You guys, this was a good episode. Sadly, it was a busy night for me, so I’m going to have to keep things shorter than usual. Thankfully, I’m just the TV watching guy. Want a ton of thoughts? Check out Matt’s longform bookreader thoughts below.
1. Thoros is the man!
Dear lord, do I love me some Thoros. That dude is the absolute best. Actually, I love everything about the Brotherhood without Banners, even though they’re followers of the Lord of the Light. I’ve come to realize, thanks to their incredible badassery, that it isn’t that I don’t like the Lord of the Light, it’s that I hate Melisandre. Either way, this episode found Thoros further establish himself as the Jaqen H’gar of this season for me: the guy that came out of nowhere to become one of my absolute favorite characters in the show. Hellll yes Thoros!
2. Arya is the Key
Okay, maybe she’s not from a whole show standpoint, but man, where Arya goes I gleefully follow. Three straight years Arya has been involved with my favorite storyline, and a lot of it is just how great she is. I loved how she challenged Melisandre, and the really creepily ominous statement she made about Arya. I already knew she was going to end up being a mega badass, but that’s only growing increasingly apparent with each passing episode.
Note: Melisandre was actually better here too, and I think a lot of that stems from not being around Stannis. Maybe it’s just a Stannis thing?
3. Tywin would make a hell of a Green Lantern
As I hope you realize as a person reading something on a comic site, Green Lantern’s are powered by will. While much of this show’s cast is highlighted by a strength and fortitude to a degree, no one’s will is greater than Tywin Lannister. In fact, when he showed down agains the Matriarch of the Tyrell family, not only did he come out on top, but for the first time since she arrived, she was impressed with someone she met with. That scene was a stellar one, and I really enjoy how much Tywin has grown as a willful, commanding presence this year.
4. Let’s get the move on, Theon
If anyone in this show deserves some torture, it’s probably Theon (well, besides the horrible, horrible Joffrey). Yet, his storyline so far has been mental, emotional and physical torture, and at this point I’d rather not have him on the screen. I get it – he’s in a bad place and he’s over a barrel (almost literally). This episode just finds more overt horribleness coming his way, and it just feels unnecessary. I hope this storyline moves on, because it was a non-starter and, frankly, it’s just starting to feel like torture for me.
5. So much going on
The highlight part of this show was meant to be the Wall climb, and while it was a big part, so much happened here that it was hard to find space to talk about that. Hell, the Littlefinger speech and the revelation of what happened to Ros was frankly the most shocking part of the episode, and the Tyrion/Shae/Sansa conversation was the most hilarious. But this episode touched on so much, that there’s just very little room to discuss all of the points in five thoughts, let alone to successfully touch on them on the show. Overall, another solid one, but a bit weaker than last week.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – YEAH!
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.
For 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!
Continued belowSo, without further ado,
6. 90% New
It’s a strange thing to admit, but honestly, this episode was largely unfamiliar. Well, familiar enough — there are some things (Theon torture scene, for example) that I’ve never read, but I’ve heard about based on the way George RR Martin writes certain things from different perspectives, hearsay and grapevines. The only things that are in the book are the discussion of Brynden marrying Roslin and My Dinner With Roose, and even those are slightly different in the show’s iterations of them. So, as someone who has read the book, this episode was a rather different experience than most.
Lots of clever dialogue, though. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss clearly “get” this world, if there was ever any doubt.
Of course, with that new stuff comes quite a few changes. Melisandre, Thoros and Beric, and Thoros apparently supposedly in Westeros to turn King Robert? Unexpected, to say the least. What these changes mean for book readers… well, I couldn’t be the judge. Who knows what George is going to do next, and certainly by “A Dance With Dragons” that’s something far from concern; Robert is dead and has been for a long time obviously. But Melisandre and Thoros working together sort of changes things, because it ostensibly means that the Lord of Light shines on both of them equally, whereas before I’d say it’s probably fair to assume that Melisandre may be lying. I know I distrust her greatly. (Granted, R’hllor may yet prefer Thoros to Mel; certain dialogue implies such.)
Oh, and this very much means Gendry is Edric, so… That change will be interesting.
That said, even though he refuses to be identified, with the Theon torture scene, it’s pretty abundantly clear who that man is now. I mean, if it wasn’t already. And you’ve read the books. You’re only reading these if you’ve read the books, right? He made Theon beg.
7. Foreshadowing Galore
There is… lets say, a bevy of heavy foreshadowing going on in this episode. “The Climb” itself isn’t exactly a subtle metaphor, especially by the end of the episode, but there are definitely a few things that are a bit more cleverly done. I’ll lay out a few of them here, but keep in mind this is implied spoilers in a spoiler-filled section: Sam and the dragonglass, the banner during the Jamie/Brienne dinner scene with Roose, Petyr’s dialogue where we see Joffrey, Melisandre’s statement about making kings rise and fall to Gendry and Melisandre’s lines to Arya, the Frey’s discussion of allegiances, Ygritte’s discussion with Jon.
At some point, people are going to look back on this episode with either knowing acceptance or a sunken heart.
8. The Two Most Dangerous Men in Westeros
Long before I read the books, when I’d just seen the first season, I had a theory. My theory was, essentially, that a lot of the action of the series would ultimately come down to Varys and Petyr, because while they aren’t out on battlefields or anything of that sort, so much of the events of the book happen under their twisted machinations — whether it’s Dany being married to a Dothraki or Eddard Stark losing his head. Varys’ actions are for the realm, and that means something; Petyr’s actions are for himself, and that means something worse. And while we’ve gotten scenes of the two of them in a battle of wits before, this episode was perhaps the most vicious, one that if I hadn’t read the books I would see as validation of that theory.
Obviously, having read the books now, I have a different degree of knowledge than I did then. Yet, still, that theory has remained largely unchanged. And if you for whatever reason don’t fear Varys or Petyr more than those with the swords and the dragons and the magic, I’d probably rethink that. Sometimes all you need is words.
9. Can It Be Next Week Already?
I’m a huge fan of the show, and in some interview I’d read somewhere (I forget where, honestly — Wired, maybe?), the producers of the show said that something major would happen in every episode. Well, pardon me for believing otherwise, but this episode was kind of filler, wasn’t it? Granted, part of it comes from all of this not being book-based material (in a manner of speaking), but there was nothing too enthralling that happened in it. We’re simply given longer roads to destinations that were reached quicker in the source material; Tyrion never told Sansa they were getting married, for example, because when we came back to that story we were already at their wedding. And I suppose Ros dying may have been this week’s “big moment,” but I never particularly felt anything for that character, if only because she’s created entirely for the show and we never get to know her like we get to know certain other players.
Continued belowA slow week on Game of Thrones is still an amazing week on any other TV show, but there are so many things I’m ready to just get to already (one of which will definitely be in the next episode, “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”) that perhaps I’m just too impatient to watch this show when it airs. There are only four episodes left, with something huge guaranteed to happen in every episode. Why can’t it be next week already?
Oh, and for clarification…
10. Tormund Was Holding Them Up By His Dick
HAR!
No, but seriously.
Ok, I’ll admit: Tormund is totally being underused. One of my favorite characters in the book, an absolutely hilarious character, and he shows up briefly in every episode to either a) grunt, b) threaten Jon Snow or c) not say something hilarious. I’m a little disappointed in that too.
There’s still time, though!
