One big frustration with this solid series premiere is the ending. Spread yourself far: One continent, no, two! The worst instinct in fantasy is to say This Is Our Vibe.
As my brilliant former colleague and reigning Westeros correspondent James Hibberd wrote in his series premiere recap: "When a TV show opens with a supernatural attack, viewers tend to assume the show is about supernatural attacks." In this episode there are winter zombies up there and summer cavemen down here, grim knights of romance there and prissy inbred aristocrats there. There's no sense of a single important character, and no feeling that one tone has to dominate.
whatever you think about the burlap slasher orgy of non-white foreignness at the Dothraki wedding - whether you think it's purposefully hilarious or accidentally hilarious or unforgivably offensive or necessarily offensive, whether you think the wedding-night rape is a crucial part of a character's journey or an embarrassing feat of misshapen adaptation - you have to admire this world's immediate scope. It's essential, though, that this premiere is so Dany-heavy. The events in Essos could feel like a vestigial tail even in the show's best years, and Pentos lacks the texture of Winterfell. He knows the sword can't ever be sharp enough. You imagine that he's already anticipated every bit of bad news, even his own death. But look closely at his face beforehand, as he polishes his sword. He hears some bad news, and looks unhappy. Bean is great throughout, but I don't think he was ever better on the show than the moment Catelyn ( Michelle Fairley) finds Ned under the Godswood. The leisurely pacing nails the darker tones, too. Worth noting that Esmé Bianco plays the first great new-for-TV character, the prostitute Ros, whose vibrant grin (and, yes, clothing-optional mentality) contrasts all the stuffy patrician grimacing. Your mileage may vary, and Thrones got more abashed with its sexual content as expanding popularity brought harsher critiques.
Everything around Khal Drogo ( Jason Momoa) is an M-for-Mature riot. We meet Tyrion ( Peter Dinklage) mid-orgasm and pre-fivesome. Popular screen fantasy at the time was a regurgitative Hobbit trilogy and climactic Harry Potter victory laps, "dark" in style but safely PG-13. In 2011, premium cable maturity could still be a tantalizing come-on.