This episode began with the anticipated ‘trial by combat’
between Sandor Clegane (AKA ‘The Hound’) and Beric Dondarrion. This scene was
one of my absolute favourites from the third book, and as such I was very
excited to see how the adaptation to the screen worked out. The moment when
Beric sets his sword on fire was a rare moment when I was genuinely taken aback
whilst reading. As ‘Blackwater’ established back in season 2, The Hound is
scared of nothing except for fire, so to fight against a man with a flaming
sword took away his advantage. I really enjoyed the fight sequence, which
culminated in Beric’s ‘sixth death’ after his sword broke and he took a deep
cut through the shoulder. It was a curious set up as The Hound is such an
interesting character, I’m sure people would have been uncertain about whether
they wanted him to die or not.
Later on Beric and Thoros explained to Arya about the
previous times that Beric had been ‘killed’ and that the resurrection process
takes away parts of Beric’s memories each time. R’Hollor – The Lord of Light is
clearly a God with effective powers, as proved through Melisandre’s ability to
give birth to a demon shadow, and then proved again through Thoros’ power of resurrection.
Arya then asked if it would be possible to resurrect a man who had been
beheaded, but THAT would be impossible (even magic has its limits).
The episode also saw a development in the relationship
between Ygritte and “Jon Snuuh” as Jon’s vows were tested once again. This time
though, Jon gave in and broke his vow of celibacy. This presents an interesting
twist for Jon’s character; maybe he really has abandoned the Night’s Watch. Jon
also told Tormund and Orrel that there were a thousand men guarding Castle
Black – which really can’t be true as there were “less than a thousand” members
of the Watch at the start of the first season, and a large amount were killed
beyond the Wall at the start of this season (not to mention the fact that the
Lord Commander was also recently killed, but Jon doesn’t know about that).
Roose Bolton was finally given a moment to shine, after playing
second fiddle to the Robb Stark/Talisa storyline in the second season. He was
able to humanise Jaime Lannister a little more by teasing him with the
implication that his sister had been killed, before revealing that Stannis’
attack on King’s Landing was unsuccessful. Roose has appeared quite a lot, but
this was one of the first times I felt his character was showcased. This then
lead to another appearance from Qyburn, only briefly seen back in episode one,
played by Anton Lesser. Once again Jaime Lannister was made a victim, except
this time it was physical pain, rather than psychological, as his amputated
stump was treated without anaesthetic (milk of the poppy).
These scenes provided the set up for what various critics
have been calling the best scene from this season so far, in which a delirious
Jaime Lannister tells Brienne the truth about the Sack of King’s Landing, and
the death of the Mad King. The deed that earned him the name ‘Kingslayer’ was
actually a heroic act, which saved the lives of thousands. But since Jaime was
a knight of the Kingsguard – an elite order sworn to protect the King – the heroism
of this act was tainted. Nicolaj Coster Waldau has done a great job playing
Jaime Lannister, and I would have to say that his scene with Ned Stark in the throne
room during the first season, should be re-watched in light of this new
information. There has always been more to the character of Jaime than the smug, arrogant prick we were first introduced to.
Robb Stark suffered a major setback to his war effort (yes,
another one!) when Rickard Karstark, one of his sworn bannermen, murdered the
young Lannister prisoners captured by Edmure. As a result of this, in addition
to Rickard’s aggressive nature towards Robb’s leadership, Robb carried out
Rickard’s execution. This may seem like a foolish move by Robb, but people need
to remember that his father was also a man of honour and traditional customs: “the
man who passes the sentence should swing the sword”. There was a cyclical
nature to this scene, as there has been a beheading in all three seasons now. The
scene was also underscored by the same music that played when Theon executed
Ser Rodrik in season two, although this time the beheading was done properly.
Unfortunately this was a costly judgement from Robb, and as
a result half of his army withdrew their forces. Without losing a battle, Robb
is now losing the war. This prompted an ambitious plan, although one that
really doesn’t seem to make much sense. Robb intends to barter with Walder Frey,
apparently someone who hasn’t taken sides in the war yet. Wind back to the
first season when Catelyn made her agreement with Walder Frey, he gave his men
to fight for Robb’s cause. This hasn’t been mentioned for a long time, but that
doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. That was one of the reasons why Robb was
supposed to marry one of his daughter’s. This brings me onto the other reason
why this plan doesn’t make any sense: why would Walder Frey join Robb’s cause
after his breaking of this pact? Maybe the next episode will clear up some of
this glaring continuity error (I know it was a long time ago, but the North
Remembers – supposedly).
Elsewhere there was some more exploration into Stannis, as
we were finally introduced to his wife Selyse and his daughter Shireen. Stannis
has already been established as a cold, hardened man, with very little time or
love for his wife. Now that she has been introduced as a fanatical zealot, who
keeps her stillborn sons in jars it’s not hard to see why! Shireen was the
Baratheon who took the main focus in this episode though. Her story was
heartbreaking, and the simple way in which she spoke to her father and Ser
Davos made the character immediately sympathetic. Liam Cunningham did a very
good job of establishing the friendship between his character and the ‘little
princess’! Kerry Ingram – Shireen – also performed the song which played over
the end credits, which in the books is sung by the fool Patchface (a character
who has supposedly been cut). The lyrics to the song are rather cryptic, and
could be foreshadowing later events – although having read all the books to
date I’m still uncertain as to the song’s meaning.
A highly anticipated battle of wits between Tyrion and Lady
Olenna was an enjoyable scene, although I felt a little disappointed by it as I
felt that the whole exchange was very one-sided. I’m worried that the script
writers love of Diana Rigg came at the expense of ‘everyone’s favourite
character’ Tyrion, who was made to look a bit too foolish for my liking.
Hopefully this will not be the only scene between these two, as I’m sure the
resultant dialogue would be a lot of fun. Tyrion then had a scene with his
father and sister. Here Tywin proved that he cares more about the status of his
household than the wishes of his children, as he proposed they both marry as a
political manoeuvre: Tyrion is to marry Sansa, and Cersei is to marry Loras. While
the politics of these matches makes sense – joining their house to other
powerful houses and thereby securing peace within the realm – the moral
implications are very dubious!
Elsewhere there was an enjoyable exchange between Barristan
and Jorah, which displayed the mutual respect but also suspicion between the
two knights. In the books Barristan was a member of King Robert’s council, and
so was aware that Jorah was acting as an informant for Varys. Also the omniscient
viewers are aware that Ned Stark fought on Danaerys’ behalf when Robert planned
to have her killed, but since Barristan wasn’t a member of Robert’s small
council in the show this wasn’t mentioned. Small changes from the books still
have their significance. I hope that there are more scenes with these two still
to come.
A lot happened in this episode, and I haven’t even covered
all of it here. There was also Arya’s separation from Gendry, after he decided
to join the Brotherhood; Dany had some bonding time with her new army; and a
fast edited flurry of scenes involving Loras Tyrell and one of Littlefinger’s
spies almost felt like it was a different show for a few minutes.
This season is now halfway through, and some pretty
substantial events have taken place already.
There are more to come.
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