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scifi_rewatchNamed for an element in my favorite magical storyline, Bran’s arc was…mostly ok. :P I’ve grown a little more critical since my first viewing, but not much. Mostly I’m sad that we won’t be seeing them again in season five. :( *pours out some Dornish wine* :P I’ll always love this scene, especially hearing some fantasy-rich iconic lines from a certain mystical being, though I reserve my right to minor quibbles, lol.
Big episode of loss when it came to our three main characters—arguably Jon, Daenerys and Tyrion. Handled pretty well in regards to emotional gravitas. Even—and I know this is a rare opinion from me—some improvements to book content. :O
Some “sullied” fans were disappointed by the lack of certain canon elements, but I’m actually on board with the changes. Probably my biggest beef was with Shae, but I’m slowly making my peace with it.
It was a strong episode, imho; I cried and Sansa wasn’t even in it, although we got some intriguing sisterly parallels with Arya. Broadly speaking, I’ve been very happy with the character and thematic beats to season four; definitely my favorite yet.
Summary
The Night’s Watch
Jon continues his trek northward from last eppy. Edd sees him as a spec on the ground, walking amidst the carnage of war. In the woods the wildlings surround him and he puts his hands up as he approaches Mance’s tent. Mance, of course, immediately knows that Jon lied to him about his allegiance last season; he’s wearing black again, after all. Inside, Jon claims to want to make a deal, but Mance knows that the Night’s Watch is spent; he’s already sent hundreds more men up the Wall, in fact. They speak briefly of and drink to the dead—Ygritte, whom Jon loved; the giant in the tunnel, who was the last of a bloodline spanning before humans; and his killer, Grenn, who came from a farm. Things grow a little more tense when Mance notes Jon’s shifty eyes and figures out the truth—Jon came to try and kill him. Even more shocking—to both parties—there’s violence afoot outside! They leave the tent to find wildlings being slaughtered—by none other than Stannis Baratheon and troops.
Stannis and Mance attempt to negotiate surrender when free folk won’t kneel to anyone. Davos realizes that Jon is Night’s Watch, and the boy introduces himself to Stannis as Ned’s son. Stannis asks Jon how Ned would handle Mance, to which Jon replies that Mance had been a kind jailer to him; Ned would take him prisoner and listen to his words. Mance is obviously surprised by this chain of events. Jon also tells Stannis to burn the dead bodies, for reasons the audience already knows.
Later, Aemon presides and the Night’s Watch burns their brothers, including, of course, Pyp and Grenn. Stannis, Selyse and Shireen watch from one story up, but Melissandre is close to the fire. She and Jon share a look. Jon later goes to Tormund, who is curious, to say the least, about his fate, but Jon doesn’t know what will happen to him. He figures Stannis will decide. They share some knowing dialogue about the fact that Jon’s too much like the free folk now; he doesn’t want to kneel to a king. Jon also wants to know if Tormund wants to say any words over his dead; Tormund poo-poos this entire idea. He does say that Ygritte, who obviously loved Jon, deserves to be put on a pyre in “the real north.” So that’s what Jon does from her, turning away after he’s lit the fire, with tears in his eyes.
Meereen
Dany’s supplicants continue to test her. The first is a former slave—an older, educated man who was a tutor to some children of a household. He doesn’t want to live in barracks with recently-freed younger slaves who hurt their elders for what they want; he desires to return to his former home. With trepidation, Daenerys allows him to draw up a contract with his former master for one year only, which Barristan remarks is slavery in all but name.
The second supplicant is even harder. Shaking and crying he lays the charred bones of his daughter before her; killed recently by Drogon. Alone, Dany stiffly asks Missandei for information on the child, then confirms with Grey Worm that Drogon is currently missing. Her other two dragons are accounted for, however, and she has her Unsullied soldier meet her in the catacombs. There, she lures Rheagal and Viserion with food, chaining their necks while they’re busy eating. As she turns to leave, they squack angrily at her. Grief is written on her face as she closes the stone door on them.
Beyond the Wall
Jojen can barely stand, but he insists to his hovering sister that there’s no reason to rest; they’re almost to their destination. Sure enough, Bran soon spots the tree from his visions! The group slowly makes their way towards it…but then they are stopped by a band of skeleton warriors. Meera and Summer fight, and Bran wargs into Hodor to help. Unfortunately they are too outnumbered and Jojen is too weak to participate; at one point, Meera turns to see her brother being stabbed repeatedly in the chest.
Around this time, a child-like figure starts hurling fireballs, telling Bran and co to follow her if they want to leave. Jojen, however, is “lost.” He uses his final moments to encourage Meera to go with them and save herself. As an act of mercy, Meera kills her brother before he can be tortured any longer. The child then throws another fireball on top of him anyway, and everyone else finds shelter inside of the tree. The skeletons crash to pieces at the entrance because their magic won’t work here.
Inside, they follow some cavernous, living passageways to a raised platform covered with branches. Somewhere underneath, a man—the three eyed raven who called them here—says he’s been awaiting Bran’s arrival. He assures the grieving Meera that Jojen knew what would happen, yet he chose to do this. The objective here is to reunite Bran with something he’s lost. This makes the boy excited; does this mean he’ll walk again? “You will never walk again,” the three eyed raven says. “But you will fly.”
King’s Landing
Cersei gathers with Qyburn and Pycelle over the mostly dead body of Gregor Clegane; Pycelle is incensed by this entire display, until Cersei dismisses him from his own chamber. Qyburn contends that if the man comes back to life he’ll be altered but not in strength. That’s good enough for the Queen Regent.
