Game Of Thrones Season Two Episode One: The North Remembers

Game Of Thrones Season Two Episode One: The North Remembers

Posted on Tuesday April 3, 2012, 15:44 by Stephen Carty in Small Screen

Whether you read about it in Empire, overheard whispers at King’s Landing or received word via raven, you probably already know that the eagerly-awaited second season of Game Of Thrones has marched back onto our screens. Having quickly proven itself as an ambitious, densely-plotted classic-in-the-making, the first season of HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s popular fantasy series earned a solid fanbase and bags of critical acclaim, meaning that many of us (this writer included) were desperate for more. For anyone who hasn’t seen the show, first, you should seek it out immediately (that’s an order). And second, it would be wise to stop reading now as, to paraphrase the House Stark motto, spoilers are coming.

Previously on Game Of Thrones: A seven-year-old was pushed off a castle turret after witnessing incest; Conan the Barbarian (well, Jason Momoa’s Khal Drogo, same diff) melted an exiled heir’s bonce; Mark Addy’s barrel-like King was killed by a wild boar; Peter Dinklage was awesome; The Wire's Aiden Gillen was untrustworthy; Sean Bean got his head unceremoniously lopped off and the stunning Emilia Clarke got naked and revealed her dragons. Of course, these are just some of the highlights (I never even mentioned the fact that James Cosmos, Charles Dance and Jerome Flynn all pop up), given how much happened in season one. A sprawling, intricately-constructed saga, even the sharpest viewer's understanding might benefit from a Game Of Thrones family tree and map (which, handily, are both included with the boxset!).

And pleasingly, Season Two gets off to a confident and reliably engrossing start. “The North Remembers” was concerned with re-introducing existing characters, introducing new ones and, in large part, arranging pieces on the board. In some ways, not a great deal happened, yet in others it was a typically dense affair where schemers schemed, plotters plotted and nearly everyone made a claim to the throne. Managing, incredibly, to outdo the first season’s opener in terms of incestuous happenings and a brave climax, we meet a man who marries all his daughters and later witness baby slaughter. Welcome back to Westeros indeed.

Among a handful of riveting scenes, two that stood out both involved Lena Headey’s icy Queen Cersei in tense verbal stand-offs; the first against her son Joffrey (Jack Gleeson, continuing to be the most brilliant-hateful character on telly) and the second with Gillen's tricksy Lord Baelish. One of the things that Game Of Thrones does best is employing one-on-one conversations to reveal what characters really think about each other in the subtext. With the former, we got the sense that Cersei now realises what a monster she’s created in Joffrey, while the latter hints that she's may just have earned herself a worthy adversary in Baelish.

Aside from some intercourse lessons at the brothel, the main thrust of the episode was about learning to rule. We see Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Daenerys Targaryen (Clarke) and even little Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) all learning valuable leadership lessons, while as Michelle Fairley's Stark matriarch observes, "There's a King in every corner". Given the loss of a few major figures last season (particularly Sean Bean's show anchor, Ned Stark), you'd have been forgiven for wondering how such big holes would be filled. Yet Richard Madden's Robb Stark shoulders his growing responsibilities well - both as the new King of the North and as an increasingly major player - while the note-perfect Peter Dinklage (who stole season one by a nose) assures us straight away that there's nothing to worry about (see the ever-so-slight smirk when he tells sister Cersei that he’s acting Hand of the King).

So what's new? Well, most notably, there’s our first visit to the island of Dragonstone, where we finally meet Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane, more canny casting), the late King's brother and, arguably, true heir to the throne. Additionally, there's also Liam Cunningham's 'Onion Knight' Davos and Caris van Houten's intimidating priestess. Despite being book-ended by stirring fantasy moments, Season One largely kept the fantastical on the horizon, but with the addition of a prophetic priestess in addition to some nicely-realised dragons and Bran's wolf dreams, that seems set to change.

So all in all, a great start. Aside from an iffy digital direwolf and the fact that we have to wait a week for more, that is. But what did you guys think? As always, post your thoughts below, or alternatively send a raven to Empire towers.