HBO's Game of Thrones, Season 1

Been a little busy this week, but truly what can be said that hasn't already been said? No, really... check it out.

Winter Is Coming - Episode 10 Recap Roundup

For what it's worth, I was extremely pleased with the season finale - in fact, as far as I'm concerned, it was the best finale of the year on television. (Yes, I'm still grieving over the idiocy of the House season ender.)

There's no one like me.
Hit me with that rock again, and I'll still talk smack.

Joff, our favorite bastard, count your blessings
that you didn't get stuck with the other sister.

As noted last week, the characters (love 'em or hate 'em) have grown into their roles, and for those viewers not familiar with GRRM's brand of brutality - well, I think going into season two, it has been established that no one is safe.

I like to kill fat boys!

Summarily, as far as the season goes, most of my thoughts were shared last week. But what we're looking at is a strong cast of unexpected characters (so many children actors), each now with enough screen time to warrant viewer sympathy and emotional investment, all going into season two with increased stakes - in an environment where no one is safe.

There was a lot of "sexposition" in Season 1 - and while sex and violence are a big part of what occurs in Westeros, Season 2 - based on A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2), shouldn't require as much background information. Clearly, there's going to be war and the political machinations shouldn't necessarily require hooker scenes to pull off. We'll see.

There's been a lot of positivity regarding the CGI dragons - and I agree, they were well done. But again, the role of the dire wolves becomes increasingly relevant to the story of the Stark children, and I hope that in this filming, they give the pups some more screen time. Which, to their credit, they did manage in the final episode. It's symbolism, it's a magic that can't be ignored, and can't be focused exclusively on the dragons, because that's only one story arc amongst several.

Some puzzles remain for the viewer to chew on in the next several months, and despite what's been done in other fantasy stories, one shouldn't think that baby dragons are anything but a novelty at this point. Dany has no army, the dragons are vulnerable, and meanwhile all the rest of Westeros is armed, ready and marching. This will take awhile to unfold. Even if there are Targaryen loyalists, she still has to get to them (before they get killed under some other banner).

That would be the dilemna, from one perspective, if GRRM were a simple man. But he is not.
Before I digress, a funny or two.






And my favorite feature on WIC, Twitterers gone wild.

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HBO's motives are clear. Convert this best selling fantasy series into something that will translate into subscribers and merchandise sales.

Long before the first episode aired, I told anyone else who would listen that the significance of the success of this series had a potential impact on publishing.

We've seen how True Blood and Twilight gave rise to urban fiction, to the point where agents and publishers were saying "enough vampires already" by last year.

We've already had a successful Lord of the Rings movie trilogy - and The Hobbit (part 1 of 2) is set to release in December of this year.

This should mean a huge boom for the epic fantasy literature genre. I'm counting on it. Martin is not a prolific author, Tolkien's film adaptations will likely end in 2013, and that's going to leave a void for people who want more.

While the success and quality of A Game of Thrones (as well as Peter Jackson's film projects) are great in entertainment value alone, the bigger picture suggests that this is only the beginning of a huge spike in the popularity of Elves, Dragons, Dwarves, Knights and magic.