I posted these rewatches on the old site, and am now reposting them here. The night is dark and full of spoilers

Episode title: Mockingbird

Director: Alik Sakharov

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

Summary: In his cell, Tyrion and Jaime Lannister discuss Tyrion’s refusal of admitting guilt and being send to the Wall. Tyrion tells Jaime that he couldn’t stand there and listen to Shae’s lies, and that he had fallen in love with her. Tyrion claims that it felt good to take all of that from Tywin, as their father knows he is innocent, yet is willing to sacrifice Tyrion anyway. They discuss Tyrion’s trial by combat, and Jaime informs him he can’t be his champion, as he is unable to fight properly with only his left hand. Tyrion points out the irony, that when Jaime dies fighting for Tyrion, Tywin’s family name would disappear with a single sword stroke.

Cersei approaches Ser Gregor Clegane, the “Mountain that Rides”, who is killing prisoners with his greatsword. She welcomes Gregor to the capital, and thanks him for arriving so quickly. Gregor asks who he will be fighting. When Cersei asks whether it matters, Gregor shakes his head. Bronn visits Tyrion, dressed in new clothes. Tyrion had send for him days ago, but Bronn insists he has been busy. He has been betrothed to Lollys Stokeworth, and Tyrion guesses correctly that Cersei has arranged the match. Bronn reminds Tyrion that he had once stated that, should anyone ask Bronn to sell Tyrion out, he would double the price. They say their farewells, and Bronn leaves. “I suppose I’ll have to kill the Mountain myself. Won’t that make for a great song?”

Tyrion remarks. Tyrion is later visited a third time, now by Prince Oberyn Martell, at night. He wants justice, but Tyrion informs him that King’s Landing is the wrong place for that. Oberyn disagrees, as all those who have wronged him are right there. He intends to start with Gregor Clegane, and offers to be Tyrion’s champion.

Arya and the Hound approach a ransacked village, and find a dying man. The Hound stabs the man in his heart, and tells Arya that’s how you kill a man. From behind, Biter jumps on top of him, biting him in his neck. The Hound kills Biter. Rorge is there as well, and Arya kills him. When Sandor later clumsily tends to his wound, Arya suggests that he burn the wound, to prevent infection. Sandor refuses fire, and when Arya approaches him with a burning branch, shrieks away. He tells her to shut up, and that nothing is worth this much trouble. He tells her how Gregor burned his face when he tought Sandor had stolen one of his toys. The pain was bad, the smell was worse, but worst of all was that it had been his own brother. Their father had protected Gregor, lying to cover up Gregor’s involvement. Arya asks to be allowed to wash out the wound and help stitch it up, and he allows her to do so.

Meanwhile, Brienne and Pod are eating in an inn, where Hot Pie approaches them, and tells them that he doesn’t know Sansa, but met Arya. She had been heading north the last time he spoke to her, dressed as a boy by the name “Arry”. Pod suggests they go to the Eyrie.

The rangers from the Night’s Watch return from Craster’s Keep, and Alliser Thorne addresses Jon, ordering him to lock Ghost away, as Castle Black is no place for “wild beasts”. Jon suggests sealing the tunnels, but that would prevent them ranging north. . First Builder Othell Yarwick is asked whether he agrees with Jons plan, which he does not. Thorne orders both Jon and Sam to stand guard on top of the Wall, until the full moon, to the amusement of some of the brothers.

Daenerys Targaryen find Daario in her private rooms, to her surprise. He managed to sneak past the guards by climbing through her window. Giving her flowers, Daenerys tells him that, when she has need of him, she will summon him, and he shouldn’t come on his own. Dany instead focusses on Daario’s other talent, and orders him to take off his clothes. Daario bumps into Jorah when he leaves Daenerys’s rooms the next morning, and informs him that she is in a good mood. Jorah does not approve, nor trust, Daario. Dany informs him she had ordered Daario and his Second Sons to go retake Yunkai. Jorah tells Dany that, without her there to rule, the master will simply wait until the Second Sons have left, and retake control over the city. Dany orders Jorah to go tell Daario he has changed her mind regarding her previous orders.

Queen Selyse Florent visits Melisandre, who is enjoying a bath. Selyse tells Melisandre that Stannis wants to bring Shireen along, and does not agree. Melisandre assures Selyse that it is impossible to leave Shireen behind, as the Lord of Light needs her.

