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scifi_rewatchThis episode is named for a canon response that Catelyn has to a raven that she receives about Winterfell. The bad news was more definitive in the book than on the screen, but there was lots of bad news to go around in this eppy—death, torture, missing children, etc. Very little good news, except for the way that some women and others can manipulate an unfriendly world to their advantage, perhaps.
It’s similar to the last episode, largely slow and character-based, with some new folks in the Bran storyline, the Arya storyline, the Jaime/Brienne storyline, a hostage’s storyline and in King’s Landing in general. Didn’t get to see Dragonstone or Astapor at all; the time of being able to visit all places in all episodes is long gone.
Summary
The north
Our first shot of Bran is in a dream. He’s kinda/sorta having a flashback—Robb and Jon appear beside him, mimicking their words to him when he practiced archery in the first episode of the show. He hears his father’s voice, too—and Bran’s voice has changed/grown deeper. :P He’s attempting to shoot the three-eyed-raven when another boy appears—he says Bran can’t kill said bird because “the raven is you.” Freaked, Bran wakes up and starts to tell Osha about it, but Osha has no interest in “black magic” stories.
Later, however, in the waking world while Hodor, Rickon and Shaggy are scavenging for food, Bran, Osha and Summer face off against an unknown threat in the forest. What do you know, the boy from Bran’s dream comes out. Osha immediately puts her knife on him, and is stopped by boy’s sister doing the same to her. Most shocking of all, this boy is able to calm Summer, who is usually very attuned to Bran’s fears. The boy introduces himself as Jojen Reed, and tells Bran he came a long way to find him… “and we have much farther to go.”
In the morning, the entire contingent begins their northern trek. Rickon leaves the group, and Bran communicates with Summer in an obvious pact to protect the boy. Bran and Jojen get to know each other—Bran knows that the Reeds are Stark bannermen, and in fact their fathers fought closely together in Robert’s Rebellion. Jojen explains that Bran’s ability with Summer is because he’s a warg, able to skinchange into a wolf. But the thing with the raven is different—it’s “the sight,” which Jojen also has, and allows them to see events in the past, future, and from far away in the present. Bran has been a major part of Jojen’s visions for awhile now, indicating a matter of importance. Somewhat further away, Osha spats with Jojen’s sister, Meera; our wildling is distrustful of Jojen’s intentions, and the fact that the boy can’t defend himself. Meera stands up for her brother, stating that it’s not a bad thing to help those in need. They continue on.
Beyond the Wall
Beyond the Wall, Mance, Jon et al are heading in a southernly direction. Mance explains to Jon, whom he likes but would kill instantly for betraying him, that he got the disparate wildlings to fight together “because I told them we were gonna die if we didn’t get south. Cos that’s the truth.” They meet up with Ygritte, Tormund and a new fella, Orell, who is described as a warg for being able to skinchange into his eagle (though technically, warging is just for wolves. Guess the show tried to simplify things.) Orell is basically scouting, and he tests Jon, looking straight at him as he explains that he was at the Fist of the First Men, where he saw the bodies of “dead crows.”
The Night’s Watch brothers are still staggering away from that fight but they, Sam most of all, are exhausted. Rast taunts him mercilessly about his cowardice in battle and how he should just lie down already. Sam drops to his knees, and gets emotional with Grenn and Edd as they come to help him out. He’s hurt that they abandoned him when the White Walkers first came, and Edd doesn’t deny it; “you’re slow and fat. And we didn’t want to die.” Rast returns and Mormont comes to see what all the fuss is about. After Rast makes a case for abandoning Sam, Mormont first orders the steward not to die and then makes Rast personally responsible for his safety. Sam slowly hauls back to his feet, and the taunting continues.
King’s Landing
We open on two mirror scenes of Joffrey and Sansa getting dressed. Joffrey is snapping at his tailors and Cersei is trying to get her son to acknowledge Margaery’s political manipulations. Joffrey isn’t too keen on the idea, preferring to see Marg as a woman undertow, and resentful of the fact that his mother continues to advise him rather than just accept his judgment. In Sansa’s room, Shae helps the girl to dress and urges her to be careful with Littlefinger—“men only want one thing from a pretty girl.” She wants Sansa to tell her more details about their rendezvous, which Sansa deflects. Shae switches tactics, asking her charge to tell her if anything perverted goes on, and that she’ll make it stop. Sansa is obviously bemused by this.
