some simply don't like strong women, women who use their sex for their own ends, even if that happens in "real life." Bottom line? The sex is being portrayed realistically in the context of the novel, just as the violence is. If anything, it's toned down. This is an adult fantasy, thank goodness.
I agree, and I found it out of place in Spartacus too. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a nice sex scene as much as the next guy, but as far as enhancing the story it is worthless. They only have ten hours to tell the whole GoT book and because of this they had to cut out some of the story. So when you get a meaningless lesbian scene that lasts 7-8 minutes just to satisfy some boob quota, it is annoying. Spoiler In that amount of time they could of added in every Sansa/Hound scene they took out
If the minds at hbo deem the boob quota necessary to keep the show running, well then that's just gravy.
1. What I kind of want know is why the assassin didn't rat out Jorah. I assume he's working for Varys. Maybe Varys just keeps all his assassins on a "need to know basis." 2. The Sex Scenes = Exposition. A lot of things that are revealed in internal thoughts of the characters have to be revealed verbally, and it seems the producers like to put some nudity on the screen during some of these expositions. 3. I don't have much of a problem with Cersei's portrayal so far Spoiler I think in the novels she got crazier and more paranoid later on in the story, after Joff became king and especially when she became a POV character.
that guy wasn't a hired assassin, it was just known there was a bounty on her head, so he acted on his own initiative
This is the type of stuff I would like to see discussed in the "Spoiler Free" thread. The things that are different from the book and TV series, but you guys seem to be boycotting that thread... I agree with Carl I have no problem with the way she has been portrayed; in fact, I think she is a great villain. In the book (up to this point in the TV series) what did she do that was "clumsy and stupid"? I can see all the other personality traits in TV Cersei that you mentioned, even the part of beloved Queen (when she goes into console Cat about Bran).
In the book actually it's pretty much the same. It isn't until much later when Tyrion comes back, that she starts doing some stupid ****.
That thread started because some people were b****ing about the fact that some of us "geeks" here were discussing the books too much.
I think the lesbian stuff might of taken your attention. That scene was far from meaningless, it was very important in setting up Littlefingers character and giving an insight into his thinking. Now perhaps it could be done differently to satisfy the more prudish of viewers but how else could they have done this? He runs brothels, which adds to this sleazy snake like character I imagine him as, you can't just mention this fact, the viewer gets a lot better sense of him by showing the sleaze. In the scene in the last episode it allows him to speak his mind somewhat, he couldn't of done this in any other setting set up in the show.. he couldn't tell it to anyone important so he does so in one of his brothels to some whores, people far removed from those involved in the Game of thrones... and sex tends to happen in brothels. Give me two hot chicks over a fat dude with a hag missing teeth any day! Those saying it isn't toned down from the books would be incorrect as well. The books have the advantage of being able to just flippantly mention the sex, rapes etc. and let the viewers own mind decide how they see this. The show however has to show it to put across GRRM's view of the world that the series is based in. It is sleazy, violent and dangerous.. if you fail to give this view to those watching and make the world seem a more timid place it makes it harder for them to believe certain events that will eventually unfold.
WIC posted a piece comparing the American ratings of GoT so far against other HBO shows. I am not a TV exec and have no idea if this is good or bad. http://winter-is-coming.net/2011/05/the-ratings-so-far/
This. It wasn't just the spoiler tags, it was that we were supposedly "nitpicking" whenever we mentioned a deviation from the source material.
Wow...great last couple of episodes. Things are really starting to get interesting now. I wasn't sure I liked this show at first, but it kept me intrigued just enough to keep returning to it to watch more and now I'm definitely on the bandwagon. I hope they can keep it up.
So... anyone else notices that there seem to be a lot of Spoiler scenes in which people pick on Theon compared to the books?
Yes.... Spoiler it's like they're making him into a sympathetic character. I think it may be a spoiler for his fate in future books. Wow, Boardwalk Empire really fell off after the first episode.
