Tyrion Lannister

Game of Thrones Season 5, Episode 1 Review: The Wars to Come

/ Ajmorse / 3 Comments

Warning, full spoilers ahead…

Credit: Fox

Credit: HBO

Game of Thrones’ first episode of season five – wow! Basically, it’s all just one big major catch-up, although there are a few important plot points that are worthy of mentioning. It was intense, yet not a lot happened at the same time. But Game of Thrones usually starts out slow and then builds as the season goes on.

The first scene opens up with Cersei’s story, and a flashback to her childhood where she visits a witch, who predicts her future. In short: Cersei faces some challenges this season. Her father is dead, her brother/lover, Jamie and her are at odds and her powerful position as Queen is being threatened by Margaery Tyrell. Something has to happen in order for her to keep that power. But it looks like Cersei has no desire to be the victim. Meanwhile, we see a scene between Margaery and her brother, the knight of flowers, (naked lover aside), which hints that Margaery doesn’t really intend to go down without a fight, and if she can avoid being the daughter-in-law of Cersei…well, things might just get ugly.

Credit: Fox

Credit: HBO

Tyrion arrives in Pentos with Varys at Illyrio’s palace, (the place where we see Dany and her brother in the very first season.) Tyrion has this great plan to drink himself to death, but Varys reveals that he didn’t save him for that purpose. It is apparent that Varys believes that peace in the realm can come from a Targaryen at the helm and he tells Tyrion of his plans to travel to Meereen and meet Dany.

Credit: Fox

Credit: HBO

In Meereen, Dany and Daario are still lovers, one of the unsullied gets killed while visiting a brothel, and Dany admits that she cannot control her dragons. She also has difficulties settling problems as the Queen, and exchanges some pillow talk with Daario while they drink wine together in bed.

At the wall, Jon Snow trains the young boy who killed Ygritte, (he seems to go a bit hard on him, too, coincidence? I think not). We see a little bit of Sam and Gilly; Gilly is once again worried about being sent away. Stannis Baratheon asks Lord Snow to speak with Mance Rayder about convincing the Wildings to fight for him, in return for pardon and a home on the other side of the wall. Jon knows that Mance won’t bend the knee, but he tries to convince him anyway. He doesn’t and Stannis and the red woman put Mance to death by fire. Jon Snow can’t stand to see a man he respects die in such a gruesome way, and he shoots him with an arrow, so he doesn’t have to suffer the pain and humiliation. As such, the episode ends with Jon Snow incidentally becoming one of the most powerful crows at the wall.

Credit: HBO

Credit: HBO

Other stories that we saw last night: a little bit of Sansa; she is continuing to watch and learn at the side of Petyr Baelish, and we see that Brienne of Tarth seems to have given up her search for the two Stark girls. And poor Pod, her almost squire, has nowhere to go.

Credit: HBO

Credit: HBO

What to look forward in next week’s episode: Arya! Bran is completely absent from this season, of course, but it is interesting to see the remaining Stark’s stories. I’m very curious to see what happens with Jon Snow, and Sansa, especially now that Sansa has finally learned to play the game with everyone else.

Will there really be a meeting between Tyrion and Dany? Worlds are colliding and we love it! There is a big shift of power now that Lord Tywin is gone. Who’s going to be the next big player in this Game of Thrones? Here’s a sneak peek of next week’s episode:

Game of Thrones Review episode 6: The Laws of God and Men

/ Ajmorse / 2 Comments

This review is based purely on what I have seen on the TV Shows, also…

Spoilers ahead!

Photo source: HBO

Review of episode 6: The Laws of God and Men –

No Starks in this episode. Arya, Sansa, Bran or Jon Snow’s stories were nowhere to be found.

However, we do get to see a great deal of Theon Greyjoy…or what’s left of him. Theon’s sister, Yara, arrives with her ship of men only to discover that the brother she thought she was rescuing is no longer there. Ramsay Snow has completely broken him.

Meanwhile, Daenerys is learning what it means to rule and how time-consuming it is. She meets with subjects in Meereen and deals with the problems in turn. One in particular: her dragons ate someone’s goats. Whoops. She also confronts a man, whose father she crucified. The son now claims that his father was against slavery, and asks permission to bury him according to his customs. Daenerys concedes to the burial, but seems shaken by the confrontation. Perhaps ruling is not what it is cracked up to be?

And on another front, Lord Stannis is denied a loan by the Iron Bank, that is until Davos pleads his case to the committee that he is the real and rightful King.

