Writers: David Benioff, D. B Wiess.
Directors: Alex Graves.
Cast: Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Charles Dance, Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Aiden Gillen, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Rose Leslie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Natalie Dormer, Diana Rigg.
Synopsis: The fallout from the purple wedding continues with Tyrion forced to reassess his situation. Meanwhile Daenerys picks her champion.
And breathe. After a year away Game Of Thrones is finally back on our TV screens. After last years Red Wedding debacle we at THN decided that this show should not be watched without a support network, so this year we will be here to hold your hand through the fourth series of the show with our very own Blog of Thrones.
Rejoice, last weeks episode wasn’t an elaborate tease, Joffrey is indeed dead. The episode opens with a shot of his definitely dead body. But who killed him?
Breaker of Chains begins with Tyrion being taken into custody, and Cersei screaming that Sansa be found. That doesn’t look likely though as we join Sansa’s escape from King’s Landing, where she has pretty much been held captive since the end of season one. As she is rowed out to sea, her rescuer, the creepy Littlefinger is revealed. He has been hiding his ship off-shore for some time, waiting for the perfect moment to seize her.
Margaery and the other Tyrell’s aren’t happy about the chain of events as now her position is no longer all that secure. The new Queen is feeling more than a little glum, believing herself to be cursed, I can’t say as I blame her thinking as she remarks her first husband preferred sleeping with her brother, whilst her second preferred torturing animals. Maybe she’ll have better luck with husband number three.
Joffrey’s body is being overseen by granddad Tywin, brother Tommen and mother Cersei. Now that Joffrey is gone it is Tommen’s turn to play King, something Tywin seems quite happen with as he never could control spoilt brat Joffrey. Tommen is the youngest of the Baratheon’s (technically Lannister given his parentage), but still must be married and it seems that Margaery may still be the ideal candidate.
Now I know that we’re not supposed to like Queen bitch Cersei, but the woman is clearly having a bad day. First her son is poisoned at his own wedding, and then her brother rapes her next to her dead son’s corpse. I’m guessing she might not mind so much now if Brienne wants to take him off her hands.
We also caught up with Arya and The Hound as they were taken in by a kindly farmer and his young daughter. It appears that the once Lady Stark has forgotten all of her manners as her and The Hound wolfed down their stew. Arya was clearly hoping that she could make some sort of life at the farm but The Hound had other plans as he beat-up the old man to steal his silver, the swine.
Sam is in an emotional bind. He clearly loves and adores Gilly and wants to be close to her, but he’s also worried that his ‘brothers’ of the Knightswatch may take-out their sexual frustrations on her. He decides that the best thing to do is take her to the nearest town, not realising that he has more than likely taken her out of the frying pan and placed her firmly into the fire. He seemed completely oblivious to just how seedy an environment was around him.
Stannis believes that he killed Joffrey as he asked the Lord of Light to end him when he cast a spell. He is now desperate to capitalize on the new turn of events but has no money. He charges Sir Davos with finding allies, something which the aid believes impossible, that is until his reading lesson when the fairytale he is reading sparks an idea…
Oberyn and his mistress are clearly the horniest citizens in King’s Landing I think there’s barely been a scene with the pair in that hasn’t taken place at the brothel. Their coitus is interrupted by Tywin who wishes to question Oberyn about his grandson’s death. The Prince of Dorne has studied poisons and seems like a likely suspect, though Tywin wishes that Oberyn join the jury of Tyrion’s trial, with the offer of a place on the council.
Tyrion is being held as prisoner and is visited by Podrick, master smuggler of contraband, who fills him in on what is to become of him. Tyrion warns Podrick that he must be careful and bids him to leave the city.
Ygritte and the rest of the Wildling’s pillage a village, leaving one soul survivor a boy who is tasked with passing a message onto the Knightswatch. The watch debate their options, with only having a hundred men not all of whom are fighters. Jon Snow confessed that there was no way the Knightswatch could hold back the Wildling’s and explained that the only reason they hadn’t already been decimated was because he had lied and told then that there were thousands of men guarding the keep.
Daenerys has got to the gates of slave city Meereen but they wont let her in easy. The owners of the city are insisting on a duel between their champion and her own. Everyman and his dog throw their name forwards but she has her eye on only one, Daario Naharis. Poor Jarah is well and truly friend-zoned as she tells him he is her greatest friend, before she picks the man she has been flirting with since meeting.
It seems that part of the duel involves an actual pissing contest which makes for delightful television viewing (not). I’m also not sure how Daario can be classed as a champion as he doesn’t actually battle the other man, just his unfortunate horse. Daenerys then addresses the slaves of Meereen offering them the chance to join her and be free – I’m a little unsure how joining her army constitutes as being free, but that seems to be her belief.
The episode ends with the slaves of the city being confronted with all the broken chains from the mile marking bodies, does this mean she now has their loyalty too? And if so is she finally ready to make her way to King’s Landing and actually get involved in the fight for the Iron Throne?
It seems that season four has changed it’s structure slightly, previous seasons have seen us swap back and forth between a couple of factions for an episode whereas four seems to be going round almost all giving each their own five to ten minute block. This really helps the audience keep track of who’s who, well that and the fact that most of the cast from season one are dead.
After all the excitement of The Lion and the Rose, Breaker of Chains was always going to struggle to compete. Some parts of the episode feel a little bit like filler, but if we’ve learned anything from the show, it’s not to get complacent.
[usr=3] Game Of Thrones airs on HBO in north America, and Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland.
