TV Show Review

TV Review: GAME OF THRONES: Season 2, Episode 1: The North Remembers

Lena Headey Game of Thrones The North Remembers

Game of Thrones Season 2 Episode 1 The North Remembers Review. Game of Thrones: Season 1, Episode 1: The North Remembers never falters, continues the storylines of the first season while adding new ones. The new storylines intermingle with the pre-existing, established ones.

One of the newest storylines and the most deplorable is the one involving Craster (Robert Pugh) and his wives. Incest knows no bounds in George R. R. Martins‘ universe and with Craster, those depths sink even lower. What goes unspoken was almost a powerful as what is spoken between Lord Mormont (James Cosmo), Craster, and Jon Snow (Kit Harington), especially the disdain and disgust both Lord Mormont and Jon Snow have for Craster. Mormont, as always, is pragmatic though his eyes hint at what Snow’s eyes burn with.

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Something strange occurred when Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen) was walking and the Queen Regent caught up with him. When approached by Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), there seemed to be a voice over, someone else speaking for the actor. When close up , it went away. Perhaps Aidan Gillen wasn’t available for the voice work himself.

Knowledge is power versus Friedrich Nietzsche and the Riddle of Steel. Steel is not strong, flesh is stronger (the hand that wields it). Cersei believes this. Cersei demonstrates this.

The storytelling sequence between Cersei and Lord Baelish mirrored all those between Varys (Conleth Hill) and Little Finger in the first season but this one had an additional element: Power. Neither Varys nor Baelish wield or have it. Cersei does. When the verbal back and forth ends in Baelish’s favor, Cersei turns them back in hers with the power she holds and casually creates a new enemy, a enemy far smarter and devious than she is. All the while, one of Varys’ spies viewed it all.

Though that was a good scene, the best written scene in the episode was the one between Robb Stark (Richard Madden) and Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). The scene seemed ordinary until Grey Wind appeared, stalking outside Jaime’s cage. I must say its about time the direwolves resembled the size of their book incarnation. Very theatrical as Robb spoke and the wolf circled the cage then stood by his side as truths came for Robb’s lips, even though some were distorted.

Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) continues to entertain as does Cersei Lannister. It was very interesting to see the choice of having Joffrey hear of the Cersei/Jaime letter from Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane). The viewer was  probably surprised that Joffrey never asked if the letter was true. Doubtless he assumed that his mother would give him a lie in response but the question begged to asked. He probably did not want to know the answer.

The comet transition between storylines was very well done. It was an even more effective link between the multiple storylines than their regular brethren found in the first season.

All of the storylines for the book A Song of Ice and Fire: A Clash of Kings have been shortened significantly, some deleted entirely. Everything important from them remains though. Glad to see they included the wolf dreams.

I didn’t like what they did with Ser Dontos Hollard (Tony Way). In the book he was a drunk but still looked like a knight. On the TV series they made him look like a fat fool from the start. How could someone of that girth engage in battle for any length of time before getting severely winded?

For more Game of Thrones reviews, photos, videos, and information, visit our Game of Thrones Page.

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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