First off, let me save you some trouble: HBO's long−hyped series "Game of Thrones" is not, I repeat, not "Lord of the Rings" (2001−03). It may take place in a separate mythical world, it may include myriad complicated intertwining storylines, it may even feature Sean Bean (Boromir, for you "LOTR" noobs) — but thematically and editorially, the stories are poles apart.
This is not to say that fans of "LOTR" won't be pleased with the adaptation of George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series — in fact, it will probably be hard for non−fantasy lovers to get into "Game of Thrones" at all, given its penchant for complex overlapping plots and billions of protagonists. But if you're looking for that heroic, good−vs.−evil kind of vibe, "Game of Thrones" is probably not for you.
Set in the magical kingdom of Westeros, the show revolves around the corruption, deceit and — like any typical HBO series — illicit sex between the many royal families vying to gain control of the monarchy. Thus, instead of a romantic, idealized epic, the show is basically a political saga that could have been set in Washington, D.C., as easily as a medieval fantasyland.
I could further explain the plot, but that would definitely take up the 500 words I have left. And even if I tried to go into detail about each compelling character and blood feud, it would probably sound impossibly messy and incomprehensible.
That's because the first two episodes of "Game of Thrones," for all their elegance and breathtaking visuals, are completely confusing (speaking as someone who has never read Martin's novels). After two slow hours of intrigue, incest and throwing 10−year−olds out of castle towers, the average viewer still only has a basic idea of where the story is going.
This isn't actually a complaint — if I had only seen the first hour of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and taken a week to mull over it, I would likely feel a similar sort of puzzlement. And there are plenty of other reasons to keep watching "Game of Thrones" without fully understanding the plot (keeping in mind that it's a classy HBO show and everything will make sense eventually), and the first among them is Peter Dinklage.
Peter Dinklage is a god among small men. Dinklage, recently seen in "Death at a Funeral" (2010) and "30 Rock," takes the character of Tyrion Lannister, the genius but dwarf brother of the Westeros queen, to incredible heights. He makes all of those capricious "thees" and "thous" of the dungeons and dragons genre sound natural and adds the only slices of humor to a show that already takes itself very seriously.
Backing up Dinklage's talent is a slew of equally compelling performances. Bean is great as usual, playing the only moral character of the series, patriarch and "hand of the king" (whatever that is) Ned Stark. Also astonishing are the child actors who play his kids, Bran and Arya (Isaac Hempstead−Wright and Maisie Williams), both of whom manage to keep up well with the show's dark and bleak tone.
And the show is definitely bleak — no amount of mystical dragon eggs or cool zombie−Eskimos is going to change that. Fantasy is not the card being played on "Game of Thrones" — politics is. So be sure to learn a lot about human suffering and mankind's inevitably corrupt state in the meantime, because it won't be six episodes until the zombies come back.
"Game of Thrones" airs every Sunday at 9 p.m., but that doesn't matter because you don't have HBO. So go find it on Megavideo.
