Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 8 – A Prince of Winterfell
Directed by Alan Taylor
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Starring Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright

I wasn’t blown away by Game of Thrones Episode 8, “A Prince of Winterfell.” That’s not to say there weren’t individual moments throughout the episode I enjoyed, but I felt it was lacking as a whole. My major quarrel with the series has been that it spends a lot of time setting up plots to pay off later on down the line and after several weeks of payoff, we had another setup episode.

I get what the show’s trying to do. There’s been a warning throughout the course of the season that something major was coming and most of this week is building up towards this major event [...]

Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 7 – A Man Without Honor
Directed by David Nutter
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Starring Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright

Early on in Games Of Thrones Episode 7, “A Man Without Honor,” Theon (Alfie Allen) states, “It’s just a game,” which obviously serves to comment on the series as a whole, but it also describes most of the characters’ intentions throughout the episode: each one of them is playing a smaller game in the context of a much larger and deadlier one.

Arya (Maisie Williams) and Tywin (Charles Dance) continue to be my favorite part of the show week to week. After last week’s killing, Tywin is searching top to bottom for the man who “made an attempt on his life” punishing those who aren’t giving up the proper details. The two go back and forth in another powerful scene, each trying their hardest to either get or hide information from one another. The scene is a perfect example of how the entire series works as a whole, scaled down and played out over the course of several minutes and plays for beautiful television [...]

Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 6 – The Old Gods And The New
Directed by: David Nutter
Written by: Vanessa Taylor
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright

We’ve been reminded throughout most of Season 2 of Game of Thrones that “the night is dark and full of terrors,” and most events throughout the course of these episodes have been reminders of this fact, but “The Old Gods And The New” (Episode 6) takes Melisandre’s oft repeated words and brings them to light in truly terrifying ways [...]

Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 5 – The Ghost of Harrenhal
Directed by: David Petrarca
Written by: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright

Now things are getting interesting.

“The Ghost of Harrenhal” is an arbitrarily important episode of Game of Thrones for several reasons. First, this fifth episode of Season 2 marks the halfway point in the season. Second, and more importantly, this is the episode (much like last week’s) continues some much needed plot advancement in a truly compelling manner by presenting each of our major players with a unique strategic advantage or ally. [...]

Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 4 – Garden of Bones
Directed by: David Petrarca
Written by: Vanessa Taylor
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright

Before I sat down to watch “Garden of Bones,” I knew that Game of Thrones really needed to kick into gear with this episode. As great as the past episodes have been, I’m tried of plot building and I’m more than ready to see some of the various plots come together with real consequence.

I was not disappointed.

With a title like “Garden of Bones,” I wasn’t expecting to see very much in terms of happiness, but this week’s episode ratcheted up the intensity of the conflict, while finally moving the plot forward in many ways [...]

Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 3 – What Is Dead May Never Die
Directed by: Alik Sakharov
Written by: Bryan Cogman
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright

Part of the episodic structure of Game of Thrones, for good or for bad, is that the show is a direct one-to-one adaptation of the book series. Having not read the books, I don’t know how faithful the adaptation is, but George R. R. Martin’s structure doesn’t often lend itself to having individual episode themes; instead, the show looks to playing out the larger themes of the series over the course of the season.

This isn’t a bad way of storytelling, in fact, it’s one that Game of Thrones has very well mastered.

Power and who wields this power has been a topic of much discussion for many of our characters this season and this week’s episode, “What Is Dead May Never Die,” continues this concept, but also plays with the assumption and illusion of who really, truly has power. [...]

Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 2 – The Night Lands
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Written by: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright.

Game of Thrones continues some world building in order to set the stage for what’s to come in the week’s ahead, but how does it compare to last week’s outstanding season two premiere? Found out after the break.

One of the things that Game of Thrones does so well is the ability to handle multiple plots without wasting a single character or moment in order to accomplish great storytelling that gets me engaged in each character introduced. I think a lesser show wouldn’t be able to handle the amount of juggling that’s needed for this series, and that’s why the show has been a master class in character development. Each character featured throughout the episode has at least one, if not more, important moment that not only reinforces, but advances their plot and their character [...]

Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 1 – The North Remembers
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Written by: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright

After an outstanding first season, Game of Thrones roared back to life last night with the Season Two premiere, “The North Remembers.” Below, we’ve got your full spoiler-free review.

Doom has come to Westeros.

