Game of Thrones has returned in fine form this year. I enjoyed the first season so much last year that it prompted me to read the A Song of Ice and Fire book series that it's based on. So unlike last year where I knew nothing about anything, I now have five (very large) novels worth of information. That means no more speculation this year, I already know what's going to happen, unless David Benioff and D.B. Weiss change up some things. Let's look at how they've done so far in adapting the second novel, A Clash of Kings.
The stage was set at the end of last year and if not for the wham moment with the dragons being hatched it would have felt almost as the first episode of this season with Ned's untimely demise at the end of the penultimate episode serving as the cliffhanger. This helps a lot with letting the story move almost right away. We know Tyrion is going to King's Landing to be the Hand, that Jon and the Night's Watch have gone beyond the Wall, that Arya is on her way north with Yoren, Gendry, and the other Night's Watch recruits, that Robb is now the King in the North and warring with the Lannisters, and that Daenerys is wandering the desert. There was also a huge "previously on" to remind everyone of this if they weren't like me and bought the blu-rays the day they came out and immediately rewatched all of season 1.
With only ten hours to tell the story of the longer second book, being able to move the story right away helps tremendously. Everyone already being familiar with this world and most of the major players also is a boon to the storytelling. Last season was great overall, but things could get bogged down with introduction of everything about George R.R. Martin's fantasy world. They handled it well, but there's a reason the second super hero movie is usually better than the first, no origin story. The only place we need introductions this time is when we go to Dragonstone and see Stannis Baratheon's camp. Stannis was a much talked about figure last year, but never seen. Stephen Dillane and the writers do a great job of capturing his character in the scene where he's dictating the letter. That scene tells you everything you need to know about Stannis, stubborn, unrelenting, honorable, and not very charismatic. The writers and actors of the two other major players of that story, Mellisandre and Davos, have equally compelling introductions in a short span of time. Mellisandre as a priestess of a different religion than we've never seen before with obviously some sort of magical powers to resist poison (or she's spent the last five years building up a resistance to iocane powder). Davos we don't know as much about yet, but he comes off here a trusted advisory to Stannis, and a begrudging participant of this new religion.
The other major plot from the premiere is Tyrion arriving in King's landing on King Joffrey's name day. Peter Dinklage won himself an Emmy for this role last year, and it seems he may top himself this year. In short order he puts the king in his place, sympathizes with Sansa, and tells Cersei just how badly she's messed up so far. All of it with the flair of wit that only Tyrion has. Tyrion navigating the ins and outs of King's Landing was one of my favorite parts of the second novel, but also some of the most confusing due to schemes within schemes. I greatly look forward to how they'll handle that on the screen this year, so far so good, though. Joffrey somehow makes himself even more hateful than before with his cavalier attitude about people's life and even the way he talks to Cersei, whom we don't even like. When he says he'll kill her if she slaps him again, we believe that this horrible person really would kill his mother for that. Cersei gets her own show of power in her conversation with Littlefinger, ensuring that we'll never feel too much sympathy for her.
Robb gets to show his kingly side in a very well done scene with Jamie in his cell. The direwolfs have certainly grown. After seeing the first season, I pictured them as just more ferocious, slightly larger than regular sized wolves as I read the books. Greywind was huge, though, and pretty good CGI. Robb's hover hand was a little off, but you've got to give them credit to find some budget in this super expensive show to give us direwolfs as they were meant to be seen. Its snapping at Jamie was a very tense moment. Robb also gives the push for Catelyn's and Theon's stories of the season. Catelyn leaving to treat with King Renly Baratheon and Theon going to recruit his father, Balon Greyjoy, of the Iron Islands.
While Robb is acting kingly, his half brother Jon is finding it hard to follow. The wildling Crastor is a vile person, taking his daughters as wives and everything that entails. He is, however, an informational asset to the Night's Watch, and Jon needs to put his moral indignity on hold to get the job done. Daenerys gets only one scene this episode with her wandering in the Red Wastes, mostly to remind us what's happening with her. If it wasn't the premiere, they might not have bothered to even have this scene. Always cool to see dragons, or in this case, the lone Drogo. Bran gets a couple of small scenes with running Winterfell now that Ned is dead and Robb is away. He's now graduated from crow dreams to wolf dreams. I particularly liked Osha's commentary that the coming of the comet (which links all our disparate stories in a nice theatrical touch) means whatever the person thinks will be best for their own gains.
The episode ends with the brutal killing of all of Robert's bastards in King's Landing, no matter what age they made be. The Ned betraying Janos Slynt himself slays a baby at Littlefinger's whore house. We finally get a glimpse of Arya as we're reminded that she's traveling with the bastard Baratheon, Gendry. The final shot tells us that trouble is headed her way, but that could probably be said for every single character of this sprawling epic.
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