They are interrupted by Ser Loras Tyrell at the door, which perks our young lady right up. :P Loras offers to escort her to see Margaery and their grandmother in the gardens. Sansa tries to talk to him about the rose he gave her at her father’s tourney, which he obviously doesn’t recall. Margaery takes it from there, introducing Sansa to their grandmother, a spirited older woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. Sansa is a bit out of her element until she is offered lemon cakes, her favorite dish. But alone with Marg and Olenna, they press her for details on Joffrey. Fearful for her safety, Sansa first tries to stammer platitudes, but the ladies ultimately coax the truth out of her—she despises the young king, who has only been cruel to her. Fortunately, Margaery’s wedding isn’t in danger, for political reasons.
Shae goes to visit Tyrion, much to the Lannister’s dismay, as his father’s warning is still fresh in his mind. Shae says she’s worried about the attention that Littlefinger is paying Sansa, which Tyrion brushes off. She’s eligible for marriage, as she has an old name and is “a great beauty.” This sets Shae off on a jealous streak, as did Tyrion’s admission that he slept with Ros. They argue briefly, Tyrion mostly on the defensive and wanting her to stop coming to him, for her own safety. But he doesn’t object to the beginnings of a blow job, so. :P
Joffrey sends for Margaery, polishing his new crossbow as he prepares for a hunting trip. Apparently deciding latently to take his mother’s distrust to heart, he attempts to scare Margaery into revealing possible treasonous intent with her marriage to Renly. Margaery professes innocence of politics, claiming that as a woman her only goal was to provide her husband with sons. She deftly turns the conversation to Renly’s lack of interest in women, impeding her womanly duties, so that Joffrey focuses on his dead uncle’s “perversion” and how maybe he should punish it by death (whoah, not a good idea, Marg! Remember your brother?) She turns the tables again, confessing innocent interest in his crossbow, which they try out together in a scene that is obviously sexual for our young, monstrous king.
The Riverlands
Lots going on here; gotta divide up by characters!
Robb and Catelyn
Robb and Talisa share a brief romantic moment before being interrupted by Roose Bolton, holding obviously bad news from Riverrun and Winterfell. The bad news from Riverrun is that Cat’s father is dead, so Robb goes to fetch his mother, saying they will ride to his funeral and leave Harrenhal in Bolton’s command. They then turn to the news from Winterfell—Bolton’s bastard only got there to see that the Ironborn had fled, but not before putting the castle to the torch. As for Bran and Rickon…nothing. Has Robb heard anything from Theon at all? A distraught Catelyn asks.
That turns out to be unlikely, as a shackled Theon is rudely awakened by someone splashing water on his head. As he demands to know his whereabouts, an assailant drives a nail under his finger and he screams. Later, more torture—a nail into the foot as the assailant asks why Theon wanted to take Winterfell. Theon gives increasingly emotional answers but his torture doesn’t stop until they put a bag over his head. A young sweeper in the corner waits until everyone is alone, then says Yara sent for him and promises to get him out. But for the moment, he leaves blindfolded Theon in his dungeon.
Back to Robb, he marches most of his army to Riverrun, much to Karstark’s chagrin. He’s only interested in revenge, and marching to Riverrun, even if also to collect the Tully men at arms, doesn’t accomplish that for him. Getting more bold in his bitterness, he mentions to Robb that he thinks that the king lost his war “the moment you married her,” as Talisa rides by on her horse.
Talisa disembarks near Catelyn who notes that her daughter-in-law is afraid of the animal. Talisa denies this, and asks the older woman what she’s creating. It’s the same shrine that she made for Bran in season one, which Catelyn curtly explains only a mother can make. She shares the story of making these twice—for Bran and, years ago, for Jon when he fell ill with the pox. Guilty over her jealousy of the boy’s mother, she promised the gods that she would treat him better and even entice Ned to just make him a Stark already if he lived. But when this happened, she couldn’t keep her word. She now blames all of the suffering that has befallen her family on the fact that “I couldn’t love a motherless child.”
