Hey, everyone! It’s that episode! You know, the one that you hate people for live tweeting but then can’t help but tweet some sly knowing remarking about regardless.
That’s right: it’s time for the Purple Wedding.
1. Insert Joke About Weddings in Westeros Here
Because that’s how everyone starts off talking about this sort of thing, right? Hehe! Anyway.
So, how about that Purple Wedding? The foreshadowing of it all wasn’t very subtle, but I don’t imagine it was meant to be. People are used to weddings in Westeros resulting in big, horrible things, but in this case I would imagine that many people were rather full of joy to see Joffrey bite the dust. I know that for me, reading that chapter was one of the most emotionally satisfying, especially because of how quickly it comes after the Red Wedding (if you’re like me and couldn’t put the book down, I guess). I had actually suspected that they would’ve closed Season 3 off with the Purple Wedding, but alas. Here it is, and it’s still satisfying.
What’s most satisfying about the wedding, though, is how much they ostensibly got right. There’s the dwarves, who I was almost afraid we wouldn’t see, and even if we didn’t get the pig riding there was still enough there to feel right in that. There was Lady Olenna’s dagger moves, stopping by Sansa and rubbing her necklace before moving off to her seat. There was the wonderful way that the show offered up multiple possibilities for who poisoned the king, given that Joffrey managed to upset Sansa, Tyrion and his new wife Margaery, yet you still had that one really clever shot of Olenna right before he died.
And there was, of course, the inclusion of Sigur Ros as the wedding band. Who doesn’t remember that scene from the book?
In terms of adapting the scene to the screen, I’m glad that Martin took the helm for that. There was enough to be different and stay true to the show’s changes and enough to be exactly as odd and off-putting and suddenly satisfying as it was in the book.
Oh, and how about that new Tommen? Weird as all seven hells, I tell you. I wonder if he’s still going to get a bunch of kittens as a present.
2. Because Coldhands Cost Too Much Money
Instead of having a mysterious and creepy man arrive on a giant stag, the show has offered up a different way for Bran to find himself to the man behind the Three-Eyed Raven in the form of a well-placed Weirwood that sends a message to Bran. It’s an interesting and probably helpful budget-wise decision, and I get it.
To make up for removing a character I really liked, though, the show threw in a bit of a vision — and since the episode was written by George RR Martin, it stands to reason that the vision was a bit more impactful.
Of course, the two things that stick out of the vision the most are the inclusion of literal snow on the Iron Throne (perhaps a not-so-subtle metaphor) as well as the shadow of a dragon over Kings Landing. I’m sure many people will take this different ways, but to me this seems a rather direct nod towards the conflict of this series ultimately coming down to Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen. Those who are caught up with the books will know that there is one very obvious thing that could make this rather difficult to come about, but they are the two biggest contenders to come to battle for the realm, if not the rule that the Iron Throne gives itself.
And I still wish Coldhands was part of the show, gods dammit.
3. Where Do Whores Go?
After last week’s episode it was pretty clear that Tyrion’s secret liaisons with Shae were up, as Cersei flaunted her knowledge of their relationship to Tywin in front of Tyrion in the least subtle maneuver Cersei has ever undertaken. As such, we were given a scene in which Shae and Tyrion had it out a bit, and Tyrion essentially forced Shae out of his life and out of King’s Landing.
Continued belowWhich anyone who has read the books and/or watched the trailer for this season knows is not where this ends. Even remotely.
I’m honestly conflicted. In this iteration of the 5 Thoughts Review we often rather bluntly talk about the show’s relationship to the book, and many times people will tell me that they think I need to do a better job of removing the book from my thought process. I can understand that mentality, but to me, this one is a bit hard to separate. Shae’s betrayal of Tyrion in the book works because it’s so sudden, otherwise out of the blue. Shae is a very different character in the novel, but when she takes the stand against him it still very much hurts because, as a reader, you’re left with no clue that it could happen or any real idea as to why it would.
With this scene and the one last week, the show has essentially given their relationship an out. Now when she betrays him, the show watcher will understand that she did it because he jilted her — and in turn, that could have an adverse affect on how her actions are received. It essentially changes everything, not that the show hadn’t made their relationship more intimate anyway, and while I think her betrayal will still hurt, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I preferred the book’s betrayal much more already.
4. Reek, Reek, It Rhymes with Meek!
Last but certainly not least (wait, isn’t this #4?) we had the family reunion of the Boltons, which was as uncomfortable as you would expect it to be. I liked the book’s introduction of Reek because it was so horrifying and shocking and unnerving, and last season’s torture porn extension of Reek’s origin was something I both enjoyed and was conflicted on enjoying. I mean, my favorite part of the book — the thing I love to say over and over and over and over — is how cleverly subtle it is in subverting expectations and employing cloak and dagger moves. Certainly just giving his Reek and his evolution can’t give us that good a story, can it?
And yet, Alfie Allen and his portrayal of Reek makes it very much worthwhile to me, and Iwan Rheon’s portrayal of Ramsay Bolton5. That Sigur Ros Rendition of “The Rains of Castamere”
Because I don’t have a fifth thing for this week, here’s the incredibly wonderful Sigur Ros rendition of “The Rains of Castamere” from the episode. I was pretty surprised to see them in the episode, but I am all for this version of the song.
