Despite the show's success, I don't envy showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. They were tasked with taking the mass of interweaving character arcs and plot threads of A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin's tale of medieval-esque mishaps in Westeros, and somehow adapt it into a television series. While the source material is somewhat lengthy (694 pages), though not as lengthy as some later volumes in the series (A Feast for Crows is 1521 pages), Benioff and Weiss manage to craft a rather propulsive season of television. This may have been aided by the fact that they didn't pull only from the first book, but used bits and piece of character information from later in the series. This enabled them to have a great deal more freedom in crafting the best series they could.
As far as picking a favorite performance out of the season, who could I possibly pick? Would it be Sean Bean's Ned Stark, a man attempting some sense of honor in a dishonorable world? Or, would I pick Lena Headly's Cersei Lannister, who is both parts lizard-brained psychopath and tragic figure? Or what of Peter Dinklage's Tyrion Lannister, who is small in stature but large in intellect? I tell you, I couldn't pick one.
I'm fairly amazed that they were able to produce such a film-like quality, essentially raising the bar for all television production values. If I had to guess, I'd say that each episode must cost as much as a small film to produce, which is no small feat. All in all, it may have been one of my favorite seasons of television, ever.
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