Week 4 (S2E09-S3E04)

Episode 19: Blackwater

“Don’t fight for your king, don’t fight for his kingdoms, don’t fight for honor, don’t fight for glory, don’t fight for riches because you won’t get any. This is your city Stannis means to sack, your gate he’s ramming. If he gets in, it will be your houses he burns, your gold he steals, your women he will rape. Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let’s go kill them!”

Major Plot Points: Tyrion tries to stop the True King of Westeros.  Cersei and Sansa celebrate a siege together.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. Tyrion’s plan to defeat Stannis had 2 major points. The wildfire, and a giant chain that was laid across the entire bay.  Once Stannis’ fleet entered the bay, the chain came up trapping the ships inside so they could burn in the wildfire.  Nearly every smith in King’s Landing worked on it.
2. Stannis is revered as a one of the greatest battle commanders left in Westeros.  He was able to destroy a majority of the Greyjoy fleet during the Greyjoy Rebellion singlehandedly.  This is extremely impressive when you remember that the Greyjoys are supposedly the masters of naval warfare.
3. Wildfire is said to burn so hot, that jumping into water wouldn’t be enough to put it out. 
4. Tyrion’s mountain men played a large part in this battle.  They were sent to the Kingswood to delay ground troops from Stannis.  This was a great tactic by Tyrion since the mountain men were very comfortable fighting in wooded terrain.
5. When Tyrion breached the wall, he went into battle mode, and actually killed quite a few men with his axe. 
6. The Hound actually drunkenly kissed Sansa when he left.  Very weird.
7. Stannis’ men swore after the battle, that they saw the ghost of Renly fighting against them.  In reality, it was Loras Tyrell in Renly’s armor wearing his stag helmet.

Other Points to Notice

1. We finally hear “The Rains of Castamere” being sung for the first time.  This song has huge symbolic importance throughout the show, and usually comes before a Lannister victory.  The song of course was written after Tywin destroyed an entire house for disobeying him.
2. Varys despises all things magic, especially the followers of the Red God R’hollor.  He talks more about this later in the series
3. Joffrey could not beat Stannis in a sword fight.  Not even close.
4. Huge difference between the speech Stannis gives to rally his men, and the speech Tyrion later gives.  Stannis is a practical man of few words.  “Come with me and take this city”.
5. Tyrion rallying the remnants of the Lannister forces into battle, and leading them against Stannis saved the city.  Tywin would have arrived too late to save them if Tyrion didn’t buy all that time.  He never gets any credit or love for this.
6. Sansa picks up the doll Ned once bought her.  Not surprising she kept it this long

Stray Observations

1. Why was that barrel the soldier puked into completely full? Not a single person could empty it?
2. People really think that Varys is into little boys.  It does not help that he uses children as his spies. 
3. The Hound really likes Sansa.
4. This is the first episode of the series to only focus on one storyline the entire time. 

RIP:  Ser Mandon Moore.  Podrick speared him real bad.

Episode 20: Valar Morghulis

“These bad people are what I’m good at, outtalking them, outthinking them. It’s what I am, and I like it. I like it more than anything I’ve ever done.”

Major Plot Points: Sansa loses a fiancé.  Jon proves fights his brother.  Robb gets hitched.  Arya receives a nice trinket.  Tyrion lies in bed.  Dany has her dragons perform tricks.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. Tyrion received a worse injury than a scar.  The front of his nose was completely cut off.  This would have obviously involved a lot of prosthetics for Peter Dinklage, and was understandably cut from the show
2. Stannis never attacked Melisandre.  At least not from what we have seen.  Our only glimpses into Stannis come from Davos and Jon POV chapters. He did gaze into the fire, and apparently saw The Wall.
3. “The horn-blowing cunt” torturing Theon, is of course Ramsey Snow.  He began messing with Theon before Theon even knew who he was.
4. Ramsey captured and flayed every single ironborn that surrendered.  They somehow would have been better off dying in a pointless battle.
5. It’s a ridiculous writing mistake that Robb and Talisa get married by a septon.  Robb has only worshipped the Old Gods his entire life, and Talisa was from Volantis! Neither of them ever practiced the Faith of the Seven! Definitely a huge oversight that only uptight nerds would care about, but I care god damn it.
6. Dany never saw Khal Drogo in her visions.  Her most important vision showed her late brother Rhaegar, talking about how “the dragon must have 3 heads”.  That one scene sparked hundreds of theories about which 2 people could be possibly secret Targaryens.
7. Xaro Xhoan Daxos did not die in a vault.  Daenerys fled the city after killing Pyat Pree, before the other warlocks could attack her.  Daxos eventually found Dany at Mereen and again asked her to marry him.
8. Sam and company actually fought against the White Walkers and wights at The Fist of the First Men, in a pretty terrifying battle.  The show skipped over this battle and instead showed us the massive army from just Sam’s perspective.

