Game of Thrones

Since GOT first aired there have been two groups of people, the book readers and the show watchers, though occasionally the twain shall meet, when some person who watches the shows gets the ill-advised idea that in order to keep up fidelity with the work, they must read the books. Don't worry. You don't need too. However, this eye-popping episode was one of the book reader's episodes. There is nothing quite so annoying as talking to a book reader about this show. They'll smile at you with knowing eyes, and say, "just wait and see," as if they had lovingly constructed all of the scenes themselves instead of reading them a bit before you, which is what has actually happened. Despite that, I understand them completely. There is an intense delight, particularly in narrative, in watching something unfold and experiencing it anew through someone else's "eyes." Perhaps it is this reliving that parents get to do through children, which makes knowing so appealing, or perhaps it's that so much of our real lives are unknown, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Either way, can you believe that guy's head exploded?

Readers of the books knew from the first introduction of Oberyn Martell, stabbing, whore-loving, Oberyn Martell, that he would wind up as a bloody mess on the floors of King's Landing like so many before. For the rest of us, he became the hero of the fourth season. Certainly the reality that a sexual libertarian hell-bent on shedding blood became the best character of the fourth season has something to say with the profound impact of the nihilistic GOT universe (what about rats and Walder Frey) as well as the fine job that Pedro Pascal did in channeling his inner Domingo Montoya.

It's interesting then to consider where things lie, besides Oberyn's head, which is in more pieces than Humpty Dumpty's, after the battle at the Red Keep. We've had a few heroes in GOT, so let's review:

Season 1 Eddard Stark: Strips the Mountain of his knighthood and calls Tywin to court to answer for his crimes.
Result: Winds up beheaded.

Season 2 Tyrion: Smacks Geoffrey around a bit and saves King's Landing.

Result: Winds up stripped of his powers and now is on the chopping block.

Season 3 Robb Stark: Rides towards King's Landing to take back what is rightfully his from the Lannisters.

Result: Winds up with a wolf head sewed to his corpse.

Season 4 Oberyn Martell: Enters King's Landing to exact revenge on the Lannisters.

Result: Kills the Mountain and winds up with his head on the buffet table for the Magnar.



As you can see, the arc of history is long, but it tends toward justice. Well, just remember that it's very slow. As a show watcher, it's disappointing to lose someone as vibrant as Oberyn. He was as close to charming as we're going to get in season four of GOT when all the heroes are compromised or headless. As a side note, I found his battle scene to be satisfying to watch, which is kind of rare for this show, which tends towards hacking about madly. (A particularly egregious bit this week, if you're watching closely enough, involves Tormund jump swording an extra from the village who appears to pretty much run into his sword. I'm fairly certain I used the same move in my backyard at age seven). The same could be said for the dancing master in Season 1. I think this show could use a little more Bravos and a little more Dorne.

The pleasure of the show, and by extension the books, is that you don't actually know what's going to happen. I was near certain that Oberyn would win because he was fighting for Tyrion. And yet, in the back of my mind, I reminded myself that pretty much everyone is expendable thus far in GOT, especially if they appear to have a redeeming quality or two. However, what made this scene particularly egregious, and very good in an otherwise meh episode, was the weight of justice that Oberyn's words and fighting seemed to bring. He was so much quicker, so much more passionate. No quietly writing letters, here was  man on a mission. And that's why it was sickening and saddening to watch him turn into the judge from Toon town. And we wanted him to get justice. He did, just not quite in the way he wanted.

As usual, much of the episode that takes place in the North is not as interesting, and I must add that this episode was not aided much by the direction of Alex Graves who insists on shooting characters in extreme close ups that wind up with me contemplating how their pores are doing as opposed to focusing on what they're saying. The result of extreme close ups is I think intended to create more drams, but it verges instead on melodrama.

Up North it turns out that sending Gilly and mini-Craster off to live in a whorehouse with marauding cannibals wasn't the best idea. Who would have thought it? Sam is new to this dating thing, but you'd have to think even he should have known better. Besides Tormund's uh, fighting skill, the scene once again depicts a softer side of Ygritte, leaving us to wonder what will become of her and Jon Snow. We check in briefly with Jon, so he can once again confirm that Mance has a large army, which will probably be difficult to defeat. (Note: with the frequent trips to the brothel the Brother's engage in, the Night's Watch is seeming like it would have been much more up Tyrion's alley then we were lead to believe in season 1).

