{"id":31,"date":"2014-04-14T13:02:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T17:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/?p=31"},"modified":"2014-06-14T22:17:57","modified_gmt":"2014-06-15T02:17:57","slug":"game-thrones-lion-rose-recap-book-every-king-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/2014\/04\/14\/game-thrones-lion-rose-recap-book-every-king-read\/","title":{"rendered":"Game of Thrones – \u2018The Lion and the Rose\u2019 Recap: A Book Every King Should Read"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brought to you by our friends at Talk Thrones<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Excuse me, I\u2019m still stewing over having watched a Daenerys-less episode of Game of Thrones \u2026 hold on \u2026 almost there \u2026 a little longer \u2026 there. That should tide me over for at least a few hours.<\/p>\n

Yet even ignoring that injustice (I understand that not even the show\u2019s most enticing characters can\u2019t appear in every episode; I don\u2019t agree with that policy in Dany\u2019s case, but I understand it), there is something off-putting about \u201cThe Lion and the Rose\u201d.<\/p>\n

Maybe (definitely) it has something to with the rather unsettling open, in which a pack of wild animals, two of whom are the prospective Lord of the North\u2019s bastard and a lady friend of his, chase down a human victim for sport. A helpless young beauty who claims to have done everything asked of her hunters (I\u2019m partial to believe the victim in this case) is hardly what Richard Connell meant by \u201cthe most dangerous game.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the dismay does not stop there. A one-time future lord of the Iron Islands shuffles helplessly in submission behind his sadistic master on each and every of his bits of terror inflicted on every moment he comes across. A bastard son severely disappoints his father while desperate for approval. The Master of Coin emotionally destroys the one woman he\u2019s ever loved, the only way to save her life. The Lord of Dragonstone watches a triple-human sacrifice, executed in his name through a religion he doesn\u2019t believe in, one of the victims his brother-in-law. An innocent man is seized for a murder he did not commit. A young lord of Winterfell longs sullenly to be whole again. A king is assassinated. And the audience is subjected to screen time for any Bolton not named Roose.<\/p>\n

Of course, the king\u2019s assassination isn\u2019t so dismal, considering the excrement\u2019s level of vileness. But his death also wasn\u2019t all that surprising. And it\u2019s clockwork when compared to the shaken earth left in the wake of the Red Wedding. You just can\u2019t piss off as many people in King\u2019s Landing as Joffrey did and expect to live for very long. Especially if you\u2019re the king. It\u2019s a hazardous perch. With the first three quarters of the episode essentially just shuffling the deck a bit, it would seem Joffrey\u2019s death was to be the episode\u2019s \u201cmoment\u201d that saved it from being a middling hour. Instead it was commonplace.<\/p>\n

At its best, the final minutes set up an intriguing mystery that\u2019s hopefully to be answered next week: who, if anyone (though a solo operation seems highly, highly, unlikely), aided Sansa in the king\u2019s assassination? It\u2019s not like he doesn\u2019t have his enemies. Could it have been Oberyn Martell? Master finger-sucker and hater of all things Lannister? Or how about either of our Tyrell girls, Margaery and Lady Olenna? As Joffrey\u2019s wife, Marge\u2019s life would have been chronically at stake, plus she has more of a bond with Sansa than nearly anyone in King\u2019s Landing. Olenna\u2019s words to Sansa, minutes before the deed is carried out, could either represent her aloofness towards the near future or one of several layers of implication, possibly even delivering the kingdom\u2019s serum to the redheaded lady of the North at the very moment: \u201cWar is war. But killing a man at a wedding \u2026 horrid. What sort of monster would do such a thing?\u201d Oh, the intrigue! Tyrion is almost too obvious a candidate for suspicion, and seems too genuinely surprised by his nephew\u2019s demise to have been aware ahead of time. Varys is a fringe contender, but, as he tells Tyrion early in the episode, raising any suspicion from the Lannisters in any way spells death for the eunuch. Another person of interest is Shae. She has both the reason and the means, being a former woman of the night with a very close bond to Sansa, and reason enough to hurt any Lannister.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it isn\u2019t that much of a mystery, though. Because who is there to steal Sansa away from the (very, very loud) accusations of Cersei? Se Dontos. It\u2019s possible he just recognizes the danger his savior is in, and does all he can to repay the favor in that instant. But he seems so calm under the weight of the moment that he likely knew what was coming. It\u2019d be disappointing if such a major development with a character like Sansa (a friendship-turned-murder-pact with a knight-turned-fool), whose point of view we regularly see, is kept hidden from the audience in the name of surprising an audience, especially for an outcome that wasn\u2019t all that surprising.<\/p>\n

HOUSE LANNISTER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jaime shares a warm moment with his younger brother, and where else would it occur other than the breakfast table? Both characters have undergone some sort of road-traveled transformation to distinguish themselves from the depths of their family\u2019s generalized evil, and they\u2019re left with the opportunity to form an unlikely team in King\u2019s Landing that could do a lot of good (or damage, depending on one\u2019s sigil). Tyrion supports Jaime, spilling his own wine on the table to impress what little matter it is that Jaime did the same unintentionally with his steel hand. Once the Kinglsayer admits he\u2019s now unable to live up to that role with his left hand (contrary to the wonderfully cocky remarks regarding his off-hand in the previous episode), the Master of Coin encourages the Lord Commander to undergo rigorous training necessary to bring his left up to speed. But where to find an expert swordsman who can also keep his mouth shut? Thus forming the dream pairing: Jaime and Bronn.<\/p>\n

