In the latest episode entitled, Dark Wings, Dark Words, new characters seem to appear from every corner of the Seven Kingdoms. The rushed narrative left no space to enjoy the fantasy elements and the development of characters. We are introduced to Jojen and Meera Reed who have answers for Bran Stark concerning his dreams.
The Lady Olenna Tyrell, who comforts Sansa Stark into revealing King Joffrey is a "monster", and The Brotherhood Without Banners, who have become the new captors of Arya Stark.
Die-hard book fans will be squirming at the sight of Theon Greyjoy, who doesn't even appear until much later in the books. The sheer amount of activity going on in this episode felt like a visual binge of narratives and characters. I was too scared to take my eyes off the TV screen in fear of missing something important.
The issue within the medium of television is that we want everything to happen now! Impatience and bored viewers have been the downfall of many popular TV series. Game of Thrones is very similar to Lost in its use of fast and sporadic plotlines that only amount to 'filler episodes'. But what we are left with is a series that gives us no opportunity to develop our attachments towards characters.
Season Three in particular is much more 'cleaner-cut' than previous Game of Thrones seasons. The beautiful costumes, camera angles and scenery are a good distraction from the disappointing fight scene between Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth. I personally expected them to be wrestling in mud, bleeding and fighting each other with every last breath. What we got seemed like a pitiful dual, I've honestly seen better action watching Merlin.
In the majority of Game of Thrones reviews, there has been a barrage of comments from die-hard book fans that crave the history, prophecy and raw narratives that make the lifeblood of the books.
Opening the episode within Bran's dream could be a glimmer of hope to win back disgruntled A Song of Ice and Fire fans. We are also introduced to 'warging', a supernatural ability that allows a person to enter the mind of an animal, explaining Bran's connection to his direwolf Summer. These elements of Game of Thrones are significant and bring true fantasy to the storyline. Hopefully we will see a lot more of the 'magic' in episodes to come.
There may yet come time when the TV series will need to stops rushing to keep up with G.R.R
Martin. The author is still in the process of writing The Winds of Winter and the final book, A Dream of Spring. His previous epic novels took around three years to complete, and the last thing we readers want is Martin rushing through the last two books to keep-up.
The hour long episodes should give us the opportunity to immerse ourselves within this extraordinary world, allowing the fantastical elements to emerge as strongly as the undoubtedly gripping narrative. So us literary die-hards won't be able to crow to our telly counterparts, "oh, but the books are so much better."