A copper viper entwines itself around an upright spear as the intro takes us to yet another new location within Planetos, Dorne, which we saw a little of the royal palace in Sunspear last week. But it's Jorah's sneaky nigh-time robbery of a fishing boat which we open to. He's never been the most moral knight in Westeros having resorting to slavery to please his old wife, and now it seems he will do anything in order to get back to his Dragon Queen, his new love. Also sneaking around in the night-time are Jaime and Bronn, who's partnership has gone beyond secret sword-fighting lessons to secret search and rescue missions into the one kingdom that Aegon the Conqueror never conquered. They stand proudly next to their words; Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. The 3 Sand Snakes stand with Ellaria Sand as they plot their revenge for the Red Viper's death. They are the living evidence of Oberyn's widespread travels and affairs. Which is why it puzzles me to see them pretty much assume the standard Dornish attire and appearance. The accents all sound the same. For once GOT sways into the realm of cosplay.
Which brings us to two pivotal Lannister characters which I feel are going wayward with their characterisation. Jaime expresses contempt at Tyrion's act of kin slaying but although Jaime has always respected and admired his father for his feats and standing there was not much love there. He so easily refused to be heir to Casterly Rock and even smiled at being disowned from the family following that argument, and later was very quick to reinstate this claim in order to save Tyrion's life. It's a sudden turnaround of these loyalties; as shown by the camaraderie between the brothers in the various prison exchanges last season.
Elsewhere Cersei has suddenly given the new High Septon (Sparrow) the authority to rearm the Faith Militant and effectively grow their own personal army. Where is this sudden goodwill and trust coming from? Cersei has shown varying degrees of idiocy and intelligence over the seasons but above all else she cares about herself and her family. If she wants to lead the faith to weed out Loras Tyrell as a sinner surely there is no need to allow them to create their own personalised military to run amok in King's Landing? Because as Jonathan Pryce has shown this new leader needs no bribery and is not swayed by the worldly riches of food, wealth and sex. And what is the objective of Cersei in locking up Loras? Surely as the sole heir to Highgarden she'd want to be wed to him after losing her power as Queen Regent. It's overall a horrible decision by Cersei, but it's the fact that it is uncharacteristic of her to make it without a very strong or evident motivation. The calm demeanour of Lena Headey's acting is therefore jarring to what her actions actually bring about.
What follows is a nice scene which demonstrates a few things. One, the battle inside Selyse Florent's mind between the Lord of Light's service and the love of her family. She's already shown this before when questioning Melisandre about the use of love potions with Stannis. Next, we see Sam's resourcefulness as he sends pleas of help to all of the North for men and supplies in wake of the devastating effects of the assault on Castle Black. Finally we still see a hint of Jon's upbringing as he hesitates at the sight of Roose Bolton's name. Even if he refused Stannis' offer of legitimising him his Stark blood still boils in his veins. Jon Snow knows some things like love and loyalty, even if he has no idea where the heart is.
It's been a long time coming but finally we see the legendary Ser Barristan Selmy in action. From Jaime Lannister to Ned Stark we've heard praises of his fighting prowess but perhaps his age has caught up with him. The menacing masks of the Sons of Harpy are a frightening sight in themselves but does not say much about their combat ability, holding small daggers in their hands as they prance Catwoman like in the chambers of Meereen, fighting as if their controllers are stuck and they can only aim at the throat. For Barristan perhaps a weary body and lack of armour excuses him from winning an outnumbered battle but for the hardened Unsullied warriors it is a disappointing outcome. If any of the nameless warriors showed even half of Grey Worm's ability they wouldn't fall so easily to unarmoured slavers wielding daggers. But for the sake of a cliff-hanger ending their years and years of combat training and unrivalled discipline seemingly disappears along with their advertised tolerance against pain. How hard is it to slip in a line mentioning the lack of Wine of Courage? For the sake of Dany I hope both of them survive.
Which brings us to two pivotal Lannister characters which I feel are going wayward with their characterisation. Jaime expresses contempt at Tyrion's act of kin slaying but although Jaime has always respected and admired his father for his feats and standing there was not much love there. He so easily refused to be heir to Casterly Rock and even smiled at being disowned from the family following that argument, and later was very quick to reinstate this claim in order to save Tyrion's life. It's a sudden turnaround of these loyalties; as shown by the camaraderie between the brothers in the various prison exchanges last season.
Elsewhere Cersei has suddenly given the new High Septon (Sparrow) the authority to rearm the Faith Militant and effectively grow their own personal army. Where is this sudden goodwill and trust coming from? Cersei has shown varying degrees of idiocy and intelligence over the seasons but above all else she cares about herself and her family. If she wants to lead the faith to weed out Loras Tyrell as a sinner surely there is no need to allow them to create their own personalised military to run amok in King's Landing? Because as Jonathan Pryce has shown this new leader needs no bribery and is not swayed by the worldly riches of food, wealth and sex. And what is the objective of Cersei in locking up Loras? Surely as the sole heir to Highgarden she'd want to be wed to him after losing her power as Queen Regent. It's overall a horrible decision by Cersei, but it's the fact that it is uncharacteristic of her to make it without a very strong or evident motivation. The calm demeanour of Lena Headey's acting is therefore jarring to what her actions actually bring about.
What follows is a nice scene which demonstrates a few things. One, the battle inside Selyse Florent's mind between the Lord of Light's service and the love of her family. She's already shown this before when questioning Melisandre about the use of love potions with Stannis. Next, we see Sam's resourcefulness as he sends pleas of help to all of the North for men and supplies in wake of the devastating effects of the assault on Castle Black. Finally we still see a hint of Jon's upbringing as he hesitates at the sight of Roose Bolton's name. Even if he refused Stannis' offer of legitimising him his Stark blood still boils in his veins. Jon Snow knows some things like love and loyalty, even if he has no idea where the heart is.
It's been a long time coming but finally we see the legendary Ser Barristan Selmy in action. From Jaime Lannister to Ned Stark we've heard praises of his fighting prowess but perhaps his age has caught up with him. The menacing masks of the Sons of Harpy are a frightening sight in themselves but does not say much about their combat ability, holding small daggers in their hands as they prance Catwoman like in the chambers of Meereen, fighting as if their controllers are stuck and they can only aim at the throat. For Barristan perhaps a weary body and lack of armour excuses him from winning an outnumbered battle but for the hardened Unsullied warriors it is a disappointing outcome. If any of the nameless warriors showed even half of Grey Worm's ability they wouldn't fall so easily to unarmoured slavers wielding daggers. But for the sake of a cliff-hanger ending their years and years of combat training and unrivalled discipline seemingly disappears along with their advertised tolerance against pain. How hard is it to slip in a line mentioning the lack of Wine of Courage? For the sake of Dany I hope both of them survive.