Monday 14 May 2012

Game of Thrones | Season 2, Episode 7: A Man Without Honour

SPOILERS

This week in Game of Thrones some people are captured, some people escape and are captured again, some people have their secrets revealed, some people are killed, and some people get in way over their heads. Just your average working day in Westeros, then.


Jon and Ygritte, the Wildling woman, are still lost in the icy wilderness of the Frostfangs. Well, Jon is most certainly lost, but Ygritte seems to know exactly what she's doing. She spends most of her time teasing Jon about his Night's Watch vows, and doing all she can to tempt him into breaking them. Unfortunately, she only succeeds in pissing him off (no surprise, really, considering that she pretty much just points and giggles while chanting 'virgin, virgin,' over and over). Still, she clearly wasn't planning to deliver the goods anyway, because she leads him straight into a Wildling trap, meaning that Jon will soon be in the hands of Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall.


The relationship between Arya and Tywin is getting more and more interesting - this week, they have a prolonged discussion about war and other such important matters, during which Arya gives him a bit of cheek (but he doesn't mind too much). He also reveals he knows she's not a commoner - she can read, she speaks with a posh accent, and is too clever by half. However, he decides to let that go as well. Something tells me he's going a bit soft in his old age - the great and terrible Tywin we've all heard about would surely never let a murderous child in disguise serve him his wine every day.


Another relationship that gets more intriguing this week is that existing between Arya's sister Sansa and Sandor 'The Dog' Clegane. He's a disfigured, bitter servant of Joffrey (although he clearly hates him) who has been driven to the edge of madness by pain and loneliness, and she's a whiny teen who has been forced to come to terms with the fact that she will soon be married to a complete psycho who had her father's head chopped off. She's terrified of the Dog, and the Dog hates her - but in a 'I hate you but I actually really like you and don't know how to deal with it' kind of way.


Over in Qarth, Dany wants her dragons back. Ser Jorah feels guilty for not being there when they were stolen (he was off trying to find a ship) but gets told off when he tries to comfort Dany for being 'too familiar'. Dany goes before the Thirteen of Qarth to try to discover if anybody knows where the Dragons are, only to find that they have actually been stolen by the Warlock Pyat Pree and taken to the House of the Undying. In league with Xaro Xhoan Daxos, who clearly was not to be trusted, the Warlock slits the throats of the Thirteen using his 'I'm everywhere at once' trick, and declares Xaro to be the newly crowned King of Qarth (there's kings popping up everywhere these days). Hopefully next week we'll see Dany venture into this mysterious House of the Undying to get back her fire-breathing children.


In King's Landing, Tyrion and Cersei have a surprisingly open and emotional conversation. As Joffrey gets more and more out of control, Cersei is worried that his growing madness might be her fault, what with the whole 'sleeping with her brother' thing. She breaks down crying in front of Tyrion, which means she must really be starting to lose it; she hates Tyrion and he hates her. They're a weird family, the Lannisters. Tywin idolises Jaime, his firstborn and heir, loves (if he is capable of it) his daughter Cersei, and hates Tyrion for killing his wife in childbirth and for being a dwarf. Cersei loves Jaime (a little bit too much) and hates Tyrion for killing her mother in childbirth and for being a dwarf. Jaime loves Cersei (a little bit too much) and also loves Tyrion (despite playing very nasty tricks on him when they were young). Tyrion hates Cersei, hates his father, and loves Jaime (again, in spite of the pranks). And they are all incredibly powerful, dangerous people, in their different ways - it'll be interesting to see who comes out on top here.


Speaking of the Lannisters, Jaime makes a bid for freedom this week when his distant cousin Alton is shoved into his cell. After a brief but friendly reminisce about the good old days, Jaime beats Alton to death, attracting a guard, then strangles the guard with his chains, then makes a break for it. He doesn't get very far though, and is soon dragged back into camp. Lord Karstark, whose son was on guard duty, wants revenge. Cat tries to take charge of the situation, but it looks as though unless she and Brienne do something soon, the Kingslayer himself will be slayed, and the Starks will lose their only leverage against the Lannisters.


I've saved the worst for last; Winterfell is where it's really kicking off this time round. Theon is making an absolute pig's ear of his conquest of the castle, having let Bran, Rickon, Osha and Hodor escape in the middle of the night. A prolonged search of the nearby woodland turns up nothing at first, but when some tell-tale clues are found at a nearby farm, Theon returns to Winterfell bearing two charred child corpses to show off as a warning to the people. Whether he has actually killed Bran and Rickon remains to be seen, but as we all know, anything can happen in Game of Thrones. Even Theon now seems to realise that he's gone too far - something tells me his ugly Greyjoy head won't remain on his shoulders for long after the rest of the Starks get wind of this.


Episode 7 Best Moment: The episode contains some great scenes, but I have to go for the entire scene between Arya and Tywin.

Episode 7 Best Line: "Love no-one but your children." - Cersei

Game of Thrones| Episode 8: The Prince of Winterfell

No comments:

Post a Comment