As it rolls through its second season, Game of Thrones looks to prove that a leading actor in no way holds a show together. The first season starred Sean Bean, who played Boromir in Lord of the Rings, as the honorable and grizzled Eddard Stark. However, in this quasi-medieval world, one’s honor has very little to do with one’s health. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that we don’t see much of Eddard in the second season…at all. For any other television show, this might spell disaster, but the writers at HBO are fortunate in that the series is based off an already created book series. Their grasp of George R. R. Martin’s series is astounding. Artistic liberties are taken, and things are changed in order to televise the plot, but the integrity of the story remains.
Game of Thrones, which takes place in a medieval world mostly on the continent of Westeros, follows four families: Baratheon, Stark, Lannister and Targaryen. Robert Baratheon used to be king, but now his death has allowed for many potential kings to rise up. Among these are his brothers: the older, honor bound and poorly supported Stannis Baratheon and the younger, charismatic and popular Renly Baratheon.
The Lannisters currently hold the crown through Joffrey Baratheon, a bastard child of siblings Cersei and Jaime Lannister. As queen, Cersei commands a lot of power, but Joffrey, one of the few one-dimensional characters on the show, is a cruel, power-obsessed teenage king, and he gets what he wants. Tyrion Lannister, Jamie and Cersi’s brother, serves as the Hand of the King and does his best for the health of the kingdom. The Starks have led a rebellion from the North, and named Robb Stark the King of the North. Meanwhile, Joffrey is still engaged to the captive Sansa Stark, Robb’s sister, so things are a little awkward. Across the sea is Daenerys Targaryen, driven from the throne by Robert. Daenerys has three baby dragons, widely believed to have been driven extinct, and all she wants to do is reclaim her throne. There are many other important characters. Most are alive. Some are dead now. So it goes.
The second season, now four episodes in, brings Emmy winner Peter Dinklage, as the wittily cunning Tyrion Lannister, to the forefront of the show. His subtlety on screen is captivating. Midway through a line he might change what you were expecting to be a compliment into a perfectly timed jab. He serves as Hand of the King, a title with as much influence as danger. It should be mentioned that, as a little person, he commands a great deal of the power in this world. By no means is he the main character though. The show, like the book, leaps around each episode, keeping at least a dozen stories in check. There is an immense amount of material. Each season covers an entire book, and each book is at least 800 pages long.
The true success of the show, though, comes in the subject matter. It takes place in a world not unlike Lord of the Rings. There are knights and sorcery, kings and queens, magic swords and dragons, but the overall driving force of the show is politics. It is a story of power and how it is wielded. In a memorable scene from the first episode in season two, a character nicknamed Littlefinger subtly threatens the queen. He says that, in his experience, “Knowledge is power.” The queen responds by having her guards hold him and quickly put a knife to his throat. She does not order him killed, but she could. “Power is power,” she responds. In that moment we see fear for the first time in Littlefinger’s eyes. He realizes that in this world, there are no true rules; there are guidelines and cultural conventions, but if you have the power or the capability to defy them, there’s no one to stop you.
This show is not for the faint of heart. Not only is there a good deal of violence, language and the classic HBO sex scenes, but Martin’s characters face a long hard road. Few characters are truly good or bad, and he favors neither. He has no problem murdering fan’s favorite characters just when things are going well for them. He also has no problem introducing a plotline that will not come into play for books to come. Most noticeably is Daenerys Targaryen; midway through the second book she is nowhere near crossing the sea, and she won’t be ready for a long time.
Game of Thrones is addicting and fun, regardless of its cruelty. I would recommend it to any and all, though as the queen warns, “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.”
