![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
chavalah.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scifi_rewatchThis episode is named for an iconic death passage amongst the Night’s Watch, which gives away a major plot development. :P But there’s even more shockers to be had!
Lots of revenge this episode, too. Varys and Tyrion, Arya with the Hound, Jaime…not so much with his captors, same with Theon, Rast with Craster and Mormont, then Daenerys just sweeps the floor with all of them. :P She basically waltzes in, last minute, and steals the show.
A strong episode over all. Only some minor quibbles from me!
Summary
The Riverlands
I’ll just keep them together this time. The Jaime/Brienne stuff goes first, and Arya follows once they’re finished.
A feverish and beaten down Jaime rides his horse with his hand around his neck. Locke’s men berate him. He falls into the mud. Brienne entices his captors to help, and they feed him horse piss (which might just be a joke; I mean, who collects horse piss in a canteen?) Jaime attempts to fight them left-handed; doesn’t work. Brienne attempts to get to him but is stopped. When he’s finally down again, Locke warns him to cut it out or he’s taking the other hand. Jaime just stares up from the ground, with his severed hand near his face.
They stop to make camp that night and the northmen basically leave Jaime and Brienne alone. Brienne entices him to live for revenge, but Jaime wonders what the point is; “my life was that hand,” he says of how he defined himself by his abilities with a sword. Brienne mocks him—you’ve had your first experience where something important is taken away, and you piss and moan “like a bloody woman.” (Ugh, Jaime/Brienne weren’t my faves for once.)
Later, the Brotherhood Without Banners leads blindfolded Arya and Gendry to their hidden encampment. Inside, the Hound is unveiled and everyone meets Beric Dondarrion—whom Ned sent out, two seasons ago, to sort Tywin’s massacre in the Riverlands. The men start laying heaps of blame at Sandor’s feet—for recent war atrocities and for the murder of the Targaryen babes that his brother committed. The Hound scoffs at all of this—split my throat, but don’t call me murderer! So Arya finally speaks up about Mycah. The Hound doesn’t deny his involvement, rather stands by it. “Not my place to question princes.” (Yeah, until fire’s involved, bub. :P) But as he’s accused of murder, it’s time for a trial by combat. Yeah, against whom? The Hound asks, taunting each of them about the possibility of death. Maybe Arya is the bravest among them…maybe, Dondarrion agrees, but it’s me you’ll fight.
The North
Bran runs, chasing the raven. The raven perches on a tree and Jojen appears next to the other boy, saying that he has to go after it. He starts to climb…but look, there’s Catelyn! Bran is elated, until his mother starts repeating her dialogue from the first episode of the season: “what have I told you? No climbing? NO CLIMBING!” It’s decidedly more urgent and aggressive than in the past…Catelyn starts to shake him with some “PROMISE MES!” and Bran falls, jolting himself from the dream. He and Jojen look at each other in disappointment.
Theon’s new friend leads him to the castle he calls Deepwood Motte, the place Asha/Yara laid siege to. The friend weaves a tale about how he watched Theon being taken away by Ned a decade past, and how basically he’s loyal to the lad. Theon wants to know if Balon knows what’s happening to him, as his tormentors told him, but the friend professes ignorance. They sneak into the castle, however, because some of the men inside are more loyal to Balon than Asha/Yara, apparently. Theon begins to spill his guts as the friend attempts to unlock some doors—he made the wrong choice by choosing Balon over Robb; “my real father died at King’s Landing,” he says soberly. He also lets loose that it wasn’t the Stark boys that he killed but two orphans, which seems to get the friend’s attention. They continue on, down dark passageways, but when the “friend” lights a torch Theon finds himself back at his old torture chamber. :O His companion tells those in the room that Theon escapes and killed the others. The men string him back up as Theon pleads in shock and in vain.
King’s Landing
Tyrion goes to visit Varys in order to get more definitive answers about whether or not Cersei ordered the attempt on his life during the Blackwater battle. Varys has no definitive answers, and is more interested in a large crate he is opening. He entices Tyrion to stay, however, and hear the story about how his genitals were cut. He was taken by a sorcerer in Lhys who cut them as part of a magic ritual; “a voice answered him from the flames.” This is why Varys is so opposed to magic, and why he fought beside Tyrion and against Stannis and Melissandre. As for revenge, he continues his tale about how it took him a long, unscrupulous time to gain the power he needed to exact his…in fact, the figure in the crate is none other than said sorcerer, a recent acquisition. “The revenge you seek will be yours in time,” he tells Tyrion, “if you have the stomach for it.”
