"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
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