On the train back from the filming in Stockholm yesterday, my head was just full of A Song of Ice and Fire & Game of Thrones. I kept coming up with questions I would have loved to discuss, though in most cases the answers would have been too lengthy. One that ended up occupying my mind quite a bit was what my favourite added scenes were during the first season.
Because, yes, I do have quite a few. If a scene truly felt as if it could have been in the book if a character had been a point of view, then I think it really brought something special to the tv show.
First on the list would be anyhing with Harry Lloyd. This is not just because Harry Lloyd is (or was, rather—big sigh) the most beautiful actor on the show, but because he really both became Viserys and extrapolated on Viserys in a wonderful way. I may be a little swayed by the fact that we know he read the books and became quite the fan, but I think it is just as likely that his love for the books is what really allowed him to take the character as written and expand on him without changing him. He is, by far, the best casting choice in the series so far and his performance changed my opinion on Viserys. I no longer seeing him as just a mad villain, I really empathize with his plight. That doesn’t excuse his treatment of Dany (or anyone else), but I can really see where he was coming from.
Next on the list would be the private scene with Loras and Renly. I really wish they hadn’t changed Renly, but I think it was a great choice to show the two characters in private. I think it will make the impact of Renly’s untimely demise that much stronger and I hope they play it so that Loras’s reaction is in part driven by the guilt of having encouraged Renly to aim so high. Again, I am perhaps somewhat swayed by the very thoughtful interpretations of Loras and Renly by Finn Jones and Gethin Anthony.
While I loathe the brothel sexposition scene with Littlefinger as an overly obvious, mustache-twirling villain laying out his plot, I really like the scene between Littlefinger and Varys in the last episode. Conleth Hill’s voice is so perfect that I heard it in my head when reading the last chapter of A Dance with Dragons and I think the way he and Littlefinger dance with each other in this scene is quite fabulous. Its perhaps true that they say more than they would, but I think it works.
Honorable mentions go to the farewell scene between Ned and Jon because they snuck in the “promise” part and to the scene between Jorah and Rakharo.