Game of Thrones will begin its second season on April 1st. Rachel and Elena are super-excited to be back in their respective courts of fire and ice. Below they discuss their anticipations about the upcoming season. This particular post is relatively spoiler-free (character names are used, but nothing else). Be warned – episode-by-episode discussions will not be spoiler free through the currently aired episode, and Rachel’s reactions will not be spoiler-free through A Dance with Dragons.
Elena will be watching with the fresh eyes of a summer child, while you may regard Rachel’s viewpoint as that of the grizzled veteran with missing limbs.
Elena-
So I guess Game of Thrones is about to start back up on HBO, huh? I…think I’m ready for that. I gotta be honest, last year I suffered from ATF (Acute Throne Fatigue) what with having spent over a year reading the damn first book, writing up a chapter by chapter reaction, and having my opinions of it vivisected…and then podcasting about every episode…and then jumping into the fandom mash-ups. Fun as all of that was, it was exhausting, and I really just hit a wall—The Wall, if you will—with the series.
About the time comments on the first trailer for the new season hit my Facebook wall, though, and I was reminded that April wasn’t all that far off, I thought…hey, maybe I should go finish the first book. (For the record: I have not acted on this thought. I am not sure where my copy is. Buried under mastiff direwolf hair on the back floorboard of my car, perhaps? But I thought it, and as we all know it is the thought that counts, right? RIGHT?!?)
And I also thought…I’m kind of excited about new episodes of this series. I’ve actually re-watched a few episodes of Season 1 since then, if I happened to turn on the TV and one of my favorite episodes—or just scenes, in some cases—was on.
I have not watched any trailers for the new season. I don’t know if I want to. I have managed pretty well to avoid spoilers so far, and while I’m sure HBO is careful not to spoil any real plot points, I’m afraid of seeing something that I might be able to pair with some other not-on-its-own-a-spoiler information I have and put two and two together. And the thing is, I don’t need to see the trailers to know I’m going to keep watching the show. I’m excited about it based on the fact that I loved the first season. The production was quality, and the story and characters hooked me, so really I’m just ready to keep rolling down the midnight highway that is ASOIF without any LED-billboards up ahead breaking up the darkness.
Also, I heart Bronn and Lancel. The scenes I re-watched made me realize they are my favorite minor (?) characters from Season 1. TEAM BADASS FTW! And also yay whatever team Lancel plays on. Team More Wine, Sir?, perhaps? YES. As a resident of New Orleans, I can get behind that team!
Rachel:
Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I am READY for Season 2. I’M SO READY, YOU GUYS! Every time a cab passes me with a “War is Coming” ad on it I think to myself, “Self, you should get in that cab because that cab is as excited about Game of Thrones as you are.” I know this isn’t true, but I’m particularly vulnerable to fandom-based marketing.
Despite the fact that there hasn’t been a lot of physical marketing for Season 2 (no food trucks! A constant source of depression for my friends and I), I think HBO has firmly cast its lot with the Game of Thrones fans (seriously, I am not calling myself a “Thronie,” wtf is that?) The “fan” t-shirts and posters are great (the new design for the Stark t-shirt, THANK YOU!) and the “The King can do as he likes” poster and booth that they debuted at Wondercon…that right there is proof that if you market to fans in a non douchebag corporate way – you win!
The character featurettes that have been posting all on HBO.com are wonderful! They introduce lots of new characters without spoiling any of the incredible storyline that is coming at us come April 1st. Plus I get to enjoy all the manips and gifs hitting Tumblr, and that just makes me even MORE excited (warning, the Game of Thrones tag on Tumblr is probably not safe for those wishing to remain unspoiled). I’m not sure if the digital media only advertising track is going to bring in new viewers, but at this point word of mouth might just be HBO’s greatest hope on that front. Even if the “War is Coming” fist poster looks more like “Angry Jesus is Coming” than “Baratheon Boys gonna FIGHT”. It does. Don’t even bother getting grumpy about it. It could easily be mistaken for an evangelical billboard of doom.
