HBO continues to amaze me with this season of Game of Thrones. Not sure if they hired a bunch of new writers, but the dialogue in these past 6 episodes have been gone from the greatness this show had as a standard, to some of the best I have ever heard/scene. Dynamic characters and dramatic situations are literally making this show the best on TV, and this weeks episode (despite only focusing on only a handful of the characters) is a great example of why.
Same as always… warning: Spoilers!
Lets start off with Stannis and Davos sailing all the way to Bravos, and visiting the mighty Bank of Bravos itself, The Iron Bank (basically, the richest/biggest bank in the world). Stannis needs money for an army and war, and he feels getting a “loan” from them is his only chance. His claim on the throne is shaky, and the bank denies him; but then Davos breaks out the persuasions and reasoning that he is good at. The so called king is a child, led only by Tywin, and he’s in his late 60’s. What happens when he passes? Do they expect to get their money back (from the loan they gave them) from Cersei? From the child? And how will they be able to defend themselves when Stannis claims his true right to be a king? Obviously, in the long term, Stannis is who will win, Stannis is the true king. And so the Bank sees the reasoning. Stannis gets his loan, which means he gets his army.
Davos starts with recruiting his pirate friend, Salador Sand, who has a pretty decent fleet of his own. Things are starting to heat up on this side of Westoros.
I don’t remember the bank scene in the books, but I think it was one of those things mentioned in passing. I like that they gave it some life and detail.
Speaking of ships, we go to the other side of Westoros, where Yara gives a speech to her shipmates about how the Balton’s killed a bunch of Ironborn and kidnapped and tortured their prince, aka Theon. The sneak in, taking out the night guards, and even make it all the way to where Theon is kept, like a dog (literally). But to her dismay, Theon is as brainwashed as they get. He is Reek. He yells and screams for help, thinking its a test of Ramsey. Guards come, along with Ramsey (who by the way is a psychopath, and pretty deadly in battle) and Yara gets defeated. He lets her run off and escape.
Seeing Reek’s trust though, Ramsey sets a plan in motion… a plan for Reek. And Reek will now need to “pretend” to be Theon. For what? We shall see. This is another scene I don’t remember from the book… or at least its a little altered. I also remember it much farther down (book 5?), which reinforces my idea that by season 5 the show will have caught up to the books.
Over to Mereen, Dany is trying to rule. She has taken the great pyramid in the center of the city as her palace. Her dragons have been ravaging the fields and we see Drogon (the big one) attach a mans herd and steel a goat. So, when Dany, as a queen, is having hearings for the people, and one of the farmers brings back the burnt bones of one of his goats, Dany feels sorry. She cannot deny what the dragons wanting to eat, but she is more than happy to pay (well) for the animals; which makes the farmer happy. I guess we’ll see how much these dragons eat… hopefully they won’t make her broke, lol. She deals with other issues as well, and shows how caring, but fair, of a ruler she can be. Though you can tell this will be taking a mental toll on her. (And yet another scene from farther down in the books).
The counsel meets in Kings Landing (which now include Lord Tyrell and Prince Oberyn), and talk about issues, such as Dany’s growing army. Tywin knows he needs to be taken care of. I love how laid back Oberyn is here. He’s just such a cool character, very confident, and clever (which make him that much deadlier, when you add the fact that he is know as one of the greatest warriors alive – hence the name, Red Viper). The Viper later talks to Varys about their past in Essos, and we see that it seems Varys wants one thing. The power of the throne – though if you learned anything, is that this doesn’t mean sitting in it.
And then we get to the main event of the episode. Tyrion’s trial begins. Jaime escorts him to the courtroom and we see how Tywin is already in control of everything, as Tommen, the king, “excuses” himself from the trial and puts his grandfather in charge. This isn’t looking good for Tyrion.
One “witness” after another (Master Pycell, Lord Varys, Cersei and more) stand and confess things Tyrion did and said about Joffrey in the past. Most is true, and it all seems so convicting against him… almost too much so. Tyrion does not have a chance. During an intermission, Jaime caring for his brother so much, decided to negotiate his life with his father. He offers him the one thing Tywin wants; Jaime to give up the cloak, move back home and marry, so as to continue the Lannister name. Tywin agrees, almost too quickly. He will “save” Tyrion’s life, by sentencing him to join the Nights Watch. This “plan” is so quick and convenient, you realize that he was probably planning this anyway, and getting Jaime to do what he wants, was just another well played maneuver.
The trial continues, and a key witness is finally brought out. Shae. But to Tyrions dismay, she is full of lies. She says how he planned this with Sansa, because it was the only way Sansa would sleep with him. Tyrion is hurt. You can see that its not even about him being convicted by her lies, but that she lied… when he loved her so much, and truly believed that she loved him back.
That fcking bitch! Last we heard, Cersei found out about Shae and told Tywin, who commanded her being brought in. But we though Tyrion had saved her in time by sending her off in time. Bronn took her to the ships and even confirmed she got on. Did he lie to Tyrion about this too? I don’t remember the books, but I don’t think so. I like Bronn being a friend to Tyrion. Well, I hope not at least. Maybe Tywin tracked her down across the sea (which wouldn’t be a difficult thing for him to do).
All this is too much for Tyrion. Even though his brother told him to ask for mercy (so as to be sent to the wall), Tyrion can’t stand it anymore. He explains how he did not kill Joffrey, but how Joffrey, and everyone in there, are scumbags, and he wish he had killed him. He wishes he could kill a all of them. He refuses to accept their sentence, because he did not kill Joffrey, so he demands trial by combat!
What an intense scene this was. And so sad… Tyrion is not looking good, and unfortunate, we know this story has no mercy, on anyone. Who will defend him? It’s important to realize that he seems guilty to everyone. Whoever defends him will be defending a guilty person. So, even if they won, they’re pretty much not able to live in peace anymore… everyone will hate the person who defended the guilty Tyrion. Remember Bronn defending him? Sure, he won… but they got the hell out of there as soon as they could.
But will Bronn come? Or did he betray Tyrion as well by bringing Shae to Tywin. Will Jaime? He’s guaranteed to loose, as he’s not that good with his left hand yet. Which means, if no one “defends” Tyrion, he must fight his own battle. I know he fought in a war or two, but I wouldn’t say Tyrion is all that good in combat. And considering the money and power Tywin has, he can pretty much get whoever he wants to fight against Tyrion. Unfortunately, this is the beginning of the end, as we close in to the season finale. We should be grateful that George Martin at least hints at what’s coming (unlike the Red Wedding)… hopefully people won’t be as pissed this time around.
Every episode is gonna be crazy now, so make sure you don’t miss anything. Till next week,
~mozeus
