To kick things off in this week’s review of Game of Thrones, you’ve got myself, David Harper, sharing five thoughts about “Second Sons” from a non-bookreader’s point of view. Bare with me, book fans, I know precious little but boy do I enjoy it.
1. What the Tarley?
Was the final scene an enjoyable one with Sam and his now incredibly dead Whitewalker buddy? Yeah. Were the ravens creepy as hell? Totally. Was the artifact totally owning the Whitewalker probably a huge part in the scope of the story? Almost assuredly. That said, as a final scene in this week’s episode, it fell a little flat if only because there were so many other standouts. I have no problem with Sam and I’m sure this scene will be important, but it was kind of a weird scene to finish with.
2. Valar Morghulis
A good one to end it on? Definitely the Second Sons lieutenant (and noted former denizen of the unfathomably interesting Braavos) Daario Naharis showing up with two heads in a duffel bag and his love to declare for Dany. Basically, everything with Dany this season has been molten lava (IT’S ON FIRE!), but this scene and this new character? Perfect. I love how her cast of men following her with a weirdo mix of belief and ardor continues to grow, and hoo boy, is Jorah going to be pissed. The Second Sons have joined Dany’s side, so Yunkai = screwed.
3. Needs more smonster babies
As weird and creepy as Melisandre often is, and how boring I often find Stannis’ storyline, this week’s bits were actually quite good (if not still really weird and creepy, if only for boner leeches). We knew Gendry was going to be in for a bit of a surprise (as he knew as well), but holy crap, he got worked, proving once again no one can resist a smoking hot redhead even if he they knew they were going to double cross the living hell out of them. Gendry, of course, is not dead, which is good for him, but still the dude is in a bad place. In a less bad place is one of my personal faves Davos, who made it out of the dungeon just in time to see Melisandre fulfill his belief that she is a creepy weirdo, and to see Stannis perform some sort of ritual that did god knows what to Robb, Joffrey and Balon Greyjoy. Nothing there yet, and sadly, no smoke monsters either.
4. Release the Hound
I will likely regret saying this…but I really like The Hound. He’s kind of a dick, but he’s also a good guy. I mean, relative to your average Westerosian. It seems like you kind of always know where you stand with him, and even though Arya tried (sort of) to kill him, he still aims to take her to her family (to collect gold) and tells her that he even saved Sansa (totally true). Whether or not he does that remains to be seen (my bet = no), but when the Hound is around, I’m intrigued.
5. TWO WEEKS?!
Total fanboy moment, but TWO WEEKS?! There are two episodes left and I have to wait a week because of damnable Memorial Day? We have DVR’s! If someone is out camping, they can watch it later! It’s that simple! BOOOO HBO! BOOOOOOOOO!!!
Oh well. After a bit of a floundering episode last week, I found this one to be much stronger if only because there was no Theon – thank god. Two more episodes left. Let’s do this GoT.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – slight demerit for bad final scene choice
We have five more thoughts on last night’s Game of Thrones, but as a reminder the second five thoughts contain massive spoilers. This half of the Game of Thrones review is mainly for clarification on certain things and general speculation about what this season is going to contain, designed for readers of the books in mind over folks who just watch the show. We will be covering material not seen on the show but seen by the end of “A Storm of Swords,” though, so please keep that in mind if you’re not fully caught up with this series or that particular book.
Continued belowFor the most part this just offers half of the show’s audience who read this site and have read all the books a place to say “OH, so THAT probably means THIS! AWESOME!” without spoiling anything for the other half. Everyone wins!
So, without further ado,
6. Wedding Season, Part 1!
Oh, boy! The first wedding, starting with Tyrion and Sansa. In the book it’s a decidedly more awkward scene — Sansa doesn’t kneel and Tyrion has to climb up on Pod’s back for the ultimate humiliation. It was this change that I thought the most peculiar of the whole thing: it seems like the show wants us to somewhat root for Tyrion and Sansa’s relationship.
Here’s the thing: they hate each other. Maybe not in the way that other characters on the show truly feel hatred, but certainly in the aspect that neither of them wants to be in the situation that they’re in and they resent one another for the entire thing. By giving it a softer side, by showing us that Tyrion and Sansa can relate and could care about one another, it adds an interesting wrench into the wheels that are spinning of this great and grandiose machine. After all, in the book Tyrion actually tries to get it on with Sansa, only to be repulsed by her repulsion to his erect member. They’re not supposed to get along so … evenly.
Making it a bit more tolerable from a viewing perspective makes sense, but it does take away from it a tiny bit I think. Each wedding in the book is particularly memorable for the way that they’re played out, all essentially in different genres. Tyrion and Sansa are stuck in a dark comedy, but this was neither dark nor particularly comedic. It was on par with the tone the show usually delivers. That’s not ostensibly bad, but I would’ve loved if Sansa was a bit more intolerant of her situation.
