Tag: pyter baelish

Game of Thrones – Season Four, Episode Four

GOT4_3At last, I am finally caught up with GOT and the many episodes which took place while I was either overseas or in transit. And while I’m pleased with that fact, I have to say this past week’s episode was kind of a disappointment. And there are a few reasons for that. For starters, it was loaded up with stuff that didn’t even appear in the original books. And I don’t mean they changed some things for the sake of adapting to a TV format, as they’ve done countless times in the past. No, this week, they had whole segments that were entirely made up.

Second, there was the way they explained every single aspect of the conspiracy surrounding Joffrey’s death. They’ve done this a lot in the shows, being explicit about things that were implicit in the novels. But this time around, they really spelt it out for us! And last, but not least, there was the whole mutineers at Craster’s Keep thread and the way they turned up the ugliness factor. Forget Oathkeeper, the episode should have been called “C*nt” – as in, how many times can we say it in one scene!

However, there were some parts of it that were interesting and even intriguing, mainly the ending…

Oathkeeper:
GOT4_4_1The episode opens with Daenerys’ attempt to take Mereen, which consists of Grey Worm and other Unsullied sneaking into the city through its sewers. Disguised as slaves, they made their way inside to where the city’s slaves are holding congress and discussing open revolt. Upon their arrival, Grey Worm and the others distribute weapons and tell them that Daenerys is there to free them, and that they outnumber the masters three to one.

The next day, the masters see Daenerys’ banner flying from the tallest of the city’s pyramid and find graffiti denouncing the masters. One such master is caught in an alleyway between dozens of armed slaves and is killed. The slave uprising neutralizes the defenses, and Daenerys enters into the city and is hailed as a liberator. She then orders that the slave masters be publicly crucified in the same fashion as the children that they saw along the road.

GOT4_4_2Back in King’s Landing, Jaime meets with Tyrion for the first time and asks him if he is guilty of Joffrey’s death. He denies it, and Jaime believes him, which puts him at odds with Cersei who continues to hold him responsible. After asking him if he would find and kill Sansa for her, Jaime calls Brienne to him. Giving her a new suit of armor and his sword, he tasks her with fulfilling her duty to Lady Caitlyn and finding her daughter. She names the sword Oathkeeper, and sets out with Pod to find Sansa.

Lady Olenna Redwyne meets with Margaery and tells her in no subtle fashion to begin ingratiating herself to Tommen so she can defuse any attempts Cersei has at poisoning him against her. In the course of their talk, she admits that she is the one who poisoned Joffrey. Out to sea, while traveling to the Eyrie to marry her aunt, Lord Pyter Baelish admits the same to Sansa, and intimates that he did it to please the Tyrells – his new ally.

got4_4_3At the Wall, Locke has arrived and begins to befriend Jon Snow, who is there to kill – on Lord Bolton’s orders. Amidst training the new recruits, Jon comes to learn from Sam that Bran and the Reeds are travelling north of the Wall and suspects they may find their way to Craster’s Keep. He then is told by the acting Lord Commander that he has leave to go there and kill the mutineers before they can fall into Mance’s hands.

Locke and a handful of other Brothers agree to go with him, and they set out. Meanwhile, at Crasters Keep, where Karl Tanner (one of the mutineers) is running things as his own private fiefdom. When a newborn baby boy is presented to him, he is told that Craster sacrificed them to “the gods” (aka. the White Walkers). He orders one of his men to take the baby out, who then leaves it in the snow and goes to a cage where (surprise!) Ghost is being kept.

GOT4_4_4Just then, a cold wind blows in, signalling the approach of the Walkers, and he runs away. Not far off, Bran, Hodor and the Reeds are camped and sense the approach as well. They hear the baby crying, and Bran changes skin with Summer, who then wanders off in search of the baby. His wolf hears howling as well, sees Ghost in his cage, and then falls into a trap. The next day, they approach the Keep and see what’s become of it.

