The summer of our discontent
Will winter ever get here? Game of Thrones ends its fiery first season with alot to argue about
Ten weeks ago HBO began its newest series, Game of Thrones, with a glowing-eyed giant decapitating sword-wielding warriors in a starkly beautiful snowy forest.
Sunday night it ended the first season in a starkly beautiful desert as newly-hatched dragons snuggled their naked-princess adopted mommy.
In between those amazing scenes the 10 episodes contained war, sex, impenetrable fortresses, incestuous siblings, dire wolves, palace intrigue, whores, and mass communication based on raven technology.
Game of Thrones is the television dramatization of George R.R. Martin’s much-loved fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire. At the beginning of the show’s run there was a question of whether viewers who had not read the books would be able to keep up with the multitude of characters, settings, and an immense mythology. To answer that question, I offered myself as the type of viewer HBO would probably covet, someone who was not familiar with the books but who enjoys sci fi and fantasy television.
While Thrones certainly held my interest, I sometimes found myself admiring the expanse of the series more than I actually enjoyed it. Thrones was renewed for a second season after its first episode, and the ratings have been good, though not as good as True Blood.
The show did stir up controversy and online grumbling on two issues both involving Ned Stark, played by the great Sean Bean. Bean’s screen time and HBO’s promotions quickly made some viewers, who hadn’t read the books, believe Stark was the show’s protagonist. As the episodes progressed, viewers were sometimes left wondering at just how dumb Ned Stark had become and then last week, — spoiler alert! — at how dead Ned Stark had become.
The first issue began early in the series as Ned accepts an important political appointment from the Westeros king, Robert Baratheon. Ned leaves his beloved Winterfell and from that point begins to make a series of bad decisions. Ned lets honor dictate his actions in ways that make him seem foolish and trusts men who blind puppies would distrust. The writers probably wanted viewers to feel great pity at the plight of a man who lives and breathes honor as he suffocates in a city with no honor, but half the time I wanted to slap some common sense into him.
Bad luck, political naiveté and a lack of pragmatism finally landed Ned in the dungeon. Meanwhile online, Ned’s questionable strategies led to fan forum fights and the hilarious Stupid Ned Stark Meme, a recounting of all of Ned’s political moves in poster form.
And just as the stupid Ned Stark jokes died away, so did Ned. He finally chooses to briefly dishonor himself by giving a false confession of treason, having been promised this will spare the life of his daughters. Of course, the new king Joffrey Baratheon, the spawn of Queen Cersei and her twin brother Jaime, has Ned executed anyway.
And that’s when viewers became a bit upset. Television blogs and magazines, including Entertainment Weekly, did stories on the death and fan reactions, which seemed to range from never watching the show again to praise for the narrative bravery.
I accidently spoiled myself on Ned’s death five episodes in, but by episode two I wondered if he could be long for that world which, though magical, still must function under the rules of dramatic symmetry.
I believe it was Chekhov who first postulated that if the hero decapitates a traumatized deserter in episode one and kills a chained wolf pup in episode two, both for honor’s sake, then that hero damn well better lose his own honorable head by episode nine. Admittedly, my Russian might be a bit rusty.
Honorable but stupid, dead Ned aside, I found a lot to like about the series but some equally frustrating aspects as well. Here are my highlights:
Daenerys Targaryen
One of the last of the Targaryen royal line, the dragon-blooded princess went from vacant tool of her bratty brother to powerful dragon mother. Along the way she married and partially civilized the barbarian horselord, Drogo, but also found that no good deed goes unpunished when ordering the barbarian hoards to go easy on the raping during the pillaging. Though Drogo dies from a combination of infection and vengeful witch, Dany gained her own devoted followers after throwing the coolest funeral/dragon hatching party ever.
The younger Stark children
Youngest daughter Arya began the season as an excellent archer and finished as a deadly swordswoman. Along the way, she showed political acumen and street smarts I wish her father possessed. Her younger brother Bran got tossed out a window in episode one, but a coma and then partial paralysis couldn’t keep him from literally getting back on that horse. Finally, youngest child Rickon might have only had three lines the entire season, but when Bran tries to reassure him that all the wandering and threatened Starks will one day return to Winterfell, Rickon’s declaration “No they won’t” was probably the most intelligent statement of the whole series.
Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister
Game of Thrones is littered with impressive actors, but as the episodes progressed Dinklage sometimes seemed to be the only one having any fun at all. He has an assist from the writers, as Tyrion gets the best lines. Yet, no matter if Tyrion was afraid, drunk, whoring, imprisoned, lost, making quips in situations where he looks to be minutes from death, or worst of all, standing under the judging eyes of his father’s honed-steel gaze, Dinklage gives Tyrion Shakespearean depth, while seeming never to forget Thrones is essentially a swords, dragons, and zombies show.
When Thrones remembers it is essentially a swords, dragon, and zombie show
I’m sure many viewers watch Game of Thrones for its political intrigue and feuding, aristocratic families. Who doesn’t like a good medieval civil war? But personally, when I’m in a mood for the War of the Roses, one of Martin's inspirations for the books, I turn to Shakespeare.
While I appreciate the scope and grit of the series, I really want more ice zombies, dire wolves, and dragons to balance out all the civil wars and political treachery. The show keeps telling us “Winter is Coming,” but on steamy Houston Sunday nights that seems more like a tease than a threat. I’ll stick around for what is likely to be untold character suffering and despair in season two and beyond, but I’m warning you HBO, there better be some awesome dragon, White Walker, ice zombie battles at the end of all this or I’ll sick a dire wolf on you.
