Watched episodes 1-4.
Big improvement on S1. The focus on the grown-up characters at the expense of the younger ones is smart, frankly, and everything else just seems better-judged than previously. The economic use of backstory is also working a lot better. They're pretty good at making what is a somewhat convoluted and potentially exposition-heavy backstory work. Also some of the emotional work is just really good - like good performances, good use of music, good like, emotional timing, for example (minor spoiler for episode 4, probably doesn't matter if you read the books):
When Perrin understands the wolf's name, it was genuinely a moment of joy thanks to the way the scene worked and the performance from Marcus Rutherford.
That's something a lot of shows, even well-regarded shows, don't always nail, but this show is consistently getting the emotion right this season.
I didn't really have any difficulty following the dark scene myself, oddly enough, maybe my TV's brightness is up too high lol.
Also wow Daniel Henney is from MICHIGAN?! He's right in amongst all these deeply English actors, some of them really big figures (Meera Syal!) and I didn't even consider he might not be English. Pro voice work!
