TV Review: GAME OF THRONES S2E8, THE PRINCE OF WINTERFELL
[Twitch is reviewing Game Of Thrones on an episode by episode basis
throughout the current season. Please note that these are being written
from someone who has very deliberately NOT read the books so as to come
to the story fresh and will not be reading the books until after the
series concludes. Should you wish to compare and contrast the books to
the show please be courteous to those who have not read them yet by
limiting discussions to the timeline currently played out on screen as
well.]
With only three episodes left in the season director Alan Taylor returns to Game Of Thrones with The Prince of Winterfell. A clear cut example of calm before the storm if ever there was one The Prince Of Winterfell takes care to run all the major folk in front of the camera to let us know where things are at before all hell breaks loose. Heck, Varys even shows up for the first time in ages. And Robb gets laid.
In Winterfell, Theon's sister Yara turns up but she aint bringing reinforcements. No, she has arrived to bring her impetuous brother home before someone turns up to kill him. Mockery comes first and when that fails she tries the more sensitive approach but that doesn't work any better and Yara rides off empty handed. Theon doesn't think anyone's going to come kill him. I disagree.
Way up north Jon Snow is marched through snow until he meets a wildling covered in bones who wants to kill him. Just like he killed all the other men of Snow's squad while they were looking for him. Now he has angst! Oh, no! The wildling Ygritte intervenes to prevent Snow from being killed, which seems like a fair deal since he didn't kill her but only until you realize that if he had killed her he wouldn't be there at all and all of his squad would still be alive. Hence the angst. They've got Quorin, too, and both of them are marched off to meet the wildling king. Also, Samwell finds some obsidian spear heads while digging a shitter.
You may have noticed a general lack of plot at this point. This will continue throughout the episode as things are far more concerned with character moments throughout. Let's gloss over the relatively minor bits, shall we?
Daenerys remains sulky about her dragons and does nothing at all. Joffrey asks like a prat and boasts that he plans to ride out and greet the soon-to-arrive Stannis with his sword, which I would quite like to see him try, really. Cersei reminds us all of what a bitch she can be by claiming to have captured Tyrion's "whore" as leverage should he put Joffrey at risk. But she got the wrong one - she took Ros instead of Shae - which Tyrion doesn't let on about. Tyrion apparently plans to protect the city with pig shit. Stannis rides a boat. Bran and Rickon are not only not dead but hidden away back in Winterfell, the clever buggers.
And now to some more significant bits.
Arya? Turns out she missed her chance to do the obvious thing and have Jaqen kill Tywin Lannister which any sensible person would have done immediately upon being told that he would kill any three people named. Tywin's riding through the night to try and surprise Robb in battle, you see, and by the time she finds her strange talking assassin friend the prime target is well out of range. So instead Arya tricks Jaqen into helping her, Gendry and the fat kid escape. Seriously, how does a peasant kid get so fat? Down side to this development: Tywin is still alive. Which is also kind of an up side, because he's entertaining. Up side: Arya and Gendry are free again.
And then there's Robb. Robb has two very different experiences with the ladies this week. First, he throws his mother in jail - he puts guards outside her tent, actually - because the foolish woman has let Jaime Lannister go in a desperate attempt to trade him for her daughters' safety. Robb's men - quite rightly - are not pleased by this development. And, second, he throws Talisa's dress to the floor and gets himself some. Not a man saving himself for marriage, that Robb Stark.
Though light on plot advancement the quiet moments really shine through for the stronger characters here. Tyrion's conversation with Varys is a beautifully constructed little character moment, as is his performance to keep Cersei thinking she has power and leverage over him. I wouldn't call anything Stannis does heartfelt but he has a very revealing conversation with Davos aboard ship that peels back layers of both men and their rather odd relationship, a moment that stands as probably Stannis' best in this season. But the very best moment belongs to Catelyn Stark, trying to defend herself from what she surely understands is an indefensible action and be imprisoned by her own son - an act meant to free two of her children turning her sole remaining free child against her. The desperation and hurt in her is bubbling just below the surface and it was just beautifully performed.
