Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 8 "Second Sons" Review

Warning: The following review contains spoilers.

"Second Sons" seems to be an episode after my own heart. It fixes almost all the problems from last week's episode, focusing in on a couple of characters and story-lines without jumping around to check in on everyone. Given this focus, it allowed for its respective stories to really flesh themselves out in a given time period, allowing the next two episodes of this season to wrap everything a bit better and not rush to set up everything for the eventual season 4. We all know that is going to happen. That being said, and in much simpler terms, I loved the exclusion of Robb, Theon and Bran from this episode and was able to make due with the exclusion of Jaime and Jon. Probably because the lack of torture scenes were a relief.

Oh, I spoke too soon. We did get torture, just a different brand of it. One of the stories that got a great deal of attention was Gendry. Last we left Gendry, he was taken from the Brotherhood by the red witch, Melisandre, and learned of his heritage, in other words, his noble blood due to his father in Robert Baratheon. Well, his heritage landed in him a sticky situation in Dragonstone, chosen to be a "sacrifice" by Melisandre and Stannis. While in Dragonstone, we check in on Davos, who is shown passing time trying to read, making great strides while doing it. He is visited by Stannis and tells Davos of Melisandre's intentions with Gendry, much to the disapproval of Davos. In this well scripted scene, we see the friendship and connection between Davos and Stannis reignite, with Davos emerging as Stannis' conscience. Davos reminds Stannis of who he is and why he would come to visit Davos in the first place: if he was doing something he didn't feel was right. It gives both characters a degree of humanity and development that otherwise didn't really exist in the first place, especially with Stannis. Stannis, as a whole, has made great strides as a character this season, revealing a side that wasn't shown last season. It's great stuff.

All of this lead to an awkward exchange between Gendry and Melisandre, where Gendry experienced the best moments of his life: fine clothes, food, room, sex and of course, leeches. Wait...leeches? That doesn't sound right. This week's torture scene involved sexual foreplay and a slimy finish as Melisandre threw down a couple of leeches on Gendry in all the wrong places. While less gruesome than what we are used to, it was still stomach churning. Luckily, Gendry didn't die or anything (though he may a bit emotionally scarred) and Melisandre was able to cast her spell with the leeches, seemingly casting her spells on Balon Greyjoy, Joffrey Baratheon and Robb Stark. Should these spells work, one could assume that Davos will finally believe in her powers, like Stannis hopes he will. The question now becomes, what are her spells going to do? I think it's rather easy myself, but I don't want to suggest anything.

King's Landing was home to the first big wedding of the season (assuming the Frey Wedding is happening next episode like I am predicting) with Sansa and Tyrion finally tying the knot after weeks of hype and anticipation. It was a seemingly functional ceremony aside from Tyrion being a dwarf and too short to complete his end of the bargain in the ceremony and Cersei threatening Margaery shortly before it, following her telling of the tale behind the song "The Rains of Castamere" which told the story of Tywin's slaughter of House Reyne who rebelled against him.

They need to smile.

The after party is where everything fell apart. Joffrey reminded us of why we all hate him by threatening Sansa, Tywin reminded us of why the wedding happened by yelling at Tyrion and Cersei reminded us that she can be a bitch by shrugging off a kind Loras (her future husband). What really made this a party to remember was Tyrion's meltdown, as he got drunker by the second. Proclaiming himself "the god of tits and wine" was just the beginning, as he threatened Joffrey and then shuffled over to his room with Sansa for the "bedding ceremony." Much to Sansa's relief, Tyrion neglected to bed her until she agreed to it stating "and so my watch begins." That line there was a perfect joke for the regular readers and watchers of Game of Thrones, referencing the vows of the Night's Watch. The next morning we see that Shae recognizes the good in Tyrion. Hopefully, Sansa will catch on as well and possibly open up to her husband, who clearly has good intentions for her. Truthfully, all the wedding scenes had their own degree of intensity, whether it was comedic or dramatic. Put together, it was some highly entertaining stuff featuring some of the best acting since Jaime's breakdown.

Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Dany continues to live on "easy mode," much to my disappointment. The titular "Second Sons" arrive to Yunkai as a mercenary group composed of 2,000 seasoned warriors hired to protect Yunkai from Dany. In an attempt to convince them otherwise, she invites them, offering them a similar deal that she has used before, offering life and success in exchange for loyalty. Not a bad deal, really. The "Second Sons" reject it, probably because Dany didn't use her dragons. But never fear! Dany has another trick up her sleeve that we weren't aware of: her beauty. Her beauty seduces one of the leaders in Daario Naharis, who proceeds to kill his peers who conspire to kill Dany in her sleep and switches sides, pledging his undying loyalty. This makes Dany's army that much stronger, the enemy that much weaker and once again, gives her an easy victory. This is the exact opposite of making Dany's story more interesting. If anything, it continues to remind us of how ridiculously powerful she is (without realizing it) and how boring her story is becoming. Luckily, Daario is a rather interesting character and make her story some degree of charm and intrigue that it has lacked for some time. Oh, and I am getting sick of her relying on her dragons for everything (mostly the intimidation during negotiations). At least the Second Sons picked apart the flaws in her army...which she basically ignored.

The episode had bookends in Arya and Sam. Arya and the Hound are a good duo, featuring Arya's rather shock at the Hound's change of heart. He reveals his past in protecting Sansa and intent to bring Arya safe to her family, giving her the best protector since Jaqen H'ghar. Meanwhile, Samwell stepped up his game in protecting Gilly from a White Walker, using the Obsidian knife to practically blow up a White Walker. We had a bit of Alfred Hitchcock in there with all the birds chilling on a tree. It was kind of creepy. 

Overall, this wasn't a bad episode by any means. Its attention to detail for a given number of stories rather than spreading out was welcome, giving a lot of time to character development and drama. It was a breath of fresh air, taking a much needed break from several stories to keep them fresh and interesting and avoiding any degree of stagnant storytelling. It was a well written adventure, with some great dialogue and character interaction, some parallel scenes in the bedroom and some foreshadowing to nibble on till the next episode.

The Rundown
+ No Robb, Theon, or Bran
+ The first of many weddings (and drunk Tyrion)
+ Stannis and Davos reunite
+ Sam get serious
+ Build up for the last episodes

- Who turned the difficulty down on Dany's campaign? 

Overall: 8.5

Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 7 "The Bear and Maiden Fair"

Warning: The following review has spoilers. 

They are a couple of traditions that have developed since Game of Thrones has first started. The first of which is at least one episode per season is written by the author of the novels themselves, George R.R Martin. The second is copious amounts of sexual innuendos, and not so innuendos. This week's episode gave us both, bringing forth of a theme of this week in relationships. An appropriate fallout considering the previous theme of arranged marriages.

The first of our many characters to experience some advice by George R. R. Martin is Jon Snow, who is feature in a number of scenes as the Wildlings make their first steps south of the Wall. Jon and Ygritte continue their generally enjoyable banter as there is a developing clash of cultures between the two created by Ygritte's adorable ignorance to the mannerisms of the "south" and Jon's dangerous lack of knowledge of the true North. Jon's situation as an outsider causes him to butt heads with Orwell, who wishes Ygritte would be with "her own people." "Own people" implying himself obviously, which Orwell finally cares to admit it. If this is the reason he hates Jon, I will be sorely disappointed. Regardless, Jon gets a crash course in love making by Tormund, which is completely unnecessary as Jon seems quite fine all by himself. Ygritte probably would agree.

Jon's brother, Robb, has his own adventures in love making as Robb ignores his kingly duties to have fun with his wife, Talisa. Following their "scene" together, Talisa becomes another character to join the ranks of Dany and Thoros as fluent in Valyarian before revealing her pregnancy to Robb. While it was nice to see these two actually act like a couple for the first time since, well, ever, it does little to add to a storyline that has done so little with its cumbersome amount of screen-time. Bran's story has the same problem, doing little with a fair bit of time. Bran apparently has to go beyond the wall to find his "raven" and Osha the Wildling doesn't want to as she fears the White Walkers. Of course, we have to get a story about it, which while dramatic was still rather uninteresting, establishing the White Walkers as the real threat. Hopefully, these stories will either wrap up or take that extra step needed to snatch my attention.

