“The North Remembers”: WiC Remembers Season 2, episode 1

Game of Thrones’ second season premiere has one of the more difficult tasks in recent television history, although that’s not immediately apparent. Although the first season had several different plot threads coursing through it, it also had two things tying it together. First, Ned Stark was directly connected to almost every major character, and closely indirectly connected with the few he wasn’t. Second, based largely on the understanding that Ned Stark was the hero of the story, the first season seemed to present a relatively straightforward story of a lost heir invading a broken kingdom. Then Ned got captured, Drogo got poisoned, and all hell broke lose on storytelling expectations.

Thus the second season not only needed to start out good on its own, but it also needed to re-establish what and who the story is about now, as well as where it is. Which actors is Game of Thrones centered on, which characters have the power, what sets are they on, and who are they interacting with? These issues faced the second book, A Clash of Kings, as well, and I’m not sure it entirely resolved them. But television has its own set of issues, just in terms of how much time it’s able and willing to put characters on-screen.

Here’s how “The North Remembers” deals with this issue….

First, it rather brilliantly uses the imagery and discussion of a comet with a red tail in the sky to make the world seem connected. Even as the storylines are breaking apart and the character taking sides, the comet manages to tie them together. Osha’s mention of dragons appears utterly irrelevant to Bran Stark, but by making a seamless transition to Dany’s scenes from that moment, the show implies that no matter how far apart, these scenes will connect in some way. Westeros and Essos, Winterfell and the Red Wastes, dragons and direwolves—they’re part of the same story, even if it seems like they’re not.

“The North Remembers” also serves as an audition for the new main character, with every important character (save Arya) getting at least a scene as a focus character. Four of those characters immediately stood out, and, as the next few seasons showed, entirely correctly. First, and most obviously, Tyrion Lannister. I have a general theory that the most important characters of the first three books are the three Hands, and Peter Dinklage was already great in the first season (even winning an Emmy). But the way he sweeps into King’s Landing past Joffrey and takes over the Small Council is a joy to watch—high theater to impress the other characters as well as the viewers.

It’s Tyrion’s conversation with Cersei that steals the episode, though, and sets up the form of the next few seasons of Game of Thrones. Lines like “You love your children. It’s your one redeeming quality. That and your cheekbones” get tossed back and forth, and add a level of fantastic, tense comedy to the show. It also helps that Cersei becomes a much more interesting character with Ned and Robert dead; instead of filling a stereotypical role as the evil deceptive woman, she’s put into positions of weakness by Tyrion and by Joffrey, instead of power after her apparent victory in Season 1. This also helps Lena Headey’s performance immensely. The scene where she slaps Joffrey in the throne room shows her at her weakest, the expression on her face a far, far cry from the powerful smirk she carried through the entire first season—although that’s certainly present as well in the “Power is power” scene with Littlefinger.

The number and quality of characters in King’s Landing established it as the main focus of Game of Thrones, even more so than in the novels, which were bound by points-of-view more than location. The Lannister victory in the first season has also put them in charge there—and from this point through the end of Season 4, it’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that the heart of Game of Thrones is the Lannister family relationship in the capital. Right now it’s just three characters—the aforementioned Tyrion and Cersei, as well as Joffrey Lannister-”Baratheon.”

Joffrey is the third of the main characters to succeed in his audition, although in an entirely different respect. Jack Gleeson doesn’t portray the young king with any particular internal life or vulnerability, which is different from essentially every character who gets more than a few scenes. But it works because he’s the king, and every other character exists in some measure as a response to him. He can simply be an object, because he has the power to be ruled by caprice. Everyone else is a subject.

Outside of King’s Landing, some of those other auditions fall flat. Chief among them: the two most traditional heroes of the story, Dany and Jon. This is not a good season for those characters, and their debut shows it. Dany’s story feels totally detached, and the dangers of the Wastes seem perfunctory. Jon, well, Jon looks confused and gets yelled at for it, which is pretty much his story in Season 2. Craster and his Keep are also a pretty big step down from the scale of the Wall.

Meanwhile, the character who seems to be stepping into the role of the counter-Lannister force and the traditional hero is Robb Stark. Much like Peter Dinklage, Richard Madden steps into his upgraded role with relish—he’s having fun verbally sparring with the Kingslayer. “If you think he’s going to negotiate with you, you don’t know my father.” “No, but he’s getting to know me.” He has power and dynamism to match that of the Lannisters in his presence. Knowing what’s coming—both his expanded story in Season 2 and the climax of Season 3—makes this a fascinating choice.

Two other important characters don’t get the chance to audition for the central character role: the Stark girls. Sansa does have a good scene with Joffrey (I particularly like her “It was well struck, your grace” but little opportunity for dynamism, while Arya only gets a brief shot at the end.

Finally, there’s the introduction of the new setting and characters, Dragonstone with Stannis, Melisandre, and Davos. It’s visually and tonally different from just about anything we’ve seen on Game of Thrones before, particularly in the focus on religion. It doesn’t necessarily do a good job of establishing Stannis as a political player in Westeros (although the letter-writing scene does establish his character nicely), but it’s great at establishing the darkness spreading across the Seven Kingdoms. In that respect, it fits in well with the brief Small Council discussion we see at the start—the announcement that summer is over.

But nothing says darkness quite like “dead baby”—as far as shocking endings and establishment of the stakes go, seeing the Gold Cloaks massacring children does the trick. The Game of Thrones is much more serious, and “The North Remembers” does a great job of establishing and its revamped contenders.

Notes and quotes:

• Clever Hound. “The girl is right. What a man sows on his nameday, he reaps the entire year.”
• “Your father has named Lord Tyrion hand in his stead as he figh—” “OUT ALL OF YOU OUT!”
• Maester Cressen provides some decent advice to the entire world to Ser Davos. “But loyal service means telling the hard truths. He’s surrounded by fools and fanatics.”
• And then there’s the secret fifth star of the season, Theon Greyjoy. “I’m not a Stark, I know that. But your father raised me to be an honorable man. Together we can avenge him.”

• Published on 11/26/2014 at 6:57 PM CDT
• Last updated on 11/26/2014 at 6:57 PM CDT