Welcome, my friends to another review of the fourth season of Game of Thrones! Today we look at Breaker of Chains where.Tyrion considers his options; Tywin extends an olive branch; Sam questions the safety of Castle Black; Jon proposes a plan; the Hound teaches Arya; Dany chooses her champion.
At King's Landing
We literally pick up where the second episode ended,with Joffrey laying dead at his mother's arms and screaming for Tyrion to be arrested. Amidst the confusion, Dontos Hollard takes Sansa away from the wedding to somewhere safe. They managed to slip through the guards and get to a boat, where they meet the person who sent Dontos to rescue her and knew that sh*t would roll down at Joffrey's wedding. Who this mysterious employer turns out to be? Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish!!!!!
As soon as Sansa boards their ship, Dontos demands to be repayed and instead he gets a crossbow bolt, much to Sansa's horror. He wanted to guarantee her safety since everyone is looking for her, as she is one of the prime suspects for the king's death and he needed to silenced in some way, that is why he had to die. He reveals that he was the one who gave Dontos the collar that Sansa used in the wedding that means everything he said was an lie.
Looking from a certain perspective, Littlefinger is prospering well the magnificent bastard - he is the one of the few characters to end each season better than what he started. While his end goal is not very clear as of yet, remember how much power he must wield at the moment. He was named Lord of Harrenhal and was sent to marry Lisa Arryn from the Vale, meaning he is on his way to become Warden of the East and now with Sansa Stark under his wing - the last heir to Winterfell - and the way to North is open to him. And unlike the Lannisters, he managed all that without money or an vast army in his disposal.
Joffrey's funeral is being held, where the only people that is genuinely grieving his death are present - his own family. His brother Tommen is standing guard over his body along with his mom and grandfather, and with his brother's death, he is the new King of Westeros. Fortunately enough despite being inbred like Cersei's children, he is actually a perfectly normal and nice kid. Just like Robb, he hopes to be the "good" kind of king... As "good" this type of setting can be.
Then when everybody leaves the Sept, with Jaime and Cersei being the last ones left, she pleads for him to kill Tyrion (since she remembers the promise he made to hurt her in Season 2 "Prince of Winterfell") alone. And then, disturbingly enough, they start making out right there. And in case you weren't uncomfortable enough watching that, Jaime starts to apparently force himself on Cersei, with her saying "No", "Stop" and "This isn't right" repeatedly.
This is the part where I ask: What in the crucified f*ck was were the writers thinking? I mean its already disgusting when two siblings are having sex next to their deceased inbred son, did they really need to add rape overtones to that scene too? Especially when the books, where the sex scene was completely consensual (Its still icky though)? It's really horrible this scene is so out of character for Jaime, even before his character development kicked in. Made even more mind-boggingly by the fact, for all his flaws, he always expressed disgust towards rape. He defended Brienne from being raped by Bolton bannermen - the very act that had cost his sword hand, mind you. And in the books, he swore he would have killed Robert Baratheon if he ever abused sexually of Cersei. Yet, in the series, he is cool with raping his twin sister (eeeeewwwww) and love of his life (*vomits*). I expected better from the writers, I am really disappointed with them... This is just too much... I believe some sh*tstorm is already being raised over this scene and rightfully so...
Grrrrr... Well, we move on to Tywin, who interrupts Prince Oberyn's little orgy he was planning on having in the first episode, but as always, the Lannisters have to ruin his fun. I really liked this scene (not for the reasons you are thinking, you pervs -_-), because Oberyn confronts Tywin over his sister's death, this time with no restraints and civil politeness - dude goes as far as to look Tywin in the eye without blinking and telling if he could kill him and get alway with it, nothing would have stopped him from doing so. Secondly, Tywin tries to offer his own peace terms by offering Oberyn a place as judge for Tyrion's trial, a place in the Small Council and reveals that Dorne's support is needed into a. dealing with the rebelling Greyjoys b. the army of Wildlings threatening to invade the North and c. Daenerys Targaryen and her three dragons amassing their army in the East (This shows that Tywin is willing to acknowledge some real dangers that threaten their victory)... As well as appoint an meeting with the Gregor Clegane, the man believed to be responsible for his sister's rape and death. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho... I really have to see how is Oberyn going to react meeting with the Mountain... You know, thinking back, its pretty safe to say there is not a single scene about Oberyn Martell that I disliked...
Finally we close off King's Landing with Tyrion being visited by his squire Podrick Payne. We learn that his list of allies are drastically diminishing, since Bronn is under investigation himself and several potential helpers are being sold off by Cersei to testify against him. Pod confides that they offered him knighthood in exchange for his testimony, but since he refused as he is too loyal to the Imp, Tyrion urges Pod to leave King's Landing as he fears for the boy's life since he might be taken as an accomplice. Its heartbreaking to see that Tyrion is possibly on his own, the only one who believes his innocence is his own brother Jaime, and even then, that might not be much of a help.
At the Riverlands
Sandor and Arya are discussing what they will do in the future, with him intending to sail east and join some sellsword company. They are accosted by a peasant and his daughter who asks who they are in his lands. Arya passes her off as Sandor's daughter and him as sworn knight to House Tully. The farmer offers shelter to both of them and even work to guard their home. Sandor is not a very guest, but the man is a decent fellow who offers some honest work in guarding their farm. However in the very next day, Sandor decides to robb them and leaves with Arya, who verbally lambasts him for stealing from the poor guy.
