Summary: Joffrey enjoys his name day with Sansa whos till despises him. Cersei tries to discipline him but Joffrey is out of her control. Tyrion arrives. Robb makes plans to ally himself with Balon Greyjoy and Renly. On Dragonstone, Stannis has a red priestess named Melisandre who he follows. Melisandre worships the Lord of Light. Beyond The Wall, the Night's Watch arrive at Craster's Keep, owned by Craster who has only daughters and he marries them to make more daughters. Jon doesn't take kindly to this. Across the Narrow Sea, Dany travels across the Red Waste and is slowly starving to death.
The Good: This was a fine opening episode with some good moments. Joffrey remains compelling as the out of control villain. His interactions with Sansa remain cruel and it's sad to see that Sansa has accepted her role in an attempt to save herself, resorting to saying predetermined lines about her love for Joffrey. The opening sequence was a good way to show Sansa and Joffrey's conflicting personalities, while also showing that The Hound may be out to help Sansa as he confirms what was likely a lie on Sansa's part to prevent her from facing Joffrey's wrath. Speaking of Joffrey's wrath, I found it very compelling to see Cersei lose control over Joffrey. It was expected that Cersei would essentially get control with Joffrey as a king, but Joffrey is so horrible that he only does what he specifically wants. It's nice to see that everything doesn't go according to the plan for the Lannisters. Furthermore, there is good irony in having Cersei realize for herself that power is power, echoing what she tells Littlefinger in a different scene. Tyrion was terrific in this episode as usual. I love that he casually strolls into the council meeting bearing the news that he is Hand of the King. It's nice to see him embrace and immediately flaunt his new role to Cersei, showing that he does in fact have some power in his hands which he will likely use in a more wise fashion than Joffrey will. It was good to get information on Mance Rayder as well. He was mentioned in the season 1 finale but we didn't learn that much about him. Now that we have learned of his significance in that he is recruiting a massive wildling army, he becomes more of a clear villain who will likely be the main focus of the Night's Watch storyline this season. Robb was very good in this episode. I loved his threats to Jaime, ensuring that he understands that Robb won't treat him well or act like a kind and moronic king. As a whole, this is a good reason to get behind Robb as he is not like Ned and he understands that to get things done he will need to set honour aside and be smart at times, making him an even more endearing protagonist. It was really easy to root for him and I like seeing him make a strategy to help take King's Landing by allying with both Renly and Balon. I liked the ending of the episode a lot. The killing f the bastards was powerful (see: Best Moment), but I also really like that there is an open hunt for Gendry now who happens to be with Arya at the moment. It adds a lot of tension to their storyline as we are now aware that the two of them have an enemy chasing them. The Bad: The problem with Mance Rayder is that we are all aware that there are White Walkers beyond The Wall. Mance Rayder doesn't feel like a big threat because there is a much more pressing issue at hand which I'm already more invested in. This worries me because I feel that I won't get invested in the Night's Watch vs Wildlings storyline that is being set up. This episode as a whole had a pretty awful pacing and sense of momentum. Coming off of the last episode, I was expecting more of a bang to open up the season but all we got was a scene-setter episode which lacked any sort of forward momentum and urgency. The most exciting parts were of Stannis, but those scenes were brief and didn't accomplish much aside from setting up some interesting new plot threads (see: The Unknown). I wish that this episode accomplished more for the plot as it ended up feeling too much like a catch up episode to refresh fans as to what each character was doing prior to this season. The Unknown: What does the comet symbolize and what has it appeared for? What happens to Craster's sons? I'm sure that there is a story there. How did Melisandre survive the poison in the wine? What or who is the Lord of Light and how does it aid her? Regarding Stannis story as a whole, I'm unsure of what to think. Stannis seems like a straightforward man but that makes it much more awkward to see him following Melisandre. I also wasn't sure what to feel when the old Maester died because I don't know how he was significant to any of the other characters in the story. Best Moment: The ending with the killing of the bastards was pretty harrowing and was Game of Thrones at its miserable best. It was also the only moment in the episode with a sense of forward story momentum. Character of the Episode: Robb. Conclusion: This was a fine episode to reintroduce us to the story, but I felt that it lacked forward momentum or a real purpose. There just wasn't much meat to this episode and that makes it one of the weakest so far despite there being nothing bad happening in the story. Score: 62
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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