Other Points to Notice

1. Sansa looks understandably elated she lost her betrothal to Joffrey.  She obviously is relieved to not marry him, but Littlefinger reminds her she has no protection in King’s Landing now.
2. It’s rare, but Catelyn is completely right in her argument against Robb.  I doubt they anticipated just how right she would be.
3. Maester Lewin was giving Theon great advice.  If Theon made it to the Wall all his sins would be forgiven and he could have lived the rest of his life honorably.  Also he then never would have met Ramsey.
4. Lewin was lucky Osha put him out of his misery.  A gut wound like his would take 3 or 4 excruciating days to kill him
5. Dany seeing the Iron Throne covered in snow could sure allude to a whole lot of things.  Guess we will find out if it is literal or metaphorical in Season 8 (“Snow” v.s. “snow”).
6. Qhorin’s last words “We are the Watchers on the Wall” are of course lines from the oath a man makes when he commits to the Night’s Watch.  It made  Jon realize Qhorin sacrificed himself so Jon could infiltrate Mance’s army.

Stray Observations

1. Seems like Littlefinger has officially began using his signature raspy voice.  We will never hear him speak normal again.
2. That was a weirdly smart move by the Stark soldier when he asked Jaime and Brienne for Jaime’s fake name at the same time.
3.  The dragons did not look great, CGI wise. 

RIP: Maester Lewin.  Easy to forget how great of a person he was, since he died relatively early in the shows run. 

Episode 21: Valar Dohaeris

“Before winter is done, everyone you’ve ever known will be dead”

Major Plot Points: Jon swears a new oath.  Tyrion visits his father.  Robb visits a graveyard.  Davos protests burning prisoners. Margaery enters the game. Daenerys meets The Unsullied.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. The cold open begins with a black screen and the sounds of a battle.  This is the only hint we get of the actual battle at the Fist of the First Men.
2. Jon hears the wildings singing a song in camp, called “The Last of the Giants”. It’s a tragic song about the slow death of the Giants in the North. There are only a handful left at this point of the story.
3. Davos had several remaining children at home with his wife.  But we never see his wife in the show or books.
4. Roose Bolton at this point was already in command at Harrenhal.  Also, his “best hunter” was a psychopathic man named Vargo Hoat.  Vargo commanded a group of sellswords who went by “The Brave Companions”.  They were among the worst mercenaries in Westeros and committed countless war crimes.  Hoat was replaced with Locke in the show, probably because Hoat was a bit too cartoonish for television.
5. It wasn’t Littlefinger that approached Sansa about escape.  He used Ser Dontos, the drunken fool from the beginning of Season 2 that Sansa saved from Joffrey’s anger.  She did not know it was Littlefinger pulling the strings until after she escaped.
6. Missandei was only a child.  About 10 years old.
7. The manticore assassination took place in Qaarth.  Barristan was also not revealed to be Barristan until later.  He went by Arstan Whitebeard, and was accompanied by a giant eunuch fighter named Strong Belwas.  His absence from the show is criminal, he was hilarious and an excellent fighter.

Other Points to Notice

1. The scene with Jon meeting Tormund plays out very similar to the books.  Jon believes that Tormund is Mance, because of how intimidating he is.  Mance hid in the corner playing a lute.
2. Jon played his hand well with Mance.  Bringing up the White Walkers was the only thing that could convince Mance he was serious about joining.  The wildlings entire motivation for attacking the Wall is to escape them.
3. This is the 2^nd time we have now seen Bronn almost fight Meryn Trant.  Unfortunately it never happens for real.
4. Davos is shipwrecked very close to King’s Landing, in Lannister territory.  And yet he still does not lie about who he fought for.  That’s one loyal guy.
5. The man Talisa revives is none other than Qyburn.  You may remember him as the insane doctor that turns the Mountain into a zombie.
6. Daenerys mentions that the warlocks must have sent the manticore. We never met any warlocks besides Pyat Pree, but apparently they do exist in the show behind the scenes.

Stray Observations:

1. I wish that Mance on the show was as cool as Mance in the books.  He should be a smooth talking killer that can play the lute.
2. Cersei breaks the fourth wall a bit. “They say you lost your nose” is a reference to Tyrion losing his nose in the book.
3. Tywin seemed a bit unnecessarily harsh towards Tyrion.
4. Cersei never trusts Margaery for even a second.  Very smart of her.

RIP: The nipple of the Unsullied soldier?  No real deaths in this one.

