Oli Davis reviews the first episode of Game of Thrones season two…
I was never a fantasy guy before last summer. Sci-Fi was more my thing – The Matrix over The Lord of the Rings; 40K over Warhammer. How could a sword ever be cooler than a lightsaber? Space ships instead of sea ships, technology over magic. But then came Game of Thrones…
The copious amount of gore helped, as did the occasional booby flashed onscreen. But, as is always the way, the knights, the horses, the dragons – all the genre’s unique selling points – are only backdrop. Game of Thrones was the best television show of last year not because of its fantasy elements, but because of the story and characters.
There’s a far more comprehensive recap of all that happened in Season One here, but the central plot is that Westeros, the country where the story takes place, is at war. The North, led by Robb Stark, and the South, by Joffrey Baratheon and the Lannisters, are the main two sides, but Daenerys Targaryen, heir of the usurped royal family, gathers an army across the Narrow Sea. Joffrey’s two uncles, Stannis and Renly Baratheon, also lay claim to the throne. The book on which the series is based is not called A Clash of Kings for kicks.
The North Remembers
Directed by Alan Taylor.
Written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.
Ah, the familiar static of the HBO signature. It’s a welcome sound and a mark of quality. The opening credits roll over the animated map of the Game of Thrones universe, but a new location builds itself to the right of King’s Landing – Dragonstone. It’s an unforgiving place, a sea-salted, wind battered rock commanded over by Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), the recently deceased King Robert’s brother. It’s inclusion into the opening sequence hints toward Dragonstone and Stannis’ importance to this season, and brings the main locations highlighted to five; joining King’s Landing, Winterfell, The Wall and Vaes Dothrak.
One of my favourite parts of the first season was the cold opening – the light slowly pouring in as the gate to Beyond the Wall opened and three men of the Night’s Watch rode out. We were only to see these characters in this and the next scene, as it was taken from the first book’s Prologue, but the atmosphere! Strange things were occurring north of The Wall.
A Clash of Kings opens with a similarly distinct Prologue, yet this first episode plays it 25 minutes in. It details the events on Dragonstone, and how a woman dressed in red is influencing Stannis. All of these characters are new, only having been made reference to in the previous series. To open on such would be bold, but exciting – much in the same way as how The Wire did in its second season. Instead we start at King’s Landing, on a fight in honour of King Joffrey’s (Jack Gleeson) name-day.
There’s blood from the get-go, as one of the knights falls from a wall to the ground, his head smearing the stones red as two men drag him away. There’s threat of more as Joffrey tells his Kingsguard (they’re the bastard folk who betrayed Ned) to drown Ser Dontos (Tony Way) in wine because the knight has turned up drunk. Sansa (Sophie Turner) saves him by suggesting he’ll make better use as the court’s new fool, but it doesn’t stop Joffrey snapping at her every chance he gets.
But then Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage – who, given Sean Bean’s beheading, now receives top billing amongst the cast) waddles in, hopping from sarcasm to sincere empathy in a sentence, showcasing the nuance that won him the Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy. He reveals Joffrey’s grandfather has named him to be the King’s Hand – a job recently vacated by Ned Stark (he just never had the head for politics wocca wocca) – much to Queen Cersei’s (Lena Headey) dismay. The role positions Tyrion at the heart of A Clash of Kings, and the political chess game being played at court. As Lord Varys (Conleth Hill) observes in both the book and season two trailer, “never has such a small man cast such a long shadow”. There are hints at previous, unresolved events too. When regaling the court of his adventures since last seeing Cersei, his eyes fall on Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (Aidan Gillen/Mayor Carcetti) as he remembers the night he spent in a skycell – a discomfort brought about by Petyr’s knife being in the hand of an assassin attempting to murder Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright).
Bran now sits as Lord of Winterfell – his father being dead and his brother off fighting a war. All he wanted was to be a knight, but still crippled after being pushed by Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) from a tower, he remains trapped listening to the administrative side of those sworn to Winterfell. Later on, however, it’s suggested that he had a dream where he was his pet direwolf, Summer. There is a point-of-view shot, low on the ground, darting through a woods. When the camera approaches a pool of water, the direwolf’s reflection stares back – and then Bran wakes.
The portrayal of Robb Stark (Richard Madden) may be the largest departure from the book. A significant aspect of A Song of Ice and Fire is that those who truly hold power – Robb, Tywin Lannister, Renly, Stannis, Joffrey – are always observed through another character; we are never given their direct viewpoints. Robb is most often viewed through his mother, Catelyn (Michelle Fairley), but the television series shows him independently. It will be interesting to see if they continue this through the season, as much of Robb’s exploits – the many battles he is said to have won – are told only through the talk of other characters in the book. To follow Robb by himself will require the show’s writers to make entirely new scenes.
Unfortunately, this seems to relegate Catelyn to much to the ‘mother’ role. When shouting at Robb, she argues that Joffrey having Arya and Sansa captive are why they’re at war. It isn’t; it’s about far more than that. Catelyn becomes too emotional during the brief scenes in which she appears. She’s wiser than that, stronger. Near the episode’s close, Robb sends her to meet with Renly, to ask after forming a truce.
The scene that should’ve opened the episode, on Dragonstone, shows Stannis and Melisandre (Caprice van Houten), his new counsel and a priest of some foreign God, burning wooden statues of the Seven Gods under which Westeros pray. They have embraced the Lord of the Light now, and Stannis is his chosen warrior. This is the first appearance of Stannis and Dragonstone, and the character of Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham, perfectly cast). A loyal but honest man, he’s slow to kneel to this new God of Stannis’. Later Stannis sends a letter to every lord in Westeros alleging that Joffrey is the product of incest between Cersei and her brother Jaime.
When these claims reach King’s Landing, Joffrey asks his mother of its truth, and then about Robert Baratheon’s alleged bastards. Did he have one every time he became bored of fucking you, mother? Cersei responds with a slap. You will never do that again, Joffrey menacingly threatens.
Joffrey is a far more detestable character in the television show. He’s given the same amount of time as other characters more important in the book. Perhaps it’s his pompous voice or stupid eyelashes. Either way, he plays it almost completely void of likability.
And then, out of a childish wrath, he commands his Kingsguard to slaughter every bastard that his King father had. They slit a baby’s throat, carry another one’s corpse off by its foot. The images are visceral, and fuel the hate for Joffrey ever more.
But one bastard got away. He had a bull-shaped helmet that he’d made himself and on the King’s Road, reveals a man under interrogation.
Yes, he’s on the King’s Road, as part of a march to The Wall, the latest intake to the Night’s Watch. The episode closes on him sitting on the back of a cart next to a similarly dirty looking boy.
Or is it a girl, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), daughter to the recently slain Hand?
Oli Davis
