Mike Rapino
Dreamer
Yoren, oh Yoren how short our time with you was....
Where to begin with this recap. The variations from the book are coming hot and heavy now thankfully the overall essence of the story remains intact. Some of the things occurring are going to become increasingly difficult to discuss as events and ramifications could cause spoilers to later events. I will endeavor my best not ruin future events.... Let's kick it off with Arya.
We find Arya and company camping out for the night. Largely these events are taken from the book with minor depth filling alterations. Of note the conversation between Arya and Yoren. Yoren telling her about saying the name of the person she hates will lead to a much larger development in her character later. We also see the death of Lommy which was moved up. In the book Arya, Hot Pie, Gendry and Lommy escape and there is a number of days as a fugitive before we see Ser Amory Lorch capture them and kill Lommy. Not a huge deal this was mainly done to expedite the process and to get Arya to Harrenhal. Also if you blinked you missed Arya saving the guys in the prison wagon. This is more important and I wish they would have highlighted it a bit further.
Catelyn's arrival at Storms End. One of the things I was wondering is how they would portray Cat's inner thoughts when she arrived at Renly's camp. In the book she was concerned with the constant stopping, feasts, tournaments. It's made clear in the books that Renly much prefers to let Robb and Ty win fight it out allowing him to easily march to a weekend Kings Landing. But all we are given is Catelyn's line "You have a Knights of Summer and Winter is Coming" and sums up her feelings, but overlooks the bigger picture. Renly is an honorable man, misguided but honorable. His actions are driven by the Tyrell's and it is these actions that will cause the events we see later when he meets up with his brother.
When I first saw the scene between Renly and Loras I rolled my eyes at another added "sex scene". But then as the scene and the addition of Margaery played out I realized IMO the scene was brilliant. It laid it all on the line. It told us so much about the Tyrell's motivations and especially about Margaery's role. In the books Margaery is so much younger and we don't see her this way until much much later. I appreciate this change for what it was, speedy character development.
We also got to meet Brienne of Tarth, or Brienne the Beast for she is certainly no lady. In the book and on screen this character's brief appearance was perfect. The only thing that bothered me, in the book Renly didn't have Kingsguard he had "Rainbow Guard" not sure why they changed this.
In Winterfell we again see Bran caught up in a dream seeing through the eyes of his wolf. I am glad they are introducing this now, but there is an important part missing. Well important people actually. Meera and Jojen Reed are by Bran's side in the book and they serve to help Bran understand what is going on even as Maester Luwin is not. I am also glad that they are emphasizing that the the dragons are gone and so is the magic.
North of the Wall we see the outcome of Jon's spying. Not much really happens here. We learn that the Lord Commander knew what Craster did to the boy babies. One thing to point out. The addition of the White Walkers now is interesting. In the book, well we really don't see them again until much much later. I think the show added this to remind us of their constant threat.
Vary's and his riddle were presented to us just like they were in the book. This is also the first time we get the impression that perhaps it was Vary's who told Joffrey to kill Ned.
What did Tyrion learn from Vary's riddle? He learned how to snuff out a snitch. Much of this occurred like it did in the book. The only exception being Theon was never one of the candidates in Tyrion's manipulation. It was just the Vale and Dorne. I think using Theon served a singular purpose of tying the Greyjoy story to the Lannister story and reminding the viewers that all of this is connected. Also I guess this is really the first time we hear the name Doran Martell of Dorne. He becomes important later.
So this bring us to the the best part of the episode and that is Alfie Allen's Theon Greyjoy. If you read my recap last week you will remember I noted the absence of the The Drowned God. While Theon's uncle Aeron (A priest) remains absent, this week we learned that yes there is another God worshiped in Westeros (5 Kings, 3 Queens, 6 Gods if your keeping count).
In the books the story of Theon jumps around and we never see the inner turmoil he has for Robb his friend, his brother. We jump straight from Balon's plan to Theon on the boat. It was nice touch to add Theon writing and then burning a letter of warning to Robb. I hope that Martin actually intended us to assume this inner turmoil in the book. Since Theon's later actions are.... can't say right now sorry
Missing, again like I said last week this isn't surprising but Robb, Jaime, Dany, and Stannis had no role in this episode.
Comments, Critiques, Mistakes, and Feedback are always welcomed.