Arya and Gendry
Arya and company traipse around the Riverlands, trying, unsuccessfully, to find the waterway that will lead them to Riverrun. Gendry is bemused by Arya plot from last year—so Jaquen would kill three people for our girl, yet Arya chose nobodies? :P Definitely not the most well thought out plan. Their bickering is interrupted by men on the road who sing “The Rains of Castamere.” Although our threesome hide, their leading man easily sniffs them out. Arya comes out first, trying her best to scare them off, but three kids just aren’t doing much for a group of seasoned men. The leader introduces himself as Thoros of Myr of the Brotherhood of Banners, the group, Hot Pie remembers, that the Mountain was looking for last season. He (and the others) want to move on, but Thoros and company (particularly archer Anguy aiming arrows at them) convince our kids to join them for a meal at the inn.
Over food, the kids explain that they are indeed Harrenhal runaways and Arya boasts about her swordplay (only to get it knocked out of her hand when she challenges Thoros.) Gendry briefly shares reminiscences about his old master in King’s Landing. But Arya is keen to leave quickly—especially when Anguy returns with a trussed and hooded man who turns out to be the Hound. :O She almost gets her crew out the door before Sandor recognizes her. “What in the Seven Hells are you doing with the Stark bitch?” he demands of Thoros, who now looks at our girl with new eyes. Uh oh…
Jaime and Brienne
On Catelyn’s orders, Brienne continues to lead Jaime towards King’s Landing. Bored and a bit stuck, Jaime continues to taunt her about her appearance until he gets out of her that she was part of Renly’s kingsguard. Gay jokes ensue, to which Brienne is not entirely agreeable. Jaime deduces that she had a crush on him, further angering her, but instead of continuing to press his advantage, he actually expresses sympathy for her situation. “We can’t choose who we love.” They are interrupted by a passing stranger, with whom they share pleasantries. But as said stranger goes, Jaime encourages Brienne to kill him; “he knows who I am.” It’s a guess, and Brienne refuses to kill an innocent man.
Later, they come across a bridge over a rough patch of water; Brienne chooses to lead Jaime across the bridge. Jaime feigns exhaustion in order to grab one of Brienne’s swords. He cuts himself free and they parlay, quite evenly matched, which Jaime even remarks upon (a rarity, to say nothing of Brienne’s shocking gender.) Brienne actually wins the fight, but they are interrupted by arriving men from House Bolton. Turns out that the dude Jaime wanted Brienne to kill was a snitch after all. Jaime tries to talk their way out of this, but the leader reckons that Robb will behead him for letting them go, so they close in before the credits roll.
Thoughts
Jaime and Brienne! They are basically the “it” story of this season, kinda like Theon was last season. No complaints here. Minor, insignificant changes from canon. Mostly, the actors are true to character and have great chemistry. A compelling starting point.
Arya’s story, too, only deviates slightly from canon. Thoros's jaunty personality, I believe, is based on a character who doesn’t appear (Thoros himself is canon); no big deal. The Brotherhood without Banners certainly sounds like an intriguing organization as Thoros explains how they fight for themselves, not the kings who are content to burn down the countryside in war. Maisie’s acting is strong as always, as is that of her companions. And, as usual, it’s just not easy for Arya to traverse the Riverlands. She keeps getting caught in dicey situations. Another good setup for her character arc this season.
My biggest complaint, as always, is with Catelyn. The term “character assassination” was coined by Elio of westeros.org this episode, since which has been used ridiculously often and sometimes without merit, probably in this fandom and in others. But in this case, I have to agree with him. Catelyn in the books is depressed (for starters, the canon news from Winterfell is that Bran and Rickon are dead, not missing,) but she keeps it hidden and presents a clear persona to the world. More to the point, there was never an incident of Jon getting the pox, much less would Catelyn blame herself for not being a mother to him. That’s an inappropriate role for her in Westerosi society, so she’d have little incentive to feel that degree of personal guilt. In the books, she does (quite harshly, in my opinion,) question how her own actions led to the family’s current situation, but it never had anything to do with Jon, nor was she so outwardly beaten. In fact, in the books, she was friendly with her daughter-in-law, advising her on the duties of being a wife, and constantly looking out for ways to help her son’s campaign. Frankly, the only positive thing I got from her scene with Talisa was the satirical fandom meme—how everything in the world is Cat’s fault “because she couldn’t love a motherless child.” >.<
The rest of the Robb storyline was also pretty vastly changed for reasons that the Tullys weren’t around before this season. So nothing too big, within the context of that domino effect. Roose did hold Harrenhal in canon, and Karstark—and others—were certainly growing more frustrated and peeved.
