Game of Thrones Season 3 episode 9: Red Wedding

Writing about an episode, nearly a week after it set Twitter on fire is akin to arriving at a party while the host is washing up the dishes and discussing with his significant other who was pleasanter than they remembered, and what they thought of everyone's new boyfriend. And yet, it hasn't been a week yet. It's not entirely unreasonable to have spent a few days devouring the content made available on the internet about The Red Wedding before sitting down to write about it.

It seems imperative to say that my experience of the episode, unlike the death of Ned Stark, was unspoiled, and thus, a surprise. And, as I don't watch slasher flicks, the sheer gore of the scene was shocking, and the outcome was verging somewhere between horror and Shakespearean tragedy. As has been noted, Cat Stark, ably played by Michelle Fairley, was a ball of Shakespearean fire in the moments after her son's death and before her fateful, or depending on your belief structure, entirely meaningless slaying of Walder Frey's innocent young wife. Cat, standing, completely ruined, believing that all of her children are dead or captives of the Lannisters was the most heart wrenching and well acted turns of the season. This show, despite the shortcoming of a couple of major players, most noticeably the actor playing Jon Snow, is pretty much staffed by a bunch of professional folks, which benefits the show a great deal.

I never hesitate to point out when I'm right, and I noted during the episode when Robb cut off his bannermen's head, against the better advice of his wife and mother, was pretty much a harbinger of his coming doom. However, I didn't know exactly when or how it would arrive and this more gruesome and heart wrenching than I thought it would be. GOT, whether it be budget or Martin's rather grim view of human nature, tends to have its most important deaths occur in this manner, backstabbing, bloody, performed, not heroically on the battlefield, but executed through intrigue and back door dealings. In some ways, Red Wedding, is both the culmination of the Stark dowfall, (which is a pretty brilliant turning on the head of the traditional fantasy structure. The show opens on a scene of familial bliss, Bran shooting arrows, father and mother watching tenderly) and the coda that the GOT universe has shown, power and money trump all. The honorable die more easily than the evil. Relatedly, the mistakes made by Cat Stark, beginning with the kidnapping of Tyrion are too numerous to recount. Lost in the shuffle of her mistakes is the fact that Jaime did push Bran out a window and Cersei hired an assassin to finish the job. Her mistake was insisting that these deeds be repaid and not seeing the whole picture. A similar fate would seemingly await Arya, but she, besides Tyrion, is about the closest thing we've got to a hero, and she keeps being saved by swordmasters, strange assassins, or The Hound. (A man who she better learn something from is she doesn't want to end up like Robb. The game is more nuanced than simple revenge).

The Red Wedding is certainly the most shocking scene that we've seen on GOT thus far, but I'd submit that the shock was mostly visual. In fact, the death of Ned Stark was the real shock of GOT, the moment that turned everything on its head. Pun intended. With this simple act, the parameters have been established. And, once Robb goes from Wolf King to bumbling statesmen it was clear that he would most likely be reaching an untimely end. That said, it was still both gruesome and surprising. I also think that Robb and Cat, and Talisa were not as beloved as Ned, despite their longer time on screen. We saw that Ned always intended to do well. Once his flaws were revealed when we saw Cat and Robb exhibiting worse their deaths were not as viscerally shocking. In a strange way, the show has taught us that they were more deserved. The heroes of the show, at least as to what I'm seeing them develop seem to be: Arya, Jon and Dany.

If you asked me to wildly speculate at this point in time I'd say that Theon and Arya wind up traveling the world as avenging angels wreaking havoc on the Lannisters and Boltons. We still don't know who is holding, Theon, but we do know that he acknowledged that his real father was Ned Stark, and thus his brother would have been Robb. This would set up for a nice plot of him returning like a Dark Knight to rain vengance down on Lannister and Bolton alike. And, if the world we've been shown so far is to be believed, perhaps it is time for the people like Arya to start exacting their revenge individually, slyly, not at the back of armies, but in back alleys and pubs.

