BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JANUARY 13: Actress Emilia Clarke (L) and autor George R. R. Martin arrive at the 12th Annual AFI Awards held at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on January 13, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
And what a season it was! Show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have done a masterful job of condensing George R. R. Martin’s massive and complex fantasy saga into an incredibly compelling television drama that hits all of the right notes, walking that fine line between remaining true to the books and adapting them so they make sense to a broader audience of non-readers.
The next season will cover the first half of book three, A Storm of Swords, with the second half coming in season four. (Season four hasn’t been given a green light yet from HBO, but with its current ratings and critical accolades, I’m not worried at all on that count.) Those of you who’ve read the books will be able to guess where they’ll make the break–it may just be one of the most cruel cliffhangers in all of television history. I remember when I read that particular scene in the book that I actually yelled at the page. I really couldn’t believe what Martin had done, or imagine where the story would go from there.
A Feast for Crows, my least favorite of the books for a variety of reasons, will have to be intercut with A Dance with Dragons if it’s to have any hope of success. Feast focuses only on one half of our characters, and none of the generally agreed-upon favorites. There are no Jon, Arya, Daenerys, or Tyrion chapters in the entire thing. There’s no way the show can go without showing those characters for two years. Fortunately, both books overlap the same time frame rather than occurring sequentially, so this will make it somewhat easier to intercut the books.
On to other things.
True Blood starts on Sunday. After the horrid last season, I’m hopeful that they’ve gotten their act together enough to at least try to tell stories that make a modicum of sense. Last year’s Marnie storyline was epic only in its tedium and stupidity.
Christopher Meloni as the Authority (or representative of the Authority–I’m not sure which) is a welcome addition, as is the return of Russell Edgington. I do fear that Tara will somehow remain around, one of the most annoying and pointless characters in the history of television. I so want her to be permanently dead! But I’m guessing I won’t get my wish.
