What They Say:
Breaker of Chains; Tyrion considers his options; Tywin extends an olive branch; Sam questions the safety of Castle Black; Jon proposes a plan; the Hound teaches Arya; Dany chooses her champion.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The previous episode was largely defined by the Purple Wedding, an event that certainly didn’t leave many people unhappy as there has long been a hope for Joffrey to die. Unlike a lot of stories involving characters like this, Joffrey’s death comes relatively early in the mix and really does come not long after the Red Wedding, which is a surprise as well. That death, like so many others for those of people in positions of power, will have a lot of ramifications. We saw the fallout from Ned to be sure and the loss of Rob and his mother had a strong ripple effect as well. And while not as extreme yet, there are ripples from the Balon Greyjoy death as well. And that’s all without really looking at the leaders that lost their lives across the sea from both Drogo and Danaerys.
The most immediate effect of Joffrey’s death falls on Tyrion since Cersei has made him the prime suspect and accused, which obviously puts him in a bad spot because Cersei has long wanted him dead and can now cause it easily enough. The big surprise from all of this is that amid the chaos that happens, Dontos acts far quicker than one might expect of him and he’s able to whisk Sansa out to sea to protect her. Sansa’s arc in the series has been one where she’s largely had to keep quiet to survive after everything went south for her in King’s Landing following her father’s death, but now her position has changed once again in terms of power and ability. But unlike before where she was shifted around within King’s Landing, she’s now getting far outside of it and her ability to cope with it is what will be the most interesting to watch. So when she ends up in Littlefingers hands, death follows her once more as his plans start to take shape.
Joffrey’s death also makes an impact on his younger brother Tommen, who is now being manipulated by Tywin since he’s next in line. But since he’s young and problematic in that way, Tywin is setting his position clear with him with an intriguing history lesson and a way to draw him away from his mother more with his education and also to make it clear that he’ll be more of an influence on him. Cersei is definitely not handling this well, though in her own controlled way, and it’s definitely interesting to see Jaime in how he talks briefly with Tommen to make it clear he will do right by him. But when it’s just Jaime and Cersei together in the sept looking over Joffrey, that has a different sense of darkness about it that really has weight to it. While the two converse in interesting ways, Jaime is distraught in his own way but proves himself still incredibly flawed here. While we had come to like him a lot more in the second and third season while with Brienne, his rape of Cersei here right beside the dead body of his son just shows that he can change and grow only so much.
Thankfully, we do get some time away from the machinations of King’s Landing as that keeps it from being too much. Arya and Clegane have been fun to watch with how they interact and Arya in particular as she got her sword back and has caused her share of death now to move on and to have closure with certain events. The pair have ended up making progress towards the Erie and are spending a bit of time with a father and daughter that runs a farm. Guest rights make for an amusing discussion over the course of an awkward dinner, especially as the two of them are playing a father and daughter role. Arya does manage to save the situation a bit at times to try and ease things, but you know it’s just going to go badly in the end because Clegane has a very different view of the world. One that does fit in with the reality of it of what he’s experienced and that’s a lesson that Arya is still struggling against rather than learning.
The show spends its time in a few other areas in small ways here, with Sam and Gilly having problems where he’s worried about her safety at Castle Black as there’s a hundred men that are envisioning her. He’s trying to find a way to keep her safe in Mole’s Town, but she’s not all that keen on it but isn’t in a position to really do much about it. That shows a little of the dynamic of what’s going on there, which is certainly interesting. At Storm’s End, things are moving at a different pace as we have Stannis losing patience with Davos over the lack of an army and an inability to make his claim in a big way now that Joffrey is dead. But Davos gets some amusing inspiration from his own past when talking with Stannis’ daughter as part of his efforts to expand his ability to read and that gives him some idea of how to proceed. The two have been fun to watch as she teaches him to read as we’ve gotten some good stories from them and a kind of simplicity that is rather enjoyable to watch.
One area that’s a bit darker in intent, after a bit of colorful lightness, involves Tywin and Oberin as Tywin has come to gain a little information and to try and use Oberyn to his own advantage. While Oberyn was enjoying a good bit of the pleasures of flesh, there’s more temptations ahead of him. He obviously wants to deal with Tywin for what happened to his sister through the Mountain years ago, but he also knows he can’t just lash out and is, as he says, a man of reasons. But he’s also one that is looking for his own place in the world since he cannot be king in Dorne and Tywin knows this while having something to offer him with a position on the small council. Tywin is always planning and watching and managing, but he really shows that he knows what the world is truly like at this stage and lays out why he knows he needs to reinforce relations with Dorne because of the threats Westeros faces. It’s self serving of course, but it also serves the needs ot the seven kigndoms and it also serves Oberyn’s ambitions as well.
Tyrion provides for some decent material as well in this episode as well even while jailed. Podrick has come to help and is even putting himself in a difficult position because of it, which makes him all the more endearing. Tyrion has very few people to his side at this point and he knows the odds are stacked against him, especially since he can’t even get access to Bronn and he has to dismiss Podrick outright since he could be killed if he doesn’t go against Tyrion. What’s good to see is that he’s at least able to get access to Jaime as the two have always had a good relationship over the years even after all that’s happened.
One neglected part of the season so far is what the wildlings have been up to since crossing the Wall and outside of a bit of noise made when the group we knew met up with the Threnn’s, they’ve been pretty quiet. But now they’re making moves, starting with a nearby village to the wall by ravaging it and sending notice to the Crows at Castle Black. The threat they represent is an interesting one here as they’re dangerous to be sure but there’s a simpleness to what they’ve done. It’s an interesting move though as they’re trying to draw out those on the Wall, but they know their position is to defend against what’s north of the wall, especially with the threat that Snow has laid out. But this is just the start of the problems that they’re going to face at the Wall and learning that the mutineers of their own have set up shop at Craster’s place just adds to it since they have way too much knowledge that can be spilled from them.
In Summary:
The fallout from the Purple Wedding defines a good chunk of this episode but not all of it, which is good. There’s so much going on in this world with the cast we have that it’s easy to spread across a number of stories. We get a lot of good things here across Westeros but also a nice nod towards what Dany is up to at Mereen where we see that she’s taking a different approach to getting people to rise up there and overthrow the masters. It’s a shorter piece of the episode but as a climax it definitely works well and is a lot of fun to watch, especially with Daario basically having his Indiana Jones moment with a challenger. Definitely a solid episode that is nudging a lot of stories forward and coping with the changes that comes from the death of a king.
Grade: B+
Balon Greyjoy’s not dead yet.
Ah, ok. I thought I had remembered that it had been mentioned within the show in one of the first two episodes; could have sworn that Roose Bolton had said it while talking to his bastard about it in describing how Theon was useful.