Bronn chooses a secluded landing on a rocky beach as the site for Jaime\u2019s training, where the sellsword already does a fair amount of discreet running-through, only with his other sword (\u201cShe\u2019s a screamer, that one. If they don\u2019t hear her, they won\u2019t hear us.\u201d). Bronn seems happy to impart his own style of fighting unto the Kingslayer. \u201cBold warrior you are,\u201d Jaime says when Bronn strikes the lion\u2019s hand in his attempt to lift his sparring sword. \u201cAttacking a man with his guard down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBest time to attack a man,\u201d the sellsword responds. Bronn is not a forgiving trainer, nearly knocking the cripple into the sea, but Jaime respects it, acknowledging its necessity and fully prepared to make the long climb to left-handed swordsmanship (although I\u2019m still a little fuzzy as to why they can\u2019t just design a sword that fits to the stub of his right arm).<\/p>\n

Jaime and Ser Loras have an exchange that begins (like all dialogues in Westeros) with pleasantries, but ends (like almost all dialogues in Westeros) in venomous insinuation. \u201cYou\u2019ll never marry my sister,\u201d says the Kingslayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither will you,\u201d Loras retorts cheekily.<\/p>\n

Cersei does nothing to discourage the \u201cMother of Madness\u201d title Tyrion assigned her at breakfast with Jaime. During the post-wedding-ceremony celebration, the most beautiful woman in all the kingdom lashes out, happy to undo the happiness of others or dishearten the indifferent. She lambasts Brienne for changing her loyalties based on convenience (which probably means she\u2019s actually more equipped for King\u2019s Landing than one might have originally thought; especially considering her abilities in ass-kickery), then tops it off by accusing the female knight of loving her brother.<\/p>\n

Cersei also grins like a woman with nothing left in her heart but evil while Joffrey berates Tyrion at dinner, suggesting he do battle with the dwarves putting on a re-creation of Joffrey\u2019s winning of the war.<\/p>\n

Cersei also undermines the prospective queen\u2019s decree that the wedding\u2019s leftovers go to the city\u2019s poorest. Cersei\u2019s destination for the food? The dog kennels, of course. And for no reason other than her not having come up with the idea in the first place.<\/p>\n

When her son finally goes down for the count, his mother predictably rushes to the conclusion to shift blame on the obviously innocent Tyrion, screaming \u201cTake him!\u201d at him over and over as if he were being guarded by Steve Novak.<\/p>\n

HOUSE STARK<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want to both high-five and hug Sansa for the massive service she\u2019s done to Westeros and the Game of Thrones franchise (although I doubt she carried the deed out for anyone but herself; and with good reason), but there\u2019s no time. She needs to disappear, and fast. Unfortunately, her attempt to rescue Tyrion from his false accusation is thwarted when Joffrey insists on his presence as the king\u2019s cup bearer. Ser Dontos urges Sansa to flee with him, and it appears we\u2019ll have yet another Stark without a home.<\/p>\n

One such Stark, Bran, has an epiphany, a vision seen when he comes into contact with a tree of the old gods. In his vision, we see: the three-eyed raven, Ned Stark in captive below King\u2019s Landing, snowy lands, an image of Bran standing in the snow and surrounded by ravens, the iron throne sitting alone in a snowy chamber, a worm\u2019s-eye-view of Bran being launched from his tower and plummeting to his paralysis, and the shadow of a dragon over King\u2019s Landing. All while a voice urges Bran to \u201cLook for me \u2026 North.\u201d<\/p>\n

OTHER NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Other than Roose, who manages to stay likable in his sadism, I couldn\u2019t care less what happens to any member of the Bolton household, Reek included. Ramsay and Theon\u2019s was a patience-trying arc in the previous season, and it seems prepared to excruciate audiences much the way Ramsay excruciates Reek.<\/p>\n

– Oberyn proves his tongue has the sharpness his dagger exhibited in the season premiere. \u201cWearing the crown for so many years must have left your neck a bit crooked,\u201d he jabs at Cersei, able to see right through her desperation in losing her grip on power, before reminding the queen-regent where her daughter Myrcella now resides.<\/p>\n

– Tywin and Lady Olenna share yet another lively exchange. We could use more of these.<\/p>\n

– Bronn gives his master some timeless advice: \u201cGo drink until it feels like you did the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Ironically enough, Joffrey does seem to exhibit some sort of grasp on social grace, although I use that word more lightly than Valiryan steel. When presented with \u201ca book every king should read,\u201d by his uncle, Joffrey stymies his dissatisfaction and offers a very pragmatic and approving response. A lot of good it did him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brought to you by our friends at Talk Thrones. Excuse me, I\u2019m still stewing over having watched a Daenerys-less episode of Game of Thrones \u2026 hold on \u2026 almost there \u2026 a little longer \u2026 there. That should tide me over for at least a few hours. Yet even ignoring that injustice (I understand that<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[7],"class_list":{"0":"post-31","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-game-of-thrones","8":"category-television","9":"tag-game-of-thrones-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}