The Theon torture scenes are kinda new—they’re referenced in the books, but we don’t witness them directly. Overall I’m not a fan of this storyline, which seems to try and fashion itself as a macabre mystery—who in the seven hells is behind this?? In terms of this episode’s clips, however, I’m not too negative—in fact when it comes to Alfie’s emotional acting I’d say I’m positive.
Margaery continues to be more politically savvy than her younger, canon self, but it’s such a treat to watch Cersei and Marg try to further their own agendas from behind the bumbling idiocy that is Joffrey. :P Very much enjoyed all of those scenes. Meanwhile, Shae continues to show her loyalty to Sansa by trying to stand up for the girl—with Sansa herself and with Tyrion. It’s worth noting, in the novels, that people could more easily be duped by Littlefinger, who was outwardly friendly rather than the no-holds-barred manipulator from the show. That being said, LF and Sansa did not interact directly at this point in the books anyway. And LF might be an obvious perv, but it’s also true that Sansa’s options at escape are quite limited right now. Anywho. We also have Shae quickly growing jealous—maybe a little stereotypically so—which I go back and forth on. But there’s no doubt that over all the tv character is far more complicated and even sympathetic than the original, so. I should allow her this vulnerability.
Sansa, of course, stole the show for me, and major props to Sophie. She held her own against Diana freaking Rigg (not known as the Queen of Thorns on the show, it seems,) with her perhaps ill-advised but nevertheless passionate speech about Joffrey. It was a good chance, of course, to also showcase Sansa’s character—how deeply angered she is by Joffrey’s betrayal of mercy, how much she misses Ned. :/ (She coulda mentioned the loss of Lady, too, a la canon, but they just don’t talk about the wolves as much on the show, especially for her and Arya.) Minor changes from the books, some of which find their way in later in the season. Also a fun minor moment with the “cheese boy”—the actor actually gained a fan following on twitter after his smackdown scene with Olenna. :P
Sam’s scenes are very true to canon, and it’s hard not to feel sympathy for him. He’s the underdog of the Night’s Watch! And they’re all exhausted and near death as they traipse back home through the cold while a long-dead supernatural force that no one believes in lurks behind them. I remember feeling viscerally towards this chapter where Sam struggled to put one foot in front of the other, and it translated decently well to the screen.
I feel like there’s not a huge amount to say about Jon right now—he and the wildlings are kind of “in progress.” They’re obviously moving south, but it’s unclear if Jon is swayed by Mance’s belief that they will all die beyond the wall. I really like how Jon and Orell have immediate “dislike” chemistry—I’m more eyerolly about Ygritte’s taunts about him having not met a warg. Ease up on the mean girl flirtation a bit! I’d say the only real major deviation from canon is the improper application of the word “warg.”
Speaking of real wargs…BRAN BRAN. I may be too biased about the Reeds to judge their canon-deviation introduction, because I LOVE THEM SO. *cough* Ahem. Certainly the “unsullied” viewers can’t know everything the rest of us know about House Reed, but hopefully they picked up on the big things—Ned and Howland are friends who fought together, Jojen and Bran are seers, Bran is a warg with an obvious destiny. I think his dreams have been used to great effect to showcase where Bran is, psychologically (though it’s worth noting that canon has never stated that “the raven is you.” It’s obviously a complicated relationship, though.) But I like Jojen so far on the show—he definitely seems like the thoughtful “little grandfather” that he was in the books. I’m not too keen on Meera and Osha griping, but I’m a big fan of Meera’s sympathy for those in need of assistance. It’s a level of kindness that we don’t often get to see in this story of arrogant kings fighting over power claims while the rest of the country struggles to survive.
