Game of
Thrones 2.2: The Night Lands
The second season of Game of
Thrones continues to be like the beginning of a chess game. Just as the
chess players make strategic moves to set up their attack on the king so is
each of the story lines continuing to build exposition for an upcoming clash of
events. Though this episode was a relatively docile story, what it lacked in
violence the episode recovered in nudity and sex. It seems like the director,
Alan Taylor, deliberately included nudity and pornographic scenes to hold the
audience’s attention through the huge amounts of exposition. This was perfectly
illustrated in the scene that took place in Lord Baelish’s brothel in which
Littlefinger deals with one of his prostitutes who will not stop mourning the
murder of the baby of one of his other prostitutes. Joffrey’s ordering of the death of all King
Robert’s bastards is mentioned several times throughout this episode, so this
is an unneeded reminder. The only other purpose this scene serves is to remind
the audience of Lord Baelish’s evil nature, which is superfluous for his treacherous
character has been solidified in the first season. The choice to include this
scene is just to increase the sensationalism of the episode by providing an
excuse to showcase more nudity and more sex.
Besides the nudity and sex, this episode did begin to lay the
groundwork for some interesting story developments. Tyrion, now acting as the
Hand of the King, shakes up King’s Landing. He will not fall victim to the same
fate as Eddard Stark and knows how to play the political game. Threatening
Varys, Tyrion warns him that he is not to be underestimated. Tyrion also
replaces the head of the city’s guard, Lord Janos Slynt, with his own man Bronn
since it was the head of this guard that slaughtered Eddard’s men in the Throne
Room. Tyrion, with the smarts and political savvy to play this deadly game will
really be able to shake up the power structure at King’s Landing. Also it is
refreshing to see someone with power in the castle who also has a moral
conscience. There is a heartening moment for the viewer where Tyrion remarks on
the cruelty of murdering babies in their mother’s arms illustrating that not
all Lannisters are pure evil.
This episode also marks the introduction of Theon as his own character
and not a supporting player to Rob. He returns home to Pyke for the first time
since being taken as a ward of Eddard Stark. Though, his homecoming is less
than ideal and it exposes Theon’s “daddy issues.” His father does not recognize
him as heir to Iron Islands and ridicules him for not being one with the sea.
Lord Greyjoy also mocks Theon’s relationship with Rob Stark and refuses to help
Rob in his war against the Lannisters. To make matters worse, Lord Greyjoy
recognizes Theron’s younger sister Yara as the heir to Pyke and the Iron
Islands. Though that would be bad in its own right, Theon has to handle his lost
inheritance while grappling with the fact that he fondled his sister on the way
up to the castle. Theon’s homecoming lays the groundwork for him trying to do
everything in his power to regain his father’s love and his inheritance of Pyke
and the Iron Islands.
This episode also follows Arya, Daenerys, Stannis, and Jon Snow;
however, very little happens to advance the plot in their stories. Arya does
share a heartwarming moment with Gendry, King Robert’s oldest bastard, where
she reveals her true identity. This seems to foreshadow an unconventional
partnership between these two characters. Daenerys features a setback when one
of her blood rider’s heads came back on a horse. Though it is obvious that
Daenerys as the mother of dragons will play a big part in the remainder of this
series, at this point of the episode her constant ranting about getting revenge
on all of those who hurt her and her people is becoming tiresome as she remains
helpless in the desert. Though Stannis’ story did not occupy a large amount of
time in this episode, he does succumb to the seduction of Melisandre (adding
yet another scene of nudity and sex). It will be intriguing to see if her
control over Stannis increases after their liaison.
Finally, the least eventful story of the episode seems like it might
lead to a hectic episode next week. Jon Snow’s story this episode remains stagnate
since The Night’s Watch is still camped out at Craster’s house with all of his
daughter wives. Though Sam wants to help one of the pregnant daughter wives
escape the captivity of her father husband, Jon wisely refuses to help for fear
of losing a hand as well as inability to care for her as they travel further
north past The Wall. However, Jon’s hero complex shines through when in the
middle of the night, he hears the sound of a baby and awakes to find Craster
carrying the child into the woods. Curious, Jon follows wondering where Craster
could be taking this baby. To his horror, Jon sees the baby abandoned and
carried off by a White Walker, the same type of undead creature that tried to
kill him and Lord Mormont last season. Just as he turns to head back to camp,
Craster clocks him over the head ending the episode. Though this episode
contained a lot of exposition, the season just started and is building towards
bigger events. And with the ending of an episode on the cliffhanger of Jon
being knocked out, next episode seems to bring the promise of more action.
