A New Game To Enjoy

The Buckeyes’ loss to Wichita State still stings, but at least we’ve got a new Game to command our attention and analysis:  HBO’s Game of Thrones returns tonight.  You can see the extended trailer for Season Three here.

I’ve written before about Game of Thrones — both the HBO series and the epic-length books.  It’s a fantastic show, rich in themes and plots and production values, one that convincingly captures the curious medieval world where seasons can last for decades, dragons fly, and magic is real.  I’m looking forward to the return of characters that I love, and even more to the return of the awful characters that I love to hate.

I’ll relish reigniting my intense loathing for the detestable Joffrey Baratheon, the sadistic, cowardly punk who sits uneasily on the Iron Throne, and his duplicitous, manipulative mother Cersei.  I’ll be interested to see what happens to Jon Snow and the tiny yet hardy band of misfits and castoffs manning The Wall in the far north, working to meet the challenge of the wildlings and the White Walkers.   I’ll root for the honest, loyal Brienne of Tarth, the gigantic female knight who displays more knightly virtues than the men who ridicule her.  And I’ll enjoy becoming reacquainted with Arya, and Bran, and Tyrion, and the complex, interwoven storylines that characterize this series and meeting the new characters that will be introduced this season.

Having read the books, I suppose I could announce “spoilers,” but that’s not fair Game.  I’ll say only that big things, and terrible things, will be happening to the characters we’ve come to know.  Of course, loyal watchers of the show knew that already.  Any show that kills off its main character by public beheading before Season One even ends is not afraid to spin the world of Westeros on its axis.

Getting Ready To Get Back Into The Game

On April 1, HBO will start to air new episodes of season 2 of Game of Thrones. Kish and I can’t wait.

In case you haven’t watched it, Game of Thrones is a show about a mythical land in a medieval time period. The story revolves around kings and contending noble families, as well as a nomadic tribal society. The characters include a dwarf, an incestuous brother and sister, and an insufferable, cowardly youth who now sits uneasily on the throne.

What makes the show especially tantalizing, however, is the more fantastic elements of the plot lines, including sorcery, dragons, and the mysterious “white walkers” who live outside an enormous Wall somehow erected by the generations past — and who inevitably are going to try to get past the Wall as winter comes.

I’m ready to get back into the storyline and to take a dip into the gore that comes with swordplay, executions, and heads on pikes. I want to finally see the “white walkers” contend with the brave outcasts manning the Wall. I want to see Littlefinger betray a few more people in his high-wire effort to keep his hands on the levers of power. I want to see the newborn dragons in action, commanded by the woman who survived the fires with them. I want to see the Starks kick some Baratheon butt. And, most of all, I want to see the callow Joffrey Baratheon squeal like a stuck pig and beg for his life before getting his head lopped off — preferably by young Arya Stark, who took her sword lessons last year.

Let the Game begin!