Summary: The Hound kills Beric but Beric comes back from the dead. Gendry decides to stay with the Brotherhood. Lord Karstark kills the two Lannister boys and in return Robb kills him. The Karstark men leave Robb's army, leaving Robb weakened. Stannis returns to his wife and daughter. Dany gets to know her army. Jon breaks his vows by having sex with Ygritte. Littlefinger learns of Varys' plan to wed Sansa. Jaime reveals the truth about why he killed the Mad King. Tywin decides to throw a wrench in these plans by having Tyrion wed Sansa, and Cersei wed Loras despite both of their pleas.
The Good: This was a great follow-up to a terrific episode. Amazingly, the stories continued to feel important and the pace hardly slowed, making this episode continue the same sense of excitement that made the last episode so great. The episode opens up on an extremely exciting note with the duel between The Hound and Beric, following up on last episode's most enticing cliffhanger immediately. The duel itself was tense and exciting as either character could logically have died in the situation and it was hard to figure out who would win. I also love the touch of Beric igniting his sword. It served as a cool moment and also a significant one as it played off of The Hound's fear of fire to raise the tension in the scene and also giving us the idea that The Hound may die here against his greatest fear. The result was brilliant too as Beric came back to life in a genuinely shocking moment. The show had already established how magic works, so seeing such a huge change in the rules and an affirmation of the Lord of Light's powers is both unexpected and significant for the show overall. I also like that the show has started to explore how these revivals affect Beric's character, making him slowly lose his mind. These new characters are very interesting to me and I hope to see more of them in the future. Robb had a great storyline in this episode as he's forced to face off with his own honour. Karstark did something wrong and actively challenged Robb's rule, leaving him no choice but to kill him, but strategically it's smarter for Robb to keep him alive. But sadly Ned's blood prevails and Robb chooses to execute Lord Karstark, diminishing his troops significantly and putting him in a losing position now in the war. It's sad to see Robb go down so viciously due to Karstark's recklessness but it's understandable why he did it. And now he is face to face with all of his bad decisions as the only solution to his lack of soldiers problem is to seek help from the man whose word he betrayed, Walder Frey. Stannis had a really strong sequence in this episode as we finally get to explore his life and how tragic it is. I really wish we knew about all of this before "Blackwater" for maximum emotion in that episode because what we learned was really good. Stannis' wife is sad to see as she is a fanatic who sees herself unworthy for Stannis due to the fact that she was never able to produce a male heir for him. It's sad to see and it's easy to understand why Stannis evidently lost interest in her and feels guilty for it. Even sadder is the existence of his daughter, who seems to have been through something traumatic in the past for her face to look like that (see: The Unknown). I loved Shireen's scene with Davos. Clearly she has had a tough childhood and hasn't made many friends, and she also doesn't appear to get an appropriate amount of love from either of her parents. So she goes to Davos, who seems to be the only man she was able to befriend. The scene where she started to teach Davos how to read was both sweet and sad, as it showed us the poor life of this innocent girl. Jaime had an outstanding moment in this episode as he vented to Brienne in the hot springs about what happened the day he killed the Mad King. It was such a powerful moment which featured some of the show's best acting and writing, and in one fell swoop Jaime has become a character we like and sympathize with despite being placed as a villain for so long. It was brilliant storytelling, and it also doubled at making Jaime and Brienne's relationship a significant one, as I care about their new bond a lot. Dany had a good moment in this episode as she got to know her new army and realized their immense loyalty to her. The loyalty is a significant development too since it was explained just two episodes ago how vital loyalty is in an army. It immediately sets Dany up as a massive threat to Westeros. I also really enjoyed hearing Jorah and Barristan chat it up as old friends, a small little detail which continues to make this show so fascinating. Tywin's plan at the end of the episode was a good development too. It's a great way to counter the Tyrells attempt to take control and also serves as a good way to highlight the conflict he has with his children. The scene is made better by the fact that Tywin is extremely entertaining to watch and has a commanding presence in every scene he is in. I'm excited to see where these new marriages will lead, and I'm curious to see if they will actually occur or if something else will take place. Littlefinger's story developed nicely as he used his own spies to learn about how his plans for Sansa have been thwarted. His conversation with Sansa afterwards proves that he really isn't pleased about this and I'm intrigued by what he can potentially do next. There were a number of really good small scenes in this episode too which add to the content. I loved Roose tormenting Jaime by making him think his family died before revealing they are safe. It was a nice little touch of character for Roose. I also loved learning about the full history about the Mad King from Jaime, as it fills us in on one of Westeros' most important historical events. It also gives us nice insight on Tywin's past in war and on Pycelle's loyalties, showing that he has been bought by the Lannisters for quite some time now. The Bad: I have to put Jon and Ygritte in The Bad unfortunately. While I do like the development of Jon having to break his vows to prove his trust to Ygritte, I feel like their relationship has developed too quickly and I don't quite buy their love for each other yet. That makes the scene fall flat emotionally which is a disappointment. The Unknown: How does Beric keep coming back? Why him? Is he coming back for a purpose? Can Thoros revive others with his abilities? Who is Qyburn exactly? He says he was a former maestre but he was exiled for his experiments. What did he do in these experiments? What's wrong with Shireen's face? What happened to her that made her like that? I was going to put this in The Bad, but I figure I would wait until we get actual answers. How did Tywin learn about Robb executing Lord Karstark? He shouldn't have intel on what exactly goes on at Riverrun. But what if he has a spy? Could somebody in Robb's camp be reporting to the Lannisters? Best Moment: Jaime's speech was so powerful and is one of the show's finest moments so far. Character of the Episode: Jaime. Conclusion: This was another really strong episode with a lot of solid story progression. The pacing this season has been very impressive so far and continues to make this the strongest season thus far. Score: 71
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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