The new DC (once more, with feeling...)

Hey, have you heard the news?

DC Comics just went nuclear.

Today DC announced, via their blog, that after August 31st they will be cancelling their entire comic book line, renumbering everything from number one and doing a hard reboot to the entire DCU.

I’m sorry, what?

I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole endeavour. On the one hand I think the entire DC brand could do with a shot in the arm. They’ve been rebooting, reimagining or rethinking individual franchises for years now, but part of the problem is trying to reinsert these rejigged franchises into a larger continuity that resists any substantive change to the accepted status quo.

The end result is a patchwork mess of back stories that are confusing, contradictory and, most importantly, off putting to new readers.

From that perspective, taking the entire line back to square one is a good idea. This way everyone starts at the same place and writers don’t have to worry about making sure their character needs a continuity patch or two somewhere down the line.

But DC has an abysmal track record when it comes to making these reboots stick. They couldn’t do it in CRISIS OF THE INFINITE EARTHS, ZERO HOUR, INFINITE CRISIS or any of the other attempts to streamline their comic book output. They lacked the cojones to see the process through to the end or they failed to stick to the changes they made, often reversing them when it became clear the new versions weren’t working.

Which means as time goes on DC was left with an increasingly confusing and insular continuity that was only made worse through subsequent rebootings.

In reality, DC has been bumping its head against the same problem for years, the near impossibility of publishing the same characters for so long without them getting stale. All jokes aside, I imagine it’s pretty hard to get kids interested in heroes who have their moral foundations set somewhere in the 1960’s, waltz around in tight spandex and wear their underwear on the outside. I think it’s unrealistic to expect these stories and characters to resonate with today’s readers in the same way.

THE DARK KNIGHT is their Batman, not Adam West.

Essentially what DC is doing is Ultimizing their universe and that’s really not a bad thing. Although its heyday is long past, Marvel’s Ultimate imprint changed comic books as we know them. Suddenly readers got to see their favourite heroes through a modern lens, without all the overused comic book trappings that had come to define the genre.

It brought characters back to basics and ditched decade’s worth of stifling continuity. It was accessible to new readers and wasn’t hemmed in by what had come before.

Nowdays the Ultimate imprint is pretty much in disarray, a victim of time and its own success. It just isn’t fresh and new anymore. But many of the lessons of the Ultimate universe were absorbed into the Marvel 616, so it wasn’t a complete loss.

Despite several attempts DC has never managed to achieve a successful revitalization of its status quo that has any real staying power. Instead it lurches from event to event, always reinventing itself but never confident enough to stay with any one version for very long.

And the final product suffered for it.

So in theory I’m not against the idea of rebooting the entire line. Providing they can stick to their guns, tell quality stories and not back off in the face of the inevitable fanboy backlash I think the whole thing could be very interesting.

That’s not to say I don’t have reservations. I’ve been a comic book reader for nearly 20 years now. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth to think that all the stories and characters I’m invested in are suddenly ‘out of continuity.’

Continuity is a double edged sword. The common perception is that it prevents new readers from coming on board, but, in my opinion, used wisely continuity also informs and adds context to characters and stories.

And not everything that DC is putting out these days is crap. I’m genuinely curious to see where Morrison is planning to take BATMAN INC or Hester’s interpretation of the ‘new’ WONDER WOMAN. I’d hate to abandon these genuinely interesting stories just because they’re being told at an inopportune time in their publishing history.

In fact, why should I read anything from DC between now and August 31st? None of it will matter, none of it will ever be built upon. I might as well save myself a couple bucks until DC starts publishing the ‘important’ stories again.

I hope DC doesn’t use this reboot as an excuse to abandon originality and just retell classic stories through this new Ultimized status quo. That was part of what sunk the Ultimate Universe in the first place. As it is, it will be frustrating enough to go through characters’ origin stories for the umpteenth time, as well as being introduced, yet again, to their supporting cast and new versions of their classic villains.

I have enough confidence in Geoff Johns to believe that he might be able to pull this off. He’s got a proven track record of rescuing stagnating franchises and breathing new life into them. This is that same idea, only writ a hundred times larger.

But despite all that, in my heart, I still think a reboot is lazy writing. DC has a rich publishing history and I have reservations that the best solution to their problems was to simply chuck the baby out with the bathwater and start all over again.

What, was Batman not making enough money or something?

Every comic book is someone’s first. I sure as hell didn’t get hooked on comics because I happened to get my hand on a particular title’s first issue. I started reading comics because something about their creativity and their energy drew me in. If I didn’t understand everything that happened in the story then I was compelled to go out and find the issues that preceded it, just so I could figure it all out.

I imagine that’s how a lot of people got hooked on comic books.

So in a way, no matter what happens, I’ll always going to be disappointed that DC has decided to go this route, no matter how good the end product is. But I’m also willing to judge the Nu-DCU on its own merits and not through my own personal biases.

(Isn’t that big of me?)

LOST: One Year Later

I’ve been recently watching FRINGE. I’m about 6 episodes into season 2 now and enjoying it wholeheartedly. It got me thinking about the other J.J. Abrams show I loved so  much.

LOST.

About a week ago, it had been a year since the finale of the show aired at the end of it’s final sixth season. It was aptly titled “The End”. I’d like to talk a bit about the show as a whole, what it meant to me, and why I disagree with a number of “reasons” some people didn’t enjoy or like the finale. Just as a note, I hope that if nothing else this post stirs discussions about a show I think as viewers, we can all agree affected us on some level.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE SHOW AND ENDING HERE!

Let’s do a bit of time travel first. I started watching the show along with everyone else on the night the pilot and second episode aired. I was enthralled from the get go. I mean who wouldn’t be? A plane crashes on an island, some kind of huge monster ravaging through the trees and roaring, and a goddamned polar bear attack on a desert island in the south pacific. That was a new level of WTF-ery for television, and I think it especially did well because at the time most of the shows that were flourishing were reality shows. Audiences were primed for something new, and something episodic, something mysterious, and something cliffhangery that they could tune in for every week.

I think it was during season 2 that I lived with my co-blogger Chris. Every Wednesday, like clockwork, we would grab some beers, order some pizza and settle in to watch LOST. We both enjoyed it, though our opinions after it ended were polarized. AKA…I liked the ending and he didn’t (still doesn’t to this day). But what’s important to note is that we both enjoyed, for the most part, the journey as it happened. I still remember the day I figured out that the 108 minutes between button pushes in the hatch was the “numbers” added up and got all excited. I remember the level of “what the hell?” after Ben “moved” the island. I love the fact that Sayid, along with Jin and Sun in Desmond’s abandoned sailboat, going up the coast to find the Others and see the ruin of the 3-toed statue and then they don’t mention it again for like four seasons. There were always ample amounts of mystery, action, comedy and drama to keep the most discerning viewer entertained. And the music! I challenge anyone to listen to “Life & Death” from Michael Giacchino’s incredible score and not think of Boone or Charlie and get misty-eyed.

