TV Review: GAME OF THRONES S2E9, BLACKWATER (Or, Severed Heads Will Roll)

[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.]


Centurion and The Descent director Neil Marshall brings the ultraviolence to the penultimate episode of Game Of Thrones' second season. And after a full season's worth of build up Stannis Baratheon arrives at King's Landing and we get the full scale battle we've been waiting for. Does it live up to expectations? In terms of story content, absolutely. In terms of spectacle, slightly wobbly.

Let's get the criticism out of the way before rolling on, with one necessary caveat. Marshall here has been asked to execute the sort of large scale carnage that is difficult to achieve on a full feature budget and to do it on a television budget and schedule. With that understood, he's done well with what he had to work with. But on a purely objective level ... well, let's just hope this is the end of naval action in the show because those ships looked and behaved about as much like actual ships as does my living room. There was no sense of scope to the naval sequences at all - no sense of motion, either. The battle sequence fared significantly better once it reached land but if you were paying attention there it was quite clear that Marshall had limited resources to play with. Think narrow shots of the same stretch of wall repeated several times and a total on screen force of about fifty men at any given time. There is never any real sense of scale to the battle, which is a shame because establishing that first would have given the individual story lines playing out within the battle that much more heft and bite. This is one occasion where a few well placed, CGI generated wide shots would have added a ton of value.

That said, once the violence begins it comes in a non-stop stream and it is - as you would expect from Marshall - pleasingly bloody.

For what I believe is the first time in the entire run of the series this episode focuses only on one event and the people directly involved in it: Stannis' attack on King's Landing. If characters were not present at this battle, then they are not present in the episode - plain and simple. Key plots followed are Tyrion and Bronn, Cersei and Sansa, Stannis and Davos, and Joffrey and The Dog.

The episode begins with everyone waiting. They know battle is coming. They know it's coming soon. But they don't know exactly when. Tyrion can't sleep. Davos has a quiet conversation with his son. Cersei acquires a vial of poison for unknown purposes. And Joffrey prances about like a twat with his new sword, which he makes Sansa kiss. And then the warning bells begin to ring.

A primary strength of Game Of Thrones is that nobody is ever safe - that any character can be cut down at any time - and that principal is demonstrated right at the outset of the battle. As Stannis' fleet sails to the harbor they are - surprisingly - not met with any resistance. The inexperienced hail this as a sign of dissension within Joffrey's forces - that they will be allowed to simply walk in - but Davos knows better. And then a single ship - a single unmanned ship floats into their midst. A ship loaded with the pyromancer's wildfire - introduced back in episode five - which Bronn ignites from afar with a flaming arrow. And just like that Davos, his son, and a sizable portion of Stannis' fleet are simply gone - the flame worshipers engulfed in a massive fireball.

It's a good first strike, but not enough to dissuade Stannis, who entered this fight with a sizable numbers advantage. And so the fight takes to the ground, just outside the city gates.

Where are the ladies at this point? Cersei has bundled all of the nobles into a tower - Sansa among them - supposedly for their own protection. But what's with the grim faced knight in there with them. Cersei is taking her courage from a bottle throughout and she's a nasty drunk, forcing Sansa to drink with her as she vents her bitterness, every new cup raising the possibility that Sansa may be poisoned. Not so.

Back on the ground, The Dog is sent to lead a contingent of Lannister men against Stannis' vanguard. It's the first time we've really seen Joffrey's guard in his element and it's a fearsome sight, the man literally carving men in half. The Lannister forces seem to at least be holding their own until The Dog freezes at the sight of a burning man fleeing from one of Stannis' destroyed ships. Not a fan of fire, this one, the sight bringing back his own trauma - the fire that permanently scarred his own face - and he simply walks off the field, bringing the men back inside with him.

Joffrey, of course, pitches a fit and orders The Dog back out to battle. The wee King is promptly told to fuck off. Which wipes rather a lot of the shit eating grin off his face, even more of which disappears when Tyrion and others press him to lead the men back into battle: They need their King's leadership. Faced with the prospect of actually having to do something himself Joffrey simply runs away to mother. Literally. And only Tyrion is left to lead the men.

Cue one of Tyrion's finest moments, the 'half-man' rousing the remaining men - first with shame, then with one hell of a motivational speech - and leading them through a secret tunnel to attack Stannis' men from behind. It's an effective move until reinforcements arrive and - unless I'm badly wrong, which is possible given that they're all wearing armor - one of Joffrey's personal guard turns on Tyrion and attempts to cut him down in the field. He looks to survive but he's going to have one hell of a scar.

Back to the ladies. Cersei leaves the ladies in the tower - we learn that the poison is for her other son, should the castle fall, and the one guard there to kill all the women rather than letting them be taken - and Shae advises Sansa that now is the time to get out if she wants to live. Which she does. And finds The Dog waiting for her in her chambers with an offer to take her back north to Winterfell.

And then the dramatic conclusion. Just as it appears the castle has fallen - Stannis within the gates and Cersei about to kill her own child - the throne room doors burst open to admit Tywin Lannister, accompanied by Renly Barratheon's gay lover Loras Tyrell. Turns out Tywin's late night ride was not to track down Robb Stark, as had been implied, but to reinforce the troops at King's Landing and Loras has joined in seeing an opportunity to avenge Renly's death.

So where do we leave it? With one episode left in the season Stannis is still alive but his troops scattered. And it would appear we now have a major split within the Lannister household as I cannot imagine that Tywin will even begin to approve of Cersei and Joffrey's behavior - can you imagine how the man obsessed with legacy will respond when he hears Joffrey ran from the battlements? - while Tyrion has made himself a hero among the knights and soldiers of the city. We're likely looking at Tywin and Tyrion in a faction against Cersei, Joffrey and Jaime - who should turn up soon - as things move forward. And don't forget that now both of the Stark girls are free of Lannister control, just as Jaime is free of the Starks. Which means Robb has just lost his motivation for the war he's been waging, while also feeling the need to go back home and free Winterfell - and his brothers - from Theon. The battle may have been this week but there's still plenty of intrigue to sort out for next ...