I’ve just finished catching up to the end of the last series of Game of Thrones (just in time for the new series later this year). After poo-pooing it for ages I finally succumbed last year and within four of five episodes was completely addicted. The last two series each only took me a few days each to watch, once I got into the “binge” mentality.
I had thought about writing a review of them, but it all seems to big to sum up. I am now one of those annoying people who find it hard to explain exactly why you should give up fifty hours plus of your life, but insist “well, you just have to watch it and see!”.
I really struggle to put my finger on what’s so good about it though. In fact, I secretly suspect it’s not even that “good”, objectively speaking, but just has so many storylines and characters crammed in you focus on the good bits and forget the bad bits.
I’m still a bit uneasy with all the sex and nudity. It really does seem gratuitous and awkward (yes, I’ve turned into my dad). More importantly, it makes it difficult to watch because you have to wait until there are no kids kicking about the house.
What I’m most impressed by is just the sheer amount of money and work that goes into it. It really takes itself immensely seriously (which is what you want from a fantasy story) and has the budget to support its grander ambitions.
I’m wondering how many people on here watch it? And what’s your overall impression? Is it a fad that we’ll forget about in a couple of years? Or is there something more special about it?
And what is it all ABOUT? Is there going to be an overarching theme that emerges when we reach the end of the final series?
I’m not interested in getting bogged down in the minutiae of the stories and characters here (there’s plenty of other internet forums for that kind of stuff – I’ve checked them out and they are DULL). I’m more interested to see if anyone has an overall idea of what the point or vision is of the whole thing.
Personally, I suppose I think of the whole thing as a lesson about some hard facts about the real world: good people do bad things, bad people do good things, politics is petty, religion has its uses but also creates maniacs, nothing lasts forever and someone is always waiting to stab you in the back. The political to-ing and fro-ing in Westeros seems to be an obvious allegory for any country in upheaval any time ever (I keep seeing parallels with the Northern Ireland Troubles, for example)…. and the gradually building threat from the north seems like, well, a lesson about ignoring the needs of nature (ie global warming) and putting party politics ahead of that.
I’ve read the books and watched (and re-watched) the series, it entertains me and the fact that an old pal of mine turned up in the last series pleased me no end. I’m not sure how worthy it is or whether there is a point to all or not, certainly in the books you sometimes get the impression that Martin sits down with an empty mind and lets the story guide him rather that vice versa. It is impressive that the on-screen story keeps the attention even during some of the most narrative driven details of the books and some of the dialogue between Tyrion and Bronn in particular is a pure delight. As the TV series has now overtaken the books it will be interesting to see where it leads, certainly the TV series seems to have rid the story of a very tedious major plot line in one fell swoop!
I’m not the most perceptive of people, I usually watch GOT in the evening in the company of wine and whisky so I don’t tend to critically analyse, but I do find it interesting that Tyrion aside, the females have become the strongest and most powerful characters on all sides.
I’m looking forward to series 7.
Deep and meaningful – no, I don’t think so, but its a gripping watch and I’m so fed up that they delayed this season by 3 months. Rumoured only to be 7 episodes as well.
I think the producers are on record that it will finish after Season 8 (7 and 8 being shorter runs) which I think is good thing, much as I love it, as hopefully it means that we’ll get a proper end rather than it limping along like too many of the big US shows do.
Undoubtedly one of the strengths has been that you genuinely never know what’s going to happen and (largely) being a major character is no guarantee of survival. I suspect Jon Snow and Daenerys will be there to the end, though
From what I understand, season 7 is going to be longer, but shown in two parts (7 episodes, then 8 episodes)? But I might be wrong.
I too am really pleased it’s going to come to a defined end. Although at the end of series six there are so many loose ends and plot strands I can’t imagine how they’re going to tie them up.
I think the seasons have got better and better as they’ve gone on. Some of the later “battle” episodes have been just incredible.
I’m about to dive in from the very beginning, having just ordered the complete series 1-6 boxset.
Yes, I do live on my own, since you ask…
Ooh, I envy you. Guaranteed (almost) you’ll get sucked in. I loved the first season, but as the story opens up after that it all makes the first season look small and parochial.
“Sucked in”? Must be some sort of special edition DVD, eh? The things they can do these days!
Well, really!
(blush)
To be honest I thought the last series kind of lost its way but the complex and compelling labyrinth of plots and characters is amongst the finest to be found anywhere on television. Unmissable even if I have no idea whatsoever how it will all end.
ps I found the books (the two I tried but failed to finish) boring beyond belief
Murdoch-free zone here (or at least try to be) so don’t know/don’t care.
