Back from my Walking Dead exile, I’m back to review one of my favorite shows on television – “Game of Thrones.” The third season started with a good not great episode that took time to show everyone a little of where everyone currently was. The second episode checks back in with Arya, Bran, Theon Greyjoy, The Kingslayer and his keeper, and keeps that ball rolling. How’d things go? Let’s find out below.
1. New characters galore!
This episode was introducing new characters right and left – new to me, not readers of the books, I suppose – and to me, they were universally awesome. First up was Margaery’s grandmother, Olenna Tyrell, a sassy and direct woman in a land of silver tongued double speakers. Played by Diana Rigg (of TV’s The Avengers from yesteryear), this character was an immediate hit. Her dialogue was spot on, and there were some laugh out loud moments derived from her scathing wit. She’s a new player in the equation, and it appears that in some ways the House Tyrell may be more matriarchal than we ever realized.
Meanwhile, over on Arya’s storyline, we have Thoros of Myr, the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners. This group is basically, from what I understand, a group who doesn’t give a crap about all the flags and families that run Westeros, instead doing their own thing. Played by Paul Kaye, I dug the living hell out of this guy and his EXTREMELY capable bowman pal (I really enjoyed it when his pal shot an arrow up in the air and told Arya’s chunky friend he needed to make a decision or the arrow would take him out – so badass). These new characters offer a lot of spark and vitality to a show that hardly needed it, but they’re definitely welcome additions.
Finally, you have Jojen and Meera Reed partnering up with Bran, Hodor and co. Jojen is played by the little drummer boy from Love, Actually, and is a perfect blend of creepy and totally kick ass. These new additions make me roughly 45,000x more excited about Bran’s storytelling. So onboard.
2. “Warg” is the word
For the first time in the show, we’re formally introduced to the concept of being a “warg,” or someone who has the ability to see through the eyes of an animal. We’re shown a Wildling doing just that – and seeing dead Crows in the process – up in Jon Snow’s storyline, and by the end of the episode we’ve found out that Bran? He’s been a Warg this whole time. I love how the magic aspects of this show continues to develop, and it’s growing increasingly apparent just how important of a player Bran really is. I mean come on, if Jojen is to be believed, he might be the most important.
3. Joffrey + Margaery = Creep Fest
On a scale of 1 to 10, how creepy was that scene between Joffrey and Margaery? 85? 2,000? It breaks the meter in my mind, as not only do we get Joffrey basically murder interrogate Mags, but then he sexualizes the living hell of his crossbow and develops what was likely the sickest erection in the history of television when she proposes that she’ll kill something for Joffrey. In an episode that had a lot going on, this creepfest definitely stood out. Margaery is incredibly good at manipulating Joffrey, and she seems to know what she’s doing, but at best, Joffrey can be manipulated…just until he cuts your head off. She may be giving him the rope to kill her with.
4. The Weight of Westeros
This is hardly a complaint, but so much is happening in any given episode that entire storylines have to be ignored. In this one, we had know Dany action, nor anything going on with Team Fire. There’s so much to balance and with new characters coming in, it’s getting even harder. This isn’t much of a problem for me, as I kind of obsessively keep track of character names, but watching this with someone else underlines just how easy it is to get lost. Especially with the gap in-between seasons and all of the characters that are being referenced that we haven’t even met. It’s a bit laborious, but with all the characters being so interesting it’s a worthwhile endeavor.
Continued below5. The Final Verdict
In an episode that prominently featured all of my favorite storylines and didn’t feature my least favorite (Team Fire), with a gaggle of new characters intriguing the living hell out of me, it was hard not to be all about this. I really enjoyed the direction we’ve been given for Arya and Bran, and both of those storylines kicked off like a rocket right out of the gate. While prominently touching on a range of other storylines at the same time, this episode was definitely an uptick from the first episode and makes me really eager to see where this season will go. Let’s do this Game of Thrones.
Rating: 8.5 – WATCH THIS!
