Game of Thrones: Lord Snow First Watch

January 30, 2015 12:15 PM - Season 1, Episode 3

Jon Snow begins Night Watch training at The Wall and gets to know Tyrion Lannister. Eddard Stark arrives at King's Landing to assume his responsibilities as the King's Hand and is immediately summoned to a meeting with the King's Small Council. Joffrey is given a lesson in ruling the Kingdom by Cersei, and Robert longs for the glory of his past.
posted by zarq (8 comments total)

This is a First Watch with Books thread.

Please do not reveal spoilers for subsequent episodes from any source.

Thank you.
posted by zarq at 12:16 PM on January 30, 2015

Introduced in this episode:

The Small Council
The king's brother, Lord Renly
Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish
Eunuch Lord Varys
Grand Maester Pycelle

The Wall
Commander Jeor Mormont
Maester Aemon
Ser Alliser Thorne
Yoren

Winterfell
Old Nan

We learn that Jaime Lannister is a knight of the Kingsguard known as the Kingslayer, for killing "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen, the father of Daenerys and Viserys Targaryen. Aerys was succeeded by Robert Baratheon, the current King.

Eddard discovers that the crown is heavily indebted, primarily to the queen's father, Lord Tywin Lannister. He also hires a Braavosi fencer, Syrio Forel, to teach swordsmanship to Arya

"This episode also marks the first appearance of the Welsh actress Margaret John as Old Nan. 84-year-old Margaret John died on 2 February 2011, a few months after having finished recording her scenes in Game of Thrones, which was her last role on television. With a 50-year acting career, she is remembered for her role of Doris on the BBC television show Gavin and Stacy. Executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss issued a statement grieving her death:

"We were deeply saddened to hear about Margaret's passing. She was a warm and wonderful person, and she was completely fantastic in her scenes with Isaac. We wish she could see them… but many people will, and they will love her. We will miss her terribly." — David Benioff and Dan Weiss

The episode "Lord Snow" is dedicated to her, with the last credit being "In the memory of Margaret John."

posted by zarq at 12:28 PM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

I don't know how easy it would be (for me) to keep track of characters without having read the books first, where I also kind of gave up on keeping the various second-tier characters straight.

The pacing for various events seems odd, being truncated as it is. In the books, Brandon was in a coma (or whatnot) forever, and everyone was concerned. In the series, that bit kind of faded away, with Brandon just popping awake and then various parties got their raven letters, seeming rather relieved for something that they hadn't mentioned ever. And young Lord Snow played angry bastard for a while, until he worked on winning over his tormentors to become his fast friends.

If you haven't read the books and have already seen the series, I don't know how you'd do it. Maybe by only having those books to read and nothing else to do?

Anyway, back to the episode at hand. Yaah Syrio! Arya, John Snow and Tyrion Lannister are always the bright spots in this overly dramatic series.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:45 PM on January 30, 2015

I think this and The Kingsroad compress a LOT of time down, considering how long such a journey would take.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:08 PM on January 30, 2015

If you haven't read the books and have already seen the series, I don't know how you'd do it.

Haven't touched the books; I did a binge-watch last fall until I was caught up, so maybe the bingeing helped, but I also think the show does a good job of connecting names to faces fairly constantly. Like, someone will refer to Lord ArgleBargle, and then a couple of scenes later Lord ArgleBargle will actually show up on screen and be referred to by name. And this happens enough so that even if you've forgotten exactly who Lord ArgleBargle is, when he reappears you can connect the face with what you've seen him do in the past.
posted by soundguy99 at 8:17 PM on January 30, 2015

Eunuch Lord Varys

Varys is not actually a nobleman.
posted by homunculus at 8:50 PM on January 30, 2015

Right. Calling him "Lord" is just a courtesy.
posted by ZeroAmbition at 10:19 AM on January 31, 2015

I think it's part courtesy, part subtle jab at who he is (not nobility, but the "keeper of little birds").

Inside Game of Thrones, Episode #3 - more on John Snow, and his realizations on the Wall in thanks to Tyrion, Daenerys' stance on slavery, and Arya's use of Needle.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:09 AM on February 1, 2015