{"id":6204,"date":"2011-06-27T08:45:46","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T07:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.badreputation.org.uk\/?p=6204"},"modified":"2011-06-27T08:45:46","modified_gmt":"2011-06-27T07:45:46","slug":"game-of-thrones-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badreputation.org.uk\/2011\/06\/27\/game-of-thrones-redux\/","title":{"rendered":"Game of Thrones: Redux"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten weeks ago we saw Ed Stark and pals being grim and gritty for the start of HBO\u2019s Game of Thrones<\/strong> series, adapted from the George R. R. Martin<\/strong> fantasy novels. Now the series is over, so it\u2019s time to look back and see how it fared over the course of its run. Please note, there will almost certainly be spoilers ahead, so don\u2019t carry on if you\u2019ve yet to watch it all.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my initial review<\/a> of the first episode I said that the female characters were a bit weak, and didn\u2019t get much screen time. But, like their counterparts in the books, there was a good chance we\u2019d get to see them develop into a pretty well-rounded bunch of characters. Let\u2019s take a look at a few of them to see how HBO did.<\/p>\n

Danaerys Targaryen<\/h3>\n

\"Emilia<\/a>Danaerys (Emilia Clarke) was one of the more problematic characters in the first episode. She\u2019s presented as a mostly passive tool for her brother\u2019s plans of conquest, and pushed into a forced marriage with a disturbingly non-consensual first night. By the finale episode things have\u2026 sort of improved? She has definitely developed as a character, becoming a leader in her own right and banishing any notions that she might be passive or weak (\u201cI do not have a gentle heart,\u201d she declares).<\/p>\n

She\u2019s stood up to her brother, dealt out harsh justice, and worked to improve people\u2019s lives by attempting to make the Dothraki end their practise of raping prisoners from their raids. Oh, and she\u2019s got her own dragons, the first to be seen in a long, long time. On the other hand, the presentation of the dragons highlights one of the remaining issues in how she\u2019s depicted. Rather than striding into the fire untouched and walking out resplendent, a reborn queen with her dragons behind her, she\u2019s found the next day, curled up and naked, providing the episode\u2019s HBO nipple quota. It\u2019s also possibly the first use of a strategically placed dragon in mainstream TV.<\/p>\n

The other issue with Danaerys is that her entire relationship with Khal Drogo just feels more than a little Stockholm Syndrome-y. The show never really addresses that first night, or the other occasions where we see her having sex against her will. Instead, she just learns to love him, and most of his respect for her seems to come solely from the fact she\u2019s carrying his child. It\u2019s not ideal.<\/p>\n

Continuing the theme of arranged marriages…\"Lena<\/a><\/p>\n

Cersei Lannister<\/h3>\n

Evil, incestuous, and an arch-schemer, Cersei (Lena Headey) was presented initially as almost a caricature of the Ice Queen archetype. Ten episodes on, and she\u2019s still evil, still incestuous, and still manipulative. But she\u2019s also a lot more human and almost sympathetic. We\u2019re given a genuinely revealing conversation between her and King Robert (Mark Addy), in which we glimpse a young woman who was married for political reasons to a king who was in love with a dead woman. We see how, raised for almost exactly this purpose, she tried to make it work, and how their flaws destroyed them and bought them to the sad state they\u2019re in now. It makes her something a little more interesting than just evil for evil\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

Sansa Stark<\/h3>\n

\"Sophie<\/a>The last character linked by an arranged marriage is the young Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). She\u2019s perhaps the one we\u2019ve seen the least progress out of. Raised from birth to meet the expectations of what a noble lady should be, and to someday marry a prince and have lots of little noble children, she\u2019s got a lot of conditioning to overcome.<\/p>\n

By the end of the series she\u2019s still the most passive of the characters, still being used in other peoples\u2019 schemes instead of forming her own. But she has at least seen that the dream she was sold was a false one, and that Joffrey is not a good king to marry, or even a remotely decent person. We get a brief glimpse of some steel in her as she talks back to him and moves to throw him off the castle wall. It\u2019s not much, and she\u2019s punished for it, but it gives us a hint that she might eventually get to be as cool as her sister.<\/p>\n

Sansa: \u201cI’m supposed to marry Prince Joffrey. I love him, and I’m meant to be his Queen and have his babies!\u201d<\/p>\n

Arya: \u201cSeven hells!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which leads us to…<\/p>\n

Arya Stark<\/h3>\n

\"Maisie<\/a>Ah yes, Sansa\u2019s sister. Standing alongside Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister as one of the best cast characters in a well cast show, Maisie Williams’s Arya is the polar opposite of her big sister. Sword-wielding, cat-chasing and adventurous, Arya actively rebels against the rules for what a noble\u2019s daughter ought to be. On the one hand, this makes her incredibly badass. On the other hand it\u2019s notable that she only gets away with things and survives because people mistake her for a boy. It highlights just how tight the gender roles are in the Seven Kingdoms, that even her father – a remarkably open minded man for the setting – can\u2019t conceive of a life for her that doesn\u2019t involve marrying a lord and having lots of offspring.<\/p>\n

Where Arya is allowed to practise her sword fighting only as a father\u2019s indulgence for his wilful child, and told she\u2019ll never be a knight, her brother Bran continues to train in archery back at Winterfell. Arya is the more skilled of the two (shown in the very first episode, as she makes a shot Bran can\u2019t), but as a girl it\u2019s inconceivable that she could live that life, just as it\u2019s impossible for Bran not to.<\/p>\n

And lastly, amongst our main characters…<\/p>\n

Catelyn Stark<\/h3>\n

\"Michelle<\/a>She\u2019s quite possibly the best of the bunch, in a quiet and determined way. She\u2019s not got Danaerys\u2019s flair or Cersei\u2019s scheming prowess, but she gets things done and will not be stopped. It\u2019s Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) who comforts her son after Ed\u2019s death, not the other way round. It\u2019s she who sums up what needs to be done: \u201cWe get the girls back. Then we kill them all.\u201d It\u2019s she who walks into a not-entirely-friendly castle keep alone to make the deal that\u2019ll get their army across a major river. It\u2019s nice to see an older female character on this show who knows what needs doing and gets it done.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there\u2019s an issue with the repercussions of some of what<\/em> she gets done. Her capture of Tyrion sparks a lot of drama, sees people killed and injured, and is one of the contributing factors to the war that breaks out. The whole treatment of it smacks a little too much of \u201cflighty women do not think their actions through, and men must pick up the pieces.\u201d It\u2019s a key part of the plot in the books though, so that\u2019s on Martin as much as it is on HBO.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s half a dozen secondary characters worth discussing as well (Shae, the Wildling woman, Sansa\u2019s nursemaid, Catelyn\u2019s sister), but not nearly enough room to discuss them. Damn you GoT for being so sprawling. Overall though, there are still definite issues, and there\u2019s always<\/em> the obligatory HBO nipples in each episode, but the characters are improving and will hopefully continue to do so if they stick to the course of the books. Roll on Spring 2012 and Season 2.<\/p>\n

All images copyright HBO, taken from A Wiki of Ice and Fire<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n