Episode 22: Dark Wings Dark Words

“And everything that’s happened since then, all this horror that’s come to this family, is all because I couldn’t love a motherless child”

Major Plot Points: Robb receives bad news.  Arya meets a brotherhood.  Jon learns about his ex-brothers. Sansa eats lemon-cakes with Margaery. Joffrey gives a crossbow lesson.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. We never saw Theon tortured.  After he was knocked out at Winterfell, we didn’t hear from him until 3 books later, when he was already fully transformed into Reek.
2. Olenna was not as present, but just as deceitful and awesome.  She secretly tried to have Sansa marry Willas Tyrell, who was the brother of Loras and Margaery.  He does not exist in the show universe.
3. Hoster Tully was still alive when Robb and Cat arrived in Riverrun.  He was dying and delusional, but through his rants Cat learned that at one point Littlefinger impregnated her sister Lysa, and the baby was aborted.
4. One notable member from the Brotherhood Without Banners was Harwin,  an old member of Ned Stark’s guard that was originally sent with Beric to fight The Mountain.  Arya recognizes him and is more relaxed about the Brotherhood after.
5. Jaime losing to Brienne was explained a bit better.  He was malnourished and weak from months of captivity. 

Other Points to Notice

1. Roose Bolton at this point was already planning with Tywin and Walder Frey.  This is obvious since the letter he gives Robb claims Ramsey never saw Theon at Winterfell, which is proven a lie in the next scene.  He probably began plotting when Jaime was freed, and saw an opening when Robb broke his marriage vow.
2. Sansa is falling into the same trap as her mother.  No matter how many times he tricks people, the Starks love trusting Littlefinger.
3. Cat was always cold to Jon.  We saw a bit of this in Season 1. Tragic since he was not born from Ned’s infidelity like Cat was led to believe. It’s also interesting to hear that Ned refused to give him the Stark name.  We now know the true reason (He ain’t no Stark)
4. Jon meets his first warg, and later for the first time we hear Bran referred to as a warg.
5. Joffrey is fixated on his crossbow.  Many times throughout the books (unsure about the show) the crossbow is referred to as a cowards weapon.  Clearly the writers liked this analogy. 

Stray Observations:

1. Jojen was much smaller and sickly looking.
2. Gendry is right.  Arya was very poor at choosing her 3 kills.
3. First time we see Thoros, he is singing Rains of Castamere.  Are there only like 2 songs in Westeros?
4. Margaery saying she doesn’t understand the subtleties of politics is an all time hilarious moment.  She then gets Joffrey to like her by feeding into his psychopathic tendencies.  I think she knows what she’s doing.

RIP: All the lemoncakes that Sansa ate while hanging with Olenna.

Episode 23: Walk of Punishment

“Send your eagle over The Wall every night. When it’s time I’m going to light the biggest fire the North has ever seen”

Major Plot Points: Jon learns he has a lot of climbing ahead.  Arya says goodbye to an old friend.  Sam sees his crush again.  Tyrion gives Podrick a reward.  Jaime is deceived handedly.  Theon gets saved, then captured, then saved.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. The Blackfish (Ser Brynden Tully) got his nickname from being called the black sheep of his family by his brother.  Brynden reminded his brother that their sigil is a fish, and that would make him a black fish instead.  He had a strained relationship with his brother, mostly because he constantly refused to marry the political partners that his brother tried to arrange.  
2. The Inn at the Crossroads is one of the most commonly seen locations in the countryside of Westeros.  Here is a list of a few major things that happen there; Ned killed Lady, Cat kidnapped Tyrion, and Hot Pie gained employment.
3. The symbols the White Walkers leave are never explained.  They also seem to communicate more verbally.
4. Jon traveled with Ghost the entirety of his time north of the Wall.  At least until he had to scale it.  Then Ghost met up with Sam, not before.
5. Melisandre never left Stannis.  The show only did this because they did not introduce Edric Storm.  Edric was one of Robert’s bastards that Stannis captured when he took over Storm’s End in the south.  Gendry acts as his plot substitute, or plotstitute if you will.
6. Podrick doesn’t get to enjoy the company of all of those whores, but it’s now canon as far as I’m concerned.

Other Points to Notice

1. Edmure was shown to be an ineffective leader from his first 2 scenes.  As if not being able to aim an arrow wasn’t enough, he got completely verbally owned by Robb for his actions against Gregor Clegane.
2. Getting Tywin to approve of him marrying Lysa Arryn, was always a huge part of Littlefinger’s plans.  Being the Lord of the Vale would make Littlefinger one of the most powerful lords in the Seven Kingdoms.
3.  Try to recognize Martyn Lannister, the prisoner that Talisa is tending to.  It is the same actor who eventually is recast as Tommen Baratheon in Season 4.  I guess the showrunner’s really thought he killed it in his 1 line of dialogue.
4. Watching the scenes between Dany and Kraznys are so much better knowing that she can understand all of the insults he sends in her direction.  She shows great restraint in not reacting to him.
5. The soldier that Ramsey kills with a point blank arrow calls him a bastard.  Theon did not pick up on the fact that the soldier was being literal.
6. Jaime tells Locke how his father used to make him read every day for 4 hours.  This is a callback to what Tywin tells Arya in Season 2.

