When Sopranos and The Wire retired, there was some doubt at HBO on the idea of keeping up the powerhouse premium cable network’s dominance for the upcoming years with original series. Documentaries and original HBO films have kept them stocked up on Emmy and Golden Globe awards. Veep has collected a couple awards. HBO Sports continue to thrive while losing NHL’s 24/7 series and Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s theatrics to Showtime. Throughout the adjustment period, Game of Thrones has reigned as the powerful original series that dominates the waves when it airs.

George R.R. Martin’s hypnotic bloody pulp of medieval exotic battles revolving around The Seven Kingdoms has everyone’s attention as round 5 from the ammo chamber of writers/creators David Benioff and D.B Weiss begins tonight. Let’s look at a few things to keep an eye on this season.

1.) Lannister Envy, Incest and Love(in what order though?)

At the end of the fourth season, Jaime(Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) helped free the wrongly accused Tyrion(Peter Dinklage, who owned the fourth season with his work). Tyrion caught his former love with his father Tywin(Charles Dance, a juicy villain who will be missed) and fired a pair of arrows into his dad, killing him. He was smuggled out of town. Cersei doesn’t care if Tyrion helped kill her son Joffrey or not. She wants the man caught and has no idea that her brother Jaime(who she is sleeping with again) was part of the escape plan. The tide is turning for the Lannister and it’s not in a good way. The head of the snake has been chopped off.

2.) Little Finger Advice

Aiden Gillen, like Dinklage, is one of the quiet powers of the show. His work as Baelish aka “LittleFinger” on the show rules the day because you don’t know where he stands. Shifty character. He met his match in Sansa Stark(Sophie Turner), who he took under his wing and watched as she covered his ass when he killed his wife last season. Here, we see the man tell the Stark daughter to get revenge for her family’s bloody misfortune. The woman hasn’t had it easy. She watched her father Ned lose his head, lost her mother and brother, and had to nearly marry the most evil young scoundrel in the world in Joffrey(the man who asked for her father’s head as well). She deserves some retribution.

“There’s no justice in this world. Not unless we make it. Avenge them.”-LittleFinger

3.) TV On The Radio covers Bowie.

An inspired choice for the trailer music here. This cover reinvents the song completely, and sweeps its musical drapes over imagery of Tyrion quietly living under the protection of Lord Varys, Sansa in a bath contemplating her plot, and Daenerys(the lovely Emilia Clarke) looking more cold and brutal than ever.

4.) Magic Man Snow

Ladies get a few quick looks at the resident hottie in Kit Harington’s Jon Snow. In the latest season, Snow seems to leading the Wilding’s or some rebel group towards another. Sooner or later, he will be back in the thick of it with his sister Arya Stark(Maisie Williams, last seen walking away from the Hound). The Starks aren’t dead yet and together with Sansa, these two will eventually take back what is theirs. Yes, I am a Stark resident. They have been underdogs since the beginning.

5.) Dragon Lady:The Next King of the Seven Kingdoms?

It sends chills down the spine to hear Varys say when Tyrion mouths off about finding a new king and insisting it is a him, “Who said anything about him?” The shot quickly shows a determined Daernerys. The young lady with the power of the dragons and a will that has toughened since season 1 is the queen to watch and a person I see towering over all at the end of the series(or Martin’s latest book).

6.) Trailer Faces

The end of the trailer shows various battle sequences, a crow landing on a corpse and a couple shots of the deadly magic woman, Melisandre(Carice van Houten) and the woman no one should forget about, Missandei(Nathalie Emmanuel), the right hand lady to Daenerys now that the veteran fighter Jorah(Iain Glen) has been cast out from the army. Also, a sweeping glimpse of the tortured and damaged Theon Greyjoy(Alfie Allen).

Last Words

*I don’t miss Joffrey one bit but who becomes the villain to hate on the show? Cersei? The devilish grandmother, Olenna Tyrell(Diana Rigg), the one who poisoned the young king?

*I hope the Hound is still alive. Seeing Rory McCann’s mercenary warrior get a rematch with Gwendoline Christie’s Brienne’s soldier would be worth the entire season.

*Which moment will signify the entire season? Red Wedding. The Head smashing of Oberyn. Which big death haunts the viewers during Season 5?

Every kingdom comes to an end and a new one is reborn. Which kingdom falls on Game of Thrones this season? Who lives? Who dies? I haven’t read the books and will continue to go in blind. How about you, readers? What’s your take on HBO’s new goldmine.