Alone with her father, she reneges on her promise to marry Loras Tyrell. Tywin initially poo-poos this, and reminds her that with her brothers no longer able to carry the family line (Tyrion is to be executed the next day, in fact), the burden’s on her shoulders to prove herself. But Cersei isn’t interested in what Tywin believes she should consider family—she’s interested in who she considers family, namely Tommen and Jaime. Anyone else who wants to sink their claws into her son—namely Tywin and Margaery—with their own agendas will have to contend with her. Tywin isn’t going to win this argument, either, because Cersei pulls out the trump card. It’s the one thing that he’s never allowed himself to believe, or see; Jaime and Cersei’s affair. Admitting to it publicly would of course be the death of the Lannister name.
She seeks out Jaime in the knights’ quarters, pouring over the book of deeds. He’s still more than a little annoyed with her, thanks to Tyrion business, but Cersei is long past caring about that; the cancer has been cut out. She cares about Jaime, and she shocks him by admitting that she outed them to Tywin. Her declarations of love to him—along with physical reinforcement—ultimately puts him over the edge, and he prepares to take her there, once she assures him she no longer cares about being caught.
Later, Jaime pledges his allegiance to his second sibling as well—by springing him from jail! They walk through the King’s Landing tunnels for awhile until Jaime must part ways—Varys will be waiting to escort Tyrion to safety. The brothers share one final goodbye hug. Tyrion initially goes on his way but then he pauses, somewhere near the rooms of the Hand of the King. He creeps up and in towards his father’s bed, finding no other than Shae inside, referring to Tywin as “my lion!” After the two of them stare at each other in shock for awhile, they take up arms against each other—and Tyrion ends up strangling her with the Hand of the King medallion she’s wearing.
Distraught, his attention is next caught by a crossbow. He corners his father in the bathroom of all places. Tywin attempts to play it cool, assuring his son that he’d never allow him to be executed. They can go outside and talk about this. Tyrion refuses; he’s killed Shae, he loves Shae, he can’t be in there with her. Tywin easily dismisses the idea of feeling that bad about the death of a whore; Tyrion threatens that if Tywin uses that word again, he’ll get a bolt in him. They talk of Tywin’s lifelong mission to kill his son, which the elder Lannister attempts to smooth over with, I respect you for fighting for what’s yours. Of course, without even thinking about it, Tywin again drops the word “whore” in conversation, and Tyrion shoots him in the chest! Shocked as much as he’s in pain, the man grits out “you’re not my son.” “I am your son,” Tyrion replies after carefully reloading, and impaling his father with the killing shot.
Finally, he makes his way to Varys, who knows immediately that something’s happened. Still, he seals Tyrion in a box to be shipped somewhere beyond the Narrow Sea. Varys watches the ship being loaded and turns to leave, but that’s when the Red Keep bells start ringing. He changes his mind, and boards the boat himself.
The Vale
Brienne wakes up to discover that Pod apparently didn’t secure the horses properly; they’re gone. Guess he’ll be carrying their saddlebags to the Eyrie. :P They walk for awhile, ultimately coming across Arya practicing her water dancing. At first a little wary, Arya ultimately opens up to Brienne about being a woman who knows how to fight. All smiles are gone, however, once the Hound makes an appearance and Pod recognizes him…ergo Arya’s identity is also revealed.
Arya feels no sudden loyalty to this non-northern woman who claims she made a vow to the dead Catelyn Stark. The Hound quite immediately notes all of the Lannister gold she’s wearing, and Brienne is having trouble explaining herself. Arya wants nothing to do with her, and maybe doesn’t even believe in Brienne’s idea of safety anymore. Her mentor, the Hound, points out that if Brienne still believes in safety after everything Arya’s lost (including her aunt, he divulges,) then she’s a dumb bitch. Brienne is no less impressed by the Hound, assuming their strange arrangement of camaraderie is total bullshit. With Arya refusing to come to her and Sandor standing in the way anyway, the two begin to fight. They start with their swords, until Sandor’s on the ground and yet cuts his hands on her Valyrian steel, and the fight turns far more physical. He kicks her hard in the shins, but she ends up biting his ear off and hitting him so hard in rapid succession that he falls down the side of a cliff. Guess that ends that.
Except that somewhere in the interim, Arya’s disappeared. Pod was too busy watching Brienne, in case she needed assistance, to keep his eye on the Stark girl. The twosome walk in the wrong direction, calling out to the girl desperately, while Arya hides behind some rocks. She then goes to regard the Hound, who is obviously dying of his wounds. He asks her for mercy—a stab to the heart like he’s shown her—but she doesn’t move. He reminds her that he’s on her list of people to kill; then he goes into detail about Mycah’s death; finally he claims to have wanted to rape Sansa at the Blackwater. But instead of offering mercy, Arya steals his money bag and walks dispassionately away, even as he screams out behind her “kill me! Kill me!”
Later, she rides a pony to where some ships are collecting salt for trade. She approaches a captain and asks for passage to the Wall; the captain scoffs at this since the north has nothing but ice, war and pirates. The only place he’s going is home, aka Braavos. The words click for Arya and she pulls out Jaqen’s coin, uttering the words “Valar Morghulis.” “Valar Dohaires,” the captain responds, and he offers her a cabin. As the music takes us out for season four, Arya’s on the deck and sailing away from Westeros.
Thoughts
I’ll get this out of the way first—I’m pissed with how they ignored the whole Arya at the Eyrie complications thing. :P I mean I know none of this happened in the book, and they had to get the girl onto her Braavosi ship and all (and yes, Arya and Sansa actually being aware of their proximity would be a huge wrench in the machine), but from a rational standpoint what are we supposed to think? That the Bloody Gate guards turned Arya away just because her aunt was dead? She’s still a very important highborn person, and her cousin is still alive. I could definitely buy Littlefinger turning her away, but dammit, they just ignored all of this outright! Aurgh.
