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Season Five of HBO’s Game of Thrones debuts this Sunday night. Just in case you haven’t engrossed yourself in the land of Westeros, here are five reasons why you should order HBO and catch up on the first forty episodes before watching the season premiere of this outstanding fantasy drama:
1) AMAZING YOUNG ACTORS – By the time you reach the end of season four, most of the show’s child actors have grown into adults and you start to take their talent for granted. However when the show began filming, these were the ages of some of the show’s major stars: Maisie Williams (13), Sophie Turner (14), Jack Gleeson (18), Issac Hempstead Wright (11). The producers and casting director hit homeruns on all of these performers, and it is remarkable how well all the young actors perform on such an adult oriented show. I never thought I would see a character in TV or film that was a bigger dick than Johnny from The Karate Kid, but Gleeson as “Joffrey” blows him away. He is the character that you will love to hate. You will also most likely try and jump into your TV to kick his butt.
2) VIOLENT & CREATIVE DEATHS – Do not watch this show while you are eating dinner. The violence is gruesome and it is hard to look away. Whether it is a casual beheading, a person burned alive, a horse being sliced in half, or a man squeezing another man’s head until it looks like a broken watermelon, the violence on Game of Thrones is one of the show’s main appealing characteristics. They continue to top themselves season after season, not allowing the audience to become desensitized to the nasty death or torture scenes.
3) FANTASY ELEMENTS – This is a show beyond people fighting over the throne of Westeros. There are dragons, which are done so beautifully that they don’t stand out as fake CGI. There is magic courtesy of the dark priestess “Melisandre” (and a disturbing scene where she gives birth to a shadow). And, for the zombie lovers, there are the mysterious “White Walkers” – the dead returned to life that threaten Westeros from the north.
4) PASSION & SINS – Whether it is a character’s hunger for power, sex, alcohol, or money, Game of Thrones has some of the most passionately motivated characters on TV. The main plot of the show involves different Houses fighting for power over the rule of the kingdom. How they go about doing it is just as entertaining as the actual fight – particularly with the dwarf “Tyrion” as he spends most of his time drowning in booze and having sex with whores to mask his father’s hatred.
5) INSANE STORYLINES – A brother and sister that are in love with each other plot to kill the king. A man has whores sexually arouse his prisoner, only to cut off his sex organ. A woman that desires being queen so much that she marries one child, and tries to seduce another. A man allows himself to be murdered so his fellow warrior can infiltrate the enemy. A wedding is held, with the sole purpose to murder everyone who attends. These are just a few of the very creative (and sometimes disturbing) storylines that you will see on Game of Thrones.
These are only five reasons why Game of Thrones is one of my favorite shows currently on TV. There are many more which, hopefully, you will discover for yourselves. If you take my advice and watch this show, you will not be disappointed. Just don’t watch during a meal (or with children).
Follow Jeff on Twitter: @JeffLane22