Speaking of steps, Theon's story has taken too many steps. Am I the only one tired of these torture sequences? This week was exceptionally stomach churning because of the implications of what happened after the scene ended. I won't indulge into any more details, because I don't even want to think about it. Arya's story is the only one that mastered story flow out of these, as capping off her emotional roller coaster, following Gendry's departure (who gets to learn that Robert Baratheon was his father this week) with the reveal that she isn't quite going home yet. Arya then runs off and is captured by the Hound. I saw this coming and so happy that it did. She wants to kill him and he spent all of last season saving Sansa. All I see is juicy drama and I'm lovin' it.

Backtracking to the relationship theme, we have to make our way to King's Landing in which most of the scenes are cleaning up after Tyrion revealed the new marriage plans. In parallel scenes, we see that both Sansa and Tyrion are not enjoying the arrangement for the same reason: They are not fond of having to conceive a child. Sansa shares her concerns with Margaery, who does her best to console her, saying something along the lines of "Tyrion is good in bed." One has to wonder if Margaery and the Tyrells are genuinely concerned for Sansa or just want a friend since Sansa is the key to Winterfell. I like to think its a combination of the two, but its open to interpretation. Tyrion, meanwhile, doesn't feel quite right bedding a child. So he opens up to his best friend in Bronn, who just plants bad ideas in his head. It was a great scene, bringing back the magic of season 2 so it was almost nostalgic. The two actors have great natural chemistry and I wish there was more between the two. Tyrion's other problem is Shae, who in a matter of speaking dumps Tyrion because of the arranged marriage. As inevitable as this scene was, I found hard to sympathize with Shae on any level because I was never fond of the character, at least in season 2 aside from her scenes with Sansa. Regardless, Tyrion's life is spiraling downhill and he may reach a breaking point soon. I suspect it won't be long till we see it.

 I wanted more of this guy this season.

Also in King's Landing, we saw a scene that firmly established Tywin as the real King of the Seven Kingdoms...in case that wasn't obviously already. Joffrey, doing his best impression of a King, tried to confront his grandfather over a number of issues, only for Tywin to dismiss his grandson and a number of other issues, including Dany. This revealed a number of things: Joffrey's useless and is nothing more than a figurehead, Tywin deals with what he can see (facts) and Tywin sees himself as the real king. Joffrey, at least, shows some concern over Dany and her dragons. If only he could see what she did.

Which is a perfect transition to Dany who had a pretty big week reaching the city of Yunkai. Yunkai, like Astapor, is another city built on a slave economy. Dany wants to conquer it to acquire the resources necessary for her campaign against Westeros. Seems like a pretty easy task when you have a sizable army, dragons and a fiery attitude. But Dany is respectful and likes to negotiate, and negotiate she does. Dany meets with Yunkai's leader and uses her dragons as her trump card, intimidating Yunkai's leader with ease. He offers ships in exchange for peace. Dany offers his life in exchange for freeing the slaves in his city. You know, the ones that support his city. He soundly rejects her and now Dany has another fight on her hands. Dany, here, is falling for her character's innocent nobility, lead by a desire to do good more than anything else. Sadly, her story arc has been painfully predictable, as Dany will likely succeed in whatever fight comes up her way to close out this season. Personally, a major challenge like the one she had in season 2 would do the character to do, giving her something to build on. She needs it, because otherwise her story will get flat. Nevertheless, I will admit that she is carrying herself more like a Queen as of late making this ascension easier to swallow.

 

I still think they count as cheating.

