Like last season, "Valar Morghulis" visited with every major character and their storylines, put a button on each, and then moved things forward. Tyrion survived the sword to the face but woke up to a find a completely different King's Landing: this King's Landing is still ruled by Joffrey, his hand now Tywin Lannister, his queen the recently widowed Margaery Tyrell, Littlefinger is the Lord of Harrenhal and its lands; and as for Tyrion, the hero of the Blackwater, the man who held the city together with tin can and very small thin strings, is stuck in a small chamber, with a scarred face, a monster, surrounded by people who want him dead. Ser Mandon Moore's attempted murder on the ex-Hand is perhaps a sign of things to come. Tyrion eventually wept as Shae hugged him; he thought he lost her as he lost Bronn and Shagga and the other hillside folk, but she vowed to be true to her lion. It was a stunning fall for Tyrion, especially because he experienced the life he was born to live if he hadn't been born imp and perceived a monster. Shae suggested they move to Pentos. Tyrion resists: he liked outthinking and outsmarting people, he liked the game, and he still wants to play.
Sansa's free from marriage with Joffrey and she couldn't repress a smile. Littlefinger quickly wiped her feelings of relief clean as he explained what Joffrey could still do to her while in the city, as a ward of the Lannisters. King's Landing is populated with liars. Sansa's no more safe a free woman than she was as Joffrey's betrothed. Littlefinger promised to help her escape King's Landing and reunite her with her family because of the fondness he has for Cat and the way Sansa reminds him of the woman he loved so long ago.
Characters engaged in dangerous behavior or acts throughout the episode. Tyrion saw Pycelle when he first came-to. Pycelle was sentenced to the black cells not too long ago, and Tyrion feared for his life. The paranoia, the yell for Pod to tell Varys and Bronn of his alive-ness, established the tone for "Valar Morghulis." I'm thinking of the conversation between Robb and his mother the night before Robb married Talisa. Walder Frey is not a man to cross, Catelyn told her son, and wished he'd honor his word to the Frey man, because a man is only as good as his word. Robb wondered how his mother could sit and talk of foolish behavior when she just let the Kingslayer go. Robb and Talisa wed on a gorgeous day. Meanwhile, Brienne and Jaime continued their trek south to Riverrun. Along the road, they found three strung-up corpses and the men who killed them, Stark men, who killed the people for being lions. The men would've killed Jaime or tried to capture him by killing Brienne if Brienne didn't absolutely demolish them without breaking a sweat. Brienne stopped in the first place to bury the bodies out a sense of honor, but as I noted previously, honor's just the name of a horse in Westeros. The decision put her and Jaime's life in danger. Anyway, it was important for Jaime to see Brienne in action, as he's insulted her at every turn; now, perhaps, he'll respect her.
Jon Snow and Qhorin engaged in a sword fight. Rattleshirt encouraged it. The fight occurred near the end of the episode. Two weeks ago, in "The Prince of Winterfell," Qhorin and Jon had a brief exchange about getting the wildlings to trust Jon. Jon put a sword through Qhorin. Before death, Qhorin said, "We are the watchers of The Wall." Rattleshirt freed Snow. Ygritte looked at him like she wanted to have sex with him right there on the hill. His brutal murder of Qhorin made him worthy of meeting the King-Beyond-The-Wall, Mance Rayder, and the redhead and the bastard looked down at a valley where the king resides. The purpose of the scene might not have been clear to non-book readers. It's not my job to clarify the meaning of the scene; that's on Benioff and Weiss. Jon Snow's done a bad thing in the eyes of the Night's Watch: killing a brother is most definitely frowned upon, and now he's deep within the wildlings. Also, Beyond The Wall, the Wights and White-Walkers are moving on the Fist of the First Men. Sam is surrounded as the episode ends. Bad times for Samwell Tarly.
