Game Of Thrones: The North Remembers Review

Game Of Thrones returns to Sky Atlantic for the first of twenty weeks of entertainment- how does the Season 2 premiere fare?
Okay, so admittedly for those of you who've followed Game Of Thrones right since the beginning, there'll be a small sense of deja vu with these reviews of Sky Atlantic's re-broadcasting of Season Two right before Series Three starts in April, but there's certainly no harm in that. With The North Remembers, the show's execs have brought the drama back at an intense level that refuses to let up, despite one or two misgivings we may have structurally.

Crucially, the cast of Thrones have never been better, packing the emotive weight to carry through the consequences of the pivotal actions at the end of the first season. The gravitas of Ned Stark's death on his family and indeed the realm of Westeros is felt greatly, yet it's testament to the strength of the episode's script that there's not an overreliance on mourning melancholy for the main characters. Indeed, in many ways there's little time to mourn for the passing of Sean Bean's protagonist, as the adventure switches between the ruthless schemes of the Lannisters in King's Landing, Robb's interrogation of Jaime on the Northern borders, the Night Watch's first destination in their trek outside the Wall and of course Daenerys' dragon journey at its own free will. Such an unhinged focus on one core strand of the storyline does work to the season premiere's detriment on occassion, as it ultimately means that there's little sense of any meaningful resolution to even miniscule standalone storylines established this week.

Beyond that, though, it's difficult to put Season Two's first episode up to much notable fault. Once again, the direction of this adaptation of George R.R Martin's A Clash Of Kings is visionary, fully capturing the sweeping epic nature of the various kingdoms, and the editing of the various character transitions is top-notch, even if the heralded comet that plagues the skies does perhaps indicate a lessened CGI budget this time around. Game Of Thrones has always made for gripping television these past few years, and The North Remembers continues this trend as a successful premiere for Season Two. All the same, if the series' creators desire the show to reclaim its top spot as the centrepiece of attention in the next few weeks, I hope that there'll be more notable developments and story arcs to speak of in the adventures ahead...
4/5