This Guy Is the Worst

Greenwald from Grantland on Game of Thrones.

And so, in "Blackwater," the penultimate episode of Season 2, hours of story and untold millions of euros finally ignited like so much wildfire. Until then, I had been watching the show like Cersei Lannister at a dinner party: a drink in my hand, a bloodless smirk on my face. But all that time I thought I was keeping my distance — not only had I avoided George R.R. Martin's books, I could barely spell Qarth — it turns out I was actually sinking deeper. In "Blackwater" I was finally flooded with big-screen bombast that merited the bluster of backstabbing brothers and know-it-all Martin readers alike. It was an unblinking glimpse of the savagery that had lurked beneath every alliance made and promise broken in the battle-scarred Seven Kingdoms. When Ned Stark lost his head it taught audiences that no one, not even stars, are safe. When Blackwater Bay ignited it carried a different lesson: The main character of Game of Thrones is Westeros itself. And, before all is said and done, it will suffer more than Ned's neck ever did.

What a dullard.  The show caught me with the first scene and solidified it with the final scene of the first episode.  The last three episodes of season 1 are still the best.  The Blackwater episode was good - but it doesn't nearly match the spectacle of movies - that is nuts.  The show is amazing from the breadth of the story and material.  This guy gets his premise right - that GofT is the most important show on TV - just for all the wrong reasons.  Actually, important is the wrong word.  That's just a bs term for critics to appeal to their readers - the show is the most original, most ambitious, most spectacular show on TV.