What seems to be happening amongst a lot of the people who didn’t like the ending is that they say they “wasted” six years of their lives watching it. I really never understood the thought process behind such a statement. Did said people look back and not enjoy the journey the show took them on? Or was it that they felt that after six years of journey, if the ending doesn’t satisfy their every whim of how “they thought” it SHOULD end, the entire run of the show is negated? It kind of boggles me to be honest. If you didn’t like the ending, that’s cool. I am down with that as your opinion, but those who then go on to say that the whole thing was crap because of the ending is poor form in my books. You can actually look at it on a season by season basis and if you do so, then up to and including most of the sixth season there was heavy, meaty fun mysteries to be explored and deep, deep characters to get involved with. I would argue the only episodes that people should have any issues with are the two part finale. That was where they either pleased you or annoyed you. I think it is especially poor form for people to have said that Lindelof and Cuse “didn’t know where the show was going and didn’t know how to end it”. While I am sure they didn’t know how to tie everything up, I think that there was indeed a basic plan for overall plot themes and arcs and where to go with them. Does everyone with that opinion REALLY believe that a huge television network like ABC was going to allow them to just wend the show aimlessly along with no goals in mind? The issue should be that there was a large number of plot threads, so many in fact that they couldn’t all be looked after all the time and some may have been left dangling. I’m cool with that and I don’t understand when people aren’t. I would have been SERIOUSLY annoyed had they wrapped everything up leaving nothing to my imagination.

All the big plot threads, were handled to some degree, and not only handled but handled well in my eyes (and at least a few others I know).

I am going to break down some things that folk (even now) seem to be either unaware of, or confused by:

-Everything on the island HAPPENED. I don’t quite get how anyone can think otherwise. It’s clear. This was a portion of their lives that they all shared. Christian (Jack’s dad) even tells him that in the finale, saying it was “the most important time of his life”.

-The Flash Sideways world existed for one purpose. To unite these people who ended up meaning so much to each other before they “moved on” independent of the times at which they all respectively died.

-Hurley became the island’s protector after Jack died, with Ben as his number two. Meaning they had many years of island-style immortality before they decide to move on.

-A lot of people say that the Dharma Initiative plot has no purpose. Sure it does. It existed because they, having found how to get to the island were investigating the magnetic anomalies and special traits of the island. That’s it. That’s mostly revealed in Season 5 when some of the castaways spend the time in the 1970’s. Why people feel they needed any more explanation to that is beyond me.

My main point in this post is that to me, this show wasn’t about the collective mysteries that were solved or not so solved in the end.  For me this show was about the journey these people took, and the role the island as an entity played in their lives. In uniting them, in helping them with what they did or didn’t do in their pasts, in brining them friendships and in some cases even love. Look at Juliet and Sawyer. She died on the island, likely many years before his eventual death (as he is one of the few who get off the island in the finale and go home), but in the afterlife/waiting room of the Flash Sideways he is reunited with her. It’s one of the things that I found most compelling about the show. That even something so existential as meeting a lost love in the afterlife can hit you on an emotional level like that.

I think the disconnect with a number of people and the ending is that they expected all the mysteries to be satisfactorily explained. Chris’s complaint was about the way the island and its protector were vaguely and rather magically macguffin’ explained. My argument was always that, the magic light/plug thing about the island was never what the whole thing was about. I don’t think Lindelof and Cuse ever meant it to be anything but a vaguery that even science isn’t going to explain. And I think that because in the end, this show wasn’t really about the mysteries…it was about the characters and how these various odd and strange occurrences served to bring them together and change their lives completely. Yes, the mysteries play a large part of that, but what no one can explain to me is just HOW explaining the island’s magical properties in other, more scientific, or realistic ways would change what the show was about. How does finding that you can KNOW how something worked, every piece of it, change the story they told you? Better yet, wouldn’t knowing that on such a level of detail actually steal from you the magic of the mystery altogether? Like if they ended the show saying: “Oh, this island that has magnetic pockets, immortality, moves through space and time, exists in different dimensions ect...well here’s how it all works in real world science. Here’s the why.”….

...oh dear god how BORING. Quite frankly that would have bored the shit out of me had they done that. I much prefer not really knowing just how the island is magic, with the vagaries of light and plugholes ect. I've known Chris long enough to not speak for him though so I'll let him comment about his thoughts.

However I will postulate that, saying that you wanted something explained more satisfactorily is like watching a film and being annoyed that characters don’t speak every word in their head or tell you everything they are doing at every moment. The BEST stories leave some stuff up to your imagination. That way there is still a sense of wonder about it down the road when you think about it, or revisit it. Beyond even that it makes for a hell of a discussion with friends who have opposing viewpoints. I think that after the finale aired Chris and I (and a number of other friends) spent hours typing long discussions on Facebook about it. That, to me, is a priceless thing. What fun to discuss the ins and outs of a show like that, even after it ends.

If it already wasn’t apparent, I loved LOST. All the way through, up to and including the ending. I watched vigilantly for six seasons and I think I only flagged a bit during season 2 when two of the actors being arrested for DD threw a monkey wrench into the scripts and the improvised storylines for the rest of the season were a tad long-winded. Overall I see it as one of the best shows I ever watched and one that even on a 3^rd re-watch (which I am doing now with someone who hasn’t seen them all) I am enjoying immensely. I don’t feel that the producers and writers ever didn’t know what they were doing. I feel they brought us a character-driven show based on a strange island, and that wholly satisfies me.

I would also like to note that I feel the 4th season episode called THE CONSTANT is hands down the best hour of television I have ever watched. Ever. Also, Desmond was my fave castaway.

Whatever we each as individuals think of it, one thing is for sure: It was an absolute phenomenon and not one the public is like to forget. Above all else, people are going to remember LOST as quite a journey.

Doctor Who: Jaw dropping spoilerific cast news for Episode 13!

In today’s DOCTOR WHO news there is a VERY interesting bit of spoiler-y info that’s popped up. One that had me nearly squeeing with unrestrained glee…but I think I held it together mostly. Still…

It should be noted that this is a bit spoiler-y (castwise) for the 13^th episode of this current season of DOCTOR WHO, the finale that will air next October (not the mid-season finale that is airing next week before the show goes on summer hiatus). So if you want to be totally and utterly surprised, please do not look below. Do not read below and bugger off till the next update.

Okay, now for my fellow spoiler-y brethren who don’t mind knowing a tidbit or two about casting…

Grain of salt here obviously, but…

It would appear that IMDB has the cast list posted for the 13^th, and final season 6 episode, and some intriguing things are listed therein. As you can probably tell by the image posted above, Alongside Matt Smith (as The Doctor obviously) are listed not only David Tennant as The Doctor, but also Peter Davison as The Doctor. 

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

…and the DOCTOR WHO nerd inside me just exploded.

