Directed by: Daniel Minahan
Distributed by: HBO
Written by Anna Harrison
Overview
In these retrospectives, I will be looking back on “Game of Thrones” through my viewpoint as a fanatical fan of George R. R. Martin’s original book series, “A Song of Ice and Fire.” Mostly, I suspect this will be an exercise in venting my frustration about the adaptation of the books and pointing out where things went wrong in my mind—and I have a lot to work out.
For ease of reference, the show “Game of Thrones” can be abbreviated as “GOT” or “Thrones,” and the books in “A Song of Ice and Fire” can be abbreviated as “ASOIAF.”
The books in the series are “A Game of Thrones,” “A Clash of Kings,” “A Storm of Swords,” “A Feast for Crows,” “A Dance With Dragons,” and the as-yet unpublished “The Winds of Winter” and “A Dream of Spring.” These can be abbreviated as “AGOT,” “ACOK,” “ASOS,” “AFFC,” “ADWD,” “TWOW,” and “ADOS.”
Chapters within the book will be referred to by their point-of-view character and a Roman numeral indicating what chapter within the POV it is (ex., Catelyn I, Jaime II, Arya III, and so on), as Martin does not number his chapters nor name them besides indicating whose POV we are about to enter.
80/100
Is it any surprise that my highest rated episode of this season so far is the one written by George R. R. Martin himself?
Nothing extraordinarily special happens in this episode, save that our plots continue to tumble towards their conclusions. But there is no sexposition, there are no dull and sanded-down dreams, and Martin—predictably—nails his own characters so well and plots his narrative so tightly that the episode can’t help but be good.
We pick up right where we left off: Ned (Sean Bean) has been arrested for treason, and so the Lannisters send their cronies after daughters Arya (Maisie Williams) and Sansa (Sophie Turner). Arya manages to escape with the help of Syrio Forel (Miltos Yerolemou), a minor character whose impact has far outlived Syrio himself, who dies heroically—and off-screen—while buying Arya time to slip out of the Red Keep. Sansa is not so lucky, though her severe teacher Septa Mordane (Susan Brown) gets one moment of grace as she faces death and tells Sansa to run. Alas, Sansa is hunted down by the Hound (Rory McCann) and will remain in Lannister chains for a while longer.
But not all hope is lost for Ned, locked in the Red Keep’s prison. It comes in a strange form: Varys (Conleth Hill), who offers him a skein of water. Ah, Varys. “Who do you truly serve?” Ned demands of the eunuch. “The realm, my lord,” Varys answers. “Someone must.”
Varys’s motivations in the show are less complicated than his source material; in “Thrones,” he has vague inclinations to put the now-deceased Viserys (Harry Lloyd) back on the throne. In the books, his plans are much grander, and necessitate holding the realm together at the seams until the right moment when Aegon (and not the Jon Snow (Kit Harington) version) can swoop in and seize the throne. Who’s Aegon, you ask? A discussion for a later time.
Ned’s arrest has sparked unrest through much of the North. Word has even reached the Vale of Arryn, though Lysa (Katie Dickie) sees no reason to get involved, even on behalf of her sister, Catelyn (Michelle Fairley). At Winterfell, Robb Stark (Richard Madden) musters his bannermen to march to war against Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance). Here is a character who greatly benefits from the show’s expanded scope; as he is not a point of view in the books, our glimpses of his innermost thoughts are few and far between, and always filtered through Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) or Catelyn. Here, Madden can shine on his own, notably when he talks with Theon (Alfie Allen).
“Are you scared?” Theon asks. Robb replies, “I must be,” and looks at his own shaking hands. It’s short, but the depth conveyed in those trembling fingers even as he gives marching orders is astonishing. Bran would not be privy to a meeting like this and Cat is still stuck in the Vale, so we could not have gotten this scene in “ASOIAF,” only in “Game of Thrones.” Martin writing this episode lets him play with characters in new ways—he has even expressed regret over not making Robb a POV character, and so his involvement in this episode lets us get a glimpse into what that POV might have looked like.
It’s easy to understand Robb’s fear, for his foe is formidable enough to stay even the tongue of Tyrion (Peter Dinklage). After a series of trials and tribulations with the mountain clans of the Vale (in some very low-budget costumes), our favorite dwarf has made it to his father, who is laying waste to the riverlands. From the minute Tywin lays eyes on Tyrion, Dance’s expression is so full of contempt that it makes even Tyrion, who just talked himself out of an axe to the head, quail. To see him so cowed is a shock, considering that Tyrion has been the wittiest and most entertaining character to date. But it will be very delicious to see Tywin eat his words about Robb: “One taste of battle and he’ll run back to Winterfell with his tail in between his legs.” Tywin, you’ll have to concoct a whole murderous wedding to get Robb off your case, you arrogant fool.
Another character who goes through a reversal of sorts is Sansa, who is a prime target for hate on account of a) she can be annoying and b) she is, worst of all, a girl. But when she speaks up to Cersei (Lena Headey) and Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) in defense of her father in front of an entire hall of nobles, it is one of the bravest acts in the series. Her life hangs in the balance, and yet she chooses to step forward. There is not a single person at court anymore who is on Sansa’s side, save perhaps Littlefinger, who is only on “her side” because he wants to live out his childhood fantasy of marrying Catelyn. His advocacy of her is only so he can possess her, and therefore no advocacy at all; she is just a girl who believes in the songs and the stories surrounded by men and women who wish to cause her harm, and despite that, she chooses to save the innocent—she may look like Cat, but her heart more closely resembles that of her father.
