Tag Archives: Game of Thrones

TV

Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 7 – ‘You Win or You Die’

4 Comments

This episode aired on HBO Go (Online) the same night as episode 6 did which was a welcome treat and a precursor to one of the best episodes yet. So if you haven’t watched episode 7 online then there are major spoilers awaiting you ahead. This episode will air on TV May 29th.

We start the episode by finally getting to see Tywin Lannister on screen, who is definitely one of the characters people will grow to hate most over the course of the show. He’s one of those characters you love to hate and in the scene he has with Jaime you get to see what his ambitions are and the expectations of his house. Tywin is currently moving with 60,000 Lannister soldiers to protect the honor of his house against the Starks and their allies. As he questions and lectures Jaime, Tywin guts and skins a deer which for some reason made the scene all that better for me. He tells Jaime that they should have acted decisively, where if Tyrion was taken by Catelyn then Jaime should have killed Ned instead of leaving him alive. Jaime claims that he didn’t finish him because of the interference by one of their men and it wouldn’t have been a clean kill which Tywin scoffs at. Jaime, despite what everyone thinks of him, has a measure of honor that is his alone.

game-of-thrones-jaime-lannister

As the show goes on and we get more into his character it will become evident that Jaime has almost no identity for himself. He is constantly trying to live up to roles that others assign him from Aerys Targaryen to Tywin Lannister and later you will see from Cersei too. It all began with Aerys raising him to the Kingsguard years ago, which angered Tywin to the point of resigning his position of Hand of the King since his heir was now under oath to serve until death thanks to the “Mad King”. That is why Tywin tells Jaime that he needs to him to become the man he was meant to be now and not later. The look on Jaime’s face before he leaves clearly shows us that he has almost no idea what he wants, which is a great precursor of the route his character will take in future seasons.

Finally after being MIA for a couple episodes, Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch return to our screens albeit briefly. After Benjen’s horse is found riderless at the Wall entrance, we get to see Jon, Sam, Grenn and Pip all graduate. This is accompanied by the big disappointment of Jon not being made a ranger but a steward. Stewards are the caretakers of the Night’s Watch, they clean up, send ravens and do the menial day to day tasks in all of the castles of the Wall. So you might see why a swordsman like Jon might be a little pissed off about it. But as Sam points out, Maester Aemon assigned him to be the attendant to Lord Commander Mormont where Jon will learn of all the functions of the Night’s Watch and it’s command structure at Castle Black. More than likely Jon will eventually succeed Lord Commander Mormont.

We also get to see Jon and the recently converted (To the Old Gods) Sam recite their oaths in the Godswood a mile North of the Wall. It was a nicely touching scene until Ghost ruins it by bringing back a severed and frozen hand from somewhere in the woods. Imagine being Jon and wondering if that were your Uncle’s hand your pet direwolf brought back. Not that any of us has ever had a pet direwolf but you get where I’m coming from.

gote7-thumb-450x249-25023

After the last episode with the Targaryens, it will be hard to follow up in this one. I still can’t get over seeing the pot of molten gold poured over Viserys’ head. It will live on as one of the best TV deaths of all time. Daenerys is trying to convince Drogo to eventually invade the Seven Kingdoms where their son will rule, but Drogo is reluctant telling her a king does not need a throne, only a horse to sit atop. However, after an assassin in the marketplace attempts to give Daenerys poisoned wine to cash in on the bounty on her head, Drogo is furious and in Vaes Dothrak he vows to invade and destroy the Seven Kingdoms for the attempt on his wife and child’s lives. This was a very powerful scene that I can’t come close to putting into a review as words. I have to give credit to Jason Momoa for sounding so convincing in a language created for the books and the series!

