Review: GAME OF THRONES S3E10, MHYSA (Or, You Took An Extra Ten Minutes And This Was The Best You Could Do?)

Another season of George RR Martin's epic Game Of Thrones has come to an end and in this season's anticipation inducing, nail chewing, big shock cliffhanger ending ... nothing at all happens. Nothing. At. All. With the arguable exception of Gendry being released none of the major plotlines advance so much as an inch, beyond a trio of interesting character moments - Tywin sending Joffrey to his room, Arya killing Bolton's man, Ygritte peppering Jon Snow with arrows - we're treated to little more than a character montage show that stops just barely short of having characters wave to the camera and say see you next year, the messianic tint to Danaerys' brief appearance takes on a weirdly racist and pro-colonial overtone (look at those poor, dark savages and how much they love their blond savior!), and a good block of the extra ten minutes given over to the run time is given to characters that we haven't seen all year doing nothing at all interesting. In all seriousness, am I the only one who took a moment or two to even recognize Balon Greyjoy thanks to his total absence this year?

When they announced a ten episode season for Game Of Thrones I expected ten actual episodes. This was a placeholder that seemingly had no interest at all in advancing the story forward or piquing interest in major events brewing for season four. Probably because those major events are THE SAME DAMN ONES teased at the end of season two that still haven't actually gotten around to happening yet. As season finales go this was kind of crap, and it's a kind of crap so disinterested in actual storytelling that there's not much of anything at all to talk about. Bleh. Not at all how I wanted to be left feeling going into the wait for season four.

[Twitch has been tracking Game Of Thrones from Season One, Episode One from the perspective of someone who has not and will not read the books at all until the series has come to an end so that it can all be experienced for the first time on the big screen. Discussion of the current episode and what has come before is welcome and encouraged but PLEASE avoid spoiling anything that lies ahead in the novels so that those of us who haven't read can experience everything fresh. Also, you can check the links below for discussions of episodes in which things actually happen.]