For Men

Game changer

April 18, 2012 | 12:00am

Hands down, the moment that draws the lustiest male hoots in Game of Thrones Season 2’s opener comes when Emilia Clarke shows up in her sexy loincloth, a tiny dragon poised on her shoulder. As kick-ass blonde warrior Daenerys Targaryen, Clarke gets the male vote for Game of Thrones’ best eye candy.

But running a close second in viewer interest is The Imp. When pint-sized Tyrion Lannister (the phenomenal Peter Dinklage) shows up this season, interrupting a Small Council meeting in the House of Baratheon, a full wine goblet already cupped in his tiny hand, the audience cheers. It’s like when Kramer used to burst through Jerry’s front door on Seinfeld.

Rich, lively characters are what make Game of Thrones such a hit among geeks, gamers and fantasy fans. That and action, good old pre-medieval sex and a labyrinth of plots and score-settling. The HBO series is also popular among women, which is a little odd, but hey, to each her own.

Filipinos can now sit back and relax: Season 2 is set to premiere here on HBO this Saturday, April 21, 9 p.m.

So what will we see in the opener?

Bring out the Imp: Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) is back, riding high, as The Imp.

The little tyrant Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) is back to make us boo and hiss; during his “name day” celebration, he nastily orders that a man to be drowned in wine (shades of “waterboarding”) before being persuaded by his reluctant wife Sansa that the poor man would make a better fool if left alive.

Nasty characters abound. Joffrey’s mother Queen Cersei (Lena Headley) is ready to do anything to get her brother/lover Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) back. The Imp proposes she trade the remaining Stark child to gain Jaime’s return. “You love your children,” Tyrion reminds his big sister. “That is your one redeeming value… that and your cheekbones.”

Meanwhile, comets are streaking across the sky, an omen that dragons have returned to the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. This was revealed in the Season 1 finale, a development that will surely give the desert-dwelling Dothraki clan some extra battlefield oomph.

The little tyrant Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) is back to make us boo and hiss.

In another corner, sly brothel owner Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (Aidan Gillen) threatens to reveal Queen Cersei’s little secret about her brother. “Knowledge is power,” he coyly reminds Cersei. “No. Power is power,” she responds, ordering his guards to slit Littlefinger’s throat (don’t worry; she changes her mind).

There’s an obligatory sex scene in episode one, of course (oops… you probably won’t be seeing that on HBO Asia), followed by a montage of action/violence that reminds us of Francis Ford Coppola at his Godfather best.

What’s interesting about the “game” in Game of Thrones is that the on-field play hasn’t even begun yet. Season 1 was all about back-story — treachery and grudges building up everywhere — but it was all a kind of pre-game commentary. What’s going to happen, presumably in Season 2, is the real deal: clan against clan, house against house, White Walker against man. The future of Westeros depends on it.

True, it takes a game-players’ gift for names and stats to follow Game of Thrones sometimes. But once you weigh up all the opposing teams’ strengths and weaknesses, it becomes much like an excellent round of Fantasy Baseball — albeit with dragons, swords and torture chambers instead of bats, balls and gloves.

It would be unsporting indeed to reveal any more about the season opener, but HBO held a special Game of Thrones Season 2 launch at Global Bonifacio City early this week, with video links to series stars Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington. In a country where comic book artists and gamers grow as thick as trees, Game of Thrones is enlisting new recruits with each episode. Indeed, things are heating up in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Death is in the air, as always, but as The Imp cheerfully reminds us, “Death is so boring. Especially now, with so much excitement in the world.”

There are seven kingdoms in Westeros… and most of them are poised to do battle.

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On another type of battlefield, last Saturday (April 14) HBO also premiered its Sarah Palin movie, Game Change, starring Julianne Moore as the feisty Alaska governor who shockingly nabbed the Republican vice president slot in the 2008 primaries. (Imagine the world today if she and John McCain were running the US. Okay, now back to reality.) Game Change is no doubt as intriguing as HBO’s other real-life movie subjects. And if that isn’t enough rough and tumble, there’s Season 2 of Boardwalk Empire to catch up on, with Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) again taking on a slew of bootlegging competitors in Atlantic City.

Let the games begin!