Warning: if this review could contain violence, adult language and nudity, it would. The subject, or subjects, as a king or the jester might joke, demand it. “Game of Thrones” succeeds on almost all levels as quality television, and has garnered the numbers to go with it. Despite criticism that the fantasy tale may be limited in ways that more mainstream narrative modes are not and that the Thrones premiere relied on bloody beheadings and female breasts, “Game of Thrones” is truly rich storytelling, making expert use of the source material to craft an engrossing web of emotional character arcs that are deftly made accessible to a wide audience.
The highly anticipated adaptation of the first book of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” is richly realized, a difficult task for an epic tale fond of leaping seas and months while drawing detailed explorations of complicated moments. The writing selects the perfect scenes from the expansive novel. The show uses the authors most memorable lines to their best effect, a feat of pacing and directorial acumen. The books are often praised for leaving behind the trappings of romantic fantasy and opening the doors to power, need, ambition and sex, and the tone is deliberately gritty, hoping to place the fantastic elements where they belong – a fringe of wonder that surrounds an otherwise harsh, hard world.
The performances are grounded and the set design is adept and detailed, with no trace of slickness. Sean Bean excels as the noble and gruff Ned Stark and Peter Dinklage’s wry and sharp are perfect for Tyrion Lannister. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (New Amsterdam) is well on his way to being a household-heartthrob name and Lena Headey (Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles) calm, keen-edged Queen Cersei is a perfect picture of a tempered, but ruthless royalty.
The opening is packed with scenes built to expose the characters central to the plot. This is, may I say, not the same thing as exposition. There are no fireballs or swordfights, but the quiet explosions of character abound. There are no wasted scenes here, never an explanations, but everything is clear. We are shown choices, decisions, actions, mistakes. The amount of plot that occurs in the first hour is astounding, bullet-bright and simple, lonely moments packed together without risking the audience being overwhelmed or lost.
For fans of fantasy, there are magical elements, like the mysterious monstrosities glimpsed in the beginning and the petrified eggs of a presumably (but maybe not) extinct race of dragons. There’s even an echo of Tolkein in the strange, white tree in Ned Stark’s wood, although this one is gnarled, blood-red-leaved, grown to fit its reality. Otherwise, screen time is mostly given to the human element, and fans of period drams like “The Tudors” wouldn’t find themselves too far out of their favorite depths of intrigue and passion.
Production details warrant a great deal of praise: a good example is the statue of Ned Starks’ dead sister, the face of which we see for mere seconds. No great, beautiful greek sculpture this, neither a simple prop but a rough-hewn, pitted stone memorial you’d expect in Stark’s tombs. The only moment where the production value lacked was an awkwardly staged crowd scene where a sparse set of extras try to evoke a nomadic horde’s celebration with a few lack-luster bits of choreography, but otherwise every frame is near mastery.
On the business angle, audience numbers fell short of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” debut, but not by much, and critical praise is pouring in. In the UK, “Game of Thrones” almost doubled Boardwalk’s numbers on Sky Atlantic. HBO has already greenlit a second season, likely adapting Martin’s second book of the series, “A Clash of Kings”. Industry sources have speculated that HBO had already decided to continue production due to the heavy investment in sets and the immensely positive coverage leading up to the premiere.
Not all coverage was positive, as several notable reviews of the show, including that of The New York Times, were derided by fans as dismissive of the fantasy genre and disrespectful of the growing ranks of a geek-girl culture. Some of the coverage was so dim-wittingly opinionated that fans of the political power-plays of the books may suspect, as I do, a false flag attack, but more than likely, the writers in question simply mistake their ability to stir the pot with actual critical acumen.
Fans of the books are pleased with the faithfulness of the adaptation, and the skilled storytelling of the series, both in scripting and visuals have garnered a large portion of audience who are excited, rather than put off, by seeing a fresh canvas on which HBO is playing out the darker human dramas their slate is famous for.
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