Hello fans! What did you all think of that episode! Pretty intense near the end, right?
So, let’s recap what happened on this 4th episode of Game of Thrones “And Now His Watch Has Ended”. As always, let me remind you of the spoilers… if you’re planning on watching this episode, stop reading now and tune in again after. Don’t let this recap ruin the surprises.
That being said, I want to start off by saying I was disappointed in the “pacing” of this particular episode. Maybe it was because I knew what was going to happen (from the books), but I feel they could have spread out the intense scenes throughout the whole episode… instead, the first 40 min was slow, and then they put all the big stuff at the end.
So, what’s going on… we have the Tyrell’s showing their scheming abilities more than ever. Margaery has Joff doing anything she wants. Personally, it seems like she can actually make him into a good King, so that’s a plus. And she also seems to care for Sansa. After her grandmothers (Lady Olenna) conversation with the Spider (Varys), we find out that the Tyrell’s will try to marry Sansa off to Sir Loras (and send her to Highgarden, their home) – this is a twofold scenario, because on one hand, this helps Sansa. She marries her “prince” (which she clearly has a thing for), and she gets away from Joffrey’s grasp; but on the other hand, the only reason the Tyrell’s are helping is to keep Littlefinger from gaining any handle on the North (if something were to happen to Robb, Sansa takes ownership of the North), and in turn puts that handle into their own hands. This info originated from Varys’ new little bird, Ros (who works for Littlefinger).
Tyrion is still trying to confirm who tried to have him killed. He pretty much knows it’s his sister, but he wants revenge, and he wants to be 100% sure it’s her before he does anything. Because this stings for Tyrion… no matter what he did, who he was and how he lived, he always was family to his family. And this betrayal has hit him hard. He questions Varys in hopes that the master of whispers had proof. Nothing solid unfortunately, but the scene gives us something else. Varys tells the story of how his “family jewels” (well, the entire package actually) was cut and used as sacrificed from some priest when he was young. This has always haunted him, and have turned him into who he is. All the while, Varys is opening a crate. In the crate? Decades later, he has finally captured the priest who did this to him. You want vengeance? Varys just showed the world (us) his darker side. So when he says “The revenge you want till be yours in time”… well, now you know he’s not just saying it.
Bran continues to have crazy dreams, and they’re starting to get a little disturbing, with his mother yelling at him and him falling off a tree.
Theon gets led a full circle, back to his captors. Was this all a scheme to just get him tortured more? Probably… it seems that his “savior” will get something out of it though, as now he gets to say Theon escaped and he was the one who got him back (playing off that Theon killed the other soldiers, not himself with his arrows).
Thoros of Myr takes Sandor (along with Arya and Gendry) to meet a new character, the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners, Beric Dondarrion! Dondarrion is actually an old character, sent out during season one by Ned Stark to track down the Mountain (Gregor Clegain) after he started sacking villages (remember that scene at court with Ned? He was sitting the throne is Roberts absence who had gone hunting). But when the war started and innocence was lost on both sides (Starks vs Lannisters), Dondarrion formed his own “brotherhood” so bring justice to all who deserved it. And this guy looks like he’s been through a lot since season one. Not only is he missing an eye, he has a huge scar on his head, and another one along his neck (as if someone had slit his throat). We also see that he, and his men, (along with Thoros, who is referred to as a priest) are all followers of this “new” religion – the very same one Mellisandre believes in. This part of the story is actually pretty intriguing… it is no different then our own history of ancient Greece and Rome, who had the multiple gods, and then “Christianity” gets introduced. A nice take for this world, and to see what the outcome will be. And so Dondarrion challenges Sandor to a trial by combat, so that Sandor may pay for his crimes. Is he the one who will finally bring an end to the menace that is Sandor Clegane?
I have to admit though, I kinda like Sandor. I know he’s on the “evil” side of things, but he’s honest about it. Doesn’t really play “games”, just tells it as it is. And he never hurt Sansa either… in fact, in the books, it was he who told his past about his face burning to her, during a moment of his own volnorability (though in the show, Littlefinger mentions it to her in season one). And that past shows a lot about his character… I mean, he’s had it hard growing up, you know? Well, all men must die… isn’t that what Danny said? (though she is not a man!)
The Men of the Nights Watch are men though. They are still healing up at Craster’s – but they are becoming very unsettled and disgruntled. Craster is treating them like sh*t, and they’ve started loosing faith in their own Lord Commander Mormont – who is just trying to do the “honest” thing. Resentment builds and when one of the men starts a fight with Craster, all hell breaks loose. And as Mormont is trying to calm things down, the f’ing POS (I forget his name – the one Snow protected Sam from in season 1) stabs him in the back and kills him. Crows fight crows in defending Lord Mormont (and his legacy at this point) against the traiter “brothers”. Sam sneaks away and grabs Gilly with her son, running off to find somewhere safe.
Meanwhile, we see a softer side not only to Breanne, who seems to be caring for Jaime now – but that is only due to the fact that Jaime had indeed done something kind in the first place… you see, he had lied about her being rich (Sapphire Isle is named after its waters, not it’s Sapphires); which means he only said it to save her, and no other reason. And as he’s fealing in the dumps for having lost his “identity” with his hand – Breanne slaps some sense into him, tells him to man up, and live through this (so as to get his vengeance in the future).
The epic scene of the episode comes when Daenerys sells her dragon and gets the army. How upset I was when I was reading this in the book. A dragon? Selling it? What? But it turns out, Danny speaks Valerian the whole time (so she knows all the crap the slaver was saying behind her back).
Once she confirms that the soldiers are officially hers, she commands them to rise up against the slavers, and then “Drakaris!” The dragon burns everything! The entire slaver city is sacked. When all is said and done, Danny “frees” the Unsullied and tells them if they fight for her, it will be as free men. Their loyalty is truly gained at this point, and Danny sets off to travel out of the city and presumably West (for in that direction lies Westoros).
I don’t remember much else about this book until we get near the end of the season, so I can’t wait to see what happens. Check out HBO’s preview for the next episode below!
See you all next week!
–mozeus
