The Pointy End

Despite the fact that I've read all the books in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, I found myself a bit surprised by tonight's installment of Game of Thrones. It has been many years since I read the book; while I remain clear on the big events, I have gotten a bit foggy on some of the finer details, and don't necessarily remember the pace of events.

So the surprise for me came in how tonight's episode decelerated a bit. I didn't find it at all boring or slow, but my memory of the book was that once King Robert died, things started sprinting along and never looked back. Yet rather than an avalanche of big events occurring tonight, the story seemed to pause for a short breath, setting a few things in place so that the sprint can begin next week. (If you've read the book, there were plenty of setup moments this week that you know will lead to huge things.)

What I found most interesting about all of this was that George R.R. Martin himself wrote the script for this episode. Way back when, after he'd been established as a novelist, but before he embarked on this epic series, he worked in television for several years on the series Beauty and the Beast. So it's not unthinkable that he would choose to write "his own show." (I do wish he'd spent that time working on the next book instead, but at least he decided to take on only one episode.)

But with so many events taking place here in the back half of the novel/season, I find it a bit odd that he'd choose this episode to write. He could have had last week's momentous death of the king. He could have had next week's episode, which I believe will... well, to keep things completely spoiler-free, I'll just leave it at that: he could have had next week's episode. But instead, he chose to take on this hour of "traffic cop," moving people from one place to the next.

Also interesting, though perhaps less surprising, I believe he delivered a script with no new material in it. Again, it's been a while since I've read the books, but in nearly all the prior episodes of the series, I've definitely taken notice of new scenes that were added for the show, that never appeared in the book. (And they've been among my favorite scenes.) Perhaps it was due in part to lack of time, but Martin did not take the opportunity to expand upon his own work with a new scene. I found that I missed it.

But I'd say all that is just "curious," not really "disappointing." I still found the episode to be very entertaining. There were plenty of great moments. The highlights for me this week seemed to be the combat moments: Syrio's deft dispatch of several soldiers with a mere practice sword, and Drogo's even more vicious dispatching of his opponent (with no weapon at all!). But there were also quieter moments like more golden-tongued negotiating by Tyrion (though it may have backfired a little on him this time), and Samwell is indeed "not stupid."

As always, I'm looking forward to next week.

Edit: After a little digging, I learned that the scene I liked so much, in which Drogo kicked some ass, was actually a new scene not in the original novel. So I suppose that continues the trend of me liking the new material. Interesting, though, that I had so convinced myself it wasn't new. I guess that means it was a very natural addition.