Game of Thrones. David Benioff (2011 - Ongoing)

Spoiler alert!!!

I've never written about TV in any form, but after watching the first season of this series, I simply had to. A very good friend of mine here in Australia had been suggesting the books and TV series for a while, but since I've never been a fan of the fantasy genre, I never cared to give this a shot. Until a few weeks ago, when finally I decided to give it a try. On a Sunday, I rented the first season and started watching it with my wife. We were immediately hooked by it. Now, there's no turning back!

This epic story revolves around the complicated land of Westeros (on planet Earth?) where seven families, who rule different kingdoms, struggle to detain power at any cost. The series evolves slowly, as we're introduced to its many characters, their strengths, weaknesses, desires and fears. It takes the viewer a while to start realising who's who and how they're related to each other. Season one is more like an action adventure story in the middle ages than fantasy, as there are hardly any fantastic or supernatural elements (until late in the season)

The casting is superb. Every character seems real. Ned Stark is portrayed by one of the few cast members I had seen before, Sean Bean. He could be branded as the main character of the story in season 1. He's the head of the Starks, a powerful family who rule the Northern land of Winterfell. Then you have the Lannisters, a group of cold hearted scheming brothers seeking to control the land of Kings Landing. The best acting however, is by Peter Dinklage, a dwarf that was usually cast in comedy movies like Death at a Funeral. He plays the brilliant but physically impaired Tyrion Lannister, who wanders through these perilous lands using his wit as a weapon. 

The dense story line is full of subplots and you can clearly see how the story branches out to many sub stories that at some point seem to expand out of control. The author, George R. R. Martin, created a world comparable to that Middle Earth of The Lord of the Rings and you can see clearly how he was influenced by Tolkien. New kingdoms appear while you're still trying to figure out what happened in the previous one. One good thing about renting the entire series is that the DVD's have plenty of features explaining each and every character and each and every family. This helps out in putting the entire web of characters together and having a better idea of what's going on.

I ended up watching the first two episodes again and both me and my wife went "Oh, that's why she didn't get burned" or "Oh, so they are really brother and sister"

I strongly recommend this piece of television, possibly the most exciting and expensive serial ever to be filmed for the silver screen.

This is at least my opinion. And I could be wrong.