Now that all of our story arcs have been touched upon, expect for things to pick up!
___
It’s similar to the last episode, largely slow and character-based, with some new folks in the Bran storyline, the Arya storyline, the Jaime/Brienne storyline, a hostage’s storyline and in King’s Landing in general. Didn’t get to see Dragonstone or Astapor at all; the time of being able to visit all places in all episodes is long gone.
Summary
The north
Our first shot of Bran is in a dream. He’s kinda/sorta having a flashback—Robb and Jon appear beside him, mimicking their words to him when he practiced archery in the first episode of the show. He hears his father’s voice, too—and Bran’s voice has changed/grown deeper. :P He’s attempting to shoot the three-eyed-raven when another boy appears—he says Bran can’t kill said bird because “the raven is you.” Freaked, Bran wakes up and starts to tell Osha about it, but Osha has no interest in “black magic” stories.
Later, however, in the waking world while Hodor, Rickon and Shaggy are scavenging for food, Bran, Osha and Summer face off against an unknown threat in the forest. What do you know, the boy from Bran’s dream comes out. Osha immediately puts her knife on him, and is stopped by boy’s sister doing the same to her. Most shocking of all, this boy is able to calm Summer, who is usually very attuned to Bran’s fears. The boy introduces himself as Jojen Reed, and tells Bran he came a long way to find him… “and we have much farther to go.”
In the morning, the entire contingent begins their northern trek. Rickon leaves the group, and Bran communicates with Summer in an obvious pact to protect the boy. Bran and Jojen get to know each other—Bran knows that the Reeds are Stark bannermen, and in fact their fathers fought closely together in Robert’s Rebellion. Jojen explains that Bran’s ability with Summer is because he’s a warg, able to skinchange into a wolf. But the thing with the raven is different—it’s “the sight,” which Jojen also has, and allows them to see events in the past, future, and from far away in the present. Bran has been a major part of Jojen’s visions for awhile now, indicating a matter of importance. Somewhat further away, Osha spats with Jojen’s sister, Meera; our wildling is distrustful of Jojen’s intentions, and the fact that the boy can’t defend himself. Meera stands up for her brother, stating that it’s not a bad thing to help those in need. They continue on.
Beyond the Wall
Beyond the Wall, Mance, Jon et al are heading in a southernly direction. Mance explains to Jon, whom he likes but would kill instantly for betraying him, that he got the disparate wildlings to fight together “because I told them we were gonna die if we didn’t get south. Cos that’s the truth.” They meet up with Ygritte, Tormund and a new fella, Orell, who is described as a warg for being able to skinchange into his eagle (though technically, warging is just for wolves. Guess the show tried to simplify things.) Orell is basically scouting, and he tests Jon, looking straight at him as he explains that he was at the Fist of the First Men, where he saw the bodies of “dead crows.”
The Night’s Watch brothers are still staggering away from that fight but they, Sam most of all, are exhausted. Rast taunts him mercilessly about his cowardice in battle and how he should just lie down already. Sam drops to his knees, and gets emotional with Grenn and Edd as they come to help him out. He’s hurt that they abandoned him when the White Walkers first came, and Edd doesn’t deny it; “you’re slow and fat. And we didn’t want to die.” Rast returns and Mormont comes to see what all the fuss is about. After Rast makes a case for abandoning Sam, Mormont first orders the steward not to die and then makes Rast personally responsible for his safety. Sam slowly hauls back to his feet, and the taunting continues.
King’s Landing
We open on two mirror scenes of Joffrey and Sansa getting dressed. Joffrey is snapping at his tailors and Cersei is trying to get her son to acknowledge Margaery’s political manipulations. Joffrey isn’t too keen on the idea, preferring to see Marg as a woman undertow, and resentful of the fact that his mother continues to advise him rather than just accept his judgment. In Sansa’s room, Shae helps the girl to dress and urges her to be careful with Littlefinger—“men only want one thing from a pretty girl.” She wants Sansa to tell her more details about their rendezvous, which Sansa deflects. Shae switches tactics, asking her charge to tell her if anything perverted goes on, and that she’ll make it stop. Sansa is obviously bemused by this.
