Game of Thrones Episode 2.01: “The North Remembers”

[chavalah.livejournal.com]

Welcome to another rapid-fire review of “Game of Thrones”! As season three is set to start in 10 weeks, I thought I’d take this time to recap season two. Like with last season, I will divide the episodes up by location and give my thoughts from the perspective of a book reader. No big spoilers about the story before it happens on screen, however. But for fun, I'll keep a list of those the show kills off who are still alive in the books, because it's a surprising number!

The title “The North Remembers” is a layered choice for the season opener. It certainly has some connotations to northern attitudes after Ned Stark’s assassination. But in book canon, the term is only used heavily in “A Dance With Dragons” (published shortly after the wrap of season one) and pertains to a slightly different series of events. Some fans have mixed reactions, but I tend to shrug it off.

My favorite parts of the episode involved the all-encompassing aspects. I thought the comet was used brilliantly to bridge much of the world together. Of course, I’m with Osha on its meaning. :P The music, costumes and locations seem more extravagant this time around. We also checked in with the majority of prominent players while being introduced to Stannis, Robert’s oft-mentioned brother of last season, in a blunt, authentic-to-character way. More on likes (and dislikes) below the cut!


Summary:
The comet threads distant characters together
Bran rules Winterfell in King Robb’s stead. Most of the subjects who come to ask favors are old men, as the young are off fighting the war. (I love the ethno-centric greeting “May the Old Gods watch over your brother and all our northern sons.”) Bran is largely bored by their house maintenance requests (though Maester Luwin reminds him of his duty) and dreams himself running through the godswood…his direwolf, Summer’s, face greets him in the water! Later, Hodor carries him piggyback through the godswood and Osha tries to get him, unsuccessfully, to open up about his dreams. Instead, they discuss the strange new comet in the sky—is it an omen for Robb? For the Lannisters? Everyone has a different opinions. Osha claims it can only mean one thing: dragons. (In the book, she uses “fire and blood,” the Targaryen motto.)

We follow the comet to Daenerys Targaryen and her rag-muffin group of Dothraki and slaves wander the desolate Red Waste of Essos. Dany has a dragon on her shoulder! But he won’t eat and everyone else is starving. (Dany says a great line to Jorah concerning the difference between where she is this season and last: “How do I make starvation scream?”) Her horse, Drogo’s gift, keels over and dies. She ultimately sends three of her bloodriders, including prominent Rakharo from last season, in different directions to see what, if anything, awaits them.

The comet takes us next to the Night’s Watch wandering beyond the wall. They are approaching the wildling, Craster’s, keep. A dour recruit named Dolorous Edd tells Jon, Sam and Grenn that the multiple women they see around are Craster’s daughters/wives. Jon wonders, ominously, what he does with his sons. Inside the keep, where he sits with Mormont and other compatriots, he’s obviously disgusted by Craster’s manipulations, disdain for the Night’s Watch, and relationships with the women. He snaps at the wrong moment, upset when Craster calls them “southerners,” and earns the ire of both Craster and Mormont. His superior reminds him that to lead, he must learn to follow. Mormont is making nice as they need this man for his information on Benjen’s whereabouts and what’s up with Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall, once a Night’s Watchmen himself who might turn south again.

Final comet stop: Our newbies, the Stannis crew at Dragonstone! A magnanimous woman all in red burns idols from Westeros’s most prominent religion, much to the maester’s dismay. Stannis looks ok with this; his close compatriot, Davos, does not. But part of the red woman, aka Melissandre’s, ritual involves setting a sword named Lightbringer afire for Stannis, the chosen one, to pull out of the ground. He’s obviously being groomed for something big in this new faith. The maester tries to get Davos to take a stand, but Davos refuses to go against “his king.” Later, Stannis shows his tight-assed colors when editing a letter about Joffrey’s bastard nature to be sent to all the lords of Westeros—he won’t call Robert beloved, and he’ll only refer to Jaime as Ser Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer, because that’s factual. Because of Joffrey and his siblings’ ill birth, he’s claiming the Iron Throne and declaring that all others must swear fealty or pay the price. Speaking of prices, Maester Cressen seems to want to make amends with Melissandre. He hands her a cup of wine, which we soon realize is poisoned, along with his own. But as he chokes and dies, Melissandre’s choker burns red and she utters the words of her faith: “The night is dark and full of terrors. But fire burns it all away.”

