All right, Tiger Fans, get your hands up for "Game of Thrones!"
This past Sunday HBO's 10-time Emmy-Award-winning-show "Game of Thrones," based off of George RR Martin's book series, "A Song of Fire and Ice," premiered for its fourth season, and it made the yearlong wait well worth it.
Taking place after the events of the Red Wedding, Season 4 opens with lots of action, lots of adventure and lots of dragons. Daenerys has now assembled herself a slave army, and her dragons have gone from the size of a coffee table to the size of semi-trucks. In King's Landing, it is good to be anyone with blonde hair.
Although it is a time of celebration for the Lannister clan, there are many problems to be confronted.
Jamie has now returned and Cersei has turned cold toward him for his time away from her and his disfigurement (spoiler alert for those who haven't watched the show yet).
Joffrey is as terrible as ever, and Tyrion is caught between a rock and a hard place with his new wife, Sansa, who is grieving for the loss of her slain Stark family, and her housemaid, Tyrion's real lover, who fears Tyrion and Sansa may start to develop real feelings for each other.
Meanwhile, Arya, the not-as-dead-as-they-think Stark child, and the Hound are still on the run, and Arya is out for blood.
At Castle Black, John Snow has some explaining to do about his time with the Wildlings.
With the fourth season still trying to tie up some loose ends from book three and segue itself into book four, Game of Thrones has done an exceptional job of taking elements from books three, four, and five in order to deliver a show well worth watching.
Due to the incomplete presentation of the third book in the past season, we are not introduced to a wide array of new characters as we have in the past. However, we do have two characters who are out for Lannister blood, Oberyn Martell and his traveling companion Ellaria, delivering a message to the Lannisters they have more to worry about than their internal strife.
The visual effects have somehow managed to become increasingly more impressive, from the creation of a million-man army to larger-than-life dragons.
Some thoughts on the premiere: first and foremost, we have two new locations to admire in the impressive opening credits, the rugged Westeros castle Dredfort and Meereen. However, it is unclear as to whether or not these are places we will be visiting this season or just simply placeholders on a map.
The introduction to Oberyn, played by actor Michiel Huisman, was fun to watch and very "Legend of Zoro" in his portrayal. This mysterious new character gives us much to look forward to this season.
Also, Sansa finally gets a moment in the sun when she shows kindness toward the Knight-turned-fool Dontos, who she saved a few seasons ago. Lastly, no Bran this episode. Thoughts on this: Hodor.
Stay tuned for next week for another review!
Payden Evans is a contributing writer for The Auburn Plainsman. To contact Payden, email him at intrigue@theplainsman.com.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
