This has been an amazing season and hands down the best. I have been really excited about what they have done with the material so far, and Season 4 is just too far away!
Since I did not do recaps of 3.07 & 3.08, I just merged parts of them to complete the stories in 3.10. So there will be a Part II, and finally a conclusion with predictions.
Introduction
As I had mentioned in my 3.09 posting, I was underwhelmed by last week's version of the Red Wedding. I am still upset at the brutality of Talisa's death as it overshadowed that of Robb and Cat. It bears repeating that 3.09 should have faded to black, and the shock of Robb & Cat's death, should have been the first thing on my mind. But I was still horrified by the manner in which Talisa, a pregnant woman was murdered, and she was a replacement for a book character.
I will preface this by saying that I am not some hard core feminist, but if the below is true, I find it offensive and unnecessary. I do not see any sexy guys taking their shirts off, who are non book characters and dying a miserable, brutal death, do you?
That being said, I need to reiterate a statement that I had made about the character of Roz, and the manner in which she was murdered. It was my hope that the writers did not create her character, and waste valuable screen time, so she could be used as a reminder of the sexual proclivities of King Sociopath. But by developing another "fake character" like Talisa, it proves that I may be correct in this assumption. The writers wrote this character solely for the purpose of using her death, as a way to increase the shock value that they felt was needed for the Red Wedding.
The use of Talisa, rather than Jeyne Westerling was a decision, that did nothing but turn Robb Stark into a man that Roose Bolton and Lord Frey referred to as "arrogant" and "pompous" for styling himself as the "young wolf" and "King of the North". It is an extreme comparison, but it made him seem comparable to the likes of Joffrey, (without the fact he is a product of incest, and a sociopath w/Mad King qualities) who styles himself as King by right, but does absolutely nothing, and should be obeyed w/out question.
Although he was not a POV, Robb was his father's son, and it was why Jeyne Westerling was so important. But the writers created Talisa, who not only made Robb look like an arrogant young King, but it destroyed his character. Remember that calling Robb his "father's son" is a big deal. We all know what happened to Ned, who refused to compromise his honor; he lost his head. As I had said in my 3.09 post, Robb made a conscience choice to marry Talisa, and the adjectives used to describe him in this episode, might well have been the perception of his advisors and soldiers.
Roose Bolton & Lord Frey
The opening scene of this episode, was exactly what the RW was about: destroying Robb's army, and the North. The full scale of it as seen by Roose Bolton:
 |
| Roose "Traiterous Ass" Bolton watching his handiwork from the ramparts |
 |
| Yeah, well I'm Warden of the North, and you are too stupid to realize that losing the Blackfish, is kind of a big deal. |
Who, btw is torturing Theon, eating sausage and joking w/Theon that it is his favorite "toy". Obviously he's just eating some blood sausage, we learn how Theon, became Reek.
The Greyjoys
As usual Balon is a loving father, although he does seem a bit rattled by the "get out of the North" letter from Ramsey, and the BOX. Asha is horrified and Balon goes back to being an a-hole, and says, well that's that! He disobeyed a direct order, I have no more sons, and he cannot give my an heir.
Moving on, Asha, says she has made up her mind, and she does not care that he disobeyed their father, but he is his son, her baby brother, and a GREYJOY. Unfortunately, it looks like Asha will not be following a path towards attempting to be Queen in the show, which is a little disappointing. I just hope that they keep Victarion and Euron (both brothers of Balon, and who have travelled, just as Asha has, way and beyond the Narrow Sea). Now, many have a problem with this desire to save her brother, as she most certainly did not last season. However, she warned Theon about remaining at Winterfell, informed him that their father had ordered him home, and his home was not in the North.
In my eyes, I finally saw the badass Asha Greyjoy, who became one of my favorite female characters in the series, has finally appeared. I love this scene of her walking past all of those dangerous men, as we hear her say:
"And I've made mine (her decision). I'm going to pick the fastest ship in our fleet and I'm going to pick the 50 best killers on the Iron Islands. I'm gong to sail up the Narrow Sea all the way to the Weeping Water and I'm going to march on the Dreadfort, and I'm going to bring him home"
This is a departure from the books, but I loved it.
Now to one final dedication: Arya Stark
I assume by now you have seen a bit of a bias in my dedications, go Arya!