If IMDB are right, and the rest of the cast list show some interesting things, Young Rory returns, as does Winston Churchill, then we are likely looking at our first FULL series episode in which more than one Doctor appears (TIME CRASH which had both Tennant & Davison in it was a mini-sode for Children In Need) since 1983 (a feature length episode starring the 1^st to the 5^th Doctor’s).

This also means that the David Tennant fanboy in me gets what he has wanted since Ten left the role. A Ten and Eleven adventure! Not only that, but add the 5^th Doctor to that as well. The Peter Davison credit on the list is what lends this just a tad more weight as to whether it’s real or not. It makes sense if there is a reason to bring Ten back, then why not Five as well.

It also means that the last episode of this season is going to be a DOOZY and I for one can’t wait till October now…or at least until we move this news from speculation to solidity. It’s funny, because on the last episode where the Flesh version of The Doctor started spouting previous Doctor’s lines like Tom Baker’s Doctor “Would you like a jelly baby?” and Tennant’s “Hello! I’m the Doctor!” I thought to myself, how cool would it be to have some previous Doctor’s show up?

UPDATE: Various folks have told me not to trust the IMDB cast list and that this won't happen. Well I don't care, I'm adopting a wait and see attitude, just for fun...besides, these posts are...as always...speculation posts anyways. I mentioned the grain of salt above. Nuff said.

An Evening in Toronto with China Miéville

Last night was the first time since starting the blog that I have met an author. In fact, this was the first time I have ever met an author of the types of books I read.

I’m totally new to the China Miéville book scene. About two years ago I attempted to read PERDIDO STREET STATION, and while I found it wondrous and strange, I will admit to being scared off by its complexity so I stopped reading it and put it back in the To-Read pile where it has sat since then. The sometime last year people started gushing about his latest book (at the time) and that was the urban fantasy titled KRAKEN. I decided it sounded too interesting to pass up. I’ve not only now read KRAKEN once, but I am currently on a re-read so that I can review it here. KRAKEN brought me into Miéville’s world with a kind of disarming ease, and I found that after I read it, my desire to read all the things he’d written jumped significantly. PERDIDO STREET STATION is now closer to the top of my To-Read pile. I think after reading KRAKEN I now get how to read Miéville without finding it complex. I don’t think my headspace was right the first time, and now it is.

As a fellow blogger pointed out in her review of his latest book, EMBASSYTOWN, Miéville almost REQUIRES you to sit with a dictionary at the ready and learn while you read and that is, for lack of a better word, delicious for a bibliophile.

So last night China Miéville made his FIRST EVER Canadian book tour appearance at Toronto’s The World’s Biggest Bookstore. So I hustled it down there after work and got a front row seat.

He read from EMBASSYTOWN for six or eight minutes, and to hear him read his own work was rather a nice thing to sit and listen to. An author knows every inflection for every passage they wrote. It was super cool to hear the man himself read his stuff. After that there was a Q & A session…in which everybody’s questions were WAY smarter than anything I could come up with…so I just sat and enjoyed. Some of the questions I’d heard before and some I hadn’t. Miéville himself was gracious, really funny, and above all else sharp as a tack and super smart.

One person asked Miéville if he thought THE CITY & THE CITY would make a good BBC miniseries, and he jokingly answered by saying that he thinks ALL of his work would translate exquisitely well to other mediums, and then laughed. He went on to say that of all his work THE CITY & THE CITY would translate the best, but that he was curious as to the pop culture paradigm or belief that “If your book is very good, it will grow up one day to be a film.” He said he’d be flattered if they did one of his books as a film or TV series, but that he seemed leery of the idea as well since no one wants to see their work messed up.

He noted, when asked how he writes, that there really is no clear system to writing or being a writer, and seemed to say that it would be subjective from person to person how they write and craft stories. He mentioned that he sometimes writes 4000-6000 words in one day and then might not write for the rest of the week.

One of my favourite things he said was in answer to a question of whether or not he would return to the Bas-Lag world in a future book or books. He said that it’s likely possible down the road but that we as geekery culture in general like to take things we love and destroy them by overdoing them. He said it’s BECAUSE he loves zombies, that he is currently SICK of zombies. That makes perfect sense to me. We ruin things we love by not leaving them alone (*cough* George Lucas *cough*), and we should be more wary of this sort of thing. He finished though by saying if he were a betting man he’d lay ten pounds down on him writing another novel set in the Bas-Lag universe. He just doesn’t want it to become a “default setting.”

I think the most interesting thing, for our readers and most especially Miéville fans is one of the last questions he answered when asked about once saying he wanted to write a book in every genre (as he was interested in all genre’s). He said he sometimes says things in interviews, thinks they are cool ideas and then forgets about saying them. He went on to say that the Internet does NOT forget, and then when it gets regurgitated back to him by a fan down the road that has read it, he once again thinks, man…what a cool idea! So he said he is his own sounding board in a way sometimes. That was followed by the fact that he was currently most interested in writing…a regency romance novel. This actually got a few chuckles, as people didn’t seem to think he was serious. He was indeed serious, however, as he went on about it and that it was what he most recently thought of doing genre-wise. I liked this idea because can you imagine something as classic and genius as Jane Eyre, but filtered through the mind and words of China Miéville? That would be pure win in my books.

Finally after the Q & A, Miéville sat down to sign books. I was second in line due to my position in front. I wish I’d had the forethought to buy a hardcover copy of KRAKEN (my copy is on my Kindle), but I digress. I took my copy of EMBASSYTOWN up and he signed it (see picture below)…with a Rudyard Kipling quote even! If you can’t read it in the picture it says

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug.” ~ Kipling.

I said to him that I was relatively new to his books, and that I’d only read KRAKEN so far, but thanked him for making my trips to and from work that much more kickass. He smiled and said that was very kind and he hopes I enjoy the new book as much. A simple encounter, but of course I left with a huge grin on my face. It’s interesting, for a bibliophile like myself, to finally get to meet an author who I admire so much. It was an experience I likely won’t forget anytime soon. A great evening all told. 

I’ll review EMBASSYTOWN once I have read it (though I hear amazing things already), but first up expect my review on my re-read of KRAKEN soon.

Also, you can't really tell in the picture, but he has the most amazingly detailed kraken/squid/tentacle tattoo on his upper right arm, the tentacles twine and wrap down around his inner elbow.

TV Review: GAME OF THRONES - Episode 6 (A Golden Crown)

With the start of Sunday's episode HBO's sprawling fantasy series officially passes the halfway mark of its first season.

Which means its now fair game to take a critical look at the series as a whole instead of just examining it on an episode by episode basis.

But first some recappery.

Ned Stark awakes after his ill fated encounter with Jamie Lannister to find that he has been press ganged into serving the king again.

Stark's role as the King's Hand becomes more complicated when Robert decides to leave King's Landing for an extended hunting trip. Forced to sit on the Iron Throne and temporarily rule in his stead, Stark find himself turning up the heat in the capital when he denounces Gregor Clegane as a brigand and summons Tywin Lannister to court to answer for the actions of his bannerman.

