Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Game of Thrones, S4 E4: The Writers Think We're Morons

Spoilers ahead! Don't read this if you haven't seen the episode and don't blame me if you see something you didn't want to know.

Another episode in which not much happens. But somehow they manage to fill an hour anyway.

This week:
  • Jon Snow gets some pals to run up north to where Owen from Torchwood is holed up with some guys. Coincidentally Bran & co. show up there too. Fireworks ensue. Jon arrives next week with the psycho guy who cut off Jaime's hand, working for Roos Bolton as Bolton searches for the remaining Stark boys. In the books, this guy was killed at Harrenhall so what happens next is anyone's guess but I'm going to go on record and say that I think he shouldn't start any long books.
  • We find out what the White Walkers are doing with those male babies of Craster's. But come on, I think we kind of knew this already.
  • Daenerys helps the slaves of Meereen overthrow their oppressors in less time than it takes me to heat up a frozen burrito. She's too self-righteous these days to be fun but I'm still rooting for her to win the whole thing. I'd love to see her get together with Jon Snow at the end, too. They'd be a great power couple.
  • Olenna all but confesses to Joffrey's murder. Yeah we knew that too. Do the writers think we're morons? 
  • Tyrion and Jaime have a heart to heart. Cersei continues to impress Jaime with her paranoia, drunkenness and general disarray. Brienne impresses him with her character and they have a genuinely touching farewell as she leaves with Pod to find Sansa. As she is leaving I think he knows how classy she is compared to that wretch of a sister/lover of his. I am willing to overlook last week's unfortunate turn of events and continue to root for Jaime's moral development.
  • Margaery gives Tommen some, um, things to think about. He looked like the cat who caught the canary, or the 14 year old who can't believe he gets to make out with his hot babysitter. It was a very funny scene.
  • Sansa chatted with Little Finger about what just happened and what comes next. Of course Little Finger and she were involved with Joffrey's murder, and naturally she didn't know. Duh.
  • No Arya this week. That's never a good sign but maybe next week.
OK now I love Daenerys but this is all getting a bit silly. Seriously, that revolution took like five minutes. And we're talking about poorly organized, probably very physically unfit people taking on a whole city's worth of fat cats and it just seems like no effort at all. We'll see how Dany does actually ruling- she's good at overthrowing but if she's not going throw everyone into her army and move on, then she has to learn how to do more than just spout persuasive rhetoric and hurl accessories.

Last week's rape scene between Jaime and Cersei upset a lot of people and I understand why, but in the larger context of the show it just struck me as another miserable day in a miserable universe. I am willing to treat it as an aberration and the end of their sexual relationship as their relations deteriorate entirely from here on out. I don't know anything- that's just my prediction.

I wonder if Bran will still be at Owen's place (sorry, I can't remember his name-that's his Torchwood character) when Jon arrives or if they will just miss each other again. With Roos Bolton's toady in tow with Jon, I hope Bran and friends miss him.

I have a feeling Peyter's relationship with Lysa won't be either happy or long-lasting. And I can't imagine she'll be best pleased with having pretty Sansa around, either. She's like this show's Pennsatucky Doggett. Unstable much?

So again not much really happened. Pieces moved around the board. The last scene with the head White Walker was pretty intense but again, what did we think they were doing with the babies? Oh well. Onwards to next week.

Your thoughts?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a reader this is getting really frustrating. It's been a while since I read the books, but isn't there really not much left in book 3 for them to play with? I feel like they're trying to stretch the action here and we're ending up with a giant mess that's really beginning to toy with the storyline.

Sandy Nawrot said...

Well my husband declared the episode boring, but I was just so damned excited to be caught up and watching live that I didn't care. I was getting annoyed with Dany for awhile, whining about her dragons, but now I'm liking her power and compassion for the downtrodden. My vote is for her to rule the world. I expect there is going to be some hot sex going on between her and that new guy (sorry can't remember names but they changed the actor between Season 3 and 4...the sexy one). As far as that rape scene, it was seriously messed up, but do people think the perversion just started? There has been incest, raping and pillaging the whole damn time. I have a smidgen of hope for Jamie.

Sandy Nawrot said...

P.S. Did you see there is a pop-up book for all of Westeros? Just ordered it. It is going to be AWESOME.

Marie Cloutier said...

Sandy, see that's what I think. All this hand-wringing about the treatment of women based on that scene is kind of silly. I mean, did these people just start watching the show last week? Or is it because the victim was the most highly-placed woman in Westeros that it matters, and it doesn't matter so much when the victims are low-caste? Hmmm. Anyway yes, I have hope for Jaime. And I will check out that pop-up!