Game of Thrones "A Man Without Honor" Review

I kept repeating 'a man without honor' after each scene because I've been repeating 'a man without honor' in my head for a week for whatever reason. I usually repeat episode titles randomly before I write about them. Somehow it helps me form my thoughts. Fittingly, "A Man Without Honor" is full of men without honor, or men with honor who are challenged because the rules of a king or the inquiries of a sassy girl kissed by fire.

Catelyn challenges Jaime's honor by uttering the name 'kingslayer.' Their scene occurs after a tumultuous two scenes in which Jaime tried to escape his prison and killed one of the Karstarks. The men of the North wanted the head of the Kingslayer. The North followed their own rules. Honor in the North is earned with a sword. Men face their enemies and behead them with their own swords; it's a code, the honor of the North. Robb went to The Crag, which left the camp in disarray. Rickard Karstark desires blood vengeance for what Jaime did to his son. Catelyn refuses to give Jaime up for she views him as her lone chance at getting her daughters back from King's Landing. Catelyn fears Jaime won't survive the night. The Northmen become more drunk and angry as the night matures. Cat and Brienne visit him in the cell. Jaime seemingly tries to get himself killed by reminding Catelyn of Ned's adulterous affair and of Jon Snow. Jaime thinks himself honorable for sharing a bed with only Cersei whereas the honorable Ned Stark fathered a bastard. Cat challenges his knighthood, but Jaime doesn't care. Honor is a perception and interchangeable. Like power, one's honor is in the eye of the beholder. Jaime argues that honor is complicated and messy. What's a knight to do when his vows make him protect the king, the weak, and the innocent when the king massacres the innocent and the knight's father hates the king?

I love this aspect of Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire. Nothing's simple or black-and-white. Kings can be brutal murderers. Bad men can make good rulers and good men can make bad rulers. Tywin perceives himself as an excellent strategist and ruler. He sits in his Harrenhal tower, drinking rich wine and eating fine food, as he orders Gregor Clegane to pillage the countryside so a clear message is sent to anyone who dare make an attempt on his life. Tywin thought someone meant to kill him instead of Amory Lorch. Twenty men were hanged in Harrenhal. Tywin isn't honorable; he's a monster, but he deludes himself by sending men to do what he thinks is necessary to maintain the Lannister stronghold across Westeros.

Daenerys is a young, foolish girl who didn't bother to tell one of her Dothraki soldiers to watch her dragons. Tyrion and Cersei had a conversation about Targaryens. Cersei worried about her son. Perhaps his cruelty and sadomasochism exists because of her sins with Jaime. People used to say the gods flipped a coin when a Targaryen was born: madness or sanity. Dany recalls Viserys, her mad brother who threatened to give her to 10,000 men if it meant regaining the throne. Dany doesn't want to be so cruel. The people around her are cruel and merciless. Men with honor suddenly emerge without honor. Xaro seemed as honest a man as she'd find on her journey; however, Xaro named himself King of Qarth and conspired with Pyat Pree to steal the dragons and kill the Thirteen. Dany learns not to trust anyone; she even hesitates to trust Jorah. Quaithe reminds Jorah of his treachery and wonders will it happen again. Quaithe possesses keen foresight; she knows who took the dragons; she probably knows what Jorah will do. Quaithe is warning the wrong person though--Dany needs Quaithe much more. She is lost, whether or not even she looks back.

Robb Stark is an honorable king. Robb offered to join his men with Renly's if Renly promised to cede the North to him. This admirable trait of his has an awful bite though. Alton Lannister can't be held in his own prison because the prisons are overcrowded. Roose Bolton and Karstark stare at Robb like he's mad for arranging comfy quarters for Alton. Bolton is a twisted man; recall how he spoke glowingly of 'flaying' people. Robb soon finds himself in a position where he'll lose his men because of his honor.

