After last week’s rather monumental episode, “Game of Thrones” tries to match the intensity of the extended final scene from last week with an episode that touches on a lot of storylines and gets a whole lot of really exciting balls rolling. Let’s get to it.
This review contains spoilers from the episode, and is written from the perspective of someone who has not read the books. Keep that in mind as you make comments!
1. Starting with a bang
Normally I try to keep my general thoughts on the episode until the last point, but it’s too hard not to lead with this: “Breaker of Chains” kicked an amazing amount of ass. This episode was so loaded with moments both big and small that were truly amazing, deftly jumping from story to story so quickly and effectively that it felt like some sort of giant sized episode, that I could hardly even believe it. I think more happened in this one episode than in the past six seasons of “How I Met Your Mother”.
And it’s not that it felt rushed. Quite the contrary in fact. Moments like Jamie and Cersei’s…pairing and Tyrion’s farewell to Pod were given appropriate time to achieve maximum creepiness and tugging of the heartstrings respectively. For a show that has so many brilliant performances/characters and such gorgeous direction and set design, the show’s greatest skill might be its ability to balance so many happenings without ever overwhelming the viewers. Just incredible.
2. “Fire!”
Right as Daenerys’ storyline continues in Meereen, I turned to my wife and said, “man, this show loves to end with her.” After the scene played out, she said something along the lines of, “well, it’s because her scenes are always so badass.” Very well said. This last scene, which begins the siege of Meereen (who knows how long that will last), finds Daario Naharis doing amazingly badass things (in on beard guy now, by the way), a great summation of how people rank in Daenerys’ team, and her showing everyone in Meereen that she means business. Her storyline is undoubtedly the one that has had the most change – for the positive – since the show began, and at this point, she’s like the boulder in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. You can’t stop her, you can only hope to get out of her way before she takes you out.
Long live the Daenerys episode closers.
3. Tywin the Silvertongued
Gotta hand it to the guy. For someone who was once sassed for never leaving Casterly Rock during the last war by his now dead nephew grandson, Tywin does an amazing job of showing off how he became so powerful, and more importantly, how he kept that power far into his life. The way he began guiding/manipulating Tommen (much to Cersei’s chagrin) and the way he turned Oberyn Martell to his side was absolutely brilliant, and now that we’re a ways into it, the way they’ve unleashed Charles Dance on the character has been mesmerizing. He partook in scenes with some of the most magnetizing members of the cast, yet all eyes were on the quiet, clever man with the well kept beard.
Bonus points because he also was involved with Oberyn post sexposition. At the very least, Oberyn is beloved in my mind for being the mad bringer of the sexposition. Even at his peak, Theon couldn’t hold a candle to him.
4. Ser Podrick
There were a lot of moments I could include here, but I want to highlight a small moment. Everything with Tyrion and Podrick in this episode was fantastic, but man, when Tyrion told Pod that he was the finest squire ever (or whatever exactly he said), I got a little choked up about that. Say what you will about Tyrion’s clever machinations, but he’s the only player who feels like he’s good always, and Pod was the one man he knew he could always trust (even if I love Bronn). For Tyrion to send him away in his darkest hour shows how much he cares for the well-endowed squire, and it speaks volumes of the quality of both of their character (and acting skills) that this scene resonated as much as it did. Exceptional stuff.
5. Littlefinger’s power play
While I don’t know he was for sure behind Joffrey’s death (it seems likely, given how everything was timed), the return of Littlefinger was a truly astonishing thing. That open, with Sansa and Dontos running through King’s Landing before making it to Littlefinger by boat, only to then have Dontos killed and inklings of Littlefinger’s plan revealed, was riveting. Aidan Gillen has long been someone who has done a lot with what he had, but this was the first moment that Petyr Baelish felt completely unleashed. He’s a real power player now, and I can’t help but feel he’s going to play a big part in the coming acts of the titular game of thrones. I really hope we get plenty more of him now, and while I like to think Sansa is in a better place now, Baelish clearly has a thing for her. All bets are off, as if they were ever on.
