"Game of Thrones" Season Wrap Up

Spoilers ahead for the entire second season, but not for any of the books.

I made a point of counting the number of separate strands of the "Game of Thrones" story we were following by the mid-point of this season, and I came to nine - one for each of the Stark children, including the adopted and de facto ones, plus the rest of the candidates for the Iron Throne, plus Danaerys Targaryen.

Some of these stories were clearly not as narratively weighty or yielded as much good material as others, but the show's creators persisted on stretching them all out to season length, with the exception of Renly's which ended abruptly, and spun off Brienne into her own storyline with Jamie Lannister. From what I've read, the highly fractured nature of the "Game of Thrones" books is one of its major weaknesses, and I wish that the television series would have acted to mitigate this more. There were several stories, like Jon Snow's, which would have had more impact if they had been consolidated into fewer episodes. And I can't count the number of times that the weekly check-in with Danaerys yielded no progression in her journey whatsoever. It was apparent that the creators were inventing more new scenes than last season, to help balance out the amount of time we were getting with all the different characters.

Sometimes this approach just didn't work. Easily the most tedious story this year involved Robb Stark and Talisa's battlefield romance, which was very forced and unconvincing. Talisa is probably the weakest character in the show right now, one of several women who were introduced this year to act as love interests and thankless foils to the men. There was a point late in the season when the show offered up multiple romantic and semi-romantic scenes, checking in with Rob and Talisa, Tyrion and Shae, and Jon and Ygritte, often in quick succession. At the same time, it was simplifying and reducing the more action-oriented aspects of many stories. I understand why this was important from a budgetary standpoint, as snuggling is generally cheaper to shoot than sword fights. However, the amount of gratuitous nudity got out of hand, to the point where "sexposition" has turned into a running joke among fans.

We did get the big Blackwater episode that showed full scale warfare, but viewers spent too much of this year having to wait out the more mediocre material that was filling in for content that HBO couldn't afford. This season was about the War of the Five Kings, a war we only got to see secondhand for the most part. The piecemeal nature of the storytelling also made it difficult to develop many of the characters and their motivations to the extent they should have been. Lady Catelyn's decision to trade Jamie for her daughters was set up very badly, and after investigating how it played out in the books, I have no idea why the sequence of events was changed. And I still feel I haven't seen enough of characters like Stannis Baratheon, Melisandre, and the Tyrells, who all figured heavily into the big plots this year. By the time the finale rolled around, the show dutifully checked back in with every major character in its roster, which meant an awful lot of rushing through a laundry list of climaxes and denoeuments, leaving some gaping holes in the narrative. Even the end of the Battle of Blackwater got tied up a little too quick.

On the other hand, the creators' tactics did help some storylines. Arya's scenes with Tywin Lannister at Harrenhal were a highlight of the season, though their relationship is a total invention. If I had to suffer the Stark boys' endless fumbling with the opposite sex, at least there was always the promise of Arya's tense verbal sparring with Tywin or Jaqen coming later. Theon's shifting alliances and bad decisions were handled right, though his storyline seems to have suffered some of he most significant cuts. He's such a despicable creature, but at the same time keeps growing more compelling to watch. Tyrion came the closest to filling in the leading man void left by Ned Stark, and Peter Dinklage got to improve on his impressive performance from last season. It's the reason why his romance with Shae is the only one that really works, and why the King's Landing segments were so strong all the way through this bumpy season. There was also a wealth of good supporting characters like Davos, Brienne, and Jaqen H'ghar that I'm glad we got to know. Others like Sansa, Joffrey, and Tywin Lannister have gotten ever better.

The production values of "Game of Thrones" continue to be fantastic. They added many new locations this year, but the quality never dipped. The CGI was used sparingly, but always looked feature-worthy. After last week, everyone was talking up the Battle of Blackwater, which was practically a full feature film's worth of expensive battle scenes, massive sets and props, lots of armored extras, and some nifty explosions to boot. It was very gratifying to see the show be that ambitious, but I can't help wishing that they could have spread their resources around a little more, to tighten up other places in the show. Robb's story could have used a battle, and Theon's story could have used a battle, and though she didn't need one to show off how badass she was, it wouldn't have hurt to see Arya get in on the action either.

While I found its scope admirable, the second season of "A Game of Thrones" never stopped feeling like it was setting up for something bigger coming later down the line. Aside from the Battle of Blackwater, there were no other major, definitive turning points that the show fully engaged with. The resolution of Theon's conquest of Winterfell was anticlimactic. Danaerys' stopover at Qarth shouldn't have taken more than half a season. Robb got married, but we won't see the consequences until next year. Jamie and Brienne are just getting started, and it took far too long for Jon's storyline to pay off. Out of the nine threads of the story, I came away satisfied with only a handful - Arya, the younger Stark boys, and King's Landing.

In the end I found the second season of "Game of Thrones" was a step down from the first, but I still think it accomplished plenty. I was always engaged, if often frustrated, from week to week. There's a lot of room for improvement, but also a lot of things that the show is already doing exactly right. I'll definitely be back for next year. I hear the third book in the series is going to be even more of a challenge to bring to the small screen, and I hope that the show's writers are up to the task. No matter its faults, this is the only place on television that delivers this kind of spectacle, and the only place in the whole media landscape that has done High Fantasy justice.

'Til next season.
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