Varys has several more appointments to make this episode—first with Ros. They discuss Pod the Sex God (ugh LET IT DIE!!!) Then they transition to Littlefinger who, as of late, is completely focused on his upcoming Vale trip. Varys wonders if he’s forgotten his interest in Sansa so quickly but this turns out not to be the case; Ros has deduced from a boat itinerary that he intends to bring her along. (He’s ordering two feather beds for the cabin.)
In regards to this, Varys goes to visit Olenna, in between berating her granddaughters and mocking the house crest. :P They play politics for awhile before sitting down to the idea of marrying Sansa to Loras. It would be a shame to let Littlefinger marry the key to the north, Varys says. He seems to care about Sansa, at least by way of being Ned’s daughter, and more importantly doesn’t want LF to get much power. “He’d burn down the country if he could be king over the ashes.” Olenna seems amenable to a marriage plan.
She sends Margaery to talk with Sansa, who prays at the stump of a weirwood tree rather than in the sept. Margaery sends the Lannister guards away by threatening them with Joffrey’s action, then tries to get out of Sansa what she prayed for. Sansa refuses to divulge, so Margaery goes into a gossipy remembrance about an older cousin, breaking down Sansa’s defenses. Marg offers her a trip to Highgarden, which Sansa balks at because “the Queen won’t let me leave the capital.” “The queen regent, you mean?” Margaery amends, reminding the girl that once she marries Joffrey, she’ll be queen. “And if you marry Loras…” Marg suggests slyly, watching Sansa’s face break into a surprised grin. “We’d be sisters, you and I.” Sansa seems elated by a romantic marriage, and the promise of new family.
Earlier, Olenna and Margaery met with Cersei and Joffrey at the sept to discuss wedding arrangements. Joff sticks to excitedly gory retellings of Targaryen bloodbaths; Marg overrides Cersei’s concerns and says she’d love to see them. Meanwhile, Cersei and Olenna fall into a conversation about how difficult it is to keep men from being foolish. “And yet the world belongs to them,” Cersei says. Ridiculous arrangement, Olenna poo-poos. Meanwhile, Marg does a good job at pulling Joffrey’s strings, first telling him that she believes sometimes severe actions lead to greatness, then enticing him to open the doors and greet the people. They love you, she promises. Well, actually they all seem to be cheering Margaery’s name, perhaps because her family brought the food, but Joff seems contented and Cersei seems freaked.
Later, Cersei is meeting with her father as he ignores her and writes more letters. She asks Tywin if he’s doing everything he can to find Jaime, well duh. :P She then gets into a resentful account about how Tywin trusts his boys more than her, but she’s the one who’s actually on the same page with him when it comes to family legacy. She tells him that the Tyrells are trouble; Marg is manipulating Joff. Tywin responds that the Tyrells saved the city—including the lives of her and her children—and it’s good that someone knows how to manipulate him. He’s none too impressed with Cersei, citing that she’s not as clever as she thinks she is. Cersei quietly challenges him to try and stop Joffrey from doing what he wants; Tywin says that he will do just that.
Craster’s Keep
Some of the Night’s Watchmen—Grenn and Edd at least—seem to have regained some humor while shoveling shit. Rast is not feeling so generous. He’s none too impressed with the food Craster dishes out at them, and reckons that once they leave he’ll gorge on something good for himself and have a good laugh, if not worse. He suggests, especially after having seen the White Walkers, that every man should fend for himself.
Sam goes to visit Gilly and her crying, unnamed baby, which only exacerbates the girl. She’s trying to keep it on the down low that he’s a boy, in order to keep him alive longer, and she gives Sam back his thimble. She only has time for the baby right now, she says firmly, cos he might not have much time. Sam leaves, dejected.