Sansa’s plea, of course, will not work, because the Lannisters do not abide by the current social and political rules, spoken or unspoken. In taking the throne for Joffrey, they have shown a disregard for the social contract that holds Westeros together, which will (at least in the books—the show, not so much) create repercussions down the line; for now, it has driven away at least one potential ally: Barristan Selmy (Ian McElhinney), Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Barristan sat idly by while the Mad King tortured prisoners and raped his wife, but when Joffrey offers a retirement plan, he suddenly finds a spine and rejects the Lannisters’ poisoned sweetness. Amidst all of the ass-kissing in the Red Keep, Barristan the Bold’s rejection of the Lannister regime is a small victory in an episode where most characters have none. “Here boy,” McElhinney barks at Joffrey as he tosses Barristan’s sword to the ground. “Melt it down and add it to the others.” Pretty baller line for a man who will die in some random back alley in Meereen for no reason!
But it was neither Syrio’s death nor Barristan’s resignation nor Sansa’s bravery, great as they may be, that made me pause to look up who wrote this episode (I skipped the opening credits, sorry, but at least that means I cannot be accused of favoritism in this instance). No, instead, it was Jon attempting to stab Ser Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale).
Show-Jon becomes devoid of personality by season three and a stick in the mud by four, robbed of his political mind, his dry humor, and his resentment, but here we see the spark of personality that will later be snuffed out. When Alliser mocks Ned’s alleged treason, it is an entirely different Jon who seizes a knife than the one who will faff around saying he “doesn’t want it” later on. This is a Jon who has leapt straight from the page, full of anger and prone to rash decisions that come back to haunt him (or stab him). It was such a welcome shock to see this fiery Jon that I simply had to see whose handiwork this was—and lo and behold, it was the man himself.
But Jon’s not the only thing on fire at the Wall. Last episode (link), Ghost the direwolf unearthed the remains of several rangers who had left on Benjen Stark’s (Joseph Mawle) expedition past the Wall; instead of burning them, however, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont (James Cosmo) put the corpses in an ice cell for further preservation and study, only to find himself attacked by one later in the night. Thanks to Jon’s quick thinking—and Ghost’s whines at his door—the Lord Commander is saved after Jon douses the wight in fire. Wrapped up as we are in the treasonous political plotting going on in King’s Landing, Jon’s near-death experience is a good reminder of the true threat—something that the wildling Osha (Natalia Tena) reminds Bran of back in Winterfell as the bloody weirwood tree in the godswood watches. Osha has no interest in Robb’s bannermen, telling Bran, “He’s marching the wrong way.”
It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen a white walker in the show, and between Viserys’s molten crown, Robert’s (Mark Addy) death, Ned’s arrest, and a hundred other things, those silly zombies don’t seem that important. But Osha has the truth of it, as Jon finds out in this episode. As the high lords play their game of thrones, winter comes ever closer, and with it, wights and horrors beyond all imagining. But it’s that game of thrones that made this show famous, and the showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss will, soon enough, fall into the same trap that Osha derides here: they will march the wrong way.
Stray Observations:
- When asked what madness possessed Ned to tell Cersei that he knew of her children’s parentage: “The madness of mercy, that she might save her children.” Ned, you’re breaking my heart.
- Catelyn waits to hug Robb until his lords have exited the tent—he’s a man now, and can’t be seen relying on his mother. Cat never says as much out loud, but the emotion is plain on her face, and it’s beautifully done.
- Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) saves the Lhazareen woman Mirri Maz Duur (Mia Soteriou) from slaughter and rape in this episode. Surely this will have no repercussions—but can we really blame Mirri Maz Duur for what she will do?
- Book Jon loves to flex his burned hand all the time after his little wight incident. He’s so brooding.
- This marks the first appearance of Greatjon Umber (Clive Mantle), who will only appear in season one despite being one of Robb’s most important bannermen. He makes quite an impression in this episode, and it’s a shame he doesn’t last longer—he’s still alive in the books, though imprisoned after the Red Wedding, where he bites off a Frey-adjacent ear. He’s so cool.
- Surprise appearance from little Rickon (Art Parkinson) to remind us that there’s a sixth Stark child (if we count Jon).
- Kevan Lannister (Ian Gelder) appears and is very unmemorable, as he is wont to be—no shade to Gelder. That just proves he’s doing a great job.
- Namedrops in this episode: Addam Marbrand (not important in the show but a recurring character in Jaime’s plotlines), the Twins and Walder Frey, and Janos Slynt, who will go on to be killed by Jon at the Wall (in much less cool fashion onscreen that on-page).
- The Lannister scout that Robb lets go looks a lot like Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible II.”
- It’s fun to see Sansa’s hair and costuming change to mirror Cersei’s as she adjusts to King’s Landing.
Episode Ranking:
- “The Pointy End”
- “A Golden Crown”
- “The Wolf and the Lion”
- “The Kingsroad”
- “Lord Snow”
- “Winter Is Coming”
- “You Win or You Die”
- “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things”
“Game of Thrones” Season One Trailer
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