Game of Thrones Episode 1.3 - "Lord Snow" - Rate and discuss

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Rate and discuss (with spoilers for the episode, but not for forthcoming episodes) "Lord Snow", airing on the 1st May on HBO and on the 2nd May on Sky Atlantic.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUImCkli8Vs[/yt]

 

[Hyperspace05]

Almost 9 pm!!

 

[Evil Twin]

I liked the first two episodes; I LOVED this one. Was truly amazed at just how much they were able to squeeze into it. Probably one of the densest hours of television I've seen. Excellent mix of both book and new scenes. And so many new characters introduced here, let's see:

Littlefinger
Varys
Pycelle
Renly
Barristan
Lancel
Syrio
Old Nan
Alliser Thorne
Jeor Mormont
Aemon
Grenn
Pip
Yoren
Jhogo



Looks like lot of people complained that Ghost was nowhere to be seen, but it didn't bother me, I was just missing Hodor. I believe in the book when Old Nan's telling the story and the door bursts open, it's Hodor that enters, not Robb, so I was like "HODO-- awww...." I'm pretty sure we'll definitely see him next week, judging by the episode title.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Above Average for me. I really did like it a lot, but it wasn't on the same level as the previous two. It was mostly (a LOT of) setup for future events.

I enjoyed the Jon, Tyrion, and Arya scenes the most. The old nan scene with Bran was also great.

 

[KB24]

I was really looking forward to this tonight but got caught up in the news instead. I imagine the ratings may seriously suffer this week because of it. Hopefully I'll catch it tomorrow night on the repeat or on demand.

 

[Shurik]

Excellent episode.

It was definitely lighter than the previous two, but it sets up a lot of future events.
Favorite scenes - Arya+Syrio and Ned+Jaime.

 

[watermelony2k]

Now that I have a better sense of who's who and who's where in the storyline, I'm really starting to appreciate the characters in this series. This episode, featuring virtually all of the ensemble cast, gave me a sense of confidence in both the actors (wonderful acting!) that the storyline is heading somewhere intriguing.

And what about those child actors?! Really convincing and likable for the most part. Even Joffrey the a-hole was humanized a little here.

The worldbuilding was awesome as well. I liked the contrast between king's landing and the white wall. Oh, and that elevator ride to the top looked magnificent and the view at the top of the summit gave me vertigo.

I'm hooked.

 

[Skywalker]

I really enjoyed this episode. The scene between Ned and Arya especially. I really like Maisie Williams' performance as Arya. She's up there with Peter Dinklage as my favorite actor so far.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

I thought the last two episodes were excellent and really excited for the show now. Arya and Serio were just awesome and brought to life perfectly. Lots of great scenes. There were some clumsy moments though. Like the Viserys/Dany confrontation. I imagine people who didn't read the book would be confused by this scene. That appears to be the bane of the show at the moment, lack of time to properly set things up, so events and actions seem to come out of nowhere if you don't already know why they're happening.

 

[DarKush]

^
Piggybacking off what you said, I think there are too many characters and plotlines. The would-be king storyline perhaps could've been held back to next season. I think there's more than enough material to work with involving the Starks and the Lannisters.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode more than the previous one. I liked the interplay with Ned and his daughters the most. Tyrion also continues to impress. And Lena Headley is great. I wonder if her son is actually the king's at all? I wonder if it's her brothers?

 

[sonn]

^
Piggybacking off what you said, I think there are too many characters and plotlines. The would-be king storyline perhaps could've been held back to next season. I think there's more than enough material to work with involving the Starks and the Lannisters.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode more than the previous one. I liked the interplay with Ned and his daughters the most. Tyrion also continues to impress. And Lena Headley is great. I wonder if her son is actually the king's at all? I wonder if it's her brothers?

From the way its going I'm almost expecting that the prince is her brother's kid.

 

[watermelony2k]

If this series continues healthily I hope it'll open the doors for more imaginative programming on cable channels.

