“Money buys a man’s silence for a time. A bolt in the heart buys it forever.”
*WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD*
After the excitement of last weeks episode, this one had a lot to live up to, and it partly does that.
It starts straight after Joffrey’s death, as Sansa is escorted to Lord Baelish. This is an interesting scene, as the plot of Joffrey’s death is furthered. We see that her necklace was possibly the murder weapon, as it had a string of poison on it. I was also thankful to see Little-finger again, since he has been gone since the end of last season. I felt that not enough time was given to these characters, but i’m sure their story will be greatly developed throughout the season.
In Kings Landing, Tywin gave a great speech to Joffrey’s brother, who will now become King, about what makes a good King. Three uses of King in the same sentence. Impressive. In the same scene, Cersei furthers her ignorant and villainous nature by blaming the murder completely on Tyrion. Succeeding this, Jamie professes his love for her and subsequently rapes her. This was pretty shocking, as throughout the previous season he had steadily become a likable character, only to downplay that here unfortunately. Cersei is a horror, but it will take a lot for Jaime to redeem himself after this. Oberyn of Dorn also got some screen-time, as Tywin asked him to join the King’s advisers. He is becoming a fantastic character, and very different from anyone we’ve seen yet, due to his rebellious nature and bisexuality. Furthermore, Pod telling Tyrion of his situation was fairly emotional. Tyrion telling him how much he respected him and wished that he would die so that Pod would live reinforced how much i like Tyrion as a character.
We also got to catch up with Arya and the Hound, as they were given food and rest by a small religious family. When the Hound stole and harmed the Father, he showed himself to be yet again quite sinister, but his explanation for why he did it was profound and i found myself forgiving him somewhat, even though i probably shouldn’t have.
There were so many plot threads in this episode, so i won’t talk about all of them, but Samwell’s quest to save Gilly and her child seemed of great importance, and showed Sam to be a pivotal character, which he hasn’t really been thus far. Jon Snow did not get much to do, but he did advise the Watch about the Wildlings, who all became incredibly unlikable savages in this episode. In a particularly unsettling scene, they slaughter a village of innocent people with the help from the cannibals seen in episode one of this season. Ygritte becoming an out and out villain is saddening, but powerful.
Lastly, Dany had the best scene in the episode, as the her battle to free even more slaves continued. Daario dueling with a horseman without a horse was hilarious and truly bad-ass, and Daenerys ordering barrels of chains to be thrown at the city walls showed that she is innately good, if not a tad power hungry.
A good episode, if a bit under-whelming. There were so many different settings that only some felt important and hard hitting. Also there were no real surprises, but at the same time, not every episode needs to be shocking. It was fulfilling overall, and it has made me very excited for Daenerys’s battle to take place.
Harvey Gardner 