GoT: Se. 7 Ep. 2: Stormborn; Review
Game of Thrones continues; Stormborn, the second episode of the series continues on from the first and sets up more for the current series, and overall, I feel as though it is a weaker episode than the first. (No Spoilers)
The good
The quality is of course, still top notch; cinematography, set design, acting, editing it is all, still, brilliant. It was also a huge pleasure to see Daenerys' group of advisers and those of who who are on her side together for the first time plotting their moves. A general theme that I am picking up from this current series is that of conflict of ideas and individual wants. This continues with Sansa and John, and is seen also with Daenerys and her group. Some want to, more or less, wipe out any trace of the Lannister, be it human or structures or areas they own, whereas others would prefer to preserve some of what they have, otherwise they will have nothing to rule over once, or if, they take the Iron Throne. Which makes sense. This conflict with John and Sansa continues, only this time arising because Daenerys has invited John to Dragonstone, which John's advisers, allies and friends disagree with. All of these scenes are helmed wonderfully with brilliant dialogue.
The last 25-20 minutes or so are where things really picked up, with a thrilling battle at sea, as Yara, Theon and the Sand Snakes are attacked by Euron Greyjoy. I assume that the gift he hinted at during the first episode when he met Cersei was the result of that battle, but of course, no spoilers here. The battle was quick, but sweet. It was good to see some sword on sword action, blood and good fighting. Although it was short, it acts as a taster for what is to come. Which, from what I saw, is likely to be brilliant, and judging by the trailers for this season, some battles that may actually rival that of The Battle of The Bastards, which stands (for me) as the greatest TV-on-Screen battle in a TV series I have ever seen.
Other good
It is always good to see Cersei plotting with her horrendously evil and malevolent team, Arya is setting out towards a location that is going to be brilliant to see when she arrives and what that causes.
Negatives
Overall, this episode lagged for me. But to be honest, that probably just comes from a yearning to see more action. However, I cannot detract from this episode for that, as some action was shown, and it was good. It felt as though there where a few tapped on scenes, or sequences that went on for a tad too long or just dragged out, such as Samwell and Jeor in Oldtown. Also, although Euron has been set up before the series began that he was going to be the new Ramsay Bolton, however, I feel as though the actor/character may be trying too hard to do that. His character is certainly a forced to be reckoned with, it just seems that the character/actor/directors are trying too hard to make him this absolutely evil and dangerous person. Hopefully, they can tone it down a notch or introduce something new, and focus on creating a character who is, yes evil and bad, but is not just Ramsay Bolton re-incarnated. I will say however, I am interested to see where and what this character is going to do, and what role he will play in this series.
Summary
It was a good episode, just not as good as the first. Of course, I have missed out some additional moments and scenes, but they were just some scenes to me. Although, seeing the old dragon skulls from when The Mad King ruled Westeros was very cool indeed. Going forward, this episode built on the first, in that the early episodes are set-up pieces, everyone is setting their chess pieces up and manoeuvring themselves for an almighty clash later on. I just hope that the strategic talk and planning does not drag out for too long, and bog down the episode.
