So I started watching Game of Thrones last night and I have to ask... when does it start to pick up?
While I hadn't really been able to get into the books, when I heard that HBO was making them into a series I was pretty excited to see what they'd do. After the success of The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire and countless other dramas, I gave a lot of weight to the HBO endorsement and was certain that this show would be superb. And the rave reviews from geeks and non-geeks alike seemed to bear this out. But by about the halfway point of the first episode, I kept thinking "I'll give this five more minutes before I put in Goldfinger."
While I never pulled the trigger on the Bond movie, this had more to do with the inertia of my lazy ass lying on the couch late on a Thursday night than any on-screen magic. The characters are competently acted and impressively adorned, but I neither loved nor loathed any of them and felt nothing but apathy toward the various dramas that were unwinding around them. When can I expect to start to give a shit about this made-up kingdom and its made-up drama? Do I need to power through another episode or two before the gears start clicking or is it safe to say that the magic is lost on me?
Give it 3 or 4 episodes. You need to get a dose of Tyrion Lannister. And once Lady Stark becomes a stronger character the series becomes much more interesting.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I loved it from the beginning, without having read the books, but a lot of the plot threads that are being woven in the first one or two episodes will really start dancing in three or four...
ReplyDeleteAlso, think of it this way. All you've seen is 1 episode out of 10 of the first season. That means Bond has just arrived at the hotel in Miami Beach.
ReplyDeleteWhat would that tell you about the rest of the movie? What the heck does that have to do with Fort Knox!? ;-)
Thanks fellas. I'll keep at it a bit before I draw any final conclusions.
ReplyDelete@ Joseph
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Perhaps Bond will find a goldpainted lass in his room in episode 2. Then the heat will be on!
I'm always glad to see I wasn't alone in disliking the series.
ReplyDelete@Scott: I have to admit that I came around to it by the end of the 2nd episode.
ReplyDeleteSure it's heavy-handed: the bad guys are all unrepentantly incestuous and predictably despicable, while the good guys are honorable and refrain from gettin' it on with their siblings; but it's compelling in a General Hospital sort of way.
Does General Hospital still exist? Did I just date myself?
Ulek and Laura 4 evar!
ReplyDelete