They begin planning on freeing Summer, but are captured by the mutineers. Hodor is chained up so the mutineers taunt and abuse him, and one stabs him in the leg with his spear. Bran and the Reeds are taken inside the keep where Karl comes to them and demands to know who they are. He threatens to kill them and Jojen begins to have a seizure, at which point Bran tells them his true identity. At this point, Karl means to ransom them or hold them hostage.

GOT4_4_5The episode ends out in the frozen wastes, where the White Walker who was seen assaulting the Fist of the First Men is riding his dead horse and carrying the baby with him. After arriving at the foot of a mountain, the Walker comes to a sort of shrine made of ice and places the baby down on an altar. Another Walker comes forward from a large circle of them and touches the baby’s face. It’s eyes turn blue, indicating that it has become an Other.

Summary:
So… where to start? I’m guessing with the stuff I didn’t like since the ending was the big exception to all that. Let’s see if I can’t break it down in sequential order. First off, the sack of Mereen, which was very quick and involved some changes from the original story. As I mentioned last time, the way the show chose to write Strong Belwas and the fact that Ser Barristan Selmy was originally hiding his identity from Daenerys out of the show. As I might have also said, this would come up this week as Daenerys’ forced sacked the city.

Basically, Daenerys learned the truth as she sat outside Mereen’s walls and tried to think of a way to breach its defenses. Not only did she learn that Whitebeard was actually Selmy and in the employ of Robert – the man who usurped the throne from her father and tried to have her killed. His confession also raised the fact that Ser Jorah Mormont was working for Robert as well. At least he was, until he chose to switch sides and prevent her from being poisoned.

Incensed, Daenerys chose to send them on a dangerous mission, which involved sneaking into the city’s sewers at night and opening it’s gates. This was the only weakness they could discern of Mereen’s defenses, and Mormont and Selmy happened to be successful. By contrast, the way they did this in this week’s episode happened so fast and quickly, it kind of made it seem like taking the city was a piece of cake. But it still worked, so no real complaints there. And the way they rendered the city was very beautiful and accurate to the text.

However, the whole storyline in the North is something that I found rather annoying. For starters, Jon Snow never asked to go off and kill the mutineers at Crasters Keep, mainly because they had their hands full with the Wildling party that coming up from the south, and Mance coming down from the north. As Jon knew, Ygritte and Tormund’s whole purpose was to take Castle Black so that they could open the gates and let Mance and his army through without a fight.

Jon knew that the only advantage the Night’s Watch had was the fact that the Wall would be very difficult for Mance’s army to overcome. But that advantage would be lost if the Wildlings managed to seize Castle Black, which seemed likely given how outnumbered the Night’s Watch was at this point. Faced with attack coming from two directions, both of which were practically upon them, Jon’s only thought was preparing their defenses. He gave no thought to the mutineers whatsoever, since they were all believed to be dead anyway.

And speaking of giving something no though, Bolton never ordered Locke to go Castle Black to find and assassinate Jon. While it is true that he was concerned with cementing his family’s rule over the North, this involved him sending his bastard son (after he was made a full Bolton) to Winterfell where he was to marry Jeyne Poole (Sansa’s friend in King’s Landing who was now being forced to pretend to be Arya Stark). This show-wedding would have made the Bolton’s rule over the North legitimate by law.

At no point in the story did Bolton learn that Bran and Rickon were still alive, not for certain anyway. And as for Jon Snow, Bolton never concerned himself with him since, as a bastard, he had no claim to Winterfell. And to top that off, the mutineers never captured Ghost, and Bran, Hodor and the Reeds never traveled to Craster’s Keep to be captured and interrogated. All of this stuff was made-up and filler, and the way they turned Karl Tanner from a background character into Evil the Cat seemed especially overdone.

And while I get that they need to come up with things to keep certain characters and threads engaged, I would think they could do what they have been doing with Theon, who also didn’t appear again in the story until A Dance with Dragons (book five). Here, they simply used what Martin wrote about his intervening time to keep him in the story. With Bran and Jon now, they are making stuff up and diverging wildly from the text.