Sansa is wandering around the Eyrie’s courtyards, which are covered in snow. She is building a snow castle of Winterfell, when Sweetrobin arrives. Sweetrobin knocks over a tower and Sansa accuses him of ruining it, greatly angering the boy, who proceeds to break the remainder of the castle. This angers Sansa so much that she slaps him, causing him to run away. Littlefinger saw it, and tells her that Sansa doesn’t have to worry about Lysa, and that he feels Robin could use some more disciplining. Sansa inquires as to why he killed Joffrey, and he admits to her he loved Catelyn more than she could know. He muses about how he could have been her father, and tells Sansa she’s more beautiful than Catelyn had ever been. He then proceeds to kiss her, which is witnessed by Lysa from afar.

Sansa is later summoned by Lysa, who admits that she had seen her kissing Littlefinger, and holds Sansa over the Moon Door in anger. Littlefinger intervenes, telling Lysa to let Sansa go. Carefully, he approaches Lysa, and holds her up, assuring her that there has been only one woman he ever loved – her sister – before he pushes her out of the Moon Door.

My take: You know, if you are going to have a Moon Door, you’re going to end up going through it. The nudity is a bit uneven, as usual. We get a glimpse if Daario’s ass, but it’s followed by Melasandre spending an entire scene naked. The snow castle scene was one that we had been waiting for in the book so I am glad it was included here. Aside from the final scene, this episode sure has a lot of padding in it, but I like the structure of three visits to Tyrion.

Changes from the books: Rorge is killed by Brienne, not by Arya. Biter is killed by Gendry, not by the Hound. The Hound is severely injured by Polliver and the Tickler, not by Biter. Brienne and Podrick never met Hot Pie on their travels, and his fate remains unclear after he leaves Arya and Gendry. Sansa does not slap Robin. In a later scene, he demands a hundred lemon cakes and five tales. Sansa, growing sick and tired of her spoilt cousin, thinks “I’d like to give you a hundred spankings and five slaps” but never harms him physically. When Lysa drags Sansa to the Moon Door, the bard Marillion is ordered to sing at the top of his voice to drown out Sansa’s screams. When Littlefinger kills Lysa, he summons the guards and blames it on Marillion, who confesses under torture. In the series Marillion was mutilated by Joffrey at the end of Season 1, and his whereabouts are unknown. When Littlefinger talks to calm Lysa down in the books, he says “only Cat” before pushing her out the Moon Door, and not “your sister”. Lysa doesn’t scream when she falls through the Moon Door. There is no counterpart to the scene in which Melisandre explains that they are taking Shireen Baratheon with them when they leave Dragonstone, because the Lord of Light “needs her”. In the novels, Stannis didn’t explain why he took Shireen with him: it was apparently just because he didn’t feel she was safe on Dragonstone given that he left only a skeleton force to defend it, and more importantly, the Lannisters would soon get around to using the Tyrells’ fleets to blockade it.

Nudity: Daario’s ass. Melasandre full frontal in the bath.

Locations on the Map: King’s Landing, the Dreadfort, Winterfell, the Wall, Braavos, Meereen

Death Count: At least four prisoners, by the Mountain. A peasant, mercy killed by the Hound. Biter, killed by the Hound. Rorge, by Arya. Lysa, pushed out the Moon Door by Littlefinger

Quotes: Oberyn Martell: It is rare to meet a Lannister who shares my enthusiasm for dead Lannisters Tyrion Lannister: Why are you sorry? Because you’re an evil bastard with no conscience and no heart? That’s what I liked about you in the first place.

 

 

Episode title: The Mountain and the Viper

Director: Alex Graves

Written by: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

Summary: In Mole’s Town, a band of wildlings, including Tormund, Ygritte and the Thenns, attack the village, killing everyone they encounter. Ygritte kills the whore, and finds Gilly and the babe, but motions to her to be silent, and allows them to live.

Ramsay Snow sends Reek, “disguised” as Theon Greyjoy, to treat with the ironborn garrison holding Moat Cailin. Ramsay has all the ironborn killed and flayed regardless of their surrender. Ramsay meets with his father, who presents him with a decree of legitimization from the King, naming him officially Ramsay Bolton, making him an official member of House Bolton.

The Unsullied are washing themselves in the river, Grey Worm included. Across the river, he sees Missandei, and a number of other women, naked, bathing and cleaning their clothes. Later, Ser Barristan Selmy is approached by a small boy, who hands him a scroll bearing the sigil of the Hand of the King. The document is a royal pardon, signed by King Robert I Baratheon. Barristan accuses Jorah of having spied on Daenerys. Jorah returns the pardon to Barristan, and is told that Barristan has yet to tell Daenerys, as Barristan hadn’t wanted to go behind Jorah’s back. Jorah is summoned to Daenerys’s audience chamber, where the angry Queen demands an explanation. He confesses that he had send letters to Varys in King’s Landing, containing information about Daenerys and Viserys, and their activities, including their arrival in Pentos and her marriage to Khal Drogo. She spares his life, but does not want him to remain in Meereen. He has until dawn the next day to leave the city. If he does not, she warns him, his head will be thrown into Slaver’s Bay.

