Game of Thrones Review: “The Night Lands”

It really is nice to be back reviewing Game of Thrones again, as out of every program I’ve covered, it always seems like there’s just so much to talk about. I like Dexter, but Game of Thrones makes it look about as deep as Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

In this week’s episode, I was surprised to see that once again, every single major character group was covered, save Rob Stark, but I consider the Greyjoy outing part of his storyline. As such, we only spent a few minutes with each of them. I really wish this show was like three hours long per Sunday.

“We are balding beard brothers!”

Tyrion continues to be an uprooting force at King’s Landing, and his exchange excommunicating the baby killing City Guard captain was pure brilliance. Just as enjoyable was his exchange with Cersei, which was funny as usual, but revealed a greater truth. Joffrey is getting out of control. He’s the one who issued the order to kill the bastard heirs, and his mother recognizes that he’s being too severe for his own good.

We didn’t see the little bastard this week, but his presence is heavily felt. Tyrion made the best point of the evening by saying that you can’t rule over millions who want you dead, and now between the boy king’s killing of Ned Stark, starting a war, and his adventures in baby killing, there is such a thing as being too harsh for your own good. He fancies himself a Targaryan, but look how that turned out. I think his days are numbered, at the very least by the end of this season.

The surviving bastard, Gendry, was sought out by the king’s men, but his platoon leader did a great job fending them off by threatening castration. I loved the exchange with the kids by the river, where the fat lad talks big about seeing a “battle” because two men he saw fighting outside a pub once were “wearing armor.” More importantly however is the fact that Gendry now knows that A) Arya is a girl and B) she’s a Stark. I like their relationship, and I want to see them in a fight  together sometime soon. Possibly giving that fat kid a wedgie.

The little Greyjoy finally got his moment in the spotlight, a secondary character no more. Annnnd of course when it’s his time to shine, he ends up not brokering the deal he set out to and accidentally molesting his sister. I hate when that happens. What exactly is the Elder Greyjoy’s plan now? Who is he going to rise up against to reclaim his kingship if not the Lannisters?

“You are about to be none too pleased with who walks through that door.”

We saw a bit more of Stannis and his brigade at the end of the episode. I’m still learning their names, but I like the bearded guy who negotiates with the pirate (who I also like) and his lines about seeing gods all over the lands was fantastic. Now we also know that the priestess is NOT Stannis’s lover. Well, now she is, but she wasn’t before, and the promise of a son turned him onto her more than her naked body, which I found funny. Is it just me or is sex in this show  unnecessarily violent in almost every single instance?

I thought there’d end up being some tomfoolery with the creepy man up north’s daughters, but I wasn’t expecting that sort of turn. I figured Jon Snow might trip, fall and land inside one of them, but no, he witnessed the man feeding his newborn son to the White Walkers. Quick question here, are the White Walkers the raised dead, or are they their own magical class of the living who CREATE the raised dead? Perhaps I’m not supposed to know that, but I wouldn’t mind a touch of clarification from those who know. I don’t want the whole story, but I am curious in that distinction.

The new Frodo and Sam.

Lastly, I suppose it’s worth mentioning that Daenyrs showed up for a brief scene in which one of her scouts turned up butched. Was that the one she kind of liked last episode? I couldn’t tell from the back of his head. In any case, she looks like she’s in an increasingly worse spot with every new development. Is she EVER going to connect with the real action on the mainland? It seems so far off. Fly dragons, fly!

I like this show because nearly every scene has a fantastically written and acted conversation. Tyrion and Cersei. Little Greylord and Big Greylord. Littlefinger and the whore. It’s just an unrelenting consistency of quality that even “boring” episodes free from action like this one are still fascinating, and that’s why I love the show.

So, what did you think? And as always, no book spoilers please.

 

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29 Comments

  1. I hadn’t seen the episode yet but having read through the books I decided to read your review. AND having said that I think I will stop reading until seeing the show because it seems like two of the things you mentioned didn’t happen in the books. I won’t say what two but I think I can see some deviation. But it has been awhile since I’ve read Clash.

  2. I havent read the books so this is pure speculation on my part but I thought when Elder Greyjoy said he wasnt talking about the Lannisters that he ment they were going to go against the Starks. Perhaps making a run at Winterfell as revenge for beating them years ago.

  3. The White Walkers/Others only appear two or three times in-the-flesh in the entire series as far as I am aware (I’m half way through Winds of Winter). They were the real enemy that the First Men (the first immigrants in Westeros, their descendants are the men you see in the show) and Children of the Forest (an extremely magical people who lived off the land to a point that would make Native Americans look like wasteful pigs) united against. Once The Others had been pushed back, mostly by magic from the Children, I believe, the wall was built to separate them from Westeros.