But at least this week, Cersei and Jaime’s strained relationship seems to have some merit. In fact, it was their disagreement over Tyrion that caused their split in the first place, not to mention Cersei’s growing paranoia and vindictiveness. That whole “you took too long” thing was pure nonsense, and the rape scene of last week was as wrong as it was unnecessary. Not in the books, didn’t fit with their characters, so I liked that this week, they ironed that out.

And of course, the ending! What can I say about that? No, really, what can I say? I ask because it wasn’t in the books either, not in A Storm of Swords (which provides the material for this season) or the two others that have come since. This means that this final scene, which was very cool and cryptic, was also providing hints as to the larger plot, stuff that George RR Martin hasn’t even revealed yet to his loyal readers. What can you say about that? Other than COOOOOOL!

Anyhoo, midseason is coming up, and we’ve got some rather major events in the works before the season ends. These would include Tyrion’s trial – which is going to have its own share of big surprises and consequences! – and of course, Mance’s assault on the Wall, which I am looking forward to with some high zest. No matter what else they’ve done this season, fight scenes and major battles are two thing they’ve consistently managed to do well!

Game of Thrones – Season 3, Episode 5

Game-of-Thrones-WallpaperMorning folks, welcome to another work week, and another episode review of GOT! This week, since I’ve got a bit more free time on my hands, I thought I’d get to this review early and avoid what happened last time. I mean, people don’t need to wait til Thursday to hear about a show they watched on Sunday right? Yeah, mea culpa. But its a new week and a new episode, and the mid-season one at that!

Naturally, I was eager to see this week’s episode, since the story was now in full swing and the big plot points were being addressed. For example, Daenerys campaign to raise an army of free people from the ruins of the slave capitol of the world. This was one of the best parts of book III, so I’m quite interested to see how they go about illustrating it. And of course, there’s also Robb Stark’s growing problems, which were not dealt with last time.

But biggest for me was the plot thread hinted at in the title. After weeks of having John Snow’s story only touched on, and with him not even making an appearance last week, I was happy to see that this episode would be dealing with his story. Not only is it too one of the most important in the third book, it is perhaps the most personal and emotionally involved.

Taken together, the promise of seeing all these threads further developed left me feeling eager and antsy…

Kissed By Fire:
got3_kissedThe episode opens in the Riverlands, where Beric Dondarrion prepares for trial by combat with Sandor Clegane. After setting his sword ablaze in true R’hllorian fashion, Beric fights Sandor, who’s naturally afraid of his flaming blade. However, Sandor manages to survive the bout and lands his sword in Beric’s shoulder, killing him. But the death doesn’t last long, as Thoros issues a prayer to the Lord of Light and resurrects Beric yet again. Found innocent by trial of combat, Sandor is released…

Later on, Arya learns that Gendry will be staying behind with the Brothers while she is taken to Riverrun and handed over to her brother. Afterwards, she learns from Beric that he has died many times and been brought back by Thoros, and wonders if her father could be resurrected in the same way.

got3_kissed2In Riverrun, Robb is faced with yet more problems as Lord Karstark take matters into his own hands and executes the Lannister captives. Though he is encouraged to take him as a hostage in order to ensure the continued loyalty of House Karstark, he decides to execute him and swings the sword himself. He loses the Karstarks as allies and laments how unity has broken down in his army. However, he knows he can still march on Casterly Rock, provided he can rebuild his alliance with House Frey.

In Harrenhal, Vargo Hoat delivers Brienne and Jaime Lannister to Roose Bolton. Being merciful, he chooses to let Jaime know that his family prevailed in the siege of King’s Landing and sends him to get the care he needs for his wound. Afterward, he finds Brienne in the baths and shares a tub with her. After agreeing on a truce, he explains to her why it is he killed King Aerys, thus earning him the name “Kingslayer”.

got3_kissed1Moving to the north, we see John with his newfound Wildling companions, sharing what information he can with Tormund about the Wall’s defenses. Afterward, Ygritte leads him on a bit of a chase and they end up inside a cave, where she undresses for him and tests his loyalties by seeing if he will break his vow of celibacy. He does, and the two are joined in Wildling fashion… a couple of times!

