I realize it would be kind of tedious to introduce such a minor character as Lollys Stokeworth just to place Shae as her maid, but they could have simply referred to her without ever introducing her. I really don't like that they put Shae with Sansa. The whole point of Tyrion giving Shae the job is to keep her away from Cersei, and Sansa is around Cersei all the time. That whole scene was stupid and unnecessary.
Also, they're really going overboard with the Knight of the Flowers and Renly's gay relationship. You would barely know that it exists in the book unless you really read closely and looked for subtle hints (which are great now that the show has made it so explicitly clear). Margaery suggesting that Loras join Renly and her in the sack is taking it a little too far, though. I cringed when she suggested he do her from behind so it would remind him of Loras.
Last night's episode was really outstanding, though. I loved the way they handled the betrayal scene when Tyrion tells Pycelle, Varys, and Littlefinger about his plan to marry off Myrcella.
As someone who hasn't read the book, I actually rather enjoyed the Sansa/Shae exchange there. Granted I have a hard time following alot of the characters. Dunno exactly why, though. They could be playing too much in to Sansa's current fear/frustration and Shae's....worthlessness?
As for the Loras/Renly, I think somethings are just tough to do subtly on tv. Especially when you're trying to cram things down a bit. It's one of those things that seems to play a fairly large part in some of the wheeling n dealin (or set up to) and it seems one of those things that's just easier to throw out there, even if it's unabashed.
I'm not sure why they are making it so clear in the TV show. As said earlier, in the novels it's only a small bit that careful readers pick up - most casual 1-and-off readers would probably just keep skimming through and only vaguely remember that Loras really, really supports Renly. It really doesn't influence the plot at all to make them overt lovers instead of implied. So, to me, it's just a ratings/trending thing to have a prominent gay couple in a fantasy setting. Which I'm totally supportive of, at the cost of kind of ruining a nice little bit of gossip/scandal from the books that many readers missed.
I realize it would be kind of tedious to introduce such a minor character as Lollys Stokeworth just to place Shae as her maid, but they could have simply referred to her without ever introducing her.
Well, you answer your question as you ask it. It would be tedious, so they do not do it. Introducing a character like Lollys not only wastes time that the TV show needs to move the narrative forward, it would require hiring and paying another actor on what looks like a really expensive TV show. And making Shae a maid to a character we never see, as you suggest, would confuse the viewer.
I read all five of those books and my conclusion was that while the story is very interesting, there is a hell of a lot of padding and extraneous detail. Martin's books are improved by being stripped down for a TV program.
longhornbaseball wrote:Also, they're really going overboard with the Knight of the Flowers and Renly's gay relationship. You would barely know that it exists in the book unless you really read closely and looked for subtle hints (which are great now that the show has made it so explicitly clear). Margaery suggesting that Loras join Renly and her in the sack is taking it a little too far, though. I cringed when she suggested he do her from behind so it would remind him of Loras.[/spoiler]
That's very true about Renly and Loras. I hadn't given it much thought while reading the books. The hints are very clear in retrospect, but I had just never thought it all the way through. I really felt like an idiot watching Game of Thrones where they make it so obvious. I really did wonder how Margaery could make it through 5 books and 2 marriages and still claim to be a virgin. I just assumed she was always lying about it.
Vidor wrote:Well, you answer your question as you ask it. It would be tedious, so they do not do it. Introducing a character like Lollys not only wastes time that the TV show needs to move the narrative forward, it would require hiring and paying another actor on what looks like a really expensive TV show. And making Shae a maid to a character we never see, as you suggest, would confuse the viewer.
I don't have HBO, so I'm not watching season 2 yet and can only comment based on the books and season 1, but it seems like if you're going to get characters like Yoren and Janos Slynt in there, who are prominent but replaceable with nameless stand-ins, then you also need Lollys. She's a running joke for 3 books. Her family plays a more prominent role at court as Cersei takes control. And I might be wrong, but doesn't she end up married to Bronn? She just seems like a character that they would have found useful in the King's Landing for the next few seasons.
Lollys is a tertiary character that gets married off to a secondary character. This is the kind of character you lose when you condense great whopping big books into TV miniseries.
So, to me, it's just a ratings/trending thing to have a prominent gay couple in a fantasy setting. Which I'm totally supportive of, at the cost of kind of ruining a nice little bit of gossip/scandal from the books that many readers missed.
Definitely a ratings thing. I don't mind, necessarily, nor do I think it harms the show... but HBO seems to love shoehorning that particular storyline into every single show they can. In a vacuum, it's cool to represent it. But in every... single... show... it starts to become cliché. Seriously, think about it- Sopranos, Six Feet Under, True Blood, Game of Thrones, The Wire with Kima...
