Game Of Thrones Season 2 Review

4th Mar 2013

Tits, dragons, betrayal, violence, more tits. Yes Game of Thrones is back with more of what we loved about season one. Season two picks up where we left off. Ned Stark has been murdered, Arya has fled, Sansa is betrothed to Joffery who continues to be the “c word”, Cersei continues to plot, Rob Stark marches against the South, the Baratheon brothers make their claims for the throne and Jon Snow heads north of the Wall to fight Mance Ryder.

If you are a fan of season one there is no doubt you will also be a fan of season two. Game of Thrones is one of the most richly envisaged fantasy television series you could possibly hope for. Everything about it is a feast for the eyes, the attention to details and the way in which George R. Martin’s world is brought to life is faultless. I in fact spent most of the season trying to find things to criticize so that this review would not just be one long ode to how great it is.

Other than the odd complaint about badly written and delivered lines (often throw aways anyhow) the only thing I could possibly fault about Game of Thrones is not an issue with translation to screen but what is also a fault for the book; the plethora of characters and plot lines. If you are familiar with the books you will know that due to the amount of people’s stories we follow you can go 100-200 pages (or even an entire book) without revisiting a character. This was always going to be a problem when translating it to screen. So much is happening and (as far as we know) is vital to the unfolding events that little can be cut. Daenerys is one such character that is not so central to this season and entire episodes pass without her presence. However I only voice this complaint as something someone could criticize. My view is that this is what makes Game of Thrones such an unusual and refreshing piece of television. It expects its audience to follow multiple stories, it expects its audience to become familiar with all of these characters and from such heavy books it does a damn good job. Of course there are subtleties and nuances that are lost from the book but my answer to that folks is go ahead and read them! Particularly you would benefit from learning more about Jon Snow’s trip into the north from the books.

My only other minor complaint is the amount of breasts and muff shown. Sometimes I feel they are just there for the sake of it, I understand we have a heavy prostitute presence in the show but I do wonder if the producers occasionally went “more tits…the watchers like tits”.

On a tits related note, what I find truly fascinating, and hope to see critical essays written on this, is that Game of Thrones, whilst about men fighting for a crown is a story about women. Cersei (Lena Headey) is one of my favourite characters and although Daenerys can be a bit blah sometimes I see the entire story essentially about her attempt to reclaim her throne.

Of course you cannot write a review of Game of Thrones without mentioning Peter Dinklage as Tyrion. It is unsurprising he won a Grammy for this role as he is quite simply superb. He performs Tyrion as the most interesting, layered character and he really does have all the best lines. There were a number of times watching this that I laughed out loud at his retorts to people.

What I also appreciate about the production of this show is that it is so clearly a work of love by all those involved. This is reflected in the host of extras on the discs. It is not often you are given this level and quality of insights and commentaries on a television boxset. They know this is a great piece of work and they know their fans are as obsessed as they are loyal.

Season three I am expecting to be doozy of a season, with it rumored they are taking action from across both book three part one and two, if you haven’t read them shit is seriously about to hit the fan. As was clearly the message with Ned Stark no one is safe.