Game of Thrones meant a lot to me, both in person and professional. Writing about the show has helped me build a career. But I can’t get past my hatred for how it ended. That’s why I’ve been adamant never to watch again – Tyrion certainly doesn’t look like back lovingly on the first half of the Oberyn / Mountain fight. But I was willing to watch the first episode prior to the show’s 10th anniversary, and then the last thing I ever expected happened: Game of Thrones hooked me right back in. That reversal means that one day the great stories that make up the show’s first six seasons – the very reason it managed to disappoint viewers in the last two so badly – will eventually be what fans remember most.
After a decade of immersion in the Seven Kingdoms, it’s easy to forget just how good the pilot really is.Winter is comingDoes the impossible: it makes the sprawling saga of George RR Martin accessible to viewers who know nothing about it A song of ice and fire, while paving the way for a story defined by the TV-destroying idea that absolutely anything can and will happen. The premiere kicks off with a giant wall of ice, blue-eyed zombie kids and ice demons. It ends with the dashing knight, who is caught having sex with his twin sister, the Queen, pushing an innocent child from a tower. And in between, it successfully introduces a ridiculous number of characters, all with complicated relationships and histories, spread across two massive continents.
The premiere works because the features of what made the show great were right in place. After their first shot at a pilot resulted in a $ 10 million disaster, showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss quickly found out what changes were needed for the series to succeed. The second pilot, with its liberal use of wide shots and impressive real-world sets, confirms the grandeur of the many incredible places the series would explore. The episode looks as epic as the story it was trying to tell. The premiere also features movie-quality costumes and props, which only got better with time. This was a huge undertaking with an aesthetic to match.
None of that would have mattered if it wasn’t for the artists and script. Although no one knew at the time, Game of Thrones‘cast, which consists mostly of non-stars and newcomers, is a killer killer talent. That impressive group immediately stood out because the writing was sharp, funny, insightful and provided the necessary exposition without feeling forced or heavy-handed. Go back and watch Tyrion’s interactions with a grumpy Jon, when Tyrion compares a dwarf to an asshole. It’s as good as anything that followed.
The pilot also holds great promise the show made later in its run – it hints at an even bigger story hiding beneath the surface. Why exactly do Jaime and Ned hate each other so much? Is that why Cat’s sister said the Lannisters killed the Hand of the King? What’s all that got to do with the scary Targaryen man across the Narrow Sea? You know, that guy feels his sister getting married to a gigantic man on a horse? No, the Others guy feels up to his sister. This is one episode that will make you want to watch the next one. There’s a reason so many of us did that for years. It’s the same reason we watched each episode multiple times, read all those theories and got to know the history of Westeros as if we were preparing for a test – all the elements that made the show a phenomenon are captured in the premiere.
You couldn’t hope for a better pilot. I didn’t forget all that before I sat down to watch it again. (Jaime pushing Bran out the window may be my favorite moment in television history.) But what I did forget is how “Winter Is Coming” gave me. Since the show ended, I was too upset that Jon’s real parents didn’t really matter, and that the Night King was easily defeated because the White Walkers were no longer paying attention. I didn’t think about that during my review. The show’s start is too good to waste time thinking about the end of it. And with six seasons of that feeling available to me whenever I want, it would be silly to ignore all those great episodes I still love and never watch them again.
Game of Thrones will never be able to escape the last two seasons; those last 13 episodes won’t get any better after rewatches. But when I saw the pilot again, I realized that one thing will improve with time: our ability to appreciate everything that went before them.