Robb Stark’s Camp
Robb’s received the news of Joffrey’s true parentage, and he goes to tell Jaime about it. He also posits that “your son” had Ned killed for learning the truth and Jaime threw Bran from a window when witnessing the Kinglsayer’s incest with his sister. Jaime tries to play it cool, but the introduction of Robb’s direwolf, Grey Wind (much bigger and wolf-like due to CGI this season,) obviously unnerves him. Robb taunts about his surprising victories in the field, and that he’s sending a Lannister prisoner to King’s Landing with terms of surrender. Alone in his tent with this cousin and his men, he lays out his terms as: release my sisters, release my father’s bones, and release the north from your dominion, on pain of more death. The cousin is speechless by these monumental demands, but Robb holds his ground.

Later, he admits to Theon that he doesn’t expect the Lannisters to agree to them, meaning he’s likely just making a statement about his intentions. Theon has one to make as well—send him back to his home at Pyke so he can convince his father to lend ships to their endeavor. Robb is at first hesitant—Ned fought against Balon Greyjoy, after all—but Theon points out that their situations, eg “fighting the yoke of the south,” are quite similar. He obviously also wants to return home as the prodigal son. :P But when Robb is alone with Catelyn, he finds his mother less warm to this idea. Balon Greyjoy can’t be trusted. Mother and son are tense about other matters as well…namely Robb’s refusal to trade Jaime for his sisters; Cat’s not even sure Arya is in King’s Landing anymore. They argue, and Cat finally says that she should go home to her younger sons. Robb refuses this, however, as he wants to send her to an envoy to Renly. Two kings fighting together means they can end this war faster, right? As a highly emotional moment for me, personally, he pulls his mother close, kisses her on the head, and says “we will all be together again soon, I promise.” Oh, my Stark pain. :(

King’s Landing
Things certainly aren’t going well for Sansa, the Stark captive at King’s Landing. Joffrey requires her to attend a bloody joust in honor of his name day, and tries to bully her with the deaths. Sansa remains remote, however, until Joffrey tries to have a drunken knight drowned by wine. Moved by horror and compassion, she blurts out against this, and has to find an excuse quickly to avoid Joffrey’s wrath. Surprisingly, the Hound backs her lie about killing being bad luck on a man’s name day, so Joffrey stops it. Sansa tests her luck further by suggesting the knight be made into a lowly fool rather than killed tomorrow. The sobered knight is very grateful for this.

Tyrion arrives in court with Bronn and his hill tribes, taunts Joffrey for not being on the field of battle, and says hello more kindly to Tommen and Myrcella. He tries to show sympathy to Sansa for the loss of her father, earning an angry speech by Joffrey. Under her betrothed’s gaze, Sansa lies that she believes her family are all traitors and she is loyal to the king. Tyrion obviously doesn’t buy it, but he’s off to see Cersei, who is sitting with the small council, discussing that winter is, indeed coming still. :P She’s none too thrilled to see her brother, even less thrilled by his letter from Tywin naming him temporary Hand of the King. Tyrion is outraged himself when he learns that beyond all their other predicaments of losing the war, Arya somehow escaped King’s Landing, leaving one less hostage to trade for Jaime. “Must be difficult to be the disappointing child,” he mocks the queen.

Later, Tyrion and Shae settle themselves in Ned’s old quarters. Shae is happy to be in the city but Tyrion cautions her to stay hidden. This is a dangerous place filled with liars. Cersei, meanwhile, is tracking Littlefinger down to ask him to search for Arya. Littlefinger seems largely disinterested and they get into a discussion, first with Cersei mocking him over his Catelyn obsession and then Littlefinger mocking her over her knowledge of her affair with Jaime. “Knowledge is power,” he posits. In response, Cersei orders her guards to seize and kill him before changing her mind at the last minute. “Power is power,” she tells a disheveled Littlefinger.

