HBO’s Game of Thrones Season 2 premiered a couple of nights ago, and in true fashion, I was there to watch. Expect a review every week of my take on each episode. I will write these articles with no intentions of spoiling events from the book. However, I will use my knowledge of the book to possibly clarify plot holes that the series might be leaving out to compensate for the 700 page turner.
There are obvious spoilers for those who aren’t caught up with the show, but seeing as HBO released a public image of Sean Bean’s Ned Stark’s head on a pike, I guess, all bets are off when it comes to not spoiling season one. The 2-5 minute catch up seemed to me to be a good way to waste 2-5 minutes because it could not being to encapsulate the amount of things that escalated from season 1. All it served was a purpose to take out 2-5 minutes of additional actual show time. Hopefully, we won’t be seeing recaps anymore. More show less recaps.
But I suppose I’ll start with a recap for you all right now before I start getting into the show’s meat and bones. Ned Stark was beheaded for finding a scandal between the Queen and her incestuous relationship with her brother. In turn, the land Ned Stark ruled is up in arms for the unjust murder and his eldest son is bringing 20,000 soldiers to the capital to kill the the man responsible for his father’s death. Meanwhile the other Stark children are scattered across the country each facing their own difficulties, one disguising herself as a boy, one being crippled, the other North in the wilderness, etc. Meanwhile, everyone’s favorite character Tyrion Lannister, the non incestuous brother to the queen, returns to the capital to clean up the mess the Queen and her son, who is now King, has made. That’s probably the best I can do without writing another novel about it.
I enjoy watching you squirm in the presence of your better brother.
I’m hoping that if you’re continuing to read, that you A) watched the show and are continuing because you’re genuinely invested in my thoughts or B) You don’t subscribe to HBO and are using my summaries as to keep up with the series. Any other reason you might be wasting your time because I’m going to assume you generally know about character names, places, and events going on. The Westeros vernacular is about to be amped up.
The episode starts off where we left Joffrey and Sansa, as the new boy King is celebrating his name day with a tourney. We get more characterization of the despicable Joffrey and we can see the pain Sansa is in as she puts on a bright face for the man who killed her father. The scene’s best moment is when Tyrion enters and speaks clever quips that resonate deep truths behind his sarcastic delivery. Comforting Sansa for her lost makes him clearly the favorite Lannister for actually having a heart. And you can’t but smile when he talks about cleaning up the city as if it’s another chore on his to-do list. The following banter between Queen reagent Cersei and Tyrion is equally satisfying when you can see how uncomfortable the b!tch is around her deformed brother. And the fact he has a stake in how the kingdom is run is clearly making her even more frustrated. But she can’t help but listen to his reason, when he talks truths about the capital. Another reason she is highly uncomfortable.
Then we move onto Bran Stark, the crippled son of the late Ned Stark, who has taken up the name Lord/Prince of Winterfell as his brother is off to fight wars. The scene depicts him rather bored with bureaucratic events as other Lords request things of him. Then begins the first “WTF” moment in the episode. There’s a dream sequence that takes the first person point of view of an animal of some sort. The end of the sequence confirms the animal theory as the camera moves over a pond and the reflection of a wolf appears. At this moment Bran opens his eyes and we can speculate that Bran is having dreams about being a wolf. This is confirmed later with Osha as they visit the pond Bran dreamed about. This is the first time we get a look at a red comet, and Bran fills in the the multiple perspectives taken in the comic. A red comet for the death of Ned Stark. A red comet for the omen of Lannister victory. A red comet for the coming of dragons. The book goes on further speculations of people’s perception on the comet, but maybe they’ll cover that in later episodes, so I won’t spoil it now.
So speaking of dragons, it provided a nice transition to see what is going on with those goddamned dragons that hatched last season. Unfortunately we only get about 2 minutes with them, and nothing cool happens. We assume all three of them are caged [I feel like a dragon would be totally opposed this idea], and banter between Dany and her Khalasar assumes that even Dany doesn’t know what to do with them. We’re given a sense that her and her weak Khalasar are in a pickle as we see them transverse a red wasteland [known as the Red Waste] as they slowly lose supplies, water, and horses. Nothing too exciting her except those two minutes with dragons and a long circle shot of Dany.
Queue Jon Snow and his adventures beyond the wall. I felt this was one of the weaker shots in the series, not explaining well where they are and why. Jon Snow and Co. [RHYMES] show up at ‘Craster’s Keep’ a small house where they take small haven. The short banter tries to encompass what the place is, but it doesn’t drive in well with our conception of wildlings and the Night’s Watch opposition to them. To clarify things, Craster is this old dude who bangs his daughters. While Jon Snow merely mentions the fact there are no sons, but I guarantee that’ll come up again in the series, so I won’t clarify what happens to them. There is talk here and there about a man named Mance Raydar, who isn’t characterized besides an enemy of the Night’s Watch/leader of the Wildlings. The truth here based on the book that was better explained in the first book is that Mance Raydar was once a man of the Night’s Watch who decided he could lead a better life beyond the Wall. He broke his vows and used his skill as a ranger to become/claim/take a leadership position among the wildlings. And now he wages war with his once-brothers. We’re given two very big ideas from this scene: an army of wildlings is coming south and who Jon Snow is…[lol if you saw that scene and thought ‘awkward’].
Fire Priests, Direwolves, and Killing Babies on the next Page
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