Well, I'm late to the party on this one. I've been hearing nothing but rave reviews about Game Of Thrones for over a year now and I had to wait 3 months to get my copy from the Library. So, having just watched the first episode, was it worth the wait. Yeah, it was good, just not great. But I kinda blame myself for that because after a year, I built this up too high. Of course nothing can ever meet those inflated expectations that I made this to be. I know this is just the first episode and they had to lay out the ground work of all the characters and there are a lot of characters to discover.

What I did see here is that immediately I was impressed with the look of the film. I mean TV show. That's right, it looks better than a lot of higher priced films currently in the theater. I don't know how they are able to afford Thrones production wise on a weekly basis. As for the characters there are some standouts that I was drawn to and some that I absolutely loathed. If you are a fan of movies like Lord Of The Rings or any Sword and Sorcery mythology, this will definitely be right up your alley for sure. So far, no sorcery yet. Also, there are a lot of naked chicks in the premiere episode and lots of medieval banging going on. I was not expecting that, but I endorse it 100%.

They did a good job setting up the universe here, but I am expecting much bigger and grandiose things from here on out. I hope it delievers and doesn't make everyone that raved about this look stupid. I'm confident it will.

The first two episodes, a lot is said about The Wall. So it's nice to finally get to said Wall and see what it's all about. It makes the Great Wall of China look tiny by comparison. The Wall is exactly what its meant to be....to keep out the Wildlings that could overrun the Seven Kingdoms. Those that run The Wall are known as the Sworn Brothers Of The Night Watch. It's newest recruit is the Jon Snow (Kit Harington), the 'Bastard' of Ned Stark (Sean Bean). It's easy to see where they are going with the character of Jon. He is by far the most accomplished soldier on The Wall and will be tasked to train the others in the way of swordplay. I do believe this will be where he starts to command a following and the respect of his fellow soldiers in arms. I think that's where they are going story-wise.

Also, I see where they may be taking Arya (Maisie Williams), the tomboy of the Stark Family. She isn't like other girls of her age. She would rather learn the skills of a warrior instead of being "lady-like". So, at the end of the episode, Ned Stark presents her with a tutor to skill her in the arts of swordplay as well. This should be fun to see how far she goes from novice to master and will one day be at the top of her game. I've never read the books so I don't have a clue about the history of the characters. This is all just speculation on my part. Anyway, enjoying the series so far.

One other thing that I'm curious about is that Daenerys "Dany" Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is in possession of 3 petrified Dragon eggs. Now I don't know if these are just ornaments, much like that of gold coins or tokens or if they are in fact real eggs that will one day hatch into real Dragons. I sure hope we see Dragons here. Will be cool if that's what comes of it.

The plotting. The scheming. The conspiracy. The bloodbath. Who wouldn't enjoy a series like this. The mystery and intrigue is definitely what keeps my interest in the show at an all time high and I don't think Game of Thrones even begun to scratch the surface yet. There are some very warpped people in this show. I know it was par for the course back in the day, but still.....

We get 3 awesome fight sequences in this episode. one in the beginning with the Joust / Sword fight, one in the middle with the attack on Tyrion and Catelyn, and one at the end when soldiers take Ned Stark hostage. Very good and very entertaining episode.

Game of Thrones ROCKS!! What a great episode!! With King Robert (Mark Addy) dying from a "boar wound", his last request is to name Ned Stark the Protector of the Realm until Roberts heir comes of age to be named the King. What King Robert doesn't know is that his "son" Prince Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) is the bastard child of his Wife Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and her brother Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). The biggest mistake that Ned could make was telling the Queen that he intended to tell King Robert of his discovery about Joffrery. Sure enough, once King Robert moved on, the Queen and Joffrey went ahead to claim the throne. This is where we end, a Mexican Standoff between Ned Stark and the Queen's Soldier's over who has claim to the throne.

Also, the Nights Watch finally ventures out beyond the Wall and Jon Snow's Uncle has gone missing. A dog returns with someone's hand, my guess is that it belongs to Jon's Uncle and that the White Walkers are the reason why.

Whoooooooa! I'm stunned at what happened at the end of this episode. Just absolutely stunned. I wasn't expecting them....

Spoiler (hover to show)

....to kill Ned Stark or more to the point, Sean Bean, the star of Game of Thrones. The last 5 minutes were intense and full of energy. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for someone, anyone to swoop in and save the day. Alas, it didn't arrive. Oh man.

As for the rest of the episode it was good. The battle between Robb Stark's Army and that of the Lannister's Army never materialized...on screen that is. At the moment that Tyrion is knocked unconscious, he awakens when the war is over. They (as in the writers) had to do it this way so that....

Spoiler (hover to show)

....the surprise of Robb capturing Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) would remain intact for the viewer, and it worked.

One last episode for this season. Bummer. This went by waaaaaaay to fast.

Well, I can honestly say that Game of Thrones more than met my expectations....it exceeded them as the series played itself out. For once, the public at large was absolutely right about how great this series is. Everything you have heard about Game of Thrones is 100% true. The entire series is amazing to look at and the story is every bit as captivating as the more revered films in history. This is basically a 10 hour movie and I think it can only get better from here. I may have checked out my copy from the Library for Season 1, but I can tell you right now that I will not only Buy Season 1 on DVD, but I will Buy Season 2 when it's released. I will actually pre-order it so I can get in delivered to my door on the same day.

I highly recommend this a Buy. Don't Rent it, don't Check it out from the Library. Buy the damn thing because you're just going to end up buying it anyway, especially after you watch it the first time around.