Baelor

Tonight's episode of Game of Thrones was a defining moment for the show, just as the events in covered from the book were defining moments there too. I still remember reading A Game of Thrones for the first time and reaching the pivotal chapter that concluded tonight's episode. What?! Wait a second! I thought he was the main character! They can't have just... Wow. Yes, King Robert's death is ultimately the one that kicks of the "game of thrones" in earnest, but Eddard's death was when I really realized that this was unlike any other fantasy series I'd ever read -- truly no character would be safe.

I've frankly been wondering all this time about the casting of Sean Bean in the role, and the way his face has been plastered all over every advertisement for it. Make no mistake, I thought he was perfect for Eddard and did a wonderful job. But first, I wondered if casting Sean Bean was a (pun intended) dead giveaway to the plot. Sean Bean dies in practically everything he has ever appeared in. It's like in his contract or something. And what's more, is it smart to make him the face of the series when he wasn't even destined to survive the first season? We'll see.

Another thing I found interesting about tonight's episode was how it handled the major battles in exactly the same manner as the books. While the Lannisters and the Starks engage in two battles in this episode (these chapters), the book didn't actually show either of them. As I've mentioned before, the book constrains itself to a narrative perspective of only specific characters. Tyrion was knocked unconscious in the book, as he was in the show, thus depriving us of the perspective from which we could have seen that battle. Meanwhile, it's Catelyn -- not Robb -- who is our window on that part of the story; as she did not participate in the battle herself, we didn't see that conflict either.

The series has presented us many great scenes so far involving "non-perspective characters." I wondered if they would therefore show us any of the massive army battles tonight. Instead, they took exactly the same approach as the books. Personally, I think it's the right approach, since showing all the slaughter might have taken some of the impact away from Eddard's death at the end. I'd like to think it was that narrative consideration, and not a simple budgetary restriction, that kept the battle off-screen in the show. Still, I again wonder if this is a moment where people who haven't read the book felt cheated.

In short, I feel like this episode really was a test of the viewers, on many levels. Will people be put off by what happened (or didn't happen) in this episode? Or will they embrace the story more as a result, as I did reading the book?

Again, we'll see.