A story has not fallen flat (yet) has been Jaime's, which may have hit its highest point so far. Jaime is formally released from captivity and slowly makes his way towards King's Landing (Bolton meanwhile heads to the Twins to meet up with Robb). Jaime owns his caretaker in a who saved how many innocents contest (as he prevented King's Landing from burning) and eventually learns that Brienne is to be "tonight's entertainment." Hardly liking the sound of that, Jaime makes his way back to Harrenhall. In a pleasant twist, Jaime finds her fighting a bear rather than what everyone else was thinking. Jaime leaps in and saves the day, somehow, walking out of the cursed castle with the wonderful instrumental of "The Rains of Castamere" playing the background. Combined with Jaime's initial promise to bring the Stark girls back, one has to believe that Jaime has fully turned to the side of good at this point, going out of his way to save Brienne twice now. Any debts he had to her are now soundly paid. Sadly, with this scene, I fear Jaime's story may go downhill from her as I see little else in drama occurring for the next couple episodes.

"The Bear and Maiden Fair" was a fairly good episode overall, being expertly written with plenty of genuine laughs and witty dialogue. Both Dany and Jaime had pivotal scenes that are shaping their characters and we got some scenes with longed for whether we wanted to or not, such as Tywin and Joffrey and Tyrion and Bronn. Sadly, Theon, Robb and Bran's stories are dragging the rest of the episodes down, one way or another. Hopefully, they will go on break so more time can be made for the rest of the cast.

The Rundown
+ Relationship advice by George R. R. Martin
+ Jaime saves the day
+ Queen of Dragons 

- Knocking your wife up doesn't make your story good, Robb.
- Theon. Stop.

Overall: 8.1

Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 6 "The Climb" Review

Warning: The following review contains spoilers.

Calling "The Climb" a slow episode would not be necessarily incorrect. Perhaps it simply suffered from being that episode that followed two great back to back episodes. Or maybe it simply was uneventful. Regardless, "The Climb" did do some great things, but it truly felt as it was simply prodding along, hyping up future events that we may or may not see later this season.

The funny story about this week's episode was that I had actually missed the first 15 minutes of the episode due to going out and watching Iron Man 3. Despite that, I felt like I had missed absolutely nothing. I watched the episode a second time to be safe and so little had actually happened that my initial impression was true. The episode began with Sam trying to make a fire while talking to Gilly about their journey to the Wall. Couple that filler scene with an even greater filler scene of Bran cooling down a fight over the proper skinning of rabbits, and you have yourself the slowest 15 minutes of Game of Thrones ever filmed. The only good thing is that each scene establishes at least a few facts: the Wall is over 700 feet tall and entirely made of ice and Jojen Reed's animal vision powers cause him to bite down on a strap because of the intense seizures and he saw Jon Snow.

I have no idea how they climbed the wall.

Which is a perfect transition to talk about Jon (and this marks the first time I am writing a review in almost perfect chronological order). Jon and Ygritte had an eventful week on a couple of layers. Ygritte reveals that she knows Jon's true allegiances are still to the Night's Watch, but she doesn't happen to really care. Instead she wants Jon to be loyal to her. It is an interesting development and Ygritte is showing herself to not be as dumb as "those girls in silk dresses." She has a practical kind of intelligence and has a good understanding of people. She is aware that the Night's Watch and Mance don't care about their people, but are more about the end goals. Ygritte is basically putting their relationship on another level, and is using that bond to keep them alive. This newfound loyalty to each other passes its first test as Jon emerges as "Jon the Wall Destroyer" (Eat that Dany!). Ygritte and Jon nearly found themselves becoming human pancakes, but they pull themselves together and make the climb successfully. It was a great shot to end the episode too as the two gazed out to the world from the top of the Wall.

Arya also had a fairly eventful week as she met the Red Witch, Melisandre. Melisandre's return was mostly focused on the magical powers of Thoros of Myr and Beric Dondarrion. We learned a bit about Thoros and his "worship" of the Lord of Light. Apparently Thoros only restored his faith because of the miracle in Beric's revival. Melisandre is also dumbfounded in this, magically forgetting that Thoros quit in his mission to convert King Robert to the Lord of Light. What was most shocking was the selling of Gendry (who last week was a big supporter of the Brotherhood) to Melisandre for two heavy bags of gold. Arya, of course, hated this exchange and confronted Melisandre about it, only for Melisandre to observe darkness in Arya and the eyes of many victims in her spirit or something. This is of course alludes to Arya's exhaustive list of people she wants to kill and may or may not be a dose of epic foreshadowing. Sadly this is a plot line that will not reach its climax until much later, if it even does. The more immediate result of this week will be Gendry's fate with Melisandre. Obviously Gendry will get involved in Stannis' plot line, but in a way we will probably not necessarily enjoy.

