With "Game of Thrones" continuing HBO’s conquest of high-quality content, a quasi-ritual has carved its way into American TV culture.
As Sunday night descends upon us, millions gather around their televisions and computers to witness the latest episode of "Game of Thrones." The next day always consists of co-workers and colleagues discussing the happenings of the previous night’s chapter.
It’s a two-part event that saw a comeback Sunday night, as the season five premiere of Game of Thrones aired to the delight of anxious fans. And, for the most part, “The Wars to Come” seemed to garner positive feedback.
In true "Game of Thrones" fashion, the premiere avoided any major plot shifts. Instead it served as a much needed recap of what the dozens of important characters had been up to at the end of season four and during the break.
Considering the shocking murder at season four’s end, much of “The Wars to Come” felt dedicated to setting the scene for a world free of Tywin Lannister’s intimidating power. His iron resolve always seemed to keep enemies at bay and Westeros in a relative state of order.
But, as evidenced by a worrisome conversation between Jaime and Cersei Lannister, Tywin’s death feels like the unhinging of every inkling of structure left in Westeros. The game is on, and everybody wants to play.
To the North, Jon Snow’s plot thickened as well. During a meeting between him and Stannis, the self-proclaimed rightful king, Snow was charged with recruiting the wildlings for a military campaign through the North region.
Naturally Mance Rayder, the wildlings’ leader, declines Snow’s offer and submits himself to Stannis’ death by fire punishment. Snow’s reaction to Rayder’s gruelingly slow death seems to be the makings of an interesting diversion from the generally cordial relationship between him and Stannis. There’s no indication if anything fruitful will come from Snow’s actions, but the dressing for an intense backlash is there.
A drunkenly depressed Tyrion shines once again with his usual dark comedic relief. The unlikely teaming of him and Varys, who smuggled Tyrion out of King’s Landing in a tiny shipping crate, is the premiere’s most tantalizing detail – especially since they’re well on their way to possibly meeting, and allying with, Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen.
Speaking of the dragon-queen, an unruly rebellion threatens to crack wide her growing influence. A group called the Sons of the Harpy is covertly disassembling her army of Unsullied and has Daenerys visibly frustrated.
Potentially worse for the slave-savior is her loss of control over the three dragons that once obeyed her every command. Pressing Daenerys to reassume her place as their master is Daario — the Second Sons leader who attends to the queen’s more bed-related needs. Daario shakes the confidence in Daenerys by saying “a dragon-queen with no dragons is not a queen” — and he’s kind of right. Unless she can rekindle the caged dragons’ obedience, Daenerys loses the power to dishearten her foes with the terror of fire.
The stellar acting and set production return in the premiere with gusto. The CGI remains unusually great for a TV show, too — especially during the collapsing of the statue sitting above Daenerys’ pyramid. Beyond that though, “The Wars to Come” is really just an hour-long foreshadowing of what’s to come — both in title and plot.
There are no moments of shock and awe, no bold statements and certainly no sexual tension. Even Arya, whose season four plotline proved especially compelling, doesn’t make an appearance.
But anybody familiar with the structure of "Game of Thrones" shouldn’t be too surprised by the heavy focus on scene setting and catching up the audience. The show has always been written this way, and for good reason. With plotlines and characters aplenty, Game of Thrones is notoriously hard to follow, and we could all probably do for a refresher.
As a whole, “The Wars to Come” seems to promise a fifth season packed with the brutal conflicts and bloody murders fans tune-in for. These upcoming Sundays can’t arrive soon enough.
Reach the reporter at nlatona@asu.edu or follow @bigtonemeaty on Twitter.
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