Game of Thrones: The Bear and the Maiden

Let’s begin, as all things should begin, with the problems we’ve been facing this season. The Theon torture fest continues despite the obvious disinterest in both the character and the scenes. You see, the problem with anonymous torture of a person you don’t care about is that you don’t care. Think how much more despicable Joffry is for having cut off Ned Stark’s head. And yes, this guy does seem to be more of a specialist than Joffry, but I think if they could recut the season they’d have left much of this storyline on the floor. As if it wasn’t bad enough that the torture scenes had become plodding, they introduced a couple of naked women pretending to seduce Theon before, it appears, chopping off his manhood. (My only hope is that Theon ends up taking the place of Varus in Season Five and that he’s keeping his torturer in a box in his living room). It’s not aberrant for this show to use sex as a vehicle for the plot, but arriving as it did, gratuitously, amidst gratuity, was not one of the show’s creators finer moments. Full disclosure, I’m not a person who takes any pleasure in horror or torture movies like Saw.

What struck me during this brief interlude was just how much starch is taken out of the show with the Theon story. Its been made apparent that nothing is happening to him, beyond a few body parts removed, let’s move on then.

The Theon problem, which will be, at least in part how I remember season three may pale in comparison to the Jon Snow problem. As a casual watcher of the show, (no book spoilers, reading is for people who don’t have the Internet) it’s rather clear to me that Danerys and Jon Snow are the two people not embroiled in the mess of King’s Landing. They are the bastard and the freer of slaves. Jon Snow, more than anyone seems to be the heir to the goodness in Ned Stark. And yet, the problem is that up to this point the actor playing Jon snow has hovered between mediocre to just not very good. I was speaking with a colleague today who indicated that the internal monologue provided a lot of assistance to the development of his character. Certainly they’ve not given him many lines. His main job appears to be standing around looking befuddled or kind of sad. And yet, I wonder whether he’s earned more lines, and I certainly know he could get a hell of a lot more out of his time spent on screen. My favorite scene with him was in the first episode when Tyrion provided all of the monologue for him while he chipped away at a paper soldier. If Jon and Danerys are to remain the two characters of interest for the casual fan, we’re going to need to see more of Jon Snow than looking kind of befuddled. But oh that hair. Swoons.

The third problem is the Bran story line, which appears to be sitting around a campfire and talking quietly about three eyed ravens. Listen, it sounds like an awesome thing to do for a sleepover, can a brother get some smores in a shot? But it isn’t exactly working as riveting television. The characters seem stuck in their roles, and I don’t have much hope that things will change soon.

Now let’s talk about what was working in this episode, bears, boats and beguiling wenches. Okay, the third one was just to rhyme. The overriding theme of this episode seemed to be movement, or at least the suggestion of movement, of change. And I can’t complain because the first two seasons have seemd to meander in the middle only to have things build and pay off in the final episodes. The pacing in this episode was better, grand shots of boats moving over water, slavers being marched between lines of men, Jaime riding away on his horse, a woman in a dress fighting a bear with a wooden sword (that’s just good television), the episode didn’t just feel like it was moving more quickly, it physically showed us that movement, which is always a nice touch after the middle part of the show’s run.

The show begins North of the wall, on the march, with Gareth, from the British office, delivering some well earned wisdom to Jon Snow, reminding him that people are all about climbing the ladder, being kings of convenience etc. This dynamic continues for the rest of the episode with  Gareth confessing his love for Jon’s girl, which leads to Jon putting his stapler in a jello mold, which is just the type of thing that they don’t go in for North of the Wall.

What’s interesting, and perhaps hopeful for Jon Snow, is how foolish the wildlings are. For all their talk of bravery, it is Jon who knows they’ve been thrown back six times before and that a windmill is not a castle. It’s a  nice counterpoint to what we’ve been hearing about and from these people, and a fact which has to have occurred to Mansraider as he came from South of the Wall. In Jon’s brief speech to Ygritte, he lets her know that they’ll have to be more organized if they want to win this time, and you could almost see a glimmer of hope for him, that he would be the one to lead them to victory. Sadly, he just gets pushed up against a rock and kissed by Ygritte, which is pretty much the theme of this episode. Someone is trying to get something done, a marriage, a war plan, a good speech, and then sex gets in the way.

