Tommen is crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms. Cersei builds her case against Tyrion. Sansa and Lord Baelish arrive at the Eyrie. The Night's Watch attacks Craster's Keep.Tommen is crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms. Cersei builds her case against Tyrion. Sansa and Lord Baelish arrive at the Eyrie. The Night's Watch attacks Craster's Keep.Tommen is crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms. Cersei builds her case against Tyrion. Sansa and Lord Baelish arrive at the Eyrie. The Night's Watch attacks Craster's Keep.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is the first time that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau receives top billing. However, he is only seen in passing and has no speaking lines.
- GoofsIn the fight scene of Karl and Jon, Karl spits heavily at Jon's face. In next scene, there is no trace of spit.
- Quotes
[the Hound wakes up to find that Arya has disappeared. He finds her by a river, practicing her "water dancing"]
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: The hell you doing?
Arya Stark: Practicing.
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: What, ways to die?
Arya Stark: No one's gonna kill me.
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: They will if you dance around like that. That's no way to fight.
Arya Stark: It's not fighting, it's water dancing.
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: [laughs] "Dancing"? Maybe you ought to put on a dress. Who taught you that shite?
Arya Stark: The greatest swordsman who ever lived: Syrio Forel, the First Sword to the Sealord of Braavos.
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: [scoffs] Braavos. Greasy-haired little bastard, was he? They all are.
Arya Stark: [angrily] What do you know about anything?
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: I bet his hair's greasier than Joffrey's cunt.
Arya Stark: It was not!
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: "Was"? He dead?
Arya Stark: Yes!
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: How?
Arya Stark: He was killed!
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: Who by?
Arya Stark: Meryn Trant! That's why Ser Meryn's on my...
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: [incredulously] Meryn Trant? The greatest swordsman who ever lived, killed by Meryn fucking Trant?
Arya Stark: He was outnumbered!
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: Any boy whore with a sword could beat three Meryn Trants.
Arya Stark: Syrio didn't HAVE a sword! OR armor, just a stick!
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: [sarcastically] The greatest swordsman who ever lived didn't have a sword?
[the Hound laughs]
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: All right, you have a sword. Let's see what he taught you. Go on, do it for your Braavosi friend. Dead like all the rest of your friends.
[Arya lunges at the Hound's chest with her sword, but it lodges in his armor. He backhands her across the face, knocking her to the ground, then picks up her sword and points it at her throat]
Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane: Your friend's dead, and Meryn Trant's not, 'cause Trant had armor. And a big fucking sword.
[the Hound raises Arya's sword, looks at it for a moment, then hands it back to her]
- ConnectionsReferenced in Game of Thrones: Beyond the Wall (2017)
"First of His Name" is another great episode for Season 4, which has been consistently strong with the incredible "The Lion and the Rose" (a 'Game of Thrones' highlight) coming off best. Am aware of the dislike for the previous 'Game of Thrones' episode "Oathkeeper", mainly for the significant deviations from the source material, personally don't share it.
My only real complaint for "First of His Name" is the really corny Jon and Karl fight scene, which comes off more unintentionally silly than tense.
What "First of His Name" does brilliantly though is looking back on past events and providing the answers that were very much needed for some time. Yet it also still sets us up too for future events in succeeding episodes. It is not a fast-paced episode and is exposition-heavy, but it was an episode with so much content that it did not need a fast pace and needed the time for the events to unfold. The exposition too is interesting, providing answers to long-probing questions and moving things forward and preparing one for what is to follow.
All the cast are superb yet again, especially Aidan Gillen's Littlefinger and Lena Headey as Cersei (am really liking that Cersei has been more interesting this season than before in previous seasons). The writing for Littlefinger and the female roles here (especially for Cersei and Sansa) is pretty exceptional.
Visually, "First of His Name" looks amazing. The scenery is throughout spectacular, the sets are hugely atmospheric and beautiful on the eyes with a real meticulous eye for detail and the costumes suit the characters to a tee. The make-up is beautifully done. The visual effects are some of the best of any television programme and are not overused or abused, the scale, the detail and how they actually have character and soul are better than those in a lot of the big-budget blockbusters. As well the cinematography and editing, which are cinematic quality as well.
One cannot talk about "First of His Name" without mentioning the thematically, orchestrally and atmospherically multi-layered music scoring and the unforgettable main theme. Again, worthy of a high-budget fantasy/action/drama film.
It is hard not to be bowled over by the quality of the writing, outstanding isn't a strong enough adjective to describe how good the writing is once again. It always has a natural flow, is layered and thought-provoking and demonstrates a wide range of emotions such as suspenseful tension, poignant pathos and witty humour. The story is paced beautifully, structured with such nuance and attention to coherence, a high emotional level and is done with intelligence, passion and sensitivity.
Overall, great episode yet again. 9/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jan 31, 2018
Details
- Runtime53 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1