Game of Thrones is a pretty hard show to review on an episode by episode basis. After all, excepting big event episodes like last years "Blackwater", Game of Thrones really doesn't have much in the way of distinct episodes. I mean, yes, each one begins on some kind of stinger and ends on a big event or cliffhanger, but there's almost never a coherent plot that begins and ends in the same episode, "Blackwater" excepted. No, most Game of Thrones episodes just pick up the ball and run it a few yards forward, then hand off to the next episode. Which is fine, since they're telling one very long story of which this is only a tiny fraction.
It does make reviewing that fraction on its own a pain in the ass, though.
The short, non-spoiler version is that this episode is a pause for breath. It's talky, with very little action. It's giving you a chance to catch up with about two thirds of the cast as they each start something new. There is, of course, no such thing as a disposable episode of Game of Thrones. If you want to watch the show, you have to watch them all, and in order. So a blind recommendation like this is pretty worthless. Nevertheless, the episode is a necessary one even if not all that much happens in it. Much of the rest of the season is being set up here and, presumably, the next episode as well.
Our House words? "Here there be SPOILERS"
Come for the ale, stay for the SPOILERS.
As I discussed above, Game of Thrones doesn't really do the traditional TV structure. Compare this show to, say, Babylon 5, which had a long story to tell, but did it over five seasons of regularly structured TV. That is, each episode of Babylon 5 could be viewed on its own as a stand alone work. Granted, you wouldn't get as much out of each episode if you didn't watch the others, but each epiosde still had a regular structure. There was a main plot that began and was resolved over the course of that episode. Often, as is common on shows with large casts, B5 would have a secondary plot as well where we saw what the characters not involved in the main plot were up to. That plot would also be resolved by the end of the episode. Most Babylon 5 episodes had a typical A-Plot/B-Plot structure, with the main plot being hinted at or advanced in some small way during one plot or the other. The exceptions were what showrunner J. Michael Straczynski called "Wham" episodes, where he takes a crowbar and "whams" the plot onto a different course. Those episodes were the ones that most fans really remember, and they are the ones that have the most in common with Game of Thrones, which does Wham episodes as well. The death of Ned Stark and the Battle of Blackwater were both serious Wham episodes, after all. But in contrast to the way Babylon 5 approached episodic content, Game of Thrones takes a different model.
Game of Thrones uses soap opera structure.
If you look at it, very rarely do you see a plot begin and end in the same episode. Instead, we see plots start and stop throughout the series. Sometimes they go a season, sometimes they go only a few episodes, sometimes they go on and on. Each episode touches on a few of the various plots, moving each one forward. Sometimes the plots run into one another and new plots form, while sometimes (especially with Daenerys off on another continent) they stay separate from everything else. But still, the structure is there. Game of Thrones is a soap opera with swords, bared breasts, and dragons.
That's not a bad thing, mind you, but it does mean that rather than a chronological look at events, it makes more sense to just track each plotline individually. So let's do that.
Beyond the Wall there are two plotlines going on. First, there's what's left of the Night's Watch on the run from ice zombies. In the other, Jon Snow's making an ass of himself with the Wildings. Of the former, there's not much to say, since it's only to establish that you can kill the zombies with a torch and that, contrary to the books where Sam gets his first hero moment, HBO's Sam failed to even get the ravens sent. Which, honestly, makes more sense from a dramatic point of view, because it means that the Night's Watch are racing back to the Wall to try and warn the world rather than just hoofing it to save their own asses, as in the book. Sucks to be Sam.
But not as much as it sucks to be Jon. Because, as always, we get another "you know nothing, Jon Snow " moment. Poor Jon can't help fucking it up, no matter how hard he tries. They're going to have to work hard to elevate Jon to a hero position at this rate, because so far we've only seen him as a moody, petulant fuck-up. Even the moments of coolness he should have had in the first couple of books were downplayed or rendered accidental, while the ways in which he sucks have been magnified. Alas, poor Jon.
Of course at least he gets some reasonably significant screen time. Robb only gets a few moments taking an abandoned Harrenhall, and Catelyn is shown but gets no lines. And even that is more than Arya or Bran get, as they aren't even in this episode. Neither is Jamie Lannister and his warrior maiden escort, for that matter. Indeed, pretty much the only other Stark besides Jon who gets any real screen time is Sansa in her golden cage at King's Landing.
Sansa, of course, has gone from pining for marriage to Joffrey and becoming Queen to pining for escape to anywhere. Being possessed of very poor decision making skills, she opts to put her trust in a man who was obsessed with her mother and betrayed her father, leading to his death. I'm sure he's helping you out of altruism and things will go swimmingly for you, Sansa.
Meanwhile, as Sansa books a trip to Fantasy Island, Tyrion is getting the Cold Hard Reality Fish slapped into his face. Fact of the matter is that Cersi still hates you but you no longer have the power and resources to fuck with her the way you did last season. Oh, and your father hates you too and you're never getting your rightful inheritance. You can almost hear the wheels turning in Tyrion's head calling for revenge, and Dinklage does an excellent job with his barely suppressed and totally righteous rage. As much as I enjoyed Tyrion's rise last season, seeing how he handles is fall should be as good or better.
Someone who's on the rise is Margaery Tyrell. Having replaced Sansa as Joffrey's Queen-to-Be, Margaery is making more of an effort to win the love of the people than Joffrey ever has. Is it a ploy to gain power through the people? Is it genuine concern for her subjects? Both? Hard to say how they're playing her in this version just yet, but I'm enjoying the way she's interacting with Joffrey and Cersi.
The poor Onion Knight, Ser Davos Seaworth, on the other hand, isn't enjoying life. His ship and son were blown up, he's burned and missing fingers, and his boss has tossed him in the dungeon because the crazy fire priestess is ascendant. This is actually a bit of an acceleration over events in the book, but not a bad one given the time constraints they're under. I expect that this particular plotline probably won't change much from the published version.
Finally, we get to Daenerys. In another acceleration, she's already made it to Astapor, the first of the three cities on Slave Bay. Here, she's disgusted by the way slavery is practiced even as she contemplates buy hundreds or thousands of them to fight her war for her. Compassion or pragmatism? What will the Stormborn choose? And will her new knight who appears at the end of the episode, Ser Barriston Selmy who took all of last season off to find her. So now Dany has two advisers, one practical and ruthless, the other noble and virtuous. Which impulse will she follow in Astapor?
So that's where we stand one episode into Season Three. Presumably, we'll be catching up with the characters on the run (Arya, Bran, Jamie) and see what's going on in Winterfell now that Theon's boys decided to take a hike.
It should be fun.
