Leading up to the April 14 premiere of the final, six-episode eighth season of HBO’s massive hit series Game of Thrones, Pop Culture Maniacs will be rewatching the entire series (season by season) and writing on how each season fares in light of all that we know now (and thoughts about how the major plot points that came before might impact the great battles still to come). Each season article will contain spoilers for the entire series through season seven, so you have been warned. Any speculation on what might happen in the upcoming eighth season is merely that: speculation.
The first thing I noticed when I started the pilot of Game of Thrones was how many of the cast listed in the opening credits of that first episode are still on the show- out of 17 actors, 11 are still alive and well. Amazing how, for a series that is known for killing major characters, so many of the characters from episode number one are still on the show (and playing major roles in the show’s upcoming endgame). Sure, that isn’t the case for subsequent seasons (or even season one, as Aiden Gillen’s Littlefinger joined the credits later in the season), as many actors who were listed in the opening credits down the line have seen their characters bite the dust, but that core group from the pilot is still around. Perhaps the series isn’t as brutal with “main characters” as its reputation suggests?
Also interesting: Out of those 11, all but one are the children of characters who were killed over the course of the series. The Lannisters, the Starks, a Greyjoy, two Targaryens (even though Dany’s parents were killed prior to the start of the series, they’re talked about enough to count in my book), and a Mormont. The only one that doesn’t fit the bill is the Hound, who has his own set of familial issues to deal with. But the older generation (a stretch to call Ned and Catelyn part of that, I know, since Jaime, Cersei, and Tyrion are really of their generation as well) has all died off, leaving their children to save Westeros and continue fighting the battles they themselves couldn’t win. It’s rather poetic, really. Will this younger group manage to set aside their familial squabbles to do what is right, or will they fall victim to the same problems of their forebearers? The more things change, the more they stay the same (a theme I suspect will continue throughout the final season of the series, and perhaps even through the end of the final episode- barring the Night King winning the war, I can’t imagine Game of Thrones will tie itself up nicely in a little bow).
As you likely recall, the major arc of season one was the rise and fall of Eddard Stark, who failed to play the game of thrones correctly and died as a result. Looking back, prior to rewatching the season, all I could recall was just how dumb Ned had been to assume that the Lannisters played by the same rules as everyone else. Watching the episodes again, I was struck less by Ned’s major missteps, but by how conflicted he was throughout the season. Everything he did, he did for those he loved: Robert, his children. Sure, he should have listened to Catelyn and simply refused Robert, but then we wouldn’t have a show, now would we?
Ned let Arya skip her cross stitch lessons and learn to fight was a different needle. When he watches her dance with Syrio, the sounds of wood against wood changes to steel, and the fearful recognition of what’s to come appears to cross Ned’s face. There’s no way he could have ever predicted Arya’s path throughout the story, but it’s clear that, at that moment, Ned knows that with these skills, Arya’s future will not be as safe as he would wish for his favorite child. It’s a powerful moment from the vantage point of seven years later. Ned was never cut out for life amongst the real wolves of King’s Landing. He just wanted to see Westeros ruled with a true and steady hand. He clung too closely to his black and white belief in right and wrong, and that was his downfall. We’ll get to how this thinking impacted his children in later seasons (oh Robb and Cat…), but I think we all can look back on Ned as an idealist who was unable to see that his era of men had passed him by. There was never a way Ned Stark would have survived the subsequent seasons of the show if he had made it out of season one alive. And his death, while a rallying cry for the North to fight, was also the bell tolling for the end of civility in Westeros, and the beginning of a new age.
Another thing: the casting was spot-on. While I tend to lament that Kit Harrington has the personality of a cardboard cut-out (which, he does), his weakness as an actor isn’t that obvious with Jon’s role this early. Brooding and acting petulant is something Harrington is good at. Another thing he’s good at? Mimicking Sean Bean’s accent (same for Richard Madden’s Robb). The Stark men all sound so much alike. While Bean is no longer with the series, his voice lives on in Harrington’s every word. I’ve also come to be less than thrilled with Emilia Clarke’s performance in the latter seasons of the series, but she’s incredibly effective as we watch Dany evolve from a scared girl into the mother of dragons. Perhaps the series developed Dany too quickly as a character, leaving Clarke not much room to grow as the seasons went on. But credit where credit is due: she’s great in season one.
Casting children is always a gamble in a series that will see them age over a number of years. Make a mistake and you could be in for a difficult recast (or just subpar work) in the future. But boy, did the Thrones casting directors hit it out of the park with this batch of kids. Jack Gleeson’s Joffrey feels so different here than in later seasons, as he hasn’t gone full psychopath. There are still layers to Joffrey, and we can see the uncertainty in his choices (and his glee at seeing just how much power the king wields). It’s a much better performance than I think Gleeson has gotten credit for. Same with Sophie Turner’s Sansa. Yes, a large portion of her performance is Turner crying and begging, but there are moments of realization throughout the season where Turner lets us see that Sansa is learning how to play the delicate game of thrones. As for Maisie William’s Arya, I think we all agree she’s pretty close to perfect in the role, from day one. But it’s fun to see how young both Williams and Turner are at the start of the series (although Turner grows like a weed throughout the season).
All-in-all, I was surprised to see just how good season one was. Yes, it contained some of the biggest surprises of the series, and some of the most important moments (the death of Ned, the birth of the dragons), but boy, was this a tightly plotted season. I suppose a large part of that comes from the story being lifted so cleanly from George R. R. Martin’s novel, but there wasn’t a moment that didn’t feel necessary (well, I could have done without the sexposition of Littlefinger telling his life story while Roz pleasured another whore in front of him). When I think back on how long and unwieldy later seasons became, it’s amazing how strong the series was right out of the gate before it had too much story (and too much torture). I’m not looking forward to seasons four and five, let me tell you.
The entire endgame of the series was all there within season one: the White Walkers and their threat to the Seven Kingdoms, Cersei’s insatiable drive for power no matter the cost, Tyrion’s penchant for talking (and drinking) his way out of precarious situations, Jon being more of his uncle’s child than he realizes (for good and for ill). While we definitely needed the ensuing seasons to allow characters to develop into who they would ultimately become (looking at you, Jaime Lannister and your hero redemption arc), it’s harder to justify the narrative starts and stops that would come to define the later seasons of the show. But, enough complaining about seasons I haven’t rewatched yet. Perhaps they will surprise me, just like I was surprised by the excellence of season one.
