A groundbreaking eight seasons, a medieval tale of power as families battle against families, brothers fight brothers, sons battle with fathers, daughters rise against gender-assignation, dragons control the hoardes, the dead rise to confront the living. All this and so, so much more in its 73 episodes whilst racking up no less than 59 Emmys over that eight season period.
Unfolding like an amalgamation of the histories of European countries and empires (with more than a little magic and fantasy added), nine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros. As power ebbs and flows, kings, queens, princes, princesses, noblemen, commoners come and go, murdered, killed in battle or, occasionally, die of natural causes.
But as the seasons slowly edge towards the bloody climax, it’s the dominant Lannisters established in the luxuriant city of King’s Landing and now under Queen Cersei (Lena Headey) who looks to face down the people of the North led by the Starks and John Snow (Kit Harrington) along with the claimant to the throne, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), the Dragon Queen. But there’s also the very real threat from the far north from that ancient enemy, the army of the dead, who return after being dormant for millennia.
Regarded by critics as one the best television series of all time, Game of Thrones is a huge investment in terms of time and emotions as principal characters evolve over the eight seasons. Each family is given its story with its history and current position within the power struggles but empathy from an early stage is invested in the Starks when head of the family, Ned Stark (Sean Bean) is unjustly executed by the Lannisters. Known for his sense of honour and justice, his crime – to have discovered all three children of the king’s wife, Cersei, are from the ongoing incestuous relationship with twin brother, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). It sets the course for ongoing confrontation between those loyal to the Starks and those who believe their best interests lie with the wealthier Lannisters. That, along with the claim to the Iron Throne by Daenerys Targaryen, based across the Narrow Sea but slowly building her followers, is the core of the Game of Thrones.
Individual stories evolve as the two Stark daughters, Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya (Maisie Williams) find themselves pawns within the system – a somewhat simpering Sansa is married off to not one but two Lannisters before emerging as a powerful head of her family whilst a no-nonsense Arya goes off on her own personal journey of self-discovery. But it is the third and youngest Lannister sibling, Tyrion (the superb Peter Dinklage), who is central to the eight seasons and the machinations of power. A dwarf blamed for the death of his mother during childbirth, he is very much the outcast of the family. Rejected by his father (Charles Dance) and siblings, a hard-drinking womaniser initially disinterested in politics, its Tyrion who, in switching allegiances, effects the course of events throughout.
Impossible to sum up all its strands and characters, Game of Thrones, based on the series of books A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin is thrilling television that, whilst there are inevitable palls in its dramas, ultimately delivers a powerhouse of imagined and real history of power and all its ramifications.
Rating: 80%
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