Melodrama has often played its part in Game of Thrones. Heck, the Lannisters are basically the Ewings dragged out of Dallas and run through a Renn Faire. But I never felt the show was too melodramatic until Littlefinger planted that kiss on Sansa at the end of "Mockingbird" and the camera shifted focus to crazy Aunt Lysa spying on them in the background. That may have been the most soap opera-ish the series has ever gotten, and it left a bitter taste coming at the end of an episode that wasn't all that good to begin with.
Oh, there were still high points, most notably a couple of nice scenes between Arya and the Hound. We learn a little bit more about his past, about how his burn scars were given to him by his brother, the Mountain, when he was just a boy. And we see her become a bit more like him, as she stabs a man in the heart — located precisely where the Hound instructed her it would be — and then cleans her blade on the dead man's clothes exactly as the Hound had done a few minutes prior. Arya and the Hound are often the highlight of any episode in which they appear, but their time on screen is even more striking when the episode is a bit of a dud.
Tyrion's two scenes this week were also enjoyable. In the first, a cleaned-up and well-dressed Bronn drops by to inform him that he can't serve as his trial-by-combat Champion this go-round. Bronn has been bought off by Cersei by being arranged to wed a woman with some nobility, and, besides, he doesn't want to get himself killed fighting the Mountain, who will be serving as Cersei's Champion. The scene is actually quite touching, with Tyrion not getting angry and barely showing disappointment. He knows Bronn got a deal he simply had to take.
"I suppose I'll have to kill the Mountain myself," Tyrion tells him. "Won't that make a great song."
It would, but that outcome is also highly unlikely. Good thing for Tyrion then that, in his second scene, he finds a surprising ally in Oberyn Martell, who recognizes that defending Tyrion puts him in a position to exact revenge on everyone responsible for his family's suffering. There were aspects of the scene a little too on the nose — like the stirring music that rises to meet Oberyn's announcement that he will be Tyrion's Champion — but Peter Dinklage and Pedro Pascal are a lot of fun together.
The rest of the episode is pretty much a slog, weighed down by sequences devoted entirely to plot-nudging exposition (Brienne and Pod learning that Arya's alive and guessing that she and/or Sansa might be at the Eyrie) while others seem designed to keep the story immobile (Daenerys being wishy-washy about how best to rule, as well as bedding Daario while trying to make Jorah not feel so bad about it). There's also a scene between Stannis's two women — his witch and his wife — that somehow proves more boring than even the check-ins with Theon. I'm guessing this is why ample nudity was included, but, honestly, it didn't much help. Just like the sight of Littlefinger throwing Aunt Lysa through the moon door couldn't redeem all the obnoxious melodrama that immediately proceeded it.
Game of Thrones takes next Sunday off for Memorial Day weekend. When it returns, let's hope the action ramps back up for the final three episodes. Until then, a few more thoughts on "Mockingbird" …
— The Hound is more than the makeup. Rory McCann does a great job this week showing via his performance the damage that lies underneath the scars.
— Oberyn continues to earn the show's biggest laughs: ""It is rare to meet a Lannister who shares my enthusiasm for dead Lannisters."
— Also chuckle-worthy, Bronn to Tyrion: "If I wanted wits, I'd marry you."
— From page 72 of Littlefinger's Guide to Surviving Westeros: "If you want to build a better home, first you must demolish the old one."
— Oh, hey, nice to see you again, pudgy dude who traveled with Arya for a little while.
