Season two of
Game of
Thrones was based on one of the more unfocused books in George RR Martin’s
book series
A Song of Fire and Ice.
A Clash of Kings in many ways acts as bridge
to bigger events that take place in
A
Storm of Swords, the book that season three is based on. If season two felt
more like a hodgepodge of good (sometimes great parts) that didn’t feel like
they added to a cohesive whole like the first season did, part of the blame comes
down to the book it was translating to the screen.
Clash of Kings has some great elements, many of which played out in
a beautiful fashion in the show, but it isn’t as streamlined as the first book.
The book that follows it,
A Storm of
Swords, on the other hand is seen as less messy (though just as digressive and expansive), more ambitious, and is widely
regarded by fans (and I’m among them) as the best book of the series. However,
these reviews intend to review
Game of
Thrones as a television series and not as an adaptation (though I may in
passing mention my feelings about how the show handled particular aspects from
the book).
If there is one element that carries over from the book, it’s
how much more brooding and operatic this premiere feels. Largely nothing major
happens (although I’d argue in one location in particular, beyond the Wall, was
the exception that proves the rule) and yet everywhere we go there is a moodiness
that pervades everything. Not to spoil anything but A Storm of Swords is a decidedly darker book in a series that is decidedly
dark to begin with and so it fits the material being adapted. To move away from
these vague references to the book I’ve sworn to not mention, it’s apparent in
the production design which appears to be emphasizing darker colors (though
things do lighten up a bit when we head over to Dany’s story towards episode's
end). Sam and John, in particular, look more weary and battered than ever before, fittingly appropriate
for their recent trials and tribulations.
There’s plenty going on in the episode but the show aptly picks
up slightly after the cliffhanger we were left on in season two. That
cliffhanger was problematic for me. Its treatment of the white walkers showed a
bit too much of the series’ hand; the whites probably ought to have remained a
larger enigma for a little longer. But the series handles the response to the
cliffhanger in a way that, though likely disappointing to many, I was relieved
about. This is a television show and there’s largely no way the show (even on its
comparatively large budget) could have pulled off the battle that took place
between the whites and the Nights Watch. Instead it maintains much of the awe
surrounding the whites (they clearly fucked shit up) and it provides an
excellent starting note for the season.
This isn’t any more members of the Watch then we’ve seen
before and yet we immediately are given the sense with a handful of visual cues
and lines that the battle was disastrous. There are so few who survived and
those who did are drenched in blood and notably exhausted. The way the sequence
is shot is great. The episode misdirects us into thinking we’ve picked up right
where season two ended, Sam rushes, breathing heavy, through a hazy snow fall
on a desolate, endless snowscape. We’re
led to assume he’s running away from the whites; it turns out he is, but the
battle's long since over. He’s attacked by a straggling white after witnessing a
decapitated watch member; John's dire-wolf leaps out and saves him, and the white is
quickly set ablaze. It’s an incredibly exciting sequence and it’s the most
action-packed part of the episode, and with very little information it lets us know all we need to know about what's happened and where things are heading.
Lord Commander Mormont asks if Sam sent out the ravens to
which he replies he didn’t. Exacerbated, tired, desperate Mormont tells them
what they already know: they need to get back to the Wall. The ragtag crew that
is the last defense against imminent doom is underfunded and undermanned, and
Mormont is trying to salvage what little sense of duty they still have after
the attack. The music rises in the background as he makes a speech and it
culminates on that perfect coda: “If you don’t, everyone you know will be dead!”
Overblown, sure, but when ice monsters are hot on your tail, it’s a justifiably
overblown moment.
