1.1 I Wasn't Ready

I watched the first 15 minutes separately, because my lunch was cooking, and that bit was upsetting enough by itself. 'They'll call me "sweetie"'. I liked the way the monstrous power of state oppression showed its first claw with the phone bit.

I thought the 'you do not have to have lesbian sex' joke was a bit obvious, but I did enjoy 'You studied for prison?' That was the first bit that made me react with anything other than sadness and fear.

The different levels of flashback were well handled. I particularly liked the way we worked our way back round to the shower breast compliment aftermath point, and then continued with the 'present' timeline.

Some of the jump cuts between past and present were predictable. I saw the initial shower one coming immediately. I didn't expect the cliffhanger though.

As I say, I found this episode really, really upsetting, and I watched all of Game of Thrones without turning a hair. That, of course, is because I don't really expect to be tortured by Ramsay Bolton or dismembered by the army of the dead, but there are lots of ways I could end up in prison, so I can't prevent myself from identifying with Piper.

My friend with the modern telly was quite right though, there are lots of reasons not to like her. I can see why people wouldn't. In some respects she's shallow and foolish, and as they said at the breakfast table, she does think she's fancy. If I wanted to detach myself from the action by refusing to identify with Piper, I'd do it by focusing on those attributes. But there's more to her than that.