"Game of Thrones"

An injury allowed me to catch up on a lot of shows I had been setting aside to stream.  Okay, this one for six years.

"Game of Thrones" surprised me in many ways.  I had heard it was exceedingly violent, expected dragons and thought it was set in some mythical never-never time.  It is actually set heavily into a medieval period, although with mythical elements here and there.  The dragons don't show up in an impactful way until nearly the end of the series and the violence is ... somewhat silly.  More like what you see on "Xena" rather than anything realistic.  

What it is really about is politics, male vs female power and who has control in a society filled with nobles of interrelated bloodlines.  As one friend mentioned, it is a bunch of British people talking in back rooms who have very similar names.  You mostly tell them apart by hair color and tattoos (inside joke).  

A complex tale, there are so many characters and threads I had to download and repeatedly refer to a chart of the family relations (accidently finding out about one character whose parenthood hadn't been revealed early on).  All of which is to say, I had to really watch it, not check my email while it was on in the background.  It was built for streaming and I pushed into the next episode (and the next, and the next) to see the wrap-up of a storyline -- sometimes staying up later at night to do so.  

No, I did not find Jon Snow all that hot, but I did appreciate how he grew up over the seasons, and the real benefit of watching it all in a matter of weeks (and, sadly, not reading the books) is that I was in no way disappointed or shocked about the ending, which many (many many) fans were upset about.  Viewing it all at once gave me a through-line I don't think the original viewers had.  One where I totally could see all the seeds being dropped and where they led to.  In many ways, I felt the ending was one I saw coming and the only ending which it could've been.  Something which many may disagree with.  My biggest negative concern was the degree to which the women were sexualized -- and very rarely for the purpose of the story.  It was just purient window-dressing.

In any case.  Peter Dinklage's character was my favorite -- he gave an arch overview of the whole grand tale with a good dose of morose humor.  The series was enjoyable.  Dense.  Engaging.  Worth it.  But I do wish there were more dragons.  On to "House of the Dragon" (have already watched season one of "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" -- also drew me in -- but also without dragons ...)