When I saw our girl wake up, and see her brother's body w/his wolf's head "sewed" onto it, as the Frey's mockingly yelled "King of the North", I felt the shock and disgust that I should have felt last week. I did not think that they would go there, but they did, and I actually put my hands over my eyes, and had a few tears. The way she just collapsed into the Hound after this and then realizing that she has also lost her mother, has turned out girl into a cold blooded killer.
 |
Arya breaking into pieces and becoming...... |
I will miss "chatty kathy" Arya, and I already miss the Arya/Gendry show, but it is time for our little sociopath to bloom. Book Arya bloomed long ago, and had been slicing and dicing since Harrenal, so the show took a slower approach. However, Maisie Williams brought it, as when she approached the Frey posse, with that creepy voice and dead look in her eyes, we saw an entirely new Arya.
Remember the old days when Jaqen was recruiting her to the Faceless Men? It looks like she has made a decision, and it is a big "YES".
Jaqen to Arya on what she can achieve as a Faceless Man:
"To be a Dancing Master is a special thing. But to be a Faceless Man, that is something else entirely. The girl has many names on her lips: Joffrey, Cersei, Tywin Lannister, Ilyn Payne, The Hound. Names to offer up to the Red God. She could offer them all, one by one." (2.10)
 |
| Sexy Jaquen H'gar telling Arya what she can do as a Faceless Man |
Speaking of Mel, let's go to Dragonstone, and see what crazy crap is coming out of her mouth these days.
Dragonstone
Stannis
I had wanted to discuss Stannis before finishing his section of the season. Admittedly, and not just because he's gotten all sexy on us, he has become one of my favorite characters. Stannis is not a POV in the book, yet he is still a man who believes in loyal/traitor, right/wrong, and is nothing like his brothers. Having fun, and getting drunk in the brothels was not his thing. However sleeping w/a black magic psycho was fine, as she could help him get his crown.
Stannis is an honorable man, but he has a very, very strict code. It is unbending, and if you betray him, there is nothing that will save you, EVEN if you are Ser Davos. He refused to play the game by leaving Kings Landing in the early days of Robert's reign. If you betray him, you are a traitor, and you will die for it. A great example (besides Ser Davos), is how he, as most men did, had great respect for Ned. However, it did not keep him from wanting Robb dead, because he was trying to take his kingdom away.
But I always believed that he was using Mel, as a marketing tool to differentiate himself from the other "usurpers". In the book, she did things without his knowledge, such as using him, w/black magic, to kill Renly. If I remember correctly, he did not greenlight a shadow baby to kill his brother, but he did have a dream, that he killed his brother, and he was horrified. I can't remember if he connected the dots, but it was pretty creepy that she somehow took his soul or shadow, and used magic to make it kill Renly. Afterall, Book Brienne and Cat, really saw a shadow that looked like Stannis. It was very shady, and indicated that she was using him in a scary way, for her agenda.
After Blackwater, the idea to march on the wall, did have something to do w/Mel, but the main reason was that this was how he was going to save the realm. Winter is coming, "the darkness is coming for everyone and everyhing", and he knows that the Wall, is where he will need to be.
We saw in season 2.0 that Stannis has enormous respect for Ser Davos, because he tells it like it is, could give a crap what the other Lords think of him, and in the show his conscience. I had discussed how Stannis (see Part II 3.05 & 3.06) was very humbled by his behavior, after Mel left town. When she left, his head cleared, he knew that he had dishonored his wife, and betrayed his friend. The most important part of this realization is that Stannis does not believe in the Red God, but, he believes that this god is the only weapon in his arsenal that will enable him to regain his kingdom. He has seen proof of this god's power, or he probably would have killed Mel in 2.10, if he had not seen said proof.
The desire to become King made him make that suicidal run on Kings Landing, as his ships were burning in wildfire. Remember last season when he was going all bad ass on the ramparts of Kings Landing, and he literally had to be dragged away screaming 'Nooooo!", or he would have been killed. I was actually kind of shocked how well he used that sword, it reminded me of Jon Snow, as he is quick and badass w/a sword as well.
My point is that Stannis is a man, like Davos, where there are no games being played. Although there was a point in this episode when he looked like he was in trance, after Mel was giving her load a crap about why Robb Stark is dead, to Davos. But take note people, he is no longer under her spell.
