Binge Mode: ‘Game of Thrones’ | Season 1
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Get ready for Game of Thrones Season 7 by binge-watching all 60 existing episodes with The Ringer’s experts, Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion, as they deep-dive one episode at a time to parse the theories, history, characters, and themes that enrich one of the defining stories of our time. Season 1 is below. Seasons 2–6 are coming soon. Click here for more seasons.
S1E1: “Winter Is Coming”
Welcome to the towers of Winterfell, the gilded homes of Pentos, and the first episode of the Binge Mode podcast. Join The Ringer’s Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion as they begin their journey through seasons 1–6 of Game of Thrones by unpacking the central theme of pilot episode “Winter Is Coming”: the weight of shared history. They also provide the backstory of Robert’s Rebellion and award the inaugural episode champion, a character who gets one step closer to the crown he most covets.
S1E2: “The Kingsroad”
As the Game of Thrones universe expands and our principal characters travel to the North, South, and East in “The Kingsroad,” Binge Mode examines the developing themes of transitioning and enhancing one’s agency. They also discuss Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen’s time as refugees before they joined Khal Drogo’s khalasar and endow a pack of furry friends with the second champion’s purse.
S1E3: “Lord Snow”
Binge Mode lands in King’s Landing, where there’s a new world of characters, conspiracies, and opportunities for intrigue. The episode “Lord Snow” revolves around the institutional decay in the Seven Kingdoms, but it’s not all coin counting and bureaucracy: There’s also some serious beef between Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister. The ongoing adventures of a needling little girl see her awarded with the champion’s purse.
S1E4: “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things”
The plotting — for both personal and political reasons — continues in “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things,” and our Binge Mode crew tackles the schemes and conspiracies that ensnare numerous characters. In another entry of their ongoing love of nonhuman creatures, they also provide an overview of Dragonlore, and they crown a new champion from a rousing final scene.
S1E5: “The Wolf and the Lion”
Powerful families clash in “The Wolf and the Lion,” and Binge Mode dives into the standing of a bastard and the importance of a family name in Westeros. They also address the episode’s central questions — what attributes define a good ruler, and are excessive drinking and eating among them? — before awarding a pair of schemers the champion’s purse.
Ask The Maester LIVE: Season 1The Game of Thrones premiere is still a few weeks away, but 'Ask the Maester' is back LIVE right now! The Maester, Jason Concepcion is taking your questions on all things Season 1. Remember to binge along with us each week until the premiere, and subscribe to the 'Binge Mode' podcast wherever you get your podcasts! #GoTS7 #PrepareForWinter
Posted by The Ringer on Friday, June 9, 2017
S1E6: “A Golden Crown”
Like hereditary monarchies, systems of jurisprudence, and gifts of gold, loyalty in the Game of Thrones universe is a fickle and tricky concept to master, and in this episode of Binge Mode, Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion analyze the ramifications when that attribute becomes lost, gained, manipulated, and muddled. They also explore the history of the trial-by-combat tradition that appears in “A Golden Crown” and, well, crown a golden man as the episode’s champion.
S1E7: “You Win or You Die”
One of Game of Thrones’ central theses comes into play with this episode title — “You Win or You Die” — and the philosopher behind that formulation does the former by winning this episode’s champion’s purse. In addition, Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion explore the importance of legacy on the show and explain the history of the Night’s Watch, an institution bound for millennia to protect Westeros’s northern border.
S1E8: “The Pointy End”
In the backstabbing, double-crossing, ever-plotting world the Game of Thrones elite inhabit, the difference between winning and dying often turns on the mutually beneficial bonds that characters form. On this episode of Binge Mode, Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion detail the crucial, life-sustaining practice of building allegiances and how those pairings manifest in “The Pointy End” before reviewing the stories behind the Old Gods and Weirwood lore. Then they award a character who meets his pointy end in “The Pointy End” with the champion’s (possibly postmortem?) purse.
S1E9: “Baelor”
While one Stark celebrates a great victory, another suffers a momentous defeat in “Baelor,” which represents one grand, familial compromise in an episode defined by them. Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion parse the advantages and limitations of deal making in this episode of Binge Mode before breaking down the off-screen battles taking place and crowning a precocious commander as the episode’s champion.
S1E10: “Fire and Blood”
The Game of Thrones Season 1 finale contains life and death, names new and old, and the titular “Fire and Blood.” As Binge Mode wraps up its first week of episodes, Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion discuss the cyclical theme of rebirth before diving into the history behind the “King in the North” title and awarding a new magical mother with the champion’s purse.