Sansa and Arya may not be reunited physically, but emotionally they are much in the same place. In fact, I wrote a blog entry about this very topic. :P The girls are both at the “student surpassing the master” phase. Sansa out-manipulated Littlefinger when it came to the Lysa death rouse, and Arya embraces nihilism with the dying Hound; she steals from him and leaves him to die. Both girls are also eschewing the philosophies of their parents—Sansa lies to save her own skin, and Arya refuses to dole out mercy. If that’s not enough, both refuse agents of their parents—Lord Royce was a friend of Ned’s and Brienne was charged by Catelyn to keep her girls safe. All of this is enough for me to wish that these Arya sequences really happened in the books. :P To say nothing of Maisie’s amazing performance, both with Rory and with encountering Gwendoline. (In canon she also leaves him to die, of the infectious wounds he got at the inn. She’s also far more haunted and angry about her mother’s passing, in some of my favorite, most harrowing book narrative. Guuh.)
Brienne’s aggressive brutality is to be expected from the show character by this point—being the first to draw her blade, biting off Sandor’s ear for pete’s sake—not something the more naively romantic book character might do. If Brienne’s naiveté came out in this scene, it was by completely butchering any sense of a good answer to give Arya about her albeit complicated journey to find the girl. But come on, Brienne, couldn’t you say SOMETHING about Ice, or Jaime’s true nature…ok, I guess not. :P
There’s little more to add about Arya’s new journey, except that in the absence of finding a way to get to the only family she can still pinpoint, she decides it’s time to turn over a new leaf. Her Stark days, broadly speaking, are behind her, and she’s about to start a completely new (and I assume canonical) chapter of her life. I wasn’t expecting her to take out the season, but oh boy does it work.
Let’s go back to the Wall! In the novel Jon is met by Tormund first, since he fought with Mance and wasn’t captured at Castle Black. They’re the ones who have the conversation about the various dead…such a great conversation. No matter who you were, death is still death. Mance offers Jon the Horn of Winter if the wildlings can have safe passage south; a magical horn that is claimed to have power to destroy the Wall, amongst other things. Guess the showrunners didn’t want to get into that complication. The social component remains the same—the free folk just want to live in peace and safety, away from the White Walkers. They also want to keep their old customs. The most Jewish moment of this entire series was when Mance told Stannis “we do not kneel.” :P
And yes, of course the Stannis thing is canon, and they finally got to the north! Davos is supposed to be at the Eastwatch tower on the Wall, but you know, familiar faces and all. :P The surrender (albeit after a longer and more detailed fight in the book), and Jon and Stannis’s conversation about Ned, is pretty true to course.
Things deviate again with the funerals, which we don’t see in the books. Selyse and Shireen are supposed to be at Eastwatch with Davos right now, but Melissandre is here and new relationships are certainly forming. I appreciate, of course, that she’s drawn to the fire. The Tormund/Jon conversation doesn’t happen, though it does provide some character nuance for where Jon is right now, somewhere stuck between free folk and Night’s Watch. He likely wouldn’t have burned Ygritte beyond the Wall, but of course that (along with the wonderful music) gives something a little extra to his grief. I was really taken by Kit’s acting here—this is the first time that his sorrow isn’t tied to some chip-on-the-shoulder thing. He truly loved her—and lost her, in front of his own eyes this time. No far off deaths like for Ned and Robb; this one he had to face. My one quibble is that they changed her outfit—made it more feminine by exposing her shoulder. They should have just kept her as she was, not turned her into something else. Though I suppose death changes peoples’ perceptions of one another…but that’s a tangent. :P
Daenerys is facing a similar sense of loss in her situation, beyond banishing Jorah, who isn’t mentioned this ep. Her conversation with the former slave, Fennesz, is reminiscent of something in canon where formerly wealthy/now destitute Meereenese want to enter the market as educated slaves. Honestly, this idea seems more feasible to me than a former slave wanting to re-enter slavery. Sure he can tutor kids again, but shouldn’t there be some sort of law/market economy in place for him to be paid for his services? Maybe I’m expecting too much too quickly from our queen. :P The destitute Meereense were explicitly looking to be bought by foreign merchants, because there is no slavery or indentured servitude anymore in Meereen. The show was trying to make it more personal, I think—the older you are the less you like change, plus even former slaves can set up some sort of mob to gain more power at the expense of those weaker than them. I dunno, the whole Barristan comment throws me off. If Dany wants to steer clear of “slavery in everything but name,” why not demand that some sort of payment must be included in the contract?
Obviously the slain child is a far bigger deal anyway—and truer to canon, too. Drogon kills his first human child—something that cannot be repaid with money—and Daenerys comes to a painful decision. She must break her own vows—enslave her own children for the greater good of everyone. And I know this scene was mostly CGI, but with the music and Emilia’s grief and even the angry squeals of the dragons, I was crying bigtime. :/ Talk about Dany’s most difficult challenge yet. What an amazing season from this character—from badass conqueror to complicated human who must battle with her own convictions. (Very minor quibble—I feel like the Dany/Missandei scene about the little girl sounds too awkward and forced.) Also, minor deviations about how Rhaegal and Viserion are captured and how Drogon eludes capture, but whatevs.
