They knocked it out of the park. There is no other way to say it except that everyone involved looked like they loved what they were doing and it showed.
As grandiose as the first season of Game of Thrones was, it was the little things that made it so worthwhile. Some of my favorite moments of the first season:
- Ned Stark’s conversations with Lord Varys in the dungeons – The actors had some very good dialogue but what best struck me was the way Ned said the following line: “You think my life is such a precious thing to me, that I would trade my honor for a few more years… of what?”. It wasn’t a rhetorical question full of spite and anger but an honest question; the man had no idea what it was like to live with compromised principles. In the end, it showed the kind of man Ned Stark was.
- A certain red-haired vixen named Roz – While she is not in the books, it was great to have a character to help expose the motivations of certain characters. As someone (can’t remember who) put it, she’s an amazing character that has men spouting exposition. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the actress who plays her is the sexiest thing since sex came to Sexytown.
- Pete Dinklage owning every single scene he was in – Scene thief. He’s utterly perfect for the role in every way, mostly because he’s such a damned good actor. Funnily, his casting deviates from the character of the books. You get the sense in reading that Tyrion is the polar opposite of his brother Jaime from an aesthetic perspective. Dinklage, however, is very handsome. He looks like a Lannister. The breezy way he tossed Mord his gold as he walked out of The Eyrie and said “A Lannister always pays his debts” was spot-on. I hope he wins that Emmy and if he doesn’t this year, well, his role calls for more badassery and emotion in the next few seasons.
- The things they changed– Mercifully, some of the heavier aspects of the book got cut. It’s important to remember that the first book alone is longer than Lord of the Rings so some things required removal or truncation. Much of what was done was for the benefit of people new to the story and some changes introduced new threads for the loyal reading public to ponder. There was one tidbit of information you don’t learn in the books: you don’t know until the latest book that the person Lord Varys was talking to in the dungeons (remember, Arya eavesdropping from inside the dragon’s skull) was Illyrio Mopatis. Nice bonus. Also nice: Khal Drogo ripping that dude’s tongue out through his windpipe. That was cold, and awesome. Word has it that it was an idea that Jason Momoa told the author, who loved it and incorporated it into his script.
- The things they left exactly as written – It seems like every episode ended with those cliffhanger lines, just like in the book. “I did warn you not to trust me.” … “He was no dragon. Fire cannot kill the dragon.” … “The things I do for love…” I also loved the interplay between Mirri Maz Duur and Dany. Mirri the Cursed brought reality down on Dany when she said that her deceased child would not grow up to become a conqueror and that her actions spared many innocent lives. The pyre scene was line-for-line from the book and it was my favorite scene of the first season.