game of thrones season two liveblog! episode three: what is dead may never die.

...but rises again, harder and stronger.
but we're getting quite ahead of ourselves, yes?  let us attempt to be content with whatever they choose to show us in what is dead may never die, and that alone.
oh, and of course, we shall party!

but first, a sobering reminder, lest we forget:

winter is coming (link).

9:00 - i wish they made licensed, articulated versions of this map from the intro to sell, and that i could make my cat play on it.

(link)

9:03 - last week was intense, yo.

9:04 - and finally, the aforementioned intro!

9:05 - right back to jon getting beaten by craster who wants the crows gone, he says. lord commander tells snow to wait outside. crazy stuff here.

9:06 - bear's outside with jon, for an interrogation , he tells mormont about the baby, and the others and how he's killing his baby boys. old bear knows though. apparently they need men like craster, so this slides. it doesn't sit well with jon, who saw something take that child.

old bear 'whatever it was, i dare say you'll see it again'

9:08 - it's morning now, and there's some discussing for sam and gilly. he's giving her a present! it's that thimble, y'know, from the book! it was his mom's. they were close. gilly tells him he shouldn't give it away, but he's not giving it away, he's giving it to her.

(link)

9:09 - back at winterfell. hodor!

9:10 - the removal from bran's perspective here is odd but clearly a device?
aww, puppy! aaaand, now bran's telling us about the dreams. but apparently
they're dreams and nothing more according to the maester. bran believes though,
he does. teehee - the maester's studied the higher mysteries. blah blah blah,
magic doesn't exist. 'dragons are gone, giants are dead...' something about the
children of the forest - dany next?

9:11 - i loooove bran's maturity, as opposed to in the book, especially with regard to not shying away from discussing his dreams and their significance.  but if this is an excuse to cut out the reeds, i am going to be piiiiiiisssssssed.

9:13 - nope, renly. some tourney-ing at renly's camp? oh, shit. shit shit.
finish your drink if brienne shows up!

9:14 - and brienne smokes loras and his pretty armour!

9:15 - and they all rise for brienne of the king's guard.

9:16 - intensity about rob's title and margaery all at once. renly's scenes are serious.

9:16 - ha! everyone's drunk and approves renly's offer to bring catelyn joffrey's head.

9:17 - loras calls robb out for sending catelyn who tells them that robb is fighting wars,
not playing at one. but renly's always smiling, smiling to the end. margaery is fairly cute,
and serious. brienne has cool armour.

9:18 - alright, time for some walking politics. this all ends with brienne taking catelyn
to her tent after she tells renly winter is coming.

9:18 - brienne is quite huge, and pretty bad ass. one of our faves. i can deal with this.

9:19 - aaand, we're in the iron islands with theon. drinky drink.

(link)

9:20 - a wild new scene with 'yara' approaches. theon is mad that she let him hit
on her, and umm, last time he see her she looked like a fat little boy.
dad breaks in though, to keep things from getting awkard again.

9:21 - they set up and talk shop about the wolf boy heading south, and balon
decides they're going to take the north while everyone fights in the south. of
course he'd think that. yara's taking deepwood motte.

(link)

9:22 - theon's against this, and says if they play nice, they'll get some land,
but balon asks him what their words are. 'we do not sow'...  this all gets
intense, theon is pissed about balon letting robert take him, and balon smacks
the fuck out of him. 'you gave me away like a dog you didn't want any more
and now you've cursed me, just cause i've come home'

lots of theon sympathy. sis tells him to make up his mind.

but seriously, he flew like two and a half feet.  haha, theon.

9:23 - tyrion time. shae is in poor spirits. she wants to get out and live.
tyrion's going to get her a job in the kitchens though, heh, like this is
a hospital or something. she's angry 'is that how my lion wants to see me?'
tryion tells her he's just trying to keep her alive, and these sets are gorgeous.
she's rough and likeable, this shae.

9:24 - but have we seen enough to be convinced that tyrion loves her?

9:24 - sansa's having dinner with the lions, and myrcella asks when joffrey and
sansa will be married. the queen gets all uppity when sansa is dumbfounded
by questions about the dress. after cersei snaps at her, she makes some trite
answer. tommen "is joffrey going to kill sansa's brother?" fuuu, poor sansa.
cersei gets mad spooky with the little dove mentions.  she's sure that even if
joff kills robb, sansa will do her duty.  eew.