This episode was dark enough to illicit articles from USA today on whether someone of a Christian faith could watch GOT. I'm here to remind you that yes, you can watch it without too much trouble. However, I would agree with some people who will want a finer balance, as there is in the world, of a mixture of good and evil. In fact, evil and ruthless folk do not always run things, they are often betrayed by people who aren't too fond of that evil and ruthlessness. As the story goes forward it's probably time for Arya and Jon to step into larger roles, for Joffry to meet some kind of end and for the wheel to continue to spin. It seems unlikely, given the death of Ned and Robb and Cat, that the possible heroes, with the exception of Sansa, would fail to begin to understand the game. In fact, Jon's abandoning, if that's what is was, of Ygritte was the first good sign we've seen from a Stark in a while. Pick your battles wisely.

The episode also gave us a brief outline of the sacking of Unkai (sp?) with the help of her future lover, the man who would be her lover, and the leader of the unsullied. Credit to GOT, this was the closest thing we've had yet to a good action scene. Yes it was brief, but I was impressed at the choreography of the fight scene. (One blogger compared it to the quality of the History channel's the Bible, but if that's the quality they are churning out than I'll probably start DVRing the whole thing). The sacking of the city takes place with the budgetary disclaimer that money had been spent elsewhere and takes place off screen, consequently leaving it to feel, though interesting, a bit of a let down. The highlight of the season for Dany was freeing the slaves and burninating the cruel master of the Unsullied.

The sage of Jon Snow kicked into high gear with the attempted slaying of an innocent horse breeder turning into a fight for his life, a betrayal of Ygritte, and an almost reuniting with Brand. (This acted as a nice parallel with the missed reunion of Arya with Robb and Cat as well). Jon's run as a member of the Wildlings wasn't all that believable, and I've heard that the death of Corn Half Hand is better played in the book, and so his exit wasn't much of a surprise. Part of the surprise, or tragedy, is that he's headed towards a Night's watch full of traitors and trailed by White Walkers. Lord only knows how we're going to turn that rotten fruit into lemonade, but, as I said before, it's probably time for that sort of balance as the show goes forward. Mind you, I'm not asking for people with unstained honor riding about the countryside bringing justice, I'm just saying that Tyrion in season two, and Jaime in Season three, (who now faces a rather sticky wicket what with his promise to return Sansa to the now deceased Starks and the complication of her marriage to Tyrion, which I suppose sets up for a showdown with Brieene one day on the battlefield after he learns to use his left hand for sword fighting). Anyhow, the nuance given to these two Lannisters made them more interesting. The GOT universe needs some more nuance as well, and I'd like to see it play out, as it seems it will, with Arya in particular as Maisie Williams appears to be our best bet to dispense justice while being acted capably. I don't know if I can say the same for Jon Snow or Dany.

The other plot line that seems to have played a minor role in this episode is that of Stannis. Stannis' leach letting ceremony has already resulted in the death of Robb, and apparently Joffry and Greyjoy are next.

The last subplot was Bran developing the ability to Warg, though I imagine his trip in Hodor wasn't all that exciting, though I think we all want to see a possessed Hodor riding through battle hewing down everything in site like the mountain reincarnate. This is his destiny. (It's also interesting that Gareth was able to stay alive by warging into an eagle, not sure what this means for his future, but it was a nice note). Anyhow, I'm excited about the potential of the warging only if it results in a lot of Hodor fight scenes. Osha, traveling with the little Stark in the correct direction is also nice, and I've found her, like the Onion Knight, to be one of my favorite characters on the show. They are two sort of marginalized people who seem to believe very different things about the world, but are both loyal, and loyal to their vision of the world. I'm hoping for future romance.

This episode, as the ninth episode of the previous seasons, was the real shocker. The reminder as to why GOT is just about the most exciting show on television. I recently concluded watching Mad Men, and though it's almost unquestionably better, it's certainly not as exciting. Red Wedding, though not perfect, continued to remind us why we all keep coming back to Westeros despite its amorality.

I'd also submit, though I think this may have been the weakest of the three seasons, though not by much that I also thought it was time to start winnowing characters. The death of Cat and Robb does precisely that. I've heard that the next two books continue to digress, expand etc, but I hope that the television show creators are smarter than that. I hope they zero in on the interesting stories and characters and find a way to cut back on the background noise. I've actually been a huge fan of the last episodes of the prior two seasons, and I feel they've done an excellent job of wrapping up some stories and setting the table for others. I liked the tenth episode of last season better than Blackwater. And therefore, once again, the show has pulled me in. It's still the most interesting show on television.