In which we talk about things happening for the sake of the plot, and in which I spoil absolutely nothing beyond the scope of these chapters (aside from some vague allusions to things like the War of the Five Kings, which pretty much everyone should be aware of by now).
So if you come to the Catelyn chapter immediately after the TV show or vice-versa, something will immediately jump out at you: Book-Cat's position re: Ned going south is 180 degree-sign reversed from the book to the screen. I think TV-Cat is much more consistent in terms of putting Family before Duty and Honor. Despite what I said last time about Ned and Cat obviously loving each other, their marriage is a lot... colder in the book.
So if you're paying attention to the Jon Snow thing, we learn in this chapter that normally high lords don't bring their bastard children home with them and raise them alongside their trueborn kids. What could have persuaded staunch traditionalist Ned Stark to take a different path? Gee, I wonder. It's not like there's a constant refrain of another character begging Ned to do something in his POV chapters or anything.
Catelyn's dislike of Jon. Totally understandable and all - he's walking, talking proof that Ned cheated on her. I'll get into why I don't particularly like Catelyn as the story goes on.
So I mentioned last time how Jon's decision to join the Night's Watch pretty much came out of nowhere. It's followed up on here. "Oh, my bastard son wants to go off with my brother? How convenient for me, since I can't take him to King's Landing, which is literally crawling with Robert's bastards. Okay then." I get that Martin has to get Jon to the Wall as fast as possible (...oh, wait. We're five books in and the Wall is still up...) and yet this still feels rushed. Why did he want to join the Night's Watch, exactly? How is it that everyone knew that it was really an army of thieves and whores except for him? Benjen Stark, what lies were you feeding your nephew?
And, look, Ned Stark may have the political instincts of a stale pancake, but he's not stupid. If Tyrion Lannister, who lives at least twice as far away from the Wall as Ned does (and doesn't have his only surviving sibling in the Watch), knows what the Night's Watch is, why/how does Ned not know? And if he does know, why is he cool with Jon running off there? (Yes, he hesitates a bit at the end of the chapter before deciding it's okay because everyone's life has to be difficult. That is actually what happens - he's not swayed by the "Ben will be there" argument, but he is when Luwin points out that Ned and Cat also have difficult paths ahead of him.)
Arya's chapter must be an interesting experience for anyone who's come to this after the TV show, since the show skips right from Cat's bedroom to Ned and company leaving at the start of Bran's chapter (Dany's wedding might have been inserted between the two.) It's really just an "Arya is a tomboy/Joff is a dick" scene, but I like it. This means our first real glimpse of Joffrey is not from love-struck Sansa's eyes, and that can only be an improvement.
Also, Jon is now allowed to spar against Joffrey because "bastards are not allowed to damage young princes." Hee hee hee.
In Bran II, Martin has the unenviable task of writing most of a chapter with only one character doing only one thing. Believe me, this is not easy. He does a good job of conveying just how much Bran likes climbing. He does a bad job convincing me that this is actually a 7-year-old's inner monologue. And I thought it was weird that Bran wouldn't recognize the Queen - and also that he needs to get a closer look to learn who the twins are even after he's heard more than enough to know that the woman speaking is the Queen.
What I'm getting at - both with regards to Bran fatefully choosing to get a closer look and with regards to Ned's/Jon's decision that Jon should take the black - is that Things Happen Because The Plot Demands They Happen. Martin covers it as best he can, but... there's no denying that he needed to inject some tension into the story and clue the dear readers into what was going on with the Lannisters. It's not clumsy, but it is still pretty obvious.
I know I said I was doing four chapters and talking about POV choices. I have since decided to put that off a bit. Deal with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment