Game of Thrones Season One watch-a-thon: “The Kingsroad”

(previous: “Winter Is Coming”)

spoilers

Okay, so! Dire wolves will protect those they love... and Bran’s got a psychic connection with the pups? Also: Daenerys wants to know more about dragons and sex. Who doesn’t! The king’s weedy young son is a real brat -- and I bet he’s not even the king’s son but his own uncle’s son, cuz with all the white blond hair and the incest, yuck. Not that sniveling little toads don’t come about without inbreeding, too.

I’m liking Ned’s little daughter, and the ass-whupping she gave the sniveling-toad prince -- she gives me hope that the women will get to hold their own here. I’m not liking how the treacherous queen plays Sansa and Arya off each other: a most pernicious aspect of the extreme patriarchy we see here is how it make women enemies of women, because a gal has always got to be jockeying to get her own best position in a bad world, even at the expense of her sisters (actual or figurative). Though if that gets explored from a critical perspective in future episodes, that would be okay.

But Lena Headey is awesome! Villains are always fun.

Oh my god, that’s Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen. That guy is a chameleon... and a totally riveting one. He’s got a pure cinematic charisma that’s almost unique to him.

Yea: I don’t have to wait a week for another episode. It’s coming up right now...

(next: “Lord Snow”)