They are interrupted by Ser Loras Tyrell at the door, which perks our young lady right up. :P Loras offers to escort her to see Margaery and their grandmother in the gardens. Sansa tries to talk to him about the rose he gave her at her father’s tourney, which he obviously doesn’t recall. Margaery takes it from there, introducing Sansa to their grandmother, a spirited older woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. Sansa is a bit out of her element until she is offered lemon cakes, her favorite dish. But alone with Marg and Olenna, they press her for details on Joffrey. Fearful for her safety, Sansa first tries to stammer platitudes, but the ladies ultimately coax the truth out of her—she despises the young king, who has only been cruel to her. Fortunately, Margaery’s wedding isn’t in danger, for political reasons.
Shae goes to visit Tyrion, much to the Lannister’s dismay, as his father’s warning is still fresh in his mind. Shae says she’s worried about the attention that Littlefinger is paying Sansa, which Tyrion brushes off. She’s eligible for marriage, as she has an old name and is “a great beauty.” This sets Shae off on a jealous streak, as did Tyrion’s admission that he slept with Ros. They argue briefly, Tyrion mostly on the defensive and wanting her to stop coming to him, for her own safety. But he doesn’t object to the beginnings of a blow job, so. :P
Joffrey sends for Margaery, polishing his new crossbow as he prepares for a hunting trip. Apparently deciding latently to take his mother’s distrust to heart, he attempts to scare Margaery into revealing possible treasonous intent with her marriage to Renly. Margaery professes innocence of politics, claiming that as a woman her only goal was to provide her husband with sons. She deftly turns the conversation to Renly’s lack of interest in women, impeding her womanly duties, so that Joffrey focuses on his dead uncle’s “perversion” and how maybe he should punish it by death (whoah, not a good idea, Marg! Remember your brother?) She turns the tables again, confessing innocent interest in his crossbow, which they try out together in a scene that is obviously sexual for our young, monstrous king.
The Riverlands
Lots going on here; gotta divide up by characters!
Robb and Catelyn
Robb and Talisa share a brief romantic moment before being interrupted by Roose Bolton, holding obviously bad news from Riverrun and Winterfell. The bad news from Riverrun is that Cat’s father is dead, so Robb goes to fetch his mother, saying they will ride to his funeral and leave Harrenhal in Bolton’s command. They then turn to the news from Winterfell—Bolton’s bastard only got there to see that the Ironborn had fled, but not before putting the castle to the torch. As for Bran and Rickon…nothing. Has Robb heard anything from Theon at all? A distraught Catelyn asks.
That turns out to be unlikely, as a shackled Theon is rudely awakened by someone splashing water on his head. As he demands to know his whereabouts, an assailant drives a nail under his finger and he screams. Later, more torture—a nail into the foot as the assailant asks why Theon wanted to take Winterfell. Theon gives increasingly emotional answers but his torture doesn’t stop until they put a bag over his head. A young sweeper in the corner waits until everyone is alone, then says Yara sent for him and promises to get him out. But for the moment, he leaves blindfolded Theon in his dungeon.
Back to Robb, he marches most of his army to Riverrun, much to Karstark’s chagrin. He’s only interested in revenge, and marching to Riverrun, even if also to collect the Tully men at arms, doesn’t accomplish that for him. Getting more bold in his bitterness, he mentions to Robb that he thinks that the king lost his war “the moment you married her,” as Talisa rides by on her horse.
Talisa disembarks near Catelyn who notes that her daughter-in-law is afraid of the animal. Talisa denies this, and asks the older woman what she’s creating. It’s the same shrine that she made for Bran in season one, which Catelyn curtly explains only a mother can make. She shares the story of making these twice—for Bran and, years ago, for Jon when he fell ill with the pox. Guilty over her jealousy of the boy’s mother, she promised the gods that she would treat him better and even entice Ned to just make him a Stark already if he lived. But when this happened, she couldn’t keep her word. She now blames all of the suffering that has befallen her family on the fact that “I couldn’t love a motherless child.”
