In 2011, the American channel HBO, which has been programming most of the best TV-shows of the 21st century, has released the first episode of a new phenomenon: Game of Thrones.
Adapted from the eponym series of books by George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones has soon become this successful show that everyone knows. Media and individuals started to create a marvelous fuss around the universe created by the bearded man, that many dislike at the end of different seasons.
Game of Thrones was to me a long and not-so-interesting stories of different barbaric kings (and their court) fighting one another to know who had the most powerful army. I had convinced myself of that for a very long time until I tried to watch it last year... and fell asleep.
Ever since, people around me, outraged by this revelation, had asked me how far I had gone in the show; I had fallen asleep at the very middle of the second episode. Following my answer, all of them ordered me to force myself to watch the first season and come back to them with a proper opinion, which they knew would be positive. Consider this post, that I write only a few hours after having watched the last episode of the first season, my truthful opinion.
Game of Thrones was to me a long and not-so-interesting stories of different barbaric kings (and their court) fighting one another to know who had the most powerful army. I had convinced myself of that for a very long time until I tried to watch it last year... and fell asleep.
Ever since, people around me, outraged by this revelation, had asked me how far I had gone in the show; I had fallen asleep at the very middle of the second episode. Following my answer, all of them ordered me to force myself to watch the first season and come back to them with a proper opinion, which they knew would be positive. Consider this post, that I write only a few hours after having watched the last episode of the first season, my truthful opinion.
It was, and still is, complicated for me to avoid the media relating the story of the show, the spoilers of the seasons. How many times had I read that "Winter is coming", that incest and rape is a common thing, Joffrey is the man that you instantly hate when, on the other hand, you can't help yourself but to instantly love his uncle Tyrion, our 'D.L.F.' (Dear Little Friend) as the Queens and Kings of Narnia call him.
Around the mid-season of the season 1 of the show, I had decided to write this post and split it into the following points; this way, I was sure that I would not forget a thing. And of course, Game of Thrones being what it is, the rest has ruined a couple of them. This is why I have chosen this way of presenting it, mixing my own opinion to the use of many assumptions I had made thanks to the media coverage.
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1 - You shall not leave the room during the opening scene.
Indeed, in Game of Thrones, not only is each second extremely meaningful, but the opening scene is as important as the rest of the episode. Presenting the audience with a useful map the different houses, the scene also helps us to have a song in mind for the rest of the day.
2 - You shall have a pen and a notebook ready during the first season.
Names. Too many names. SO MANY NAMES. How do you expect us to remember them all?
3 - You shall not be a prude...
Game of Thrones is a show that is not embarrassed with a little bit (a lot) of nudity, and so should their audience be. Main actors and extras, almost all of them have been involved in a scene including a part of nudity. Oh! and you should know that some incestuous sexual relation may occur at some point. But I believe you already heard it from the media long before now... Be aware...
4 - ...nor rude!
Or you could finish engaged to the most cruel and rude person that does exist in the season 1 of the show, Joffrey Baratheon. Ask Ned Stark's eldest daughter, Sansa.
Names. Too many names. SO MANY NAMES. How do you expect us to remember them all?
3 - You shall not be a prude...
Game of Thrones is a show that is not embarrassed with a little bit (a lot) of nudity, and so should their audience be. Main actors and extras, almost all of them have been involved in a scene including a part of nudity. Oh! and you should know that some incestuous sexual relation may occur at some point. But I believe you already heard it from the media long before now... Be aware...
4 - ...nor rude!
Or you could finish engaged to the most cruel and rude person that does exist in the season 1 of the show, Joffrey Baratheon. Ask Ned Stark's eldest daughter, Sansa.
5 - You shall not be disgusted by blood.
Let's just say that if you are planning on closing your eyes every time a drop of blood appears on the screen, or that a scene is too violent, you would have your eyes closed more than half of the time.
6 - You shall not ask an explanation about the dragons.
For the whole season, I have heard that Daenerys Targaryen and her brother were linked to the dragons. She even received dragon eggs that had become fossil over the years as "dragons are dead for many years", and yet everyone talks about it. I have asked and was been sent back home to watch the rest of the season.
7 - You shall be afraid of what is beyond the wall.
No one has seen anything for many years, for thousands of years even, but the wall had been built that high for a reason. Be afraid of what stand behind the walls and thankful for the knight protecting it - especially Jon Snow.
8 - You shall understand that Winter is coming.
It will be cold and dark. Baby will die and so will many other people. In other words, ice age is coming and season 1 is stage 1 of the human extinction: announcing the future disaster. (But when you go South, even though winter may be coming, the sun is warm and shining and people seem to fear less the threat of such a disaster).
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But most of all, the reason why I consider myself newly addicted to the show is because of the way it is made. They direct each episode the way they would direct a movie. This guaranties us to watch a wonderful show every time we do press play.
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Have a good day,
xx
