Game of Thrones: Episode 4 Overview

This weeks episode of Game of Thrones “Garden of Bones” was definitely the most action packed episode of the series by far, and each week I continue to be amazed by how much the writers are able to fit into each episode. Let’s take a look at where the characters have ended up this week.

“That should help his foot grow back”

The field if full of blood and death after Robb Stark’s army massacred a Lannister camp. If season two hasn’t been violent enough for you, episode four would most definitely satisfy your craving. You ever wonder what a body looked like after a wolf attack? Well this episode will give you a glimpse of that. However, despite the fact that Robb’s army conquered the Lannister camp, some of his followers, Roose Bolton for example, believe that Robb shouldn’t be so merciful towards the prisoners, “The high-road’s very pretty but you’ll have a hard time marching your army down it.”. However, it’s soon after this conversation that Robb is being called too cruel by the new character Alyssa, whom Robb seems to have eyes for. He meets Alyssa sawing off the foot of a wounded Lannister cousin, and Robb is immediately drawn to her. However, she quickly puts him in his place when he tries to find an excuse for the attack, leaving Robb a little speechless. I don’t believe this will be the last we see of the mysterious Alyssa.

“Lady Stark, you may survive us yet”

It is easy to forget Sansa’s role in the Stark/Lannister conflict while she’s stuck in a castle, and the rest of her family are out fighting a war. Sansa, as the only Stark under the Lannisters control has become the resident punching bag of both Joffrey, and this was her worst week yet, because Joffrey wasn’t holding back at all this episode. He shamed Sansa publicly for her brother’s treachery, and then continued to have two hire prostitutes beat each other in front of him. Is this the start of a new fetish for Joffrey? As if I needed another reason to despise him. Once again though, Tyrion showed me why I adore him so much, as he saved Sansa from the vicious hands of king Joffrey before he could damage her too drastically. But Tyrion still leaves me reeling, whose side is he actually on, every time I think I have a handle on his actions he does something that causes me to question his motives again.

“Every time the Qarthian shut their gates on a traveller, the ‘Garden on Bones’ grows.”

The last we saw of Daenerys Targaryen and the Dothraki were wandering the desert on the brink of starvation, however, it looks like the mother of the dragons has found refuge in Qarth, “the greatest city that ever was or will be”, according to The Thirteen, the mysterious keepers of the city. Daenerys once again showed that she was a leader in her own right when she willfully fought against using her dragons as a means to gain sanctuary in Qarth. Instead, she used her fighting words and proved to, at least one of the Thirteen, her honesty and strength, allowing her and the Dothraki entrance to the city without compromising the integrity of her dragons.

“Shadows cannot live in the dark Ser Davos. They are servants of light. The children of fire. And the brighter the flame, the darker they are.”

While all around I believe that this was the best episode of the season so far, there is one scene that stands out as the biggest WTH moment in the episode, and that scene is brought to you courtesy of The Red Priestess. In Stannis’s attempt to win the battle against his brother Renly, he sends his loyal follower Davos to smuggle Melisandre ashore, and what comes after left my jaw slack. I knew she was crazy, but this was just too much. In the middle of a dark cave, in what seems to be her attempt to seduce Davos, she drops her robe and reveals her pregnant stomach, and if that wasn’t shocking enough, she proceeds to sit on the ground and give birth. However, what comes out of her is nothing human; she gives birth to black shadows that crawl from her womb and disappear into the shadows of the night.

So, was this your favorite episode? What are you most looking forward to for next week? Personally, I can’t wait to find out what Arya will do now that she is employed by the head Lannister, and of course, I’m dying to know what the hell came out of Melisandre!

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