Throughout the course of “The North Remembers,” there is a feeling of persistent fear and danger. Since the opening shots of the series premiere, this world has been on the brink of many things, but the season two premiere escalates these feelings even more. I think that few shows truly handle the concept of fear and what it can mean for characters in the show, but Game of Thrones proved that no character is safe from whatever uncertain danger lies ahead and the season two premiere looks to continue this trend. No one is safe and anything can happen and many of our characters are still dealing with the fallout from past episodes [...]

Welcome to the Geeks of Doom Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2011: Art Prints edition!

With the popularity of Geek-related art prints on the rise, now’s the time to jump on board and get your hands on some art related to your favorite movie, tv, comics, or video game series.

Be sure to continue on below now to check out the 2011 Art Print guide now! [...]

Breaking Bad
Season Four, Episode 8 – Hermanos
Directed by Johan Renck
Written by Sam Catlin and George Mastras
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte, Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito, Jonathan Banks, Steven Bauer, James Martinez, and Michael Sheets

Sangre por sangre.

Relationships have always been an important component of Breaking Bad, but a key aspect of these relationships are the blood ties that have formed over the course of the show. For good or for worse, our characters have formed connections due to the circumstances they find themselves caught in.

“Hermanos” is an episode that illustrates the full extent of these ties and the dangers that they can lead to.

Note: From here on out we’ll have to go full-on spoilers for this episode. You’ve been warned. [...]

We’ve spotlighted Fro Design Co‘s art on the site before, but as fan of art prints and Doctor Who, I couldn’t pass the opportunity to talk about this new piece.

In celebration of the show’s return, Fro Design has released a new print focused on the episode “Let’s Kill Hilter.” Dark and TARDIS blue, the image captures the time image in a menacing silhouette of the Nazi villain. Titled “I Think I’ll Kill The Fuhrer,” the print measures 11×17 and is $30.

On sale now, there will only be 50 of these produced, so snag one while they’re hot. We’ve included am image of the full print below (click the thumbnail) — what do you think about the design of it? Will you be picking one up? [...]

Doctor Who returned last week for the second half of its Series Six run and after the break we’ve got a review of the highly anticipated “Let’s Kill Hitler.”

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode Eight – Let’s Kill Hitler
Directed by Richard Senior
Written by Steven Moffat
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Nina Toussaint-White, Caitlin Blackwood, Maya Glace-Green, Ezekiel Wigglesworth, Philip Rham, Richard Dillane, Amy Cudden, Davood Ghadami, Ella Kenion, and Albert Welling
BBC America
Air date: August 27, 2011

“Let’s Kill Hitler” makes my brain hurt.

Mind you, it’s a good hurt, but much of the discussion on this episode will have to fall under our spoilers section due to the massive amount of plot that occurs in this episode. Yet, there’s still plenty of non-spoiler stuff to talk about for those that have yet to watch it [...]

Breaking Bad
Season 4, Episode 1 – Box Cutter
Directed by: Adam Bernstein
Written by: Vince Gilligan
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte, Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito, Jonathan Banks, David Costabile and Jeremiah Bitsui
Air date: July 17, 2011

Arguably the best show on television, AMC’s Breaking Bad recently returned for its Season 4 premiere and kicked things off with a bang. We’ve got your spoiler-free review here of the season opener after the break.

Well? Get back to work.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you start a season.

I’m always interested to see how Breaking Bad will reinvent itself as it returns each season, but this season looks to be the most interesting experiment yet. Picking up mere seconds after last year’s finale, we find out the cruel fate of Gale (David Costabile), just minutes after finding out what really did him in. However, Gale was marked for death the second Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) discovered there was a superior product on the market. The best Gale could produce was a 96% pure sample, compared to Walter’s purity of 99%. Whatever the future held for Gale before his death didn’t matter, it seems it would have been short regardless [...]

Game of Thrones
Season One, Episode Ten – Fire & Blood
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Written by: David Beinoff and D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Issac Hempstead-Wright, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Conleth Hill, and Charles Dance

I hope everyone enjoyed the first episode of Season Two of Game of Thrones.

Confused? Let me explain.

“Fire and Blood” is in a unique position in that it feels more like the first episode of season two rather than the season one finale. The cliffhanger in “Baelor” felt more like a traditional finale, where the majority of this episode sets up our various players for the next round of the game [...]