I saved the best for last in the events that are going down at King’s Landing. Cersei confronts Ned in a garden in the Red Keep, telling him that she thinks it’s time he went home to Winterfell after everything that has happened. Ned then reveals the realization he had come to in the previous episode; that Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella are all Jaime’s children and not Robert’s. Cersei admits to it, telling Ned of how Robert always loved Lyanna Stark even after he married her and that her and Jaime belong together. Ned offers her an ultimatum to take her children and leave King’s Landing before Robert returns from the hunt because he will be one angry King. Robert does indeed return from the hunt but he is gravely injured…by a boar. He missed his thrust and the tusks damaged him beyond repair, but at least good ole’ Robert killed it in the end. He has Ned write his last wishes, which are that Ned become protector of the realm until Joffrey comes of age. Ned writes everything but changes “son” to “heir” on the parchment, because Joffrey has no claim if he is a product of his mother and uncle’s incest. Robert also tells Ned to cancel the order of assassination against Daenerys, telling him that Ned was right. Unfortunately according to Lord Varys “those birds have flown”. This is when things start to heat up even more as Ned lets two important opportunities pass him up due to his great sense of honor.

The first opportunity is presented by Renly Baratheon, who is the King’s youngest brother if you haven’t figured that out. He urges Ned to seize Joffrey in the middle of the night so that as protector he can hold all of the power against the Lannisters. Renly even offers him a hundred men loyal to him in assistance of Ned in this task. Ned however refuses to shed blood in the castle that Robert ruled and to taking children from their beds in the middle of the night. So not only has Ned shown his cards to Cersei and alerted her that he knows of her incest, he has refused Renly’s support which would have been a great help. Next Ned summons Petyr Littlefinger Baelish to help him in taking Cersei and her children captive during the day with minimal to no bloodshed.

The Lannister men and guards far outnumber anything Ned has left with him and he asks that Littlefinger secure the 2000 men of the City Watch to help them. Littlefinger agrees even after he refuses Lord Baelish’s plan to securing the throne. Baelish tells Ned that he should install Joffrey as King and watch over him closely (pretty much as a hostage) and use his tainted birth as blackmail should he or the Lannisters ever step out of line. And if Joffrey was removed then he suggests that the more likeable Renly be brought in as King, even though Stannis is the older brother. Stannis though is so rigid and uncompromising that the kingdoms would fall into war with no one supporting his claim. Ned however will not let someone not even having Baratheon blood sit on the throne, let alone the youngest Baratheon brother. Even if it means the realm certainly falling into war, Ned’s honor only allows him to do things by the book.

Ned confronts the Lannisters in the throne room, presenting Robert’s letter making him protector of the realm and even denouncing Joffrey as having no rights to the throne. Cersei rips the letter up before everyone, ordering Ser Barristan Selmy to arrest Stark immediately. Just as the City Guard seems ready to fight the Lannisters they turn on the Stark men killing them all while Littlefinger places a dagger to Ned’s throat telling him -“You were right not to trust me.” Things are not looking good for Ned and the Starks. I promise the next episode will show why George R.R. Martin’s books stand alone from any other fantasy books out there.

I give this episode a 4.5 bears out of 5, because despite being absent of much action there was plenty of plot and character development. I can already tell that the next episode will be a five out of five and the viewers are either going to love it or hate it.


Episode 6 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 1 Review
Most Anticipated Scenes from Game of Thrones

TV

Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 6 – ‘A Golden Crown’

1 Comment

After the killing of his men and the injury of his leg by the Lannisters in the last episode, Ned Stark wakes up in bed to see the King and Queen standing over him. Cersei is of course angry at Tyrion being held by Catelyn, and now they’ve spun the story of Ned Stark being drunk outside of a brothel and attacking Jaime Lannister. Robert commands them both to shut it, having to smack Cersei for questioning his status as king. Robert orders Ned to make peace with the Lannisters and release Tyrion, while also offering him the clasp of the Hand back. Ned takes it as Robert leaves for a hunting trip.