Meanwhile in the North Ned's son Bran is troubled by a series of disturbing dreams. During the day he finds relief by riding through the grounds of Winterfell in a modified saddle based on a design by Tyrion Lannister. Bran's ride is interrupted when he is attacked by a group of wildlings fleeing South.

In the Vale Tyrion remains a prisoner of Catelyn Stark's sister and her sheltered son. Trapped in an open air cell in the uninpregnable sky fortress he stands accused of the murder of Jon Arryn, the former King's Hand, as well as the attempted murder of Bran Stark. In order to delay his execution Tyrion demands the right to Trial by Combat.

Finally Daenerys continues to work at being accepted by her adopted people. To prove herself worthy of carrying Kahl Dorgo’s son she forces herself to eat a raw horse heart.

Mindful of his sister’s growing popularity, and recognizing that his own dreams of reclaiming his familial throne are fading away, Viserys attempts to steal Daenerys petrified dragons eggs to fund an army of his own. When he is stopped by his sister’s retainer he bursts into the Dothraki celebration and threatens Daenerys and her unborn child.

Drogo promises to give Viserys the crown he deserves and pours a cauldron of molten gold over his head, killing him.

GAME OF THRONES is well past the stage where it needs to set the scene for the audience. The question of “who are these people” and “how do these people relate each other” have long been answered.

But if there’s one criticism that can be levelled against the series at this point it’s that it seems overly dependent on the source material to drive the story forward.

At time GAMES feels a bit like you’re watching a 21st century version of MASTERPIECE THEATRE. There’s a distinct Britishness about the whole thing, European acting talents growling and emoting in front of elaborate period set pieces.

It feels like there is an absence, a blindness that permeates the show when it comes to respecting the tropes of modern television. The show eschews the deep character examinations of modern cable dramas in favour of moving pieces around because that’s how the story was laid out in the books.

Instead characters are delivered to the audience fully formed with clearly realized motivations and goals and not much in the way internal turmoil.

Part of the reason for this flatness is that much of the character internal monologuing in the books has gone up in smoke in the transition between mediums and the writers are continuing to struggle when it comes to reinserting the excised material back into the show.

One of my favourite scenes to date came during last week’s episode when Cersei and Robert were rehashing their relationship against the history of the Seven Kingdoms. The scene, not found in the books, explicitly examined the tension between the couple, but the subtext and internal conflicts that were at play really sold the moment.

It was a great example of being true to the aims of the source material but still respecting the demands of television at the same time.

The longer GAME OF THRONES exists as a separate entity the more it’s going to have to establish its own personality outside of the books.

No matter how great the show is, if it continues to be hampered by rigid faithfulness to the original material it will be robbed of the creativity and vitality it needs to truly succeed.

Music Spotlight: Within Temptation (including thoughts on their latest CD)

My road to discovering WITHIN TEMPTATION is a curvy one, so I thought I'd lay that out first before getting to my thoughts on their latest CD.

I remember the first time I ever heard of the genre loosely known as Symphonic /Gothic Metal, and that would be in the 90’s in reference to an American band (you know who I am speaking of) using said style to make what seemed to be great music. It wasn’t till that bands’ (okay, I'll name them, it's Evanescence) second CD came out that everyone realized the obvious. The songs all sounded the same and the music was bland, the guitar and drum work was tired and the vocals were identical from song to song. In retrospect, after said band imploded from infighting (and even spawned another similar band…that surprise, surprise sounded the same and flopped), I found that even the first CD that was such a huge hit is really fairly repetitive. I have to credit them (very reluctantly) for introducing me to said genre and making of me a fan, without which I might never have found the best of the best.

Here was a heavier band, with dark tones, and female lead vocals…perfect for a fantasy nerd like me.

However, it wouldn’t be until the new millennium that I would discover the other bands who would take over this genre. These newer bands would mold it, shape it, and perfect it making it not only into a viable side genre, but creating some of most compelling and wonderful soundscapes in the process.

I discovered bands like NIGHTWISH, DELAIN, and EPICA all on my own, and started a collection of their discs. All are great bands and do the genre proud, but in late 2009 my girlfriend had a party where my mind was to be changed about who was the best of the best. One of her good friends (now a friend of mine as well) lives and breathes this type of music and he asked me if I’d ever heard of a Dutch band called WITHIN TEMPTATION. I believe I may have cocked an eyebrow at him quizzically and replied that I hadn’t. He pulled out his iPhone (ah technology), rolled up an older album by them and played me a song or two (I think from the album ENTER or THE SILENT FORCE) and with the phone pressed to my ear so I could hear it over the commotion of the party happening around me... I heard them for the first time. I was almost immediately hooked. I went out the next day and bought two CD’s (the two most recent at the time) THE HEART OF EVERYTHING and the live double disc BLACK SYMPHONY.

I spent the next few days listening to these two CD’s exclusively, and I was rather gobsmacked. Here was a band that not only did this genre that I loved right…they’d pretty much perfected it. I was mesmerized as I walked down the street with this audio kickassery pumping through my headphones. Sharon Den Adel’s lead vocals are completely angelic, sublimely powerful and even angsty and throttling when the song calls for it. The guitar-work is amazing and storied, the percussion is thrumming and tsking in equal amounts, and the classical elements (Violins and cello’s ect.) only add depth and cinema to already thickly layered music. In latter albums you can add synths to that layering, adding an electronic aspect to some tracks. This all makes for a band that grows with each successive release and solidifies their niche and fanbase. This is evidenced by the fact that they sell out shows around the world when they tour.

Well, they recently embarked on a new concept album journey. The new disc (which is accompanied by a six-issue comic series written by Steven O'Connell, and inked by Witchblade artist Romano Molenaar and 3 short films) was a calculated risk for the band. Concept albums normally either do extremely well, or flop on their faces. Thankfully, the disc (and concept) has been really well received across the board by fans and critics alike.  For me though, the new CD, titled THE UNFORGIVING, is actually nothing short of brilliant. The concept idea is that there are some very broken people in the world who die unredeemed for bad things they did in life (this due to bad decisions they made and not because they were inherently evil or anything). They are therefore resurrected by a character called Mother Maiden and sent to fight the evil's in the world and by doing so redeem themselves. This is such a great concept, and something I would relish reading even in a book. Redemption is one of the most powerful things that can conduct a person's actions and to lay that out with music backing it just works incredibly well! So, what is a really interesting concept as an idea, end up one that even works better in execution. I’ve not yet read the comic (because I want to wait for it all to be released before reading it), but the three short films (all of which lead into music video’s for FASTER, SINEAD and SHOT IN THE DARK respectively) are shot incredibly well and come across as fleshed out versions of the concept itself. Directed by a visionary named Joeri Holsheimer, they are all black and white, all shot with a non-linear, yet stylistic edge, and they bring you right into the mindset the band must have been in when they wrote the music. That’s an achievement, as with a concept album that is the best you can hope for. You want fans to get right into the story and see what you were going for. So rather than just hear the music, they can experience it as a combined and solidified idea. I think the short films definitely DO that for THE UNFORGIVING.