Speaking of not enjoying something, let's talk about Theon's misadventures in torture. This week was not very pleasant as Theon played a game and ended up losing…a finger. What is with this season and dismemberment of characters? Theon failed to guess his captor's identity and ended up paying a grave price. Based on the preview for next week, it will only get worse for Theon as the season goes on.

But the biggest theme this week was arranged marriages. Robb had to arrange one for his uncle, Edmure with the Freys in order to acquire more support for his attack on the Lannisters. Edmure was obviously not a fan of the entire situation, but eventually caved in putting the need of his family above his personal desires. This obviously sets up the Frey Wedding event that will occur sooner rather than later. I am still not fond of Robb's stubborn stupidity and less than honorable decision to make his uncle suffer for Robb's choices. Robb is like a less respectful edition of Ned, which is making lose my enjoyment of Robb's character. I am not a huge fan of his story this season and can't wait for it to end. Hopefully we will not have any Robb scenes next week. Robb's situation is not further helped by the very subtle reference from Lord Bolton in his scene with Jaime that the North will lose. Bolton is trying to save his ass in releasing Jaime and keeping him free from Tywin's wrath when the civil war is over. Robb's support is shrinking by the week.

Meanwhile, Olenna and Tywin dueled with their favorite weapon: words. Olenna was not too fond of the marriage arrangement of Cersei to Loras, citing Cersei is too old, a fact that Olenna is very much an authority on. Of course, the conversation broke down into Game of Thrones style social commentary with Tywin looking down on Loras' "nocturnal activities" while Olenna did not enjoy the rumors circulating around Cersei and Jaime. Tywin appears to be in complete denial of this fact, or may be just denying it to save face. Either way, Tywin won this engagement by threatening to make Loras a member of the Kingsguard, forcing Olenna to back down and seemingly accept the deal. The only problem with this subplot is that the issue surrounding Loras and the marriage is that this debate would never take place in the books. In the novels, Loras has two older brothers who, by right, have stronger claims to Highgarden. So as interesting as this subplot is, I can't help but remember they are omitting some interesting characters that play relatively big roles in later plot lines, especially concerning the Martells who have been mentioned several times and play a huge role in the later books.

The arranged marriages have their way on the victims. Tyrion and Cersei are wallowing about their dismal futures with their new significant others. Tyrion confronts Cersei about the attempt on his life back in Season 2, directing the blame towards Joffrey (who reminds us he is still a psycho this week). Cersei and Tyrion seem to be on the same page for the first time in a while, which may be the beginning of rebuilding a relationship between the two. Probably not, but one can dream as that would make Cersei far more bearable. Sansa and Loras, the other side of the spectrum, had an awkward exchange in which the only thing they had in common was the mutual dislike of King's Landing. Tyrion finally broke the news of the arranged marriage to Sansa and Shae at the same time. Awkward.

Stealing scenes left and right.

The closing sequence with Littlefinger and Varys stole the show and almost this episode amazing. Littlefinger had an epic speech about chaos, further revealing the dark ambition of the character that Varys fears. Littlefinger is proving to be among the most dangerous characters in the entire show and the ending montage and speech further solidifies this as we witness the consequences of his actions: Sansa's breakdown, Joffrey's return to being a cruel monster and growing one step closer to his dreams.

Overall, this episode was good, but far from great. The slow first half was helped out by a much stronger second half and the ending scene with Littlefinger was great. Sadly, it was relatively uneventful with plenty of "filler" scenes that did little to stir up excitement. It certainly makes the later episodes more exciting though.

The Rundown
+ Littlefinger's speech
+ Arranged marriage drama
+ The epic climb

- Robb's story
- The first half was really slow.

Overall: 7.7