9:25 - a rap at the door, and it's... shae, sansa's new hand maiden!
tyrion makes a play, but sansa doesn't trust foreigners or know how
to tell people what to do. it's really all quite sweet 16.

(link)

9:27 - sansa bitches shae out like a kid getting told she's not getting the car or the lion, and they agree on the hairbrushing after all.

9:28 - now tryion and pycelle are having a sit down about the affairs and some marriages, and we've begun discussing the dorne and their people. excitement! but remember, the queen mustn't know. 

9:30 - and now tyrion sells different stories to each of the three in order to suss out whom can be trusted (relatively)!  quite the clever man.

9:31 - have we seen harrenhall yet?  if no, why not?  i want to see this cursed castle!

9:32 - loras and renly, at last!  nice to have the genders switched, where gratiuitous and marginally expository sex scenes go.

9:33 - oh, loras.  don't fight renly on this!  you may regret it later.  also, your scars are pretty amazing.  i am impressed.

9:34 -

9:35 - although, to be fair, this is really more of a cock-deflection.  she's quite lovely, but he's unresponsive, which he unconvincingly tries to blame on wine.
poor renly!  how embarrassing.
"would you like my brother to come in and help?"
"what?!"
"or he could get you started.  he wouldn't mind!  or i could turn over and pretend i'm him if you like?"

"there's no need for playing games.  save your lies for the court, you're going to need a lot of them."

9:37 - holyshit, margaery is way more interesting than in the books!  i love this push of making them women instead of girls.  and this is shockingly progressive and deviant and mildly incestuous and the fucking BEST.

9:37 - see, now he knows!  now he knows he can't trust pycelle (whose beard could be a bit more impressive, i confess)

9:38 - "you think the piece of paper from father will keep you safe.  ned stark had a piece of paper too."

9:39 - fuck yeah, iron islands *drink*

9:39 - wow, are they ever making theon sympathetic in this adaptation!  it's a sharp difference, and i kind of dig it.

9:40 - yes yes yes yes yes omg theon is taking an oath to the drowned god!  yessssss!!!
drink for the title of the episode!  and for heavy-handed music.

9:41 - has littlefinger always had such a notable irish accent?  whateber, i still dig him. even though - or wait, entirely because he reminds me of gary oldman.

they knew we were coming! (link)

9:43 - aah, religious persons and their sexual hypocrisy.

9:43 - oh, is that why they left the beard short?  so that bronn could rip it?

9:44 - i would like to see the hand's chain, but i admit, this pin is pretty wicked.

9:45 - oh look, it's the part from the trailer!  the pacing is quite quick, comparitively, but i love the lack of background music.

9:45 - "i have decided i don't like riddles."

9:46 - arya, at last!  err, i mean arry.

9:47 - this is amazing.  we never get this much vulnerability and intensity from her, even in the books, when we are privy to so much interiority!  in my re-reading i've begun to see why it is that everyone i knew loved arya so much, and also what it was that stopped me from loving her as much as they did - which is to say, more than the other characters.  it is this lack of range, or depth...she's scared, at times, and we all love warrior girls more than princesses, right?  but she has very little depth, and little more than three notes (so to speak) within the text.

9:49 - what is arya learning here, yoren?  what are you teaching her?
"well.  that'll help ya sleep, eh?"
hahaha!  fair enough!

9:50 - oh shit shit shis shishsihsihsit

9:51 - ser armory lorch is looking for gendry, c/o tywin lannister.  these people - children, mostly - are fucked.

"i always hated crossbows.  take too long to load!"
holy fuck.

berserker rage (link)

9:52 - so long, yoren.  this is a horrific and bloody scene - can't even properly be called a battle.  arya saves biter, rorge, and the ever spectacular jaqen h'gar, before almost being killed and having needle stolen from her.   aaand lommy gets horribly killed, asking to be carried.  very true to the book's dialogue, and quite chilling in execution.

9:55 - "you want gendry?  you already got him.  he loved that helmet."  wow, arya!  thinking fast and saving asses.  things are only going to get more difficult for you from here, but you fucking rule.

9:56 - wow, this was quite the nail-biter, especially considering the lack of dany.  and robb!

9:56 - this song is pretty cool.

our verdict?

sort of a pretty much a movie - live!!!!