The tracks themselves are all quite catchy, with great hooks and melodies behind them. The sound is slightly different than what the band has produced in their previous albums, and I personally love when a band modifies their sound into something new without losing what it is that makes them who they are. It's a fine line and WITHIN TEMPTATION rides it with ease it seems. The production is so polished that I think I’ll be hard-pressed to find another CD in 2011 that I will enjoy as thoroughly as I enjoy this disc.  It has earned high critical marks from the various review magazines and sites with much the same praise as I am laying out here.

The plan is to continue the concept into the live show when they begin to tour this fall. I haven’t the foggiest what that will entail, but I am sure it will be a spectacle and one which I am LUCKILY going to see first hand when they come here to Toronto in September! I will of course chime in after that show and let you all know how it went and how the Mother Maiden/Redemption concept is translated onto the stage.

One thing is for sure, WITHIN TEMPTATION'S fanbase was already fairly big, but if they continue to release such outstanding music as is on this release, then I am sure they can expect that fanbase to grow in the years to come. I’m lucky to have discovered them myself, and in a world where there is so much generic pop on the radio, it’s nice to know that something different is only a set of iPod headphones, and a Dutch CD away.

You should definitely look them up yourselves as you likely won't be disappointed. In case you are wondering though, I've embedded one of their more recent videos below. Enjoy!

Note: The pictures and the video are in no way owned by me and are copyright of their respective owners. Within Temptation's latest CD is released in North America VIA Roadrunner Records.

Crackpot Doctor Who Theories: Eyepatch Lady a Silent, Amy's baby a Silent, The Nestene Consciousness, River Song's big reveal amongst Cybermen!

If you are looking for a review of this week’s DOCTOR WHO episode, THE REBEL FLESH, I am afraid you will have to wait a week. Like the season openers, I am not going to review one episode of a two-parter, and instead will wait till this Saturday’s THE ALMOST PEOPLE airs to weigh in.

That said we ought to have SOME DW goodness today, so how about some more crackpot theories?

Okey day!

Just one thing before we start. The eypatch lady. You know, the one from episode two and three (and now five) who appears ever so briefly, mostly says nothing through a window that shouldn’t be there and Amy doesn’t think to mention her (is she a Silent?) to anyone? Yeah that lady. Something needs to happen with her. Either progress her story or don’t put her in. I’m getting rather annoyed by her to be honest. I realize she’s there to say “Hey, something still not right here” ect…but oh my god, to have her just randomly appear takes me right out of the episode. While we are on the fact of things reappearing but not progressing…Amy’s Schrodinger pregnancy…there is only so many times that the Doctor can look at the same screen over and over and have nothing progress.

I mention all that ranting because my first crackpot theory is this:

-The eyepatch lady is some form of a Silent that Amy never remembers seeing. I also think that Amy’s pregnancy has something to do with the Silents, and the REASON we keep seeing him look at the same screen with a pregnant/not pregnant scan is that the Doctor sees it for the first time every time and then forgets about it when he turns his head…therefore not mentioning it.

-I also think that the Doctor knowing that the Flesh ™ stuff is an early version of something he’s seen “before” in the latest episode is that it has something to do with the Nestene Consciousness from Season 1 (with Christopher Eccelstone’s 9^th Doctor)…and therefore something to do with the Auton’s giving Rory his desire to be so very helpful of Jennifer Lucas’ not quite evil Ganger. But then you have to bring up the fact that the Nestene appeared in a vat in a warehouse in ROSE (episode 1 of Season 1) in 2005…and this one is in the 22^nd century. The answer being that it is possibly what will become of the Ganger of the Doctor having time traveled?

-Lastly, the upcoming 7^th episode has been mentioned as the one where we finally find out just who River Song is and what it was she did to end up in the Stormcage prison facility and apparently set’s her finally at odds with the Doctor…when she kills a “good man, the best man she ever knew”. The episode is actually called A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR, and its plot concerns Amy being taken by (I believe) the Cybermen (as this is their reappearance in the series for sure) and the Doctor literally going to war to get her back…thus can it finally be assumed that the “good man” River song kills is in fact the Doctor? Beyond that, what about Idris’ line from the last episode that was “The only water in the forest is the river” as something he’d need to know in the future? Where does that fit in, as it seems to be an obvious allusion to River Song herself? Does it tie back to her fist appearance in Season 4 THE SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY/THE FOREST OF THE DEAD Moffat-scripted two-parter? Also seems likely.

Well, that’s it for today’s crackpot theories. Anyone else have something to add, please share in the comments section below!

Cover Art: Snuff by Terry Pratchett (39th Discworld novel)

Consider me uber-excited about this one. Not only a new Discworld book, but a City Watch Discworld book! Those are my absolute faves! Pratchett is on of those authors that I buy right away.  His tongue in cheek style of fantasy always makes for great reading and it contains some of the best dry humour in the biz! Looking forward to this.

TV Review: Game Of Thrones - Episode 5 (The Wolf and The Lion)

And so the pieces start moving.

Sunday’s 5^th episode of GAME OF THRONES on HBO, titled THE WOLF AND THE LION, was basically a chess match coming to a head in which all the pieces that had previously been laid delicately into place, started firing around the board at high speeds.

The action ramped WAY up in this one from minute one. The dialogue sequences (those from the book and those not from the book) are so telling and well acted at this point that I have a hard time deciding which of those scenes is my favourite. The gore factor jumps within minutes, not to be outdone the creepy and crazy factor jumps as well, and all the while one of your favourite characters begins to make poor decisions that while altruistic and honorable, will ultimately have you yelling at the screen “Just go Ned! Run!!”

I honestly would have trouble trying to break this down into a proper review, so I thought I’d go with point form awesome. What say you?

-Maester Luwin going about lessons with a bored Bran while Theon Greyjoy practices archery was really well executed, and I think I need to add that Issac Hempsted-Wright is absolutely firing on the same acting cylinders that fellow child actor Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) is. This kid can act, and brings the perfect balance of bored kid and son of a lord to the scene. The added discussion of fleshing out the Greyjoy rebellion a bit more was nice to see as well.

-Varys is all over this episode, discussing with Ned that the fate of the king might be the same as Jon Arryn if he’s not careful. Facing off against Littlefinger in the Iron Throne room about who knows more about the other, and finally his secreted discussion with Magister Illyrio in the bowels of the Red Keep about Khal Drogo and Daenerys and how things will be affected. I think the Conleth Hill who is playing Varys is really nailing the eunuch now.

