It should come as no surprise by now, but if Game of Thrones were one long, ten-hour episode, you would hear no complaints from me.
Poor Arya; she just can't make any long-term friends.It should come as no surprise by now, but if Game of Thrones were one long, ten-hour episode, you would hear no complaints from me. As it is, the shorter length of this season's episodes is probably the worst thing about the show for now. This is a complement, by the way. This week's episode, "What is Dead May Never Die," introduced us to even more new characters, while showing us that the writers don't plan to bide their time like they did early on in season one.
As the episode opened, we quickly touched base with Jon (Kit Harington), picking up right where last week's cliffhanger left off. Not much came of the scene, though, aside from yet another reminder that the Night's Watch is out to hunt something bigger than a few grotesque wildlings. From there, we swung right on over to Winterfell, where Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) continues to dream about being his direwolf. Or is this more than a dream, as the camerawork suggests? If you ask Maester Luwin (Donald Sumpter), none of the magical things from stories are true. We'll find out eventually if he's right...
Thankfully, the rest of the episode dealt with the characters for much longer. We returned to the Iron Islands where Theon (Alfie Allen) continued to be ridiculed by his father and sister. Yara (Gemma Whelan) has been a blast to watch so far, and it is clear that she is more than capable of leading a small force to take some of the northlands. As far as Theon goes, he was clearly unsure of where he wanted his loyalty to lie. Unfortunately, it was clear that he wanted his father's approval more than he wanted to be loyal to Robb (Richard Madden), which clearly spells a threat to the North.
Speaking of the North, we got a small taste of it as Cat (Michelle Fairley) visited Renly's (Gethin Anthony) camp. This was one of my favorite sequences of the episode, mostly because we were finally introduced to Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie). This show has all-around outstanding casting, but the creators have really knocked Brienne out of the park. Her hulking, manly figure and clear devotion to Renly gets across everything that needs to be accomplished for us the understand her character early on, and I can't wait to see her more in the coming episodes.
We were also introduced to Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), Renly's arranged wife, also the sister to Loras Tyrell (Finn Jones), who is Renly's actual lover. Margaery is one of the more enigmatic characters in the books, but I think we've got a good idea of what she is all about early on. I think she is more prepared to play the titular Game with the big players than Renly is, as she doesn't care much about her own feelings more than she cares about the importance of her marriage to Renly. Perhaps she'll spurn Renly to stop screwing around in his camp, and to actually take the fight to the Lannisters.
Oh, how badly the Lannisters deserve to have the fight brought to them. Everyone except Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), of course. Watching him fabricate the three stories for Pycelle (Julian Glover), Varys (Conleth Hill), and Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) to weed out the rat was an outstanding sequence, as was the follow up when he threw Pycelle in prison. It also seems like Tyrion has commited to sending his younger sister off to Dorne for eventual marriage, which Cersei (Lena Headey) was clearly unhappy with. It is clear, though, that Tyrion is not Ned Stark, a fact which he constantly attempts to reinforce. He has cleared house considerably already, and he doesn't show any signs of stopping.
He isn't accomplishing everything he wants to accomplish, though, as Lannister soldiers are still running rampant throughout Westeros. And killing the best characters just as we get to know them. Yoren (Francis Magee) only lasted a few episodes, and only got to let out a few lines, but they were some outstanding moments on screen. Just as he was getting close to Arya (Maisie Williams), the soldiers showed up and struck him down. Oh, and they killed another child for good measure. Arya and Gendry (Joe Dempsie) in Lannister captivity can't be a good thing, but we can all take solace in the fact that they clearly don't know who they are holding.
The bloodbath at the end of the episode serves as a reminder that no one is safe, and that things are much more serious this season. With a war going on, no one is going to sit back and wait for someone else to make a move. Expect just about each episode to have a major plot point going forward, and you may even see a solid death or two each week from now on. This was, once again, a great episode for Game of Thrones, and if the series consistently stays this good, the next seven weeks should be a blast.
As always, thank-you for reading, and leave a spoiler-free comment below. See you all next week!