Must-see mayhem

Mother of Dragons — and the fantasies of freshmen boys everywhere.

HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is one of the few TV shows that is actually better than its source material.

Have you seen it? It’s a festival of bare butts and broadswords, full frontal profanity and major characters dying horribly on a weekly basis. Gratuitous? Absolutely! And rollicking fun for the whole family!

I watched the first three seasons awhile back on my mother-in-law’s account. Now I’m catching up on the rest of it because of HBO Now‘s generous one-month free trial. (Unfortunately, I think the free trial ends before Season 5 does.)

Guest cameo by Willy Nelson.

One reason I like the series better than George R. R. Martin’s books: The pacing is a lot better. The extraneous bits have been ruthlessly removed, much like Jaime Lannister’s sword hand or Theon Greyjoy’s … well, spoiler alert. While I did read all the damned books, I found myself frequently rolling my eyes and skimming whole chapters — mostly the interminable ones involving Daenerys, mother of dragons.

I’m still not a big fan of Daenerys. Maybe it’s that ridiculous title, which takes up a paragraph by itself and gives you some idea of George Martin’s tendency to overwrite: “Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.”

Right. Quite a handle for someone who seems more like a slightly spoiled homecoming queen, junior class president and captain of the debate team. In another genre, she might be called Aimee. Don’t get me started on the dragons. It’s always annoying when people give birth to pets they can’t handle.

Still, I do like this show. The frequent swordplay is never particularly convincing, but production values are good and the acting is superb. Unlike a lot of purists, I’m glad the writers are departing from the source material. Now nobody can know for sure what happens next. Except for winter, which apparently is coming.