Warning: The
following review contains spoilers.
If this week proved anything, it is that Game of Thrones has
depth. Yes, this series is perhaps best known for the sex, violence and drama,
but this also a series that has a substantial amount of emotional depth. This
week just opened the floodgates and let all pour out, with many characters
reaching low points or just letting it all out for us to drown in all the
“feels.”
This episode gave a lot of attention to the Starks, which
hearkens back to the days of Season 1 where Eddard Stark was clearly the main
character (which then became Tyrion and now is pretty much anyone who is played
by a halfway decent actor). Speaking of, Robb Stark channels his inner Eddard
Stark when he is forced to deal with mutiny in his own ranks when the Karstarks
execute the little Lannisters that the Northerners captured a couple weeks
back. Instead of taking the advice of his Tully relatives (who clearly speak
sense), Robb instead acts with honor, which sometimes translates to stubborn
stupidity. Robb executes Richard Karstark (I believe that is his name) himself,
which brings back shades of the opening scene of Season 1 where Eddard executes
a man for his cowardice. Robb is becoming more like his father, which is
admirable in some ways but foolish in others, as he seems to side with honor
rather than reason. Robb’s strength is crumbling, losing a great deal of
support and advantages over Tywin and the Lannisters. A sitting duck at
Riverrun who lost the North, all Tywin has to do is wait now before winning the
war. Robb comes up with a seemingly brilliant plan in taking the Lannister
homeland of Lannisport. But he needs men. So he will go back to the Freys (who
we haven’t seen since Season 1) for support. But didn’t Robb marry someone else
between now and then despite locked in a political marriage to a Frey daughter?
Yeah, Robb may regret his choices.
Luckily enough, Jon may not regret his choices as his
conversion to the side of the Wildings seems to be working out, as he slowly
earns the favor of his newfound allies as his loyalties continue to be tested.
Jon seems to be fine giving them information about the defenses of the Wall and
his loyalties are rewarded when he earns some quiet time in a cave with
Ygritte. If Jon knew what was going on with the Night’s Watch, he probably
wouldn’t leave that cave. I wouldn’t.
That's cheating!
Sadly, not everything for the Starks can resemble Jon’s
luck. Arya gets an emotional episode from the beginning as she witnesses the
trial by combat between the Hound and Beric, leader of the Brotherhood. Despite
Beric using a flaming sword (which is basically cheating considering the Hound
loathes fire), the Hound gets a pretty convincing victory over Beric, cleaving
the man in half. However, Beric, through the magic of the Lord of Light and
Thoros of Myr, revives him, which we learn has revived Beric a total of 6
times. Arya is, understandably, displeased with the Hound being allowed to
leave, and we are reminded of her hatred for the Hound and many others as we
witness the return of her night prayers and the “list” of people she wants to
die. Arya is also tested when she hears Gendry has no intention of leaving of
the Brotherhood because they are closest thing to family he has. Arya says “I
can be your family” which no doubt brought smiles and tears to all the
supporters of that pairing. Regardless, Arya was tested missing out on her
chance to take down one of the many people she hates while learning the
Brotherhood is a lot creepier than anticipated, if only due to their worship of
the Lord of Light.
Speaking of this Lord of Light, he seems to have that effect
on people. We are finally introduced to Stannis’ family, who play relatively
minor roles in the books up to this point. Selyse is Stannis’ wife and is more
devoted to this new god than everyone not named Melisandre. She seemed to have
lost her mind too, considering her inability to give Stannis a living son,
keeping her stillborn children in jars as a grim reminder of her failures as
Queen. Because of this insanity, it seems Stannis locks her away. That or he
hates his wife. Shireen is Stannis’ deformed daughter and it is a mystery
(outside of her deformity) as to why Stannis chooses to lock her away too (or
at least appear to do so). Shireen is a clever, intelligent, refined princess
and one of the kindest and truest characters so far. It feels a bit clunky to
introduce them now, instead of fleshing them out as the story goes on, but it
does give Stannis and his storyline some degree of depth and intrigue.
Especially considering Stannis seems to have nothing to do this season so far. We
also get a nice cute exchange between Shireen and Davos, as she visits him and
tries to teach him how to read. I almost forgot to mention it but it is worth
noting since it means Davos is still alive and Shireen is capable of
independent thought.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of this week’s episode was
fleshing out Westeros and its history, while possibly foreshadowing future
events. The exchange between Jorah and Barristan began this trend as they
discussed the nature of honor, loyalty and traded some war stories. It appears
while each character can tolerate the other, they do not necessarily agree on
the ideals of honor, acting not necessarily as foils for one another but as
different interpretations of comparable concepts. It was a nice little scene
that illuminated some details of Westerosian (is that a word?) history
including Balon’s Rebellion, Jorah’s obscure slaver history and the death of
the Mad King, while foreshadowing the potential implosion between Barristan and
Jorah (who looks increasingly nervous by the presence of Barristan). Great
stuff that fit in perfectly with the other side of the spectrum:
Jaime. Jaime starred in the greatest scenes that the series
as produced so far. Jaime’s scene in the bathtub (and the emotional build up
that truly tested his character beforehand) was so emotional, revealing and
grueling. Jaime’s breakdown was a true testament to how far his character has come,
trusting a stranger in Brienne with arguably the darkest truth of his life: the
conditions that pushed him to kill Aerys, the Mad King. For an act that is so
criticized by everyone, Jaime certainly does an excellent job justifying it.
Also the line “Jaime. My name is Jaime,” definitely stirred up some tears. Its
as if he has to continue to remind himself of his own identity.
His breakdown: Best scene on TV so far.
King’s Landing is an excellent place to wrap up this review.
Much of the scenes concerned wedding plans, which is a bit of disappointment
considering the political power plays from last week. Or is it? You want to
make a powerful scene: add Charles Dance’s Tywin and you got it. In an
excellent sequence of events using his resources in Littlefinger and his
children, Tywin found a way to secure Lannister domination: marry Tyrion to
Sansa to snatch Winterfell and the North and marry Cersei to Loras Tyrell to
grab the Reach and Highgarden. It was an excellently executed scene because
Lena Headey’s ability to capture Cersei’s ability to play smug arrogance
dropping to pure dejection so quickly and suddenly. Karma is a bitch, Cersei.
This episode may have lacked the impact and climax of last
week, but it made up for it in excellence in writing and execution. It flowed
brilliantly from one scene to the next and explored emotional depth that this
series desperately needs, after all the death, sex and violence we have grown
so used to. Definitely could use some more of it.
The Rundown
+ Emotional depth all around
+ The history of Westeros
+ The opening fight scene
+ Tywin’s plans
- Dany stops her march to complain about names. (Okay so I
am nitpicking here)
Overall: 9.2
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