I had many doubts entering this episode that they wouldn't be able to do the Red Wedding justice..... I was wrong! Despite a few very minor issues, the Red Wedding was translated perfectly onto the screen, in the best episode of season 3.
I had three criticisms of this episode that ultimately prevented it from being a better episode than Blackwater and Baelor in my eyes. Firstly, whilst Michelle Fairley displayed Catelyn's grief brilliantly, I would've liked to have seen her react in the way the character did in the books. After, a pregnant woman has been stabbed multiple times in the fetus, a grief stricken mother clawing at her own face wouldn't have been as outrageous as the showrunners feared. Secondly, it's comforting to know that today's society can cope with a human massacre, but still finds the massacre of a CGI animal too much to handle. Finally, I'm well aware of HBO's budgetary restrictions but regardless, they didn't do a good job of convincing me that three guys no matter how badass they're, could've sacked an entire city!
Now on to discussing the largely unparalleled brilliance of this episode. Despite only having one scene, I unlike many others, found Sam's portion of the episode necessary. Sam and Gilly are heading off towards the Nightfort which may have seemed unimportant, but actually did a good job of foreshadowing next week's events and an encounter with a very mysterious figure. Also, I loved it when Gilly called Sam a wizard, as this was a great callback to Sam's wizardly aspirations that he outlined in season 1.
Jon and Bran who are two of the show's most inconsistent characters especially in Bran's case, had a great interlinking story this week. Jon's split loyalties were finally brought to the forefront this week as despite his best efforts, he was faced with the task of killing an innocent man. I thought that Harrington's acting here was his best to date as we saw him make an agonising decision, that culminated in a brilliant action scene. Jon's line as he finished love rival Orell was appropriately badass and rounded off a well done fight scene. I also thought that Rose Leslie did a great job of portraying how betrayed Ygritte felt at that moment. Meanwhile, Bran was sitting painfully close to Jon, in an episode that may as well have been given the tagline of so near, yet so far. Bran's warging abilities were on full display here, as he warged into Hodor in a particularly tense scene, before warging into Summer and saving his brother's life. Bran's story, was rounded off by the poignant departure of Osha and Rickon, which was well acted by both and saw Rickon talk properly for the first time in ages.
Despite my earlier criticism, I again found the story of Daenerys very compelling this week. Daario, Jorah and Grey Worm's fight with the guards of Yunkai was one the best in the show's history, due to the way it expertly dealt with displaying the contrasting fighting styles of the three. Despite the fact that I loved the irony of Jorah lecturing Barristan on honour, I found the final scenes of this plot line to be the most interesting. The look of dismay on Jorah's face as he realised that Dany only cared about the safety of Daario was priceless!
Now lets close off with the shocking events in the Riverlands. Arya and the Hound has some fantastic back and fourth dialogue about their respective associations with death, as the thought of a family reunion became too much for Arya. I loved in particular the scene where Arya convinced the Hound to spare an innocent man, before the Hound asked if he was the master assassin Arya spoke of. This was very funny and was followed by some more humour at the Twins where Walder made jibes about Robb's wife and indicated to Robb that he could've had "that", when the beautiful Roslin walked out. The humour was rounded off by the Blackfish grimacing at the sight of Walder's other daughters looking at him, with this example showing how the writers and the director did a brilliant job of masking the imminent massacre. The massacre itself was very brutal, with the stabbing of a pregnant Talisa compounding the misery that book readers already felt. Roose Bolton is probably one of the most accurately cast characters in the show, with his chain mail stunt and killing of Robb asserting his position as one of the main villains in the saga. Despite all of these positives, it was Maisie Williams as Arya who made this sequence so shocking and brilliant. Her horror as she became aware of what was unfolding was one of the saddest moments in TV history.
Ultimately, this was another masterpiece episode for Game Of Thrones, upholding the tradition of episode 9 in each season being the game changer that sets the standard for other shows to aspire to.
