Game of Thrones

After all the hype, after all the fandom, after all the recommendations and close to the release of the second season, I have finally finished watching Game of Thrones. A mediaeval fantasy series, I'm not particularly into this genre and after watching the first few episodes, I think I turned away because something known as Oktoberfest/Wiesn was taking place. And then, I just never went back because I got Band of Brothers and The Pacific. When Gnou came through recently, he was shocked that I hadn't finished watching GoT - quelle horreur!!! - and he demanded that we sit down together and watch as many episodes as possible until we got tired or drunk (we may have been drinking absinthe). I think after three episodes, defeat was conceded. Anyway, easy as it would have been to stop there and just read about what was going to happen on wikipedia or imdb, I figured I may as well watch the rest to get people off my back as to why I hadn't watched it. 


My thoughts? Not having read the books, I found the first few episodes  slow because it's basically introducing all the characters and locations. It definitely gets better later on as we see the political and personal games being played, and the complexity of the storylines becomes apparent. I'm not sure how much money HBO sunk into the production (apparently close to $5mill/ep), but the costumes, sets and CGI seem fairly convincing. However, all the money and costumes in the world wouldn't without the cast which is definitely the real strength of the show. Much has been said of Peter Dinklage's performance (well deserved Emmy and Golden Globe there), but Gnou rightly pointed out that even the kids are good - particularly Jack Gleeson as Prince Joffrey Baratheon. As he said (insert French accent here), "Ze Keed eez so good in 'eez role - 'ee really make you 'ate 'eem!"


My main criticism? Other than the slowness of the first few episodes, the show gained the nickname Boob of Boobs with good reason. In the book, does so much exposition occur with sex going on? Are there usually so many random moments of nudity? I think there's at least two sex scenes per episode. If there is one commendment for the nudity, it's that it's not just females - there is some p33n as well (if you consider that a good thing). Also, I found Nedd Stark annoying after a while *SPOILER* - If you know the heir to the throne is not the King's child and suspect the Queen and her brother had a role in trying to kill your child....WHY WOULD YOU LET THEM KEEP THEIR LIVES WITHOUT DISSEMINATING THE INFORMATION?!?!*END SPOILER*


So, GoT was pretty entertaining. While I haven't reached the same level of enthusiasm as the reviewers on imdb or even Gnou who said he gets excited when he hears the theme, I'm amused enough when I saw this Simpsons rip off of the GoT opening sequence

and to look forward to season two - coming out on April 1st.