In King’s Landing, Cersei reaches out to Lord Baelish for help in dealing with the Tyrells, while Tyrion reaches out to Lady Redwyne for help with the royal wedding. Sansa gets a chance to see Ser Loras, whom she thinks she will marry. However, Tywin intervenes and decides to wed her to Tyrion. After gloating, Cersei is told she will wed Ser Loras, which sends her into a fit of self-pity.

got3_kissed3On Dragonstone, Stannis meets with his wife for the first time in ages. He comes to confess for his indiscretion with Lady Melissandre, but is told that he has done nothing wrong. As his wife is clearly crazed over the loss of her stillborn children, which she keeps in a set of jars, she confesses that she was overjoyed to learn that someone else was able to give him the son he deserved.

Afterward, Stannis meets with his daughter, Shireen Baratheon, who waits in her tower and suffers from greyscale. After learning that Ser Davos, who has always been a friend to her, is in prison for treason, Shireen goes to the dungeons to see him and brings him a book – Aegon the Conqueror. He confesses that he is illiterate, at which point she begins reading it to him and suggest she make a habit of coming to see him.

got3_kissed4In Essos, Daenerys army continues to march from Astapor to Yunkai. This gives Ser Mormont and Ser Selmy a chance to discuss the men they’ve served over the years and discuss how best to serve their new queen. But both agree that they are happy to be serving Daenerys now since they believe in her, though it is clear Mormont also holds a torch for her.

Daenerys also addresses her Unsullied officers and asks them to pick their own names and shed their slave names. Their leader, Grey Worm, tells her he will keep that name, as it is lucky. His birth name was the one he had when he was taken as a slave, whereas the one he has now he held when Daenerys set him free.

Summary:
As usual, high and lows in this episode, though I felt it was mainly characterized by highs. For starters, I was glad to finally see John and Ygritte hook up!  Their thread has been sorely neglected so far and I was seriously beginning to wonder if they would ever get around to showing their relationship or not. I was glad to see that they did!

In the third novel, this was not only an important aspect of the plot but the also one of the most gripping and emotionally involved parts of the story. Here, John’s loyalties are being severely tested, and his newfound love for Ygritte was causing him to break his oaths. Of course, he was only doing what Qorin told him to before they were captured, but that didn’t make it any easier for him.

Though that raises something that I’ve found generally unlikeable about their adaptation. In the second season, Qorin did not ask this of John and instead seemed to condemn him for letting Ygritte go, a move which led to their capture. Granted, it seemed obvious he staged their little “fight” to get John into their good books and sacrificed himself, but John was not in the know and is now groping around blindly.

Perhaps they thought this would make his uncertainty and test of loyatlies more genuine, but I think it only complicates matters. Better to have him playing the role of defector and constantly be wondering if he’s doing the right thing than have him vacillating between two camps for real.

Another high point was Jaime’s confession to Brienne of why he killed Aerys. Not only was the scene accurate and lucidly portrayed, it was a testament to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s skill as an actor that he managed to pull off Jaime’s torment so well. After years of being a cynical bastard because of how people view him as a man without honor, and having lost his sword hand – his only redeeming feature, in his mind – he is naturally in serious emotional pain and wants redemption. Personally, I thought he captured that here brilliantly.

And of course, the machinations that are going on in King’s Landing. As I’ve said before, the Sansa-Pyter plot has been simplified, since it was Boros Blount who arranged for her escape and Pyter’s involvement not revealed until later. But aside from that, they are capturing the spirit of this point in the story quite well, showing how plotting between houses is causing a general atmosphere of distrust that will threaten to boil over. And for the most part, it’s being conveyed accurately.