The love between Robb and his wife is revealed, after some time spent chatting in the buff, and why not these are some young beautiful people, that they are having a son. I’m sure that it changes the succession lines or something, making Sansa a less useful piece, but I’ve no hope that everyone’s head isn’t ending up on a pike somewhere, so I’m less concerned about who is going to rule thirty years from now than the characters seem to be. Just try surviving the week guys. We’ll worry about the succession plans after we beat back dragons and ice zombies.

The relationship between Margery and Sansa continues to develop, with Margery indicating that she didn’t spend all of her time mending quilts in High Garden, though the innuendo is missed by Sansa, who has the brain of a very unwise sheep. The relationship is charmingly covered from the other angle where a bewildered Tyrion tries to explain how he’ll put Shea up in the city as his mistress. Prior to this Tyrion has a brief conversation with Bron about his desires and wishes in regards to Sansa, and it made me long for more interactions between them. Books be damned. Their relationship is always providing a bit of levity in this grim bathless world.

Tywin Lannister also takes a break from brow beating his children to brow beat his nephew, the sadistic king. And though Tywin has spent most to the season subduing everyone from his seat, he climbs the stairs to tower over Joffry to make his point this round. And it is becoming very clear that Tywin is the strongest force in king’s landing, though maybe not the smartest, and I look forward to more Olenna.

Relatedly, the unexpectedly charming relationship between Jaime and Brienne continued, with Jaime riding back to save her from Lord Bolthon’s (sp) right hand man. Joke. Only to find that she’s engaged in a fight with a bear, because, why not. Jaime jumping down into the pit to save her was par for the course this season as he began his run trying to murder a child, he might as well continue on this season saving a damsel in distress. The acting has always been top notch, and though I’m certain we have the books to thank for the transition, it has been the best part of season three thus far, besides Theon being tortured obviously. I hope an extra DVD exists in which I can watch the young lad walking around for an extra hour or two talking about cutting off pinkie toes.

The interesting part in the context of the show is that Jaime has promised to bring back, Sansa, who is currently engaged to his brother. We know from season one that Jaime can also be browbeaten by his father. And yet, it feels near inevitable that with all of his children arrayed against him when Jaime returns to King’s Landing, Tywin may be in for a bit of a fall from grace.

Danerys makes a brief appearance, threatening some local villages with rack and ruin via dragons and merciless soldiers in less they give up all of their slaves, continuing her Shermanesque march along the coast of wherever the hell she is while the two older men in her party smile on knowingly while secretly wondering why she has to burn everything. It’s in their blood, the Targeryons (sp). I’ve been told that her story begins to stall out, but this was a satisfying little piece of action, threatening dragons, turning down gold and ships to free the slaves. She continues her meteoric and slow rise to power.

The red woman, who has the worst accent of anyone on the show, not really sure what they were going for there, tells Gendry that he’s the bastard son of Robert Baratheon. Gendry, nonplussed, mentions that he’s still a bastard, but I think I foresee a Gendry vs. Jon Snow battle in the future, just so we can hear all these English actors say Baasturd roughly one thousand more times.

The other Stark that I keep trying to love, Arya, met with a fortuitous end when she ran away from the brotherhood without banners and into the loving arms of the Hound. Sure he’s got a burnt face, but remember how nice he was to Sansa? I do. And if Arya has a failing right now it’s that she has let her rage consume her. She’s not seeing nuance, which is a great way to get yourself offed in the GOT universe. I’m hoping that some time spent with the Hound will not only improve her swordplay, but her perspective. I suppose either that or she finds some way to kill him or calls on her assassin buddy. However, that feels like a cheap out. It’s time to grow up.

All in all this was a better episode than the last one. And, despite some of the plots being in stasis, a great deal more actually moved in this episode, and, above all else, ships moving over pretty water, bears fighting women in dresses, naked war council meetings, dragons etc. The show’s budget shows itself off now and again, and the visual spectacle is still what makes GOT the most interesting, not the best, show on television.