TV REVIEW: 'GAME OF THRONES'

HBO's New Fantasy Series with Beards, Swords, Wolves, and Battles

By: Josh Moorhead

May 8, 2011

(HBO) Holy gravitas, Batman. Ya know crap's real when everyone around's got beards. Or beards and swords. Or beards, swords, and wolves. Such is the way of HBO's new series, Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin's series of fantasy novels that join a proud lineage of fantasy storytelling by authors with abbreviated names. J.R. Tolkien. C.S. Lewis. R.L. Stine.

Have I read these thick beasts of books? You're kidding, right? But honestly, why trouble oneself with a novel (they're so big!) when you know HBO's gonna drop a series on you? I used to close my eyes and cover my ears in History class because I didn't want Band of Brothers to be spoiled. That's not true. But HBO has done a dang good job of branding themselves so that almost any show they choose to produce will garner viewership, critical praise, and one thing important above all else that is rarely afforded the broadcast networks. Bare boobies?! No, but we'll get to that. I'm talking about patience.

After three episodes, I'm still relatively challenged to write a cogent article about Game of Thrones because I can't, in full detail, relay what's going on, but I can tell you I'm going to keep watching. The show delivers itself with such utter confidence and importance (without crossing over into the kryptonite of entertainment: pretension) that I've become convinced that something's actually at stake if I don't keep rolling in this world. This is important illusion, unlike when things are actually at stake, like say when Lost used to be on. (Sorry, had to remain faithful.)

But HBO has created a brand that's like Pixar for adults if Pixar wasn't also for adults. It says quality. Depth. Something different. Tits. There was some hubbub after the Thrones premier that it was sexist as H. Agree and disagree. The world of the show is one that marginalizes women in the sense that men hold the seats and positions of power but the women are all behind them, and their roles are powerful, layered, and of import to the plot. But what is also true is that HBO was keen to the fact that they weren't launching The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, or even Treme with this one. It's an otherworldly old-school show that doesn't present something instantly relatable or present to the audience. How to keep them around? The simple answer -- and I say this in a blase, jokey tone because I mean to poke fun at it -- was boobs.

The first episode even went full frontal. But I'm going to be sexist if I just dwell on that. The thing about waiting until three episodes in to do my scribble of thoughts on the Thrones topic was not just for lack of time or laziness, but to give the show time to see if it was all bluster or if it could back up its presentation. So far it is. The show is about a bunch of kingdoms spread out across a world that's a little Middle Earth with less magic. Political intrigue and sordid histories rule the day. There are obvious bad guys and obvious good guys, but they're all layered, with chinks in the armor or secrets in the past to keep them compelling. The feel and layout is like watching Risk live, although the entire seven-year run of the series might end up being shorter than a game of that.

The primary focus, of this season at least, seems as if it will be between the Stark family and the Lannister families. The Lanisters come from a prettier, fairer, weather kingdom; the Starks rule up North. But when the king keels over in Lanister land, they beckon Ned Stark (a compelling Sean Bean) to come and consult...at his own peril. For, see, the Lanisters are blonde, incestual, and evil. Except for their dwarf brother (Peter Dinklage, absolutely killing it as a charming but cunning whore monger -- maybe doing the best work of his career). But since he's short, he doesn't get much respect. He's naturally drawn to Ned's "bastard" son -- a boy he had with a woman not his queen while off in the field of battle some 20 years ago. The "bastard" now is on his own quest for respect and is guarding a giant wall at the North of the world, beyond which lies uncivilized people and maybe something else -- something that moves and kills like the undead. It's cold there, and seasons are tres importante in the show. In this world, they can last for decades, and as the Starks keep saying, "winter is coming."

So I have keep watching at least until that happens, right? Another developing piece of the puzzle concerns Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, a beautiful young princess forced to wed the king of a kingdom of brutish warriors, who's learning the power of her womanhood. Again, boobs -- but what makes Thrones interesting and not sexist (I think) is how it dramatizes it. I dare any man in the audience not to admit that they haven't let their guard down to beauty, and then not to admit that beauty is nothing without cunning. So much love for the ladies out there.

So basically, Daenerys is a character we really like and sympathize with (her brother's a prick who kind of forced this whole thing), but it turns out Ned's very good friend and King of all the kingdoms (so far as I can tell), and a good bloke we like too, wants her dead because, a long time ago, the Targaryens murdered his wife, who also happened to be Ned's sister. The show pulls a lot of interest from the viewer and heft in the drama department, but not so much pitting the good guys vs. the bad guys but the good guys vs. themselves, as the bad guys continue their maneuvering.  So as a viewer, you end up pulled into a lot of different directions. The show does make you watch -- there's a lot to follow -- and as a writer, I must confess that it's doubly hard to talk about as it's even harder to spell the stuff you're watching...but it is involving, the characters are well-drawn, and their motivations, unlike their names or locations, are never confusing.

One of my roommates was astute in noting that oftentimes in almost any entertainment, you're left wondering: Why would they do that? Why does the girl run up the stairs instead of out the door in the horror movie? Why isn't the guy in the romantic comedy admit he's taking calls from his young children to the woman he's trying to swoon so she doesn't think he's just having an affair? But we always forgive, due to the basic conceit of "well, it's a movie." So far, no one's done anything in Thrones that isn't exactly what you'd figure they'd do. My roommate who noted this also happens to be a girl, so out with the sexism again. Unless she tricked me with her beauty! Oh wait, no, I was just distracted by the brothel scene on screen and forgot what was happening. Nevermind, it's me; I'm dumb.

So the show does have a lot going on. It's not an "easy" watch in the sense that Two and a Half Men is, but it also is an easy watch in the sense that Two and a Half Men isn't because it doesn't suck. In fact, three episodes in, I'm darn close to leaning to say this show rules. I'm not exactly the Dungeons and Dragons kind of dude -- I geek out on other nerd brands like Star Wars, but the gravity, reality, depth, and mystery of Thrones is going to have me remaining a faithful viewer, surely into season two, which has already been inked to happen.

HBO is truly bringing it with this and Boardwalk -- two series it'll comfortably have in its wheelhouse for years to come. And maybe the biggest victory of Thrones so far is that only three episodes in, I found myself watching a scene with the Stark's youngest girl learning how to swordfight and thinking, "Man, I wonder how she's going to grow up and save the day in six years." Apparently I'm already committed. And fancy that it was because a female lead was in a scene learning how to have power and hold her own, and not because a chick extra was running around with her shirt off.

Classy. And even with those other scenes, that's nothing if not what HBO is going for with Thrones. In a couple of years, there's probably going to be two kinds of people: people that watch Game of Thrones and people that watch The Tonight Show with Jay Leno while picking their noses. Ah yes, but who will rule the Earth? And can I still watch Thrones if I pick my nose? Time will tell as the seasons change...