I started watching Game of Thrones on my flight from Bangkok
to Tokyo. Thai Airways, much like its Star Alliance cousin Singapore Airlines,
had the entire 1st season on its in-flight entertainment service. I
got through the first three episodes feeling that it was a good show. I
continued watching it on the train ride to Osaka, as the trains had Wi-Fi, so
while streaming it I was able to download the rest of the first season. By the
time I left Osaka, I had finished the first season by just watching 1-2 a night.
Including various train rides and nightly sessions that I use to sober up, I’ve
finished Season 2 and the first four episodes of Season 3 (up to the point that
Daenarys frees the Unsullied and reclaims the dragon in the bad-ass-iest way
possible), and I think that I can at least start to make some judgements as to
where I would put the show in my, admittedly far from complete, drama rankings.
I’ve already written about my love for The Wire, in
painstaking detail as I counted down my favorite 50 characters. Game of Thrones
isn’t The Wire. Now, considering George RR Martin hasn’t even finished writing the
book series on which the show is based, this series has the opportunity to get
better over time, but it is still very good. I’ve seen all (or all up to now,
as far as Game of Thrones is considered) of the following drama series:
·
= The Wire
·
= Breaking Bad
·
= Oz (not all, but enough to make a judgement)
·
= Buffy the Vampire Slayer (not afraid to say it)
·
= Veronica Mars (even less afraid to say it)
·
= Treme (because, you know, David Simon)
That’s about is as far as I can remember. I’m not a big
drama guy. I’ll probably do Boardwalk Empire when I finish Game of Thrones and return
to the US, but that’s all for now. It’s hard to compare Buffy and Veronica Mars
to the rest because of just how different they are (though the fantasy space
that Buffy operates isn’t too dissimilar to Game of Thrones if you slant it
enough), but out of the other five (counting Game of Thrones), which are all
very good and all shows I would recommend in an instant, I would put Game of
Thrones solidly in 3rd, behind The Wire and Breaking Bad.
As I like to do, I’ll start with the bad news. The show, to
me, is too complex for its own good. Now, it is unfair, really, to pin this on
the show runners, but more about the fact that a TV show is not a book. George
RR Martin can get away with a really complex ecosystem in his novels, but it is
harder to translate that into TV form.
*I should mention that I’m only looking at Game of Thrones
from the perspective of the TV show. I’m judging it as a TV show. I haven’t
read the books and probably never will*
The Wire was also really complex, adding a series of new
characters each season, but The Wire also either killed or incarcerated (or, in
the case of the Port guys from Season 2, just left behind) a slew of characters
each season as well. While Season 1 definitely had the fewest amount of
characters, from S2 on, it was basically the same. The Game of Thrones added a
bunch in Season 2 and then added a handful more for Season 3. Despite being a show
that plays up how easy it is to die, few of the scripted recurring characters
have, adding to the overload.
Due to this overload of characters, to me the episodes get a
little choppy. While no character has been in every episode, most episodes have
at least 4-5 different locations and stories to tell, and some are given
incredibly short shrift. My best example would be the whole deal with Stannis
Beratheon and his advisor Davos and witch lover Melisandre in Season 2, which
was given far less screentime than its importance demanded. Again, part of this
could be the books, which don’t spend much more time on certain characters, but
when Stannis’ army is part of essentially the season’s climactic moment in ‘Bleakwater’,
he should have been fleshed out more.
My other complaint is more general: I find the show a little
too slow. There is way too much wasted time on Jon Snow, Theon Greyjoy, and
magical little Bran. Now, this could be because they become the central
characters later on in the books and are thusly the main stars of a potential
Season 6, but that is the problem with shooting the show when the books are
incomplete. We don’t know if the amount of time we spend with Jon Snow beyond
the Wall, or with Bran dreaming of three-eyed crows will mean anything.
Both of those examples are from Season 2, which I found to
be a moderately sized step down from Season 1. To me, Season 2 was a total
bridge, with little actually happening. The main event was that the Lannisters
reaffirmed their status as the leading house of the Seven Kingdoms by beating
Stannis’ in ‘Blackwater’, a character we barely knew when Season 2 started. The
rise of Robb Stark is important, I guess, but Arya went from a captive to a
girl on the run. Daenarys went from a girl seeking a home at the end of Season 1
to a girl seeking a home, but now with larger dragons, at the end of Season 2.
