Props to Jack Gleeson. :)

Favorite part:

Alton Lannister: King Joffrey is a Baratheon, your Grace.
Robb Stark: Oh, is he?

With the special participation of Grey Wind. :)

Favorite part:

Jaime Lannister: Three victories don't make you a conqueror.
Robb Stark: Its better than three defeats.

This is bound to change as I continue to write in this blog. But for now, here are a couple of things that I might post about in the next days:

• What I am Reading -  Can be anything that I am reading (book, magazine, etc).  Probably just a list since my main blog for reading is on Wordpress;  A list of blogs, articles, etc. that really interested me for the week.
• Monthly Stuff - Write something about the event of the month.  E.g. April is National Poetry Month and National Jazz Month.  I might be posting things related to jazz and poetry.
• Television - Write about my favorite television shows
• Music - Write about the music that I am listening to, have heard, or just find interesting
• Movies -  Write about the movies I have watched
• Art - Write about art :)

I do not know if the appropriate term for this post would be a review or just a mere commentary. :) But as a warning to whoever will read this, this post might contain spoilers and if you haven't read the books you can just stop right here and proceed no further.

Game of Thrones is now in its second season and almost all of it is based on the second novel of the George R. R. Martin series, A Song of Ice and Fire, titled A Clash of Kings. I say almost all of it because I'm quite sure some elements from the third series seeped into this one (one of the trailers gave away much when the horn was blown three times) and Season One definitely had elements from the second book be part of its later episodes. :) However, it could still be a product of clever editing but somehow I have a feeling that that particular scene will materialize in the episodes closer to the end of the season. Episode 10 perhaps? :)

Anyway, on to the episode. This one is titled "The North Remembers." From what I recall from the books, "the north remembers" is a saying common to the people of the North much like "A Lannister always pays his debts" is common to House Lannister. And spoiler alert, it plays quite a large role in A Dance with Dragons. This time, the North remembers what the people they are rising up against have done to their liege lord, Eddard (Ned) Stark.

The episode opens in King's Landing where there is a tourney going on in celebration of King Joffrey's birthday. I actually liked the scene in the book where Joffrey goes "You" and Tyrion answers "Me" and was quite sad that it didn't make it to the screen. But whatever, this scene was quite good as well especially if you have Tyrion uttering lines such as "Death is so boring, especially now with so much excitement in the world."

This continues on to Tyrion invading the Small Council and bringing the news that Tywin Lannister has made him Hand of the King in his stead while he fights Robb Stark and company. This makes Cersei furious and she orders the other council members to leave. Now, the scene between Cersei and Tyrion following her dismissal of the council members was one of my favorites in A Clash of Kings and I was definitely sad that it did not make it to the screen as well. I don't know if the writers are saving it for a later episode or not at all. :(

However, I did like these two lines from Tyrion:

You love your children. It’s your one redeeming quality. That and your cheekbones.

We had three Starks to trade. You chopped one’s head off and let another escape. Father would be furious. Must be hard for you, to be the disappointing child.

The next scene is in Winterfell, where I really don't know why Bran and Maester Luwin are listening to a man requesting for assistance to rebuild his house when in the book it was supposed to be the Harvest Feast. But I do understand the reasons why. The new direwolf (we only see Summer at this point anyway) looked really good!

The scene cuts to Daenerys Targaryen and her khalasar traveling the Red Waste but are not given an idea as to why they are traveling there in the first place. Or maybe there was? We see her bid her blood riders to go scour while the rest remain to rest. I'm guessing the arrival of the three guests and the travel to Qarth comes a bit earlier? By the way, the dragon (we only see Drogon anyway) looks nice but I can't shake off what I read when the first trailer for Season Two came out and the person said that it looks like an exotic parrot. :)

Jon Snow and company make it to Craster's Keep where they find out that he marries his own daughters and that there are no sons in sight. And surprisingly, Qhorin Halfhand is never mentioned when the men of the Night's Watch are traveling to meet him and his rangers. Well, last season, it was mentioned that they are trying to learn more about what is happening beyond the Wall and try to find Benjen Stark. So, I'm interested in how they are introducing Qhorin.