Petyr Baelish testifies before a tribunal, which consists out of Lord Yohn Royce, Lady Anya Waynwood, and Ser Vance Corbray. Sansa tells them that she is not Alayne, but Sansa Stark of Winterfell. She lies, stating that Lysa had seen Baelish kiss Sansa on the cheek. She proceeds by telling them that Lysa had threatened to thrown Sansa through the Moon Door, and that Baelish had tried to calm Lysa, but she had struck him, and no matter what Baelish said to her, she eventually stepped through. Sansa breaks down in tears, and Lady Anya rushes to comfort her. The tribunal is convinced. Later, Petyr visits Sansa, and asks her why she lied on his behalf. She explains that, had they executed him, she wouldn’t have known what would have happened to her. Sansa arrives, with her hair died, dressed in a feathered black dress.

Sandor Clegane and Arya Stark finally arrive at the Bloody Gate, where he is informed of Lysa Arryn’s death, three days past. Sandor stares in disbelieve, whilst Arya begins laughing due to the irony of the situation.

 

 

With his trial soon to take place, Tyrion and Jaime are in Tyrion’s cell, where they speak about Orston Lannister, who had been dropped on his head by his wet nurse once. Tyrion is escorted to the arena, where a large crowd has gathered. The trial begins, and Oberyn kisses Ellaria, promising her not to leave her behind. He steps into the arena, displaying acrobatic spear maneuvers, and the crowd cheers. All the while, Oberyn forces Gregor to chase him, by constantly moving out of his reach. Oberyn demands Gregor confesses his part in the rape and murder of Elia, and the murder of her children, so they can make this a quick battle. He exchanges a glance with Ellaria, but stands too close. Gregor trips his, seizes him, and smashes out his teeth with a single punch. Climbing on top of Oberyn, Gregor confesses that he killed Elia’s children and raped her, as he gouges out Oberyn’s eyes with his thumbs. Then, he crushes Oberyn’s skull, as he states he did to Elia. While Ellaria screams in horror, the crows falls silent, and Gregor falls down to the floor. Tywin rises, and proclaims Tyrion to be guilty in the eyes of the Gods. In the name of King Tommen, Tyrion is sentenced to death.

My take: For some reason we still like Ygritte and Tormund no matter how many people they kill. Sansa shows Littlefinger how it’s done. I love her black outfit at the end of this episode. Simplicity even makes a pattern for it. I think a lot of people thought that we were going to get Dark Sansa and were then disappointed by what happens next season. I loved Oberyn. I have to admit I covet that orange/yellow jacket he wore through most of the season. You have to admit that fight was awesome. Do you think wherever Jorah is going that he can buy a new shirt? That yellow one should be walking in its own by now. It’s also another moment of two Starks almost meeting.

Changes from the books: Ygritte never met Gilly in the books. It is not Sansa but Littlefinger who convincingly lies to the Lords of the Vale about Lysa’s death. Sansa never reveals her identity to them. Grey Worm never shows any attraction or affection for Missandei, as she is a girl of 9-10 years old in the books. Ramsay receives a much longer rebuke from his father over his treatment of the ironborn at Moat Cailin. Roose points out that, no one will ever trust the word of the Boltons again. Ser Barristan reveals Jorah’s secret much earlier, before they even conquer Meereen. Additionally, he knew Jorah was a spy not because of a letter from Varys, but because he was at the Small Council meeting where Varys brings King Robert Jorah’s news of Daenerys’s pregnancy. Daenerys originally plans to pardon Jorah, but is angered by his attitude: he does not show much contrition, and remains bullish and defensive about his actions. Oberyn does not attempt to implicate Tywin Lannister by asking the question “Who gave you the orders”.

Nudity: Missande, bathing. A few whores in Mole’s town.

Locations on the Map: King’s Landing, Moat Cailin, Winterfell, the Wall, Braavos, Meereen

Death Count: Kenning, killed by his men. The Ironborn, killed by the Bolton men. Oberyn, killed by the Mountain. The inhabitants nof Mole’s Town, by Ygritte, Tormund, and company.

Quotes: Eddison Tollett: Whoever dies last, be a good lad and burn the rest of us. Once I’m done with this world, I don’t want to come back.