TV Review: GAME OF THRONES - Episode 9 (Baelor)

So here we are, the penultimate episode of GAME OF THRONES.

There's just one episode left in this massive fantasy series the onscreen action and excitement is slowly being ratcheted to a fever pitch.

With casting for a second season already underway it’s comforting to know that my emotional investment of the past year won’t be for naught.

But first we should get our recappitude on so everybody is on the same page.

As always, spoilers abound, so if you don’t wanna know…DON’T READ!

Ned continues to waste away in a jail cell, visited only by Varys who tries to convince the stubborn lord to recant his statement about the validity of Joffrey's claim to the throne, if not to protect his own neck but to save the lives of his daughters.

Ned’s son Robb continues to lead Stark forces south towards King’s Landing in order to secure his father’s freedom. Hemmed in by a pair of Lannister armies and the Trident river, Catelyn Stark negotiates passage across the river with the crotchety Lord Frey by promising Robb’s hand in marriage to one of Frey’s many daughters.

At the army of Tywin Lannister, Tyrion passes a sleepless night playing drinking games and recounting the story of his brief marriage to his new paramour as well as his bodyguard, Bronn. Placed in the army’s vanguard Tyrion doesn’t think much of his chances for surviving the upcoming battle with Robb’s forces.

The next day, with Robb’s army seemingly on their doorstep, Tyrion rallies the hill people of the Vale to battle but is himself knocked unconscious by a wayward club before the two forces can meet. When he awakes Bronn informs him that the battle only involved a small portion of Robb’s army and that the bulk of his forces are still uncounted for.

Later it is revealed that Robb chose to fight Jamie Lannister’s forces instead, winning the encounter and capturing the former Kingsguard in the process.

Across the ocean Khal Drogo is revealed to be in near death, his sword wound from the last episode festering and weakening him. Unable to lead his people his wife Daenerys attempts to rule in his name. However the horse people are reluctant to take order from a woman, even their Khaleesi, and it is clear that as Drogo’s health fades his subjects are becoming increasingly rebellious.

Desperate to save her husband Daenerys implores the witch, Mirri Maz Duur, to save the Khal’s life using whatever means necessary. Mirri agrees, telling Daenerys that she can save her husband using blood magic but also warning that the cure might be worse than death itself. In a gruesome display, Mirri sacrifices the Khal’s horse and orders everyone out of his sickroom.

Finally, at King’s Landing, Ned agrees to recant his statement. Paraded in front of an angry crowd he confesses to treason and begs for mercy. Despite the counsel of his mother and others to strip Ned of his titles and send him to the Wall, Joffrey denies the Lord of Winterfell mercy and demands his head instead.

This show only gets better the further into its run we get. If we’re splitting hairs here I would have liked to have seen some of the Stark\Lannister fight scenes actually make it to the screen. With a show that purports to dream as large as this one does limiting the battle sequences to epilogue status only ultimately doesn’t feel very satisfying.

I suspect that budget got in the way (doesn’t it always). But considering how much the second book\season deals with the ongoing War of the Five Kings I’m hoping they’ll free up enough dollars to allow a little more action to hit the screen next time.

As the series progresses the clear standout performer for me is Peter Dinklage. Seriously, this guy is getting all the best bits to work with. While most of the cast is reduced to grim and frowny, Dinklage has seemingly portrayed the entire range of human emotion. His presence defines every scene and practically demands the audience’s attention at all times.

It's no secret that my interest in this show has waxed and waned over the course of the season. While clearly a high quality production I think I was a little let down by the fact that being overly familiar with the books meant that there were no real surprises for me to react too. However as the show continued to find its own voice I found myself more consistently being drawn in to the story and its inhabitants. In the end I think I was successfully able to put my reluctance aside and appreciate GAME OF THRONES on its own merits.

Now with THRONES and a disappointingly mediocre season of DOCTOR WHO wrapped for the year my biggest problem will be figuring out what to watch next. Any suggestions?

TV Review: GAME OF THRONES - Episode 7 (You Win or You Die)

You know how you can tell you’re watching something on HBO?

Ten minute, not at all gratuitous, lesbian sex scene as backdrop for speechy monologue. That’s how.

If naked women isn’t your thing, don’t worry, there’s some brief wangitude later on in the episode. Just in case you should ever forget you’re watching adult and edgy cable entertainment.

Now, to the recapatorium.

Tywin Lannister lectures his son Jamie about the importance of the family name and freeing his brother Tyrion from control of the Starks, unaware that Tyrion has already managed to secure his freedom all by himself.

At King’s Landing Littlefinger coaches his new hire, the highly desirable Roz, in the ways of pleasure (see above) when he decides to speechify and reveal how he prefers clandestine political manoeuvrings over more direct forms of confrontation.

Meanwhile Ned Stark and Cersi Lannister continue their endless struggle for power, with Ned threatening to tell the King about her indiscretions with her brother unless she takes her children and leaves the capital. Its political one-upmanship with each character convinced they have the upper hand but seemingly unwilling to make any overt moves against the other.