Tyrion, perhaps, lost the most of anyone, even without being executed. He loses the woman he loves, and he loses his home, though that was inevitable by now. I’d say he lost his father, though he never really had him anyway. Still, it likely costs something to slay the man. His death, in the book, has a lot more poetic justice in the disgusting category, because the final arrow goes in his groin so that Tywin defecates as he dies, and indeed he does not “shit gold.” (Not to mention the poetic justice of Joffrey’s crossbow.) :P Somehow this was too gross for the show to do, lol. And anyone who embraced Tywin Lannister as an untouchable, unemotional badass can now suck it, cos treating his kid like shit finally bit him in the shitter. :p. Not seeing your children as people in their own rights can be as much of a weakness as any faulty battle move, should be the moral of Tywin’s death, imho.
The big excise from the Tyrion arc was Tysha, his first wife, referenced in season one. In the book, Jaime admits to him at this time that Tysha wasn’t a whore, that she actually loved him unconditionally, but everyone lied to him in order to break up the union. Tyrion is so hurt by this betrayal that he tells Jaime Cersei slept around while he was Robb’s prisoner, and he cops to Joffrey’s murder, among promising revenge if they meet again. (Granted, on the show, now that relationship isn’t in a bad place like in the books.) He then enacts that revenge on Tywin, not talking about Shae but rather about Tysha.
To me, moving from Tysha to Shae is a marked improvement. Tysha is an object—to us as readers and to Tyrion himself—about how his family members wronged him. Shae was a person whom we knew, who started as a whore, became a lover, and then a scorned lover, tragically. We saw her in scenes without Tyrion, asserting her own desires and identity. Shae in the books was always a whore, but Shae on the show only went back to it once Tyrion cast her out. The two of them wronged each other, rather than Tysha being the innocent tool that Jaime and Tywin used to wrong Tyrion. I’m even growing more ok with her death scene, that she didn’t get any last words, because how could she explain away their tragic love affair without lies? Shae in the book lied to try and save her own skin, because there wasn’t anything genuine between her and Tyrion. I still wish they handled her relationship with Sansa more consistently, but I’m growing to appreciate what they did with her love affair. It makes Tyrion a more well-rounded character, too, because his relationship with Shae was far more drawn out, and dare I say realistically heart-rending, than the backstory of Tysha’s gang rape.
Cersei is another character who I appreciate more in the show than the books at this time. Her loyalty to other people (that being, two other people,) is stronger here—in the books she’d never admit to her incest. But on the show, she loves Jaime, and certainly Tommen, more than her pride. In the books, she’s disgusted by Tommen’s “weakness” and wants him to be more like Joffrey. On the show, her relationship to her eldest was more complicated because she knew he was a monster but she loved him anyway. On the show, she actually seems to respect Tommen’s kindness. All that being said, she still wants her son to listen to her alone; any influence from people she doesn’t trust, which is most of the world and certainly her father and Margaery, is attempts at manipulation and sabotage. Cersei draws her circle of trust so tight that she’s even justified killing her baby brother several times over, to say nothing of the crazy Fraken-Gregor shit she’s up to. :P That part, at least, is canon.
In the books she goes to Tywin to get Jaime out of the Kingsguard so that he can carry on the family line and she won’t have to marry. Then the twins have an ugly break because Jaime refuses to sleep with her in a semi-public place, rather than going for it, like in the show. So basically, Jaime’s on far better terms with both of his siblings here. :P I appreciate this Cersei much more. She’s still a villain, justifying pain and death to most of the populace, but her allegiance isn’t to her own vanity and narcissism. She’s still looking for love and companionship, from Jaime and especially from her children. Also, Lena nailed those scenes, perhaps especially with Charles as Cersei lays out her raw feelings.
Speaking of raw feelings, Peter with Charles, talking over Tywin’s lifelong abuse of his son, was also so wonderfully executed. Damn, Charles Dance really went out with a bang in terms of powerful scenes. :P Finally, unlike in the books, Varys chooses to accompany his friend across the Narrow Sea. He does, however, go into hiding after Tywin’s murder. I suppose this is a way to keep the character more in the forefront of the action, so to speak.
Finally, Bran, my winged wolf! So much I love, and so much that’s not so much. :P The skeletons were just hokey, and I wish they were regular wights like in the books. Jojen’s death didn’t happen like that (in the books there’s a theory that he’s been turned into a paste that Bran eats as part of his new greenseeing training.) I’m somewhat okay with Jojen having to die for Bran to achieve his full power; to steal from ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” “all magic comes with a price.” Or to be more poetic and canonical, “only death can pay for life.” I just wish it were more intrinsic to the rest of this mythological plot than just being stabbed by random skeletons. I loved his final moments with Meera, however; great work by both Thomas and Ellie in dealing with their sudden losses.
I was rather hoping that the children of the forest would look a little less human, but eh. (Also, she was supposed to light wights on fire like a torch by touching them, not throw fireballs.) I’m more disappointed with “the three eyed raven,” called Bloodraven in the books. He was supposed to be translucent, ghostlike, literally part of the tree. For all the great elusive ambiance with the setting and music, that guy was just a dude sitting in some branches. :P Gah, the dialogue, though. Been waiting years to hear that. You can keep your Tysha or your Lady Stoneheart (warning: don’t google if you don’t want major spoilers! Might not happen on the show at all, just in case. Some fans are disappointed—I think the show has more important focuses.)
We do lose a little bit of Bran in translation from book to screen. Of course he’s too old now to cry when “the three eyed raven” says he’ll never walk again. I miss his sense of wonder, his boyish longing for the past, although we got a little of that in the beginning with his warging into Summer in order to run. Mostly I’m sad that he won’t be with us in season five, very very sad. :( Have I said that? :P I still mean it! Bran’s chapters are filled with the sort of mythological narration that wouldn’t transfer well to screen (especially since the show ignores most manner of prophecies anyway,) but it’s good stuff on paper. Plus, when you’re Team Stark, you kinda wanna see the Starks. :P Our numbers are now down to Arya, Sansa, and Jon, sorta. :P Bran was our first POV…I expect he’ll be our last. The showrunners say we will see him again when he’s more through his new journey, but alas. Don’t take too long, winged wolf.
