Game of Thrones Season 2: Episode 1 review

by Luke Jones.

The most odious little shit in fantasy is back folks!

After what felt like an eternity, Game of Thrones returned to UK screens last night to kick off a season that will hopefully keep up the high benchmark established by Season 1. On the basis of episode 1, The North Remembers, it seems the show’s producers are well set to meet that lofty goal.

Going into this series is a different experience for me, having read the books on which the show is based since Ned lost his head last year. Yet the biggest hurdle for most adaptations, successfully realising the imaginations of readers, remains this show's biggest strength, with the new additions to the cast blending perfectly within the established universe. While Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon, brother of the late King Rob, is given little to do in this first episode he certainly manages to convey the right amount of the steely idealism at the heart of the character. I’ve been a big fan of Carice van Houten ever since her brave performance in Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book, and already her performance as Stannis’ right hand witch Melisandre is becoming one of my favourites.

Robert Pugh as Craster, Liam Cunningham as Davos, even Oliver Ford Davies managed to make an impression as the ill-fated Maester Cressen. No sign yet of Brienne, who is sure to make an appearance soon now that Catelyn has been despatched to negotiate with Renly.

Yet the returning cast are as good as ever. Fans of the book will know that Tyrion has an extremely strong arc this season, and following on from his Emmy winning performance in season one Peter Dinklage is as charismatic as ever. His interactions with the various parties established in Kings Landing were played brilliantly.

Writing about how great the performances on this show would take forever, so it is probably easier to focus on my biggest grievance: Shae. Sibel Kekilli failed to impress me in her brief appearances towards the end of last season, and it doesn’t seem as if she intends to alter her delivery in the second. It seems that she is supposed to be beguiling purely because of her trans-European accent, a trick which might have worked with a better actress but not with this one. Would it be too late to superimpose Ludivine Sagnier into all of her scenes?

With so many new characters to introduce there was little action to speak of, yet there was still a brutal hand to hand bout involving the Hound. There was a nice little new scene between Robb and Jaime too, especially when the new look direwolf effect was revealed: a mixture of CGI and real wolf, the effect was clearly TV budget rather than film, but it was great to see a direwolf that looked more than just a big dog.

Littlefinger vs Cersei, learning how to fake an orgasm in a brothel, the creeping dread of Jon Snow’s descent into madness north of the wall: it was a reminder of just why this show is the best thing on television at the moment. The final bastard-killing montage even set up the reappearance of Arya and Gendry, making the wait for next week’s episode all the more tortuous. 

To close I have to once again mention the brilliant opening credits. Ramin Djawadi’s score was as epic as ever, and the swoop in to clockwork Dragonstone had me whooping with joy. Though why the visit to Vaes Dothrak when Daenarys left there a long time ago?