Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Discussing Game of Thrones: Oathkeeper

* Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen “Oathkeeper.”

I . . . don't know what to make of this week's episode. I LOVED several scenes (oh my God—Jaime and Brienne!) and found others baffling (Bran and the Reeds getting captured by the rogue Night's Watch at Craster's Keep. And for the love of Hodor—poor Hodor!) I'm going to try to keep from sounding all, "But that didn't happen in the books!", but I guarantee nothing, Jon Snow.

Reading: It's Important

Last week, Davos had a reading lesson with Shireen Baratheon. This week, Grey Worm, the commander of Daenerys's Unsullied, has a reading lesson with Missandei. Then he's off to convince the slaves of Meereen to rise up against their masters and join Daenerys. Guess who's now the Mhysa of Meereen?

Bitch Slapped with Your Own Hand

Jaime and Bronn continue their sparring practice. Bronn grabs Jaime's golden hand and whacks him in the face with it. Jaime asks Bronn if Tyrion killed Joffrey; Bronn asks Jaime if he's going to fight for his brother.

The Kingslayer Brothers

Jaime visits Tyrion in his cell and asks him point blank if he's guilty. Jaime wants to help but is reluctant to help Tyrion escape.

On Board the Creeper Ship

Littlefinger is on his way to marry Sansa's aunt, Lysa Arryn. Sansa tells him she knows he was behind Joffrey's death. Littlefinger reveals that the poison was in the necklace Ser Dontos gave her. I hate when Littlefinger vaguely refers to his "friends;" we all know he doesn't have any.

Grandmas Can Commit Regicide, Too

Lady Olenna is getting ready to depart King's Landing and advises Margaery to act fast before Cersei turns Tommen against her. She also implies that she saved Margaery from marrying a monster, wink, wink.

You're a Steward, Lord Snow

Alliser Thorne gets all snippy with Jon, who's training some of the Night's Watch with Grenn. Slynt reminds Thorne there's going to be a vote for a new Lord Commander, and Jon is very popular while Thorne is not. Slynt suggests Thorne send Jon to Craster's Keep so with any luck, he'll be killed by the mutineers, thus solving Thorne's problem. (I refrained from making a thorn in the side joke there. It was very difficult.) Locke, aka the guy who cut off Jaime's hand, is at the Wall on Roose Bolton's orders, trying to snuff out Bran and Rickon. Jon needs a freaking personal guard.

So Let's Pretend Like Last Week Didn't Happen

Cersei is hitting the bottle again and pissed off when she learns from Jaime that Tommen only has one guard posted outside his chamber. She knows Jaime went to see Tyrion and is beyond furious that Jaime doesn't believe Tyrion killed Joffrey. And there's no reference to the scene from last week's episode that stirred quite a discussion on social media.

That's Not the Tooth Fairy

Margaery sneaks into Tommen's room in the middle of the night to work the Tyrell charm on him. Wasn't Ser Pounce the kitty too cute?

Ser/Milady

Jaime gives Brienne his Valyrian steel sword. And a suit of armor. And Pod! There's too much awesome in this scene, from all of the presents to Brienne vowing to find Sansa for Catelyn—and for Jaime—to Pod unsure of whether to call Brienne "Ser" or "Milady." The latter was in the books, and I'm glad that got kept. Hooray for staying true to the books! Brienne is off in search of Sansa with Pod as her squire, and by the old gods and the new, I mentally willed her with all my brainpower to look back at Jaime as she was riding away. For anybody else who's seen the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South with Richard Armitage, you'll remember the scene when Margaret Hale was leaving in the carriage and John Thornton was watching it drive away from the window and all he wanted was for her to look back at him. Well, since then, I've become a little obsessed with characters looking back. And Brienne looked back at Jaime! I almost started flailing on the floor.

Craster's Keep: Crazier Than Ever

Jon gets the ok from a scheming Thorne to clear out Craster's Keep of the Night's Watch traitors, and Jon asks for volunteers to accompany him. Locke volunteers. This is not good. Cut to the keep itself, and an insane Karl, the guy who killed Craster, is drinking wine out of former Lord Commander Mormont's skull. Ewwwwwww. One of the wives enters with Craster's last baby son and informs Karl that the baby must be gifted—to the White Walkers! Rast, the a-hole who berated Sam mercilessly, is tasked with bringing the baby to the woods. We see poor Ghost, Jon's direwolf, who's imprisoned by this band of sadistic lunatics.

WTF. Seriously.

Ok. So Bran and his companions are camping in the snowy woods as usual when they hear a baby crying. It's the baby, of course, and Bran wargs into Summer to find out what's going on. As Summer, Bran sees Ghost but doesn't realize how baaaaad these former Night's Watch men are. Unfortunately Summer gets caught in a trap, and Bran won't go anywhere without his beloved direwolf. Meera quickly figures out that the men are NOT friendly, but it's too late; Bran, Hodor, and the Reeds are captured, and Bran ends up revealing who he is, much to Karl's delight at 1) having a highly valuable hostage and 2) that the hostage is Jon Snow's half-brother.

Bran's storyline has really diverged from the novels here, as has Jon's to an extent. With the show renewed for at least two more seasons and no new books from which to draw source material in the immediate future, maybe we can expect to see a lot more plotlines written specifically for the show.

It's No Shadow Baby, But It's Still Freaky

I'm sorry, but I couldn't help laughing at the White Walker holding Craster's son and just riding its ice zombie horse. Another White Walker takes the baby, and at the touch of a bony finger, the baby's eyes turn that icy, eerie blue. And that's the end of this week's ep. So much crazy in one hour.

In the Next Episode

There's yet another new king in Westeros; Lysa Arryn is back; Arya does some needlework; Jon fights his former brothers.

2 comments:

  1. The bitch slap with his own hand was one of my favorite scenes. I love Bronn.

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    Replies
    1. Bronn is HILARIOUS! I also laughed when he asked Pod if he was waiting for a kiss goodbye.

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