Big episode of loss when it came to our three main characters—arguably Jon, Daenerys and Tyrion. Handled pretty well in regards to emotional gravitas. Even—and I know this is a rare opinion from me—some improvements to book content. :O
Some “sullied” fans were disappointed by the lack of certain canon elements, but I’m actually on board with the changes. Probably my biggest beef was with Shae, but I’m slowly making my peace with it.
It was a strong episode, imho; I cried and Sansa wasn’t even in it, although we got some intriguing sisterly parallels with Arya. Broadly speaking, I’ve been very happy with the character and thematic beats to season four; definitely my favorite yet.
Summary
The Night’s Watch
Jon continues his trek northward from last eppy. Edd sees him as a spec on the ground, walking amidst the carnage of war. In the woods the wildlings surround him and he puts his hands up as he approaches Mance’s tent. Mance, of course, immediately knows that Jon lied to him about his allegiance last season; he’s wearing black again, after all. Inside, Jon claims to want to make a deal, but Mance knows that the Night’s Watch is spent; he’s already sent hundreds more men up the Wall, in fact. They speak briefly of and drink to the dead—Ygritte, whom Jon loved; the giant in the tunnel, who was the last of a bloodline spanning before humans; and his killer, Grenn, who came from a farm. Things grow a little more tense when Mance notes Jon’s shifty eyes and figures out the truth—Jon came to try and kill him. Even more shocking—to both parties—there’s violence afoot outside! They leave the tent to find wildlings being slaughtered—by none other than Stannis Baratheon and troops.
Stannis and Mance attempt to negotiate surrender when free folk won’t kneel to anyone. Davos realizes that Jon is Night’s Watch, and the boy introduces himself to Stannis as Ned’s son. Stannis asks Jon how Ned would handle Mance, to which Jon replies that Mance had been a kind jailer to him; Ned would take him prisoner and listen to his words. Mance is obviously surprised by this chain of events. Jon also tells Stannis to burn the dead bodies, for reasons the audience already knows.
Later, Aemon presides and the Night’s Watch burns their brothers, including, of course, Pyp and Grenn. Stannis, Selyse and Shireen watch from one story up, but Melissandre is close to the fire. She and Jon share a look. Jon later goes to Tormund, who is curious, to say the least, about his fate, but Jon doesn’t know what will happen to him. He figures Stannis will decide. They share some knowing dialogue about the fact that Jon’s too much like the free folk now; he doesn’t want to kneel to a king. Jon also wants to know if Tormund wants to say any words over his dead; Tormund poo-poos this entire idea. He does say that Ygritte, who obviously loved Jon, deserves to be put on a pyre in “the real north.” So that’s what Jon does from her, turning away after he’s lit the fire, with tears in his eyes.
Meereen
Dany’s supplicants continue to test her. The first is a former slave—an older, educated man who was a tutor to some children of a household. He doesn’t want to live in barracks with recently-freed younger slaves who hurt their elders for what they want; he desires to return to his former home. With trepidation, Daenerys allows him to draw up a contract with his former master for one year only, which Barristan remarks is slavery in all but name.
The second supplicant is even harder. Shaking and crying he lays the charred bones of his daughter before her; killed recently by Drogon. Alone, Dany stiffly asks Missandei for information on the child, then confirms with Grey Worm that Drogon is currently missing. Her other two dragons are accounted for, however, and she has her Unsullied soldier meet her in the catacombs. There, she lures Rheagal and Viserion with food, chaining their necks while they’re busy eating. As she turns to leave, they squack angrily at her. Grief is written on her face as she closes the stone door on them.
Beyond the Wall
Jojen can barely stand, but he insists to his hovering sister that there’s no reason to rest; they’re almost to their destination. Sure enough, Bran soon spots the tree from his visions! The group slowly makes their way towards it…but then they are stopped by a band of skeleton warriors. Meera and Summer fight, and Bran wargs into Hodor to help. Unfortunately they are too outnumbered and Jojen is too weak to participate; at one point, Meera turns to see her brother being stabbed repeatedly in the chest.
Around this time, a child-like figure starts hurling fireballs, telling Bran and co to follow her if they want to leave. Jojen, however, is “lost.” He uses his final moments to encourage Meera to go with them and save herself. As an act of mercy, Meera kills her brother before he can be tortured any longer. The child then throws another fireball on top of him anyway, and everyone else finds shelter inside of the tree. The skeletons crash to pieces at the entrance because their magic won’t work here.
Inside, they follow some cavernous, living passageways to a raised platform covered with branches. Somewhere underneath, a man—the three eyed raven who called them here—says he’s been awaiting Bran’s arrival. He assures the grieving Meera that Jojen knew what would happen, yet he chose to do this. The objective here is to reunite Bran with something he’s lost. This makes the boy excited; does this mean he’ll walk again? “You will never walk again,” the three eyed raven says. “But you will fly.”
King’s Landing
Cersei gathers with Qyburn and Pycelle over the mostly dead body of Gregor Clegane; Pycelle is incensed by this entire display, until Cersei dismisses him from his own chamber. Qyburn contends that if the man comes back to life he’ll be altered but not in strength. That’s good enough for the Queen Regent.
