Originally written September 5, 2014

Much like other TV series with continuous storylines going on, I can’t say too much about the plot of season 2 of Game of Thrones without spoiling certain things from its previous season. But I will say in general, I really like the direction the show took in this season, as it has a much different feeling from the first season, but in a good way.

Basically, where season 1 is about a lot of politics of the king’s throne and a lot of sneaky, underhanded tricks, season 2 is more about war between different families to seize the throne. A lot of different armies are at war with each other here for one reason or another, and I really like how it was executed. Season 2 is based on “A Clash of Kings,” the second book in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series, and the title is quite literal for the story. It’s a bunch of different kings fighting each other. And it’s awesome.

More than that, I also found the storylines of individual characters in much more interesting places (for the most part) this season. For example, Arya Stark has been one of my favorite characters since the beginning of the show, but in all honesty she didn’t have a whole lot to do most of the time in the first season. But here she has her own full storyline, and at times it’s one of the most interesting ones going on. Jon Snow is another example, too. Putting it basically, all he was really doing in season 1 was training at the Night’s Watch. Now that he’s trained a lot, he’s actually doing a lot of different things in this season, and by the end of it he’s in a very interesting spot.

I should also mention Tyrion, another favorite character of mine. I thought his story in season 1 was interesting enough, but he finds himself serving as Hand of the King in season 2, and it leads his character through so many different interesting story arcs. His character continues to be one of the most entertaining parts of the show, helped by the charismatic performance from Peter Dinklage.

There are two characters that were minor in season 1 that get fleshed out a lot more in season 2 as well: Stannis Baratheon and Theon Greyjoy. Both of these characters have huge stories in season 2, and while I didn’t really like either of their characters, it was nice to see them getting bigger roles. In fact, in general that’s probably what I liked most about season 2. It improved its characters so much. Since I’ve now gotten to know these characters, it’s a lot easier and entertaining to follow their stories, and it’s great to see them continuing to gain more depth. There weren’t too many characters I didn’t like here.

Overall I just felt like season 2 was a big improvement over the first one. I went from liking this show to loving it. There were definitely still some slow spots, and its greatest strength of balancing so many characters/stories while keeping them all interesting continues to occasionally work against the show. There are times when it can feel too cluttered, and I still find the times when the show feels more focused is when it’s at its best. So, its slow/unbalanced moments aside, this was an amazing season of television.

4.5/5