Game Of Thrones- What Did We Think?

As some of you might know, I've been looking forward to HBO's ambitious new fantasy series, "Game of Thrones" for quite some time. Ever since that first promo with the crows, I was hooked. And, after reading the books (all 3500 pages, give or take) by George R.R. Martin earlier this winter, I've become quite the fan. The books are fun, bawdy, interesting, and just great, cheesy reads. I admire their audacious storytelling, and Mr. Martin's fertile imagination. What was it people used to say? Ripping good yarns!

And of course, as a fan, nothing ever lives up to what you hope. So with that, here are my main thoughts about the first episode. THERE MAY BE SOME SPOILERS. (But reading it over, not really.)

• The opening scene was as freaky and wonderful as I could have hoped. A wise man often tells me "always start with a fight" and that was a great one. I thought the weird forest noises were particularly creepy and excellent. The sound of the man howling was so chilling! I knew exactly what was going to happen, but I still kept saying "woah" while resisting the temptation to cover my eyes.
  

• I love Sean Bean. He's perfectly cast. That is all. Mark Addy too.
  

• I hate to say this- I think the actress who plays Catelyn is, like, way old. Also, with those worried eyes, she makes me nervous. I wish she was a little cooler and strangely, a little warmer. I want to love her. 
  

• Cersei was distracting because, geek that I am, I was a fan of the "Terminator" TV series, and Lena Headey was such a great Sarah Conner. I'm sure I'll get over it. Her fake smile was excellent.
  

• I thought the girl who played Daenerys was pretty good! Great looking! I thought she did a lot with kind of a rough bit of story. Her brother was atrocious though. And the wedding- that was really, eye-rollingly clunky.
  

• As a whole, I thought the whole episode was a little overworked. I could see where HBO got nervous, and made them do more explaining. Lines such as "Where is Arya, your sister?" in the scene when the king arrives, and the entire scene between Jamie Lannister and Cersei at John Arryn's funeral, well, all I can say is Oy. Vey. It's not nit picking, because that sort of exposition slows things down to an almost glacial speed. We're going to figure everything out. Stop telling us! Let it unfold. I felt like someone was handing me a present they were really excited for me to open, and so they couldn't help dropping huge hints and pulling away the paper way before I was ready. Let me unwrap the damn thing!
  

• Which brings me to the Tyrion problem. He's the real wit in the books. And Peter Dinklage is awesome. And yet, in this first episode, they slow him down to the point that you lose the humor, so that nearly everything he says becomes weighty and ominous seeming.  If they had played the scene between him and John Snow, with maybe, a little bit more comedic timing, it would have worked so so much better. I think, many times, the key to good dramatic storytelling, especially with episodic TV is to find the comedy. It doesn't have to "30 Rock," but a little lightness on the feet never hurt anybody. (The show that currently does this best is "Justified" but "The Wire" was also excellent at it. Not to mention "The Sopranos.") This way the viewer is not completely weighted down by the overwhelmingly portentous mood, and when the shocking things happen, they are really shocking. The first scene proved to me that I could still be shocked, even when I knew what was coming. The rest of the episode not too much.
  

• I thought most of the sets looked pretty great. Some seemed a little "set" like, but what can you do?
  

Overall, it was a very long hour and five minutes. But still, I have high hopes for next week! Of course I'll keep watching! You?