Game Of Thrones fans it's not often that we get to chat how are you i'm fine I thought that with the show coming to an end next year that I would take this opportunity to take a look back at several past episodes and give them all the review treatment because why the hell not and what I better place to start then right at the beginning with episode 1 "Winter is Coming".
The basic plot of this episode is that Jon Arryn has been killed and the King needs a new hand of the king and in the meanwhile in young a young Daenerys finds herself doing something she really doesn't want to do. I'm trying to keep this review as spoiler free as I possibly can just because you never know who's seeing this episode for the first time and I figure that the fans of the show will already know the plot of this episode as for my thoughts on the plot it's works for a pilot episode and I think alot of that is due to the fact that the pilot is over an hour long if this episode was say forty five minuets it wouldn't work at all.
When I was first planning this review I was planning just to list the actors that appear in this episode but then I checked the Wikipedia page for season one and every actors that's in this episode is apart of the main cast so starring in this episode was Sean Bean as Eddard "Ned" Stark , Reject Fred Flintstone as Robert Baratheon , Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister , Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark , Sarah Connor as Cersei Lannister , Reject Sarah Connor as Daenerys Targaryen , Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont , Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen , Kit Harington as Jon Snow , Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark , Maisie Williams as Arya Stark , Richard Madden as Robb Stark , Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy , Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark , The kid saved by batman in Batman Begins as Joffrey Baratheon , Rory McCann as Sandor "The Hound" Clegane ,the guy with the ultimate slap as Tyrion Lannister and Aquaman as Khal Drogo.
I wasn't kidding when I said that every actor who appears in this episode is a member of the main cast like holy hell that's alot of actors to credit and it's not like I could only pick a select few this time since all of them play big roles. In terms of the acting I have to say that for a pilot episode the acting is pretty good for the most part but what is really interesting looking back on it is the fact that the acting from the child actors isn't that good like at least in this first episode but even so you can tell that there's a lot of talent from them.
It's common knowledge that the pilot we got was not the one that was originally shot back in 2009 there was alot of cast changes between that pilot and this one with perhaps the biggest two being Jennifer Ehle as Cat and Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys and that at least 90% of the footage was re-shot and I have to say that you really cannot tell what was 2009 footage and what was 2010 footage because of how well hidden and how well it flows altho one of Jennifer's scene is in the final episode it's the scene with Cat and Sansa where Cat is brushing her hair they just added in Michelle in post production.
I'm sure that i'm not the only one who noticed this on a second viewing but Catelyn does a little bit of foreshadowing when talking to Bran it might not be but if you listen to what she says and if you watch the end of the episode either she could secretly see the future and was just being kind or she was foreshadowing what happens later in the episode it's one or the other.
I'm going to say it i'm a huge Dany fan I have been since day one and I think she will come out of the series on top and I really liked her introduction scene in this episode to me she looked like a doll she was that fragile that scene was also shot so well you can just see that she's lost in her own thoughts and it makes you wonder what she's thinking and by the end of it your left wondering how she got into this mess.
Speaking of her introduction scene her brother really was a creep even tho I know what happens to him later on in the series I still wanted to punch him in the face but tho that goes to show you not only how good the writing for this show is but also how good Harry Lloyd is in the role he makes you really want to hate him and that's what a good villain should do and he in my mind plays a key part in the growth of Daenerys since if he wasn't being a bully to her then she wouldn't learn to toughen up and to be an all-round badass.
Game Of Thrones wouldn't be the show it is today without the pure awesomeness that is Peter Dinklage and while he is more awesome in the second this episode gives us a hint of how awesome he can be in this show there really no words to describe how great of an actor this dude really is because any words that I could think of have been said by other people when they reviewed this episode but the man deserves any and all praise he gets because even when he's something bad he's still the best thing init.
What is interesting at least if your a fan of the show is looking back and seeing how not only the characters but also the story got started for me it was interesting seeing how these characters who go onto to become main players start out as naive people Sansa's only goal right now is to get married and that's it that is a long way from where she was in seasons six and seven the same thing can also be said for Arya who in a few short seasons would become pretty much one of the show's best fighters and in this episode she spends alot of time fighting with her sister.
It wouldn't be Game Of Thrones without blood and gore the two just go so well together and I have to say that I honestly thought that there was alot more gore in this episode like I could have sworn that there was alot more but no there's only a small amount of gory scenes in this episode and I thought that the gore effects looked really good even tho some of them are seen from quite far away it looked really decent and the same can also be said for the blood.
Overall this isn't a bad first episode to a great series and it is fun looking back seeing how the show began and to let all of you GOT fans know this will NOT be a weekly thing and I WON'T be looking at the episodes in release order it will be whenever i'm bored and i'll watch random episodes this pilot episode gets a 9.5 out of 10 from me.