Alone with her father, she reneges on her promise to marry Loras Tyrell. Tywin initially poo-poos this, and reminds her that with her brothers no longer able to carry the family line (Tyrion is to be executed the next day, in fact), the burden’s on her shoulders to prove herself. But Cersei isn’t interested in what Tywin believes she should consider family—she’s interested in who she considers family, namely Tommen and Jaime. Anyone else who wants to sink their claws into her son—namely Tywin and Margaery—with their own agendas will have to contend with her. Tywin isn’t going to win this argument, either, because Cersei pulls out the trump card. It’s the one thing that he’s never allowed himself to believe, or see; Jaime and Cersei’s affair. Admitting to it publicly would of course be the death of the Lannister name.
She seeks out Jaime in the knights’ quarters, pouring over the book of deeds. He’s still more than a little annoyed with her, thanks to Tyrion business, but Cersei is long past caring about that; the cancer has been cut out. She cares about Jaime, and she shocks him by admitting that she outed them to Tywin. Her declarations of love to him—along with physical reinforcement—ultimately puts him over the edge, and he prepares to take her there, once she assures him she no longer cares about being caught.
Later, Jaime pledges his allegiance to his second sibling as well—by springing him from jail! They walk through the King’s Landing tunnels for awhile until Jaime must part ways—Varys will be waiting to escort Tyrion to safety. The brothers share one final goodbye hug. Tyrion initially goes on his way but then he pauses, somewhere near the rooms of the Hand of the King. He creeps up and in towards his father’s bed, finding no other than Shae inside, referring to Tywin as “my lion!” After the two of them stare at each other in shock for awhile, they take up arms against each other—and Tyrion ends up strangling her with the Hand of the King medallion she’s wearing.
Distraught, his attention is next caught by a crossbow. He corners his father in the bathroom of all places. Tywin attempts to play it cool, assuring his son that he’d never allow him to be executed. They can go outside and talk about this. Tyrion refuses; he’s killed Shae, he loves Shae, he can’t be in there with her. Tywin easily dismisses the idea of feeling that bad about the death of a whore; Tyrion threatens that if Tywin uses that word again, he’ll get a bolt in him. They talk of Tywin’s lifelong mission to kill his son, which the elder Lannister attempts to smooth over with, I respect you for fighting for what’s yours. Of course, without even thinking about it, Tywin again drops the word “whore” in conversation, and Tyrion shoots him in the chest! Shocked as much as he’s in pain, the man grits out “you’re not my son.” “I am your son,” Tyrion replies after carefully reloading, and impaling his father with the killing shot.
Finally, he makes his way to Varys, who knows immediately that something’s happened. Still, he seals Tyrion in a box to be shipped somewhere beyond the Narrow Sea. Varys watches the ship being loaded and turns to leave, but that’s when the Red Keep bells start ringing. He changes his mind, and boards the boat himself.
The Vale
Brienne wakes up to discover that Pod apparently didn’t secure the horses properly; they’re gone. Guess he’ll be carrying their saddlebags to the Eyrie. :P They walk for awhile, ultimately coming across Arya practicing her water dancing. At first a little wary, Arya ultimately opens up to Brienne about being a woman who knows how to fight. All smiles are gone, however, once the Hound makes an appearance and Pod recognizes him…ergo Arya’s identity is also revealed.
Arya feels no sudden loyalty to this non-northern woman who claims she made a vow to the dead Catelyn Stark. The Hound quite immediately notes all of the Lannister gold she’s wearing, and Brienne is having trouble explaining herself. Arya wants nothing to do with her, and maybe doesn’t even believe in Brienne’s idea of safety anymore. Her mentor, the Hound, points out that if Brienne still believes in safety after everything Arya’s lost (including her aunt, he divulges,) then she’s a dumb bitch. Brienne is no less impressed by the Hound, assuming their strange arrangement of camaraderie is total bullshit. With Arya refusing to come to her and Sandor standing in the way anyway, the two begin to fight. They start with their swords, until Sandor’s on the ground and yet cuts his hands on her Valyrian steel, and the fight turns far more physical. He kicks her hard in the shins, but she ends up biting his ear off and hitting him so hard in rapid succession that he falls down the side of a cliff. Guess that ends that.
Except that somewhere in the interim, Arya’s disappeared. Pod was too busy watching Brienne, in case she needed assistance, to keep his eye on the Stark girl. The twosome walk in the wrong direction, calling out to the girl desperately, while Arya hides behind some rocks. She then goes to regard the Hound, who is obviously dying of his wounds. He asks her for mercy—a stab to the heart like he’s shown her—but she doesn’t move. He reminds her that he’s on her list of people to kill; then he goes into detail about Mycah’s death; finally he claims to have wanted to rape Sansa at the Blackwater. But instead of offering mercy, Arya steals his money bag and walks dispassionately away, even as he screams out behind her “kill me! Kill me!”
Later, she rides a pony to where some ships are collecting salt for trade. She approaches a captain and asks for passage to the Wall; the captain scoffs at this since the north has nothing but ice, war and pirates. The only place he’s going is home, aka Braavos. The words click for Arya and she pulls out Jaqen’s coin, uttering the words “Valar Morghulis.” “Valar Dohaires,” the captain responds, and he offers her a cabin. As the music takes us out for season four, Arya’s on the deck and sailing away from Westeros.
Thoughts
I’ll get this out of the way first—I’m pissed with how they ignored the whole Arya at the Eyrie complications thing. :P I mean I know none of this happened in the book, and they had to get the girl onto her Braavosi ship and all (and yes, Arya and Sansa actually being aware of their proximity would be a huge wrench in the machine), but from a rational standpoint what are we supposed to think? That the Bloody Gate guards turned Arya away just because her aunt was dead? She’s still a very important highborn person, and her cousin is still alive. I could definitely buy Littlefinger turning her away, but dammit, they just ignored all of this outright! Aurgh.
