HBO’s “Game of Thrones” occupies a unique place in the
television landscape.
Based on a highly popular book series by George R.R. Martin
depicting the struggles for power within the fictional, Middle Ages-esque
universe of Westeros, “Game of Thrones” has followed closely throughout much of
its run to the storylines of the first three books in the series (five of a
presumed seven have been published so far). Non-book readers could enter into
the series fresh, but fans of the novels were able to anticipate major events
they knew were coming while also enjoying seeing the books they love visualized
on TV.
That has all changed in the series’ current fifth season
though, as Martin’s glacial pace in completing the books has allowed the
television series to catch up to the novels and forced the show’s writers to
begin creating scenes and whole storylines that have not occurred yet in the
books.
This has proven to be a game-changing development and a
revitalization of the series. The narrative feels more cohesive and disparate
storylines that felt disjointed in the past now feel part of a greater whole.
Characters who have never met each other in the TV series or the books before
are now interacting and for the first time the series appears to be working
toward an end game.
And now in a year when many great drama series have ended
and a number of very good, but not necessarily all-time great, series scattered
across the networks, “Game of Thrones” is arguably the best show on television at
the moment. It may not always be consistently at it’s best each week, but it
was certainly at its best during Sunday’s episode, “Hardhome,” possibly the
high point of the series to date.
The first half of the episode was solid but fairly
unremarkable, as “Game of Thrones” followed its traditional path of visiting a
number of different narratives across the Seven Kingdoms. Arya is still
undergoing her training from Jaqen in Braavos, Sansa is struggling to survive
as the now married captive of Ramsay Bolton in Winterfell, Cersei is imprisoned
by the High Sparrow in Kings Landing, and in the most of the entertaining
scenes of the first half, Tyrion manages to convince Dany to keep him in her
employ as an advisor in her pursuit of the Iron Throne.
But it’s all set up for the episode’s final 30 minutes, as
Jon Snow, now Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, Wildings leader Tormund and number
of rangers travel to a wilding settlement to convince them forge an alliance
against the fast-approaching White Walkers.
Jon is able to convince many of the Wildings to return with
him, but as they are departing, the settlement is ambushed by an army of undead
skeletal wights while the Night King, the White Walkers’ leader, and a number
of his lieutenants watch on horseback from an elevated hillside.
“Game of Thrones” has done exciting action set pieces in the
past, from season 2’s “Blackwater” to last season’s “The Watchers on the Wall,”
but none of it has been on the scale or with the edge-of-your-seat intensity
displayed in “Hardhome.”
The White Walkers, or Others as they’ve also been referred
to previously, have been a presense since the very first scene of the series
and have appeared in a handful of other moments, but “Hardhome” is by far their
biggest showcase so far and the show does a fantastic job of showing what a
horrifying threat these characters bring to the series.
Even though about 90% percent of what’s on screen is CGI, it
doesn’t change the fact the massacre at Hardhome is a brilliantly executed
action setpiece with some fantastic imagery, none more chilling or disturbing than
Jon, Tormund and the surviving Wildings floating away in retreat as the Night
King stares at them from the dock and raises his arms, resurrecting the
reanimated wildings, and in the process, replenshing his undead army.
As thrilling as “Hardhome” was, it does raise some questions
for the future of the series. For one, it seems
Also, the events of Sunday’s episode shine everything else
happening on the series in a new light. Suddenly, Stannis’ plan to sack
Winterfell, Cersei’s conflict with the Sparrows, and even Dany’s threats to
“break the wheel” seem trivial when we know the seemingly unstoppable force of
the White Walkers is lurking. Unless there is a sudden surplus of valyrian
steel, which appears to be the only way to kill the Walkers, all of the warring
families’ quarrels over the Iron Throne will be rendered moot when they’ve been
killed and reanimated as blue-eyed zombie slaves.
Jon Snow knows this by the end of Sunday’s episode and it
won’t be long before the rest of Westeros learns about the horrors he’s seen. It’s
a frightening prospect for all of the characters on “Game of Thrones” but for
the audience, it creates some fantastic drama and is just one of the many reasons
the series is in peak form right now.
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