TV Review: Game of Thrones 2.1 - 'The North Remembers'

Yeah, it was a hell of a start to season two.

rating:5

You know, it's a great time to be watching TV here in America. Mad Men, easily one of the best and most influential shows of the last ten years, had its fifth season premiere last week. This week we get season two of Game of Thrones. Life is good. I mention Mad Men like this not just because it started airing again recently, but also because the season premiere of Game of Thrones has a great deal in common with that of Mad Men. We begin with the Hound (Rory McCann) fighting another man atop a large wall while Joffery (Jack Gleeson, every bit as charming as he was last season) watches on. As the next fight is made ready, Joffery proves to be his usual lovable, cuddly self by ordering a man to be force-fed wine until he dies. Sansa (Sophie Turner) manages to put a stop to this, proving that she's learned quite a bit about manipulating Joffery, and does so just in time for Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) to show up and start snarking at everyone in that wonderful way he has. Meantime, elsewhere in King's Landing, Cersei (Lena Headey) is holding a meeting with some of the important people of the city, including Lord Baelish (Aiden Gillen). We learn that it's official; winter is coming after five years of summer. There's some grain saved up, but there's some concern that it might not be enough, especially for the peasants of the city. Cersei's response channels more than a bit of Marine Antoinette, and then as before, Tyrion shows up to snark at everyone, which includes him explaining that he's Acting Hand of the King and also reminding Cersei that much of the war is her fault, since she failed to stop Joffery from killing Ned. Up north, we have Bran (Isaac Hempsted-Wright) experiencing odd dreams where he's running around in the body of a wolf. We also learn at this point that there's a bright red comet in the skies over Westeros. We're told that it's an omen about dragons returning to the land. That's as good an excuse as any to check in with Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) who is currently wandering with her people through the desert. Hopefully this will take somewhat less than forty years. As they go, a horse dies, making her realize that she needs to find a way out of the desert as soon as possible, and to that end she sends out riders in every direction, looking for a way out. But wait, there's more! We now have to look in on Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) who is part of a Night's Watch group heading out to find Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall. They've made a stopover at a lovely little hovel that makes one of the characters quip, "I was born in a place like this. Later, I fell on hard times." This is the house of Craster (Robert Pugh), and readers of the books will be pleased to know that he's everything we've come to expect. Ah, yes, Westeros. The Alabama of fantasy realms, where branching family trees are considered an optional luxury for some. We leave this scene of Austrian dungeon-style domestic bliss, and go to the seaside, where a priestess dressed in red (Carice van Houten) is burning the statues of the old gods on behalf of Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane). Neither Stannis' priest nor most of his men appear to be pleased with this, but they go along because, well, he claims to be king, and he carries a big flaming sword. That has to count for something. This scene also gives us our first glimpse at Davos (Liam Cunningham), who will be important later. No, we're still not done! Bear in mind I'm skipping a bit. Yeah, it was a pretty dense episode. We still have to look at Robb Stark (Richard Madden) as he pays a visit to his prisoner, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Robb appears to be willing to make a sort of peace, though it's clear he, and his dire wolf, are much more interested in killing Jaime. Later we see Robb making an official peace offer to the Lannister/Baratheon people, and, on the advice of Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), he decides to send his mother (Michelle Fairley), to go negotiate with Renly, the aptly-nicknamed "Ser Not-Appearing-in-This-Episode." Got all that? Yeah, it was a hell of a start to season two. Like the Mad Men episode I mentioned above, this story is mostly about moving our characters around and reintroducing us to them. Not a lot actually happens, but there is a lot that is going to happen, and it's good to have a chance to get to know them all again, especially since there's so€damn€many! I didn't even make mention of the appearances of Hodor, Samwell, Arya and Gendry, or the Culling of the Bastards. Despite the fact that this was what it was, I really liked it. It was good to see everyone again and reintroducing them to us in this way was a very smart thing on the part of the producers. I mean, I've read all the books, and even I still have a tough time remembering who's who. I don't really have a lot else to say about this episode. It was good, and I look forward to a second season that will, I hope, be every bit as good as the first. If nothing else, imagine award season when we have this, Mad Men and Downtown Abbey all vying for wins. Truly, it's a great time for TV!
Contributor

Chris Swanson is a freelance writer and blogger based in Phoenix, Arizona, where winter happens to other people. His blog is at wilybadger.wordpress.com