New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

But then, as the season wore on, the pieces started coming together for me. I still didn’t know a septon from a maester, I still couldn’t tell Robb and Jon apart, I still wasn’t sure who this Daenerys chick was and why she ran around naked all the time, but the bigger picture was coming into focus for me. I was starting to get the gist of it. The characters were clarifying in my mind, to the point where I felt the tragedy of the events of the second to last episode (which I will not spoil here, though I do figure anyone reading this knows the tragedy to which I refer). By season’s end, I can’t say that I loved the show, but I appreciated it more. Enough to pick up the book.

Now books, no matter how detailed, have the benefit of allowing us to approach them at our own pace. Film expects us to keep up with it. Thrones, the show, makes no allowance for passive viewing. If you plan on washing the dishes while it’s on, perhaps it’s not the show for you. A heavily detailed fantasy world-building novel, on the other hand, can often be easier to tackle because you’re in charge of your approach to the material.

And, as I read it, the details started popping out. Now we were getting somewhere. I finally understood who these Starks, Baratheons and Lannisters were and how they connected to each other. I made it all the way through the first season of the show without understanding that the Targaryens were ousted from the throne and that Robert is the Usurper that they keep whining about. I really finally got how the whole thing with the boar is part of a Lannister plot to claim the throne. It also kicked in what these faces on the trees are all about. I had the foundation, now the books were filling in the mortar for me.

Then, in the month leading up to Sunday’s premiere, I rewatched the first season, armed with the book knowledge, and even more started coming clear. Now I get who this Gendry kid is and why his leaving King’s Landing is so meaningful. Now I see that Osha is a wildling from north of The Wall and is trying to escape all of that turmoil. And so on…

Now I know you mega fans are all reading this, chuckling at my naiveté. “Silly writer of this column I found online. Those details are SOOOOOOO obvious. You completely missed the point.” Yeah. Yeah, I did. But you missed some big stuff your first trip to the Seven Kingdoms too. Don’t pretend otherwise. Martin designed this world to reward frequent visits. He embeds layer upon layer of meaning, connections and detail in his storytelling, exactly the kind of world building that has made passionate fans of many a modern mythology.

And this is where I dropped the ball upon my first introduction. Martin and show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss aren’t after passive fans. They want folks to be invested in this world. They create entertainment, but complex, literary entertainment that rewards attention and study. No, this isn’t a show for distracted attention. This is a show for those who care, who are willing to put the effort into it.

Continued:       1       2       3