Episode 1 – Winter Is Coming – Recap

After years of waiting, Game of Thrones has finally arrived. Episode one, “Winter Is Coming”, has aired and the awesomeness of this show has been fully unleashed on an unsuspecting public. Here is my recap:

Spoiler Note: This post is for those who have read the first book. As such the post itself and the comments will contain spoilers. If you haven’t read the first book yet, stay tuned for a recap from a newbie’s perspective! game of thrones dvd

The show opens with the now-familiar prologue scene. Haunting and intense, the scene opens the show with a bang. Sidenote: I was mildly disappointed when Jamie Campbell Bower had to be replaced as Ser Waymar, but I think Rob Ostlere did a great job. And it doesn’t take long for us to encounter our first change from the book. It is Will that survives the encounter with the Others (hereafter referred to as the official show term, the White Walkers). Not only that, but he doesn’t get away before the Walkers appear, but literally comes face-to-ice-cold-face with one and manages to remain alive. The only explanation is they let him live. A deviation from the books and one that seems to imply that the White Walkers are not attempting to sneak into Westeros in the cold night of winter but rather are quite confident they can take it with brute force.

And then, the opening credits. Pretty amazing, right? Not much to add here other than the main theme music WILL get stuck in your head.

And then our first completely new scene. This is the first of many. David Benioff and Dan Weiss were not shy when it came to adding their own take on things. Most of these are quite good, good enough that they almost feel like “deleted scenes” from the book. This is one of those scenes. It works as a great introduction to all of the Stark characters (love how they completely establish Arya’s character without her even uttering a word) and gives us a chance to see them all interact as a family. And we get our first Winter Is Coming!

And then the beheading scene, this one has been seen in so many trailers and discussed at length before, so I won’t linger here long. I will mention though that I don’t mind them cutting Theon’s kick. Next, the finding of the direwolves. Aren’t they adorable?