That night, the Night’s Watch have a funeral pyre for a fallen brother and Mormont says the name of the episode. :P Rast continues to be bitter, raising tensions around him. People comment that their roasting brother actually smells good. Inside the keep, Craster boasts to Mormont that he has 99 sons where the Lord Commander has just one (Jorah!) He starts threatening about the Night’s Watch moving on and being grateful for his hospitality already, lest throats get cut. The angry brothers start to call him out on that, demanding better food and calling him “bastard” while Mormont attempts to contain the rising situation. Craster threatens to kill whoever calls him “bastard” next, and the scene divulges into a bloodbath. As Craster lies dying and Mormont attempts to get his man to unhand a woman, Rast stabs him in the back. :O He’s able to get a chokehold on Rast for awhile but ultimately, his strength fails. Sam races outside to grab Gilly and the baby, and Rast calls taunts after him.
Astapor
Daenerys and crew roll into the slave quarter where the 8,000-plus Unsullied are waiting. Missendei translates suggestions from the masters about how to “blood them early” and maybe sell them back some slaves to make new Unsullied. Dany opens the dragon’s cage and leads Drogon to the masters with an iron chain. In return she gets a whip, which effectively transfers psychological ownership of the Unsullied over to her. She begins to speak to them in Valyrian! As Kraznys protests Drogon not obeying him, Dany answers in his tongue “a dragon is no one’s slave” while explaining to the stunned onlookers that Valyrian is her mother tongue. She orders her Unsullied to kill the masters, free the slaves and sack the village. Drogon helps with the burning, starting with Kraznys. Once Astapor is reduced to a smoldering ruin, Dany frees the Unsullied yet asks them to fight with her as free men. They tap their spears on the ground in thunderous unison. Jorah and Barristan certainly look happy. :P Dany negligently throws her slave whip away while the massive legions march out, all three dragons swooping in the sky. That is one scary-ass looking army. :P
Thoughts
I think first and foremost I have to praise the direction of the massacre scene, because it’s amazing what they did with an obviously limited budget. Both the “before” and “after” carried so much gravitas—I’m particularly fond of a small scene, though, where Jorah looks at Dany’s silhouette in the sunlight. All of this being said, this really isn’t my favorite time in Dany’s overall arc. :P Conquering is easy—too easy for Dany, with her dragons, with her army of impersonal slaves, with her multilingual abilities (really, Viserys taught her Valyrian? :P) It’s impressive by the sheer scale of it—nothing this cool is coming from those boring Westerosi kings. :P But I’m more a fan of her story to come past this season, when she stops conquering blindly and starts ruling with vision. Very true to canon.
The Night’s Watch stuff was smaller in scale, but equally as powerful, if not more so. I really bought the hunger and the desperation (and I appreciated the levity of “shoveling shit.” :P) The tableau with killing Craster—and more importantly Mormont—has always struck me as one of the horrible side effects of war. These men (well, most of them) aren’t horrible people. (Actually, in the book, the mutiny wasn’t as spontaneous, so maybe I should eat my words. :P) But mostly I think they’re just starved, desperate and scared. They’re the definition of “war makes monsters of us all.” Thank goodness we didn’t have to see any of the canon rapes, at least. :/ Though we also miss out on Mormont’s final words to Sam, which include Get Ye Back to the Wall and tell Jorah I forgive him (but take the black, son. Too bad we missed out on that, but maybe it would be too cheesy visually.) The sister wives also help with the Sam/Gilly escape rather than Sam doing it on his own, but it all works very well on screen.
Lots of changes in King’s Landing. The Tywin/Cersei thing never happened in the books, yet Cersei’s coldness fits with her adaptation character, and I rather like how everything went down. (Anyone get the impression that those letters have something to do with “doing everything I can” to get Jaime back? :P /zips lips)
The biggest change in the story probably came from Varys. The big canon thing is the gelding tale that he tells to Tyrion, and his subsequent hatred for magic. He never has the sorcerer delivered to him, alas. (Talk about good timing for a “revenge” speech. :P) Varys also isn’t in cahoots with Ros—who doesn’t exist in canon—or Olenna, who comes to the decision on her own to marry Sansa to one of her grandsons (heir Willas, not Loras. Obviously easier to go for a cast character.) I like that Ros finally gets the chance to be more than sexposition—yaaay! Mixed feelings on Varys being Sansa’s secret benefactor—don’t really know enough about him personally to gauge if he’d feel so much sympathy for her in canon. But it’s true that he wouldn’t want Littlefinger to succeed.
