Game of Thrones - Breaker of Chains

So, before I get all crazy with the re-capping I thought that if you wanted to get a brief idea/background for the past three seasons then you should go read this.It may help things make a little bit more sense; granted there may be some of you that see that this is another Game of Thrones post and just skip it completely. That's cool too! Whatever floats your boat!

I can't say this season is finally getting going because this season started at a brisk pace and hasn't slowed down since - and I love it. I do have to say this episode disappointed me, but I'll get to that a bit later on. Let me get this recap going....

The episode starts where the last ended, staring into Joffrey's purple and very dead face while Cersei screams for Tyrion to be taken into custody for poisoning her son; the king. Dontos rushes Sansa through the deserted streets of Kings Landing, into a boat and out into the mists of Blackwater Bay where he has her board a ship where she's met by....Littlefinger! Of course, his attitude towards Sansa is nothing less than slightly perverted but he tells Sansa she's safe now, which is ironically true as almost anyone is better off almost anywhere other than Kings Landing. Littlefinger also continues to break Sansa's romanticized notions of the world by shooting Dontos in the face with crossbow and shattering the necklace he gave her...and honestly, Sansa still seems to need a bit of an awakening...but something tells me she's catching on. This was all in the first five minutes and it was great how fast-paced and exciting it was!

Sansa - Did she simply go from the frying pan into the fire? Only time will tell...

The story jumps to Cersei and Tommen; the second son who has suddenly become extremely important because he's the new king of all seven of those kingdoms, and he's even younger than Joffrey was but h seems to be much nicer. Cersei and her son are keeping vigil over Joffrey and Tywin decides to descend on young Tommen and question him about what makes a good king - not faith, Baelor had that...not power, Aerys had that...not strength, Robert had that...and none of them lasted. The answer to the question is that wisdom makes a good king and what this translates to in Tywin Lannister's world is that wisdom means Tommen should listen to him at all times - Tywin may not have been able to get his claws into Joffrey but Tommen in young and malleable and it's plain to see Tywin plans to take full advantage of that.

Not only is he schooling Tommen immediately but he's doing so in front of the bier of his dead grandson, where Cersei is deep in grief. Lena Headey, who plays Cersei, was incredible in this scene - she never uttered a word but the expressions on her face as her Father belittles her first born son, telling Tommen that Joffrey wasn't a good king...he wasn't a well-liked king...had he been, he would have lasted longer...well, she was excellent. That's all there is to it.

And now to the scene that really upset me - Jaime asks that everyone leave Cersei alone with her son so she can grieve. Cersei breaks down, telling Jaime that she knows it was Tyrion that killed her son; that killed their son and begs Jaime to kill Tyrion. Jaime tries to tell her that there will be a trial and all will be solved but Cersei breaks down further and Jaime comforts her - the two begin to kiss but the minute Cersei feels the cold metal of Jaime's golden hand on her cheek, she jerks away from him. Jaime becomes enraged, tells Cersei she is a hateful woman and the Gods have cursed him to love a hateful woman...and then he proceeds to rape her. Which infuriated me for too many reasons to list here but most of all because the scene did NOT play out that way in the book and I just felt it was extremely unnecessary to make this scene more twisted than it already was by making it rape - there was just no good reason for that. It was also extremely out of character for both Jaime and Cersei and did the characters a disservice. I could write a whole post on why the decision to shoot this scene in such a way was wrong, but I'll just direct you to the third page of this article and move on.

Before things got completely out of hand....

Far away from Kings Landing, Arya and the Hound are still journeying through the Riverlands on their way to the Vale so the Hound can ransom Arya to her Aunt Lysa. The two happen upon a father and daughter and through quick-thinking on Arya's part, the two are offered a warm meal and a good place to sleep for the night - and while eating, they are further extended the offer to stay at the farm and help out; the farmer offers fair wages for fair work but makes his grand mistake by mentioning he has silver hidden away. Arya awakes the next morning to screams - the Hound has stabbed the father, stolen the silver and tells Arya to saddle up her horse because they're moving on. Arya doesn't understand why he had to kill the man but he quickly tells her that he simply understands the way the world works and wonders how many Starks will have to be killed before Arya accepts what he already knows.

Arya letting the Hound know what she really thinks of him....

