Westeros

Besides our episode guide, with our commentary and recap, there were quite a few notable recaps, reviews, and reactions released immediately following the airing of “The Kingsroad”. Plus, HBO’s released a preview of the next episode. See below for some of the highlights!

• Alan Sepinwall—one of the critics who hasn’t read the books—gives his views, and quite liked the episode. He also says some insightful things regarding his perspective as someone who is pretty much entirely new to the story, with only vague references to detail he’s been informed of by readers. Of note, he brings up the point that the reasons for why some of the children go and others stay is not at all discussed in the show, while it’s explained in the book. It’s an interesting point.
• So interesting, that Myles McNutt of Cultural Learnings also mentions it. His review is excellent, in particular as he discusses the suggestion that the show lacks thematic unity, a suggestion made by both Ryan McGee and Maureen Ryan, who were both somewhat disappointed about the show.
• Speaking of Mo, she has her recap/review up, which goes into more detail regarding why she found this episode the weakest of the six she received from HBO. While we respectfully disagree with her on some of her points, it’s useful to get a different perspective on the nuts-and-bolts of television storytelling, and how it differs from a novel.
• James Poniewzoik gives his recap over at Time.com.
• And what’s likely to be another entry in the “Funniest recaps” category comes from EW, via James Hibberd, Some great lines in this recap, to say the least. I admit it, the Arizona State quip made me laugh out loud.

It’s not all just professionals, though. OtakuASSEMBLE had a fantastic first episode commentary last week, and the man is back with his views on episode 2. We love his enthusiasm—there’s a great deal of charm as he interrogates what he saw, trying to fit pieces together, and generally just going with the flow. He may get some details wrong here and there, but that’s a testament both to his enthusiasm and to the complexity of the story:

And then a post-episode commentary from Jason Momoa, as he’s asked by MTV’s Kara Warner about the sex scene:

And after you’ve gotten through all that… here’s the preview for the next episode, titled “Lord Snow”: