For my fellow non-bookreaders, I have a look at last night’s Game of Thrones episode, titled “Walk of Punishment,” right here. It will talk about things that happened in the episode in detail but won’t go further because, simply, my knowledge doesn’t go further. Want more details? Check out Matt’s five additional thoughts from a bookreader below. Now! On to the show!
1. Kingslayer favors his left, anyways
There was a whole lot of awesome in this episode, but I’d be crazy if I didn’t talk about the events that transpired at the end of the episode. I loved everything about this scene that was the endcap, as Jaime Lannnister and Brienne of Tarth are now prisoners of some of Robb Stark’s people, and we saw Jaime use perhaps his second greatest weapon in his mind against them to try and protect Brienne. I loved how the show made you think that he was effectively conning them into not only sparing this person he’s grown to respect greatly but also into unshackling him and feeding him – I mean come on, didn’t some nice pheasant sound tasty right then? – and then had the intensity to jam a sword point into his eye AND THEN CUT HIS RIGHT HAND OFF.
It was a completely shocking ending, especially considering the Game of Thrones time warp effect (GoTTWE) where so much happens yet it all feels like it takes place over five minutes (this is the exact opposite of The Walking Dead Time Warp Effect – TWDTWE – where five minutes of show feels like 45 years). So far this season, Jaime and Brienne’s relationship has been one of my favorite aspects. I love the way they play off each other, and it’s clear that these aren’t just great characters, but great actors performing as them.
2. But Seriously…
My only downpoint on the episode…I love The Hold Steady, but their version of “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” might be good on its own two legs, but following Jaime getting his hand cut off with their song is about as jarring as a split (so to speak) as you can create. It was unnecessarily so, and it completely pulled me out of the excellent ending of this excellent episode. Showrunners! Think about your song placement! This was a bad place.
3. More new characters!
Last week, I was all about the new characters. This week, we get even more and I grow increasingly gaga about them! In the open of this week’s episode, we get Robb Stark’s grandfather’s funeral at Riverrun, that finds both his uncle and his…great uncle? being introduced. This opening had everything you really needed to know why Game of Thrones is such a fantastic show. Robb’s uncle marches out to light the boat that the grandfather was pushed down a river in by arrow, and misses three shots consecutively. With many shows, they easily could have used such a scene to simply show how incapable (and humorously so) the uncle is, but Game of Thrones? It uses this scene to perfectly show the relationship between the Uncle and Great Uncle of Robb, as the Great Uncle disgustedly takes the bow from his nephew and in one shot lights the pyre. It shows the cunning and battle based brilliance of the Great Uncle and the ineffectiveness we can expect from the Uncle. Note: I suck at names.
Meanwhile, we get more with Theon at…unknown location…in which his savior from last episode (whose name has not been identified), and he ends up saving Theon not just the once but a second time. He’s a mysterious guy, but one who is utterly capable in the way that many of the show’s leads tend to be. So fun to watch. So badass. Just a note: this features one of two rapes averted in this episode, as the men who held Theon captive decide that the best way to punish him for escaping is to…umm…take away his man chastity. Thankfully for him, like Brienne, he has a savior. His one is probably happy his hand isn’t cut off afterwards.
4. Deals with dragons
There are things going on with Dany in this episode, as she continues to try and deal for those who are not concerned with nipples – the Unsullied – and starts to get used to having two advisors in the form of Jorah and Barristan Selmy. Some would say Dany trying to deal one of her dragons for…by my count…9,733 emotionless mega warriors is a bad deal. In fact, Jorah and Barristan Selmy quite publicly say just that (much to Dany’s chagrin). But that Dany is a clever girl, and I’m sure she realizes she and her dragon can do some sweet ass maneuvering (that may involve fire) to get her biggest dragon back. It’s going to be interesting to see, but it is certainly fun to watch Dany become more and more capable as we move along. She’s come a long ways since the first episode. Maybe more than anyone.
Continued below5. A few more points
Tyrion gets 99 problems (but Littlefinger embezzling ain’t one) with his new job as master of coin, we’re given a highly entertaining power play simply involving seats and a table in the new small council room, Hot Pie peaces out (I hear he makes some wicked tasty brown bread though), the Hound is too tall, Pod gets some sexy time (and some time to give his boys some sex advice) and Jon Snow gets to observe some spiral art with Mance. There’s a lot going on, but it’s all good stuff. Let’s get to my grade.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – holding steady, but hopefully not during the credits
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!
So, without further ado,
6. A bear, a bear all covered in hair!
There’s a lot of music in “A Song of Ice and Fire” that didn’t quite make the TV show, and it took two seasons for “the Rains of Castomere” to make it to the foreground with the Blackwater episode. Now, the other most popular ditty in the book has made it into the series with “The Bear and the Maiden Fair.” The song, like “Castomere,” has a dual meaning, although this one is more of a symbolic relation about the changing relationships. In the song, it’s of the bear and the maiden fair, where the maiden fair rejects the bear at the beginning and then learns to rely and have faith in and even love him. I’m sure you can see a number of relationships in Westeros this may apply to.
Of course, there could also be some form of literal meaning too. Coincidentally, there’s an episode this season called “The Bear and the Maiden Fair.” Gee, wonder what that could be all about!
Not a fan of the Hold Steady rendition, though. Since when do people in Westeros have electric guitars? Come on.
7. Sympathizing with Cat
This season is sure to be full of quite a few big moments, but it seems interesting to me that the show has seemingly made a concerted effort to give Catelyn Stark a few emotional moments for viewers to latch on to. Cat is one of those character that it is very easy to dismiss, I imagine, because she’s not out there with swords and she’s not doing anything “cool.” She’s just a mother who loses her husband and children and repeatedly falls on a spot of bad luck.
But last episode we have her monologue about Jon, and with this episode and the death of her father we have another monologue about her woes towards her lost relationships with Bran and Rickon. It’s going to be a big season for Cat, and it’s becoming clear that the show runners want to make sure that the viewer has some affection towards her before the end of the season. If there’s ever a time to make Catelyn matter, now would be it.
The death of Cat’s father is a bit bigger in the book, mind you, and she’s certainly with him as he passes on. But outside of that, they pretty much nailed the season, I think.
8. The Blackfish
And people thought we’d seen the last of new characters. Ha!
One of my FAVORITE characters from the book who never made it into the show until now (and for shame), Brynden “Blackfish” Tully is Catelyn’s uncle, the brother of Hoster Tully and a seasoned veteran, having fought alonside Barristan Selmy in events before the series. His relationship with his brother is very strained, with Hoster referring to Brynden as the black sheep of the family, hence the nickname “blackfish.” And he’s awesome. And I really hope the show lets him have all of his moments, considering how many they’ve skipped.
Continued below9. The Two Best Lines in the Episode
“Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly. And Rhaegar died.” I can’t be the only one who had a big smile upon hearing that. I mean, Rhaegar ALSO fought honorably, but… well, close enough. One of the coolest lines of the book, one of the best delivered lines in the show, I reckon. The revelation over time that the Targaryens may not have all been crazypants nut jobs was so well played by George RR Martin in the book, with Rhaegar in particular being played up in Dany’s various chapters to the extent that you almost sympathise with him over Robert Baratheon. I can only hope that, despite the historical aspect of the book really not making it to the show, that this story stills gets to be told. I’d love to see more Rhaegar.
Oh, I said two lines, didn’t I? I did. The second best line of the show: “You little bastard.” Heh.
10. The Lannister Honeypot
So there were a few things I wanted to talk about for my final piece — specifically, how much of this episode is massive set-up for shit to go down next week — but there’s something else I’ve seen/read about since last week that I figured I’d share for the book readers. It’s not something I had particularly thought about before, perhaps a little bit in season two, although I’d certainly heard about this idea from other fans of the series who are convinced there are knives in every shadow.
Yet, I was linked to a video that really convinced me that this is the case. And it changes how you watch the show, for sure.
So, without further ado, I present to you The Lannister Honeypot. It’s assumedly a bit spoiler-y if the theory is correct, it’s very interesting if the theory is correct, and if you’ve read the books and know the bigger picture, what’s the harm?