And as for Robb’s thread, there is a minor change here which caught my attention. His decision to repair relations with the Freys was not part of some brilliant idea to attack Casterly Rock. It was done out of necessity because his decision to marry Talisa Maegyr was basically a big middle finger to his promise to marry Walder Frey’s oldest daughter. What’s more, its hardly big news that he would plan to attack Casterly Rock, home of the Lannisters.

That was his aim in the book all along. Since it sits west of Riverrun and well north of King’s Landing, he knew he had to have it, since to march past it would expose his entire western flank. A nitpick, I know, but sometimes I wonder why they bother with little changes like these. They kind of seem frivolous and unnecessary, like they are trying to sex up the storyline or something. It’s already well-sexed, believe me! Just tell it and move on…

And to end things happily, I like that they brought in Stannis’s daughter and developed his back story some more. Naturally, its hard to give all the characters their worth in a format like television, especially when adapting something as voluminous as Martin’s series. But they managed to get her and his wife in, and show the kind’s of debilitating and tragic things which have effected their family. Oh, and the way they had his daughter singing the song that Patchface  – her jester, who was important in the books but didn’t make it into the cast of the show – always sung her was a nice touch.

And that was the middle of season three, people! Things are shaping up and we are due for some major action, betrayals and intrigue real soon! Stay tuned because I know for a fact that it’s only getting better from here…

Game of Thrones – Season 3 Episode 3

GOT3Good afternoon folks, and welcome back for another Game of Thrones season 3 review! I regret to be bringing you this episode several days after it premiered, but life has been getting busy again. However, since I found myself with a day off, I naturally decided to get caught up on all my unfinished articles, which included a review for the third episode of the third season.

Well, this most recent installment was a bit of a doozy! Bloody, baleful, full of pain and the prospect of rape, and just enough nudity to put you in mind of season one, it really took viewing audiences by storm. Of course, there were also some juicy tidbits that I was waiting on, but also, sadly, some that were left for the next episode and after. And as usual, some changes were made and liberties taken with the text…

Walk of Punishment:
got3_walkThe episode opens with Robb Stark and the Tully family attending Catelyn’s father’s funeral. After setting his body down the river, Robb entreats with his uncle, Edmure, who he scolds for violating his plans. Instead of drawing Ser Gregor Clegane (“The Mountain”) towards Riverrun, as he was meant to so Robb could surround him, he instead fought him in the open country. Though victorious, this has deprived Robb of a victory he sorely needed to end the war quickly.

In King’s Landing, Tywin convenes his small council, which consists of Tyrion, Pyter, Cersei, Varys and Pycelle. In addition to discussing the whereabouts of Jaime, Tywin orders Baelish to the Vale to court Catelyn’s sister in the hopes of bringing her into the war on their side. In his absence, Tyrion takes over as Master of Coin, a position he naturally loathes. Luckily, it gives him a chance to repay a debt…

got3_walk5In the North, the Wildlings come up on the Fist of the First Men and find the remains of dozens of horses arranged in the shape of a vortex, but no men. Mance orders Tormund to take a scouting party to the Wall to assess Castle Black’s defenses and order John’s along. He tells them to await his signal for the attack, which will be “the greatest fire the north has ever seen.”

Not far away, Samwell and the surviving brothers have taken up at Craster’s Keep again. Hungry and desperate, Craster is forced to offer them his hospitality, but relations are quite strained due to his usual arrogance. While there, Samwell witnesses Gilly, the young wife he met on the way up, give birth to a son. She and Samwell are both terrified, as they know that this means Craster will offer him to the Others as tribute.

got3_walk3In Astapor, Daenerys witnesses the “Walk of Punishment”, a waterfront display where slaves who have committed acts of defiance are crucified. Ser Mormont and Ser Selmy argue about what course they should take, whether she should take the Unsullied or raise an army the old fashioned way. She opts to buy the Unsullied, and offers them one of her dragons. She gains Missandre as part of the bargain, an Astaporian translator, and confirms from her that the Unsullied are unquestioning.