Queen Punch courtesy of WARMING GLOW

Bran, Robb and Theon have their own expedition in the forest underway as the Bran gets to test out his new saddle from Tyrion’s design. Things seem to going well until the little Stark runs afoul of a couple wildlings and a Wall deserter who try to rob him. Unfortunately for them, Robb shows up and whoops some ass, and Theon finishes the job. Robb decides to let the wildling woman (Soon to be known to us as Osha.) live after she surrenders her life to him. It was interesting in this scene to see Theon speaking to Robb of going to war with the Lannisters, because that would mean weakening the kingdoms and creating an opening for his father Balon to rebel again, not to mention an opportunity for Theon to return home.

Tyrion is having a rough time himself in the Eyrie. Besides his uncomfortable sleeping arrangements in the sky cells, Mord the turn-key of the cells decides to come in and yell at him for making noise and hits him repeatedly. He finally convinces Mord to tell Lysa Arryn that he wishes to confess his crimes. After appearing in front of the court of the Vale, Tyrion confesses to a number of crimes he committed in his childhood. Putting goat shit in his uncle’s boots and tossing off in his sister’s turtle soup. It was all pretty hilarious to me, but nothing was better than actually getting to see the Moon Door and getting to see Tyrion proclaim his right to trial by combat.

In trial by combat, the accuser and the person on trial are able to either fight themselves or choose a champion. Lysa Arryn chooses Ser Vardis of the Vale while no one except the sell sword Bronn will stand for Tyrion. Bronn as you will see loves gold and no doubt expects a great pay out from the little Lannister. The fight was excellent, showing us what a crafty fighter Bronn can be. He had to be in order to beat a knight in full armor. After Ser Vardis leaves via the Moon Door, Tyrion leaves through the main door. But not before paying Mord with his gold purse for delivering the message of confession and proving that a Lannister always pays his debts. Meanwhile in King’s Landing Ned filling in for Robert at court, hears from people in the Riverlands where his wife’s father rules that there is a rather large bandit and his men burning their villages and killing their loved ones. Based on his height, Ned deduces that it must be Ser Gregor Clegane who is one of Tywin Lannister’s men and Ned announces that Clegane shall be stripped of his knighthood and all of his lands, not to mention his life. As an extra added bonus he also has the Grand Maester deliver word to Casterly Rock that Tywin Lannister must come to court to answer for the actions of Clegane and if he refuses then he will be marked as an enemy of the crown. Ohhhh boyyyy. So much for peace between the Starks and Lannisters.

Flawless. Victory. (Warming Glow)

We are then treated to a Sansa scene, where Joffrey actually comes to see her and offers her a necklace that she gladly wears. He also apologizes to her for how he acted and promises to never disrespect her and marry her so she can be queen. They even share a tender kiss after he is done telling her this. It makes me want to puke because he’s such a demented little turd and time will tell you the viewer just how sincere his promise is.

You can smell the bullshit

And now we get back to the Targaryens finally. In a Dothraki tradition, Daenerys gets the disgusting honor of eating a horse heart in front of Khal Drogo and some assembled Dothraki while Mormont translates for Viserys that her son will become the greatest Khal ever who will rule over the whole world. Viserys can finally see how there is no plan to make him king and decides to go off and sell his sister’s dragon eggs to get enough money to buy his own army. Ser Jorah Mormont stops him and shows that his loyalty lies with Daenerys and not Viserys who surrenders the eggs and storms out.

That just looks delicious… (Warming Glow)

Things get worse a little later as “the dragon” storms into the evening feast honoring Daenerys’ unborn child Rhaego. (Named after her brother Rhaegar who died by Robert’s hand at the Battle of the Trident.) The moron insults her and even draws his sword on her after Mormont tries to remove him. After Viserys threatens to cut out their baby if he doesn’t receive the crown Drogo promised for her, Drogo agrees to give him what he wants…. literally. The Khal has his men hold the Targaryen boy down as he melts down his gold belt in an empty soup pot and then proceeds to pour it over Viserys’ head in what I can only describe as one of the most brutal, yet awesome scenes in the series. The clunking sound that Viserys’ head made as it hit the ground and his screams before were just eerie as can be; and here I was worried about how they would do that scene when not on the pages of a book!