Also, judging from those character featurettes, not only will we be enjoying some awesome new characters (Lobsterking! Delicious Knight! Weirdly evangelical sexy lady! Lady Knight! The Brother Taunter! The Girl Who Knows Everything!) We’ll be getting expanded content of some already established characters. (I’m looking at you, people of Highgarden!)
Whose storyline are you most excited to pick up again?
Elena-
Hm. Tough one here. Probably Arya’s, just because hers has the most likely chance of immediate resolution. I mean, she is currently on her way to The Wall to be reunited with her bestest brother evah, Jon Snow, Who Knows Where To Put It (that is officially his name now. Does it make an easy acronym the way ASOIF does? JSWKWTPI. No. FAIL. Oh well, I’ll just type it out every time then). So, either she gets there and goes on ice as a character the way Jon has (heh, on ice…at The Wall made of…ice. Yeesssssssssss), or she doesn’t get there. Either way I think it will wrap up quickly? Or she’ll spend the entirety of Season 2 traveling, in which case her story will be almost as boring as Dany’s was last season!
This is not to say I am a Dany-hater—the horse-heart-chomping convinced me on her—but her story? Way too drawn-out, at least in the books…it might have played better on screen, but after 8 months I am conflating my multi-media experience of Season 1. Also I am getting off topic. So, yeah, Arya’s whom I want to pick up with the most.
I am also excited to see more of Rob King In The North Stark but that’s really more because he makes my eyeballs steam. More of that please!
Rachel-
In an attempt to keep at this anticipatory post as spoiler-free as possible I will say that I am excited to see Jon Snow’s story-line for obvious reasons if you have read A Clash of Kings and if you haven’t well…stuff. Reasons.
I’m also excited for the Blackwater and for Baratheon against Baratheon shenanigans. Also Robb Stark and King in the North stuff!
Character you are most excited about in Season 2?
Elena-
For me I’m actually going to go Dany. She ended last season in a literal conflagration of all that her life had been. And she walked out of the ashes with dragons. DRAGONS, you guys! That’s a pretty blank canvas for her to repaint herself and her life with. Rachel has laughed wickedly at me for intimating I thought her book/season 1 arc was slow-paced, so I am not sure I have huge expectations for her…but I am really excited to see where she, in particular goes, because I think right now she is the most dynamic character—the one who is in a state of change.
If I knew nothing of the books I would say Sansa as well, but the Sansa I know from the first book is functionally retarded, and so I have no hope of her ever doing anything except sucking more than she did before. So instead I’m going to say TYWIN LANNISTER as my #2. This guy has three extremely interesting (and possibly FUBAR) kids; he is obviously a politicker par excellence, and kind of a badass. I want to see more of him.
Rachel-
Probably Jon. But I’m also excited to rejoin the Lannisters and Renly and all that. It’s hard to say, “I am most excited about this character” without telling you why and spoiling everything. I’ll spoil everything in the episode recaps under giant SPOILER WARNINGS. Promise.
Character you most want to see die in Season 2?
Elena-
JOFFREY. Oh my god, Joffrey’s sanctimonious little tyrant ass would be such a sweet assassination. I do not expect this to happen—mostly because Martin killed of Viserys in the first book, and you can only kill off the single most obnoxious character in the book once before it becomes a pattern—but I would LOVE to see it!
And I would be hella impressed, if he does die, if it’s in such a way that I feel sympathy for the little shit.
Rachel-
Everybody wants Joffrey to die, Elena! Jack Gleeson has done such an amazing job of providing us with a truly evil character to hate in a cast of characters neither good nor evil. It’s Joffrey who is our shining white knight of douchebaggery! HUZZAH! Long live the king, and stuff!
And boy is going to be even more douchey! Get ready!
