Contributor: Gregg Wright

Written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss
Directed by Alan Taylor

This was definitely this season’s most difficult episode to review. “Blackwater” was a break from the norm, in that it told a more self-contained story and worked as a climactic season finale. “Valar Morghulis” is, in most respects, a return to the norm. Some ( Read more... )

Contributor: Gregg Wright

“The episode has dramatically exceeded our expectations,” said series showrunner David Benioff in an interview with Entertainment Weekly recently. Instead of going with their original plan to frame the entire Battle of the Blackwater from the perspective of Cersei and Sansa, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss made the case to ( Read more... )

Contributor: Gregg Wright

It’s all been leading up to something. Last season ended with a violent regime change and the outbreak of war. Season 2 has delivered a similar slow boil approach, likely saving the most dramatic events for the final two episodes of the season. So here we are, in the calm before the storm. But what form will that storm ( Read more... )

Contributor: Gregg Wright

Written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss
Directed by David Nutter

It’s almost hard to believe, but there are only three episodes remaining in the season. By this point in the first season, King Robert had died, Joffrey had taken the throne, and Ned was betrayed and taken prisoner. It’s not quite as clear, now, that we’re ( Read more... )

Contributor: Gregg Wright

I may have said something similar in a previous review, but if there’s one thing that “Game of Thrones” does exceptionally well, it’s creating that sense of a downward spiral; that things are about to go from bad to worse. This is true as a description of the entire show, but it’s also especially true in individual scenes ( Read more... )

Contributor: Gregg Wright

Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by David Petrarca

Well, how was that for an opening? Just like that, Renly Baratheon is totally out of the picture. Sure, it may not beat the sheer boldness of storytelling on display in the death of Eddard Stark, but at the very least, I was much more surprised by this ( Read more... )

Contributor: Gregg Wright

The war rages on, as we so clearly see in the opening scene of the episode. It’s understandable that “Game of Thrones” tends to cut away during the actual battles, given the budgetary constraints of the medium. “Thrones” has typically done a pretty satisfactory job of working around these constraints, to the point that I ( Read more... )

Contributor: Gregg Wright

Apart from the ending, this is still a relatively low-key episode. Much of what we’ve seen so far has been the forebodings for the massive conflict that is soon to ensue in Westeros. War is here already, but the scope of the conflict expands with every episode, as one new player after another is introduced. And seemingly ( Read more... )

Contributor: Gregg Wright

Exciting, gripping, shocking, thrilling, funny, scary-these are all words that could have been used to describe “Game of Thrones” at various points throughout its first season run. But even when it wasn’t any of these things, one word continually came to mind to describe it, even in the slowest parts: “interesting”. “The ( Read more... )

Contributor: Gregg Wright

The first season of “Game of Thrones” was a triumph. I can think of no better word for it. “Game of Thrones” took a genre that was poorly represented on television and gave it the A-grade treatment in virtually every respect. That’s another key word here: “respect”. The show’s respect for the source material won over fans ( Read more... )