Even Margaery/Sansa is kind of not canon, though they were friendly in the books. Perhaps not as personal, especially since Marg wasn’t so assertive about her queenship. In the book, Marg and Olenna break the idea of Sansa marrying Willas at their little lemon cake soiree. Obviously in the adaptation it’s more played out. I love Sophie’s acting here—she’s been so lonely for affection, for family. But I kinda wish they’d done away with the “porridge plague/I’m an idiot” stuff. There tends to be an escalating amount of the show calling her an “idiot,” though she's supposed to be older and more grounded than in the books. I rather wish they’d just kept her love of songs—also history and pageantry and etc! Sansa probably knows a fair bit about Highgarden herself, at least in the books. This isn't the worst of the Sansa-idiot talk, but ugh. One-dimensional drivel.
Certainly not canon, but I enjoyed the team in the sept. Margaery manipulating Joff/building her own powerbase is so much fun, but it pales in comparison to Olenna and Cersei discussing what it’s like to be women (and mothers) in Westeros. Killer performances by Dame Diana Rigg and Lena Headey. And Cersei’s obvious resentment about being a second class citizen plays into her issues with Tywin. (I don’t fully buy the “I don’t trust you because you’re a woman” BS, either. Tywin Lannister is the poster boy for only being ok with his socially acceptable child. Just wait until he finds out about the hand. :P)
Speaking of Jaime, he had limited but excellent screen time as a broken man. Nickolaj just nailed it, which must’ve been fun to play after two seasons of Ser Cockypants. :P But I take more issue with this storyline than usual because of Brienne’s dismissive line about women. (Ugh, maybe Pod the Sex God jokes aren’t so bad. :P) Some critics have shrugged this off as internalized sexism—possibly—but what happened to the woman who, last year, told Catelyn that motherhood was like “a woman’s courage”? Didn’t seem like she was ashamed of her gender then. I just don’t think it’s true to canon, plus we’ve no shortage of sexism in this universe, thanks. >.< Though her criticism of Jaime in all other respects was spot on. Pretty intriguing conversation about how to pick yourself up after a loss (something I imagine she’s still going through in regards to Renly and Stannis.)
Arya gets her moment of revenge, of sorts, this episode. Maisie really sells it. Must have been cathartic for her to get that off her chest, especially as it was the first injustice she ever faced (not to say that she hasn’t faced worse since.) Also a bit of a “gotcha” since Sandor was feeling pretty damn sure of his lack of guilt. This is all very true to the books; the big omission in Arya’s storyline continues to see a side of the BwB that isn’t about kidnapping nobles. :P Also, our second Beric Dondarrion (extra role in the first season,) is noticeably more lively than his counterpart in the books, but that’s no big thing. Secondary characters and all…I buy him in his role.
Oh, Theon. Honestly, it feels like stereotypical pieces in the “whodunit” plot. We’re moving past act one now, where we realize that the boy who we thought was our friend is in fact, not. :O It’s not true to canon, either; Theon’s captor didn’t play this caliber of game with him. All that being said…I love Alfie’s performance, soon. It’s probably a bit early, in canon terms, for him to regret so fully choosing his father over the Starks, but eh. It’ll come after lots more torture. Probably the biggest plot point to come out of this whole thing is how he told his supposed friend that the Stark boys are, in fact, still alive. Probably.
Wait, they are! :P Well, at least Bran is, and we can presume, Rickon. Still liking Bran’s dreams, which are less flighty and esoteric than canon, but they ground the audience by hearkening to past experiences and personifying his fears. (Catelyn is his sub-conscious warning him not to follow the bird, right? Of course right! :P Of course, some haters actually blame Cat for pushing Bran, as if she were actually there. >.< Freaking fandom, I swear.) It’s different from the books, but I think it works in this medium, particularly since they’re trying to slow down the Bran stuff (he doesn’t get as much written material as most of the other storylines.) The big takeaway is that he’s on a spiritual journey, and is slowly learning more about his own power. :D You go, Bran.
