Okay, I'm still seriously dropping the ball on these recaps, but hopefully next week I'll be more on top of them.
This post will recap episodes 4.3 and 4.4. Remember that this post will be rife with spoilers, so read at your own risk!
So, after Joffery's wedding (and death), Cersei insists that Tyrion be arrested and charged with Joffery's murder, and he is. While in the dungeons, Tyrion is visited by his loyal squire, Pod. You gotta love this loyal, servant/master relationship. It's so sweet. Pod has been asked--and by asked, I mean threatened--to testify against his master. Of course he's refused, but fearing it will he that he'll meet with a "terrible accident," Tyrion insists that Pod leave the city for his own safety. Poor Tyrion! Alone and falsely accused. The hits just keep on coming.
Meanwhile, as soon as the chaos of Joffery's death broke out, Sansa fled with Sir Dontos, which makes both her and Tyrion (her liege husband) look even more guilty. Tywin closes the harbor, barring any ships from leaving, but Donos takes Sansa in a small boat, out to a ship hidden in the mist. On board is Lord Baelish, who kills Dontos and assures Sansa she'll be safe with him. I always hated Baelish. He always seemed gross and pedophillic to me. His lust for Sansa just proves his grossness.
Margery and Olenna discuss Margery's ridiculously bad luck with kingly husbands, but Olenna assures her granddaughter that, after the work she did to tame Joffery, the "next one," meaning Joffery's younger brother Toman, who will take his brother's place on the throne, will be much easier to deal with. Understatement of the century, but thank you Olenna.
Meanwhile, Tywin instructs the new king-to-be while Cersei mourns Joffery. Jaime comes to comfort her and she spurns him, after demanding he murder Tyrion no less, and he pretty much forces himself on her right there next to Joffery's corpse. This happened in the books as well and was every bit as twisted to see as to read. Two siblings having sex beside the corpse of their incest-begotten son. And in a holy place, no less. *shudders* Ah, dark fantasy.
Arya and the Hound still travel together. Arya rages against his brutality, and he couldn't care less. I love the dynamic between these two. Still one of my favorite story lines. At Castle Black, Samwell worries about Gilly's welfare and moves her to what he deems a safer place, which leaves her feeling betrayed. And after a Wildling attack on a local village, Jon Snow worries that the Wildlings will soon learn that he lied about how populated the wall actually is. He grossly misrepresented the Night Watch's numbers, and they are far weaker than the Wildlings believe.
In another part of the world, Stannis tries to plan his next move, while Sir Davos--the real brains of the operation--is still being taught to read by Stannis's daughter, and comes up with an idea for approaching the Iron Bank.
Tywin talks to Oberyn--after a cringeworthy orgy of sorts--trying to secure an alliance with Dorn. He asks Oberyn to help judge Tyrion's guilt and perhaps sit on the small council.
And finally, Dany approaches Meereen, promising to free the slaves.
Dany's interpreter is teaching Grey Worm to speak English. A very interesting exchange that goes a long way toward character development. Grey Worm sneaks into Meereen to stir up the slaves to rally to Dany's cause. She takes the city with relative ease. At that point, despite Sir Barristan's advice to show mercy, she nails the slavers to crosses in retribution for the children who were nailed up the same way.
Back in King's Landing, Bron is teaching Jaime to fight left-handed. Bron guilts him into going to see Tyrion, which he hasn't done yet. Gotta love Bron and his loyalty to Tyrion. Thus far.
Jaime finally goes to see his brother. They talk about who might have really killed Joffrey, the fact that Cersei wants Tyrion dead, whether he is the killer or not, etc. This was a great scene for emotional tension. Though Tyrion only asks in jest, it's obvious that he wants his big brother to help him out of this scrape. Jaime is obviously torn.
Then we have the confession scenes. First Baelish more or less tells Sansa that he had Joffery killed. After which, we see Lady Olenna suggesting to Margery that she was in on the conspiracy to kill Joffery as well, for Margery's well-being. She encourages Margery to gain Toman's trust and kind of steal him away from Cersei.
At Castle Black, Jon Snow tries to help train new recruits, but Sir Alastair, evil as ever, forbids him. He meets a new man who seems to be a kindred spirit and calls himself Locke. (Yeah, he's really not going to be so kindred, but...) When word of the Wildling attacks reach them, Sam wants to bring Gilly back to Castle Black, but Jon convinces him that it won't make much difference. Nowhere is safe. It seems Sam has told him about meeting Bran. That's a departure from the book and, while I'm sure there is good reason for it, it doesn't ring entirely true to the character. The whole point of not telling Jon about Bran is that Jon would go after him, or send someone. To have him know all about Bran, and just kind of shrug, does a disservice to his character, in my opinion. Jon is also given permission to recruit for a raid on Caster's hold.
Cersei tells Jaime that she wants him to find Sansa and bring her head back. Jaime doesn't want to leave King's Landing, so he asks Brienne to go for him. Of course, he wants her to get Sansa somewhere safe, rather than killing her as Cersei would have it. Brienne, still feeling a loyalty to Caitlin Stark, agrees. Jaime gives her a sword, sleek black armor that fits her unique figure well, and Pod, Tyrion's former, loyal squire. She names the sword (hence the episode title) Oathkeeper. I'm so excited for this! Brienne's travels were a bright spot on the otherwise clunky reading in book 4!