After once again putting everything in perspective (the
series constantly likes to remind us how the political maneuvering south of the
Wall is petty and pointless), the show proceeds to reintroduce us to most of
the characters. There are number of major characters missing (Theon, Arya,
Bran, Brienne, Jaimie) and there are number of new players, but, for the most
part, the premiere attempts to remind us where every character is at this point
in time. One of the great joys and the biggest problems for Game of Thrones is how many characters
and locations it is dealing with. Don’t like Jon Snow’s escapades with the
wildlings, here’s Tyrion making quips at Cersei or Sansa gazing longingly with
Shae at the ships in the harbor. But that means the show often feels crammed to
the brim as it attempts to fit everything in. Season two’s “Blackwater” proved
it can do something more focused where everything seems to add up to one
cohesive whole rather than a lot of good scenes that feel totally disconnected from
one another.
In some respects season three (based on just this first
episode) has gotten better at handling this problem, it knows when too much is
too much and leaves some characters out (though the fanboy in me is
disappointed at the absence of some, though more on that in the “Stray
Observations”), and the characters it does stop in on have stories that don’t
waste time getting straight to the point. In some instances, that’s a problem
for the stories which could have used more breathing time or a scene or two
extra (Dany’s feels this way, although, to be fair, her scenes are very good
and an improvement upon last season). But the episode is much less cluttered
than a number of season two episodes were (notably the season two finale which
tried to jam everything into the episode it possibly could with problematic
results).
The show jumps around a lot less. Many of the characters
have their story get told and then their plots are sidelined for future episodes.
Jon’s storyline is quickly done away with early on. He joins the wildlings, he
attempts to win over Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds), and he seems to have done the trick (though it's uncertain to what extent). And
then we never hear from him again, or anyone else from beyond the Wall for that
matter.
Part of this comes from what seems to be the writers
trusting us more. There’s less establishment of scenes and more of a desire to dig
right in. Sometimes this level of trusting the audience (or more likely a lack
of episodic time to tell the story – seriously Storm of Swords is a massive book and the show has mostly made some
wise choices on what to synthesize and what to cut down) just isn’t effective
though. Take the Robb-Catelynn storyline for example. At Harrenhal, numerous
members of the Northmen’s army have been killed or are dying. It’s not explicitly
outright stated who did it and through some guesswork you can probably figure
out that the Lannister’s hands were involved in this, but it’s so poorly dealt
with and the exposition is so brief and passing that it barely reflects the
seriousness of the event or the importance of its occurrence. Characters are also very abruptly introduced
into this story. Suddenly new individuals, close counselors to the Starks,
appear. To those of us familiar with the story we have an inkling it’s Roose
Bolton (Michael McElhatton) who will soon play a significant role in the season but for any newbies out
there, this poorly handled introduction is probably confusing. There’s also a
badly wounded maester known as Qyburn (Anton Lesser), and we figure he’s probably going to
play a major role in events to come and so we can overlook the fact that he’s
suddenly introduced and then that we never hear about him or any of the other
new characters again.
Of course, the show has so, so, so much story that it has to
tell and it wants to let every story get a moment to shine and these new
characters simply aren’t doing anything relevant currently. Wouldn’t you rather
stop in on Tyrion and Davos (the two stories that play over the longest
extended period of time in the episode) and their ongoing struggles we know a
good deal about rather than dealing with learning about yet another figure in
an already very, very expansive cast (one that’s already so large that a number
of characters couldn’t even make a brief appearance)? On a critical level it’s
handled poorly, but, on a fanboy level, part of me just doesn’t mind much that
these characters are left undeveloped.
However, to be contrarian, the show does establishment of
characters fine elsewhere. Margaery Tyrell is given much more storyline than we’ve
previously seen from her. Apparently she has a charitable side (at least a politically motivated one for appearance sake) and stops to win
over some children in a poorer section of King’s Landing. It’s an action that
clearly rankles Cersei, who holds immediate disdain for anyone trying to steal
away the attention of her dear Joffrey.
When Game of Thrones
starts up its theme and dashes me from location to location we’ll soon find ourselves
at, I find myself excited in a way few shows manage. Did I have problems with
this episode? Sure. But Game of Thrones
has a world that is always nice to inhabit even for just a little while. Its
world runs deep and its characters are richly drawn. This is one of the best
casted series on television and continues to cast every new character with an
expert eye. Some characters I have trouble imagining anyone else playing them.