 

[Checkmate]

From the way its going I'm almost expecting that the prince is her brother's kid.

That's the impression I got, too. The fact that he looks like an inbred mutant kind of drives the fact home.

I'm also guessing Joffrey was the one who hired the assassin. I mean, the assassin was completely incompetent (he couldn't even kill an old woman), which is someone I doubt the less-than-incompetent Jaime would have hired. And considering the events in the beginning of the episode, where Tyrion bitchslapped the inbred mutant and the Hound told him that Joffrey wouldn't just let that slide, it seems fitting that he'd give the assassin Tyrion's dagger just in case he did get caught. Sort of two birds with one stone, and just the kind of thing a sniveling little twat would do. Couple that with the fact that he made an off-hand remark about it being a mercy to just "kill the boy," and it all makes sense.

Anyway, what I think I loved most about the episode was the ending. That swashbuckler guy is absolutely fantastic, and I'm guessing Arya (is that her name? I can never quite hear it right) is going to become one of the main "heroes" of the story? I really hope that's the case.

 

[aelius]

^ Oh it so kills me not to be able to answer questions like that.
Even when i know they are rhetorical.

 

[Shurik]

^ Oh it so kills me not to be able to answer questions like that.
Even when i know they are rhetorical.

No need to spoil any of this to the people who didn't read the books. They'll know everything soon enough.

And yeah, Syrio Forel is the man. Just so.

 

[Skywalker]

Yeah, no need for spoilers, but it's a lot of fun reading speculation from the people who aren't familiar with the books.

And yeah, Syrio rules.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

The actress who plays Arya might be the best TV child actress I've ever seen. Her facial expressions are just outstanding. They really got lucky there.

I enjoyed the episode but they are really going to have to start cutting out scenes or subplots soon. This episode bordered on overload just jumping from one to another without any character moments getting time to breathe.

 

[Checkmate]

I imagine they'd instead just focus on one or three plotlines per episode rather than cut any out. From what I gather, the entire show is about all these different plotlines and how they eventually come together. Cutting them out would seem to kind of be counterproductive.

Farscape did a fairly good job with that during the stint with two Crichtons. Each episode would basically focus on a different version, and they'd alternate back and forth. Fringe does it on occasion as well, as do a few other shows.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Looks like the Sunday 9pm 1st showing of this episode got the best ratings yet! (compared to the first airing of the previous two episodes)

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/05/03/game-of-thrones-ratings-rise/

1st 9pm showing (ET) ratings:
- "Winter is Coming" - 2.2 million (8.7 million total viewers for all showings + on demand)
- "The Kingsroad" - 2.2 million
- "Lord Snow" - 2.4 million

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Another excellent episode, one that switched gears and gave us lots of character moments and a lot more humor. Maisie Williams just gets better and better as Arya. Her scenes with Ned and Syrio were highlights. The Old Nan scene was great, as were Tyrion's scenes at the Wall. The Dany storyline is feeling a bit choppy in places, but juggling all of these plotlines carries a high level of difficulty. This episode introduced a hell of a lot of new characters and mostly did a good job with it. The production design of the throne room was outstanding.

Some minor nitpicks: the passage of time doesn't quite feel right. It seems like everything's happening very quickly and then we'll get a throwaway line that months have gone by. Also, the introduction of Barristan Selmy needed to be clearer. I think a lot of non-readers would have come away with the impression that he's a Lannister. Aiden Gillen was a bit underwhelming as Littlefinger - hopefully he'll get better as the show progresses.

Good news with the ratings: despite the competing news of Osama bin Laden's death the episode rose to 2.4 million viewers for its initial airing (the first two episodes both drew 2.2 million viewers for their initial airings). The 11pm repeat brought the number of viewers for the third episode up to 3.1 million. The premiere episode has now been viewed by 8.7 million viewers across all HBO platforms.