And we’re back. Yes, it’s that time again. HBO’s Game of Thrones has returned to our screens, but can it return to our hearts against stiff competition from the likes of The Walking Dead? TV has gotten crazy good recently, and ‘Thrones may have a tough time keeping up with the proverbial Jones’s.
Opening with more of a whimper than a bang, the first episode of season three avoids tackling some of the bigger reveals that pockmarked the end of season two and instead spends its time ponderously setting up a few new storylines. It simultaneously races and crawls: a giant appears but exits just as suddenly, and lengthy dialogue scenes kill the pace all too often.
Scenes are seemingly inconsequential, unlinked. Still they pop, however, due to the excellent cinematography, lighting, and staging that we’ve come to expect from the series. Each camera move seems purposeful, and every glance has a precision to it. Character nuance, too, remains thankfully intact. The Tyrion-Cersei banter, while not as snappy as we’ve seen, still maintains the powerful undercurrent of distrust and paranoia that propel the titular game to its upper echelons of intensity.
We don’t quite get there with this episode, however. There’s nothing wrong with “Valar Dohaeris” on a mechanical level. The effects work in particular deserves special mention for being sparing but piercingly effective. Set extensions and fantastical locations blend with the live action virtually seamlessly and unobtrusively. They’re just there. The show has been polished to a fine sheen; its cast and crew know their craft well, and Game of Thrones is more comfortable in its role than ever before. It looks efficient, effortless, and is a tantalizing glimpse into what this season can produce when it gets off the ground.
Right now though, it’s hard to shake off the sense that very little actually happens in this first episode. It’s almost completely flat, and absent are elements of intrigue and suspense that have punctuated previous adventures and kept things clipping along. The episode is kicked up a notch when Daenerys enters proceedings (who doesn’t love watching her scaly companion rustle itself up some dragon-fire-chargrilled-fish mid-flight?), but this is a momentary diversion from the slow burning core of the episode.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, however. With this opening we’ve been eased back into the political landscape of the saga and given an overview of some key positions. They might not be the most exciting, nor may they appear to connect in many tangible ways, but the strength of the show’s production values could spell greatness for the rest of the season.
A slightly average episode then, but understandably so. It acts as a solid but slightly slow jumping-off point for season three, easing us back into Westeros in anticipation of the tension, clashes, bloodshed, brutality, suspicion, ambiguity, and basically everything else we’ve come to expect of the show that are presumably waiting in the wings for future episodes. The board is unfolded and the pieces have been set up, we just need to wait a little longer for play to commence.