Too bad she doesn’t have the power when it comes to Joffrey. She finds him redecorating the throne room to Targaryen standards of being conquerors. She asks him to write Tywin for men to help search for Arya, but Joff refuses, blaming Tywin for the situation that got Jaime captured in the first place. He then turns to the mother with the rumors about his parentage, which she brushes off as vile gossip to question his claim to the throne. “The throne is mine,” Joffrey says arrogantly, but is curious about Robert’s bastard children. “I’m asking if he fucked other women when he grew tired of you,” he mocks, earning a slap from his mother. As the workers stare in amazement, Joffrey reminds her quietly that slapping him is now punishable by death and she’ll never do it again. He then dismisses her.

Ros oversees matters at one of Littlefinger’s brothels when newly made Lord Janos Slynt arrives with some of the City Watch. They drag out Meghan, who we met last season as the mother of Robert’s youngest bastard baby. In a startling (though thankfully off-screen scene,) Slynt kills the baby. This is followed by a montage of other youngsters, assumedly Robert’s bastards, being killed. At the armorer’s, Gendry’s old master has his face shoved into the burning coals. He hastily gives up his old apprentice’s location as on the King’s Road to join the Night’s Watch. They will know him by his bull head’s helmet. We cut to a shot of the bull head’s helmet aboard a wagon and Gendry pulling none other than Arya Stark (with new haircut!) aboard as the Night’s Watch recruits head north.

Those killed in the show still alive in the books: Dany’s horse, the Silver. I suppose this was the writers’ attempt to show the effect of the Red Waste, plus the complete loss of her life with Drogo.

Thoughts:
Hoo boy. One of the things I grew to dislike most about the season as a whole is that the knight Sansa saved, Ser Dontos, is basically never heard from again, except for a brief scene where we see him as the fool. In the book, he and Sansa plot her escape together. It’s a nice chance to showcase two things. A) Sansa isn’t merely allowing herself to be pushed and pulled by the Lannisters; she is attempting to take control in a small way, and B) the compassion she shows to others has positive ramifications. Sansa’s character isn’t a complete loss this season, but getting rid of Dontos is getting rid of her major agency.

On the other hand, I love how Bran’s dreams/connection to Summer are handled. So much. Sometimes, it pays to see things on screen.

Liking Jon and Dany’s storylines this ep: Dany’s brings up that even having a “nuclear weapon” can’t save her people from all hardships, and she has to step up her role as leader. Jon, once again, is schooled on keeping his attitude in check because to be a good leader is to be a good follower. Dolorous Edd is also an amusing addition to the cast.

A slight change in the Stannis storyline—in the books, he already knew about Cersei’s incest/Joffrey’s parentage, but on the show he only found out through Ned’s letter. Still, the rest of this seems like a pretty spot-on intro to the main characters. Similarly, Robb and Joffrey never directly address the incest rumors in the books, though it certainly lends to television motivations.

Robb’s scene with Jaime never happened in the book (Jaime was imprisoned at Riverrun), and his scene with “Alton Lannister” (Cleos Frey in the book, which would be too confusing to explain to the audience, perhaps, as the Freys are Stark allies,) provide for badass moments that I admit I like very much. :”> Maybe it’s Richard Madden’s steely command of his character, though alone with Theon and Cat we see that Robb falters some.

The Catelyn scene is my least favorite part of the episode because her character is changed pretty substantially. Least important change: in the book, she’s all for Robb reaching out to Balon, but suggests that he send someone else and keep Theon a hostage. Robb doesn’t listen. Far more egregious: in the books, it’s Robb who wants Cat to return home and Cat who wants to act as an envoy to Renly (among other things.) It’s an integral part of her character that despite pressure from the men in her life, she stands firm that she can best serve Robb’s cause politically rather than staying with Bran and Rickon when they already have people to look after them. I assume that the writers made this change to make Cat seem more “sympathetic” as a mother of young children (certainly the fandom argues about Cat’s actions day and night,) but it’s a real shame they didn’t pay credence to her more complicated personality.

Of less dislike but still some: Littlefinger mocking Cersei about the affair. What does he have to gain from that? Absolutely nothing…except Cersei attacking him, apparently. But it doesn’t give him anything useful that he doesn’t already have. In the show, they make Littlefinger’s manipulations more obvious for purposes of the television medium. But this scene had nothing to do with that at all and just served for some useless ruminations on power.

Overall, I loved the episode. It was an impactful way to reintroduce us to the characters and the world…the ending images of the slaughter of children and finally seeing the missing Arya stayed with me a long time. The show runners did well with packing that emotional punch.

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