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode 7: A Good Man Goes to War
Directed by Peter Hoar
Written by Steven Moffat
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Frances Barber, Charles Baker, Dan Johnston, Christian Chong, Joshua Hayes, Damian Kell, Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart, Richard Trinder, Annabel Cleare, Henry Wood, Dan Starkey, Simon Fisher, Danny Sapani, Hugh Bonneville, Oscar Lloyd, and Nicholas Briggs
BBC America
Air date: June 7, 2010

Doctor Who is certainly a show that often raises more questions than it answers and “A Good Man Goes to War” is a perfect example of this. Yet, when the series provides answers, it’s done in such a satisfying way that the various unanswered questions don’t matter. While “A Good Man Goes to War” poses many of these unanswered questions, there’s also a surprising amount of clarity. Before we dive into some of these queries, let’s take a look at the bulk of the episode [...]

Game Of Thrones
Season One, Episode Nine – Baelor
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Written by: David Beinoff and D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Issac Hempstead-Wright, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Conleth Hill

Game of Thrones has been a slow burn.

There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, I much prefer shows that have a tendency to draw things out and build on previous episodes. All the best television series (The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad) do this and when done properly, the results can be astonishing. The latest episode, “Baelor,” was no exception to this rule. The stakes have slowly been rising over the past couple of weeks and it was time for the dominoes to begin to fall.

And boy do they fall [...]

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode 4: The Doctor’s Wife
Directed by Richard Clark
Written by Neil Gaiman
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Suranne Jones, Paul Kasey, Adrian Schiller, Elizabeth Berrington, and Michael Sheen
BBC America
Air date: May 14, 2011

Neil Gaiman‘s much-awaited and long-postponed episode of Doctor Who highlights of the great aspects of the show that fans know and love: a mysterious place with unusual people in which our heroes arrive to solve a mystery and fix the problem [...]

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode 2 (Day of the Moon) and 3 (The Curse of the Black Spot)
Directed by Toby Haynes (Day of the Moon) and Jeremy Webb (The Curse of the Black Spot)
Written by Steven Moffat (Day of the Moon) and Steve Thompson (The Curse of the Black Spot)
Staring: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Mark Sheppard, Stuart Milligan, Chukwudi Iwuji, Hugh Bonneville, Lily Cole, and Frances Barber
BBC America
Air date: April 30, May 7, 2011

Exams put my review of the new Doctor Who episodes Day of the Moon behind a bit more than I’d like, so I figured I’d lump it in with my The Curse of the Black Spot review. This ended up being a good thing, cause I have lots to say about one of these episodes and not so much to say about the other. Hit the jump for the full review [...]

Game of Thrones
Episode 1 (Winter is Coming) & 2 (The Kingsroad)
Directed by: Timothy Van Patten
Written by: David Beinoff and D.B. Weiss adapted from George R.R. Martin
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Issac Hempstead-Wright, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams

I’ve got a confession to make.

I haven’t read a single book in George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Fire and Ice series.

Unlike last year’s big literature-to-television adaptation, Walking Dead (of which I’ve read every issue), I wanted to go into Game of Thrones fresh, without any prior knowledge or expectations of the series. I wanted to see how a 694-page book would translate over to HBO. I’ve seen the big-screen adaptations of fan-favorite fantasy novels like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but I was interested in seeing how showrunners David Deinoff and D.B. Weiss would handle Martin’s material on a week-to-week basis without confusing the hell out of everyone.

So far, they’ve done an outstanding job [...]

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode 1: The Impossible Astronaut
Directed by Toby Haynes
Written by Steven Moffat
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Mark Sheppard, William Morgan Sheppard, Stuart Milligan, Chukwudi Iwuji
BBC America
Air date: April 23, 2011

Like any good companion of the Doctor, we’ve waited too long for his return, but the wait is over. Tonight saw the Series 6 premiere of Doctor Who on BBC America. The beginning of this review is spoiler-free and at the end are clearly marked Spoiler section for those of you who have not yet seen the episode.

Episode 1, The Impossible Astronaut, has a lot of ground to cover in terms of establishing what the overall plot of this new series is. After a quick and humorous check in with Amy (Karen Gillan), Rory (Arthur Darvill), and River (Alex Kingston), our heroes meet up with The Doctor (Matt Smith) and we’re thrust right into the thick of what looks to be an exciting and mystery-filled season [...]