When Game of Thrones is throwing tons
of different things in the air and the plot wheels occasionally get in the way
of stuff like thematic unity, or unity of any sort for that matter, there are enough very good
things taking place that it’s easy to forget the problems. Sometimes I’d like
more from Game of Thrones, but it’s never a series where I say to myself, “That
was terrible. Give me less”. This is a high quality production carried by one of television’s
best dramatic ensembles.
Stray Observations:
-NO ARYA! I’m just going to be upfront; Arya is my favorite
character and I’m amazed by how good Maisie Williams is as a performer. A
little bit of Arya goes a long way and her absence didn’t go unnoticed.
-Sophie Turner’s age is starting to get to a point where it’s
going to become increasingly hard to believe the youthful naiveté of Sansa’s
character. Littlefinger has Sansa convinced he can get her out of King’s Landing.
The best part of this exchange, for what it reveals about the character, was
Sansa’s enthusiasm upon hearing about Arya. She’s come a long way since her
spoiled season one days.
-Tywin was not pleased to learn about Shae and forbids her
presence in King’s Landing. Tyrion’s visit with his father makes Cersei
nervous; she fears the true lineage of her children might come to bear upon her
poorly. Tyrion has bigger concerns though, such as his claim to Casterly Rock,
which his father does not take kindly to even the mere suggestion of. Peter Dinklage and Charlies Dance's acting during this scene was superb. Tyrion has
fallen far from his station of season two days.
-Dany and Jorah are now no longer in Qarth (THANK THE
LORD!), but their sudden appearance on a ship is somewhat awkwardly explained
as is their sudden interest in getting an army of fearless eunuchs called the
Unsullied. However, this story is altogether far, far more interesting than anything
Qarth produced and so you take what you can get. The Dany story doesn’t crop up
until the last twenty or so minutes of episode, at which point I went, “Oh,
right, we haven’t even gotten to Dany yet”.
-The Dany plot also brings about the return of Ser Barristan
Selmy, who has tracked down Dany after being disgracefully removed from the
lifetime duty of Commander of the Kingsguard by Joffrey (back in season one). It’s the ending of the
episode. Was there a potentially better ending? Possibly. But for those
unfamiliar with the book, I’m assuming this reveal still was surprising
enough to justifiably end the episode. Though I don't know if the moment takes place too quickly and therefore lacks the gravitas it should have.
-Jon discovers that the wildlings have giants at their
disposal. So that's cool.
-Jon’s explanation for his “desertion” was Mormont’s failure
to act upon Craster’s sacrifices of baby sons to the whites. This is a much less
compelling reason than the one in the book (being a bastard left him outcasted
by the Starks), but it does make much of the somewhat garbled nature of the
Craster plot seem more important in hindsight.
-Jon kneels to a man who is not the King-Beyond-the-Wall,
which gives him two strikes: wildlings aren’t “kneelers” and he got down on one
knee for the wrong dude.
-Bronn is reintroduced in what looks like it’s going to be
“sexposition”
but is quickly undone by Poderick Payne requesting Bronn at Tyrion’s behest.
Bronn is now a knight for his efforts in the Battle of the Blackwater, a fact
that puts him at odds with some Kingsgaurd members (part of me wishes it could have come to blows but it makes sense that it didn't).
-The reintroduction of Davos could have been established better
but worked due to the bedraggled look of Davos. The makeup department did a wonderful
job.
-Davos plans to kill Melisandre who has taken an even
greater hold over Stannis who, at her request, is burning nonbelievers. His assassination
plot, however, fails and he’s thrown in the dungeons.
-The opening theme has always been excellent, but this episode's was particularly good for featuring a ruined, smoking Winterfell. It's the little things.
Grade: B+
What did everyone else think?
