Game of Thrones begins the emotional rollercoaster

By Evan Burr
On the Tube

On Sunday, April 12, HBO brought us the fifth season of the acclaimed fantasy series “Game of Thrones,” based on the “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga by writer George R.R. Martin.

Having read the series, I go into watching an episode with certain expectations. Storylines to be met, characters to be portrayed and certain dialogue to be spoken.

However, ever since seeing the third season end with Daenerys Targaryen striking an actual Jesus pose and crowd-surfing across a sea of freed slaves chanting her name, I’ve come to the acceptance that what I watch and what I read are going to be two completely different things, for better or for worse.

The season opens with a bit of a surprise: the first flashback and the first prophecy in the series (the books have many more). We see a young Cersei Lannister visiting a witch who, essentially, plants the seeds of paranoia that dominate the character.

In King’s Landing shortly after, we see her sneer her way through interactions with her subjects and more importantly her family, which brings back some characters introduced early in the series: her uncle, Kevan (who, if he’s anything like he is in the books, should be bringing some of the snappier one liners in the future), and her cousin, Lancel, now a bit of a religious extremist.

Outside of Lannister intrigue, the Tyrells go scurrying about, with Margaery moving in as queen and Loras remaining completely unlike his book counterpart, with the writers strangely taking away every aspect of his personality and making him nothing more than a “token gay character.”

On the bright side though, the sets are stunning, with a particular mention of the Sept of Baelor, which really captures the magnificence and opulence from the books.

In the Vale, we see some interactions between Sansa Stark, now in disguise as the daughter of Littlefinger, and the already mentioned false father figure. It shows a bit of intelligence on Sansa’s part, as she keeps up with Littlefinger’s scheming, but it seems that she is going to have a very different storyline than she does in the books.

More notably, on The Wall we see Jon Snow trying to create compromise between his two new father figures, Mance Rayder and Stannis Baratheon.

Unfortunately for him, neither one is big on being told what to do.

Stannis seeks an army in order to reclaim the North from the people who murdered Robb Stark, Mance has an army, but no desire to see them fight. The situation brings about some of the best acting in the episode and includes the first notable death of season five.

That’s right, episode one and they’re already starting something of a bloodbath.

And, of course, we can’t forget fan favorites Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys. Tyrion arrives from his little boat trip in Pentos, along with Varys, and they plan their next move there. In Meereen, Dany faces significant resistance from the people she”liberated.”

A murdered soldier, requests for fighting pits and even some of her own advisors suggesting she give in a little. I find this section to be somewhat disappointing.

Plotwise, these sections stay true to the source material, however, there is a notable attempt by the writers to remove the negative traits of these two characters.

All in all, the episode was mostly introductory, perhaps a bit more interesting to those who have read the books. With a few issues, it was entertaining and captivating, leaving me with a desire to see what happens next and hope that the writers are learning from some of their past mistakes.

With a promise of a major death in each episode, I’m sure the coming weeks are going to be an emotional rollercoaster for fans of the show.

“On the Tube” is a column that reviews and critiques different on-going series on television.