I’ve seen the first episode of season 3 of Game of Thrones. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch it on the big screen surrounded by the cast like some lucky critics, but thanks to HBO sending me the screeners, I was able to watch it roughly at the time, from the comfort of my own home. What follows are my initial, mostly-non-spoilery impressions of the premiere episode of what looks to be the best season yet of Game of Thrones.

What jumps out at you right away is that this show has raised the bar yet again, when it comes to the visuals. The locations, the sets, the costumes, the effects… everything just looks top-notch. And it is all gorgeously shot. This is easily the best looking show on television and, in my opinion, nothing else even comes close.

In the premiere episode, we pick up where we left off last season, with Sam running from the White Walkers and their army of undead. The scene is intense and atmospheric and ends in a way that I didn’t expect. It leads into the opening credits, which feature King’s Landing, Winterfell, Harrenhal, Dragonstone, the Wall and Astapor. The rest of the episode is dedicated to catching us up with the various players in the story, including those in King’s Landing, on Dragonstone, beyond the Wall and across the Narrow Sea. Many of these scenes do double-duty, not only catching us up on past events but also setting things up for later in the season. It is great to watch the chess pieces being moved into position yet again and what that may mean for the storylines this season.

And what of those storylines? Every one wants to know how closely this season will hew to A Storm of Swords. Well, I’ve obviously only watched 1/10th of this season, so my perspective is limited. But it seems that they are still following the main storyline, but are taking a different path to get there, at times. There are a number of new scenes in this episode, which weren’t in the book, but which very well could have been. Others that are wholly different from what was presented in the book, but are there to streamline events and characters. Most of the changes I am okay with and seem like smart adaptation choices, although there is one in particular that I wasn’t a fan of.

One thing I noticed about the season three premiere, compared to last year’s premiere, is it seems that the writers have made a conscious decision to spend more time in each story, even if that means shunting a few characters off into the second episode. I think that was a wise choice. Although I missed seeing some of those characters, I felt like the episode as a whole had more substance and wasn’t just a glorified clip show, popping in on each character so we can see what they’ve been up to.

Although this episode is laying the groundwork for much bigger events to come, I still found it highly entertaining. There are a number of fantastically well-acted scenes as well as some real “geek-out” moments for fans of the books (I especially loved getting our first glimpse at one of Westeros’ few non-human races!) and it all ends with an exciting action sequence and a thrilling reveal…

I am fully invested in this show and can’t wait to see what the rest of this season has in store. I expect I will be pleasantly surprised by some of the changes and also ecstatic at seeing some of my favorite characters and moments from the books come alive.

Winter has come, yet again!