Across the narrow sea Dany spends some quality time speculating with Missandei about the exact nature of the Unsullied's unsullied reputation after Missandrei catches Grey Worm paying a little more attention to her than your typical eunuch. Grey Worm confesses his love by saying that even the castration was worth it to have the chance to meet Missandie, which is a great line, but somebody should probably sit him down and explain that if he gets the chance to travel back in time there are plenty of fish in the sea.

The other big plot changer is the ouster of Sir Jorah, who we learned a couple of episodes ago had been spying on behalf of Varys. We learn this via another Tywin letter and an extreme close up of Sir Jorha's forehead. In the impending scene, Daenrys, sends Sir Jorah away for spying with all the imperiousness that she has. Emilia Clarke has one register for Daenrys, which is imperious, which is unfortunate as the scene of her betrayal had the potential to be even more powerful. H

owever, Dany looking away from someone while casting them out isn't exactly out of the ordinary given how she's been played, so the scene, though not flat, didn't hit as hard as it should have.And I'm not sure if her sending him away was an act of mercy or not. Her story has been one long line of betrayal. The interesting part is what happens to Sir Jorah. He's a free agent in the GOT universe, and I've no earthly clue where he's riding off too after losing Dany on GOT and Mary on Downton Abbey, presumably off to court a young woman on a new show who will eventually cast him aside for a younger man.

The fun trials and travails of Reek and Ramsay, brothers at arms continued on, with the promise of more baths to come. I hope the extended cut involves loving bubble baths for years to come. In the meantime, Ramsay is busy using Reek to help convince Iron Born to surrender, (note: don't turn your back on the Iron Born after a nice speech or you're likely to get axed or shoveled in the head, face them) so they can be flayed alive. And all of us viewers finally got what we wanted, Ramsay earning his birth right in the family. Now, I'm not sure what happened to the promise of redemptive fire raining down on these traitors, but apparently George R.R. Martin didn't read his own memo. Roose Bolton, Warden of the North...who is about to have 100,000 wildlings to tend to.

The second most pleasing scene of the episode, somewhat surprisingly, took place in the Vale. Lord Petyr, after swallowing some gravel, is trying to worm his way into being warden for Rob Arryn, but he has to sneak past the tiny detail that he murdered his ex-wife, and he needs someone to do it. Who better than the best liar King's Landing ever knew? Sansa Stark finally proves herself able, all be it to save a murderous guy who is somewhat responsible for her family's downfall, because Starks! But still, who wasn't a little thrilled to watch her eyes connect with Petyr's after she's saved him? Even if we spent most of the scene directly in her face. One shot that was nicely executed, probably because it wasn't so damn close, was the arrival of Sansa 2.0 on the scene, descending the stairs like a woman of means and understanding. It was thrilling, even if it is to please her father's betrayer.

Arya and the Hound complete their overly long trek only to discover that Lysa is dead. Please tell me the Hound gets some treatment for that bite. I don't want Arya killing him. Besides which, having played the long game for two seasons, it's probably time for her to get to Bravos for some assassin training or the show is going to end before she's able to use any of it. I wonder if this has occurred to Mr. Martin, or whether she'll just be setting sail when the last book ends.

Stark count:

Rikon-Having fun somewhere with Shaggy Dog and Osha. I miss Osha. Can we retroactively cut back on some torture scenes and some Night's Watch scenes to get more of her.

Arya-Turning into an assassin who loves to kill people.

Sansa-Sansa 2.0. The wicked witch of the North.

Brandon-Traveling around in the body of Hodor crushing skulls like he's Gregor Clegane.

Robb-Dead

Theon-Reek.

Jon Snow-Still with beautiful hair.

And we have one last close up scene with Jaime and Tyrion in which they discuss beetles. Why are they discussing beetles? To pass the time before death? To figure out some internal logic to a world that doesn't actually retain any? We never get a proper answer, and perhaps, like a good Borges story, that is the answer. And now that Tyrion is to be executed it seems that it will be up to Jaime to find a way to save him.

All in all, despite my desire to withhold judgment on individual episodes because they are always part of a larger scheme, I found this episode to be exciting despite itself. The scenes with Sansa and the Red Viper were perhaps enough to redeem it, but the extreme close ups, and fascination with the plot of Ramsay, which could have been cut by 2/3 and Night's Watchmen standing around with nice beards feel like misfires. Hindsight would tell you that, as in any GOT season, some stories are left untold due to time constraints, but it's hard not to imagine towards the end of a season, what might have been.