There’s such a magic seeing a property jump from page to screen. It’s kind of silly if you really pick it apart – a good story is a good story, regardless of the format it’s told in, and yet we all want the thrill of actually seeing our favorite characters walking, talking, and fighting on a big or small screen.
I feel like I can’t really claim the kind of excitement longtime fans of George RR Martin must have felt as the first episode of “Game of Thrones” unfolded. I still have to finish the series (I just wrapped up “A Clash of Kings” last night), but that didn’t stop me from the thrill of seeing The Wall or the quiet “Winterfell” title card. Winterfell! We’re really here! And for the most part, I’m enchanted with my first visit.
I suppose I should open with a little criticism, and I think it’s one I voiced when I recapped “The Walking Dead” pilot, but it bears repeating. Adaptations are tricky, tricky things, especially if they come with the massive fanbase that something like “Thrones” does. You either have to pander and overexplain for newcomers, or you skip exposition and plunge right in. The perfect balance is, obviously, somewhere inbetween. I’m not sure “Thrones” struck that line. I came in with knowledge, and I was able to take off, follow along, and be overjoyed at the first sight of the direwolves. My mom and sister haven’t read a single page of the books, and immediately complained that it was too convoluted, and moved too fast. They liked it – sort of – but both were on the fence because they couldn’t tell Starks from Lannisters, or bastards from true born sons. I saw this echoed on Twitter and in reviews a little bit, with a lot of “Stick with it! It gets easier!” thrown in so we can get a Season 2….
I do think it moved a little fast – but we are talking about a show that has to cram a thousand pages into ten episodes. (Come on though, HBO – couldn’t you have given us a two hour opener? You already spent the money on the sets!) Considering the bouncing perspective of the books, and the time Martin spends on the smallest of details, it did a pretty admirable job of cramming a lot of exposition into a few moments. Even the lost and unsure should realize Arya is a firecracker, Sansa is a snot, and Jon Snow hasn’t enjoyed a lot of happiness or warmth in his life. I thought they even managed to convey Joffrey’s wretchedness with a handful of frames – and just as I was wondering if it was knowledge in hindsight, my fellow viewers both went “Ugh!” when he came onscreen. I would have liked Arya to actually speak, and the Starks to name their direwolves, but I’m impressed they managed to get Robert’s lost love and Cersei’s accompanying disdain onscreen quickly, efficiently, and with almost as much power as the book. It’s that kind of compression that I’m hoping serves the story well, and gets us from point A to devastating point B…unless they use all the extra time for Tyrion’s sex scenes. (Hey, I love HBO because they allow nudity, but since I didn’t get to see Ned Stark standing naked on the balcony, I will cry foul.)
Like every fan undoubtedly did, I nitpicked – Sansa is too old! Where’s the snow in Winterfell? Daenerys is so…curvy? Why are the Dothraki hanging out near the sea they hate? – but for the most part, it conformed exactly to the way I’d pictured it. The sets, the costumes, the actors, the cinematography are all breathtaking and authentic. (Except, maybe, Sansa’s feast dress. What was that?) The only thing that’s distractingly shoddy is some of the wigwork; but when they’ve constructed Winterfell down to the last bearskin, crypt, and melted candle, I’m not going to complain that Viserys’ hair looked a little stiff and unnatural, particularly not when Harry Lloyd embodied him with all the creepiness of the Targaryens.
But my complaints are minor, and my enthusiasm is great. Instead, I keep thinking how much I loved seeing beyond the Wall, Ned and Robert in the Stark crypts, the wedding of Drogo and Daenerys, Jon finding Ghost, Bran seeing what he shouldn’t…and I can’t wait to visit Westeros next week.
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