Ned is summoned to the King’s chambers where it is revealed that Robert was accidently gored while hunting a bore. Ordering all his retainers out of his bedroom Robert gets Ned to draw up a will where he proclaims his friend to be the Regent and Protector of the Realm after he dies.

Across the Narrow Sea Khal Drogo, leader of the Dothraki, seems reluctant to invade Westeros. He has a change of heart when a traveling wine merchant makes a failed attempt to poison Daenerys and instead vows that one day his son will sit on the iron chair of his mother’s father.
At the Wall Jon Snow’s class of recruits finally graduate to full Brothers of the Watch. However, Jon is upset when he discovers he has been made a Steward instead of a Ranger. Samwell Tarly points out that Jon is being groomed for command and that his appointment as Steward is actually a boon.

Finally, with Robert’s health failing, various factions within the capital scheme and plot to grab the king’s power for themselves. Renly, the king’s younger brother, offers to join forces with Ned to claim the throne for himself. Littlefinger implores Ned to let Prince Jofferey ascend to the throne, with the knowledge that they can use his questionable parentage against him in order to control his actions. However Ned is determined that the throne go to the rightful heir, Robert’s older brother Stannis. Ned strikes a deal with Littlefinger to use the City Watch to reinforce his soldiers as his own household guard has been depleted.

It’s great to see that this week’s episode fully embraces what I was touching on in my review last week, the need use the books as a referential touchstone for the series instead of a detailed roadmap to be slavishly followed.

The writers have clearly figured out that they’ve been handed a veritable goldmine and are plundering the characters and their relationships for all they’re worth.

Which is why viewers are being treated to all these great two handers where Sean Bean alternates between looking confused and looking grim. The difference between the two expressions, slightly more forehead wrinkles on the former.

I kid.

No seriously, the actors in this show are getting fantastic opportunities to chew the scenery with other. It’s gripping, high drama stuff and as the show becomes more confident in its footing my knowledge of the books becomes increasingly irrelevant, as new scenes are being slotted in to up the drama quotient.

And that’s been my biggest hang-up with this show. Knowing what happens next is robbing me of any opportunity to be surprised by the Machiavellian twists and turns that GAME OF THRONES constantly tosses out.

As the show continues and its narrative momentum builds I’m getting more and more caught up in the story it’s telling. By standing on its own two feet, the whole thing feels fresh and new again.

I can dig it.

TV Review: GAME OF THRONES - Episode 6 (A Golden Crown)

With the start of Sunday's episode HBO's sprawling fantasy series officially passes the halfway mark of its first season.

Which means its now fair game to take a critical look at the series as a whole instead of just examining it on an episode by episode basis.

But first some recappery.

Ned Stark awakes after his ill fated encounter with Jamie Lannister to find that he has been press ganged into serving the king again.

Stark's role as the King's Hand becomes more complicated when Robert decides to leave King's Landing for an extended hunting trip. Forced to sit on the Iron Throne and temporarily rule in his stead, Stark find himself turning up the heat in the capital when he denounces Gregor Clegane as a brigand and summons Tywin Lannister to court to answer for the actions of his bannerman.

Meanwhile in the North Ned's son Bran is troubled by a series of disturbing dreams. During the day he finds relief by riding through the grounds of Winterfell in a modified saddle based on a design by Tyrion Lannister. Bran's ride is interrupted when he is attacked by a group of wildlings fleeing South.

In the Vale Tyrion remains a prisoner of Catelyn Stark's sister and her sheltered son. Trapped in an open air cell in the uninpregnable sky fortress he stands accused of the murder of Jon Arryn, the former King's Hand, as well as the attempted murder of Bran Stark. In order to delay his execution Tyrion demands the right to Trial by Combat.

Finally Daenerys continues to work at being accepted by her adopted people. To prove herself worthy of carrying Kahl Dorgo’s son she forces herself to eat a raw horse heart.

Mindful of his sister’s growing popularity, and recognizing that his own dreams of reclaiming his familial throne are fading away, Viserys attempts to steal Daenerys petrified dragons eggs to fund an army of his own. When he is stopped by his sister’s retainer he bursts into the Dothraki celebration and threatens Daenerys and her unborn child.

Drogo promises to give Viserys the crown he deserves and pours a cauldron of molten gold over his head, killing him.

GAME OF THRONES is well past the stage where it needs to set the scene for the audience. The question of “who are these people” and “how do these people relate each other” have long been answered.

But if there’s one criticism that can be levelled against the series at this point it’s that it seems overly dependent on the source material to drive the story forward.

At time GAMES feels a bit like you’re watching a 21st century version of MASTERPIECE THEATRE. There’s a distinct Britishness about the whole thing, European acting talents growling and emoting in front of elaborate period set pieces.

It feels like there is an absence, a blindness that permeates the show when it comes to respecting the tropes of modern television. The show eschews the deep character examinations of modern cable dramas in favour of moving pieces around because that’s how the story was laid out in the books.

