We were one of the lucky few last night to brave the cold andattend the screening of Game of Thrones Season Three, Episode One, Valar Dohaeris and we weren’t disappointed.
The whole episode captured the essence of what we can hope to expect this season. We see powerful relationships beginning to creak under the strain of the fight for power, specifically amongst highly influential characters who historically have seemingly had control and important stakes in the Game of Thrones. The rapid bursts of scenes are wonderfully woven together giving you just enough of a re-cap of the allegiances, promises and character storylines to immerse you back into the mindset of this immensely complicated but gripping series.
Particular highlights include a damming scene between Tywin (Charles Dance) and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) in which your heart really goes out to the dwarf who is, quite frankly, detested by his father. With no signs of retribution and no matter how hard the half man tries to please his father it’s simply never going to enough. “When you play the game of thrones you win or you die” and we get a first glimpse of the relationship between Margery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headley), laying down a wicked foundation for the tension and rivalry to come. Remember, Margery doesn’t want to be a queen, she wants to be the queen!
The script is as witty, gritty and persuasive as ever and yes, we see a glimpse of the dragons as they continue to grow – Yay for dragons! There’s plenty of character favourites missing from this first episode which leaves the audience begging for more, just one more minute, go on show us some more. Having said that the final scene is perfectly suited for the opening episode and we can’t wait for episode two. We don’t want to give too much away, but we can guarantee there will be no disappointment!
We’ve got interviews with Gwendoline Christie, Charles Dance, Michelle Fairley, Finn Jones, Gemma Whelan, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Ben Hawkey, Paul Kaye, Natalia Tena and Isaac Hempstead Wright to follow.
Game of Thrones returns to Sky Atlantic HD from Monday 1 April at 9pm. Seasons 1 and 2 will also be available On Demand.
