- Game of Thrones – Season 4, Episode 6 – Review - 13 May, 2014
- Game of Thrones – Season 4, Episode 5 – Review - 6 May, 2014
- Game of Thrones – Season 4 – Episode 4 – Review - 29 April, 2014
Contains spoilers, naturally.
It’s hard to believe that we’re already halfway through Season 4 of Game of Thrones. This season has already seen some major shake ups. We’ve seen deaths, controversy, and the moment we had longed for since “Ser Ilyn, bring me his head”. So, what would ‘First of His Name’ bring?
“All men must die, but we are not men.” Daenerys Targaryen said that last season. If anything sums up this week’s Game of Thrones, it is most certainly that. The women are fighting back. Cersei Lannister, clearly tired of being a pawn, is taking things into her own hands. Since the death of Joffrey, we have started to see a vulnerability to her. Cersei’s entire reason for living is to protect her children. It says something when she recruits Margaery, her enemy for the last season, to help Tommen rule. Could Cersei possibly be going soft? Surely this clever lioness knows that the Tyrells have plans for the newly crowned King Tommen? Of course she knows, as does Tywin. If anyone thinks this is going to mark a truce between the Tyrells and Lannisters, they couldn’t be more wrong. I, for one, can’t wait to see the fireworks.
Over in Essos, Dany is having problems. The cities she has left behind, in her campaign of female Alexander the Great style conquest, have been taken over by new rule. One that doesn’t agree with her policies. There is no control, and anarchy reigns. There has been a lot of debate on Twitter recently about Dany. She moves into a city, she shakes things up, she moves on. She does not put in policies that would maintain the peace she wants. She just moves on to her next conquest. I love that this show is starting to show the problems with her rule. Anyone can be a conqueror. It takes thought and an iron will – not just an iron throne – to be a Queen. I, for one, hope that we are going to see Dany grow as a ruler and as a person. It’s something we don’t see in the books, and something I feel that Game of Thrones could do excellently.
Brienne the Badass is on the road with Podrick ‘TriPod’ Payne. Arya ‘mini assassin’ Stark is still with Sandor ‘kick ass and eat chicken’ Clegane. There are few things this show does better than odd couples on a road trip. I would happily sit through a complete episode of these two duos having adventures. It’s so much fun to watch. These little scenes are the highlights of any episode of Game of Thrones.
Now to the Eyrie with Sansa Stark and Captain Creepy. Look who’s back! Bitty from Season 1, and his mother. I’ll confess it, I’ve been looking forward to this part of the season for a while. The marriage of Lysa Tully, and Petyr Baelish, until death do they part. For once, that isn’t actually at the wedding. Seeing Baelish force his face into a smile, to act as though he actually likes being with Lysa, is something I find oddly amusing. He wants it all, does he? Well, he’s going to have to pay for it.
That said, there is something tragic about Lysa. She instantly sees through Baelish’s lies about how Sansa is his ‘niece’. She rants about how she did everything for him. She is violently jealous of her now-dead sister, and in turn Sansa. On that note, how much does Sansa look like Lady Cat in these episodes? It’s a very clever move by the cinematographers. It’s hard not to compare the two. Sophie Turner is growing up to be a beautiful woman. But I digress. Seeing Sansa, awake in her bed, listening to the obnoxiously loud lovemaking of Lysa and Baelish is incredibly melancholy. In case it wasn’t incredibly obvious, I’m a Sansa fan, and all I want to do is get her away from Captain Creepy, and his obsessive new wife. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes. Yet, if I don’t get a ‘make me a baby, Petyr’ soon, I’m going to rant about it for two sentences in my next review.
Now up to my current favourite storyline this season. The Wall. Jon Snow and his merry band of brothers, and one traitor, are off to liberate Craster’s Keep. All thoughts of ‘this will not end well’ were clearly rather misplaced. Cue the battle scene. It is more than I could possibly have hoped for. Well, if you ignore the detail of how badly I wanted Jon and Bran to meet once more. That doesn’t happen, folks. We do, however, get Hodor going Incredible Hodor and killing Locke. I think we should all have a new battle roar – HODOOOOR!
However, this episode is about how the women are the strong ones. Yes, we have our weekly dose of Game of Rape again. Yet, the score is evened a little. Karl Tanner, our skull drinking bastard, is dead, killed with a little help from one of Craster’s wives. Unfortunately, his skull won’t be used as a cup as it has a rather large hole in. I’m a little sad to see that insane psychopath go – he was a lot of fun to watch.
The final scenes of Episode 5 of Game of Thrones sees the clearly more badass pet get his revenge on one of his captors. Goodbye, Rast. You have been killed by a pissed off ball of fuzz and rage. Keep your dragons, get me a direwolf!
I really enjoyed ‘First of His Name’. It is, admittedly, a filler episode, yet it was a strong one. There is something for everyone – battles, direwolves, crazy aunts, and a coronation. The episode may well have been titled ‘First of His Name’, but I’d like to give it a better title. ‘Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves.’