This question relates to my ongoing attempts to create a Game of Thrones drinking game with my friends. We’ve pretty much settled on shots every time someone dies, but perhaps certain characters should get different drinks. Suggestions?
Elena-
If a major character dies drain your whole glass/bottle/can? If Joffrey dies drain two?
Is there a new character you are particularly excited about?
Elena-
Not exactly…I mean, for one thing I don’t KNOW any characters to come other than those mentioned off-screen last season, like Stannis Baratheon. But I have seen from casting announcements and Rachel’s FB/Twitter that we’re getting some new females who at least some in the fandom love, so I’m excited about that. I don’t know who any of them are except Asha-Not-Yarra Greyjoy. I’ve seen other names but couldn’t place them in a context. Let’s just call it as “New Women of Westeros.”
Rachel-
Hmmm, I don’t know if it is a good idea to skip all of the featurettes. There are a whole lot of new characters coming at us in the new seasons. The story lines will be effectively doubled, and sometimes the connections between characters gets muddled. I think it was smart of HBO to release these little featurettes to help fans who have not read the books keep everyone straight. Not that I don’t have complete faith that all the new people will be effectively introduced to the audience. I just know that I watched the show with people who had not read the books last season and I often had to answer “who is that again?” questions.
Saying that:
Melisandra, Jaqen H’ghar, Asha-not-Yarra, Margaery Tyrell, Ygritte, Brienne, Stannis and Davos, Roose Bolton. So many crafty people coming at us you guys! SO MANY CRAFTY BITCHES! (I’m looking at you, Stannis.)
Any fandom you’re particularly excited for?
Elena-
Well, of the GOT Tumblrs my favorite is probably Arrested Westeros, simply because I love Arrested Development so much. But in this case, the fandom I’m most excited about is my work family! I have changed jobs since Season 1 was on air. At my old job, no one watched the show, and if I brought it up they gave me the skank eye for being so weird and nerdy. At my new job, EVERYBODY watches GOT! Fuck yeah Monday morning dissections! Also this will obviously force me to watch it every Sunday regardless of what else is going on in my life, else risk having the episode completely spoilered for me at work. The good news is, none of the coworkers read the books, so I can have my fellow newbie/TV-only reactions and speculation with them, and then my evil laughter/cryptic remark-dropping dissections here with Rachel. Win-win!
Also, if you did not catch the “here” part of that, Rachel and I will be discussing every episode here at Optionated!
Rachel-
I feel like the fandom is super healthy. It’s always nice when you’ve got new things to anticipate, but Game of Thrones fans have been keeping a hilarity-driven fandom going through the long waits between books for years now. (For example, there is an 8-second video on YouTube that has been around for a long time that shows a wine glass and a golden hand knocking over the wine glass that pretty much puts me into hysterics.) The show has just given us pretty pictures to manipulate. Which I’m going to say, does have its advantages. I have even done my share of stupid mspaintery.
Behold:
I thought that Roose needed a little help. So I helped him.
But I think my favorite little fandom nugget is the following, which I am using because I actually know the person who made this but I only found this out recently. That’s how the Internet works sometimes:
BECAUSE ONIONS! LoL This never fails to make me laugh hysterically.
This person that I know is known as SwordintheDarkness on Tumblr. But be warned – she is super spoilery, and her GoT knowledge is incredible. She can remember the PAGES that shit happens on. So if you have read through A Dance with Dragons I recommend her Tumblr.
I also can’t promise that my own twitter (@DarthRachel) will be spoiler free. Sorry. There’s nothing I can do about that. In fact, as I am the spoilery side of these Episode discussions you should just beware me all together.
I’m the Shaggydog of Optionated.
No, I’m not. I’m not that cool.
Elena-
Well, if you’re Shaggydog then I’m Rickon. Always in the background, never in the know. I am the sweet summer child slowly losing my innocence under the shadow of war.
WAR IS COMING, Y’ALL!
Fuck yeah.