Best Quotes: Roose Bolton: "The Lannisters send their regards." Sandor Clegane: "Is that him?" Jon Snow: "You were right the whole time."
I had three criticisms of this episode that ultimately prevented it from being a better episode than Blackwater and Baelor in my eyes. Firstly, whilst Michelle Fairley displayed Catelyn's grief brilliantly, I would've liked to have seen her react in the way the character did in the books. After, a pregnant woman has been stabbed multiple times in the fetus, a grief stricken mother clawing at her own face wouldn't have been as outrageous as the showrunners feared. Secondly, it's comforting to know that today's society can cope with a human massacre, but still finds the massacre of a CGI animal too much to handle. Finally, I'm well aware of HBO's budgetary restrictions but regardless, they didn't do a good job of convincing me that three guys no matter how badass they're, could've sacked an entire city!
Now on to discussing the largely unparalleled brilliance of this episode. Despite only having one scene, I unlike many others, found Sam's portion of the episode necessary. Sam and Gilly are heading off towards the Nightfort which may have seemed unimportant, but actually did a good job of foreshadowing next week's events and an encounter with a very mysterious figure. Also, I loved it when Gilly called Sam a wizard, as this was a great callback to Sam's wizardly aspirations that he outlined in season 1.
Jon and Bran who are two of the show's most inconsistent characters especially in Bran's case, had a great interlinking story this week. Jon's split loyalties were finally brought to the forefront this week as despite his best efforts, he was faced with the task of killing an innocent man. I thought that Harrington's acting here was his best to date as we saw him make an agonising decision, that culminated in a brilliant action scene. Jon's line as he finished love rival Orell was appropriately badass and rounded off a well done fight scene. I also thought that Rose Leslie did a great job of portraying how betrayed Ygritte felt at that moment. Meanwhile, Bran was sitting painfully close to Jon, in an episode that may as well have been given the tagline of so near, yet so far. Bran's warging abilities were on full display here, as he warged into Hodor in a particularly tense scene, before warging into Summer and saving his brother's life. Bran's story, was rounded off by the poignant departure of Osha and Rickon, which was well acted by both and saw Rickon talk properly for the first time in ages.
Despite my earlier criticism, I again found the story of Daenerys very compelling this week. Daario, Jorah and Grey Worm's fight with the guards of Yunkai was one the best in the show's history, due to the way it expertly dealt with displaying the contrasting fighting styles of the three. Despite the fact that I loved the irony of Jorah lecturing Barristan on honour, I found the final scenes of this plot line to be the most interesting. The look of dismay on Jorah's face as he realised that Dany only cared about the safety of Daario was priceless!
Now lets close off with the shocking events in the Riverlands. Arya and the Hound has some fantastic back and fourth dialogue about their respective associations with death, as the thought of a family reunion became too much for Arya. I loved in particular the scene where Arya convinced the Hound to spare an innocent man, before the Hound asked if he was the master assassin Arya spoke of. This was very funny and was followed by some more humour at the Twins where Walder made jibes about Robb's wife and indicated to Robb that he could've had "that", when the beautiful Roslin walked out. The humour was rounded off by the Blackfish grimacing at the sight of Walder's other daughters looking at him, with this example showing how the writers and the director did a brilliant job of masking the imminent massacre. The massacre itself was very brutal, with the stabbing of a pregnant Talisa compounding the misery that book readers already felt. Roose Bolton is probably one of the most accurately cast characters in the show, with his chain mail stunt and killing of Robb asserting his position as one of the main villains in the saga. Despite all of these positives, it was Maisie Williams as Arya who made this sequence so shocking and brilliant. Her horror as she became aware of what was unfolding was one of the saddest moments in TV history.
Ultimately, this was another masterpiece episode for Game Of Thrones, upholding the tradition of episode 9 in each season being the game changer that sets the standard for other shows to aspire to.
Best Quotes: Roose Bolton: "The Lannisters send their regards." Sandor Clegane: "Is that him?" Jon Snow: "You were right the whole time."