-Speaking of Littlefinger, He has a brief “I’m still a creep whispering to Sansa at the Tourney” moment at the beginning, but later on he has some really good scenes, especially the last scene with Ned and Jaime outside the brothel.

-The fight in the Mountains of the Moon with Cat, Tyrion and Bronn and the other bannermen was well executed and acted. The action was palpable and visceral. Tyrion’s defense of himself (saying of the assassination attempt on Bran that Cat accused him of) “What sort of idiot arms an assassin with his own blade?” was perfect and Cat had a moment of doubt. I loved that moment especially because if you really think about it…the events later on in Kings Landing between Ned and Jaime are her fault, and for something that Tyrion didn’t even do. It actually puts my feelings about Catelyn as a character into “stark” (pun!) relief. I feel she’s a great strong woman and mother, but on the other hand I feel she spends a lot of time making really dumb decisions, and that’s not just confined to just this stuff, she continues to make bad decisions.

-This leads into the scene at the Eyrie where Cat finds her sister Lysa (widowed wife of murdered Hand of the King, Jon Arryn) gone right round the bend crazy, like full-on batshit. As she scolds Cat for bringing a cursed Lannister to her impregnable castle in the mountains, she also has a breast out and is breast feeding her son Robert, a boy of eight…yup…I’ll let the creep factor of that settle in for a second…ready to move on? Excellent! Lysa, prompted by her sickly son Robert (“I want to see him fly mommy!”) puts Tyrion in one of her sky cells, a cell with no wall on one side open to the thousands of feet drop off the mountain…much to Tyrion’s chagrin. Kate Dickie who plays Lysa was perfect in the few minutes she was on screen and every bit the woman I recall Lysa being in the books. And of course Peter Dinklage continues to prove why he should win an Emmy for his role, his delivery is impeccable!

-Gethin Anthony and Finn Jones, as Renly Baratheon and Loras Tyrell respectively, have the responsibility of revealing something to the audience of the show that fans of the book series had to speculate on till book four, and that is that they have an illicit gay relationship with one another, and Tyrell spends a bit of time convincing Renly that even though he’s 4^th in line, he should be king. What’s interesting here is that I feel that this scene (not in the books obviously) is a great addition because it will give far more weight to later happenings in this season and especially in season 2 including other people with feelings towards the king’s younger brother (I’m looking at you Brienne of Tarth!).

-Now the meat. Ned VS Jaime. Gods this scene was perfect. I actually sat down after watching it and re-read just that scene in the book to see how accurate it is and it’s not only accurate (dialogue and all), but the additions and live interpretations of the things that happen are welcome and exciting! Ned allows his need to uncover every rock concerning Jon Arryn’s death to overcome good sense, and stupidly goes to talk to the last person Arryn spoke to instead of grabbing his girls and leaving to go north…even though you want to scream at him to just leave. This of course results in Jaime Lannister having the time to hear of his brother’s capture by Lady Stark and confront Ned, Jory Cassel and two other Stark guardsmen outside the brothel. This is the scene where the Starks and the Lannisters REALLY go to war. This is the opening salvo. Jaime wants his brother back and Ned wants justice for Bran (whilst protecting his wife’s decision by taking responsibility for it) and so the standoff begins, but it doesn’t last long. After Littlefinger heads off to find the City Guard, Ned and Jaime have a few short words, then all hell breaks loose. This scene is nice because it gives Jory Cassel a death that is only touched on in the books. The chapter in the book is from Ned’s perspective so he doesn’t see what happens to Jory (and only cradles his dead body after the fact), but here Ned and (we as audience) get to see it…and it also has the added weight of Jory’s conversation with Jaime in the last episode. An excellent scene and homage to the subject matter all told. A really good swordfight between two excellent swordsmen. Nice to see Ice (Ned's Valyrian steel greatsword) in action other than being used as a tool for beheading.

Lastly, Robert and Cersei have a chat that wasn’t in the books, and it actually comes out as one of the best of the quieter scenes in the episode. There is this grudging respect that borders all the words they exchange, and even a touch of humor, but deep down they know what they are to one another. To Robert, Cersei is the key to her fathers money and therefore ability to rule the kingdom, and to Cersei Robert is a means to an end for her family and her desire for the throne.  You can tell all this in the conversation, and even know that at the basest level they are being as honest as they can be with one another about those goals and reasons. It’s also nice to have Cersei finally ask about Lyanna Stark and Robert’s feelings for her…to which Robert is more honest than he’s ever been, and so is Cersei in her response. It’s a quiet scene in which I kept expecting the King to get riled and he doesn’t. He stays calm and the restraint on his personality is well achieved. I think this is Mark Addy’s best work as Robert Baratheon in fact as the emotion is very surface and real.

Indeed and easily the best episode of the season so far, and having read the book I am aware that things will only ratchet up from here. I can’t wait for the next episode!

TV Review: Doctor Who - The Doctor's Wife

I’d like to do this review justice, but it will be hard not to fanboy-gush, so bear with me.

Also, please note that if you haven’t seen the episode yet….stop reading. Right now. It would be damn near impossible to review this episode without spoilers, so be warned there will be such below. I’d also really rather everyone who sees the episode watches it fresh with no previous info ahead of time. Nothing spoiled.

So there, you have been warned.

The 4^th episode of DOCTOR WHO this season, titled THE DOCTOR’S WIFE, was written by none other than fantasy author, DW fan extraordinaire Neil Gaiman. We heard mention of his episode last season, but at the last minute they pulled it and decided to move it to Season 6, causing Gaiman to do a bit of a rewrite. At the time this happened I didn’t get it, but I think I truly understand now why it was moved. The subject matter of the episode is such that requires loving attention of the audience, and last year we spent most of the season concentrated on Amy and the Pandorica ect. It would have been totally lost in all that. Here we have a new season, and one where a future Doctor is still in mortal peril somewhere down the line, Amy is Schrodinger-style preggers but early days yet, and the time is ripe for an episode within that quiet time to tell a story about a madman, and his box.

Neil Gaiman has written what can only be described as a love letter to DOCTOR WHO and its mythos. He has come up with a clever idea that will show the Doctor as bare bones as we’ve yet seen him (Matt Smith’s Doctor that is). This episode eats at the core of what it is that makes the Doctor so lonely, and what it actually means to be the Last of the Timelords.

The Doctor gets a message from what appears to be another timelord, a living one! So the TARDIS crew head in search of it, but it takes them out of the Universe and into a bubble on the outside of it, in which is a spaceship graveyard…that seems to have the remnants of many TARDIS’s. There are patchwork people living there, and a deep booming voice controlling things as well. When the Doctor and Co. arrive though, they not only find things to not be as they thought, but that his own TARDIS’s  matrix has been drained out of her.