Awesome episode overall. I’m giving it a 5 out of 5 bears because the episodes keep getting better and better, and the tension is building to a climax in the next episode. I promise I won’t be able to keep giving it five bears every week because the episodes will slow a bit towards the end unless HBO has made some changes.

Review: Game of Thrones, Episode 7 – ‘You Win or You Die’

TV

Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 5 – ‘The Wolf and The Lion’

1 Comment

After such a cliffhanger last week I’m sure everyone is just eager as hell to get into this week’s episode. Once more, the opening title showed us a new place the show will be visiting: The Eyrie, which is the home to Catelyn Stark’s sister and John Arryn’s widow Lysa Arryn. I think everyone will get a kick out of her.

The episode starts out with the tournament of the King’s Hand still proceeding. Ned gets to see the body of Ser Hugh, musing as to how he was so lucky to face down the Mountain. The joust continues in the next scene where get to see a lot more of Ser Gregor and are introduced to Loras Tyrell “The Knight of Flowers” who is a bit of a pretty boy. The joust goes well, but not for Gregor again, as he is unseated by Tyrell. Gregor definitely knows that Tyrell’s mare was in heat and caused his stallion to be a little skittish. But before he takes out his frustrations on Ser Loras, he gives his horse a final reminder of keeping in line… by chopping it’s head off!

Picture courtesy of Warming Glow

His attack on Loras falls short as the Hound and brother to Gregor steps in to stop in. This is more due to his hatred of Gregor than any goodwill to the Tyrells.

Gregor is a badass

Continue reading Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 5 – ‘The Wolf and The Lion’ →

Movie News & Opinions

‘Pan’ Movie Picks Up Three Actors

4 Comments

It would appear that the newest Peter Pan movie will not feature Channing Tatum pretending to be a little boy and flying around in green tights, and thank heavens that is the case. Instead we will get yet another reimagining of a beloved classic in the vein of the recent Alice in Wonderland and the upcoming Oz: The Great and Powerful. However it appears so far that this film will not take place in Neverland.

Here is a description of the movie’s plot and three excellent actors/actresses joining the new film from IGN:

Continue reading ‘Pan’ Movie Picks Up Three Actors →

TV

Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 4 – ‘Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things’

1 Comment

Our episode this week opens up at Winterfell, with Bran having what some readers of the books call a ‘Raven Dream’. There’ll be more on those later in the series. Bran awakens to be brought before his brother Robb, who is now acting Lord of Winterfell while Ned is in King’s Landing. Robb is in fact speaking with Tyrion Lannister, recently returned from the Wall. He notices how cold Robb is acting towards Lannister, but is still very kind to Bran, giving him schematics on how to construct a proper saddle for someone without the use of their legs. The scene at Winterfell was very well done as the actors are now very comfortable in their roles. Peter Dinklage in particular is Tyrion personified for me. It’s like the character jumped off the pages of the book into an HBO show and I’m sure many book fans will agree.

Continue reading Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 4 – ‘Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things’ →

TV

Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 3 – ‘Lord Snow’

Leave a comment

Another week of waiting paid off once again with another great episode of Game of Thrones. The episode itself wasn’t as exciting as the past two, though there are plenty of interesting characters introduced that new fans and book fans alike will enjoy. Even if there wasn’t much action, many things were set up in this episode that will make future ones some of your favorites.

Thankfully much of the episode focused on Jon Snow (Hence the episode name) and the Night’s Watch. I find Jon to be one of the more interesting characters of the series. He’s a Stark, just not by blood, and he is far separated from all of the politics and backstabbing that the other characters are exposed to whether it be Lannister or Stark. Tyrion is nearly the same as John, he is a Lannister, but being a dwarf sets him apart from the family in many people’s eyes. The two of them are a prime example that a Stark and a Lannister can get along when they aren’t in the middle of the game of thrones that is going on.

“I’m no rapist!”