Mike
Where to begin with this recap. The variations from the book are coming hot and heavy now thankfully the overall essence of the story remains intact. Some of the things occurring are going to become increasingly difficult to discuss as events and ramifications could cause spoilers to later events. I will endeavor my best not ruin future events.... Let's kick it off with Arya.
We find Arya and company camping out for the night. Largely these events are taken from the book with minor depth filling alterations. Of note the conversation between Arya and Yoren. Yoren telling her about saying the name of the person she hates will lead to a much larger development in her character later. We also see the death of Lommy which was moved up. In the book Arya, Hot Pie, Gendry and Lommy escape and there is a number of days as a fugitive before we see Ser Amory Lorch capture them and kill Lommy. Not a huge deal this was mainly done to expedite the process and to get Arya to Harrenhal. Also if you blinked you missed Arya saving the guys in the prison wagon. This is more important and I wish they would have highlighted it a bit further.
Catelyn's arrival at Storms End. One of the things I was wondering is how they would portray Cat's inner thoughts when she arrived at Renly's camp. In the book she was concerned with the constant stopping, feasts, tournaments. It's made clear in the books that Renly much prefers to let Robb and Ty win fight it out allowing him to easily march to a weekend Kings Landing. But all we are given is Catelyn's line "You have a Knights of Summer and Winter is Coming" and sums up her feelings, but overlooks the bigger picture. Renly is an honorable man, misguided but honorable. His actions are driven by the Tyrell's and it is these actions that will cause the events we see later when he meets up with his brother.
When I first saw the scene between Renly and Loras I rolled my eyes at another added "sex scene". But then as the scene and the addition of Margaery played out I realized IMO the scene was brilliant. It laid it all on the line. It told us so much about the Tyrell's motivations and especially about Margaery's role. In the books Margaery is so much younger and we don't see her this way until much much later. I appreciate this change for what it was, speedy character development.
We also got to meet Brienne of Tarth, or Brienne the Beast for she is certainly no lady. In the book and on screen this character's brief appearance was perfect. The only thing that bothered me, in the book Renly didn't have Kingsguard he had "Rainbow Guard" not sure why they changed this.
In Winterfell we again see Bran caught up in a dream seeing through the eyes of his wolf. I am glad they are introducing this now, but there is an important part missing. Well important people actually. Meera and Jojen Reed are by Bran's side in the book and they serve to help Bran understand what is going on even as Maester Luwin is not. I am also glad that they are emphasizing that the the dragons are gone and so is the magic.
North of the Wall we see the outcome of Jon's spying. Not much really happens here. We learn that the Lord Commander knew what Craster did to the boy babies. One thing to point out. The addition of the White Walkers now is interesting. In the book, well we really don't see them again until much much later. I think the show added this to remind us of their constant threat.
Vary's and his riddle were presented to us just like they were in the book. This is also the first time we get the impression that perhaps it was Vary's who told Joffrey to kill Ned.
What did Tyrion learn from Vary's riddle? He learned how to snuff out a snitch. Much of this occurred like it did in the book. The only exception being Theon was never one of the candidates in Tyrion's manipulation. It was just the Vale and Dorne. I think using Theon served a singular purpose of tying the Greyjoy story to the Lannister story and reminding the viewers that all of this is connected. Also I guess this is really the first time we hear the name Doran Martell of Dorne. He becomes important later.
So this bring us to the the best part of the episode and that is Alfie Allen's Theon Greyjoy. If you read my recap last week you will remember I noted the absence of the The Drowned God. While Theon's uncle Aeron (A priest) remains absent, this week we learned that yes there is another God worshiped in Westeros (5 Kings, 3 Queens, 6 Gods if your keeping count).
In the books the story of Theon jumps around and we never see the inner turmoil he has for Robb his friend, his brother. We jump straight from Balon's plan to Theon on the boat. It was nice touch to add Theon writing and then burning a letter of warning to Robb. I hope that Martin actually intended us to assume this inner turmoil in the book. Since Theon's later actions are.... can't say right now sorry
Missing, again like I said last week this isn't surprising but Robb, Jaime, Dany, and Stannis had no role in this episode.
Comments, Critiques, Mistakes, and Feedback are always welcomed.
Mike
Auror
Maester
