Game of Thrones Season 4 Premiere: Salient Points

Here are some of the salient points of the Season 4 premiere of Game of Thrones on HBO last night -

• Daenerys does not have complete control over her dragons, which have gotten older, and are now presumably in the rebellious teenage phase.  Should make for some unforeseen developments when they go into battle.
• Tyrion continues as the most decent human being in the Lannisters, and indeed in the entire series.   Only John Snow has anything approaching Tyrion's morality, which is significant, insofar as both are outsiders in their own families.
• Jamie continues getting, I don't know, less despicable.  He's certainly come a long way since he threw Bran out of the window.  Would he do that again in similar circumstances?  Probably, though I have the sense that he'd be more agonized about it, or at very least might think a little longer about it.  The evolution of Jamie's character is thus one of the most compelling in the series - and probably continues to make Jamie a target for extinction.

Among the points we didn't see addressed in  Game of Thrones 4.1 -

• What's going on way up North, on the wrong side of the Wall?   The northerly people and exotic beings are one of the best parts of the story, and the only match in their own way for the dragons.
• Speaking of dragons, Daenerys continues to make slow progress towards her dream of re-establishing her kingdom.   The human beings south of the Wall will be no contest for her, especially when her dragons reach full maturity, and assuming they can be controlled to some extent.  The ultimate battle between the ghosts and the dragons should someday be a sight to see.

Good to see Game of Thrones back on the screen.   The intro sequence is the best yet, and the special effects are outstanding.

See also  Game of Thrones Season 3 Premiere ... Game of Thrones 3.3: The Heart of Jaime Lannister ... Game of Thrones 3.6: Extraordinary Cinematography ... Game of Thrones 3.7: Heroic Jaime ...  Game of Thrones 3.9: A Critique 

And see also Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2 ... Game of Thrones 2.2: Cersei vs. Tyrion

And see also A Game of Thrones: My 1996 Review of the First Novel ... Game of Thrones Begins Greatly on HBO ... Game of Thrones 1.2: Prince, Wolf, Bastard, Dwarf ... Games of Thrones 1.3: Genuine Demons ... Game of Thrones 1.4: Broken Things  ... Game of Thrones 1.5: Ned Under Seige ... Game of Thrones 1.6: Molten Ever After ... Games of Thrones 1.7: Swiveling Pieces ... Game of Thrones 1.8: Star Wars of the Realms ... Game of Thrones 1.9: Is Ned Really Dead? ... Game of Thrones 1.10 Meets True Blood

And here's a Spanish article in Semana, the leading news magazine in Colombia, in which I'm quoted about explicit sex on television, including on Game of Thrones.

And see "'Game of Thrones': Why the Buzz is So Big" article in The Christian Science Monitor, 8 April 2014, with my quotes.

 

"I was here, in Carthage, three months from now."

#SFWApro