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.
"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
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