My biggest regret with Season 2 was how little Daenarys’ progressed, and I didn’t
like her character through much of the season, after she was arguably my
favorite storyline in Season 1. Thankfully, her storyline in Astapor in the
first four episodes of Season 3 have been great, especially that incredible
scene where she reveals she knows Valyrian.
Season 3 has been better in that regard, and from what I’ve
heard, the Third book (which is being played out in Seasons 3 and 4) was the
best of the series so far, so I have hope it can reverse course, but much of
Season 2 I felt I was being dragged through the boring stages of a long game.
Now, let’s get to what I like. The show is incredibly well
acted. Almost all of these actors are close to unknown, to the point where this
will probably be the biggest role of each of their lives when it’s done. Tyrion
might be the exception (I feel like I’ve seen Peter Dinklage in a lot), but
still, their all guys, much like in The Wire, that I hadn’t heard of. What is
really amazing is how good the child actors have been. The girl who plays Arya
is brilliant. Emilia Clarke (Daenarys) has been as good, especially when she’s
given material that is more than just yelling “I want my dragons” over and over
again. I think the most popular star performer here is Dinklage, who’s made
every scene with Tyrion incredible fun, but I really can’t think of one
performer who’s done less than stellar work. Maybe Margeary Tyrell, who I find
a little hammy, but in a worse acted show, she wouldn’t stand out at all.
Some of the characters are just great. I can watch Tyrion,
Arya and even Tywin Lannister do just about anything (one of the highlights of
Season 2 for me was watching Arya and Tywin match wits). I want to see Robb
Stark with the game. I want to see Joffrey dead as soon as possible (which is
the point of the character). I think there something of a ‘The Wire’ thing
going on where most people are in the gray area between good and evil (think
about how the bannermen and knights in every house are all rapey killers), and
it probably doesn’t reach the levels of The Wire, it comes close in some of its
characters.
The other aspect of the show that I find incredible is the
photography and locations and sets. Considering the budget of the show can’t be
that much (despite being on HBO), to get the shots they get is amazing. I was
bored by much of the ‘Beyond the Wall’ story of Season 2, but their location
filming in Iceland was a genius move. Their houses and forests are so real, so
perfectly chosen. Even the deserts of Qarth or the Dothraki areas that we spent
Season 1 in were great. Breaking Bad is the only show I can think of that comes
close in terms of photography and camera work, and while Breaking Bad is more
creative in the types of shots they get and the lighting, the set work and
location work in Game of Thrones is unparalleled.
So far, Season 3 has reaffirmed my faith in the show long
term. I probably would have kept watching anyway, but it is nice to see that
Season 2 may just be the case of it being a transitionary book, like many
second albums for artists. I don’t think any show has better toed the line
between outright fantasy and realism at the same time. It is my favorite type
of show: real problems, real conversations, real people, in an unreal world.
They can mix in dragons (which are really well presented), and mysterious
smoke-filled newborns, and seers, but this show is still about power, control,
and the lengths and justifications for it.
Before I move on, I want to make two points:
1.) The magic does bring up an interesting issue: What’s the point of the internal Game of Thrones fighting for the Throne when there’s a Taergaryn with growing dragons and a bunch of Wildwalkers roaming outside of the walls. I like the dual movement of the stories of what’s going on outside and inside the walls, but at some point they have to meet. Also, I’m glad I got the answer to why Milasandre couldn’t just create an army of smoke children to do her killing. I’m grateful that George RR Martin has taken active steps to limit magic in the series.
I still haven’t read anything of its length
that is as well told as the Harry Potter series. Sure, there are plot holes,
and it all got a little silly by the end after the Deux ex Machina of horcruxes
were created, but the reveal was perfect. Everything outside the epilogue was
perfect. Enough people die. The books would have been 100x better served in 10
hours than they were in two and a half. Everytime a movie came out, there were
complaints of ‘they left ‘x’ out’. Well, that basically goes away in tv show
form. Because of the immense popularity of the books, this probably never could
have logistically worked. I mean, to me one of the biggest flaws of Game of
Thrones is I can’t see myself rewatching it, and in Harry Potter’s case, the
first viewing would have been like semi-rewatching it if you knew the entire
plot. The better fit probably would have been The Lord of the Rings as a tv show, as far fewer people read those
as did Harry Potter, but I haven’t read nor watched The Lord of the Rings, so I can’t comment. I’m happy we got the
Harry Potter movies, and I found them quite good on the whole, but Harry Potter
the tv show would have been awesome.
