Return of Brock Lesnar

With favourable comparison to series' as far-flung as Lord of the Rings, The Sopranos and even The Wire, can this year's biggest new show live up to the hype?

By Leo Stiles

You know that the fantasy and horror genres have gone mainstream when two of the best TV shows of the past couple of years feature zombies and kingdoms under threat from mythical beasties.

While fans of the genres have long known that there was more to this sort of thing than silly place names and gratuitous gore, it has taken two of television’s powerhouse studios to show the masses what they are missing.

AMC went out on a limb late last year with The Walking Dead, a drama that took the pulpy premise of a zombie apocalypse and forged a taut and engrossing series that stood out for its acting, storytelling and an ability to make you care in between the gore and horror.

TV powerhouse HBO looks like it will be repeating this trick with Game of Thrones, which premiered on Sky Atlantic last night and despite its creators have long since regretted describing the show as the ‘medieval Soprano’s, the description isn’t a bad one - even if this fantasy series is so much more than that.

Based on George R.R. Martin’s sprawling novels, Game of Thrones tells the tale of the lands of Westeros and the power struggles between its ruling families as they seek to claim the Iron Throne, which is currently claimed by King Baratheon after previous rulers, the Targaryans, were overthrown years before.

Emilia Clarke stars as Daenerys Targaryen

The series opens with the King now gone to seed as he seeks the aid of the House of Stark (who guard the North’s Ice Wall) to fend off plots against him that may come from the Lannisters, to which he is related to through marriage. Not to mention former rules the Targaryans are seeking to recruit an army to take back the throne.

Machiavellian doesn’t even cover it as the story moves from one scheme to another and the source novel’s dense plotting drives the show forward,  including some shockingly vile deeds even within the first episode. Make no mistake, no character will be safe and you can expect to see a serious body count before the end of the first ten episodes that make up this first season.

The show certainly doesn’t shy away from its fantasy roots but the opening episode, save for some otherworldly beasts beyond the Ice Wall and brief mentions of dragons, is grounded in a realism that instantly draws you in. If it wasn’t for the strange place names, Game of Thrones could easily be mistaken for an historical drama in the mould of The Tudors, albeit a non-rubbish version.

While the more outlandish elements of the books will be ramped up in future episodes and series, the first couple of episodes wisely stick to the more believable elements that shouldn’t alienate any potential viewers.

The first episode is absolutely packed with characters to keep track of but thanks to some excellent writing courtesy of David Benioff, the show never once feels like it is overstuffed and the economy of dialogue make all the necessary set-up that the series requires much more palatable with the pace of events moving along at quite a fair clip.

Fantastic casting

Thrones’ cast is uniformly excellent, with Sean Bean commanding the screen as the loyal warden Ned Stark. While it might be tempting to see his nobleman as an extension of Boromir, his Lord of the Rings character, Bean’s performance is much more subtle here and he is the anchor for the audience as they make sense of the show’s world and myriad characters.

The absolute stand-outs in the rest of the quality cast are Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister and Kit Harrington as the bastard child of Stark, Jon Snow. Dinklage is a revelation here and his scheming Lannister prince (nicknamed ‘The Imp’) is both a source of comedy due to his rampant libido and future drama as he uses his cunning to rise above his height disadvantage.

Game of Thrones doesn’t pull any punches with incest, murder, sex and some visceral violence leaving you in no doubt that this is a show that has been made for adults, albet thankfully without the gratuitousness that has ruined ostensibly similar shows like Spartacus: Sand and Blood.

Much like other shows from HBO, Thrones demands that you pay attention and keep up and makes no concessions to the casual viewer. Stick with it and you will be rewarded, not only with the finest slice of fantasy drama since Peter Jackson left Middle-Earth but perhaps the best TV show since The Wire.

Game of Thrones is now showing on Sky Atlantic, each Monday at 9PM