Welcome back, fair readers and watchers, to our latest weekly recap of the events of Game of Thrones. Last week was a big episode, but this week I seem to have far more to say — on one scene in specific. Let’s find out if you agree in this week’s recap below.
1. FUCK YEAH DAENERYS TARGARYEN
All hail Queen Dany, Bringer of the Mic Drop! I’m obviously a fan of the books, but one thing that I love about the show is how well it really ramps up Daenerys’ character as a compelling heroine, and really the only true warrior of the principal cast. Dany brings with her the storm, and everything she does in the show has an added air of theatricality to it that really does wonders towards making her the main character to root for. Actually seeing many of her actions being done on screen only makes me love this character all the more, and Emilia Clarke is damn near perfect in the role.
I will say this, though: I do not like Daario 2.0. I was rather undecided before as we’d seen so little of him for it to matter, but after this latest episode where his character needs to come to the center and perform I can’t say I got much out of it. There’s a certain air that was carried by Ed Skrein that Michiel Huisman just doesn’t have, and this was the first episode that it really felt like a jarring change.
2. The Woman Who Would Be Queen
We’ve never really gotten to see under the facade that Margaery Tyrell keeps at her forefront in the book, so the amount of time we get to spend with Natalie Dormer looking behind the curtain always stands as interesting. In this episode, she expresses regret over the situation, but it’s actually a bit hard to tell how much of it comes from a place of general human decency and how much of it is simply based on her own lust for power.
Margaery is a bit unpredictable in that way, and always has been. The rumors of her after hours activities in the books are certainly unfounded, but never seem to be too far from the truth; the show certainly strengthens this aspect as well, as Margaery is both everyone’s best friend and in secret one of the darkest figures on the show. I’m not quite sure I have a read on what she truly wants yet, but this episode does certainly tease a fair deal about her.
3. The Seduction of the Red Viper
In the book, Oberyn is certainly named as one of the judges in the trial — but we never got to see how that scene took place, how Tywin actually asked him. Granted, the show version of Oberyn is much more outgoing with his hatred, almost as much as his lust, as in the book he’s more of a background figure for some time; we know he’s important, but we’re just not totally sure how important until his final battle.
But seeing Oberyn and Tywin go up against one another in a battle of words certainly adds a lot of reasons to like not only Pedro Pascal but also Charles Dance, who is certainly one of the best actors on the program. His Tywin is always certainly a dark figure but yet never the less calm and level headed, someone to truly be feared. And with Tywin almost meeting his match in Oberyn, in made for his wooing of the Red Viper with otherwise empty promises all the more intriguing to watch — certainly one of the tense political thriller moments that really makes the show quite a grand affair.
4. The Rape of Queen Cersei
Ok, so I’ll be upfront: I have a big problem with this scene.
For posterity’s sake, it stands worth noting: in the book, Jamie arrives in Kings Landing after his son is dead. He meets his sister in the sept as she prays over Joffrey’s dead body, and they have sex. Of course, in the book it’s consensual; Cersei expresses regret afterwards, faking some sort of morality about the idea that she sleeps with her brother, but in the book there’s still love.
Continued belowWhat happened in the show was ugly, but more than that, it very much sullies Jamie’s character. Jamie is a character who you spend so long seeing through other people’s eyes, with at least two book’s worth of content that portrays him as a power hungry, cut-throat villain. But when Jamie gets his POV heard, you see how much more there is beneath the surface; how there’s a very caring, very motivated and even loving father in there, hiding underneath the surface of a man who is marred by his family name and history. Now he’s dropped back to the level of a monster, someone capable of truly horrific acts. We’re supposed to watch Jamie become a hero, and he just did the opposite of what a hero would do. Why? For what reason?
The scene bothers me so much, because it’s clear in the next episode that we’re once again supposed to root for Jamie to do the right thing. But now we know that he’s really no better than other characters we hate who do the same thing, and with that in mind I feel confident in that the re-write of this scene was absolutely abysmal, worthless and detrimental to the character.
Truly a major fuck-up.
5. Other Small Thoughts
A lot happened in this episode as many stories were covered, and it’s tough to really pick any one last thing for a final thought. Instead, I have a few little thoughts that I’ll just throw out there, as they’re not worth too much more than a sentence:
- Is it just me, or is Aidan Gillen really trying harder in his one scene this season? He seemed like a brand new character.
- That Dontos re-write was pretty worthless as well. Loses a lot of the oomph of his death to just make him another greedy jerk.
- Those wildlings are pretty brutal. Almost makes you regret coming to like them in Season 3.
- So we’re getting the return of Karl now, huh? Weekend at Craster’s, Part Two? That’s interesting. (And further proof we’ll never see Coldhands.)
That’s all for now.
