Saturday, April 7, 2012

I'm Hooked -- GoT Got Me

While channel surfing late one night last summer, I came upon a title I'd seen mentioned both in books and in television.  George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones.  I'll admit that I'm not one who watches or even reads a lot of fantasy.  Not that I don't like it, but both my reading and TV viewing is somewhat limited.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to do even half of what I want.  I'm also not into shows with a lot of medieval battles, either, so GoT wasn't really something I was itching to try.

So back to the channel surfing and my intro into a truly unusual and fascinating (to me) series. I was lured in when I caught a glimpse of platinum-haired Daenerys "Dany" Targaryen walking into the blaze of the huge funeral pyre for Khal Drogo, her deceased warlord husband, and disappeared.  Cut to the next morning, after the fire had died out:  Dany (or Khaleesi, as she'd come to be called by the Dothraki) is still alive, sitting near the remains of what had been her husband, her clothing burned, her face smudged with ashes and soot.  A small crowd of the faithful are watching what was obviously a miracle that she'd survived.  But that wasn't all.  Just over her right shoulder, we see something slowly moving.  The small, parrot-sized dragon that appeared was what put the finishing touch on a mesmerizing scene...and the end of the first season.

The end?!!  No, it couldn't be!  But it was.  That was Friday night.  On Saturday, I did a quick look to see if I could catch more of it on HBO OnDemand.  Lo and behold, I could!  I had enough time to watch two episodes, and as I checked how many were left, I learned that Sunday--the next day--was the last day the series would be run.  Huh?  Oh, good grief.  But my daughter was gone, I had until midnight on Sunday, and the TV was all mine, so I watched the other eight episodes, one after the other, to the end.  I was hooked.  Totally.  And then I learned that the second season wouldn't begin again until April.

April?!!  Aaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhh

So here we are at April, and I wish I'd taken the time to watch season one again, just as a reminder of who was who and what was what, because after all this time, I've forgotten far too much.  There's a lot to learn about the fictional universe of Westeros and the people and beings who inhabit it.  That alone might very well might require reading the Song of Fire and Ice series of novels.

Because Game of Thrones is an HBO series, there's a lot of graphic scenes and images, sometimes a bit more graphic than my comfort zone usually allows.  Those haven't stopped me.  I've learned to blink when a head is lobbed off with a sword. (Ned, I do miss your sanity. sniff)  I've learned to watch scenes in the brothel without giving it much thought.  And I've learned to know which characters to love, hate, and who not trust.

The story is totally engaging, complete with gore and sex.  The characters are fully written, with human qualities of good and bad in all of them.  The location shots are mind-blowing, thanks to the 7 Kingdoms of Westeros, each different, ranging from forests to deserts to ice-covered lands.  Those alone are enough to take a viewers breath away.

If I've tickled your curiosity, or if you've always wondered what all this Game of Thrones talk is about, here's your chance to get hooked like me.  Game of Thrones Season Finale - Last Scene (Because of the graphic nature of this scene, I'm posting only the link, instead of the clip.)

All this watching is going to be tricky, because Mallory and I have become huge fans of GCB (I adore Annie Potts!), which is on at the same time as GoT on Sunday night.  Thankfully, HBO has multi-viewings of their best shows, and ABC shows can be seen online and, thanks to our cable provider, On Demand.

Yes, life is good!

Game of Thrones
The only hour each week in which we really truly feel alive has arrived! Tonight's episode of Game of Thrones
, entitled "The Night Lands," involves Theon's return home to deal with his father; Tyrion's ruffling of feathers around the royal court; Arya's discovery by Gendry; and Davos' plea for naval assistance from a notorious pirate! (Sigh.) Love this show so much.  - Price Peterson, TV.com, on Episode 2, Season 2.

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