Game of Thrones, Episode 1 Review

Last year, my dad insisted that I read A Game of Thrones, a task that I considered more an obligation to a parent than a personal pleasure. As the chapters progressed, though, I found myself fully engrossed in what I would eventually consider to be one of the best fiction books I’ve read. I’ve since read the following two books in the series and I am halfway through the fourth, pacing myself as I await the release of the fifth book this summer. In any case, given my enthusiasm for this story, you could imagine my excitement when it was announced that HBO was turning the first book into a TV series. Talk about geeking out. I have been following the production for months now and have finally watched the first episode.

I tried to watch the show from two perspectives; one of a fanboy who knows the story by heart and one of a newcomer who knows nothing about any of the characters or even the lands that they inhabit. Other fictional properties have the luxury of being so ubiquitous that even people who have never seen to read them can recognize them. For instance, I know a lot about Harry Potter despite never reading any of the books. George R R Martin’s world of Westeros, however, is more of a well-kept secret. There are no neologisms or memes to be spread because the books shy so far away from the novelty of classic fantasy that they may as well be filed under “period drama” instead.

Indeed, the things that make the books so compelling are the political struggles between families and individuals and the absolutely brutal treatment of the characters that the reader loves. Unique storytelling in that fashion is exactly what people flock to premium television channels for these days, but one thing that the books do best, conveying the thoughts of characters through internal dialogue, is incredibly difficult to do on the small screen, with only an hour to cram so much into.

The vast lands of Westeros and Essos aren’t the only epic things about the Song of Ice and Fire series. The immense list of integral characters is both robust and complicated. As a fanboy, this calls for a lot of “ohh! I know who that is!” moments, but it also means that fully realized characters will be introduced to the television audience without their full histories, which makes their motives and mannerisms all the more understandable.

One other problem with adapting a novel to an episodic television series is that of episode cohesion. Typically, each individual episode within a series will have a single unifying theme that ties it all together and provides a frame for the events within it. Novels are not written with this in mind, which means that a faithful adaptation may struggle to provide enough structure within each episode to keep the viewer’s attention. It is with this point that I begin to reference the actual show that I watched and what I thought about it.

Knowing full well, from early reviews, that the show does its best to stay faithful to the novel, it is easy to recognize that some very important interactions and character building moments are being glossed over in a sort of compulsory fashion. I can imagine a conversation about it afterwards between a casual viewer and a die-hard geek, where the geek rolls his eyes and says, “Well, ACTUALLY, they mentioned that earlier in the episode, but I guess you weren’t paying attention.” Therein lies the crux of adaptations. Do we service the fans or do we do what’s right for the medium? Episode 1 is pure fan service.

And what service it is! Naked breasts everywhere! Even on very important characters. I’m no prude, but I felt that this cheapened the appeal of the show and took valuable screen time away from the infinitely more important story. In early press releases were comments about how the show had enough sex and violence to appease the audience, which, as an eager audience member, I felt insulted by. I don’t watch a show for breasts and beheadings; I want to be treated to writing and directing talent. I didn’t read A Game of Thrones with one hand on my dick. If your show needs the more carnal elements in order to float, then I would rethink your strategy.

It’s spoiler time, so unless you know what is going on, I would suggest skipping to the final paragraph!

Everything was clearly rushed and shoehorned into an hour's time. If I were to put my own stamp on the storytelling, I would have cut out the prelude scene and I would have taken more artistic liberties with streamlining the story around the events and characters that moved the story forward. Some characters were mishandled and showed up without the pretense they needed. For example, Jorah Mormont's introduction to Danaerys was unconvincing and simplified. "Hello, I'm your knight." "Oh great, I guess I will trust you now." No, that won't work on TV. We needed to see some serious fealty swearing going on.

Similarly, the way the episode ends is shocking, but not nearly as much as it should have been. Basically, we end the hour with 3 characters whom nobody really cares about yet because of their lack of depth, and then are forced to witness something that should be really impactful, but comes off as a mere cliffhanger. Cersei and Jaime, well, the audience knows they're naughty because they act like pricks, but unless you were paying extra close attention to their earlier scene, (which you probably weren't if you are new) then you might be more confused than intrigued by the fact that they're fucking. Then there's Bran. Adorable, yes, but not nearly as strong a character as he needed to be in order for us to feel sympathy.

Tyrion and Arya, two of the more enjoyable characters in the books, were introduced to the TV audience as nuisances. I absolutely abhorred the tack of turning Arya into nothing more than a bratty child. Part of her appeal in the books is that she has her own intelligence and imagination, but is thoroughly misunderstood. Her brief appearances in the show establish her as nothing more than a troublemaker. Tyrion's introduction, it seemed, was just a ploy to get breasts on the screen. What a mistreatment! While he has a moment with Jon that is quite satisfying, the audience’s first impression of him, I felt, should have been one of sympathy, not revulsion.

From too much carnality to too little; the Dothraki wedding lacked the real brutality that I was expecting. I hate to be so nitpicky, but you could totally tell the men were "fucking" the women while fully clothed around their vital parts. That made it so cartoonish and PG-13 to me. While the production quality had been so impressive up to that point, it suddenly felt like an extremely cheap B-movie. I suppose it is a given that barbarian scenes are inherently corny, but I was taken aback by this oversight.

But hey, I enjoyed the show none the less. Viserys and Dani's interactions were much better than I had hoped for. Sean Bean is great as the only sane man in a room full of crazies. And its only the beginning. It wasn't as good as some of the other premium channel stuff that's out there, but I won't write the series off based on one episode. I will be watching the next episode, and the next after that. After all, my favorite upcoming scenes, if done well, will make for some of the most compelling television we’ve ever seen.