Varys is confronted by Prince Oberyn in the throne room, and the Prince guesses correctly where Varys is from. It’s the first time I have ever really seen the spider on edge. Varys claims that he was never interested in men or women and says that without desire he is able to focus on more important things. He then looks meaningfully at the Iron Throne after saying this.

Lord Tyrion’s trial begins and we quickly see that the trial is a farce, as does Jaime. Jaime makes an arrangement with his father, Tywin, to pardon Tyrion and let him take the black, as long as Tyrion pleads guilty and has no more outbursts. In return, Jaime will take his place as heir at Casterly Rock.

Tyrion, of course, does not remain silent, as Shae is called to testify against him. She says that Tyrion killed Joffrey with poison to help his new wife, Sansa, get revenge against her slain relatives. I’m just going to come out and say it: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

The episode ends with Tyrion demanding a trial by combat.

My thoughts:

I’ve always liked Shae and could not believe that she would go to such measures to get back at Tyrion. Was she blackmailed? It doesn’t seem like it.

I hate what’s being done to Greyjoy, it’s just awful to watch.

Anything with Daenerys is fun – it’s always great to watch a woman kick ass, and she does it a lot. Compared to Daenerys, it makes me wonder why Stannis wastes his time? He’s never going to win. Stannis’ storyline just seems like a big waste to me.

Also, Prince Oberyn is supposed to be the enemy, but I am finding myself liking his character more and more.

Nothing much else to say about this week’s episode, only that I can’t wait for the next one. I’m a great fan of the Stark sisters, so looking forward to seeing them next Sunday!

What did you think of last night’s episode? Thoughts below if you got ’em!

 

 

 

 

 

Game of Thrones TV Show Review: Oathbreaker, The Good vs The Bad

/ Ajmorse / 2 Comments

Being an avid Game of Thrones watcher, I thought I would put my two cents in about the most recent Game of Thrones episode…

Note: This is conjecture based purely on the TV Show, I have not read the book series completely, and so I can only judge the show based on what I have seen.

Also, SPOILERS AHEAD.

Photo credit: HBO

Review of “Oathbreaker” –

It’s great to see the characters grow and change in Season four – Daenerys freeing slaves and grooming her army, Jon Snow training recruits, Jaime Lannister’s more humble attitude, (except for that whole incest rape thing, I mean what the heck?), but it’s difficult sometimes to focus on the good that happens, when being good in the Game of Thrones sometimes means losing your head, sometimes quite literally.

In Oathbreaker, Jon Snow receives permission to take a party to Craster’s Keep and capture or kill the traitors who killed Mormont . Meanwhile, said traitors are rapping and abusing Craster’s daughters and offering a last child sacrifice to the white walkers.

They capture and subdue Bran and company, and tie up and torture, Hodar, and trap the Direwolves, Ghost and Summer. 

Okay, we get it, these traitors are bastards and need to die. But did we need to see it so graphically?

While Daenerys is helping free slaves, Cersei is her bitter alcoholic self bent on seeing her little brother, Tyrion dead, although everyone else seems to think that he is innocent.

At least we got to see a neat scene between Brienne and Jaime, and Brienne vows to find Sansa Stark. It does beg the question: does Jaime love lady Brienne? Could it be the Kingslayer cares for someone more than himself? It is clear that she feels something for him, but perhaps what he feels goes deeper than love…I think he truly respects her.

The change and growth in his character is refreshing, although it is still difficult to move pass the rape scene that everyone can’t seem to stop talking about. Perhaps we can just forget it ever happened.

That seemed to be what the writers wanted in this episode. No mention or thought was given to that scene, except for Cersei’s chilly demeanor, but really, that just means nothing has changed then.

Meanwhile, Margaery is forming a new alliance with the next King in line to the throne, Tommon, and we learn that Little Finger is indeed behind King Joffrey’s death as well as Margaery’s grandmother.

Daenerys’ story is becoming very interesting. She believes in dealing with injustice with justice, and while we root and cheer for her story, the villainous characters bent on slaughter, rape and dead babies always seem to take center stage.

Sometimes it makes for an uncomfortable watch when you don’t always know if your favorite characters are safe or not, if justice is really met, if good actually wins in the end.

It is true Game of Thrones is not for the faint of heart, and it definitely keeps you guessing. I will always root for the good guys, though.

My favorite characters are Daenerys and Arya. I think they have the more interesting stories. Who are your favorites? What did you think of last night’s episode? Think we will see the good guys win in the next episode?

Thoughts below if you got ’em!