Next episode is penned by Bryan Cogman, a particular favorite in fandom (and a fanboy himself. :P) His episodes always tend to be strong.
___
Lots of revenge this episode, too. Varys and Tyrion, Arya with the Hound, Jaime…not so much with his captors, same with Theon, Rast with Craster and Mormont, then Daenerys just sweeps the floor with all of them. :P She basically waltzes in, last minute, and steals the show.
A strong episode over all. Only some minor quibbles from me!
Summary
The Riverlands
I’ll just keep them together this time. The Jaime/Brienne stuff goes first, and Arya follows once they’re finished.
A feverish and beaten down Jaime rides his horse with his hand around his neck. Locke’s men berate him. He falls into the mud. Brienne entices his captors to help, and they feed him horse piss (which might just be a joke; I mean, who collects horse piss in a canteen?) Jaime attempts to fight them left-handed; doesn’t work. Brienne attempts to get to him but is stopped. When he’s finally down again, Locke warns him to cut it out or he’s taking the other hand. Jaime just stares up from the ground, with his severed hand near his face.
They stop to make camp that night and the northmen basically leave Jaime and Brienne alone. Brienne entices him to live for revenge, but Jaime wonders what the point is; “my life was that hand,” he says of how he defined himself by his abilities with a sword. Brienne mocks him—you’ve had your first experience where something important is taken away, and you piss and moan “like a bloody woman.” (Ugh, Jaime/Brienne weren’t my faves for once.)
Later, the Brotherhood Without Banners leads blindfolded Arya and Gendry to their hidden encampment. Inside, the Hound is unveiled and everyone meets Beric Dondarrion—whom Ned sent out, two seasons ago, to sort Tywin’s massacre in the Riverlands. The men start laying heaps of blame at Sandor’s feet—for recent war atrocities and for the murder of the Targaryen babes that his brother committed. The Hound scoffs at all of this—split my throat, but don’t call me murderer! So Arya finally speaks up about Mycah. The Hound doesn’t deny his involvement, rather stands by it. “Not my place to question princes.” (Yeah, until fire’s involved, bub. :P) But as he’s accused of murder, it’s time for a trial by combat. Yeah, against whom? The Hound asks, taunting each of them about the possibility of death. Maybe Arya is the bravest among them…maybe, Dondarrion agrees, but it’s me you’ll fight.
The North
Bran runs, chasing the raven. The raven perches on a tree and Jojen appears next to the other boy, saying that he has to go after it. He starts to climb…but look, there’s Catelyn! Bran is elated, until his mother starts repeating her dialogue from the first episode of the season: “what have I told you? No climbing? NO CLIMBING!” It’s decidedly more urgent and aggressive than in the past…Catelyn starts to shake him with some “PROMISE MES!” and Bran falls, jolting himself from the dream. He and Jojen look at each other in disappointment.
Theon’s new friend leads him to the castle he calls Deepwood Motte, the place Asha/Yara laid siege to. The friend weaves a tale about how he watched Theon being taken away by Ned a decade past, and how basically he’s loyal to the lad. Theon wants to know if Balon knows what’s happening to him, as his tormentors told him, but the friend professes ignorance. They sneak into the castle, however, because some of the men inside are more loyal to Balon than Asha/Yara, apparently. Theon begins to spill his guts as the friend attempts to unlock some doors—he made the wrong choice by choosing Balon over Robb; “my real father died at King’s Landing,” he says soberly. He also lets loose that it wasn’t the Stark boys that he killed but two orphans, which seems to get the friend’s attention. They continue on, down dark passageways, but when the “friend” lights a torch Theon finds himself back at his old torture chamber. :O His companion tells those in the room that Theon escapes and killed the others. The men string him back up as Theon pleads in shock and in vain.
King’s Landing
Tyrion goes to visit Varys in order to get more definitive answers about whether or not Cersei ordered the attempt on his life during the Blackwater battle. Varys has no definitive answers, and is more interested in a large crate he is opening. He entices Tyrion to stay, however, and hear the story about how his genitals were cut. He was taken by a sorcerer in Lhys who cut them as part of a magic ritual; “a voice answered him from the flames.” This is why Varys is so opposed to magic, and why he fought beside Tyrion and against Stannis and Melissandre. As for revenge, he continues his tale about how it took him a long, unscrupulous time to gain the power he needed to exact his…in fact, the figure in the crate is none other than said sorcerer, a recent acquisition. “The revenge you seek will be yours in time,” he tells Tyrion, “if you have the stomach for it.”
