I didn't enjoy this episode, and I might even need to take a break from GoT for a while. It's just a never ending carousel of awesome characters who make an appearance, win over fans, and then die in some brutal way. Oberyn may have been minor (although I'm sure there will be larger repercussions once Dorne hears what happened), but it was still a major disappointment for me to see him go like that. It's sadistic the way they're playing with my emotions like this, and it's pushing me into a state of noncompliance.
I reached this point in season 3. I know GRRM does all this because he wants to make us think that nobody is safe and always fear for our favourite characters etc., but all it's done to me is mean that I don't really care about any of the characters, because they're only going to die soon anyway so why bother. So it's not particularly that I thought Oberyn was worthy and wanted him to get his revenge or anything, I just liked watching him because he was witty and entertaining, and now won't be in the show anymore.
Well put. I number of characters whose scenes I look forward to seems to dwindle with each week. Even Danaerys hasn't really done anything for awhile.
I think there's a difference between what Martin does with the books and what D&D do in the TV show that's problematic, and it hit me at the end of last week's episode. And interestingly, it hit me in a scene that was the most faithful to the source material since arguably Ned's death in Oberyn's death.
Martin's "no character is safe" is an oversimplification of what he does, because in truth, the books are about busily subverting the tropes of fantasy fiction. Characters who SHOULD live, who would live in any other piece of fiction, die horrible, brutal deaths as a consequence of their actions and decisions. Oberyn died because he chose not to kill the Mountain when he had the chance. He died horribly, and worse, precisely in the same fashion as his sister did. It's a consequence of his decisions and choices. No one who dies in these books dies just because it's time for someone to die. Ned died because he was too noble and wasn't willing to play the game in the only way he needed to win. Robb died because he chose to break his treaty with the Freys. It's about consequence and choice.
D&D, however, make a television show. And in the television show, "no one is safe" is all that is left of Martin's mission statement. Oberyn's character arc in the TV series was not to make a statement on revenge, it was to get us to the graphic money shot of exploded skull. In the books, the result of the fight is identical, but Martin looks away at the visceral horror the other characters feel at what happened at the very end. They emphasize the wrong thing in the effort to be shocking and to generate buzz. Martin isn't the one who is making us all feel sick for backing characters who die horribly, it's the way D&D are emphasizing the wrong thing. They don't get the nuance of the books. Give them the spectacularly creepy way the Jaime/Cersei having sex beside of the corpse of their dead (conceived in incest no less!) son was presented by the books, they chose instead to shoot it and frame it in a way that screamed non-consensual sex, but clearly, since Jaime is still on the same arc he was in the books, they didn't even realize it was problematic.
I give them a lot of slack on the flat out changes they do at times, because Martin's glacial writing speed (and today he said the series might go to 8 books) means that the show will likely finish long before the books do. But their inability to see the nuance and essence of the books, and instead focus on and emphasize things the way they do just to generate buzz and ratings, that I can't let slide. And worse, it's making people think the books are simple hack and slash fests where everyone dies for no particular reason. They could make virtually the same series if they had the right emphasis and people would still be stunned. But I wouldn't feel so cheapened by watching it.
Topic: Game of Thrones (TV, fantasy) Thread (Read 646839 times)
