Almost all the "ugly" characters are better looking in the TV show than in the books (Eddard, Jorah, Tyrion, the Hound). It's remarkable that Brienne's actress was able to ugly herself up enough.
For those among us who instinctively recoil at the sight of leather jerkins, cut throats and castle keeps, "Games" may take some getting used to. But the cinematography, like the cast of largely British and Irish actors, is magnificent. Each week the story unfolds like a tapestry, its intricate stitches slowly creating not just a scene but a whole world. It's a world to get lost in, but not always easy to endure. Because the good die as often as the bad, and happy endings are only for fairy tales.
"Thrones" creates such a rich visual feast -- replete with plenty of gratuitous nudity and blood-letting -- as to almost obscure its fundamental storytelling pleasures, which are as much a mob drama as anything else, having traded bullets for broadswords. By that measure, this really might the closest spiritual heir to "The Sopranos" HBO has delivered since the show's notorious whiteout.
"Game of Thrones" will always face an extra hurdle in that some will resist its fantasy elements, but under a niche-oriented business model, who cares? For an army of loyalists, HBO will be must-have TV each time the show raises its banner.
And in pay-TV terms, that is power.
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