Varys has several more appointments to make this episode—first with Ros. They discuss Pod the Sex God (ugh LET IT DIE!!!) Then they transition to Littlefinger who, as of late, is completely focused on his upcoming Vale trip. Varys wonders if he’s forgotten his interest in Sansa so quickly but this turns out not to be the case; Ros has deduced from a boat itinerary that he intends to bring her along. (He’s ordering two feather beds for the cabin.)
In regards to this, Varys goes to visit Olenna, in between berating her granddaughters and mocking the house crest. :P They play politics for awhile before sitting down to the idea of marrying Sansa to Loras. It would be a shame to let Littlefinger marry the key to the north, Varys says. He seems to care about Sansa, at least by way of being Ned’s daughter, and more importantly doesn’t want LF to get much power. “He’d burn down the country if he could be king over the ashes.” Olenna seems amenable to a marriage plan.
She sends Margaery to talk with Sansa, who prays at the stump of a weirwood tree rather than in the sept. Margaery sends the Lannister guards away by threatening them with Joffrey’s action, then tries to get out of Sansa what she prayed for. Sansa refuses to divulge, so Margaery goes into a gossipy remembrance about an older cousin, breaking down Sansa’s defenses. Marg offers her a trip to Highgarden, which Sansa balks at because “the Queen won’t let me leave the capital.” “The queen regent, you mean?” Margaery amends, reminding the girl that once she marries Joffrey, she’ll be queen. “And if you marry Loras…” Marg suggests slyly, watching Sansa’s face break into a surprised grin. “We’d be sisters, you and I.” Sansa seems elated by a romantic marriage, and the promise of new family.
Earlier, Olenna and Margaery met with Cersei and Joffrey at the sept to discuss wedding arrangements. Joff sticks to excitedly gory retellings of Targaryen bloodbaths; Marg overrides Cersei’s concerns and says she’d love to see them. Meanwhile, Cersei and Olenna fall into a conversation about how difficult it is to keep men from being foolish. “And yet the world belongs to them,” Cersei says. Ridiculous arrangement, Olenna poo-poos. Meanwhile, Marg does a good job at pulling Joffrey’s strings, first telling him that she believes sometimes severe actions lead to greatness, then enticing him to open the doors and greet the people. They love you, she promises. Well, actually they all seem to be cheering Margaery’s name, perhaps because her family brought the food, but Joff seems contented and Cersei seems freaked.
Later, Cersei is meeting with her father as he ignores her and writes more letters. She asks Tywin if he’s doing everything he can to find Jaime, well duh. :P She then gets into a resentful account about how Tywin trusts his boys more than her, but she’s the one who’s actually on the same page with him when it comes to family legacy. She tells him that the Tyrells are trouble; Marg is manipulating Joff. Tywin responds that the Tyrells saved the city—including the lives of her and her children—and it’s good that someone knows how to manipulate him. He’s none too impressed with Cersei, citing that she’s not as clever as she thinks she is. Cersei quietly challenges him to try and stop Joffrey from doing what he wants; Tywin says that he will do just that.
Craster’s Keep
Some of the Night’s Watchmen—Grenn and Edd at least—seem to have regained some humor while shoveling shit. Rast is not feeling so generous. He’s none too impressed with the food Craster dishes out at them, and reckons that once they leave he’ll gorge on something good for himself and have a good laugh, if not worse. He suggests, especially after having seen the White Walkers, that every man should fend for himself.
Sam goes to visit Gilly and her crying, unnamed baby, which only exacerbates the girl. She’s trying to keep it on the down low that he’s a boy, in order to keep him alive longer, and she gives Sam back his thimble. She only has time for the baby right now, she says firmly, cos he might not have much time. Sam leaves, dejected.
