Game of Thrones: Season 1 Review

Winter is coming. You're damn right it is, Ned Stark. The words of House Stark ring all too true in HBO's "Game of Thrones," adapted from George R.R. Martin's popular series A Song of Ice and Fire (with Game of Thrones being the title of book 1). Season 1 is essentially tackling material exclusively from the first book. Going forward this may change but that's a topic for another day when I'm bored and have 2 another hours to kill in the computer lab.

Here is the plot in a nutshell (without spoilers for the few people who are not aware of the events of season 1 or book 1). In the fictional land of Westeros, the seven kingdoms are in a constant struggle for power. Robert Baratheon sits the iron throne (it's a throne made of melted swords, is that bad ass enough for you) after overthrowing the "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen. All is not well in the reign of King Robert. The hand of the king, John Arryn has died under mysterious circumstances and Robert travels north to Winterfell to ask his loyal subject and friend Eddard "Ned" Stark to take up the position of hand. Ned soon finds out that the politics of King's Landing have him a little out of his element. Meanwhile, across the narrow sea, Daenerys and Viserys Targaryen plot to take back the throne from the "Usurper," Robert. This comes as a blow to King Robert who believed all the Targaryen children to be dead (after all, when overthrowing a King it's natural to order all the children to be killed regardless of age). Despite the massive power struggle in the seven kingdoms, the true threat may lie north of the wall, where the men of the night's watch keep constant vigilance. An ancient threat, thought to be no more than a children's tale, has awakened in the frigid north. The white walkers have returned sowing death and destruction north of the wall. All that stands between the walkers and the south is the magical wall and the night's watch, with ever shrinking numbers.

The Baratheons, Lannisters, and Starks are at the center of the power struggle, but who will win out? Could the Targaryen's return and claim the kingdom for themselves? Will the white walkers make their way south of the wall and plunge Westeros into never ending winter? These are the questions the series seeks to answer and begins to answer in season 1.

What is my take on season 1 of the HBO series? I personally loved D.B. Weiss and David Benioff's adaption of Martin's novels. Having read all the books that have been released to date, there are five in case you were wondering, I am happy to say that the show is an extremely faithful adaptation. This is not surprising as Martin was a producer on the show and even wrote an episode for season 1, something he wants to do for each season. The look of the show is incredible, it is the best looking HBO show I have seen to date. A lot of credit goes to the behind the scenes people for an amazing attention to detail. Locations, costumes and buildings all look fantastic and truly faithful to Martin's world. The cast is also fantastic, this is saying something for a show that has almost too many characters to keep track of (yes, they are that numerous in the books as well). This could really become a hindrance in lesser hands. Having read the books I have a bit of an upper hand, and talking to friends who watch the show they did have a bit of trouble keeping all the character's names sorted out. In addition, I have to give a lot of credit to the child actors they cast for the show as they were an integral part of the story. The children are thrown into difficult situations and the actors handled them extremely well.

I would be remiss if I didn't highlight my favorite performances. Sean Bean is pitch perfect as the hardened northerner Ned Stark. Bean, an underrated actor, makes Ned an extremely likable but complex man. In Martin's world, Ned is about as close to cut and dried "good" as you can get. Don't let that fool you into thinking he's a static character. Ned is an extremely loyal man, loyal to a fault in fact. When these loyalties begin to conflict, it begins to break Ned down. The anguish of remaining loyal to the kindgom or keeping his family safe is readily apparent in the pained eyes of Bean, who's able to express just as much with his eyes as with his dialogue. It is an incredible performance and I feel Bean was snubbed during awards season (not even a nomination, c'mon!).

Peter Dinklage one a Golden Globe and an emmy for his turn as Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf son of Tywin Lannister. Stuck in the shadow of his warrior brother Jaime and utterly loathed by his father, Tyrion relies on wit and intelligence to make his way in life (that and a love for wine and whores). Dinklage was more than deserving of the awards he garnered. He really has a gift for playing the mouthy imp, who despite his crass behavior is an extremely likable character. At the same time, Dinklage makes it clear that their is real emotion and pain behind the joking facade.

Kit Harrington excels as Jon Snow, Ned Stark's bastard son who chooses to join the night's watch and Lena Headey is fantastic as Cersei Lannister, a woman who will do anything to protect her children. I also have to give a lot of credit to Mark Addy, who I was initially skeptical about, for his turn as King Robert. While Addy was great as the boisterous, often drunk King Robert, he surprised me with his ability to show a tender side to Robert. Just watch his scene with Lena Headey in which Robert and Cersei discuss their marriage and don't have your ass blown off. It's a knockout scene!

Finally, I have to mention Emilia Clarke. Wow, what a role for an actress fresh out of film school to tackle. Daenarys is an extremely complex character that goes through a drastic change in book one. Clarke is excellent at changing from the timid Dany to the 'blood of the dragon,' fully embracing her destiny. She has an interesting chemistry with Khal Drogo (played by Jason Momao intimidating even wearing eyeliner) that matures right before our eyes. It is a star making role.

So far this has been all positives, of which there are many, but I do have to mention a few things that didn't quite do it for me. The casting choice of Catelyne Stark never quite did it for me. Don't get me wrong, Michelle Fairley does a fine job, but I simply had such a different view of Catelyn in my mind. She is described as extremely beautiful, although careworn. Fairley, while not ugly, is not exactly a head turner. I believe they were more focused on making her look more careworn and aged to match the stern look of Ned. In this regard, I guess I can see the reason for the decision. Next, I didn't like them shoving Renly's homosexuality down the viewer's throats (no pun intended). This is something that is only ever hinted at in the books, and while I have no problem with him being a gay character, I don't believe you have to show a guy going down on him to drive that point home. Subtlety is apparently something they didn't have time for.

Overall, season 1 of "Game of Thrones" was amazing. The cast and crew did an incredible job of bringing Martin's world to life. D.B. Weiss and David Benioff deserve a ton of credit for transitioning the very difficult source material to screen and I'm glad they chose HBO because they didn't want to tone down the material (which would have really ruined the show) for network TV. While it wasn't absolutely perfect, it was damn close. Sure, I'm a little biased as a massive fan of the books, but at the same time, that made my expectations for the show that much higher. Let's hope that season 2 can reach the bar set by season 1. After all, when you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.

Score: 10/10