Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Game of Thrones: The Finer Points of Bad Behavior

Spoilers! Spoilers! Don't read this if you haven't seen this week's episode or don't want to know what happens. Don't blame me if you see something you don't want to know.

So I have to say that for me, this week's episode was pretty lackluster. Ding dong, Joffrey's dead, and no one except Cersei seems much to mind. Moving on, little Tommen seems ripe to take over and that seems to be a generally good thing for the Lannisters as he shows no obvious signs of being a psychopath. What else?
  • We check in on Arya and the Hound, making their way to the Vale. Nothing much happens.
  • Ser Davos comes up with some ideas about how to help Stannis. Stannis is still such a stick in the mud. I saw a parody of GoT likening American politicians to the characters; Stannis got Mitt Romney, which seems about right. 
  • Oberyn agrees to sit on the small council in exchange for Tywin's help with revenge. Mmmm revenge.
  • Tyrion is rotting in prison awaiting his (show) trial for Joffrey's murder. Everyone knows he didn't do it, but he's an easy target for his hateful sister.
  • Speaking of whom, she alone mourns Joffrey. Jaime decided Joffrey's tomb was the right time and place to renew relations with her. Yes, this was a rape scene, one of many in a show where sexual abuse of women is epidemic. David Benioff does not seem to know how to show sex that is neither non consensual  nor paid for. And it is disturbing, especially considering how out of character it is for Jaime. I'm disappointed in the decision to alter the tone of this scene from the book.
  • Margaery and Olenna have a heart to heart about Margaery's second time as a widow. Snooze.
  • Sam has Gilly transferred to work at a brothel because he's worried about her safety at Castle Black. Um... I'm not sure his logic is working at full capacity here but we'll see.
  • We had a scene with Daenerys where something happened.
  • The cannibals and wildlings join forces to mow down a little village, and a little boy who later escapes to Castle Black sees Ygritte kill his father. That's gonna come back to bite someone. So to speak.
  • Finally, the best thing! The fool helps Sansa to a ship where she's greeted by- wait for it- Petyr Baelish. Little Finger! It's been ages. How I have not missed you.
Anyway that's it for this week. Lame.The only thing that made me smile or laugh was when Ser Davos tells Stannis's daughter "Your father lacks an appreciation of the finer points of bad behavior,"  which makes him unsuited to ruling Westeros if you ask me. I thought this episode was pretty boring. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen but it looks like I'll have to wait till next week anyway. What do you think of the scene with Jaime and Cersei? Enough to put you off the show, or just another instance of abuse in a series in which that's ubiquitous?

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