Sansa and Arya may not be reunited physically, but emotionally they are much in the same place. In fact, I wrote a blog entry about this very topic. :P The girls are both at the “student surpassing the master” phase. Sansa out-manipulated Littlefinger when it came to the Lysa death rouse, and Arya embraces nihilism with the dying Hound; she steals from him and leaves him to die. Both girls are also eschewing the philosophies of their parents—Sansa lies to save her own skin, and Arya refuses to dole out mercy. If that’s not enough, both refuse agents of their parents—Lord Royce was a friend of Ned’s and Brienne was charged by Catelyn to keep her girls safe. All of this is enough for me to wish that these Arya sequences really happened in the books. :P To say nothing of Maisie’s amazing performance, both with Rory and with encountering Gwendoline. (In canon she also leaves him to die, of the infectious wounds he got at the inn. She’s also far more haunted and angry about her mother’s passing, in some of my favorite, most harrowing book narrative. Guuh.)
Brienne’s aggressive brutality is to be expected from the show character by this point—being the first to draw her blade, biting off Sandor’s ear for pete’s sake—not something the more naively romantic book character might do. If Brienne’s naiveté came out in this scene, it was by completely butchering any sense of a good answer to give Arya about her albeit complicated journey to find the girl. But come on, Brienne, couldn’t you say SOMETHING about Ice, or Jaime’s true nature…ok, I guess not. :P
There’s little more to add about Arya’s new journey, except that in the absence of finding a way to get to the only family she can still pinpoint, she decides it’s time to turn over a new leaf. Her Stark days, broadly speaking, are behind her, and she’s about to start a completely new (and I assume canonical) chapter of her life. I wasn’t expecting her to take out the season, but oh boy does it work.
Let’s go back to the Wall! In the novel Jon is met by Tormund first, since he fought with Mance and wasn’t captured at Castle Black. They’re the ones who have the conversation about the various dead…such a great conversation. No matter who you were, death is still death. Mance offers Jon the Horn of Winter if the wildlings can have safe passage south; a magical horn that is claimed to have power to destroy the Wall, amongst other things. Guess the showrunners didn’t want to get into that complication. The social component remains the same—the free folk just want to live in peace and safety, away from the White Walkers. They also want to keep their old customs. The most Jewish moment of this entire series was when Mance told Stannis “we do not kneel.” :P
And yes, of course the Stannis thing is canon, and they finally got to the north! Davos is supposed to be at the Eastwatch tower on the Wall, but you know, familiar faces and all. :P The surrender (albeit after a longer and more detailed fight in the book), and Jon and Stannis’s conversation about Ned, is pretty true to course.
Things deviate again with the funerals, which we don’t see in the books. Selyse and Shireen are supposed to be at Eastwatch with Davos right now, but Melissandre is here and new relationships are certainly forming. I appreciate, of course, that she’s drawn to the fire. The Tormund/Jon conversation doesn’t happen, though it does provide some character nuance for where Jon is right now, somewhere stuck between free folk and Night’s Watch. He likely wouldn’t have burned Ygritte beyond the Wall, but of course that (along with the wonderful music) gives something a little extra to his grief. I was really taken by Kit’s acting here—this is the first time that his sorrow isn’t tied to some chip-on-the-shoulder thing. He truly loved her—and lost her, in front of his own eyes this time. No far off deaths like for Ned and Robb; this one he had to face. My one quibble is that they changed her outfit—made it more feminine by exposing her shoulder. They should have just kept her as she was, not turned her into something else. Though I suppose death changes peoples’ perceptions of one another…but that’s a tangent. :P
Daenerys is facing a similar sense of loss in her situation, beyond banishing Jorah, who isn’t mentioned this ep. Her conversation with the former slave, Fennesz, is reminiscent of something in canon where formerly wealthy/now destitute Meereenese want to enter the market as educated slaves. Honestly, this idea seems more feasible to me than a former slave wanting to re-enter slavery. Sure he can tutor kids again, but shouldn’t there be some sort of law/market economy in place for him to be paid for his services? Maybe I’m expecting too much too quickly from our queen. :P The destitute Meereense were explicitly looking to be bought by foreign merchants, because there is no slavery or indentured servitude anymore in Meereen. The show was trying to make it more personal, I think—the older you are the less you like change, plus even former slaves can set up some sort of mob to gain more power at the expense of those weaker than them. I dunno, the whole Barristan comment throws me off. If Dany wants to steer clear of “slavery in everything but name,” why not demand that some sort of payment must be included in the contract?
Obviously the slain child is a far bigger deal anyway—and truer to canon, too. Drogon kills his first human child—something that cannot be repaid with money—and Daenerys comes to a painful decision. She must break her own vows—enslave her own children for the greater good of everyone. And I know this scene was mostly CGI, but with the music and Emilia’s grief and even the angry squeals of the dragons, I was crying bigtime. :/ Talk about Dany’s most difficult challenge yet. What an amazing season from this character—from badass conqueror to complicated human who must battle with her own convictions. (Very minor quibble—I feel like the Dany/Missandei scene about the little girl sounds too awkward and forced.) Also, minor deviations about how Rhaegal and Viserion are captured and how Drogon eludes capture, but whatevs.
Tyrion, perhaps, lost the most of anyone, even without being executed. He loses the woman he loves, and he loses his home, though that was inevitable by now. I’d say he lost his father, though he never really had him anyway. Still, it likely costs something to slay the man. His death, in the book, has a lot more poetic justice in the disgusting category, because the final arrow goes in his groin so that Tywin defecates as he dies, and indeed he does not “shit gold.” (Not to mention the poetic justice of Joffrey’s crossbow.) :P Somehow this was too gross for the show to do, lol. And anyone who embraced Tywin Lannister as an untouchable, unemotional badass can now suck it, cos treating his kid like shit finally bit him in the shitter. :p. Not seeing your children as people in their own rights can be as much of a weakness as any faulty battle move, should be the moral of Tywin’s death, imho.
