George R. R. Martin's grownup fantasy novels were not supposed to be filmable. They have a vast sprawl of locations and a Domesday Book's worth of characters, and their sheer length made The Lord of the Rings look like a pamphlet. Well, dragons should be too big to fly, and yet somehow they manage. This lavishly constructed season pared the first novel to its sinewy medieval essence, a thrilling political drama with epic sweep and classic HBO moral complexity. It was equally fearless in slashing its characters spoiler alert! killing off what seemed to be its protagonist, Ned Stark (Sean Bean) and proving that we should never feel safe with it. Most important, it took a vast panorama of art-directed exotica mountain fortresses, nomadic encampments, lavish whorehouses and a 700-ft. ice wall and made it all feel dead real with grounded performances from Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington and a stunningly good collection of child actors. Set amid the battle for a declining kingdom in a world whose magicians were long dead, Game of Thrones was nonetheless magic through and through. (HBO)