I also like the look Shae gives Tyrion the morning after. It’s an interesting decision to include that in the show, given what it assuredly means.
We’ve got two more weddings to get through, one next episode and I assume one in the finale. Lets hope they go a bit better than this one, right?
I will also say this, though, and if you are a show watcher and not a book reader and your eyes have wandered down here for some odd reason, turn away because spoilers: the ninth episodes are always the biggest, aren’t they?
7. Arry and the Hound
This is a throwaway of a thought, but I just want to throw one quick thing out there: I am disappointed that we did not get more of Arya and Gregor. It will assuredly come, and obviously that’s going to develop more in the next episode as they make their way to the Twins, but I would’ve liked to see them together more before they reach their destination.
Y’know. Just so we care a bit more.
8. Daario, That Handsome So and So!
Oh, Daario. He came into the book as a bad ass, and he comes into the show as a bad ass. All that was missing was his epic colored pointy beard. What are you trying to say, Game of Thrones showrunners? That us bearded folk can’t be beautiful too? Ok, well, maybe not Ed Skrein pretty, but we can still be pretty!
I did like that there was a strong emphasis on his look, though. “Daario fights for beauty” and all that. I like Daario in the book because he offers an interesting clash against the affections of Jorah, and it would appear that they’re very much going to keep that in play. That said, they maybe make him a bit too likable; I always got the opinion that he was supposed to be like the opposite of Jamie Lannister, a handsome rogue who you like at the beginning and slowly grow suspicious of. Not that he does anything particularly wrong, but he’s not exactly a hero. (He cut off his friends’ heads, you know?)
The one thing that I think was actually missing was Dany’s speeches about being a young girl who knows little of war, something she does to disarm her assailants as she’s trying to win over the Second Sons. It was very similar to Tyrion’s actions in the second season/book when he tried to figure out who Cersei’s spy was. Daario still brought her the heads of everyone involved, but it didn’t show Dany as more than an entitled Queen-to-be, someone who actively manipulated her foes rather than threatened people with a smile. While they give Dany plenty of BAMF/HBIC/whatever moments, I think it’d behoove the show to show her intelligence and not just her strength. She’s going to need it for the coming days ahead.
Continued below9. Scaling It Back
So, here’s a weird thing about tonight’s episode. In a show that has been known for gratuitous violence and nudity, it’s the little things that the show seemingly shies away from.
Take, for instance, Gendry’s scene with Melisandre. Initially, the blood that is being leeched is from Edric Storm, who we’ve talked about in this section of the column before but who has been written out of the show. Assuredly part of this is because the audience has a connection with Gendry (and who wants to cast another child actor?), but at the same time, Gendry is needed elsewhere in Westeros and the story (see: A Feast for Crows finale). By giving him to Melisandre as her leech victim instead, especially given the relationship between Davos and Edric that was to come (now assumedly being replaced by Davos and Shireen), it seems like a very odd move of the show.
I mean, OK, fine — nobody wants to leech a child. But even so, you can do it off screen. The book did.
There are important things in play because of Melisandre’s actions, the biggest of which is the morality play that ensues with what’s coming based solely on Edric being a child; this question of whether Stannis’ actions are truly that of Azhor Ahai reborn, how a hero could do this to an assumedly innocent child guilty of no more than being a bastard. With anything that comes from the subsequent events, we may relate to them because of our love of Joe Dempsie’s performance as Gendry, but that important aspect and the role that Davos plays in it as Stannis’ moral rock to which Melisandre’s crazy religion bashes against will certainly be changed due to Gendry’s age.
And yes, we knew this was coming due to Gendry clearly replacing Edric. Still.
10. Coldhands! Come On! (Also, Man Up!)
We were so close, people. Literally a breath away from his appearance, and we cut to black right before he was to appear. After all, his initial appearance was originally signaled by a conspiracy of ravens and we had that (possibly, by show standards, as a nod to the one job Sam failed to do in the premiere). I was so excited for this moment that I started chanting “Coldhands! Coldhands! Coldhands!” in my apartment while watching the episode!
BUT ALAS! It was not to be. We should have Coldhands yet as his appearance to the Bran storyline is rather important, and he may get an appearance in the finale. But in the meantime, at least we finally have a) a positive use for Sam and b) Sam the Slayer.
(Also, did anyone else think “Man Up” from the Book of Mormon soundtrack should’ve played over that last scene? I swear to god, if you time it right, it works perfectly — start the song right about when the White Walker gets in plain view, and you’ll know if you’ve timed it right if Sam stabs him right when the song says “man up.” It’s perfect, I swear.)