With Stannis almost certainly arriving at the gates of King's Landing next episode, bringing large scale combat with him, this episode stands as a much needed breather - a quick refresher on where everybody's at and why we should care - before what should be a rather bloody conclusion to the series. Not the flashiest episode of the season by far but still very satisfying.
With only three episodes left in the season director Alan Taylor returns to Game Of Thrones with The Prince of Winterfell. A clear cut example of calm before the storm if ever there was one The Prince Of Winterfell takes care to run all the major folk in front of the camera to let us know where things are at before all hell breaks loose. Heck, Varys even shows up for the first time in ages. And Robb gets laid.
In Winterfell, Theon's sister Yara turns up but she aint bringing reinforcements. No, she has arrived to bring her impetuous brother home before someone turns up to kill him. Mockery comes first and when that fails she tries the more sensitive approach but that doesn't work any better and Yara rides off empty handed. Theon doesn't think anyone's going to come kill him. I disagree.
Way up north Jon Snow is marched through snow until he meets a wildling covered in bones who wants to kill him. Just like he killed all the other men of Snow's squad while they were looking for him. Now he has angst! Oh, no! The wildling Ygritte intervenes to prevent Snow from being killed, which seems like a fair deal since he didn't kill her but only until you realize that if he had killed her he wouldn't be there at all and all of his squad would still be alive. Hence the angst. They've got Quorin, too, and both of them are marched off to meet the wildling king. Also, Samwell finds some obsidian spear heads while digging a shitter.
You may have noticed a general lack of plot at this point. This will continue throughout the episode as things are far more concerned with character moments throughout. Let's gloss over the relatively minor bits, shall we?
Daenerys remains sulky about her dragons and does nothing at all. Joffrey asks like a prat and boasts that he plans to ride out and greet the soon-to-arrive Stannis with his sword, which I would quite like to see him try, really. Cersei reminds us all of what a bitch she can be by claiming to have captured Tyrion's "whore" as leverage should he put Joffrey at risk. But she got the wrong one - she took Ros instead of Shae - which Tyrion doesn't let on about. Tyrion apparently plans to protect the city with pig shit. Stannis rides a boat. Bran and Rickon are not only not dead but hidden away back in Winterfell, the clever buggers.
And now to some more significant bits.
Arya? Turns out she missed her chance to do the obvious thing and have Jaqen kill Tywin Lannister which any sensible person would have done immediately upon being told that he would kill any three people named. Tywin's riding through the night to try and surprise Robb in battle, you see, and by the time she finds her strange talking assassin friend the prime target is well out of range. So instead Arya tricks Jaqen into helping her, Gendry and the fat kid escape. Seriously, how does a peasant kid get so fat? Down side to this development: Tywin is still alive. Which is also kind of an up side, because he's entertaining. Up side: Arya and Gendry are free again.
And then there's Robb. Robb has two very different experiences with the ladies this week. First, he throws his mother in jail - he puts guards outside her tent, actually - because the foolish woman has let Jaime Lannister go in a desperate attempt to trade him for her daughters' safety. Robb's men - quite rightly - are not pleased by this development. And, second, he throws Talisa's dress to the floor and gets himself some. Not a man saving himself for marriage, that Robb Stark.
Though light on plot advancement the quiet moments really shine through for the stronger characters here. Tyrion's conversation with Varys is a beautifully constructed little character moment, as is his performance to keep Cersei thinking she has power and leverage over him. I wouldn't call anything Stannis does heartfelt but he has a very revealing conversation with Davos aboard ship that peels back layers of both men and their rather odd relationship, a moment that stands as probably Stannis' best in this season. But the very best moment belongs to Catelyn Stark, trying to defend herself from what she surely understands is an indefensible action and be imprisoned by her own son - an act meant to free two of her children turning her sole remaining free child against her. The desperation and hurt in her is bubbling just below the surface and it was just beautifully performed.
With Stannis almost certainly arriving at the gates of King's Landing next episode, bringing large scale combat with him, this episode stands as a much needed breather - a quick refresher on where everybody's at and why we should care - before what should be a rather bloody conclusion to the series. Not the flashiest episode of the season by far but still very satisfying.
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