Instead characters are delivered to the audience fully formed with clearly realized motivations and goals and not much in the way internal turmoil.

Part of the reason for this flatness is that much of the character internal monologuing in the books has gone up in smoke in the transition between mediums and the writers are continuing to struggle when it comes to reinserting the excised material back into the show.

One of my favourite scenes to date came during last week’s episode when Cersei and Robert were rehashing their relationship against the history of the Seven Kingdoms. The scene, not found in the books, explicitly examined the tension between the couple, but the subtext and internal conflicts that were at play really sold the moment.

It was a great example of being true to the aims of the source material but still respecting the demands of television at the same time.

The longer GAME OF THRONES exists as a separate entity the more it’s going to have to establish its own personality outside of the books.

No matter how great the show is, if it continues to be hampered by rigid faithfulness to the original material it will be robbed of the creativity and vitality it needs to truly succeed.

TV Review: GAME OF THRONES – Episode 1 (Winter is Coming)

If you’re like me, or the hundreds of other fans pulled in by the fantasy series A SONG OF FIRE AND ICE, then you were watching the premiere of its small screen adaption, GAME OF THRONES, last night. Based on the works of acclaimed writer George R.R. Martin the show deals with the labyrinthine and Machiavellian manoeuvrings of the fictional realm of the Seven Kingdoms.

Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King is dead. Without his presence Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), leader of the Seven Kingdoms, has no one he trusts to help him rule. In desperation he turns to Eddard Stark (Sean Bean), Warden of the North and an old comrade at arms. Baratheon, along with his Queen, Cersei Lannister (Lena Heady), and much of his court, travels to the northern reaches of his realm in order to persuade Stark to join him.

Initially reluctant to leave behind his home and his family; Eddard is finally persuaded to accept the position when he receives a letter from Arryn’s wife, Lysa, claiming that her husband’s death was the result of the Queen’s political machinations.

Last night’s episode was all about setting the table for Things to Come. After giving viewers a little taste of the mysterious threat that will come to define this series, events were mostly confined to introducing characters, establishing the complicated relationships that govern them and giving the audience a bit of back story to help provide them with a grounding in the politics of the Seven Kingdoms.

The problem I have with this series is that I lack the objectivity to do a proper review. As a devotee of the books I’ve been quietly salivating in a corner, for awhile now, waiting for this thing to make it to the screen. And the truth of it is no matter how well they’ve adapted the original source material its never quite going to be able to live up to the world I’ve constructed in my mind.

So yes, after the title sequence ran and the novelty of the thing began to wear off there was a little bit of a letdown with the final product, call it PHANTOM MENACE syndrome if you want. And even when it was apparent that the producers had managed to put a quality program on the screen I still couldn’t tell you if it was any good.

I mean, it seemed good. The acting for the most part was compelling, if a tad restrained. (It never hurts anything to put Sean Bean on screen for an hour and let him chew the scenery.) And Peter Dinklage and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau were excellent as the devious and lecherous brothers Lannister. But as the cold and calculating Cersei Lannister Lena Heady came off as flat and shrewish and rest of the extended cast did little to distinguish themselves from one another.

Visually the entire series is quite fetching. It’s sometimes hard to believe that HBO, a company that redefined itself in the modern age on the back of the grimy and gritty SOPRANOS, would branch out into genre work. But they’ve managed to create a rich and detailed setting that would stand up against any fantasy series out there.

The writing was strong as well. I can’t recall any off phrases and for the most part the dialogue seemed to be quite in tune with the feel of the books. But once again I found myself pulled out of the show, mentally comparing the adaptation to the original.

What had been kept in?
What had been taken out?
Had they moved some scenes around, and why?

I was more concerned with the architecture supporting the show then I was window dressing I was supposed to be enjoying. Whenever a new character popped up onscreen I’d run-through what I knew of their timeline and what was in store for them. After awhile it started to feel like watching a movie when someone has given away the twist ending. It was pretty clear that there wasn’t going to be any surprises for me here and that was disappointing.

It was too bad and entirely my fault.

While I was able to appreciate GAME OF THRONES on its technical and artistic merits it lacked the one element that would have really drawn me in as a viewer, not knowing what happens next.* Anyone I’ve spoken with, who has read the books first, really seemed to enjoy it.

But I’d be curious to get the POV of someone who hasn’t been exposed to the books to see what they think. Because let’s face it, GAME OF THRONES isn’t really meant for the hardcore devotee. Unless they do a total hatchet job we’re almost certain to tune in. HBO hopes to sell this thing to the casual viewer, because that’s the only place where they’ll be able to make up the necessary viewership numbers to keep the show on the air.

So what are their thoughts?
*AMC’s adaptation of THE WALKING DEAD was so fast and loose that I never knew what to expect, which was great because it allowed the whole show to stay fresh and new for me. On the other hand, I still wanted the producers to hit certain key touchstones of the comic. So I’m a hypocrite when I need to be.