Game of Thrones Season 2 (2012) Review

I continue my re-watching of Game of Thrones with the second season. I have managed to watch the entire season and here is my review. The premise of the show sees after the deaths of Robert Baratheon & Ned Stark, war rages amongst the 7 kingdoms with many parties looking to stake their claim and take The Iron Throne. 

Main Character

After Ned Stark's death, the show definitely became more ensemble. But I think the character that steps up is Tyrion Lannister played by the fantastic Peter Dinklage, he is the hand of the king this season and it means he gets way more interactions with main characters and he is great. He is charming and charismatic with his character truly developing over the season and Dinklage deserves a tonne of credit for that. 

Supporting Characters

Just like the first season, this show has a load of characters and everyone is fantastic, probably even better then the first season but there are way too many to talk about so I will only be talking about some that really stood out to me. 

Lena Headey reprises her role as Cersei Lannister and she continues to be brilliant on screen. She is manipulative and just pure evil but Headey is such a good actress that at times you even start to feel a bit of sympathy for this clear villain. 

We get way more time this season with Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister and he shares a lot of scenes with Arya Stark played by Maisie Williams. Williams is so much better this season then she was previously and Dance is always amazing. Their interactions are genuinely some of the best moments of the season and just simple conversations were captivating. 

Jerome Flynn as Bron is one of my favourite characters on the show and he really gets time to shine here alongside Tyrion. As he is in Kings Landing, he also gets to interact with other main characters and it gives him real time to shine.

Jack Gleeson has become more grown up as Joffrey Baratheon and this is easily one of the most evil and sadistic characters put onto a screen. He is just so arrogant and annoying and a whole fanbase unites in wanting to see him dealt with. 

Story

This season certainly has way more storylines then the previous season and some of them are really great. Everything that happens at Kings Landing is fantastic, the intrigue and politics mixed with action makes it my favourite part of the show alongside Tywin & Arya's storyline at Harrenhall. But there are some story arcs that I just didn't find as interesting, mainly being Jon Snow at the wall and Daenerys at Qarth. I understand that they fit a purpose but I just felt like they weren't that interesting here and was just focus for future seasons. 

Script

The script is still fantastic, the blend between drama and humour is fantastically managed and makes the majority of theses characters feel like real people that are just in crazy situations. The writing is top notch and even though it is an extravagant show, that is probably the best part of the show. 

Style

The show has very clearly had a budget increase and it uses it superbly. Everything feels more crisp and polished, culminating with The Battle of Blackwater Bay which is one of the greatest episodes of the entire series run. The pacing of the show is well done, despite the amount of balancing of stories and I was thoroughly engaged. 

Overall

Overall, the second season of Game of Thrones is fantastic. It is still at the high level of writing and the larger budget allows them to show battles that we didn't get in the previous season. There are just a few stories that don't quite work which holds it back from being truly epic but it is a fantastic season that continues the strong quality of the show. 

Rating - 9/10