Arya and Gendry
Arya and company traipse around the Riverlands, trying, unsuccessfully, to find the waterway that will lead them to Riverrun. Gendry is bemused by Arya plot from last year—so Jaquen would kill three people for our girl, yet Arya chose nobodies? :P Definitely not the most well thought out plan. Their bickering is interrupted by men on the road who sing “The Rains of Castamere.” Although our threesome hide, their leading man easily sniffs them out. Arya comes out first, trying her best to scare them off, but three kids just aren’t doing much for a group of seasoned men. The leader introduces himself as Thoros of Myr of the Brotherhood of Banners, the group, Hot Pie remembers, that the Mountain was looking for last season. He (and the others) want to move on, but Thoros and company (particularly archer Anguy aiming arrows at them) convince our kids to join them for a meal at the inn.
Over food, the kids explain that they are indeed Harrenhal runaways and Arya boasts about her swordplay (only to get it knocked out of her hand when she challenges Thoros.) Gendry briefly shares reminiscences about his old master in King’s Landing. But Arya is keen to leave quickly—especially when Anguy returns with a trussed and hooded man who turns out to be the Hound. :O She almost gets her crew out the door before Sandor recognizes her. “What in the Seven Hells are you doing with the Stark bitch?” he demands of Thoros, who now looks at our girl with new eyes. Uh oh…
Jaime and Brienne
On Catelyn’s orders, Brienne continues to lead Jaime towards King’s Landing. Bored and a bit stuck, Jaime continues to taunt her about her appearance until he gets out of her that she was part of Renly’s kingsguard. Gay jokes ensue, to which Brienne is not entirely agreeable. Jaime deduces that she had a crush on him, further angering her, but instead of continuing to press his advantage, he actually expresses sympathy for her situation. “We can’t choose who we love.” They are interrupted by a passing stranger, with whom they share pleasantries. But as said stranger goes, Jaime encourages Brienne to kill him; “he knows who I am.” It’s a guess, and Brienne refuses to kill an innocent man.
Later, they come across a bridge over a rough patch of water; Brienne chooses to lead Jaime across the bridge. Jaime feigns exhaustion in order to grab one of Brienne’s swords. He cuts himself free and they parlay, quite evenly matched, which Jaime even remarks upon (a rarity, to say nothing of Brienne’s shocking gender.) Brienne actually wins the fight, but they are interrupted by arriving men from House Bolton. Turns out that the dude Jaime wanted Brienne to kill was a snitch after all. Jaime tries to talk their way out of this, but the leader reckons that Robb will behead him for letting them go, so they close in before the credits roll.
Thoughts
Jaime and Brienne! They are basically the “it” story of this season, kinda like Theon was last season. No complaints here. Minor, insignificant changes from canon. Mostly, the actors are true to character and have great chemistry. A compelling starting point.
Arya’s story, too, only deviates slightly from canon. Thoros's jaunty personality, I believe, is based on a character who doesn’t appear (Thoros himself is canon); no big deal. The Brotherhood without Banners certainly sounds like an intriguing organization as Thoros explains how they fight for themselves, not the kings who are content to burn down the countryside in war. Maisie’s acting is strong as always, as is that of her companions. And, as usual, it’s just not easy for Arya to traverse the Riverlands. She keeps getting caught in dicey situations. Another good setup for her character arc this season.
My biggest complaint, as always, is with Catelyn. The term “character assassination” was coined by Elio of westeros.org this episode, since which has been used ridiculously often and sometimes without merit, probably in this fandom and in others. But in this case, I have to agree with him. Catelyn in the books is depressed (for starters, the canon news from Winterfell is that Bran and Rickon are dead, not missing,) but she keeps it hidden and presents a clear persona to the world. More to the point, there was never an incident of Jon getting the pox, much less would Catelyn blame herself for not being a mother to him. That’s an inappropriate role for her in Westerosi society, so she’d have little incentive to feel that degree of personal guilt. In the books, she does (quite harshly, in my opinion,) question how her own actions led to the family’s current situation, but it never had anything to do with Jon, nor was she so outwardly beaten. In fact, in the books, she was friendly with her daughter-in-law, advising her on the duties of being a wife, and constantly looking out for ways to help her son’s campaign. Frankly, the only positive thing I got from her scene with Talisa was the satirical fandom meme—how everything in the world is Cat’s fault “because she couldn’t love a motherless child.” >.<
The rest of the Robb storyline was also pretty vastly changed for reasons that the Tullys weren’t around before this season. So nothing too big, within the context of that domino effect. Roose did hold Harrenhal in canon, and Karstark—and others—were certainly growing more frustrated and peeved.