The big excise from the Tyrion arc was Tysha, his first wife, referenced in season one. In the book, Jaime admits to him at this time that Tysha wasn’t a whore, that she actually loved him unconditionally, but everyone lied to him in order to break up the union. Tyrion is so hurt by this betrayal that he tells Jaime Cersei slept around while he was Robb’s prisoner, and he cops to Joffrey’s murder, among promising revenge if they meet again. (Granted, on the show, now that relationship isn’t in a bad place like in the books.) He then enacts that revenge on Tywin, not talking about Shae but rather about Tysha.
To me, moving from Tysha to Shae is a marked improvement. Tysha is an object—to us as readers and to Tyrion himself—about how his family members wronged him. Shae was a person whom we knew, who started as a whore, became a lover, and then a scorned lover, tragically. We saw her in scenes without Tyrion, asserting her own desires and identity. Shae in the books was always a whore, but Shae on the show only went back to it once Tyrion cast her out. The two of them wronged each other, rather than Tysha being the innocent tool that Jaime and Tywin used to wrong Tyrion. I’m even growing more ok with her death scene, that she didn’t get any last words, because how could she explain away their tragic love affair without lies? Shae in the book lied to try and save her own skin, because there wasn’t anything genuine between her and Tyrion. I still wish they handled her relationship with Sansa more consistently, but I’m growing to appreciate what they did with her love affair. It makes Tyrion a more well-rounded character, too, because his relationship with Shae was far more drawn out, and dare I say realistically heart-rending, than the backstory of Tysha’s gang rape.
Cersei is another character who I appreciate more in the show than the books at this time. Her loyalty to other people (that being, two other people,) is stronger here—in the books she’d never admit to her incest. But on the show, she loves Jaime, and certainly Tommen, more than her pride. In the books, she’s disgusted by Tommen’s “weakness” and wants him to be more like Joffrey. On the show, her relationship to her eldest was more complicated because she knew he was a monster but she loved him anyway. On the show, she actually seems to respect Tommen’s kindness. All that being said, she still wants her son to listen to her alone; any influence from people she doesn’t trust, which is most of the world and certainly her father and Margaery, is attempts at manipulation and sabotage. Cersei draws her circle of trust so tight that she’s even justified killing her baby brother several times over, to say nothing of the crazy Fraken-Gregor shit she’s up to. :P That part, at least, is canon.
In the books she goes to Tywin to get Jaime out of the Kingsguard so that he can carry on the family line and she won’t have to marry. Then the twins have an ugly break because Jaime refuses to sleep with her in a semi-public place, rather than going for it, like in the show. So basically, Jaime’s on far better terms with both of his siblings here. :P I appreciate this Cersei much more. She’s still a villain, justifying pain and death to most of the populace, but her allegiance isn’t to her own vanity and narcissism. She’s still looking for love and companionship, from Jaime and especially from her children. Also, Lena nailed those scenes, perhaps especially with Charles as Cersei lays out her raw feelings.
Speaking of raw feelings, Peter with Charles, talking over Tywin’s lifelong abuse of his son, was also so wonderfully executed. Damn, Charles Dance really went out with a bang in terms of powerful scenes. :P Finally, unlike in the books, Varys chooses to accompany his friend across the Narrow Sea. He does, however, go into hiding after Tywin’s murder. I suppose this is a way to keep the character more in the forefront of the action, so to speak.
Finally, Bran, my winged wolf! So much I love, and so much that’s not so much. :P The skeletons were just hokey, and I wish they were regular wights like in the books. Jojen’s death didn’t happen like that (in the books there’s a theory that he’s been turned into a paste that Bran eats as part of his new greenseeing training.) I’m somewhat okay with Jojen having to die for Bran to achieve his full power; to steal from ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” “all magic comes with a price.” Or to be more poetic and canonical, “only death can pay for life.” I just wish it were more intrinsic to the rest of this mythological plot than just being stabbed by random skeletons. I loved his final moments with Meera, however; great work by both Thomas and Ellie in dealing with their sudden losses.
I was rather hoping that the children of the forest would look a little less human, but eh. (Also, she was supposed to light wights on fire like a torch by touching them, not throw fireballs.) I’m more disappointed with “the three eyed raven,” called Bloodraven in the books. He was supposed to be translucent, ghostlike, literally part of the tree. For all the great elusive ambiance with the setting and music, that guy was just a dude sitting in some branches. :P Gah, the dialogue, though. Been waiting years to hear that. You can keep your Tysha or your Lady Stoneheart (warning: don’t google if you don’t want major spoilers! Might not happen on the show at all, just in case. Some fans are disappointed—I think the show has more important focuses.)
We do lose a little bit of Bran in translation from book to screen. Of course he’s too old now to cry when “the three eyed raven” says he’ll never walk again. I miss his sense of wonder, his boyish longing for the past, although we got a little of that in the beginning with his warging into Summer in order to run. Mostly I’m sad that he won’t be with us in season five, very very sad. :( Have I said that? :P I still mean it! Bran’s chapters are filled with the sort of mythological narration that wouldn’t transfer well to screen (especially since the show ignores most manner of prophecies anyway,) but it’s good stuff on paper. Plus, when you’re Team Stark, you kinda wanna see the Starks. :P Our numbers are now down to Arya, Sansa, and Jon, sorta. :P Bran was our first POV…I expect he’ll be our last. The showrunners say we will see him again when he’s more through his new journey, but alas. Don’t take too long, winged wolf.
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