Various

Created by:
David Benioff
D.B. Weiss

Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
2011-
HBO

TV-MA

“Game of Thrones,” the darling of HBO, started off really well. The first season showed lots of promise, until its end. That ending was shocking to say the least, unless you’ve read the books. While I disliked how that season ended, I was curious to see how the show would progress afterward. I was a fan. The message of the first season is don’t get too comfortable with your favorite characters – we’ll kill off any character we choose. OK. So that means that the show will live up to its decisions, right? It will “bring it” to account for that unreliability, right? Not!

And therein lies one of the major problems that I have with everyone’s favorite TV show. The truly compelling characters are easily jettisoned for the most part. A paltry number stick around long enough to be developed; but, don’t worry, they’ll get rid of them, too. Just you wait. (The most recent example is the handling of Prince Oberyn, “The Red Viper.” What a shame. He deserved a much more powerful send-off. He was woefully underused, and he’s not the only one: Does Jaqen H’ghar, captive of the Night’s Watch during the second season, ring a bell? H’ghar will be back for the fifth season, though. I hope that he’s used wisely. Fans of the books claim that the fifth season may be the best one yet. I certainly hope so and look forward to it. I must say that they handled The Hound’s send-off much more effectively.) Meanwhile, the truly loathsome characters stick around for far too long. (Joffrey, anyone?)

So that leaves other things on which to base our hopes and dreams: action, effects, and suspense. The action isn’t frequent enough to matter. When a fight or battle worthy of attention breaks out, I always think: about time. But most (not all) of the fights are just a tease; they don’t fully satisfy. They’re not special. Actually, this show is more about the threat of violence than the violence itself. And they love torture. The effects are accomplished, especially for TV, but so what? Really, the reason that those two don’t have the punch that they should is that this show drags everything along. There are so many characters and story lines, but why should I care when they’re strung along at an increasingly frustrating rate? The best example of this is the white walkers. When will they finally get down to it? They are so compelling, but largely ignored. Why?! To build suspense? Ain’t happening. And, please, don’t mention those books. This ain’t the book; it’s the TV show. What’s the point of an adaptation if you don’t adapt. You have to make the book material work on a TV. Hello.

Some may say that this show is really about politics, and that’s the reason for the deliberate pace – and that’s fine. But if you want to substitute words for swords, then those words better count – not just in meaning but also in delivery. The words need to sting just as much as the blade of a Valyrian sword. But, for the most part, they don’t. The rhythm lags; it … just … does. I wish that the actors would use the words as daggers. Really dig into each other. Plus, there are lots of ways to use a dagger. There’s too much softness in the guise of thoughtful deliberation. I used to forgive the actors, but I think that I was wrong. The actors could do a much better job, on the whole, of making the lines land. (It could be the fault of the directing and overall concept, though.) Maybe then I wouldn’t mind all of the talking as their swords rust and rot away. Maybe then this show wouldn’t simply be just another story about complicated political intrigue masquerading in the trappings of the fantasy genre. (Couldn’t I just watch “The Tudors” or “House of Cards” or something? And how long does it take to grow some dragons and put them into action, for goodness sake?) Maybe then this show would generate some consistent heat. (There are some actors who are consistently interesting – Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister and Diana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell, for instance. Kate Dickie as Lysa Arryn is another who’s worthy of note. There are a few others, as well. I’m not talking about them.)

And that brings me to my ultimate point: The real problem here is CONSISTENCY. They have the materials to create something mind-blowing, something that takes your breath away from start to finish. They meander too much for that ever to have a chance of happening.

Unless something drastic happens (I’m writing this just before the start of the fifth season), I will remain an enormously frustrated viewer: frustrated by this show’s inability to live up to its potential and by the overblown praise it receives. I’ll keep watching, though. (Heck, I actually pay for this – HBO, that is.) Plus, the final episode of the fourth season did offer a glimmer of hope. That episode had urgency, depth, action, fantasy, expert delivery, and consistency. They were in full ownership of the material, and what happened mattered. Some may argue that the whole show can’t be as good as a strong season-ending episode. That may or may not be true. The point is that the execution and spirit of that episode should be consistent throughout the series, regardless of which episode we’re watching.

If the fifth season continues on that path, I will join the chorus and heap praises upon this show. If it doesn’t (an all too real possibility based on this show’s previous seasons), then I hope that when the white walkers finally make it far enough south to do some damage, they wipe everyone out. Thus far, that’s what these people deserve. If you strip away all of the costumes and sets and the like, what’s left? Definitely not enough. Not yet. …

Update (6/15/15): I did like the fifth season a little better than its recent predecessors. For more on that, check out my separate review.

Verdict: Somewhat Good Overall, With High Highs and Low Lows

About: (Source: got)

Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne continues.

It stretches from the south, where heat breeds plots, lusts and intrigues, to the vast and savage eastern lands, where a young queen raises an army. All the while, in the frozen north, an 800-foot wall of ice precariously protects the war-ravaged kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men…all play the ‘Game of Thrones.’

An original series based on George R.R. Martin’s best-selling ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series.