Margery sneaks into Toman's room in the night and makes friends with him. You gotta respect this girl. She's definitely wily. She appeals to his childhood sense of secrecy and his smile says it all. He gives her permission to keep visiting.
Near the end of the episode, we see a baby who is given to the White Walkers--Caster's last son. It's been unclear as yet what the White Walkers are doing with the baby boys. Eating them? Using them for something else? We see the babe taken to some far place populated with White Walkers and set on an altar. It's eyes turn blue. It seems they're turning the babies into more of their own kind. This has not yet been revealed in the books, so it's terribly intriguing to see in the series.
Meanwhile, Bran and his troop aren't far from Caster's hold. They hear the baby crying before it's taken. Bran wargs into Summer's body to investigate, but Summer is captured, alongside Ghost, Jon's direwolf. When the group goes to investigate, they're captured. Bran tells them his name relatively quickly. This is also a departure from the books. While reading this section of the books, Bran's story line does become very muddled. Many people were frustrated, wondering where on earth Martin was going with it. I think they're using this alternate story line to avoid that. It keeps Bran a part of the action in the more civilized lands, and gives him something concrete to do besides just endlessly travel north with his companions. I'm interested to see where it will go.
What did everyone else think of these episodes?
This post will recap episodes 4.3 and 4.4. Remember that this post will be rife with spoilers, so read at your own risk!
Episode 4.3: Breaker of Chains
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Meanwhile, as soon as the chaos of Joffery's death broke out, Sansa fled with Sir Dontos, which makes both her and Tyrion (her liege husband) look even more guilty. Tywin closes the harbor, barring any ships from leaving, but Donos takes Sansa in a small boat, out to a ship hidden in the mist. On board is Lord Baelish, who kills Dontos and assures Sansa she'll be safe with him. I always hated Baelish. He always seemed gross and pedophillic to me. His lust for Sansa just proves his grossness.
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Meanwhile, Tywin instructs the new king-to-be while Cersei mourns Joffery. Jaime comes to comfort her and she spurns him, after demanding he murder Tyrion no less, and he pretty much forces himself on her right there next to Joffery's corpse. This happened in the books as well and was every bit as twisted to see as to read. Two siblings having sex beside the corpse of their incest-begotten son. And in a holy place, no less. *shudders* Ah, dark fantasy.
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In another part of the world, Stannis tries to plan his next move, while Sir Davos--the real brains of the operation--is still being taught to read by Stannis's daughter, and comes up with an idea for approaching the Iron Bank.
Tywin talks to Oberyn--after a cringeworthy orgy of sorts--trying to secure an alliance with Dorn. He asks Oberyn to help judge Tyrion's guilt and perhaps sit on the small council.
And finally, Dany approaches Meereen, promising to free the slaves.
Episode 4.4: Oathkeeper
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Back in King's Landing, Bron is teaching Jaime to fight left-handed. Bron guilts him into going to see Tyrion, which he hasn't done yet. Gotta love Bron and his loyalty to Tyrion. Thus far.
Jaime finally goes to see his brother. They talk about who might have really killed Joffrey, the fact that Cersei wants Tyrion dead, whether he is the killer or not, etc. This was a great scene for emotional tension. Though Tyrion only asks in jest, it's obvious that he wants his big brother to help him out of this scrape. Jaime is obviously torn.
Then we have the confession scenes. First Baelish more or less tells Sansa that he had Joffery killed. After which, we see Lady Olenna suggesting to Margery that she was in on the conspiracy to kill Joffery as well, for Margery's well-being. She encourages Margery to gain Toman's trust and kind of steal him away from Cersei.
At Castle Black, Jon Snow tries to help train new recruits, but Sir Alastair, evil as ever, forbids him. He meets a new man who seems to be a kindred spirit and calls himself Locke. (Yeah, he's really not going to be so kindred, but...) When word of the Wildling attacks reach them, Sam wants to bring Gilly back to Castle Black, but Jon convinces him that it won't make much difference. Nowhere is safe. It seems Sam has told him about meeting Bran. That's a departure from the book and, while I'm sure there is good reason for it, it doesn't ring entirely true to the character. The whole point of not telling Jon about Bran is that Jon would go after him, or send someone. To have him know all about Bran, and just kind of shrug, does a disservice to his character, in my opinion. Jon is also given permission to recruit for a raid on Caster's hold.
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Margery sneaks into Toman's room in the night and makes friends with him. You gotta respect this girl. She's definitely wily. She appeals to his childhood sense of secrecy and his smile says it all. He gives her permission to keep visiting.
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| Source |
Meanwhile, Bran and his troop aren't far from Caster's hold. They hear the baby crying before it's taken. Bran wargs into Summer's body to investigate, but Summer is captured, alongside Ghost, Jon's direwolf. When the group goes to investigate, they're captured. Bran tells them his name relatively quickly. This is also a departure from the books. While reading this section of the books, Bran's story line does become very muddled. Many people were frustrated, wondering where on earth Martin was going with it. I think they're using this alternate story line to avoid that. It keeps Bran a part of the action in the more civilized lands, and gives him something concrete to do besides just endlessly travel north with his companions. I'm interested to see where it will go.
What did everyone else think of these episodes?
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