It’s not until a little while later that you realize what has happened. These patchwork people are being used as receptacles by the sentience of the junkyard/graveyard to implant TARDIS matrixes into, and Idris (played exquisitely by Suranne Jones) is where the Doctor’s TARDIS has gone. As the episode plays out, the Doctor becomes aware of the fact that Idris is a human embodiment of his ships’ personality and things just get amazing from minute to minute. They argue, they make jokes together, she ponders a name (he’s called her Sexy in the past) and she knows…well pretty much everything. She also swears that it was actually SHE that stole herself a timelord, and not him who stole a TARDIS at all. That was charming indeed.

All the Neil Gaiman staples are represented here: Patchwork people, monikers instead of names (Uncle, Mother), shadows and creepyness and even the dialogue rings true to Gaiman’s style and I loved every second of it. Gaiman also writes the Doctor VERY well. As a fan I am sure he has learned his mannerisms, the quirky nature of our intrepid Gallifreyan seems to fit like a perfect puzzle piece with Gaiman’s whimsical, scattershot writing.

The lost in the TARDIS corridor stuff with Amy and Rory stuck in a kidnapped TARDIS was fun and spooky at times…but they kind of killed Rory (Kenny) again…but I give Gaiman a pass on that since he wrote it before they ever killed Rory in the first place last season. Michael Sheen, it should also be mentioned, does a great job as the disembodied voice/sentience that likes to kidnap and drink TARDIS energy.

Oh, and Idris sending mental messages to Rory was pricelessly hilarious.

I think what steals the show though is Matt Smith and Suranne Jones scene in the TARDIS near the end. This is the first time the Doctor really reveals a deep, heavy emotion and it’s so well done and yet so simple that I can’t help but be in awe a little.

This is probably in my top 3 favourite episodes of the Matt Smith-era (along with THE ELEVENTH HOUR and VINCENT & THE DOCTOR) now. Neil Gaiman, a self-professed fan of the show, has written a wonderful episode that with a fairly simply story gives fans an hour of television that serves to remind us just why it is that we watch this show.

Book Review: World's End (Age Of Misrule #1) - Mark Chadbourn

 When Jack Churchill and Ruth Gallagher encounter a terrifying, misshapen giant beneath a London bridge they are plunged into a mystery which portends the end of the world as we know it. All over the country, the ancient gods of Celtic myth are returning to the land from which they were banished millennia ago. Following in their footsteps are creatures of folklore: fabulous bests, wonders and dark terrors As technology starts to fail, Jack and Ruth are forced to embark on a desperate quest for four magical items - the last chance for humanity in the face of powers barely comprehended.

Received from: PYR Books as a review copy

I had to struggle with this one. I make it a point that I won’t stop reading a review copy of a book, as the publishers were kind enough to send me a copy. I wanted to put this book down so bad that I could taste it, but I didn’t. I read it all the way to the end…but it didn’t help.

Imagine this if you will. In one volume (of a multi-volume series) the author attempts to jam as much information into it as is humanly possible (even though as a series he has much more time to do so), so much so that nearly the entire thing is like one repetitive encounter with various sects of the big bad’s after another that acts alongside info dumps.

Mark Chadbourn’s Age Of Misrule series starts off with the book called WORLD’S END, and while it has a fascinating premise and even starts off really well, it quickly descends into repetitiveness, info dumps and a plethora of Celtic mythology that, try as it may,  just doesn’t interest. The main characters are, for the most part, flat and depth-less. Church and Ruth are the only ones fleshed out and that’s mostly because they pine and moan about the ones they lost in the past, but overall even they could get grating. Things went south for me when the reasons for technology not functioning anymore and magic on the rise, plus the addition of elder species like the “evil” Fomorians comes across as only moderately menacing, and that’s wholly because Chadbourn keeps repeating the process of “evil attacks” “heroes escape harm somehow” over and over again, simply dropping new creatures into the mix.

Along the way there are revelations about what is really going down with the world and how it won’t be the same again, but I always found myself wondering why the baddies don’t do more to total the world. I mean there is a great action setpiece in which a dragon (puzzlingly named “fabulous beast”) attacks the M4….but after that I kept asking myself, you know if there are dragons, why don’t they just take out power centers and leave Britain in utter darkness and cold. Like seriously. I’m not usually one to give the whole “why didn’t so and so do this and it would have been easier” complaint, but here it’s not like it would have made things easier, and in fact would given the protagonists a bigger hill to climb, and perhaps make things more interesting. It was just a thought I couldn’t get out of my head.

Beyond this, there is mention of many Celtic legends and myths most of which, while innocuous,  are somewhat interesting...if not overly so. Chadbourn of course has to bring in the concept of the Wild Hunt, and that is something that (surprisingly enough) has begun to saturate the urban fantasy and fantasy genre...be it in the form we know it in, or in a disguised form. It's overused and totally left a bad taste in my mouth....simply because I care less about it than any other mythological idea. Seriously, I'd rather read a lost Homer novella where Odysseus shows us how to peel potatoes.

There also seems to be a running theme in this about technology as a type of big bad that ruins the world anyways. Magic overtaking it. Born in the early 1960’s, Chadbourn doesn’t even really need to tell us that he grew up in the prime hippy-era late 60’s to early 70’s and I am sure that influenced him with his writing.  However, in a culture that is currently flourishing with technology, the preachyness of that is not well disguised and sticks out enough that it actually bugged me. Only so much more because an author like Alastair Reynolds does the whole environmental awareness thing in his books, but it’s never brutal or preachy and always comes across as subtle and interesting, not to mention thought provoking. Here it just feels like that guy all by himself outside your office in a tye-dyed, patchwork poncho with a homemade sign, protesting. It’s quaint at first, but in the end it is just pointless and annoying.

Lastly, the end of the book sets up the sequels and I found myself actually thinking: My god, I couldn’t read another one of this series if I tried. It just had too much that I had to struggle through to make it worth my while to go on, and there are other author's books begging to be read.

I don’t like ending reviews on bad notes, and I’d like to give Chadbourn some praise. The writing is not bad overall. Aside from the flat characters, the actual prose itself is decent enough and fairly readable. I would actually say that a lot of the book can be considered at a YA reading level in fact. It’s not complex, but it just gets mired in its own information is all. The writing only starts to fray with repetition and the aforementioned character depth. Overall the man knows how to tell a story, I am just not sure that this rambling story should have been all crammed into the first book, and I’m doubly unsure that I would ever want to hear the rest of the story. It just wasn’t for me. I mention all this only because I feel that I’d love to give Chadbourn another try with one of his unrelated works, but I’m going to give his books a rest for a while first, and I certainly don’t want to finish the Age Of Misrule series.

However, I am perfectly sure that this book would appeal to other folk. My taste is not everyone's taste. There is a story here that, if you think it interesting will probably enjoy. My issues with the book may not bother some of you folks and you might think this is a great series, so I'm not going to discourage reading it. In fact seek it out and give it a bit of a perusal if you think I am off my rocker (which has been known to happen, usually with beer), as it could be a great read for you.

