Game of Thrones, Ep. 13, "What Is Dead May Never Die"

Photo by HBO

First, my apologies for skipping Episode 12, "The Night Lands." When I wrote my post on the premiere, I hoped to review each episode on a weekly basis. That obviously won't be happening, since I couldn't even review two consecutive episodes. Going forward, if I miss an episode or two, but still want to discuss them, I'll just include my comments in the next post. So, you'll find commentary on "The Night Lands" sprinkled throughout the below discussion of Episode 13, "What Is Dead May Never Die."

Game of Thrones, Ep. 11, "The North Remembers"

Photo by HBO

How do you talk about Game of Thrones? As someone who has read the five published books (of a planned seven) in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, discussing the HBO adaption proves a confounding task. Do you compare the show to the books, pouring over each episode with a magnifying glass, highlighting every subtle change and re-imagining? Do you allude to events from Books 3-5, even though the television series expands each book into a ten episode season, meaning the end of the current season will coincide with the ending of Book 2, A Clash of Kings? How do you talk about Game of Thrones in a way that includes as many people as possible, without limiting yourself from taking advantage of your extensive knowledge of the source material, including future plot twists?

As of now, I don't have a definitive answer. Things I do know: I enjoy watching and discussing Game of Thrones; I don't like to spoil plot developments for people who haven't read the books, particularly if those twists won't occur onscreen for years; I like comparing the show to the source material, especially since the point of view structure of the books (Martin writes in the 3rd person limited with a select cast of characters serving as the focal points of alternating chapters) doesn't always translate flawlessly to the screen. With that said, my Game of Thrones posts will include references to the books, but won't include explicit spoilers. I may say something like "This moment will be important later," but I won't say why, or when exactly that information comes back into play. Everybody clear? Great.

Let's discuss the second season premiere, "The North Remembers":