Game of Thrones: The Rains of Castamere

As sick as this sounds, I've seriously been waiting for The Red Wedding for the entirety of season three.  Not because I was excited to watch Robb and Catelyn Stark be brutally murdered, but because my husband never finished reading Storm of Swords.  He was so close to it.  He says he remembers talk of Edmure Tully marrying Roslin Frey to smooth over things after Robb Stark went and fucked it all up with Jeyne Westerling.  But, that's the last he recalls.

So close.

So, you can imagine the anticipation I've been in all season, wondering when The Red Wedding would feature.  I can't lie, I was mildly surprised that they didn't save it for the season finale.  I had fully expected them to, and the end of The Rains of Castamere was exactly how I had anticipated they'd end the season.  So, I'm very interested to see what next week brings.

But, this isn't about next week.  This is about Sunday.  The Day the Starks Died.

You can't help comparing the show to the books, if you've read them.  Being that I have, and I knew what was coming, I spent the entire episode up until the last fifteen minutes or so biting my nails and trying to keep a straight face and not fidget too much in my chair.  I thought HBO did such a good job of lulling everyone into a false sense of security.  Things with Dani ultimately went well, even if Ser Jorah was ruthlessly friendzoned.  Arya threatened to stab the Hound in the face, Edmure ended up with a smokin' hot wife, Bran superworged Hodor and we had some tears at Rickon's surprise soliloquy, but it wasn't too bad, and it was for his own good.  Gilly told Sam he was a wizard because he can read.  Jon Snow ran off and left Ygritte, which I'm sure jerked on some heartstrings.  All in all, a fairly typical Game of Thrones, right?

Except for the murdering.

In the books, Catelyn makes a super big deal out of the fact that everyone has to be sure to eat Walder Frey's food and take his drink.  This is because, once they've done that, they are guests in this house and it would basically be really bad form to slaughter them all, or something silly like that.  The first thing you notice in Catelyn's chapter (wherein there is much massacreing) that seems amiss is how god awful the minstrels are.  She goes so far as to remark on how she can't tell what song they're playing.  On the show, however, Catelyn says something about the minstrels being good.  In the book, you're sort of like, "Huh... I wonder why she chose to tell us how bad the music is.  Whatever.  WEDDING FEAST!"  Roose Bolton is totally there in the books, and he's totally sitting next to Catelyn, but it isn't him she finds the chainmail on.  It's what's-his-face-Frey who goes to shut the doors before all the killin'.  She grabs his arm, realizes he's wearing chain mail and has a definite "Oh shit" moment.

But, that's okay.  I thought they did that just fine on the show.  In the books, just as on the show, Catelyn has her second "Oh shit" moment when she realizes that the God Awful Minstrels of the Twins are playing "The Rains of Castamere."  This is bad if you know your Westerosi history because, A.) it's typically associated with the Lannsters, which is because B.) they fucking killed all of House Reyne in a bloody massacre.

Oh shit is right, Lady Stark.

There's also the fact that Catelyn bitchslaps Roose Bolton, which does happen in the book, except that it isn't Roose, it's still what's-his-name-Frey.  

As most people know, Talisa is not a character in the books.  She was created specifically for the show and, up until this episode, I had really wondered why.  Robb married Jeyne Westerling in the book, and he did it because he loved her and also probably because she was smokin' hot. Jeyne is not only never pregnant with Robb's child in the book, but she isn't even present at The Red Wedding.  So, I'm guessing HBO dreamed up Talisa for some gratuitous violence.  How can you make audiences desensitized by a crossbow bolt to Ros' crotch still cringe?  Stab a pregnant woman multiple times in the abdomen to complete, stunned silence.  And, holy shit, that was pretty brutal.  Of course, I also felt like it was pretty needless  I like Talisa okay, for a Character That Never Happened, but her violent death was really unnecessary and it came across as if her character had only been created because HBO decided they wanted to go all Roman Polansky's house at The Twins.

Aside from that, however, I thought the rest of the scene was well done.  Robb's death was pretty accurate.  Except that Roose Bolton doesn't say, "The Lannisters send their regards," in the book.  He says, "Jaime Lannister sends his regards."  I'm not sure why they changed that, unless they're not wanting everyone to hate on Jaime, so they removed it.  But, Catelyn gets a knife and snatches up, not Walder Frey's wife, but his simple-minded grandson, Jinglebell (or Aegon Frey).  I cannot even tell you how horrible I felt for Jinglebell in that scene.  God, it was awful.

On the show, of course, Catelyn grabs Walder's wife and tells him she'll slit the woman's throat if he doesn't let Robb go.  And, Walder Frey being Walder Frey, is basically like, "I have no fucks to give, woman," and has Robb killed.  I saw some complaints of "over acting" on Michelle Fairley's part in the show, and I would just like to point out that in the books, Catelyn goes a little insane and starts laughing maniacally, to the point that one of the Frey guys is like, "Um... I think maybe she's crazy."

She slits Jinglebell's throat (oh, poor Jinglebell) and then has her own throat slit for her.  But let me interject this.  Last night, I was talking to a friend of mine about how I didn't necessarily think that the books were more brutal than the show.  I used examples of Ros' death, which never happened, and of Talisa's death, which never happened.  However, emotionally, I might be wrong there.  I had completely forgotten about the fact that George R.R. Martin is a sadistic bastard.  Seriously.  Look at this:

It hurts so much, she thought, Our children, Ned, all our sweet babes.  Rickon, Bran, Arya, Sansa, Robb . . . Robb . . . please, Ned, please, make it stop, make it stop hurting . . . The white tears and the red ones ran together until her face was torn and tattered, the face that Ned had loved.  Catelyn Stark raised her hands and watched the blood run down her long fingers, over her wrists, beneath the sleeves of her gown.  Slow red worms crawled along her arms and under her clothes.  It tickles. That made her laugh until she screamed.  "Mad," someone said, "she's lost her wits," and someone else said , "Make an end," and a hand grabbed her scalp just as she'd done with Jinglebell, and she thought, No, don't, don't cut my hair, Ned loves my hair.  Then the steel was at her throat, and its bite was red and cold.

- Storm of Swords, Catelyn, Pg 122

When I got to the part about her hair, I almost lost it, man.  What is wrong with you, George Martin?  You sick bastard.  So, I guess, in that sense, the book is more brutal that the show.  But, they still did a pretty good job of conveying the betrayal of House Stark.

Now, we'll have to see if they actually sew Grey Wind's head onto Robb's body, because damn that might have been worse than the rest of it.