Writers: David Benioff, D. B Wiess.
Director: Michelle MacLaren.
Cast: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Aiden Gillen, Burn Gorman, Sophie Turner, Gwendoline Christie, Lena Headey, Natalie Dormer, Diana Rigg.
Synopsis: Daenerys balances justice and mercy. Jaime tasks Brienne with his honor. Jon secures volunteers, while Bran, Jojen, Meera and Hodor stumble on shelter.
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.
This weeks show Oathkeeper kicked-off relatively calmly, with Grey Worm being given English lessons by translator Missandei. There is clearly a chemistry between the pair and it will be interesting to see how this develops. The lesson and serenity was cut short however by The Mother of Dragons, Daenerys, who put her plan to free the slaves of Meereen into action. The revolution was over very quickly with the masters rounded-up. There was then a choice to show the slaves injustice could be fought through mercy, Daenerys however chose to fight injustice with justice and had her men nail the former masters to their own mile-markers. She then took a moment to breathe in her new kingdom – will King’s Landing still be as appealing to her?
Bronn and Jamie’s lessons are coming on well, with the rougher man not afraid of putting the Lannister in his place. He even managed to convince/guilt Jamie into visiting Tyrion who is still locked-up awaiting trial. The dynamic between the two is fantastic, with their short scene giving the episode some much needed comedy; ‘Kingslayer Brothers’ really does have a nice ring to it. It wasn’t all witty one-liners and laughs though, there were also a couple of poignant moments with the brothers bond seemingly ironclad.
So Joffrey’s murderer has finally been unveiled. Or has he? Sansa is clearly questioning whether she made the right decision to flee her prison. Probably because she has found herself smack bang in another one, replacing her pyschotic ex with a creepy uncle finger. It seems that Littlefinger believes that he was an instrumental part of the murder of Joffrey, something which Sansa wasn’t ready to believe until he made it clear exactly why he did it. We all know that Littlefinger swarmed around Catelyn like a dog in heat and now that she has gone it seems her daughter is the next obsession. He didn’t do it alone though, he alluded to new friends being very interested in Joffrey being dead. We then cut to the Tyrell ladies, and during an exchange, Margaery‘s Grandma Olenna all but admitted that she saw him off. She also encouraged her Grand-daugther to start working on getting onto Tommen’s good side.
Meanwhile at Castle Black Jon Snow is teaching his brothers the way of the Wildling’s fighting style. His superior Ser Alliser Thorn isn‘t to pleased about it though, deciding that sending Snow out to Craster’s Keep to eliminate the branch of the watch who committed mutiny might be the safest way of him keeping his own position. During training Jon befriends ‘Locke’ who we know to be the man who cut of Jamie’s arm, and has been sent by Roose Bolton to kill him. The fact that he later walks in on Jon and Sam discussing where younger brother Bran might have travelled to, means that he clearly wants to destroy as many Stark men as he can.
After last weeks controversial events, the relationship between the Lannister lover’s is ice-cold with both referring to each other by their official titles only. Cersei is not at all happy, she fears for King-to-be Tommen’s safety and is not pleased that Jamie has visted Tyrion, the man she is certain killed Joffrey. She demands that the Kingslayer search for Sansa and bring back her head on a spike. If he were to do this though he would be breaking an oath and Jamie is thinking about his legacy.
Whilst these two are arguing about the safety of their youngest son, Margaery sneaks into the young boy’s bed chamber in an attempt to start bringing him under her spell. If the looks the young Prince was giving her are any indication, it would seem he’s already smitten. Don’t worry folks it appears that this King will be a lot kinder than the last with him actually liking other creatures such as animals (how cute was Sir Pounce?) Joffrey may be dead but his cruel legacy lives on with Tommen remarking that Joffrey didn’t like Sir Pounce, threatening to have him skinned and his innards fed to his unknowing owner.
Brienne and Pod, one of the more unlikely of pairings, have been tasked with finding and ensuring that Sansa is safe. Jamie invited Brienne to the inner chamber of the Commander of the King’s Guard and gave her the lavish gifts of his Valyrian sword and a new suit of armour. She was then introduced to Pod and off the pair rode, but not before she named her sword Oathkeeper, a move that clearly touched Jamie.
Jon Snow was granted permission to go and reclaim Crasters Keep, on the condition that he only take men who volunteered. We were then treated to the obligatory cheesey scene that is one-by-one everyone stands up. This show of solidarity has not gone down well with Thorn. If they are going to go to the keep they better get there quick though as things are not pleasant (not that they ever really were) at Crasters.
Self-appointed leader at the Keep, Karl, is enjoying his power, relaxing with two of Craster’s daughters draped round him whilst he drinks wine from his former bosses skull. It is clear that the other men fear that he has gone mad and are all doing whatever he says to keep him on side, even in that includes ‘fucking’ Craster’s daughters ’till they’re dead’. His rant is cut short by the appearance of the last of Craster’s baby boys. We all know what Craster used to do with the boys and so Karl tasks one of his men to put the infant outside as he feeds the beast. The beast in question is Jon Snow’s dire wolf, Ghost.
Not too far away Bran, Hodor and the Twins are woken by the noise of a crying baby. Unable to ignore the sound, Bran goes Warging as Summer, only to fall into a trap set by Karl’s men. The quartet then make their way over to the keep in a bid to rescue both wolves. The plan comes unstuck though as they are found and captured. Poor Hodor is strung up and taunted by the cruel men, much credit should be given to actor Kristian Nairn as he manages to convey a lot of feeling into that one word ‘Hodor’.
Karl senses that the three children are ‘high-born’ and so sets about trying to gather information about their identities. Bran eventually admits who he is and so Karl now knows that he has Snow’s brother captive. So hurry up Jon, come rescue your brother and wolf, and teach this twisted bastard a lesson.
The episode ended with this season’s first look at the mythic White Walker. We were treated to an extended scene of him travelling back to his people with the new born baby. Another walker took the child, stroked his cheek and seemingly started to turn him into a walker too giving us a rare insight into their nature.
This weeks episode of Game of Thrones picked up the narrative pace a little more than the last couple of episodes with a stop in on fewer factions. It also started to darken the tone even more than it already was, with the fate of Craster’s daughters being desperately sad. The first glimpse at the home of the walkers, though a little bit SUPERMAN, Fortress of Solitude was a nice treat.
Characters paths also finally seem to be starting to cross, with the previous series having scattered everyone out and this one starting to bring them all back together. Lord Baelish informed Sansa that he was set to marry her aunt, and we know that that is where The Hound plans on taking Arya, so might the Stark sister’s reunite? Clearly Bran, Summer, Ghost and Jon must also be reconciled with them also being at/headed to the same location.
[usr=4] Game Of Thrones airs on HBO in north America, and Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland.