I don't have much to say about this scene. I could easily write it off as filler and I also disliked how callous and harsh Sandor's actions were here. What is it my favorite characters turning into douchebags in this episode? I suppose he is doing what he is going to do to survive and he got point too about Arya's naivetee. She should have know better the world is merciless place after what she has seen as he points out "How many Starks are going to loose their heads before you realize that"...
At the Wall
Sam is taking care of Gilly and her son, and is extremely worried by her safety as she is the only woman at Castle Black with over 100 men and (as the opening of the scene points out) there is a distressing large amount of criminals, namely rapists, among their ranks. Sam decides that for their safety, he sends her to Mole's Town inn where she works as an maid. This causes some friction between them, since she believes he is abandoning him without realizing he is doing his best to keep her safe. How much safe is she going to be there is up to discussion, as one of the women residing there identified her as an wildling
Elsewhere else, in a village south of the wall, in a completely cheery scene featuring a small boy and his father turns into some kind of "doomed hometown" backstory, where the Wildlings under Tormund and the Thenns raid the place, killing everyone except the boy, who is sent to relay the message to Castle Black, warning of their coming. Jon and the Night's Watch contemplate what decision they should take since their numbers are too few and they can't afford loosing anymore members. They are interrupted with the return of the surviving rangers Dolorous Edd and Green, who were held prisoner during the Mutiny of Caster's Keep, who were taken over by the traitors who killed Commander Jeor Mormont.
A new, more serious problem arises: Jon misinformed Mance Ryder, telling that over 1000 people were mounting guard at Castle Black and their number is the only reason he is holding back his full force. However, the traitors know there is only 100 and if Mance gets to them first, he will learn the truth so Jon urges the Watch to ride for Craster's Keep and silence them. This is something really tense we have here, since marching North of the Wall, where their enemy is far more numerous is risky enough, but they will leave the Wall unprocteted by the South where Tormund and the Thenns are closing in by the moment. This situation doesn't look good at all... But it looks very promising in the near future though I hope to see how they can turn out.
DISCLAIMER: My apologies, couldn't find any pic or gif I could use for the Night Watch's storyline in this episode :(
At Dragonstone
Stannis who delivers the news to Davos that Joffrey is dead, and he decides this is the right moment to attack. Unfortunately, they don't have enough men to assault King's Landing nor money to fund mercenaries to help their cause. Stannis fears their time is running out and they need to do something fast before their enemies stop acknowledging his claim altogether. Davos The rightful king decides that is the right time to strike, but they don't have enough men and not enough gold to hire mercenaries. Davos returns to his reading lessons with Princess Shireen where they talk about his experiences with the Bravoosi. Accidentally this gives the Onion Knight the idea of contacting the Iron Bank of Braavos to help out their cause.
If anything else, this was one of the best scene for its much needed light-heartiness with the interactions between Davos and Shireen. She is really one of the most endearing characters in the series despite her very minor role, and her exchanges with Davos were really fun to watch. I have to wonder, how is Davos is going to hope to deal with the Iron Bank? Not even Tywin Lannister f*cks around these guys (though he won't admit it in public) and Stannis' situation is apparently hopeless, are the the Bravoosi even want to going to make business with him?
Nitpicking over here, but doesn't it look like Shireen doesn't have the Greyscale anymore in the scene above?
At Meereen
There you have folks, the episode's title has only 10 minutes of screentime frustrantingly enough :| Daenerys reaches the gates of Meereen with its citizens, masters and slaves alike, watching and jeering despite the woman having a fried-cocking army at her disposal. They send one guy to negotiate and naturally from, he decides to piss on their direction before throwing a volley of insults towards Dany. Grey Worm, Jorah and Barristan all offer to put that fool in his place, but Dany considers them too valuable to be expended even to champion her, though Daario Naharis steps in, pointing out he is a nobody. He confronts Meereen's champion mounted in a horse while he is standing alone in the ground. As his opponent charges with his jousting lance, Daario throws his dagger into the horses' eye and finishing off the idiot before he gets up. He returns the insults by pissing in the direction of the city, even after their arches fire volleys of arrows towards him. Badass...
Seeing how mixed reception to Daario's recast was, this scene might as well be a effort to make new Daario look cool and turn him a fan-favorite character. Whether it works or not, its up to debate, and did liked it in fact but I am disappointed for a completely different reason. In the books, the scene plays out the same, but a completely different character called Strong Belwas took Daario's place and lets just say he goes the extra mile to say the least. I am upset that such character doesn't exists, because he would have probably become a fan favorite in the show, just like he is in the books. Though Game of Thrones is no stranger to combining two minor roles into one or renaming characters for pragmatic reasons or to save up time. So that is probably the reason why they combined Daario with Belwas. Oh well...
Daenerys gives her speech to the city saying their masters offer nothing but chain, suffering and commands, but she wants to give them freedom. With that she orders the catapults to fire in the city direction, the projectiles being barrels containing slave collars and with that the episode ends. That is all there is. I was certainly annoyed by this ending, since I didn't knew at the time what the hell the thing with the collars meant (maybe she intended to cause a slave revolt inside the city walls and not lead to any casualty among her forces?) and it ends before anything meaningful happens, I was sincerely letdown though...
Closing Thoughts
On its own, this was just an adequate episode. There is a lot of exposition and build-up for the future with not too many remarkable moments and a fair share of annoyances. The best thing I can say is that Night Watch and Daenerys storyline will be the most interesting parts in this season judging from what has being set up here, and maybe things will get better in the future. I hope so... From what it looks like, Tyrion's trial is going to be so f*cking loooooooong and drawn out just like all scenes at KL. So "Breaker of Chains", average episode.
Thank you guys for reading it. Next episode will be Oathkeeper!!!
See ya next time =P
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