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Not that I was lazy. Lord knows I micro-analyzed the mythology of The Slayer, the history of The Dharma Initiative, the conspiracy behind Mulder’s coveted Truth as much as the next nerd. With Games, however, I was unprepared going in, for the immediate immersion into the fictional culture and universe of Westeros. I needed a moment to catch my bearings and Weiss and Benioff weren’t giving it to me. For whatever reason, however, I didn’t give up. I persevered and, in time, that perseverance paid off.

And it seems as if HBO subscribers have kept up as well. Perhaps it was the buzz from the first season, or maybe it was the awards Peter Dinklage won got people’s attention, but the ratings for Sunday night’s season premiere were the highest in the show’s history. It seems that, as True Blood ages, Thrones has risen up to become one of HBO’s hot new things.

This is quite an impressive accomplishment. While complex storytelling can often put viewers off (take a look at Breaking Bad’s weak ratings, to name but one example), the opposite seems to be happening with Game of Thrones. It’s a geek show, where it’s becoming quite trendy to be a geeky fan. Non-nerd people in general are not afraid to offer up opinions as to whether Joffrey or Stannis have a greater claim to the Iron Throne, whether Benjen Stark still lives, if Bran really can control his direwolf in his dreams.

When you couple this with The Walking Dead’s ratings success, I consider it a triumph. We of the nerd mindset can often feel marginalized, but these days, it’s less and less uncommon for folks to be familiar with fantastical universes and creatures. I’m not suggesting that such fandom will ever be entirely mainstream, but it is nice to know that there are a few mythology shows which don’t survive by the skin of their teeth, that do enjoy long lives because of large passionate audiences, not tiny passionate fan bases.

Game of Thrones is a show that, at the onset, alienated even me, a person who is the ideal target viewer, yet, in time was able to convert me, as well as a huge number of less targeted viewers. It’s becoming a legitimate cultural phenomenon. Game well played.

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