We live in a world where the Lord of the Rings has been filmed well, there was a Watchmen movie that came from a major studio, and even the Walking Dead has been made into an episodic television series. Lengthy, intense dramas from science fiction and fantasy are now being made for both the big and small screen, and it's a wonderful thing.

The problem is that these properties are hard to translate. The pilot for the Walking Dead was amazing, but the rest of the season fizzled spectacularly. Many fans of George R.R. Martin's books were afraid the same was going to happen to the Game of Thrones series, and the books seemed unfilmable. In a surprise twist, the first season of the show hasn't been just good for a fantasy series, it's been an amazing piece of storytelling, full stop. We're going to talk about why it has succeeded, and why you need to be watching.

A few notes: I have not read the books, and it would be great if those that have read the entirety of the series stick to discussing the show, without posting spoilers from the later books. Also, I am assuming you have seen all ten episodes, so there will be heavy spoilers from this season, and I won't be re-introducing every character that's being discussed.

Off with his head

Sean Bean as Ned Stark was shown heavily in the show's marketing, and viewers who hadn't read the books fell into the trap of believing he was the show's protagonist. He was noble, powerful, and in a world filled with people whose motivations were twisted and obscure he seemed to be a genuinely good person. In fact, this was his fatal flaw: the idea that as long as he did the right thing with the right motivations, everything would be okay. By the time he was standing in front of the people, confessing treason, it was too late for him, and his beheading was shocking.

Just in case you didn't get the message that no one is safe, last night's episode began with the image of the sword used in this execution dripping with blood clots and hair. Joffrey, who is becoming everything you want in a truly hateful villain, forces Sansa to gaze upon the head of her father, and has one of his men strike her for suggesting he may be on the losing end of the upcoming war. Sansa has never been a sympathetic character, and again the views fall into the neatly laid trap of getting what we wanted.

Which is maddening, as we may have hoped something bad would happen to her during the early episodes, but now that Sansa's in a truly wretched situation it's hard to watch. The scene between Sansa and Joffrey is well done, filled with tension and a very subtle shifting of control that takes place as Joffrey realized she's not learning the lesson he's hoping to teach. For just a moment, as both characters realize that Sansa is a Stark in both a literal and figurative sense, Joffrey looked afraid.

And then we have Daenerys, who was carrying Khal Drogo's baby, the child who was expected to be the king to unite the kingdoms under his rule after the Dothraki invasion. Well before his birth he was already being called "the stallion that mounts the world," although it's also clear that any rule under such a person would be bloody, and likely miserable for anyone who wasn't... well, him.

The characters talked about this child in hopeful terms, and many scenes of grave import—such as the eating of the horse's heart without throwing it back up—seemed to suggest that this story was moving in that direction. She would have her child, he would be mix the brutal power of the Dothraki with the statecraft of a Targaryen, and his rise to power would be a major plot point moving forward. All the pieces were in place.

This is a story that doesn't take the easy way out, even if the entire season seemed to point to one outcome. After Drogo fights off a rival and his wound becomes infected, Daenerys makes a deal with a local witch who promises to trade one life for another, and the deal isn't what anyone expected. The baby is stillborn, with horrible birth defects that hint of literal dragon blood in his veins. Drogo is reduced to a catatonic state, and is smothered to death by Daenerys. Khal Drogo was a deeper character than he seemed at first, and his love for his wife had deepened in the past ten episodes. His death wasn't just anti-climactic, it was limp. Alone, beaten, and frail-looking, he is put out of his misery, but his funeral serves another important purpose, as it provides the catalyst for the emergence of the dragons.

Let's be honest, there should have been blinking text on the screen every time we saw the dragon eggs that said "these things are going to hatch at some point." We knew it was coming, but when we see Daenerys revealed in the funeral pyre, nude but unhurt and with three baby dragons climbing over her body, it's still breathtaking. This is a character who has changed in amazing ways since the first episode, and as the season finale makes clear, she's in no way done growing and finding her power.

This is a character-driven show

The breakout star of the cast has to be Peter Dinklage, who brings Tyrion to life in a way that's hard to describe. He's smart, he's funny, he's cunning, and his life has not been easy. "I like living," he tells another character after offering a large payment for the sparing of his life. He also likes prostitutes, and until this episode we get the sense that his family views him as a nuisance. Now that Tywin Lannister seems to understand what Tyrion is capable of, things are going to become even more interesting for the character.

Lady Stark is also coming into her own, even if the disastrous decision to arrest Tyrion is what led to much of this mess. "They have your sisters. We have to get the girls back. And then we will kill them all," she tells a grieving Robb, while holding him in a motherly embrace. This is a formidable woman.

The show isn't perfect, and it's getting to the point where I feel like as long as there are breasts on screen we're going to get some heavy exposition via a monologue, but this first season has been the best ten episodes of television this year, without question. This is a show that treats the viewer like an adult, and it trusts the viewer to understand the intricacies of what's going on. Even characters with little screen time make the most of it, as we saw from Jaime's speech last night.

While there weren't many revelations in the last hour, and certainly there were stronger episodes throughout the season, the finale showed that the story has been enriched by Ned's death. No one is the same person they were when the show began, and all the pieces are beginning to move on the board. We've been beaten over the head with the idea that in this world you either win, or you die, and we've learned that being a good person and doing the right thing is no guarantee that things will go your way. With every character facing threats from nearly every direction, the future looks bleak, and even those who "win" may find out their victories are hollow.

Is anyone else counting down the moments until the next season?

Favorite moments from Season 1