Any room on that bandwagon? A Game of Thrones review...

[cj2017]

And so it begins. Game of Thrones, one of the most hyped and anticipated television shows in a very long time (online at least, I’m sure my mum and most of the people I know in RL couldn’t give a stuff!), finally hits the small screen, or the small computer screen in my own case (and probably that of several million others)...

 

I’ll be honest, I’m not really one for Fantasy as a genre. I did make it through the entire Lord of the Rings movie saga and have vague memories of gorgeous mountains, portentous dialogue, epic battles, ridiculous talking trees and a final instalment that just flat out refused to fucking end, no matter how hard I or my numb buttocks willed it to. So, had GoT not cast Lena Headey in one of the central roles, the chances are that – hype or no hype – I would probably have given it a very wide berth. But it did, so I did the dutiful fan-girl thing and bought the first book. I left it sitting unopened for a couple of months before reading the prologue on an evening of boring telly. Kinda loved it (sorry, haters) and devoured the rest of the novel and then the series so far in pretty short order.

HBO’s adaptation of GoT is based on the first (and very much the strongest) of George R.R. Martin’s series. The premiere last night (Winter is Coming) set its stall out with a very faithful rendering of the prologue that so neatly sucked me into the books: a huge wall of ice, three mysterious men stumbling across the scene of a gruesome slaughter, and the promise of something seriously nasty lurking about in the woods.

Roll credits. And what astonishingly luscious credits they are too. One of the most striking aspects of this first episode is how much of the quite extraordinary amount of money that HBO has chucked at the show makes it onto the screen. The sets and artwork are stunning, the locations beautiful – the North appropriately dour, green and misty, while Malta standing in for Pentos is a stark contrast of sun, sea and sin. Extras teem in their hundreds and – almost as if they have a sneaky suspicion exactly to what extent their work will be scrutinised – painstaking attention has been paid to the little details in costuming, set dressing and set pieces. The only jarring note visually came from Bran’s dash across Winterfell’s walls, where the green screen stood up to take a very apparent bow, but that’s me splitting hairs really…

As ever with fantasy, the world takes a little settling into. In parts of this opener, the dialogue sounds stilted and exposition-heavy, there are more characters than you can remember the names of and past history is alluded to but not dwelt upon. Even so early in the game, this is a series that expects you to commit, to tune in again next week and to pay attention to the details. Doubtless some will turn tail and flee, but for those who stick around, the confidence evident in the sheer scope and ambition of the thing can only be encouraging.

Cast-wise there’s barely a duff note so far. Sean Bean has never really done much for me, but he’s a decent, solid presence as the decent, solid Patriarch of the North. Michelle Fairley as his wife Catelyn is sadly a huge energy-suck but the role was ever a thankless one – she’s basically a dull pain in the arse in the novels – so in this I guess they are also being faithful. Of their offspring, Maisie Williams’ Arya stands out. Despite her relatively minor introduction, she seems to have the perfect amount of devilment, which bodes well for the rest of the series.

Over in House Lannister, Peter Dinklage is obviously having a hell of a lot of fun with Tyrion – as well he might, given the Imp’s exploits. Nikolaj (whoops, watch that accent, mate!) Coster-Waldau didn’t do much till the very end where he seemed to warm to the role of Jaime quite nicely, but yeah yeah what about their sister? Personally, I reckon Headey will be just fine as Cersei. Even with a pretty small role in this first episode, her distinct air of aloof boredom had a pleasingly nasty current running just below the surface, and she displayed a nifty flair for the delivery of thinly veiled barbs. The North/South divide in the show, cutely evinced by the regional accents of the cast, might go right over the head of a US audience, but Cersei’s obvious distaste at being dragged away from her beautiful capital city to visit with the muddy peasants oop North (they even called it grim!) gave this Brit a quiet little chuckle.

This being a HBO show, it really wasn’t one to watch with mother. Beheadings, blow jobs, rampant shagging, nudity, and eviscerations (followed by more shagging) all managed to squeeze their way into this first hour, but there was one place the creators didn’t follow Martin. In the novel, the underage bride Daenerys consents to and seemingly enjoys her deflowering at the hands of the warlord she has been forced to marry. This adaptation takes a different stance, making it quite clear that there was no consent from Dany and certainly no pleasure. It may piss off the faithful but from where I was sitting it seemed a brave and common sense stance to take. If they can tone down some of the more dubious sexual aspects of the novels and instead bring to the fore the surprisingly strong cast of female characters, this show – already very good – really does have the potential to be great.

Comments

[missnyah.livejournal.com]

Generally agreed on all fronts really. I was completely amused by Dinklage. If the series is an utter flop, I feel like that guy will just grin and look back at how much fun he had. In terms of Lannisters, I'm very curious about what angle the directors are going with Jaime. I haven't read the books in a few years but I don't really remember him ever speaking for himself for the first ... few thousand pages? I liked Lena's take on Cersei. Her face said, "I don't particularly need your sympathy but I'm certainly not going out of my way to pretend I'm glad to be here."

As far as accents go, I'm sure a lot of it went over my head. But I did find it kind of telling that Jon Snow and Ned sounded more "Northern" than anybody else.

[cj2017.livejournal.com]

I was completely amused by Dinklage.

Oh he has fantastic potential. He was fan fave for the role before he had even been cast and it's pretty obvious why. Just perfect for Tyrion. IIRC he has more scenes with Cersei in the second book, which we should now get to see with the show already being renewed.

I haven't read the books in a few years but I don't really remember him ever speaking for himself for the first ... few thousand pages?

No, I don't think he had much to do at all. I wonder if the expansion of his role has something to do with giving Lena more screen time (Cersei is also a very minor role in GoT). She's one of the bigger names in the project so that might have a part in it. I found him a little insipid (and his accent slightly bizarre!) and now I can't look at him the same way after reading someone on TWOP likening him to the Prince in Shrek! There is a remarkable LOL-worthy resemblance!

Jon and Ned definitely had Northern accents (Bean's a Yorkshire man with a very broad tone!) The Lannisters were more "proper" BBC English. I don't know whether the North/South thing was even intentional with regard to it referencing the N/S split over here, but it did make me smile.