Isn’t HBO part of Time Warner?
Broadcast by the Dirty Digger’s organisation in the UK. Sky have an exclusive deal for UK transmission of HBO content.
I buy the DVDs for exactly that reason.
Who was that red lass who had some kind of ghost come out of her frontispiece?
Watched three, maybe four seasons and can’t remember anything else about it.
(Actually, on reflection that might have been in Stingray)
I have not watched a moment of it & do not feel that I am missing out. (That said I have an addictive/all or nothing type nature/personality & I am sure that if I were to give it half a chance I would quickly give in to it)
Even if its wasn’t associated with Murdermort GOT inspires the same interest in me as anything with men in tights which seems to be all Hollywood can serve up these days. I’m all in favour of gratuitous sex and violence but give me a good western or vintage horror movie any day…..
I’ve never read the books, and would never consider reading them – life’s too short for fantasy genre multi-doorstop reading. I have watched the TV series and enjoyed it, but I’ve only ever watched each episode once, and don’t think I would go out of my way to watch them again – it’s enjoyable nonsense but one viewing is plenty.
Gripped since the first episode in our house! I’m no lover of sword and scorcery type stuff, and this does have dragons occasionally….oh, and a giant in the last seres….which kills it when you try to explain it to someone who is a sceptic, but the script is fantasticly tight (mostly), has characters you care about, including hating some so much you really do want to see them come to the stickiest possible end, and the production values are the best I have ever seen in a TV series. Oh, I can’t follow half of it (apparently the box sets have maps and stuff), but it really doesn’t matter because it’s so splendid to watch and listen to….plenty of rumpy pumpy, not always between people unrelated, and scenes of a violent nature…what’s not to like?
Yes, and the nerve to actually kill a couple of the most loathesome (I won’t name them to avoid spoilers) rather than just keep them hanging around to be booed.
As someone who also usually finds fantasy/sword & sorcery fatally dull, I think the GoT people were very clever in making season 1 a virtually magic-free zone (SPOILER ALERT), right up until the final scene, in fact. Obviously that aspect has been turned up to 11 since, but that definitely made it an easier entry point for me, who freely admits to finding Lord Of The Rings & Harry Potter (for instance) utterly boring…
Until we get to the conclusion I think it’s too early to tell if there’s any profound message hidden in there, I think it’s just a good yarn to be honest, though I’m glad they seem to be narrowing the scope as we head towards the endgame – having ever-increasing numbers of characters criss-crossing the world, talking about thrones and dying in various nasty ways could only go on so long…
With regard to the kids comment. Would you be happy to allow them to watch it if there was no sex and nudity? The violence is very graphic, after all.
I actually don’t think the sex is gratuitous.. GoT is medieval in feel and the sex is as muddy, dirty and gory as the violence. It fits in very well.
“It fits in very well” – Really?? I thought they were just pretending!
ha ha, no I don’t mean I would let kids watch it, but it’s more of a question of being able to sense (mostly) when the gory bits are coming up and being able to pause it to watch it later. You can’t do that with the naughty bits because they just pop up out of nowhere with no warning. There are un-signposted boobs and willies appearing all over the place.
In a scientific experiment*, I can confirm that in each 60 minute episode there is only 20 minutes that kids can watch.
It’s an adult show. Nevertheless, a large percentage of the audience are under 16*.
* All these facts are fake.
I try, but it’s all too “Conan the Barbarian” for me. Even my trash aesthetic can only go so far. I prefer science fiction over fantasy. But the production values and the foxy chicks are fine.
I dare say it’s due a backlash in the tedious way these things have, so liking it will probably be terribly infra dig by June, but it’s great. I love it.
Not a genre I go for, so I’ve not watched any of it.
After a review of the first series in Word mag I bought the DVD set for Mr B’s birthday, and he’s had it every year since*, except for last year when they put out two, so he got Series 6 for Christmas. I don’t watch much telly, but this has become must-see stuff; we even re-watch a few episodes of the previous series in the days leading up to seeing the newest one.
*hurr
I got the box set for my birthday so I’m looking forward to diving in. Not seen a second of it so far.
I envy you! You have a marvellous experience ahead. Top tip: try not to get too attached to any character.
