Game Of Thrones: Valar Dohaeris Review

Our definitive verdict on the hit HBO drama's Season Three première!
For fans who caught Season Two when it first broadcast last Spring, it's been a long and cold Winter-year of waiting for Game Of Thrones to return. Thank goodness, then, that Season Three's opening episode Valar Dohaeris was a fairly strong way to kick off proceedings, even if wasn't necessarily amongst the best episodes the hit US drama has given us yet.

It was great to see in particular that the character arcs of Jon Snow and Danaerys Stormborn are going to take more precedence than ever before. Emilia Clarke in particular shined as the latter femme fetale leader and mother of dragons, and boy, were those special effects a great indication of how impressive the dragons will look this time around. There was a distinct sense too with the introduction of giants, White Walkers and other fantastical creatures that this run is going to break out of the medieval vibe into something a little more supernatural this time around, a transition which we hope the production team will handle as elegantly as ever.

Another strong element of Dohaeris was undoubtedly the short-but-sweet time we spent in the company of Peter Dinklage's Tyrion. A brave and inspiring leader as the Hand at King's Landing last season, this shortest Lannister is now reduced to a mere citizen of the castle, with his father Tywin and sister Cersei showing little in the way of sympathy for his war wounds. Dinklage was fantastic as always, witty and hilarious at times, although this reviewer certainly hopes that he's given the extended episode presence he deserves in later instalments of the run.

Now for the flaws that held this episode back. It could be argued that rather a lot of the episode was focused on discussions rather than the action we were used to come the end of Season Two, but moreso there was still a lingering sense that for Robb, Tyrion, Davos and the Knight's Watch there just wasn't enough actual storyline development. On top of that, the episode's cliffhanger of an ex-supporter of Danaerys' father now joining her Queensguard wasn't really much of a cliffhanger at all, struggling to negate the feeling that the writers were just looking for a way to swiftly end the episode so as for a smooth transition next week.

Nevertheless, when this season opener thrived, it thrived brilliantly, providing us with some of the show's best performances yet. Margery seems like a great addition to the roster, Liam Cunningham is fantastic as Davos and of course Peter Dinklage keeps up the laughs and shocks with his portrayal of Tyrion. Here's hoping that future instalments make more of an overall progression for Westeros' residents, yet Game Of Thrones: Valar Dohaeris was still a bold and very compelling statement of how this new season will work.
4/5