    The Others eventually stopped being seen by the Night’s Watch and that is the reason their ranks have grown so small. Only 3 of 13 (I think) castles are in use at the time the show takes place and they no longer have enough men to cover the entire wall. It’s been thousands of years since they were seen and nearly as long since the Children died out. Very few even worship that religion (referred to as the ‘Old Gods’ in the show) anymore and I believe it is limited just to the region of Winterfell who worship and still send out periodic searches for the Children.

    Hopefully that answers things. I doubt they will reveal too much in the show about The Others unless Martin releases the next book incredibly fast and it finally brings them to the forefront of affairs.

  4. in the books there was a distinction between the Others (white walkers) and the wights (zombies) they raise, but i missed it the first time reading the first book. it’s really only mentioned in the prologue of the first book, where the Others there are depicted as ephemeral beings with almost translucent armor and crystal swords. in the show, they just showed a more malevolent shaded figure with a regular sword…which i’m fine with, really. that level of effects for the pilot would have cost too much and also been harder for new viewers to swallow than just, “eh, zombies.”

    and that scene with Jon following Craster out into the woods is NOT how it happened in the book, so i’m really curious how this will play out next week..!

    keep up the reviews, Paul. i really look forward to them on mondays. i’m still impressed with how well you (and some other non-reader viewers i know) pick up on the nuances of the characters without being told explicitly by the author.

  5. @Mandy: the bloodriders of a Khal (or our Khaleesi) are referred to as “blood of my blood”. think of them like the Kingsguard…except that they’re sworn not just to die defending their Khal, but also either in the process of or immediately after avenging his death..! that gives them a slightly more vested interest in keeping the boss alive than, say, a kingsguard member known as the Kingslayer.

    also, because of this belief that their sworn protectors are of the same blood, some Khals will even share their wives with their bloodriders. thankfully, Khal Drogo was a bit more progressive than that, so at least Dany didn’t have to endure that. funny bit about that tradition: they’ll share wives but never horses. you never touch another man’s horse.

  6. Stanis’ pirate cajoling sidekick is the Onion Knight who used to be a smuggler, but now has a “complicated” fealty to Stanis.

    Not sure who got their head chopped off. It’s a deviation from the books. But “Blood of my Blood” is an honorary to all of her Bloodriders. Guardians sworn to a Khal until death. After Drogo died 2 of 3 took up with Danreys. The third was killed in ep 9 of last season. So it was one of the 2.

    Not going to ruin the story for you, but a number of the questions/issues are not resolved for a number of books (which I can only think will be translated into season, although I could easily see Storm of Swords being seasons 3 &4) This season is all about the rise of a number of kings. And unless there are some MAJOR rewrites, resolution on that isn’t until next season (for the most part)

  7. And that whole prostitute as a major subplot… totally for the show. She’s barely a footnote in the first novel and that’s it. I’m guessing HBO is just doing it, cause they needed someone to get nekkid on a regular basis=contract savings $$$. And in typical HBO fashion, while the books do have graphic and often violent sexual acts they are more of a small undercurrent than a focal point in the books.

  8. Loved the episode, and agree that even with a lack of action, this show is fascinating with its twisty, turny plot! I’m adoring Arya and Gendry, especially the fact that he cottoned on to her being a girl so quickly. I’m also laughing at the image of them giving Hot Pie a wedgie, LOL!!

  9. The sex in this episode was exaggerated. It deviates a lot on this matter from the books. I hope the series doesn’t deviate much from the book anymore, since the first 30 minutes were accurate, the following were changed.

    What was the whole point of that “crying whore/Littlefinger threatning” scene? It’s a pointless subplot, time which could be used for major development on other characters. It didn’t even had to do with Littlefinger’s character development.

  10. # Burns

    I suspect that the Littlefinger scene is supposed to offer some insight into his thinking so that we can make better sense of some of his actions/comments later on in the story line. Not a highlight of the episode, but necessary for those who don’t know the history of the character like readers do.

    Speaking of, Paul Tassi! – it’s time to pick up the first book and read it. For a 1000+ page book, it’s an incredibly fast read and not boring at all, even though you know the plot points. I received the series for Christmas and have read a book a month. You won’t regret it.

  11. This episode disappointed me a little, the scene with Stannis and Melisandre was changed from the book. To me at least it sort of changed the entire character of Stannis. In the books he is portrayed as a lawful neutral character, doing things because of honor or the law, not good or bad. With his treatment of Davos, this personality is clearly evident. He wouldn’t be the type of guy to have an affair no matter how shitty his wife is, simply because she is his wife. It kind of fundamentally changed who Stannis is. I’m interested to see where the show takes this. Last season they stayed pretty faithful to the book, but this season they have already changed a few things, like one of Daenerys’ bloodriders being killed. They are not major characters but they have bigger roles in the later books.

