The show has a natural gravitas to it, owing to its realist premise and the types of grim dark fantasy you can get away with on HBO.

Beyond that, though, the show is not really capturing the political or character intricacies that drew me to the original, and I find some of the direction and production lacklustre. We follow a smaller cast of characters, and for all its subtle references to the goings on of Westeros, the looming threats of the outside world feel much smaller in the context of our more narrow purview.

I am glad to see it each week, and there are moments of dynamic depth between certain characters, but I'm not sure it has more to offer thematically than the twists and turns of its legendarium.