“The Old Gods and the New”
May 8th, 2012
As I had noted on Twitter, and as many of you seem to have discovered after visiting the site yesterday, this weekend didn’t provide enough time to do a full review of “The Old Gods and the New” justice. However, David Chen at /Film and his podcasting partner Joanna Robinson were kind enough to have me on “A Cast of Kings,” their Game of Thrones podcast, for a discussion about the episode.
A Cast of Kings S2E06: The Old Gods and the New – /Film
A Cast of Kings is a podcast featuring recaps and reviews of each week’s episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. This week, Joanna and Dave discuss the second season’s sixth episode, The Old Gods and the New. Special guest Myles McNutt joins us from Cultural Learnings.
It’s a lengthy and diverse discussion, ranging from more serious considerations of how the show has changed from the books to equally serious conversations about Ygritte’s strategic body movements. It’s quite a fun show, I thought, so if you want to know more of my thoughts on the episode it’s a fine way to spend roughly an hour of your time.
If there are any other issues you’d like to discuss about the episode, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll hope to chime in. In the meantime, you could also head back to listen to past “A Cast of Kings” episodes.
Cultural Learnings 
Can we chat about whether or not Dave is doing a good job on this podcast? To be fair, I haven’t listened to it yet, but all through the Justifiedcast it seemed that you and Joanna had to explain plot machinations and character motivations and even who the hell people were to him. I appreciate that he put it out there for fans of the show, but it was slightly maddening any time it became clear he wasn’t paying as much attention as the rest of us.
Ok, end rant, on to the show. I had some issues with this episode even while enjoying the hell out of it. Jaqen rolling his eyes at Arya seemed too light for what was going on, and Jon and Ygritte’s interactions were entirely too “meet cute” for the tone of the series. I understand that the constant barrage of darkness and despair needs to be cut with occasional levity; I just didn’t think either of those attempts were true to the overall tone.
Otherwise, though, just fantastic. The dragon abduction
(SPOILER) which I’m assuming is their way of spicing up the eventual destruction of The House of the Undying (END SPOILER)
was an interesting choice, but worked fine, and the moving up of Roderik’s death and Bran’s escape played beautifully. I only wonder if this means that Benioff and Weiss have decided to
(SPOILER) forego the nasty trick of making the audience think that Bran and Rickon are dead. Obviously Littlefinger’s offer to Catelyn made me wonder this a few episodes ago, but now it seems impossible. Too bad, as I imagine that would have really screwed with people’s minds. (END SPOILER)
I also dig Roose Bolton after being initially unsure, and him mentioning his bastard has me excited, but I felt like Robb should have been a little more conflicted about Theon. This news should be a horrible shock and betrayal, and while it makes sense that he’d want to take his head, I’d think he’d be a little more baffled as well. This was a surrogate brother that we saw him treat as such in the premiere; however grave the betrayal, there should be some processing.
I wish you were on the podcast every week.
I also enjoyed this episode a lot.
Im calling this “a Game of Lulz!” from now on.
You can see why here:
http://kingswoodbrotherhood.phpbb3now.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13&p=15#p15
Hello Myles. I greatly enjoy your weekly recaps of Game of Thrones. To me, they are the most eloquently written pieces that summarize the show and provide much in the way of viewer feedback. I love your thoughts on how the show is doing adapting the books, how you feel about changes they’ve made. I listened to this particular podcast this morning, it was very entertaining and, as usual, your insight to changes made in the series that stray from the books are excellent, specifically what you said about Osha appearing to Theon’s primal, and rather boyish, wants.
However, I would like to ask about why you think the show is simply providing fan-service when showing scenes between Sansa and Sandor that actually occurred in the books? I understand the scene in which he saves her from the riot was off-screen, but it did occur in the books, so in what way is this fan-ervice, which implies that it is a cheap scene with little value to the plot? HBO has been seriously lacking when it comes to developing the relationship between Sansa and Sandor, and even Sansa’s story in A Clash of Kings in general. GRRM wrote on his Not-A-Blog that the their scene in the Blackwater episode will occur, because he wrote that episode himself. Don’t you think it would only be the logical choice to further develop this relation on the show so that that particular doesn’t seem out of place?
I was a bit put-off by that “fan-service” comment because I really wanted to hear your thoughts on the Sansa-Sandor dynamic that was in ACoK. I think he provides much in opening Sansa’s eyes to the cruelties of world (of Westeros) and that is very important in her story and the show overall if they decide to develop it at all. It is not just fan-service is what I’m trying to say.
I can see what you’re reading into this, but I guess I didn’t mean “just fan service” as in “nothing but fan service.” Instead, I think my point was that any depth currently present in that relationship is being read into it by readers as opposed to actually built into the story. Its meaning CAN be activated within the show, and may well by the end of the season, but at this point their brief glances and moments of interaction feel too subtle to register to non-readers, making them functioning mostly on a level of fan service at this stage in the series.
However, that can very easily change, and I do think the show is heading in that direction.
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A new feature, Emotional Engagement review for ep Six!
The same for ep Seven will be coming up shortly.
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