TV: Game of Thrones, Season 2

I think the worse thing to be said about the second season of Game of Thrones is that it's as short as the first one. Thankfully it is also as dark, twisted and frankly brilliant. 

The show picks up right where it left off last year. Tyrion, Peter Dinklage, has been appointed the new Hand of the King (essentially becoming the main character), allowing him to become a more serious character; who still has the chance to show off his trademark wit. The storyline in King's Landing mostly revolves around Tyrion trying to reign in newly appointed, insane King Joffrey and his scheming mother, Cersai (Lena Headey). As always where Thrones works best is in its dialogue scenes, many of the best taking place between Headey and Dinklage; siblings scheming for their own devices. 

There are also some new pretenders to the throne. Stannis (the silent and fearsome Stephen Dillane) the technical rightful king who is being manipulated by an evil witch, Melisandre (Carice van Houten), stands as the main adversary of the series. His invasion of King's Landing provides the most epic battle of the show so far, while also laying the stage for many key events next season.

I was quite disappointed to find that Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is rather under-utilised this year. The birth of her dragons was the most exciting moment of last season's finale and unfortunately she spends most of the series stuck in a very dragged out storyline. While it does allow for some interesting scenes, along with the most bizarre of the series, and contain a very important lesson for Daenerys; it could have been contained in just a few episodes. Hopefully next year she will finally make it to the land of Westeros and truly enter the battle for the Iron Throne. 

 Many of the other stories this year also feel a bit dragged out, the Stark stories having no real direction even if they do provide some interesting dialogue scenes. Particularly the conversations between Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams, who is shockingly good for such a young actor) are intriguing in the ways they try to pry information from one another. There are also more scenes of backstabbing than you will see in any other drama show on the air. Thankfully the nudity has been toned down from the previous year, while there are still a few breasts flopping around it isn't anywhere near as distracting.

Another strong season from the undisputed king of TV, making having to wait until March a real challenge.