John had the misconception that he would be serving in a knighthood when he joined the Night’s Watch, not a mixture of honorable men and criminals as Tyrion pointed out to him last episode. When John begins training he is far superior to any of the other recruits because he has already had training and this earns him plenty of animosity from them until Tyrion intervenes. After understanding a little more about the other recruits, it is not long before John is on their good side, helping them improve to be better fighters.

Also on the Wall portions of the episode we get introduced to Lord Jeor Mormont (His son is Jorah Mormont, traveling with the Targaryens.) a Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and Yoren who is definitely portrayed perfectly. Yoren is a recruiter for the Night’s Watch, going to King’s Landing and taking prisoners he sees as fit for the Wall and taking volunteers too. There’s a great scene in the episode with Yoren and Tyrion drinking that reminds you again of why you like Tyrion so much. He’s the noble who would have an ale with anyone, regardless of status.

Tyrion takes his leave of the Wall in this episode, bidding farewell to Jon after fulfilling his promise to “piss” from the highest point in the realm. Benjen Stark also leaves the Wall to patrol beyond it, hearing more and more stories about the white walkers. It would appear that they might be a little more than stories.

Yup. Tyrion is pissing off the Wall

On the more political side of things, the plot indeed thickens. The King and the Starks arrive at King’s Landing, with Ned immediately called to meet with the small council. Here we are introduced to Lord Petyr Baelish (Aka Littlefinger) who is a childhood friend of Catelyn Stark and the master of coin. As master of coin he informs Ned that Robert has the crown in debt pretty badly with the Lannisters. Good thing he married one. Littlefinger is played brilliantly by Aidan Gillen and makes the viewers who’ve never read the books whether or not he is friend or foe. He seems eager enough help in solving the mystery of Bran’s twice attempted murder and helps hide Catelyn as she arrives to tell Ned of everything that has happened since he left Winterfell.

Arya played a nice little part in the episode and Maisie Williams couldn’t play her any better than I could have imagined her from the novels. The scene between her and Ned Stark were incredibly genuine making you believe that they are a true father and daughter. It wasn’t said directly in the episode as it was explained in the book, but Ned arranges for Arya to be trained with the sword by a famous Bravossi swordsman named Syrio Forel. That scene was another favorite of mine as Syrio sparred with Arya as Ned watched on as the sounds of swords clashing grew in his mind. Perfect ending to the episode.

Daenerys was once again not given a whole lot to do in this episode, but don’t worry her time is coming. She is starting to grow into her role of Khaleesee, finding out she is pregnant and being happy about it and even being genuinely loving with Drogo. Probably the best scene with her is the one where Viserys has an outburst and threatens Daenerys with a sword. That doesn’t go over too well as the little punk is forced to walk after being strangled by a whip. Daenerys is starting to overshadow her brother and he is truly frightened by it, hence his hostility.

I give this episode a 4.5 out of 5 grizzlies, not because there wasn’t a whole lot of action. I actually liked all of the character development and expanding plotlines, it made the episode seem like it lasted longer than the hour unlike the last one which was great but flew by. The only reason it lost a half point was because of the scenes that were not in the book. The first being Ned and Jaime’s exchange in the throne room and next Robert’s exchange of war stories with Jaime and Barristan Selmy. I enjoyed the scenes and I understand the purpose they serve: A lot of things are explained in the books through a character’s point of view as they think to themselves. So some things have to be fit in through character interactions or people won’t know the backstory, such as what happened the Aerys Targaryen and Ned’s father. The scenes themselves seemed a little bit stale when they happened, not because of any fault of the actors but because it didn’t flow with the story that has already been laid out. But overall it is better that they added the scenes to get a better feel for certain characters instead of drawing our own conclusions.

Next week’s episode looks to be another great one, with the jousting tourney to honor Ned’s appointment to Hand of the King occurring. Looks like we’ll be getting a glimpse at a couple more fan favorite characters including Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers and Gregor Clegane, the Mountain that Rides. It shall be awesome.

Check out my other Game of Thrones articles below:

Review of Winter is Coming

Review of The Kingsroad

Most Anticipated Scenes of Game of Thrones