In between all this, Theon is rescued by the dungeon hand who claimed Asha sent him. After setting him on a horse, he is turned loose and told to head East. However, it’s not long before Theon is captured again by Ramsay Bolton’s men who appear to want to rape him. Theon is then saved by the last minute intervention of a man who kills them all with his bow and then takes him away…

got3_walk1In the Riverlands, Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie are taking to their newfound friends in different ways. Arya feels like a prisoner, by Gendry is working as their blacksmith and Hot Pie decides to stay behind at an inn they were camped at as a baker. Arya and Gendry say goodbye to him and head off on campaign, taking Sandor Clegane (“The Hound”) with them as their prisoner.

Not far away, Brienne and Jaime have been taken captive and being brought to Harrenhal by the Brave Companions (aka. Bloody Mummers). When they make camp, Vargo and his men try to rape Brienne, but Jaime tells them that she’s the daughter of a noble lord and worth her weight in sapphires, but only if she’s alive and unspoiled. That puts an end to all attempts to rape her, but Vargo takes Jaime’s hand when he tries to buy his way out.

Summary:
Like I said, I was waiting on the Jaime dismemberment scene, and it was predictably, hard to watch! And yet, I much missed the parts I was really hoping for, like when (spoiler alert! spoiler alert! spoiler alert!) and there’s a terrible mess to clean up afterwards. Now that was good plot development! Alas, I lament that I will have to wait on these tidbits, as they shall prove quite awesome I suspect!

Other points of interest in this episode included Tyrion’s visit to the whorehouse with Pod, whom he repaid in kind for saving his life by purchasing an evening with not one, not two, but three ladies of the evening! And yet, when Podrick is finished, he returns home with Tyrion’s bag of coin still in hand. Completely flabbergasted as to why Pyter’s ladies would not accept payment, he and Bronn sit Pod down, give him wine and demands he recount his visit, in gratuitous detail.

I also liked what they did with Robb’s return to Riverrun, as it was fitting to the story in a lot of respects. The details of how Edmure Tully screwed up, how Catelyn mourned her father, and how broken up she was for the sake of her boys were all well conveyed and true to the text. And Arya’s thread, though brief, was faithful enough while still getting in the main points. But they do need to introduce the Brotherhood’s red priest at some point, otherwise they’ll be glossing over an important point…

And let’s not forget the key lines of dialogue which made it in directly from the book. These included Mormont’s assessment of Rhaegar Targaryen’s end: “Rhaegar fought valiantly. Rhaegar fought nobly. And Rhaegar died.” Or Mance Rayder’s declaration: “I’m going to light the biggest fire the north has ever seen!” As a Thrones nerd, those lines could only resonate with me… and they did!

Otherwise, this episode did seem a bit quick and sparing in a lot of respects. While some threads got a good dose of development, others, like John Snow’s were once again quick and sparse. For example, in the north, when they came upon the Fist of the First Men, there was plenty more happening than was shown here. And if they continue to move along as they have with this thread, a good deal of really decent material will be lost.

For starters, Mance was angry when they found traces of a large Night’s Watch force, mainly because John never told him about it. Mance then accused John of playing him and was ready to have him killed, but his hand was stayed by Ygritte who vouched for his loyalty. I shall not say more, as the details of that are spoiler related. Suffice it to say, this all took place before he was sent off to the Wall, so we shall see how that plays out. But rest assured, this is another point that they cannot expect to gloss over easily…

Last, there’s Theon’s thread, which is going in an odd direction. In the books, this was not mentioned until book five, as I’ve said. But there, he was never rescued while attempting to flee. So if he’s safely away, this represents a major plot twist that is way off script! In fact (spoiler alert! spoiler alert!)… but that can easily be corrected with a few more lines of dialogue and another plot twist.

All in all, a pretty good episode, better paced and more thorough than the previous two. And there’s plenty more to be had. I just hope they remain true and faithful, because what happened next was pretty damn badass!