Game of Thrones Season Three Episode 8: Second Sons

                You may not be aware of this but Tyrion is a second son, as is the Hound. Oh, and also the group of soldiers massing to defend the city against Daenerys are also called Second Sons. Anyhow, that’s what that was about.

                On the whole, this episode continued the theme of movement that was established in episode seven. It also jettisoned the painful, in more ways than one, Theon story line, and abandoned everyone in the North, save the final scene, in favor of developing some continuity. And though Jaime and Brienne has been the strongest relationship of the season, I think it was wise of the show’s writers to ditch them for an episode in favor of developing some scenes. In fact, perhaps some story lines should be dropped more often to focus on the task at hand. If we’re only checking in with Theon to make sure he’s still on the rack and with Robb to make sure he’s still mastering the game of chess, (My prediction is that he travels through a portal into our world and becomes Gary Kasparov) then perhaps a two minute scene with them will do.

I’m bullish on the Hound and Arya traipsing through the wilderness. Primarily because when this show is at its best, people are traipsing through the wilderness. This is where we go to watch Tyrion and Bronn form their amazing bond, where we watched Jaime and Brienne learn to respect one another, and I hope that it’s where Arya learns to gain some perspective, or she’s going to end up adorning a pike like her father in short order. The Hound’s rebuke of her attempted murder and misunderstanding of his intentions gives a glimmer of hope that she might learn something.

Two stories take up the primary portion of the episode. The first, involves Daenerys trying to win over the Second Sons with politics, though they seem more interested in sleeping with her, which, when will these men learn. This is the same mistake that the leader of the unsullied made. It’s a pretty sure bet that if you wind up harassing Daenerys, you’ll wind up dead. Look at what happened to Khol Drogo? After some cute back and forth with the lovely general, we meet a man with long flowing blond hair. When you meet a man with long flowing blond hair and it’s a piece set in the middle ages/fantasy world, it’s a good bet that he’ll be a love interest. And, when this man begins talking it’s clear that he is a lone wolf, and that he has some long flowing hair.

Mero, the leader of the Second Sons, offers to mull her offer over with some mulled wine. Did you see what I did there? He offers a brief discourse on love, but he is soon topped by the man with flowing golden hair who says something about having sex with women and killing men, which is precisely the sort of thing that you should be saying in the GOT universe, though Mero points out that even with his flowing blond hair, he’ll be dead soon, which seems like it’s true since he’s destined to be with Daenrys for a while. He cuts of the heads of his fellow generals and presents them to Daenrys. What woman isn’t wooed by decapitation? She steps out of the bath, and I can’t help but remember the behind the scenes where Emilia Clarke said she was happy not to have done any nudity in season two, well, this man has some amazing hair, and the two of them decide to join forces. At this point it seems like Daenrys is going to have an army big enough to fight some ice zombies, or Lords of Light, or whatever.

A brief interlude reminds us of the presence of Sir Davos. Always a welcome voice for the sane watcher of GOT. He tends to council against things like killing innocents and birthing the smoke monster from Lost. Also, he has Stannis’ daughter teaching him how to read. It’s like an episode of a much sweeter show every time he’s on screen. Naturally, he’s proved wrong time and again, because the GOT universe isn’t about insanity, it’s about seducing blacksmiths, putting leeches on their nether regions and then burning the leeches while chanting the names of enemies. We all had that night in college.

Also, it’s becoming clear in the last two episodes that if a random woman suddenly decides to seduce you, it’s not really because she finds you attractive. It’s because she wants something bad to happen to your nether region. A strange part of me was a little disappointed that Gendry lived. Not that I have anything against Gendry. However, after the shock at the end of Season 1, I’ve been waiting for more characters to disappear but they multiply like the bodies of the second richest family in Westeros after Tywin is done with them.

The other large storyline of the episode is the wedding of Sansa and Tyrion, which, after a season in which Robb can’t actually get out of a tent playing chess, seemed to come quickly. Not too quickly though as it provided ample opportunity for Peter Dinklage to remind us of how good he is as an actor, and for Joffrey to remind us why his death will be one of the most celebrated in the history of television. Dinklage has managed to make the drunken lech Tyrion turn into a sympathetic figure, washed about by the tide of fate. The writer’s crafted two wonderful moments, one before Tyrion and Sansa enter the throne room in which he promises never to hurt her, and a second when he says that he won’t sleep with her until she wants him to. In each case, we see the contrast with his nephew, Joffrey, her original intended, who threatens to rape her and tries to embarrass her as well before Tyrion threatens to Theon him.

I like how quickly the wedding came and went. I like the complexity that it brings to the story and the protector it gives to Sansa, who, not blessed with brains or brawn, is sorely in need of it. The only other subplot is Cersei belittling, with much style. She first tells Margaery that she will have her strangled in her bed if she ever calls her sister, and follows that up with a nice moment, overlooking the glimmering sea  at moonlight, a mood set for romance that is ruined when Loras starts talking, which she makes him immediately aware of. If Cersei were a man she seems like she’d be the best successor Tywin.

The episode concludes with Samuel Tarly finally making good by stabbing the king of the (far less scary than they were in season one) white walkers in the back as he tries to take Gilly’s child. As usual, when we near the end of the season, the looming spectacle of the White Walkers is reintroduced. They were on the move in the first episode of the season, the general was pushing them forward at the beginning of season 2, and now, well, we don’t know where they are. Apparently we’ve George RR Martin to thank for that. I think they are off in the woods and have just discovered a backgammon board and are trying to figure out what the hell you’re supposed to do to win. However, I haven’t read the books. I might be wrong.

In short, the episode had the propulsive quality that the concluding episodes in the first two seasons have had as well. It feels as though things are starting to come together. In the prior two seasons the ninth episode has been the one where the most happens, and the season finale is setting up what is to come. It will be interesting to see if that is the case this season as well. This season has been a bit rockier than the first two. The pacing, Theon, Robb, Arya sitting in a cave for six weeks, has been a bit off at times. However, there is still hope that everything is going to come good. There is still hope that Samuel Tarly will become the king of the ice zombies himself and lead them to slaughter all of the people south of the wall with little Craster the 2nd at his side.  A boy can dream, can’t he?