Let's begin!
I had to merge Davos from 3.08-3.10, as it just made more sense to do so.
3.08 Davos
Many people found the Davos chapters boring, and I admit that I breezed through them second time around, but he has really come to life on screen. Liam Cunningham has made me think about the character in a whole new light, and I really like it.
I have seen Liam Cunningham as an insane sociopath on StrikeBack, as the leader of a "new earth" scifi show "Outcasts", and a powerful black magic warrior/sorceror on Merlin, amongst other great performances . He is a fantastic actor, and he has really fleshed out Davos in a way, that I am starting to see him as the "bad boy" version of Ned.
We know that Davos has grown up poor, and Stannis asks him how he has been treated, and in Davos' eyes, it has not been that bad. In fact in the book, he is really surprised as to why he is being fed so well, as he was getting stronger, not weaker. Davos has no secrets, he tells it like it is, damn the consequences.
When Stannis goes to free Davos from the dungeons, he has already met with Melisandre and seen the product of his brother's lack of honor and self control. These are two things that disgust him, and make him angrier that he never received the credit, which he should have received after the war, for holding holding down Storm's End. It is an event that is mentioned by him in Season 2, because he held out to the end, and Davos saved them w/his onions. It was also mentioned by Lady Olenna this season, about how her son just hung out outside Storm's End, eating and living the good life, while Stannis was eating rats and horses, because he refused to give up Storm's End.
As I had said in Part II of the 3.05 & 3.06 recap, Stannis was struggling with his decisions at the behest of Mel. This is why I am loving HBO Stannis, because we see him making an attempt to find some kind of reason in the blood magic madness, by visiting Davos. Before he gets to the point, he says, what he should have said earlier, that he was sorry about his son, as he was a good, loyal boy.
I really liked what he says to Ser Davos in his cell, before he frees him:
"I never asked for this, no more than I asked to be King. We do not choose our destiny, but we must do our duty, no? Great or small we must do our duty. What is one bastard boy against a kingdom?"
For me, it defines that Stannis is a man who fights for his kingdom by right, not necessarily because it is something that he wants to do. Since this is true, he will do anything to get it, and that includes using Mel and her black magic madness.
Stannis says that he is there to free him, ONLY if he promises not to raise a hand against the Red Woman. I find it interesting how he calls her the "Red Woman", and not by her first name, when he is in the presence of those he knows that he has wronged.
Davos: "that won't keep me from saying how I feel about her, and oh, btw, you're right! I don't have much regard for my own life, so I have no problem getting real." Stannis adds that his bastard nephew has been brought to Dragonstone, and he will be sacrificed for the cause.
Davos: " Okay, but we know why you're really down here, right? You are not comfortable with killing an innocent in the name of HER god. Oh and BTW, murder and sacrifice are the same thing."
Davos: "Fine, I saw her birth that black magic shadow baby, but Renly might have been your brother (guilt trip), but he was a traitor, (I am unflinching in my loyalty TO YOU). This boy is your nephew, an innocent, and you want me to tell you that it is wrong to burn him at the behest of the Red Woman."
 |
| "I have seen the battle in the snow, with my own eyes. You have seen what she can do, how can I deny the power of this god, when there is PROOF of his work?" |
Mel is giving Davos, who is now Hand of the King, the evil eye, because she knows that he is the one, who convinced Stannis not to burn Gendry. Stannis put the three leeches into the fire and names the three traitors "Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy, and Joffrey Baratheon". As a book reader you know that, and we have seen, that this is actually the order in which these three men die. The only one who dies under "mysterious" circumstances is Balon, who falls off this scary rope ladder between the castles, which he has walked across since he was a boy. Asha hears that there was a giant wave that took him, but I think someone else had a part in his death. But that my friends is for season 4!
3.10 Davos
In this episode, we find Davos in the dungeon visiting with Gendry who is angry, and a little depressed, but not despondent! Gendry knows that he is a victim of a game that he does not understand. Gendry calls BS on Davos that he is low born. Davos tells him the story of how he had grown up in Kings Landing, at the base of High Born privy pipes. He helped Stannis out of a difficult situation once, and he made him a Lord. He also shows how he cut off his fingertips, but offers no explanation. (unless its common knowledge that when caught, a smuggler gets him fingertips cut off).