I've read complaints about Craster being rather "well fed" but I dunno, if the actor can do the job quite well, why not. :) I'm not sure how I feel about Jon Snow's meddling when Craster is having a conversation with Mormont. But whatever. It leads to one of the nice scenes in this episode: the one where Mormont tells him to learn to follow if he want to lead one day.

The scene cuts to Dragonstone where Melisandre is burning the Seven in favor of her god, the Lord of Light. I so wanted them to use R'hllor so that I would know how the damn name is pronounced. She also tells of a warrior who would draw a burning sword from the fire and apparently she believes that is Stannis Baratheon. I don't know why Azor Ahai is never mentioned. To make it less confusing?

After the burning of the Seven, the scene cuts to their council meeting where Stannis is drafting a letter declaring his claim to the Iron Throne and declaring that Joffrey and siblings are born of incest. And it is never mentioned how he came to know that information but the books, he and Jon Arryn investigated the matter before the latter died. It was also somewhat implied by Varys that it was Littlefinger who might have given Stannis the information which he then passed to Jon Arryn.

Anyway, it is too early to tell how I feel about the casting of Melisandre, Stannis, and Davos. Right now, I would say okay. :) But Carice van Houten's Melisandre is rather different from the books and I was always expecting her to have an exotic accent but this Melisandre is definitely interesting and someone to be feared. Davos is shown to be very loyal but how he became so loyal is never explained. Stephen Dillane's Stannis is definitely stubborn and I'm looking forward to his scenes.

The next scene is not in the book but is something that I really don't object to. This is the scene where Robb visits Jaime to have a little chat about Stannis' letter (Wow, time flies fast in this TV version of Westeros). Robb, being one of the kings in the War of Five Kings, surprisingly does not get much action in the book. He does get a lot of mentions though. The same can be said for Jaime Lannister where he is barely there in the books. So, I do not object to this addition at all and this scene is definitely one of my favorites in this episode. Plus, I love how big Grey Wind is, which is fitting because he was described as large in the books. Props to Richard Madden, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and the team behind Grey Wind! :)

Back in King's Landing, Shae is with Tyrion at the Tower of the Hand. Looks like Shae is not in her manse and I have no idea how Tyrion is gonna keep her a secret. I'm thinking she's gonna land a position somewhere in the castle since I don't know whether the Stokeworth's were cast.

Another King's Landing scene that many people complained about that I somewhat liked was the scene between Cersei and Littlefinger where Cersei shows Littlefinger the meaning of power. Most of who have read the books called it against Littlefinger's character to do what he did. I do respect that but the writers needed to do what they needed to do. However, it was rather curious that she would ask the master of coin to find Arya Stark and not Varys, the master of whispers. And on a curious note, I'm assuming that the kid (as one of Varys' little birds) in that scene would run off to Varys and whether there would be a Varys/Littlefinger scene regarding the incident remains to be seen. Or not. :)

The scene cuts back to another one of my favorites, Robb Stark giving his terms to the man who was once Cleos Frey :) (renamed Alton Lannister in the series and lacking the distinguished yellow hair of the Lannisters) to be delivered to Cersei. Favorite lines?

Alton Lannister: King Joffrey is a Baratheon, Your Grace.
Robb Stark: Oh, is he?

The next scene is in King's Landing where Joffrey is redecorating the throne room and manages to insult his mother when speaking about his father's bastards. Again, this is another of my favorite scenes. Definitely not in the book but I still liked it nonetheless. This Joffrey is A LOT different than the one in the book. Cersei even seems rather frightened of him when in the book she doesn't seem to mind her son's atrocities. However, props to Jack Gleeson and Lena Headey in this scene! :)

Since there is a need to end with a bang, it ends with the slaughter of Robert Baratheon's bastards by men of the City Watch. If I recall correctly, only Barra was killed in the book. Anyway, on a curious note, Ros got a promotion and now seems to be heading one of Littlefinger's brothels. :)

Anyway, that's episode one and I'm looking forward to episode two.