Last week on Game of Thrones Tommen was crowned Lord of the Seven Kingdoms. Cersei continued with her attempts to manipulate situations: both with the potential match of Tommen and Margaery, as well as speaking to individual judges attempting to sway their minds to her thinking about Tyrion’s guilt. Danaerys showed a great deal of sense while Lysa showed very little sanity. Bran made a choice to leave before Jon knew he was even at Crastor’s Keep, and Jon and the gang finally took out the mutineers.
There is a reason why Game of Thrones has so many viewers. Even though the story does have its differences from the books, it is quite the epic tale. So much is going on and there are so many characters one can latch on to. Of course with character deaths and character changes, one needs to have a few characters to cling to—in hopes that maybe one of two of them survives. Sometimes the characters change for the better, sometimes not so much. Tommen was crowned King and, as Margaery comments, he seems much better suited to it than Joffrey. He is young, however, and my fear is that he can be easily manipulated. People ready to manipulate Tommen include his grandfather Tywin, his mother Cersei, and the most likely “bride to be” Margaery. If anything, this is the most alarming thing about Tommen—that really he may just be a puppet, with some of the most ruthless people of the realm pulling his strings.
Littlefinger does get Sansa to the Eyrie and crazy Lysa is just as crazy as ever. The visual effects with the Eyrie are absolutely beautiful. It is wonderful how they brought this to life. I remember when the show first started, many were wondering just how the Eyrie and the sky cells would be done. We also are given a little more insight into just what Petyr has been up to. He was responsible for the first Hand’s death, and getting Lysa to send news to Catelyn regarding her feelings that the Lannisters were behind it. One wonders if maybe he planned to take out Ned all along, knowing that if Jon Arryn was dead, Robert would turn to Ned. It seems as if Littlefinger wanted the Lannisters and the Starks at each other’s throats the whole time. And does Littlefinger have further machinations? Maybe involving the Targaryens? Maybe involving the Martells? We see how he has manipulated Lysa, and how she swallowed it hook, line and sinker. It is also interesting to note how much Lysa distrusts everyone when it comes to Petyr. She convinced herself that Petyr and Sansa had been intimate. And by the way, I’m really not sure that Sansa would be better off married to Robin Arryn. He is pretty nutty himself…but then again—look at his mother.
One thing I really liked was that Sansa seems to have a respect for Tyrion. She makes sure that Lysa knows that Tyrion didn’t want to marry her either. They were both forced into it.
Danaerys is such a complex character that I find myself going back and forth all the time regarding my feelings toward her. This episode I liked her a lot. She was honest with herself and with her abilities. She has been blazing through the Free Cities, but the governments she set up as she was leaving have fallen. The freedom she was supposed to be creating was short lived as ruthless, opportunistic men moved in to take over. She may be able to win battles, but can she rule? As we know from what King Robert said to Ned back in Season One, there is a big difference between winning the Iron Throne and sitting upon it. Danaerys has seen in her time attempting to lead in the Free Cities that it takes more than being able to win battles to be a ruler. She wants to learn to rule. I liked how she said that she would not allow those she freed to slide back into chains. I do worry about what Danaerys sees as her version of justice, but this self discovery shows a great deal of maturity on her part. I like that she is looking over the situation to find out how to best proceed. At this point she plans to rule the places she has taken over. She doesn’t expect people to follow her merely because of her name, but because of what she is capable of doing. I love this juxtaposed with Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms and how they accepted a horrible king, and now a child king not even schooled to ever rule merely due to who they were…or who they proclaim to be…
Arya learns a lesson as well. She has learned a great deal about swordplay as an art, but what she had not had time to learn from her wonderful teacher from Braavos when she lost him was that the reason for the very overt showiness of swordplay is about diverting attention, getting your enemy off balance. That form of fighting can work very well, but only if one knows how to use it. With Arya’s skills, the only thing that would work is a fairly blunt target move, and that is how the Hound is able to beat her. In this way, he presents Arya with another lesson—sometimes, simpler is better. We also got to hear Arya’s list. It seems the Mountain is on the Hound’s list as well. The Hound also found out he is on Arya’s list…
Brienne is trying to adapt to having a Squire. Pod was squire to Tyrion previously, so he is not used to being a regular squire. We find out he has no clue how to cook, but he also seems to genuinely care. He wants to help Brienne. Both of them are having trouble adjusting.
The biggest shock to me was finding out Locke was bad! I suppose I should have seen that coming. He diverts Jon and the gang away from a certain house, steering them where he wants to go. He Bran is able to get away from them by projecting into Hodor! Bran is able to kill Locke using Hodor’s body and free all of them. Jojen has a vision—he knows that they are there only for Bran. He is the one that must find the three eyed raven. Bran is also forced to make a choice. He knows that Jon is one of the Night’s Watch that came to Crastor’s Keep after the mutineers. Getting to safety in the form of his brother is right there…But he chooses to continue on his mission with Jojen and Meera.
Sad that Tyrion and Jamie are not really in this episode. For me, the three characters that really shone for development were Bran and Danaerys. Both had to make decisions that showed a new found level of maturity and a focus on personal growth over immediate gratification. Hopefully Tyrion will get out of the mess he is in soon! Hopefully that story won’t be hanging much longer.
Let me know what you thought of the episode! Screencap from grandecaps.tumblr.com