“I hate victims who respect their executioners” (C) JPS
I’m about a third of the way into series 2. I’m enjoying it, though I realised I didn’t understand half of series 1 so I’ve been trying to fill in gaps in my understanding….It’s very sadistically nasty and gratuitously violent, but I guess that’s the nature of the beast. I’ll persevere but there’s a little voice in my head saying it’s a bit wanky in the way Lord of the Rings is – superbly made, but with all the silly names and spectacularly evil people, invented languages etc… is it a bit wanky? Actually I didn’t like LOR at all – this is better, especially as I’m starting to understand who is who. You can’t google to find who people are, because it invariably has a spoiler e.g. “Throbb is Snorta’s brother who is torn into 6 pieces in series 4” or something. Not that I’d remember by the time I get to series 4, or even know who Snorta is.
I can tell you why I like it. Basically I have never been wrong footed quite as much by a single story as I have with Game Of Thrones. Which makes it great storytelling. I did the books before the TV show, and THE BIG EVENT around page 70 (at the end of series one episode one) caught me out so much, (truly, I never seen it coming in the slightest), that I think the shock of that propelled me through all the rest of them.
The other thing I like, and this will sound so daft, is the fact that the kingdoms have actual economies and need to pay for these wars. It creates a level of political reality which a book with dragons in doesn’t usually have.
And lastly Tyrion is obviously just cool as fuck.
Watched a couple – not gripped enough to return.
Admittedly, it was the (unexpected) presence of Wilko Johnson in the early series that I saw.
Maybe I was expecting something different, but my boat remained unfloated.
Mrs D loves it (but then she always had better taste than me)
Never been much of a dungeons and dragons person, but I’ve been gripped by GOT since episode one. It’s got a bit of everything and is so completely outrageous at times that I’ve actually questioned whether I should continue watching it (I felt the same about some of the awful things Walt did in Breaking Bad, but couldn’t drag myself away).
The tone changes somewhat as the series progress in fact. Sort of darker and less tits, in a nutshell (but we’re talking relatively here).
Mrs. T wouldn’t have got beyond the first scene so I watched it solo. I take great delight in talking in Wildling accent though. JON SNOOOOOOR.
If it’s darker you don’t see so many tits. Unless you have night-vision goggles.
I’m told.
Never seen it. I like Lord of the Rings… should I bother?
It’s vastly better, or at least vastly more entertaining (wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of the Tolkien bores),
Miles better than the LOTR stuff which I thought was utter toss.
GoT Update:
The first two seasons are now under my belt and I’m about to start on season 3. My observations so far:
1) I’m utterly gripped! Great storyline, great characters – I am coming to the show with some familiarity but not much (I read the first two books of the series but no more)
2) Virtually every episode seems to have a “what the FUCK?!?!?!” moment, which I love (A crown of molten gold!! wait – they cut his head off!!!! holy shit he ripped his fucking throat out!!!)
3) Boobs!
4) More boobs!
5) Tyrion Lannister is the balls
6) As a history buff i can see the obvious parallels between the show and the Wars Of The Roses, which makes it more enjoyable for me
7) Joffrey Baratheon is a little cunt.
I think this is the best summation of any TV show – let alone just this one – that I’ve ever read.
It’s truly excellent escapism and very addictive. In the past year I’ve twice watched all series so far available on DVD.
The medieval politics and dynastic squabbles are fascinating in their sheer variety of plotlines.
The production values are impressive with some stunning locations (Northern Ireland, Spain, Malta etc).
The swords and sorcery and graphic violence provide plenty of cliff hanger moments.
The big battle scenes are right up there with anything Ridley Scott and Peter Jackson have produced in movie blockbusters.
The acting is superb, particularly Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Cersei (Lena Headey), who are endlessly watchable. The supporting players are brilliantly cast too: Jonathan Pryce stole the show in a couple of series as the religious cult leader.
The White Walkers are cool dudes though I wouldn’t want them in my back garden.
The whole thing is packed with gorgeous women, princesses, whores, handsome blokes, nasty villains, square jawed heroes, dragons and giants. What’s not to like?
The Battle of the Bastards is awesome isn’t it. The best battle scene I’ve ever seen, I think.
Can we shut up about the election now?
I loved the first episode of this new series. The tension is starting to mount now.
It’s going to be heavy going for the next few Mondays with both this and Twin Peaks to watch.
I borrowed the books from somebody at work, having only seen a couple of episodes and being vaguely aware of the shows existence. From that, I bought the box-set last year but we’ve only got up to Season 4. My girlfriend has watched them all, but she’s not read any of the books so we’re watching the episodes from different perspectives*
*For instance, for me, the reintroduction of Theon Greyjoy in the books is brilliant, but it’s something that can’t really happen in the TV series.