Finally, Game of Thrones is back, complete with the familiar mix of villainy, dragons and illegal download scandals. For time-poor fans, filled with a mixture of anticipation at the show’s return and dread that picking up the threads of the story will be too Herculean a task, my message is: do not worry.
The script writers do enough to ease you back. Tuning in to the first two episodes feels like renewing an acquaintance with old friends, not sitting a too-hard examination. And intriguingly, for the first time this fifth series gives us flashbacks – glimpses of the backstory never before brought to the screen. Perhaps this was an inevitability for a series that bulges with characters and plotlines but that still takes a much sleeker form than the novels.
One thing Game of Thrones has taught us all is to guard against too much emotional investment. Whether it was investing hope in the good Ned Stark or wishing for a wedding of joy and not one of blood, part of its genius is an ability to shatter your dreamed-for outcomes and keep you begging for more at the same time. Enjoy, carefully.