That night, the Night’s Watch have a funeral pyre for a fallen brother and Mormont says the name of the episode. :P Rast continues to be bitter, raising tensions around him. People comment that their roasting brother actually smells good. Inside the keep, Craster boasts to Mormont that he has 99 sons where the Lord Commander has just one (Jorah!) He starts threatening about the Night’s Watch moving on and being grateful for his hospitality already, lest throats get cut. The angry brothers start to call him out on that, demanding better food and calling him “bastard” while Mormont attempts to contain the rising situation. Craster threatens to kill whoever calls him “bastard” next, and the scene divulges into a bloodbath. As Craster lies dying and Mormont attempts to get his man to unhand a woman, Rast stabs him in the back. :O He’s able to get a chokehold on Rast for awhile but ultimately, his strength fails. Sam races outside to grab Gilly and the baby, and Rast calls taunts after him.
Astapor
Daenerys and crew roll into the slave quarter where the 8,000-plus Unsullied are waiting. Missendei translates suggestions from the masters about how to “blood them early” and maybe sell them back some slaves to make new Unsullied. Dany opens the dragon’s cage and leads Drogon to the masters with an iron chain. In return she gets a whip, which effectively transfers psychological ownership of the Unsullied over to her. She begins to speak to them in Valyrian! As Kraznys protests Drogon not obeying him, Dany answers in his tongue “a dragon is no one’s slave” while explaining to the stunned onlookers that Valyrian is her mother tongue. She orders her Unsullied to kill the masters, free the slaves and sack the village. Drogon helps with the burning, starting with Kraznys. Once Astapor is reduced to a smoldering ruin, Dany frees the Unsullied yet asks them to fight with her as free men. They tap their spears on the ground in thunderous unison. Jorah and Barristan certainly look happy. :P Dany negligently throws her slave whip away while the massive legions march out, all three dragons swooping in the sky. That is one scary-ass looking army. :P
Thoughts
I think first and foremost I have to praise the direction of the massacre scene, because it’s amazing what they did with an obviously limited budget. Both the “before” and “after” carried so much gravitas—I’m particularly fond of a small scene, though, where Jorah looks at Dany’s silhouette in the sunlight. All of this being said, this really isn’t my favorite time in Dany’s overall arc. :P Conquering is easy—too easy for Dany, with her dragons, with her army of impersonal slaves, with her multilingual abilities (really, Viserys taught her Valyrian? :P) It’s impressive by the sheer scale of it—nothing this cool is coming from those boring Westerosi kings. :P But I’m more a fan of her story to come past this season, when she stops conquering blindly and starts ruling with vision. Very true to canon.
The Night’s Watch stuff was smaller in scale, but equally as powerful, if not more so. I really bought the hunger and the desperation (and I appreciated the levity of “shoveling shit.” :P) The tableau with killing Craster—and more importantly Mormont—has always struck me as one of the horrible side effects of war. These men (well, most of them) aren’t horrible people. (Actually, in the book, the mutiny wasn’t as spontaneous, so maybe I should eat my words. :P) But mostly I think they’re just starved, desperate and scared. They’re the definition of “war makes monsters of us all.” Thank goodness we didn’t have to see any of the canon rapes, at least. :/ Though we also miss out on Mormont’s final words to Sam, which include Get Ye Back to the Wall and tell Jorah I forgive him (but take the black, son. Too bad we missed out on that, but maybe it would be too cheesy visually.) The sister wives also help with the Sam/Gilly escape rather than Sam doing it on his own, but it all works very well on screen.
Lots of changes in King’s Landing. The Tywin/Cersei thing never happened in the books, yet Cersei’s coldness fits with her adaptation character, and I rather like how everything went down. (Anyone get the impression that those letters have something to do with “doing everything I can” to get Jaime back? :P /zips lips)
The biggest change in the story probably came from Varys. The big canon thing is the gelding tale that he tells to Tyrion, and his subsequent hatred for magic. He never has the sorcerer delivered to him, alas. (Talk about good timing for a “revenge” speech. :P) Varys also isn’t in cahoots with Ros—who doesn’t exist in canon—or Olenna, who comes to the decision on her own to marry Sansa to one of her grandsons (heir Willas, not Loras. Obviously easier to go for a cast character.) I like that Ros finally gets the chance to be more than sexposition—yaaay! Mixed feelings on Varys being Sansa’s secret benefactor—don’t really know enough about him personally to gauge if he’d feel so much sympathy for her in canon. But it’s true that he wouldn’t want Littlefinger to succeed.
