Summary: News reaches King's Landing of the red wedding. Tyrion speaks with Tywin and learns of his role in the red wedding. Jaime returns to Cersei. Varys asks Shae to leave. Bran continues heading north and runs into Sam. Ygritte shoots Jon with arrows out of frustration but doesn't kill him. Jon returns to Castle Black. Arya kills her first man after she overhears him talking about the red wedding. Roose Bolton is named Warden of the North. His bastard Ramsay continues torturing Theon. Yara prepares to save him. Davos saves Gendry when he learns that Stannis plans to burn him. Stannis orders Davos to die, but Davos reveals the threat north of The Wall. Melisandre tells Stannis that Davos still has a part to play. Dany is worshipped by the Yunkai slaves she freed.
The Good: This was a quiet finale, but still a strong one, and honestly after the previous episode's events, a quieter episode was certainly necessary. The direct fallout of the red wedding was pretty good. It was suitably horrific seeing Robb paraded around with Grey Wind's head stitched to his body, and Arya's reaction was heartbreaking as expected. Arya has gone through a lot and she is slowly turning into a cold-blooded killer, and her first steps towards this occurred when she gets her first kill in the episode's best scene (see: Best Moment). The other scenes following up on the red wedding were very good too. I really enjoyed the council meeting at King's Landing. Joffrey was suitably elated but he quickly turned to anger after he was pressed by both Tyrion and Tywin to start behaving like a proper king. The scene was very tense and I loved seeing Tywin put Joffrey in his place in an extremely subtle manner. Better yet was the scene between Tywin and Tyrion afterwards as its revealed that Tywin was also heavily responsible for the red wedding, as he orchestrated the entire event. Tyrion's disgust at this is easy to understand, but Tywin's cold dismissal of his criticisms is terrific, and I think the show has done a fantastic job of making us understand both of these characters so that we know why they behave the way they do. And to add on to the scene's quality, both characters can actually be viewed in a sympathetic light depending on your perspective, allowing the show to explore some fascinating grey territory, a necessary development after such a seismic and horrific event took place in the last episode. The other scenes in King's Landing were solid too. I liked seeing Tyrion and Sansa bond a little more and grow closer only for it to be ruined by news of Robb's death. Sansa's reaction was appropriately sad and necessary as we needed at least a little bit of time for the characters to mourn the losses. Jaime's reunion with Cersei was a good moment too. Had it been a season prior, I wouldn't have cared much, but the excellent handling of Jaime's character this season made that a standout scene. Lastly, I also liked Varys telling Shae to leave. I'm not sure if Tyrion had ordered him to tell her this, and it would be interesting if Varys genuinely does care enough for Tyrion to try to get Shae to safety by his own will. The scenes with Davos on Dragonstone were very good too. Davos is a fantastic character, and I really loved seeing him continuing to follow his heart to do what's right. He is easily one of the most likable characters on the show, and he brings a sense of reality to Stannis' storyline to make me invested. Without him, I really wouldn't care at all. His decision to help Gendry was great as I easily understood why he would do it despite knowing he would have to face the consequences. Of course, Shireen was as sweet as ever and her friendship with Davos remains really good. Surprisingly, Bran received a central role in this episode and I believe he got more screen-time than anybody else. I really enjoyed his story about how the gods treated those who killed guests under their roof, as it assured us that vengeance will be coming for the Freys and hopefully the Boltons as well. I'm not sure how long we will have to wait, but I absolutely need to see them die violently before the show ends. Back to Bran though, I liked him running into Sam as it provided us with some fresh interactions, which were much-needed for both the Sam and the Bran storylines. Furthermore, I'm much more intrigued by Bran's mission to the north, and I suspect that he may put on a more important role in future seasons (see: The Unknown). There were a few other scenes I really enjoyed. Roose and Walder's conversation was great as both remain some of the most hated characters in the show. I was pleased that we got confirmation on Ramsay's identity, and also an explanation on what exactly happened to Winterfell in "Valar Morghulis". I also did enjoy Ramsay taunting Theon after he was castrated as it does give him more personality and charisma. Ygritte shooting Jon repeatedly was a nice scene as well as it highlighted Ygritte's sadness after Jon betrayed her and it was fairly powerful. The Bad: We haven't seen Yara and Balon at all this season, so for them to suddenly appear and get a lengthy scene doesn't deliver as well as it should. We don't know enough about the Greyjoys to care about them, and I really think that they needed a more thorough introduction last season, or a more interesting storyline this season. The final moment where Yara declared that she was saving Theon fell flat for me. Unfortunately I have to put Dany's scenes in The Bad as well. While her story is a necessary dose of happiness into a bleak world, it all feels too easy. Everybody is struggling in Westeros but Dany has things so ridiculously easy that it feels inconsistent with the show. The show is trying to give me hope that Dany could prevail, similar to what they did in "Fire and Blood", but the difference between the scene at the end of this episode and the dragon scene in "Fire and Blood" is massive. In season 1, Dany fell to the bottom and had to work her way to getting something resembling hope, whereas this season she has been given everything for free. It's not nearly as satisfying when characters don't earn their fortunes, especially in a show like this where characters often deserve something but don't receive it. Because of this, the show has also backed itself in a corner as a victory for Dany at the end of everything now risks feeling anticlimactic and disappointing. The Unknown: So Edmure is now in the dungeons at The Twins and Blackfish escaped. With the Tullys in tatters, could this mean that the Freys will target Riverrun to get more power? Why does Bran think he is going to be able to save Westeros from the White Walkers? How is he going to do that? What can he do to help? Is Stannis' next plan to go north then? How does he expect this to aid him in reclaiming the throne? Best Moment: Arya's first kill is the moment which really stuck out to me. A great character moment for Arya who hasn't had very much to do this season. Character of the Episode: Davos. Conclusion: This was a good season finale. It didn't produce anything too memorable, but a quieter episode was absolutely necessary after the previous episode in order to set the stage for season 4. The season as a whole was very good and I enjoyed it a lot. I appreciated that the show went at a better pace early on and it made the season much more engaging all the way through. I also really loved the characterization and development in the first half of the season as all of the storylines were coming together really well and the dialogue in particular was extraordinarily good. The seasons did somewhat lose the plot in its second half however as the momentum stalled and there wasn't really anything particularly memorable from episodes 6 to 8. Every season of "Game of Thrones" has stalled before, but to have it occur this late in the season was something of a disappointment. However the season bounced back in an incredible way with the red wedding, and when it comes down to it, that one scene will be what this season is remembered for. Score: 68
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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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