Gendry has ended up where he began, and feels like a fool for falling so easily into Melisandre's black magic sex trap. Davos actually asks him why he fell for Mel's crap, and he says that she was naked, he never had sex before, what would he have done? Well, Davos can't deny that, as he is a man afterall, and when Mel got naked, she knew that he was turned on; well until she birthed the shadow baby.
Davos tells Gendry that he did not want to be a Lord, but he did it for his son. It was really sad that when Gendry asks about his son, Davos says he is dead. The most interesting part of this conversation is that when Gendry asks how he died, Davos says "Following me". aka, LOYALTY.
It reminded me of a conversation that Arya had with King Tywin last season at Harrenhal. Remember when he asked her how her father died, she said "LOYALTY". This is the exact same response that Davos gives Gendry, although with different words and context. Well done, writers, well done.
Stannis & Melisandre
Davos is practicing reading with Shireen and reading the letters from the ravens. He has become quite good actually, or has learned enough to figure out what the letters are saying. He says that it is part of his job to go through this stuff, and then he finds the letter from the NW. But suddenly we hear the bells ringing, and he tells Shireen to lock herself in the room.
 |
| mmmm, I'm going to keep this news in my back pocket |
 |
| "The usurper Robb Stark is dead, betrayed by his banner men" |
Then we have a little history lesson, courtesy of Stannis, about how Aegon conquered Westeros with his three dragons (notice he says three) and magic. Stannis also mentions that the usurpers have made his kingdom bleed, and he will never forgive them for such a sin. He "will punish them with any arms at his disposal", ie. burning Gendry. Stannis is a practical man after all, and he has proof that her magic works right? But Davos does not let it go, and says that he knows that Stannis is a good man, blood magic is evil, and the world has gone to crap. Oh, and that doesn't mean we have to use evil in order to win.
Naturally Mel says "A great gift, requires great sacrifice" as she strolls over to Stannis. What I really loved about this scene? Is that when Mel walks over to Stannis and says "My King.." and touches his shoulder and chest, which is a power move, he turns away from her to the look out at the sea. I love how "My King.." is used by Mel as a tool to manipulate Stannis. Well, it looks like Mel might have R'hllor on her side, but Stannis only needs her to look into her fires, have "suggestions", and get results. Such as these:
 |
| Devil or Angel? I've made my choice. Oh, and Mel? ''My King.." doesn't work anymore |
Davos: " Everything".
Stannis: "The boy must die".
And Davos goes down to the dungeons and sets Gendry free. When Gendry asks why, Davos says "because it's right, and I'm a slow learner".
Who does this remind us of? Ned! Our Ned, who refused to learn, and wanted things to be done, because it is right, and did not even consider that he would be betrayed. Davos knows better, and he knows that he will most likely die for setting him free. But he said screw it In fact, he even tells Stannis " I feel good! Yes, your most loyal servant (and you know this) feels good about disobeying my King, and letting Gendry go". Then we hear some blah, blah, blah, from Mel about how he has destroyed "the lives of tens of thousands", and she sounds INSANE, and I love it. Stannis is the ends justify the means type of guy, and is outraged.
Davos simply says " there are other ways of winning, and I can't see the future or read the fires, but there must be another way". Stannis sentences him to death for destroying his ONLY other way to win the war, and betraying his King, as Mel looks on w/glee.
Suddenly, Davos, reveals that he is now a player in the game, as he is dragged away. He whips out the letter from the NW, and says "you can't stop it alone, you'll need me to convince this Lord and that Lord, and bring sellswords and pirates together.". As he holds out the letter, Stannis says, in his "I feel bad now" voice, "when did you learn to read?", Davos lies and says that his son taught him, so that he could be of better service (see I am very LOYAL, no games attached, which is true, and why Stannis is feeling a smidge guilty) to him.
 |
| I know you are a good man, but a traitor is a traitor! |
See Ser Davos? You are saved by that fire god you like to mock so much. You're in his army now."
Mel just looks at Davos and Davos right back at Mel:
 |
| Great, now I have to keep my mouth shut; that Red Witch just saved my life. |
We'll visit our other characters in Part II!
All images and quotes are owned by HBO, "Game of Thrones" 3.08-3.10
No comments:
Post a Comment