    Sorry Paul, like harshreality79 said a lot of your questions are not answered for a while. This isnt really a spoiler because you can see it in the first season, but the wall, south of the wall and the east are like three different stories running parallel to each other.

    @Josh Winds of Winter, really? The First Men are only the ancestors of people in the North, the Andals came in the second biggest migration to Westeros and are the ancestors to everyone else, not as much in Dorne though. They brought the current culture and government system to the Seven Kingdoms.

  12. @Christopher

    Actually, the whole “sex between Stannis and Melisandre” thing is kind of implied in the books, but not very clearly…there’s one incident which happened in the book that would explain it, but I can’t really post it here due to spoilers.

  13. Here’s some help with names for some of the newer characters (no spoilers):
    *Davos Seaworth: Stannis’s advisor
    *Matthos Seaworth: Davos’s son (and writer of Stannis’s letter in the first episode)
    *Melisandre: Stannis’s priestess
    *Salladhor Saan: pirate approached by Davos
    *Lommy Greenhands: blond kid with Arya and Gendry (introduced at the end of last season)
    *Hot Pie: big kid with Arya and Gendry (introduced at the end of last season)
    *Jaqen H’ghar: guy within the cage that Arya speaks to
    *Balon Greyjoy: Theon’s father
    *Yara Greyjoy: Theon’s sister (Asha in the books)

    I’m amused that Jorah is called “Jorah the Andal” by the Dothraki, as he is from Bear Island in the North (First Men territory, not Andal).

  14. Christopher, there are hints in the text that Stannis does have red fever, IIRC. The TV show just decided to make the relationship visible (like with Renly and Loras from the first season).

  15. Im loving this show but cramming all these characters into an hour I see as becoming a way for the show to become a bit disjointed.

    We caught glimpses of this in this episode. In a few places it felt rushed because there were so many characters to get through.

  16. Josh is a timetraveler.

    I’m a bit (just a little bit) disappointed with this season. There are still magnificent sights (I positively loved Pyke!!), and the overall story and tone of the book is still there, but I’m starting to get annoyed with the many modifications that have already been made (councerning the books). Now, while I do value faithfulness regarding the source material (which was flawless in the past season, making it the single most well succeded adaptation I had ever seen or even conceived) I do realize aswell that some modifications have to be made. But most of the scenes that were written purposely for the show were handled in clumsy ways. For instance, Littlefinger should not have confronted Cercei in the way that he did (because he is a master manipulator and works on the shadows, he does not expose himself thus unless the time has come to strike), and this week I did not like seeing Stannis with Melisandre. Like some of you have said it’s completly out of character. Then again I don’t really remember what happens in the books (SPOILER ALERT PLEASE BE CAREFUL IF YOU KEEP READING ON) except that Melisandre then births a shadow that looked like him, but I seem to recall Stannis denying to Davos any sort of romantic envolvemnt with the priestess [I think I got the impression that she had entranced him, and maybe that was what we saw on the show, though I reckon it should have been handled more subtly] (or maybe this is a false memory, I really can’t remember). Anyway, still a terrific show, but getting a bit too confortable when it comes to taking liberties, and it’s a pitty, because they may choose (or be forced) to modify things but they should be careful in the ways they treat the ensemble (and you can tell by their youtube channel that the whole crew has a lot of respect and are familiar with the Song of Ice and Fire lore, so I really can’t explain their options and that is what bothers me, I don’t understand that they are trying to convey that they couldn’t have in another way).

  17. @svc181

    Could you please elaborate on that matter? I’ve read the second book a long time ago and this topic (Stannis + Melisandre, did they or didn’t they?) kinda flew over my head when I was reading it. Can’t you state what you’re thinking if you start the comment with a big spoiler alert notice? It’s just that I’m really curious about this.

  18. All I have to say about this episode is I can’t believe they’re allowed to show jizz.

    Loving the show but the brothel scenes are a bit gratuitous.

  19. @truant

    I’m pretty sure the White Walker that we saw in the opening scene of the pilot had one of those crazy awesome crystal swords, so no reason to be disappointed there.

    Great review as always Paul, and I agree that the episodes should be at least 3 hours long, each one goes far too quickly!

  20. I was seriously shocked to see Rhakaro (one of Dany’s Bloodriders) turn up headless. Sure he’s not a major character but he didn’t die in the book (well at least not up to book 4 where I am right now).

    Davos Seaworth (bearded guy arguing with the pirate) is one of my favorite characters, he has some action in front of him, and he’s just such a decent guy you gotta love him.

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