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Scottdbentley
Reviews
Game of Thrones: The Laws of Gods and Men (2014)
Outstanding performances; outstanding episode.
"The Laws of Gods and Men" is one of Game of Thrones' finest moments, further advancing four story lines, it feels that every minute was well- used, this episode.
We open with a fantastic view of Bravos, and an always unimpressed Stannis. It's excellent to finally see his story progress, having seemingly spent a lot of time licking his wounds on Dragonstone. An excellent performance from Liam Cunningham (Davos) allows Stannis to successfully win some money, which leaves me eagerly awaiting the next step in their storyline, in rebuilding his army and claiming his throne again.
Next, in a perhaps anti-climactic scene we see Yara attempt to rescue her brother, but we see how deep the scars run in Theon, when he denies that he wants to be rescued, and wants to remain with Ramsay as "Reek". It was a good moment of action in this otherwise story-driven episode, and the scene where Ramsay bathes Reek is their best performance yet. Ramsay creepily and sadistically admires the "work" he has done on Theon's body, and the acting is so well done in this scene, that we see how a relationship has developed between the pair. Whether this is genuine, or a charade born of Theon's fear of Ramsay we don't know, but it shows the effect the abuse has had on 'Reek'; especially when he is asked to pretend that he is someone else for Ramsay's task - Theon Greyjoy, a now distant, forgotten personality.
At last, we get so see Daenerys be a Queen. And it was not all she thought, having to sit through endless supplicants, she realizes that having a throne was not all she thought it would be. The small council in King's Landing however awards her threat (Unsullied and Dragons) the same complacency given to the White Walker threat in the north, that it cannot harm them because it is so far away.
The best moment of this episode came from Tyrion's trial, for the murder of King Joffrey. The performances from everyone are fantastic as always, in this scene that keeps very true to the books. We see how once (slightly) trustworthy characters, even Shae, are manipulated by Cersei to alter the truth and use it against Tyrion in their testimonies, which erupts in one of Dinklage's greatest performances yet, and one of his character's greatest speeches, in which he rightfully condemns all of those around him, and confesses only to the crime of being a dwarf, before demanding trial by combat, leaving us wanting more.
An overall exciting, plot driven episode, with the usual excellent performances from the cast. One of the best episodes of the show so far, perhaps only beaten this series by "The Lion and the Rose".
Game of Thrones: First of His Name (2014)
Answers, finally!
*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*
'First of His Name' is another fantastic installment of Game of Thrones, now marking the midpoint of this excellent series. This episode finally gives us some answers, action, and scenes with sharply written dialogue from some of our favorite odd couples. The show once again manages to make a strong episode even lacking some of the best cast members (eg. Tyrion,Jaime).
We pick up on Tommen's coronation which sees Tywin consolidate his power over the realm, Cersei and Margaery realize that they have their Queenly ambitions in common. We see a more relatable side to Cersei this week, as her excellently scripted conversations with Oberyn and Margaery reveal a loving mother "just looking out for her children" side to her, a far more pleasant side to the Queen of Madness that we are used to, even though she does appear to admit her uncertainty of Tyrion's guilt, but want him gone anyway. Some hatreds die hard.
The scenes with Arya and the Hound provide sharp quotable dialogue as always, still an enjoyable pairing to watch, but at this point it would be welcome to see their story advance, without wanting to slip into Lord of the rings style scenes of endless walking.
Some less notable appearances this week go to Danaerys and Brienne. Brienne's scene gives us a little bit of character development for Pod, an always likable character, but not much more. Danaerys' scene this week just seems like stalling her storyline so that they can keep her in Essos until she is needed in Westeros, but the trailer for episode 6 appears to suggest that her storyline may be advancing quicker than we think (we shall have to wait and see).
It was very much appreciated this week to get some uninterrupted action, in a fantastic scene beyond the wall. We see the problem of Locke (sent by Roose to capture/kill Bran Stark) solved, by none other than Hodor, and a brilliant fight scene between the Night's Watch and its deserters, finally meaning that we can advance the Wall storyline to the Wildling threat once again. The fight between Jon and Karl starts off impressive and we fear for Jon's life given the rate Game of Thrones has for executing characters. But herein lies my only problem with the episode (why I gave it 9 stars), because Jon is saved by the "last second" cliché. Literally, the threat from Karl was too good, so one of Kraster's wives had to kill Karl in the very last second to save Jon Snow. Game of Thrones has always been unique in its realistic yet random killing off of main characters where nothing is expected. The last minute save kind of ruins this, and I hope they don't do it again. I'm not saying I wanted Jon to die, just to survive in a different way.
The best moments of the episode for me came in the Eyrie scenes with Littlefinger, Sansa, Lysa and Robin. We got answers finally! Who killed Jon Arryn? Lysa Arryn, she admits to Littlefinger, at the command of Littlefinger himself. This means that Littlefinger has been playing his own game and that most of the events at the beginning of the story, and perhaps many of them after it, have been his plan all along. Where does his plan end? What does he want? One answer only leads to more questions, and we will have to wait to find out.
Overall fantastic episode, with one clichéd flaw. But still entirely enjoyable with strong acting and dialogue as always.
9.5/10
Game of Thrones: The Lion and the Rose (2014)
The moment we've all been waiting for, but that none of us expected.
Unexpected unless you've read the books of course - wow! What a fantastic episode. It was great to see the return of all the other characters still alive this series who we didn't see last time, including Ramsay and Reek, who is now a hollow mindless shell of a man, the brief return of Stannis' people, and the interesting appearance from Bran's crew.
The highlight of this episode came with the shock at the end, but first...
The scene with the boy formerly known as Theon was interesting. Whilst the Roose may not have been Loose, his son certainly was, revealing more torture had been inflicted on Theon away from the cameras, and he was not a hollow shell, a mindless servant of Ramsay, as shown when he continues to obey even after it is revealed that Robb Stark is dead. (I don't even want to know what else Ramsay did to him to achieve that).
We also saw the farewell of Shae, who had been hanging around for a bit too long, considering Tyrion is now a married man, and his story will now be heading in a very different direction.
The brief appearances from Bran's group and Stannis' group were interesting, although it would be nice to get an idea of where there stories are headed.
We missed Khaleesi this episode, and her dragons, but that seems now like a good idea, as the slow-paced nature of her storyline would detract from the highlight of this episode, the royal wedding...
Everything seemed to be quite normal, the guests had happy (forced) faces, and Joffrey was being cruel as usual, until he takes one fateful sip of wine, and chokes to death. We'd all been waiting for this moment since we'd seen Jack Gleeson's fantastic portrayal of the arrogant boy- king for the first time, but in usual Game of Thrones style, excellently scripted by George RR Martin himself, we did not see it coming. Another shocking death, perhaps the most shocking to date, pulled right out of the blue.
Well done to the writers and the actors for a fantastic episode and a fantastic performance. I can't say I'll miss Joffrey, but I will miss Tyrion having freedom - oh yes, he got the blame for it and was taken to prison, leaving the question, if only Sansa, Joffrey and Tyrion touched the goblet, then who (if any of them) killed the King?