Game of Thrones is not interested in giving you a breather. In pretty much any other drama, there are small victories sprinkled throughout all the hard times, feel-good moments designed to make you smile and remind you of why you're rooting for that show's heroes in the first place. Not so with Game of Thrones, which started off by blasting the Stark family in umpteen different directions and has done nothing but put them through the wringer ever since. If this were any other series, one that wasn't beholden to a series of novels known for their bleakness, we'd have had a mini-Stark reunion or two along the way just to momentarily release the tension and give the characters a small victory before sending them off to new hardships.
But, nope, this is Game of Thrones, and the best it can offer is this week's near-reunion between Jon and Bran, one which we're ultimately denied, likely because, as I understand it, it's something that doesn't occur in the books. (Apparently, on the page, Bran is never taken captive at Craster's Keep at all.) Hey, at least Jon and his Direwolf are reunited. That good enough for you? It better be, because the other reunion we get this week is Sansa with crazy Aunt Lysa and, by the end of it, you're left to wonder if Sansa is any better off now than she was in King's Landing. There is a big reveal in "First of His Name" that it was Lysa, not the Lannisters, who murdered her husband, and you'd be forgiven for not remembering that was the event that sent poor Ned Stark off the King's Landing way back in season one. Filling in Lysa's back-story now, three seasons after it last seemed relevant, carries with it the same problem I had with the sudden reemergence of Tommen. This is a big complex show with tons of concurrent storylines, and when you pick one back up after a lengthy absence, it feels discordant.
Thankfully, there was no such break in the Craster's Keep storyline, which was set up at the end of last week's episode and brought to a resolution at the end of this week's with a showdown between the mutineers and Jon's band of Night's Watchmen. The fight itself was a little more low-key than I expected — especially considering Michelle MacLaren, who we talked about last week, directed this episode — though it did end with a nifty "sword through the back of the head and out through the mouth" maneuver. And, again, the tease of Jon and Bran reuniting ended up being just that — a big tease. Maybe the writers' room went off-book here to remind us that the Starks all still carry each other in their thoughts, but the end result seems doubly cruel. (Plus, couldn't have Bran at least given his half-brother a hug and then gone to look for his three-eyed crow? I highly doubt Jon would have imprisoned him against his will.)
Over on the other side of the world, Daenerys learns this week that all the cities she's liberated haven't turned into prosperous democracies after she's moved on. Councils she's established have fallen, and men whom she's freed have been re-enslaved. Her counselors advise her that it might be best just to forget about it and keep her eyes on the Iron Throne prize, but Daenerys understands that it's not worth being queen if you can't take care of those who secure you the crown. "I will not sail for Westeros," she declares. And everyone watching at home replies, "Aw, crap, it's going to be foreverbefore we get to see dragons bearing down on King's Landing."
But that's Game of Thrones for you: TV's most persistent cock-tease. You must wait for your dragon carnage and your potential Stark reunions and instead be sated with Cersei's never-ending political scheming, exposition about how the Lannisters are surprisingly broke, and the uncomfortable look on Sansa's face as she's forced to listen to her crazy aunt's screaming orgasms being carried on the night wind. (That last one probably probably sounded funnier in the writers' room than it turned out to be onscreen.) We put up with it because these characters continue to enthrall and because so much of the fringe storytelling is so sumptuous. But this season more than any yet, I find myself worried that too much of the show could start to feel like one big stall. And if it gets to be a problem, there's no easy fix, as the writers are greatly limited by the books they're adapting in how much and how quickly they can advance the story. I don't envy the task they face.
A few more thoughts on "First of His Name" …
– "Know your strengths, use them wisely, and one man can be worth 10,000." — from page 13 of Littlefinger's Guide to Surviving Westeros.
– Arya and The Hound are glimpsed briefly this week, but, as usual, their scene crackles. The Hound mocks Arya's sword-fighting style, and Arya lets The Hound know he's on her "to kill" list. I never tire of Arya reciting the names.
– Pod, my man, you are terrible at cooking rabbit. Terrible.