TV Review: HBO's Game Of Thrones Episode 4 (Cripples, Bastards & Broken Things)

 

Ah, now things are settling into a nice rhythm and groove. It’s not as if the actors playing the various parts haven’t been good till now, but having been a fan of these books for like fifteen years, I needed them to settle into their parts completely. I think Daenerys and Catelyn especially take their roles to new levels in this episode.

Titled “Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things”, the 4^th episode of HBO’s GAME OF THRONES starts to set the bigger machinations of the first book into play, and it’s nice to see that at only episode 4 of 10,  things seem ready to ramp up to level ten as of episode 5. 

The production is again, gorgeous across the board. With the series still staying fairly close to the book, the writing is well done and everything that needs to be represented is. 

Bran. Here we start to see one of the larger plot arcs, and that would be Bran's dreams and most especially the 3-eyed crow, show up...those who haven't read the books, this will make more sense down the line, trust me. Bran being a fave character in the books, it's nice to see this attention to his character being paid early on. Also, Hodor! Hodor, Bran's large stablehand friend (and /transport/carrier) who is simple (and only ever says "Hodor" to varying degrees) shows up in a part that I am sure is hard to play, and it is done justice to the books.

Dany starts to show her true character arc, one in which she is NOT to be messed with, and with the collected might of Khal Drogo’s Bloodriders (his bodyguards, and therefore hers as well) and that of Ser Jorah Mormont, her nasty brother Viserys finally starts to see that he is Dragon of nothing.

Meanwhile at the Wall, Jon Snow meets one of my favourite characters from the books, namely one Samwell Tarly. John Bradley-West plays the character of fat craven Sam with such an amazing sense of depth that I was rather stunned by his performance and I think he stole the show. His beatings at the hands of the crueler recruits of the Night’s Watch and then Jon, Pip, and Grenn’s later defense of him (including our first look at Jon’s now bigger albino direwolf Ghost) is spot on perfect. The piece that totally steals the show is his response to Jon asking him about being a craven and why he would take the Black in such a case. There is a raw, thick emotion to his voice as he relates the story of his father’s (Randyll, Lord of House Tarly in the South) threat that he go to the wall and join the Night's Watch or Randyll would have him killed in an “accident”…as according to his father he is not FIT to inherit the Tarly lands. That scene is so well done on Bradley-West’s part that I was sold on him as Samwell completely. Sam is such an amazingly realistic character, and one that as the general public we can immediately identify...simply because he's not special, he can't do anything to become special, and in the end he is as everyday as it gets. To me this is why he hits home with us.

Tyrion, on his way south from the Wall stops in Winterfell and gets a cold welcome from Robb (Lord Stark while his father is away), but he then proceeds to help Bran cope with being a cripple by giving him a saddle design that will allow him to ride a horse. This is so key, because up till this point Catelyn and others have made him suspect (especially last week when Littlefinger mentioned he lost the dagger that nearly took Bran’s life to the imp in a wager) in the attempted assassination on Bran. This starts to show that while Tyrion is as ruthless as his brother and sister, there is something in him that causes him to be honorable as well. It was nice to see that show up, and once again Dinklage owns every scene he is in. This point is even more illustrated later on in the episode when Catelyn and Rodrick Cassel are at the inn and she calls the bannermen of her father’s house to her aid in accusing Tyrion of organizing the assassination attempt and taking him prisoner. I like that because it’s one of those things that really shows Catelyn for what she is, a mother who will do anything at her wits end. Tyrion is clearly innocent of the charge since he is the smartest of the Lannister brood and would never do something so plainly stupid as hire a common thug for the job. If he had organized it, he’d have hired a Faceless Man of Braavos (assassin culture across the narrow sea) and Bran would be dead. No, he didn’t do it, and finally we start to see that to be the case. Tyrion also has a quick scene with Theon Greyjoy, ward of Ned Stark. It’s a nice little scene that explains the backstory of Balon Greyjoy’s  (Theon’s father) rebellion when Robert was first on the throne, how that rebellion was subsequently put down and Theon taken as a ward/captive for Balon’s good behavior. Since the Greyjoys take a much bigger role in the story down the road, this was a nice little preliminary setup piece that I quite liked.

The Tourney. Ah, this is great scene. Why? Because it is paid little attention to. Ned doesn’t want the Tourney to happen at all, and so the first part of it (the rest will show in the next episode) is treated almost as an afterthought. I liked that. Here we have the last remnant of Jon Arryn’s time as Hand (in the form of his squire-turned-knight Ser Hugh) taken out. Thus do we get our first look at Gregor Clegane (the Hound’s brother), otherwise called the Mountain That Rides and he is absolutely huge and quite menacing. We get our first real death, and it’s a gory one (kudos to HBO for not skimping on the gore).  Then there's King Robert (who in the books I actually had more respect for) who continues to prove that in his old age he is a fat, drunk, whoring, piss poor king making bad judgments. It clearly illustrates that Robert’s best time is in the past when he was a young warrior and he stood for something righteous and just. It continues to reveal that he is not even a shadow of that person anymore and Ned clearly sees it.  Robert has literally beggared the realm to Lord Tywin Lannister (Cersei, Jamie and Tyrion’s father) paying for excesses.

It should be noted that there are a number of scene’s that aren’t in the book within this episode. They are small scenes, and I don’t feel like they detract from the story at all. One with Arya speaking with Ned about her future is actually very poignant and simply adds to her character plotline. There is one between Jaime and Jory Cassel that is excellent at demonstrating not only Roberts’ treatment of his Queen (whether it is deserved or not), but also shows how when talking about war, battles and glory Jamie is jovial and forthcoming, but the minute he is not speaking of such things he goes right back to being the arrogant, incestuous Kingslayer. Nice character building for Jaime there.

The last scene I should talk about is Littlefinger’s story about brothers The Hound and The Mountain (Sandor and Gregor Clegane) and their loathing of each other, including the revelation that Gregor is actually responsible for the Hound’s face being burned and melted. Now, in the books The Hound himself tells Sansa this story, but I can understand why they chose to let Littlefinger tell it (you'll see) and I’m not bothered by him doing so at all. My issue is that after Ser Hugh & Gregor’s joust ends, the crowd just kind of sits there in hushed whispers not really talking…giving Littlefinger five minutes of utter quiet in which to tell his story. It comes off as odd to be honest. I’d much rather if the silence was for us the audience alone, like it muffles as he tells Sansa the story, and then un-muffles and you hear the crowd again after he finishes. It would have made more sense really. The way it was done makes the scene stand out like a sore thumb sadly. That said, it is a great piece of exposition so i am not that upset.

Overall another great episode and it really sets the stage for the 5^th episode, which is where all the action starts to go down and the pieces that have been laid out thus far begin to really move. I really think the best scene in the whole of episode 4 is the one between Jon Snow and Samwell on the Wall though.

In the next episode: Look for the Tourney to continue and The Mountain That Rides will take on Knight of the Flowers, Loras Tyrell...who is an interesting character in his own right.