Game of Thrones 1st Episode 'Winter is Coming' Review

Yesterday marked the UK premiere of HBO's highly anticipated Game of Thrones adaptation on Sky Atlantic. I sat down well in advance to catch it with my girlfriend, and fair to say, it kicked all kinds of ass. And taught me how I'd been pronouncing those names wrong all along.
 
Prior to the first episode, I had been anxious that the small screen format might not manage to capture the absolutely vast scale of the book that it draws from, but such fears were laid to rest here. This first episode (and I suppose, the next one too) formed more of a introduction to the key players in the series and the general attitudes of the different kingdoms, clans and families  of Westeros and across the Narrow Sea that will very shortly be at each others throats. The focus was therefore mainly on a central bloc of Eddard, Daenerys, Tyrion and, unusually as a break from the original narrative, Jaime and Cersei Lannister. Jaime and Cersei do not feature as point-of-view characters in the books, but seeing them early on allows the uninitiated to get to grips with these striking personalities - although it did diminish the mystery surrounding some of their own motives. The focus on this central group of characters meant that a whole host of key players showed their faces but didn't have a lot to say, or anything at all - such as The Hound and Hodor. But there's a good reason for that - trying to take on too many of these characters at once would create a great deal of confusion amongst strangers to A Song of Ice and Fire.

With only a few superficial deviations from the core story, I was identifying moments from the books and absolutely loving being able to see them retold with such amazing cast members (special nods to Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Sean Bean and whoever plays Joffrey and Sansa for both looking like such smug arseholes - just how I imagined them!) sets (Winterfell looked stunning!), costumes (and epic beards), music and special effects to back it up. I was especially keen on the opening sequence, both musically and graphically (watch out for spoilers in the youtube comments here):

When the story really settles into itself and can move along a bit, I imagine that this show will become unstoppable. Already, the cliff-hanger at the end of yesterday's episode and the creepy 15-minute prologue should have people begging to see more, and when they see how rich and dense the world of Westeros is, they'll be hooked. I also have a gut feeling that Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, playing Jaime Lannister, will make his name in this show, especially if Game of Thrones gets the green light for another two series. The character of Jaime is perfect - you love-to-hate him, and then you steadily become to hate-to-love him as you see things from his point of view; his motivations and his weaknesses. I can't wait to see how he pans out in this first season.

The violence, gore, sex (more boobies than I've ever seen on television in the space of ten seconds - not that I'm complaining) and degradation ('twincest', rape in public and blowjobs for Tyrion, to name a few) of this first episode may have attracted some and disgusted others from watching, but I felt it was fairly realistic and in keeping with the spirit of the novels. Behind all of these devices there is a real story at work and a real reason for their presence, and the extremes at which the story operates only serve to increase what's at stake for those that lose the game of thrones. Besides, a bit of boob and graphic violence never hurt anyone, right?

Overall, a solid premiere, and I couldn't be happier. Given that the episode had so much context to establish and so many characters to usher in, HBO have managed to pull it off and with pinache. It didn't even look the least bit cheesy, the bane of many a fantasy television drama. Well, aside from Dany's and Viserys' wigs. I'm a little bit disappointed to hear early reports that the the USA premiere didn't reach as many viewers as the Boardwalk Empire premiere did, but hopefully more will gather to the series as it gathers all of the players together and really starts to crunch them together. The UK premiere on Sky Atlantic, by the way, gained significantly higher ratings than Boardwalk, so at least the Brits know what's good for them. Watch out, this one's in for the long haul!


9/10 

Oh, and here are some direwolf pups for you all to look at. Awwww!

Pups for pups!