GAME OF THRONES (S3) EPISODE 7 REVIEW

Jon Snow, Ygritte and the other “free folk” have made their way past The Wall and into The North.  The show is making a lot out of Jon Snow’s defection from the Night’s Watch to the Wildlings, and whether or not he’s committed to their cause.  Even knowing the outcome, I feel like they’re really beating us over the head with it to make sure we don’t forget what’s at stake for Lord Snow.  The chemistry between Kit Harrington and Rose Leslie is fantastic though, so this storyline isn’t make or break for me.  Orell, the wildling who “warged” the hawk, has his doubts about Jon Snow’s commitment and admits to Ygritte that he’s jealous of their relationship.  A guy that can warg a hawk can’t even get laid?  I have no chance as a wildling.

If you recall from the first season, The Young Wolf, Robb Stark, was pledged to marry a daughter of Lord Walder Frey in return for passage through The Twins, the Frey stronghold, in order to meet Tywin Lannister on the battlefield.  King Robb wound up marrying the nurse Talisa.  Now, the Stark contingent finds themselves in a predicament with Robb’s uncle Edmure (Catelyn’s brother) being offered up to marry a Frey girl.  They strategize how to play their cards in this game, then Robb and Talisa slink off to make sexy time and we get a great dual butt shot, where Talisa mentions that she’s preggers.

Margaery counseling Sansa on her marriage to Tyrion is an interesting scene, and you get the feeling that, yet again, Sansa is being used as a pawn for a bigger game that Margaery seems to know well.  Littlefinger did warn her that life wasn’t a song, and that she’d learn that the hard way.  Margaery attempts to silver linings playbook this shit by saying that Tyrion is an “experienced” man and that he looks better with a scar on his face.  Nice try, babe.  Later, while Tyrion is brooding over his impending marriage, Bronn insists that Tyrion wants to fuck Sansa but just doesn’t want to admit it.  Shae also brings this up when Tyrion visits her.  Jealous bitches be cray.

In the books, Tywin Lannister is one of the most feared, ruthless and respected battle commanders in the history of Westeros but also a proven administrator at court, having been Hand to King Aerys II (Dany’s father).  We get to see a bit of that cold, matter of fact delivery that he’s so famous for when he’s speaking to his spoiled, royal grandson about how he handles his business.  He’s got a point.  We’ve seen how bored Joffrey gets unless he’s killing hookers with a crossbow.

Joffrey wants to know more about Dany and her dragons, and we see that she’s about to take on the slave city of Yunkai.  Fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire series get annoyed with Dany’s character since around this time she doesn’t even think about heading back to Westeros, but takes it upon herself to free slaves.  The thing about that is where she is in the world is a slave culture, so her freeing of the slaves pisses a lot of people off, especially the flashy dude we see her meet with, who’s part of the Yunkai rulers called “The Wise Masters”.    We get some great dragon shots too, even if they didn’t burn off anybody’s face area.

Theon gets tortured some more while everyone talks about what a great dong he has.  That’s just cruel.  Arya winds up getting kidnapped by The Hound while the show eludes to where her character goes in the future (her God is “death”), and Gendry finds out that he’s the bastard of King Robert Baratheon.  Meanwhile at the Bran Stark camp, Osha warns that they shouldn’t go north of The Wall, then tells a story about how she had to burn her husband when he turned into a wight.

Finally, Jaime Lannister gets leave to return to King’s Landing, minus Brienne.  He figures that her father will pay a ransom and she’ll get safe passage home.  It’s not until he talks to the maester that he finds out that it’s not gonna happen.  Jaime convinces his escort to head back to Harrenhall to scoop her back up, only to find that she’s fighting a GODDAMN BEAR.   Not only that, but with a wooden sword.  Jaime selflessly tosses himself into the bear pit and helps rescue her.

After an “ok” episode 6, I felt episode 7 “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” was also an “ok” episode.  We’re getting a lot of exposition and set up for things to come (not a bad thing) and at least they’re finally getting to other characters like Bran and Arya more.

Favorite Moment of the Episode:

King Joffrey sits high on the Iron Throne while his Hand and grandfather lectures him about council meetings being held in the Tower of the Hand.  The King asks if he HAS to walk all the way there if he wants to sit in on his own council.  Tywin Lannnister gives his spoiled grandson and king a long measured look, slowly walks up the few steps to the Iron Throne and says, “We could arrange to have you carried.”    Charles Dance is an intense dude.