Having the benefit of writing this review a few days after the initial airing and overreaction to “that scene” in this episode, I would like to welcome all of the new viewers to Game of Thrones. Obviously, this is their first time seeing this series which is famous for nudity, sex, violence, and generally despicable characters, otherwise they wouldn’t have been stupid enough to act surprised and offended in the first place. To do so would be like watching five seasons of Breaking Bad and then getting upset because you see a character making drugs.
Was the scene disturbing? Absolutely. Was it shocking? Yeah, okay. Was it unprecedented? You do realize that, not long ago, Jaime raped his sister at their own son’s funeral, right? With the body, like… laying right there.
Basically, it’s an overreaction dripping with self-satisfaction and I’m sure that everyone who has quit following the show or has joined in the chorus of uproar is having a wonderful time patting themselves on their own backs for their fine moral stance.
Personally, though… they’re idiots. They know what the show is and it’s not like the show hasn’t gone there before.
Now that rant’s out of the way…
Game of Thrones is suffering from a whole lot of middle chapter syndrome lately where the series is giving us a whole lot of set-up and not a lot of resolution. As a result, the plot seems to be wandering and aimless in its direction and, frankly, it’s starting to get old and, worse than that, it’s starting to get painfully predictable.
Cersie’s plot is transparent by this point and, quite frankly, doomed to failure. I haven’t read the books because, if I did, I would remind you of it at every chance I could because apparently, that’s what every person who read these books does, but there is no way that such a, let’s face it… stupid plan will work out for her. Unless she’s got an ace up her sleeve I don’t know about, I see a fall coming and that’s the problem with this arch… I see it coming. At least the scenes with the always entertaining Queen of Thorns spiced things up.
The plot is Dorne is even more dull. Next to nothing about Jaime in Dorne has interested me in the slightest and this week was no different. Underwhelming to say the least.
Slightly more interesting is the Tyrion storyline simply because it’s a Tyrion storyline. It’s not stellar, but Peter Dinklage always makes Tyrion fun to watch. At this point Tyrion could visit a library or the DMV and it would be worth watching.
I was far more taken in by Arya’s journey with the Faceless Ones. True, it’s more of that middle chapter syndrome that I was complaining about earlier, but at least now it feels like it’s getting traction and moving forward. The result is a story that is lifting the veil and revealing secrets while presenting more quandaries. I’m interesting in where it’s going next and what the hell that secret room is all about.
Finally, here we go again, Ramsey and Sansa’s wedding and “that scene.” You’d have to be a ninny-headed dundermuffin to think this was going to end well and, as I said, it was a brutal way to end the episode, but like the Arya story, it is moving forward where other arcs seem to be stuck in the mud. Ramsey is the new Jeoffrey and this series needed a new Jeoffry. Can we also add a note here about how Alfie Allen killed it in this episode? You rarely see acting this good from a character who says nothing.
With Littlefinger’s manipulations finally coming to light, I’d say that this is the storyline that I have become most interested in.
So yeah, I see this series growing stale in mid-season. Granted, it’s still a good show but Game of Thrones has never settled on being merely “good.”
Jason Gaston 