Theon Greyjoy's storyline has been my favorite, aside from Tyrion's adventures in King's Landing, this season. Theon's fall has been wonderfully portrayed by Alfie Allen. The man's committed acts he never would've thought possible, but a parent's disapproval can drive a child mad, no matter how old he may be. Theon sat alone, surrounded by 500 Northmen, as Luwin instructed him on what to do. Theon rejected running and going to The Wall. He wouldn't pretend to be something he isn't; he'd fight and die for the things he did in Winterfell. Theon's speech to the twenty Greyjoy men was amazing. Alfie Allen's been the MVP of the season, aside from Peter Dinklage, and I wanted to fight for Theon as he yelled his family's words as he prepared to die. Dagmer hit him on the head right after the speech, and they dragged him away. The next we saw of Winterfell was burnt and broken. Bran, Rickon, Hodor and Osha moved through the bodies, the fire, and the broken objects, and then went to the godswood where Luwin sat, dying from the stab wound Dagmer gave him. Luwin told them to go north and asked Osha to kill him. Honestly, I wanted the second season to end as A Clash of Kings did, with Bran leaving Winterfell behind, thinking Winterfell wasn't dead; it was just broken, like him. At least we got the shot of Winterfell burning in the distance. I really love the way George RR Martin wrote the final chapter of ACoK. The best of Bran's story has yet to happen.
Dany went into the House of the Undying where she was able to say goodbye to Drogo and rescue her dragons and then take all of Qarth's gold to set sail for Westeros. She personified dangerous behavior. A fool would only enter Pyat Pree's House. Recall how he massacred The Thirteen. Pyat Pree chained her up, but she uttered the word "Dracarys" and her dragons breathed fire, which burned Pyat Pree to death. Xaro and Doreah (what the hell?) were locked in a wall. The Daenerys storyline's been problematic all year. I thought the scene with Drogo worked, but the Qarth adventure was a major disappointment.
Arya's arc in season two also really disappointed me. She got a short scene with Jaqen in which he gave her a gold coin which she could give to any man in Braavos while uttering the words "valar morghulis." Arya wanted to be like Jaqen; she saw how he killed those men. Jaqen told her she'd need to follow him to Braavos if she wished to be a faceless man. Arya wants to find her mother, brother and sister first. Jaqen nodded and then changed his face. I can't really write in minute detail about my disappointment in the show's portrayal of Arya Stark. What did Arya learn this season? What kind of growth happened for her? She spent several weeks talking to Tywin and chose two morons to kill with her 'gifts.' The escape from Harrenhal happened rather easily. Arya's supposed to be a girl who needs to do anything to survive, but she's been as comfortable as Sansa and Robb for the most part. Arya was my favorite character in A Clash of Kings. Her arc was outstanding, and I wish non-readers could've experienced it. I guess one can always read the books.
It's a bit unfair if I wanted fans to experience A Clash of Kings the way I did by reading the book through the TV adaptation. A Clash of Kings actually left me feeling a little flat. Season 2 of Game of Thrones began strongly, but I wasn't as excited about the episodes as time worn on. I thought the writers developed the war of the five kings poorly. Stannis disappeared for two weeks. Renly showed up in episode three and died in the first scene of episode five. The growing threat of Stannis was never palpable in the King's Landing scenes. Cersei was fleshed out a bit, but I don't feel like the viewer knows or understands her any more than they did last year. The series needs two seasons to adapt the books now. The story is too dense; there are too many characters to service. Viewers get short-changed. Amazingly, ten hours wasn't enough to adequately tell this story. Season 2 was still good television though, full of fantastic scene and set-pieces, but I can't help but feel somewhat empty.
Other Thoughts:
-Stannis saw something amazing in the flames after trying to strangle Melisandre to death. Stannis was pissed off about the failure to win the battle of Blackwater, and he even expressed remorse for killing his brother.
-I actually re-read the House of the Undying chapter earlier today because I thought the scene would be as insane as the chapter. It wasn't.
-I also re-read the last chapter of the book, which is Bran's. I was moved by Bran and Rickon's reactions to a dying Luwin in the episode. Again, the Bran stuff was good all season long.
-I will miss Game of Thrones these next ten months, especially the traffic the reviews brought to the site. Yep. It's going to be a rough summer in The Foot without Game of Thrones.
-David Benioff & D.B. Weiss wrote the episode. Alan Taylor directed it.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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