Stray Observations:

1. Gotta love the chair move that Tyrion performs.  Probably the longest dialogue pause in the show.
2. We get to hear “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” which of course is song 2 of 2 in Westeros.
3. “I’m no Stark of Winterhell”. We will all miss you Hot Pie.
4. First time we see Karl Tanner aka “The Legend of Gin Alley” he stares at one of Craster’s daughters with a creepy smile.
5. Tyrion uses the term “Mereenese Knot”. This is a reference to the situation George RR Martin described himself in while struggling to write all of the Mereen storylines in book 5.
6. The juxtaposition of Jaime screaming from losing his hand, and the rock version of “Bear and the Maiden Fair” is incredible, but very un-game of thrones like. 

RIP: Jaime’s sword hand

Episode 24: And Now His Watch Is Ended

“A dragon is not a slave”

Major Plot Points: Tyrion consults with the spider. Sansa makes a new girl friend.  Sam and friends grow treasonously hungry.  Daenerys gets an army

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. Through Jaime’s POV it is shown just how much his ability to fight with a sword dictated his personality.  Losing his hand was worse than a death sentence for him, because with it he lost his identity.  This ultimately would lead to him becoming a better man.
2. While Varys did have the same backstory, we never got to see him capture his old tormentor.  It certainly is possible that it happened.
3. Theon never says the words out loud about how he felt Ned was really his father.  By the time we see him again he is almost too far gone to reflect on all of his decisions.
4. Brienne never called Jaime “a bloody woman”.  A lot of people were unhappy with this line of dialogue because it makes Brienne seem far too self loathing and angry against her gender.
5. Jeor Mormont’s last words were to Sam.  He told him to convince his son, Jorah, to come back home and take the black so he could be forgiven of his past crimes.

Other Points to Notice

1. Mixing an open hand wound and horse shit was almost a death sentence for Jaime.  His arm grew extremely infected from his fall.
2. Varys is extremely interested in every move that Littlefinger makes.  This is because Littlefinger is among the only people in the world that Varys finds to be a threat.  Through Ros, Varys learns of Littlefinger’s plan to get Sansa out of the capitol.
3. Joffrey listening to Margaery and ignoring Cersei was a blatant sign of how Cersei was losing control over him.  Margaery works very fast.
4. Sansa started the series off wanting to be a southern girl, but now that her life has turned into a nightmare, she finds comfort in her northern identity.  When Margaery finds Sansa, she is praying at the stump of a weirwood tree.  Her father always prayed at the same type of tree in Winterfell.  It’s hard to make it out, but you can see the giant white stump as she leaves the cliffside. 
5. Varys was attempting to convince Olenna to marry Sansa to Loras.  Just so Littlefinger would not have her. 
6. The last time we saw Beric Dondarrion, he was being sent off by Ned to bring the Mountain to justice.  He was also a different actor.

Stray Observations:

1. We get to see Sam’s thimble again, as Gilly gives it back to him.  It really did not serve any purpose.  I’ll keep an eye out for it in the future
2. Cersei almost seems to have a careful respect for Olenna Tyrell.
3. Tywin was unnecessarily harsh towards Cersei.  He has now talked shit to 2/3 children.  Jaime has it coming.
4. This was a very Varys heavy episode.
5. I think this is my favorite Daenerys moment.  Complete control of the entire situation.

RIP: Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. And now his watch is ended.

This was definitely the best block of episodes so far. From the Battle of the Blackwater to Daenerys claiming her army of Unsullied, it seems like a lot is happening at once now. The rest of this season will also be great, and I am especially looking forward to the infamous Red Wedding. It may be easier to pick up on new things there, since I won’t be blinded by sadness.

Things I Liked:

They truly did the Battle of the Blackwater justice. The scene of the wildfire exploding has already gone down in television history. It was the moment that really solidified the series as being just as spectacular visually as any blockbuster movie.
I also already like Dany’s plotline in season 3 better than season 2. Probably her most successful storyline. The only thing season 3 is missing so far, is more Jon and Ygritte scenes. They are coming though.

Things I Did Not Like:

Everything that had to do with Qaarth. It was boring, and served no real purpose. At least in the books Dany got some prophecy given to her.
I also do not like the direction the show went with Mance Rayder. He gets barely any screen time and you don’t get to see the charismatic man that he is in the book series. I mean the guy once infiltrated Winterfell as a bard just to see what it was like. Hard to imagine the show version of Mance do anything but scowl angrily. I also wish we got to go more into Jon’s ability to see through Ghost. Or just more Ghost in general.