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Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season Steelbook Collector's Set
Score: 95%
Rating: TV-MA
Publisher: Warner Brothers Home
                  Entertainment

Region: A
Media: Blu-ray/5
Running Time: 542 Mins.
Genre: Drama/Fantasy/TV Series
Audio: English Dolby Audio 5.1, English
           Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1
           Compatible), French Dolby Audio
           5.1, Latin Spanish Dolby Audio
           2.0, Castillian Spanish Dolby
           Audio 5.1, German Dolby Audio
           5.1, Italian Dolby Audio 5.1

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Latin
           Spanish, Castilian Spanish,
           German, Italian SDH, Brazilian,
           Portuguese, Dutch, Danish,
           Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish


Features:
  • In-Episode Guide
  • Audio Commentaries
  • Character Profiles
  • War of the Five Kings
  • Histories & Lore
  • Creating the Battle of Blackwater Bay
  • Game of Thrones: Inner Circle
  • The Religions of Westeros

Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season Steelbook Collector's Set is, like the first season's re-release, all about the special box and added audio richness that is Dolby Atmos. The Steelbook version of this season is designed to not only look nice on your bookshelf, but if you have the right hardware, to sound as good as the show looks.

The Steelbook itself is styled after the King's Landing location from the show's opening theme and it comes with a magnet featuring the Lannister lion on a spiked cog as seen in the same opening sequence. The edge of the Steelbook continues the astrolabe motif that starts on the first season's Steelbook and should continue on to the future Steelbook releases.

Season Two starts off not long after the first season's finale. Robb Stark (Richard Madden) learned of his father's death last season and now he fully embraces the title as Lord of Winterfell. The newest Stark lord rallies his bannermen and starts a march to King's Landing in order to fetch his sisters. While the Lannisters still hold Sansa (Sophie Turner), they don't want it known that young Arya (Maisie Williams) has gone missing. Actually, she has snuck away with a group being sent to The Wall. Her plan is to either find her half-brother, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), or break off early and make her own way for Winterfell, but it's a long road and not everything goes as planned and Arya finds herself at the start of a very different journey.

As for Snow, he and many of his new brothers are venturing north of The Wall in the hopes of finding Jon's uncle who is long overdue for checking in at Castle Black. Jon, Lord Commander Mormont (James Cosmo), Samwell (John Bradley) and the rest find their first stop in a place known as Craster's Keep. The patriarch of the household is amiable enough to the "Crows," but he is the lord of his manor and even though many find his particular way of living unappealing, they must respect the man while under his roof. Jon soon finds that there are far stranger things than Wildlings north of The Wall and when he gets separated from the rest of the group, he will have to be quick with both his sword and his mind if he is to survive.

Robb Stark isn't the only one looking to cause trouble for the newly ascended King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson). Before dying, Ned sent a message to Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) stating evidence that Cersei's (Lena Headey) children were not King Robert's. If this is true, then the next in line would be Stannis, and with this knowledge, the older of Robert's younger siblings begins to collect an army. While he already has a strong following, including a smuggler-turned-knight, Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham), he seeks a new kind of power. A foreign priestess named Melisandre (Carice Van Houten) has made her way into Stannis' court, and she has been slowly converting his men to follow a different religion than the ones already prominent in Westeros. As Stannis starts to follow the Lord of Light, he gains access to new powers and abilities.

Unfortunately, Stannis isn't the only Baratheon who sees Ned's claim as a chance to take power. Feeling that his older brother isn't the right person to be king, Renly (Gethin Anthony) partners with House Tyrell by marrying Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), sister of Renly's lover, Loras (Finn Jones). Between the Tyrell's money and the fact that the people truly love Renly, while his claim for the throne might not be as strong as Stannis' or Joffrey's, Renly seems to be a real contender for the throne.

Meanwhile, Joffery's rule isn't off to all that great of a start. Not only did his execution of Ned Stark kick off the various rebellions that are sprouting up around the country, but Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) has been appointed the Hand of the King, by his father, Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), and Tyrion is constantly opposing many of Joffery's more unpopular decisions. Meanwhile, any thought Cersei had of controlling her son quickly becomes a thing of the past as she sees the new king spiral out of control.

Just to add another wrinkle, Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide), Theon's (Alfie Allen) father, is preparing to start his own campaign. Not long after Robert's Rebellion, Balon attempted to declare independence, but the rebellion was stopped and Ned took young Theon as his ward and as a threat against future rebellions. With both Robert and Ned gone though, Balon feels like chances are good for another attempt. Of course, Theon find himself torn between his heritage and the family that has raised him.

Meanwhile, even though Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) isn't in Westeros and competing in the War of the Five Kings, her story does advance quite a bit this season. When we last saw her, she had walked into her husband's funeral pyre and emerged un-burned with three newly hatched dragons. So surely with baby dragons on hand, she is going to quickly gain the army she needs, right? Well, no, it seems that all of the strong Dothraki have actually abandoned her and she and her few followers are left wandering the desert looking for a safe haven. What they find is a trading city that is ruled by merchants.

While Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season Steelbook Collector's Set doesn't offer any new special features, it still contains an amazing amount of extras. For one, there is a massive interactive feature that not only teaches you about some newly relevant events in Westeros' history, like the Greyjoy Rebellion, but it also focuses on each of the five kings in the war and their various troop movements and battle plans. Like The Complete First Season, the text found in the many sub-menus of this option drives the In-Episode Guide used to give tidbits of information about the characters and locations seen on-screen while watching the show.

There is also a set of interviews with the cast members as they talk about their characters and a round-table discussion featuring Executive Producer/Writer David Benioff, Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Clarke, Headey, Harington and Cunningham. The Complete Second Season also contains a featurette about the different religions found in Westeros and a lengthy documentary on the season's ninth episode's epic Battle of Blackwater Bay.

As with the first season's Steelbook release, Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season Steelbook Collector's Set is for the collectors. If you already have this season on Blu-ray, then there isn't much extra to be had with this version. If you don't though, and you want a nice display piece, then this version will go nicely next to the others in the same Steelbook Collector's Set.



Clips

Dolby Atmos




-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer
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