Robb's half-brother Jon Snow faces the same questions about honor from his captive Ygritte. Ygritte challenges during each step of their journey. She questions the honor of the Night's Watch. Westeros used to belong to the wildlings but they lost their lands when a gigantic wall of ice was built. Ygritte praises her free folk and condemns the crows and their 'honor.' Jon defends the Night's Watch by reminding her that they don't attack unless they've been attacked. Jon continues by telling her he has the blood of the first men flowing through his veins, just like her and the wildlings (which is very important). Ygritte challenges Jon in the most physical way too. The Night's Watch took a vow of chastity. Ygritte tempts him with explicit overtures about her and what she can teach him. "You know nothing, Jon Snow," she tells him when he refuses, and then she escapes, and then Jon is surrounded by wildlings.

And then there's Theon. Theon, Theon, Theon, how far you've fallen. Theon wakes to learn Bran, Rickon, Hodor and Osha escaped. He gathers the horses, houses, and men to hunt for the Stark children. Luwin requests Theon not harm them because they're valuable. Theon promises not to kill them but his mind changes after hours of fruitless hunting, which makes him angry. Theon sends the old man home when Dagmer finds a walnut at a little village. The next we see of Theon is at Winterfell as he lectures the citizens about obeying him. Theon reveals the burned bodies of Bran and Rickon, and one is reminded of how cruel a storyteller George R.R. Martin is. Theon is, truly, a man without honor.

So, then, what is honor? Well, it's the name of a horse, and nothing more.

Other Thoughts:

-Jamie's scene with Alton was terrific. Alton gushes about the time he squired for Jaime. Jaime Lannister was part of the kingsguard, a master swordsman, the toast of the Lannister family. Jamie told Alton the story of the time he squired for Ser Barristan Selmy, a painter who only used blood. Barristan was the honorable knight who Joffrey dismissed last season. Jaime admired Barristan, which is significant, considering Jaime seems to admire no one. Jaime used Alton for his escape plan. His story was meant to lure the poor Lannister boy. It worked. Jaime killed him.

-Arya's scene with Tywin was excellent. I loved how Arya talked about the sisters of Aegon. Arya admires Nymeria, an old queen of Westeros, and even named her direwolf after her. Tywin enjoys how unlike other girls this daughter of a stonemason is. Tywin catches her during the conversation. Arya's education along with her manner of speaking suggests she's a high-born girl disguised as a lady. Arya claims her stonemason father could read and her mother served a high-born lady. Tywin smiles and adds, 'You're smart too.' What a scene. Charles Dance and Maisie Williams were so, so good.

-Poor Sansa. Poor, poor Sansa. Sansa questions Sandor's sense of honor, which is a bad idea, because he's a miserable bastard. Later, she has nightmares about her near-rape and then awakes to find she's had her first period. Sansa wants to hide it because the thought of bearing Joffrey's children sickens her. Cersei talks to her about this matter and is surprisingly rational about it. Cersei tells her a long story about Robert, how he used to hunt while she gave birth, and he'd return with boar to find a baby. The point: Sansa will love her children even if she doesn't love her husband. The advice isn't comforting. Cersei's actually lying because Jaime fathered all three of her children.

-Cersei cries in front of Tyrion about Joffrey. Tyrion nearly comforts his sister too. Tyrion also reveals that Stannis' ships are 4-5 days from King's Landing, 200 ships strong. War is coming.

-My love for Rose Leslie's Ygritte grows more. She's so much fun.

-I loved the small beat for Hodor. Such a sweet moment between him and Osha.

-Pyat Pree is one insane son of a bitch. I imagined Pyat as more insane looking when I read Clash of Kings. I'll admit to experiencing trouble visualizing portions of Qarth, including The House of the Undying. Very interested in seeing Dany visit this house Pree loves.

-There were more changes from the book. Some good, some not-so-good, but oh well, I don't mind the changes because I just need to pick up the books if I want to the book stuff.

-I'm disappointed in the internet for not going insane after Theon revealed the burned bodies of Bran and Rickon. People don't seem to think the bodies are actually Bran and Rickon. HM.

-David Benioff & D.B. Weiss wrote the episode. David Nutter directed it.

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