Superb, well written series, strong acting, has something for everyone
Heard about this HBO series through some friends, they knew I would like this genre, and similar to Lord of the Rings, except not as much fantasy, and more history. Well, I watched one episode, then another. The main characters are SOLID and excellent actors. I had to buy the DVD series, since I did not have HBO, and could not keep bugging my friends to watch their TV much more. This series has many intriguing characters, I think it has 15 primary characters, interwoven motives for seeking power, fame, and fortune to ascend to the throne. Characters one can not assume, they are what they seem, their lives and ambitions change thru the series. Alliances form, integrity is challenged, evil threatens. This is a dark, in your face, bruttaly honest portrayal of life during this period. Lust, sex, incest, rape, brutality, murder, violence.....were prevalent in those times. Hollywood up to now, tended to suppress this, and window dress movies of this period to nothing more than action movies, with violence, maybe a few love stories, and great video landscapes with some computer generated imagery....which BTW, is the genre we enjoy, no kidding each other. Just Game of Thrones takes it beyond the cimenamatography, and famous actors.....goes into the family struture, marriages, families, and normal challenges they face, and then beyond, how the throne impacts their daily decisions, overriding family trust, friendships, to the primary alliances formed, and dedication necessary to protect the throne. Siblings are raised, marriages are formed, families are merged....all for the power of the throne....lives either embrace this need willingly or begrudgingly, or they reject it partially or completely.....and not always do characters STAY with their initial perception or vision of what they want to do...they tend to morph or adapt to situations, based on brutal deaths of friends and family, betrayals, resentment, anger, jealousy....and often the YOUNGER characters start to mature. Their lives adapt to their surroundings....bastards and dwarves in time, develop galvanized personnas....strength is gained through survival, and insight gained by trauma, both psychologically, and physically over time. There are many plots, and characters developing.....it is not easy to always comprehend the subtle actions, tasks, and situations that mean nothing at first, but become the foundations later for their beliefs, and form who they are and how they change in time. The DVD series allows you to go back and re-watch these episodes to reidentify these subtleties, that may have been overlooked and missed if just watching the single HBO episode. Bonus disk gives insight to each of the characters, I think this is a vital asset to understanding the series better, and probably necessary to watch BEFORE watching the series, and maybe AGAIN about 4 episodes in, to strengthen your understanding of motives, relationships, families and just name recognition of the characters. Acting is top notch. That alone, makes this a must see DVD set.Read full review
