Monday, May 13, 2013

Game of Thrones “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” recap



*Spoilers*

Let’s get the obvious standoff from last night’s Game of Thrones out of the way, Bri v. Bear. Locke, in his eternal dickishness, gives the lady a wooden sword for the battle and leads the rest of Bolton’s men in rooting on the beast. King Slayer jumps into the pit and the man responsible for his safe transport starts putting arrows into the bear, accomplishing little more than pissing the bear off. Jaime boosts Bri out of the hole and she pulls him out, much to the chagrin of the cheering soldiers. Looks like he’s trying to even out that lives saved versus lives taken number the shady doc asked him about. Locke tries to taunt and intimidate Jaime, but now Jaime knows he’s untouchable and they leave Harrenhal in the rearview. The fact that no one was pushed over the wall into the bear arena was disappointing to me. Someone should’ve gotten nudged over and been made into bear brunch, dammit.

While Bri was staring down the bear, Bronn was tossing barbs toward Tyrion. He can have Sansa and Shae, according to his bodyguard. The folks at Winterfell might not like it, but what’s that matter? It’s worse if they do, because then he’d just end up as the most popular dead man in town. Tyrion feels sorry for Sansa, although she’s a foot taller than he is and does not feel one bit guilty about it. In fact, she’s more worried about the impending dwarf baby the two could eventually conceive. Margaery knows a good lover when she sees one, though, and has heard of the little fella’s bedroom prowess. Sansa is a lucky girl.

Joffrey and Tywin’s discussion wasn’t as happy-go-lucky as the one had between Bronn and Tyrion. Joffrey airs some grievances about where the council is meeting and demands more consultation. He tries to be forceful, but when gramps walks slowly and methodically up the stairs to the throne, Joffrey lowers his eyes and his voice. If he’s curious about the council’s business, he can walk his ass up the tower of the hand. Unfortunately, his dragon and council curiosities weren’t met with a bitch slap from Tywin. Then again, Tywin Lannister has always excelled at emotional torment, so why get physical with your boss?

Daenerys Targaryen’s intimidation is both emotional and physical. Razdal mo Eraz is carried by slaves past hills lined with the Unsullied, and arrives in her tent to be stared down by Jorah, Barristan and a trio of dragons. He hands over gold and ships, but that freedom fighter khaleesi (one of many titles, others being queen and mother) wants more. Raz refuses to set the slaves free, foolishly raising his voice and pissing off Dany’s children. Subtitling the dragon scream with “What you say about my momma?” would’ve made the moment even more powerful, but I am enjoying Dany’s swagger. More than likely, she will get her way and Razdal will be served up extra crispy, Kraznys style.

Daenerys’ children were affectionate this Mother’s Day, but Melisandre and Gendry’s mothers probably didn’t even get a raven letter during the holiday. A whore and tavern wench respectively, they did do alright in raising their kids — a red priestess and master blacksmith with Robert Baratheon’s blood pumping through his veins. Melisandre informs him of this as they coast over the wreckage of Blackwater. Someone should clean that up.

Gendry’s former pals in the Brotherhood are going out for a Lannister hunt, and Arya, who prayed for the death of many a Lannister, hopes the lions win this round. She’s still sore about Gendry being sold to please the Lord of the Light, and makes a run for it. Before she gets far, the Hound scoops her up. Apparently instead of wandering through the forest he’s now the Gollum to Brotherhood’s ring bearers.

Robb is having trouble keeping his mind on the war, but who wouldn’t while Talisa lied flirtatiously on the bed writing a letter home? Not to mention, they’re having a baby! It’s a bit of happy news for the Stark family. Someone should tell Edmure Tully. It just might brighten his mood about the Frey wedding, seeing he’s going to be spending a lot of time with that wet shit Waldon Frey.

Speaking of spending a lot of time together, I’m starting to get a little Jon-Ygritte fatigue. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see some people in love after Westeros weddings were rearranged like furniture in a perfectionist’s apartment. And I also appreciated than Ygritte, who constantly reminds Jon that he knows nothing, literally knows nothing south of the wall. She doesn’t know the difference between a windmill and a palace, let along anything about a real war. Drums and banners might be absurd, but the organized army has been successful six other times the king north of the wall has made a charge. It might not hurt to learn a little bit of rhythm. After some back and forth, they decide to shut up and make out. At least not the taunting comes with a happy ending for Jon.

Which is more than we can say for Theon. His legendary penis could be gone forever, as his threesome is interrupted by that annoying-ass horn that he just can’t seem to escape from. At least this week during the Theon scenes we got some gratuitous nudity. That’s more than I can say about the Brann story arc. Turns out they’re not going to Castle Black, but north of the wall. There’s shit there Osha has seen that they can’t comprehend, and Hodor could testify to that (maybe not, but to be honest, out of this whole arc, Hodor is about the only thing I find entertaining). I was hoping he would have his I Need $/Silent Bob moment after a long pause. That’s going to happen, right?

We continued building this week, and there is a lot of shit that will ultimately go down over the next three weeks. I’m most anticipating Jamie and Tywin having a long discussion about his adventures and the lady he brought home, as well as a possible battle between Khaleesi’s dragons and unsullied and the soldiers of Yunkai. It’s time for the body count to get a significant shot in the arm, and a pile of dragon-fire singed corpses would be a good place to start.

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