The episode ends in Meereen with Dany and as always, Emilia Clarke never fails to disappoint - she has got the whole giving speeches in a made-up language down and she commands the entire scene; even if there weren't subtitles you'd be able to understand exactly the point she was trying to make. Meereen sends out a warrior to fight single combat and while the warrior belittles Daenerys and her army, she sets about selecting her champion and of course, Daario is the man for the job - never moving but throwing his blade, knocking the Meereenese champion off his horse and beheading him all in one fell swoop. Daenerys then makes an impassioned speech - not to the slave masters of Meereen but to the slaves themselves and then catapults the collars of all the slaves she has already freed over the walls and into Meereen. The look on the slaves faces as they realize they could have a life of freedom is the last shot we see before the screen fades to black on this episode and it certainly makes an impression.

Dany gets after it...go girl!

Elsewhere in the Episode...and in Westeros...

Margeary wonders if she's cursed since both of her husbands have died very shortly into their marriages. The lady Olenna tells her that as much as she'd have enjoyed being Queen, she would NOT have enjoyed being Joffrey's queen and the next "one" will be easier. Anyone want to guess who her next husband is? I know...

North of the Wall, the Thenns and the band of Wildings that include Ygritte storm a village and brutally murder all but one small boy, who they send towards the Wall to let the Brother of the Night's Watch know that they're coming for them.

At the Wall, Sam worries that Gilly might be in danger of being taken advantage of since there are 100 men sworn to celibacy and she's the only woman for miles. Gilly doesn't seem bothered by this and is just fine plucking chickens, taking care of her baby Sam and spending time with big Sam...but Sam decides to take her to Mole Town where she can cook and clean in the brothel...but makes sure to let the owner know that she is to only cook and clean...no other type of "work". Sam sees it as protecting Gilly but she only sees it as him deserting her.

Margaery contemplating her Black Widow curse...

On Dragonstone, Stannis laments that while he is afforded the perfect opportunity to seize control of Westeros in the wake of Joffrey's death, he doesn't have enough men to "raid a pantry" and so he cannot seize his moment; he is not content to become a page in someone else's history book. Davos suggests they hire the Golden Company - an army of sellswords that never break a contract. Stannis isn't hesitant to use blood magic to win the throne but buying an army gives him pause. Later, while having a reading lesson with Shireen (seriously - she is the sweetest thing and when they clap as Davos reads a title correctly, it is all the more delightful) he concocts a plan to draft a little letter to the Iron Bank of Braavos...

Once more at the Wall, the young boy arrives to deliver his message about the approaching army of Wildlings and surprisingly, Jon Snow agrees with Allister Thorne in an effort to strengthen and align the Brothers of the Night's Watch - he's slowly stepping into the place of a leader and that arc will play off sooner rather than later.

Tywin seeks out Oberyn Martell in...where else, a brothel...I'm fairly certain he and his paramour Ellaria have just made camp in the brothel of Kings Landing. While initially questioning Oberyn about his grandson's death, he doesn't truly think he's responsible and the two move from trading barbs to strengthening their alliance. Tywin asks Oberyn to serve as a judge on Tyrion's trial and in exchange, he'll give him the head of the Mountain - a recompense for the brutality committed against his sister years earlier. Tywin is also strengthening his granddaughter Myrcella's position - she is suddenly closer to the throne now that Joffrey is dead and Tommen is poised to take the throne.

Last but certainly not least...Tyrion is chained in the dungeon's of the Red Keep and his only visitor is his squire, Podrick. Podrick has been sent to see if he can name anyone to speak as a witness for him at his trial, but everyone he names is either already testifying for Cersei or has vanished...including his wife, Sansa. Podrick tells him he was offered a title if he'd testify against Tyrion but he told them no. Tyrion tells Podrick he will not have him die for him; he tells Podrick to send Jaime to see him and then get out of Kings Landing as quickly as possible. The scene is heart-breaking and it's extremely touching to see how dedicated Podrick is to Tyrion.

Oh Podrick...you make me sad. Bless you...

And so that's it for this episode. I'm still disgruntled about the decision the writers took in regards to the scene with Jaime and Cersei...I certainly hope that they manage to at least make what happened make sense; but I'm not sure how that will work. So, until next week.....here endeth the recap.