Even Margaery/Sansa is kind of not canon, though they were friendly in the books. Perhaps not as personal, especially since Marg wasn’t so assertive about her queenship. In the book, Marg and Olenna break the idea of Sansa marrying Willas at their little lemon cake soiree. Obviously in the adaptation it’s more played out. I love Sophie’s acting here—she’s been so lonely for affection, for family. But I kinda wish they’d done away with the “porridge plague/I’m an idiot” stuff. There tends to be an escalating amount of the show calling her an “idiot,” though she's supposed to be older and more grounded than in the books. I rather wish they’d just kept her love of songs—also history and pageantry and etc! Sansa probably knows a fair bit about Highgarden herself, at least in the books. This isn't the worst of the Sansa-idiot talk, but ugh. One-dimensional drivel.
Certainly not canon, but I enjoyed the team in the sept. Margaery manipulating Joff/building her own powerbase is so much fun, but it pales in comparison to Olenna and Cersei discussing what it’s like to be women (and mothers) in Westeros. Killer performances by Dame Diana Rigg and Lena Headey. And Cersei’s obvious resentment about being a second class citizen plays into her issues with Tywin. (I don’t fully buy the “I don’t trust you because you’re a woman” BS, either. Tywin Lannister is the poster boy for only being ok with his socially acceptable child. Just wait until he finds out about the hand. :P)
Speaking of Jaime, he had limited but excellent screen time as a broken man. Nickolaj just nailed it, which must’ve been fun to play after two seasons of Ser Cockypants. :P But I take more issue with this storyline than usual because of Brienne’s dismissive line about women. (Ugh, maybe Pod the Sex God jokes aren’t so bad. :P) Some critics have shrugged this off as internalized sexism—possibly—but what happened to the woman who, last year, told Catelyn that motherhood was like “a woman’s courage”? Didn’t seem like she was ashamed of her gender then. I just don’t think it’s true to canon, plus we’ve no shortage of sexism in this universe, thanks. >.< Though her criticism of Jaime in all other respects was spot on. Pretty intriguing conversation about how to pick yourself up after a loss (something I imagine she’s still going through in regards to Renly and Stannis.)
Arya gets her moment of revenge, of sorts, this episode. Maisie really sells it. Must have been cathartic for her to get that off her chest, especially as it was the first injustice she ever faced (not to say that she hasn’t faced worse since.) Also a bit of a “gotcha” since Sandor was feeling pretty damn sure of his lack of guilt. This is all very true to the books; the big omission in Arya’s storyline continues to see a side of the BwB that isn’t about kidnapping nobles. :P Also, our second Beric Dondarrion (extra role in the first season,) is noticeably more lively than his counterpart in the books, but that’s no big thing. Secondary characters and all…I buy him in his role.
Oh, Theon. Honestly, it feels like stereotypical pieces in the “whodunit” plot. We’re moving past act one now, where we realize that the boy who we thought was our friend is in fact, not. :O It’s not true to canon, either; Theon’s captor didn’t play this caliber of game with him. All that being said…I love Alfie’s performance, soon. It’s probably a bit early, in canon terms, for him to regret so fully choosing his father over the Starks, but eh. It’ll come after lots more torture. Probably the biggest plot point to come out of this whole thing is how he told his supposed friend that the Stark boys are, in fact, still alive. Probably.
Wait, they are! :P Well, at least Bran is, and we can presume, Rickon. Still liking Bran’s dreams, which are less flighty and esoteric than canon, but they ground the audience by hearkening to past experiences and personifying his fears. (Catelyn is his sub-conscious warning him not to follow the bird, right? Of course right! :P Of course, some haters actually blame Cat for pushing Bran, as if she were actually there. >.< Freaking fandom, I swear.) It’s different from the books, but I think it works in this medium, particularly since they’re trying to slow down the Bran stuff (he doesn’t get as much written material as most of the other storylines.) The big takeaway is that he’s on a spiritual journey, and is slowly learning more about his own power. :D You go, Bran.
Next episode is penned by Bryan Cogman, a particular favorite in fandom (and a fanboy himself. :P) His episodes always tend to be strong.
___
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}