The Theon torture scenes are kinda new—they’re referenced in the books, but we don’t witness them directly. Overall I’m not a fan of this storyline, which seems to try and fashion itself as a macabre mystery—who in the seven hells is behind this?? In terms of this episode’s clips, however, I’m not too negative—in fact when it comes to Alfie’s emotional acting I’d say I’m positive.
Margaery continues to be more politically savvy than her younger, canon self, but it’s such a treat to watch Cersei and Marg try to further their own agendas from behind the bumbling idiocy that is Joffrey. :P Very much enjoyed all of those scenes. Meanwhile, Shae continues to show her loyalty to Sansa by trying to stand up for the girl—with Sansa herself and with Tyrion. It’s worth noting, in the novels, that people could more easily be duped by Littlefinger, who was outwardly friendly rather than the no-holds-barred manipulator from the show. That being said, LF and Sansa did not interact directly at this point in the books anyway. And LF might be an obvious perv, but it’s also true that Sansa’s options at escape are quite limited right now. Anywho. We also have Shae quickly growing jealous—maybe a little stereotypically so—which I go back and forth on. But there’s no doubt that over all the tv character is far more complicated and even sympathetic than the original, so. I should allow her this vulnerability.
Sansa, of course, stole the show for me, and major props to Sophie. She held her own against Diana freaking Rigg (not known as the Queen of Thorns on the show, it seems,) with her perhaps ill-advised but nevertheless passionate speech about Joffrey. It was a good chance, of course, to also showcase Sansa’s character—how deeply angered she is by Joffrey’s betrayal of mercy, how much she misses Ned. :/ (She coulda mentioned the loss of Lady, too, a la canon, but they just don’t talk about the wolves as much on the show, especially for her and Arya.) Minor changes from the books, some of which find their way in later in the season. Also a fun minor moment with the “cheese boy”—the actor actually gained a fan following on twitter after his smackdown scene with Olenna. :P
Sam’s scenes are very true to canon, and it’s hard not to feel sympathy for him. He’s the underdog of the Night’s Watch! And they’re all exhausted and near death as they traipse back home through the cold while a long-dead supernatural force that no one believes in lurks behind them. I remember feeling viscerally towards this chapter where Sam struggled to put one foot in front of the other, and it translated decently well to the screen.
I feel like there’s not a huge amount to say about Jon right now—he and the wildlings are kind of “in progress.” They’re obviously moving south, but it’s unclear if Jon is swayed by Mance’s belief that they will all die beyond the wall. I really like how Jon and Orell have immediate “dislike” chemistry—I’m more eyerolly about Ygritte’s taunts about him having not met a warg. Ease up on the mean girl flirtation a bit! I’d say the only real major deviation from canon is the improper application of the word “warg.”
Speaking of real wargs…BRAN BRAN. I may be too biased about the Reeds to judge their canon-deviation introduction, because I LOVE THEM SO. *cough* Ahem. Certainly the “unsullied” viewers can’t know everything the rest of us know about House Reed, but hopefully they picked up on the big things—Ned and Howland are friends who fought together, Jojen and Bran are seers, Bran is a warg with an obvious destiny. I think his dreams have been used to great effect to showcase where Bran is, psychologically (though it’s worth noting that canon has never stated that “the raven is you.” It’s obviously a complicated relationship, though.) But I like Jojen so far on the show—he definitely seems like the thoughtful “little grandfather” that he was in the books. I’m not too keen on Meera and Osha griping, but I’m a big fan of Meera’s sympathy for those in need of assistance. It’s a level of kindness that we don’t often get to see in this story of arrogant kings fighting over power claims while the rest of the country struggles to survive.
Now that all of our story arcs have been touched upon, expect for things to pick up!
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