Ep 3.4 "And Now His Watch Has Ended"

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SPOILER ALERT:  This is a recap of the episode, so if you haven’t watched it and don’t want to know what happens, exit now…

The last episode finally started to jump off a season full of drama with Jaime Lannister’s hand being cut off.  I’m very excited for what is to come because I have read the book, but don’t worry, this blog is about the show and I will not post any spoilers from the books.  Regardless of where Jaime ends up, his world has changed.  He’s lost the only thing he thought gave him worth, his sword hand.  In season one I thought he was pretty arrogant and also didn’t like that he pushed Bran Stark from the window for catching he and Cersei together.  Then he really got on my bad side when he surrounded Ned Stark in Kings Landing and put a spear through his leg.  I had to like one attribute in that he loves his brother Tyrion and will defend him against his father and sister.  His character definitely has the potential to grow and I hope he will start the journey to a different legacy now than he had before.  Jaime just has to figure out what he wants it to be and open himself up to it.  Luckily, for now, he has Brienne to cheer him on.

Jaime and Brienne are being taken to Lord Roose Bolton who is not an especially great man.  The captors have Jaime and Brienne on horseback and Jaime’s amputated hand has been strung around his neck just for extra measure.  Brienne can tell that his spirit has broken.  During their travels she has seen the bad qualities in Jaime, but he has also let some of his good qualities slip in front of her.  She being a warrior as well can imagine what it would be like to be stripped of your honor, the thing that you felt made you who you are.  Besides his spirit being broken, he and Brienne have not really been fed or had water and Jaime falls off of his horse from weakness and defeat.  She asks the men to help him and give him water.  They hand him a water sack and being dehydrated he gulps it down.  They tell him it is horse urine.  He grabs for a sword with his left hand and tries to fight the men, but he has never fought left-handed and they soon get the better of him.  Brienne comes to his defense, but doesn’t get much farther than Jaime.  They stop that night for rest and Brienne sees that Jaime isn’t eating.  She asks him what he’s doing and he says he is dying.  She thinks he is being stupid, he gets “one taste of the real world” and he’s just ready to give up.  She tries to motivate him to eat, to live and to get revenge.  She brings up what almost happened the night before when the men took her away to rape her. Jaime said she was from the Isle of Tarth, the Sapphire Isle and her father would most likely pay a nice ransom in sapphires, but the Isle of Tarth is referred to as the Sapphire Isle because the color of it’s waters, and Jaime knows this.

In Kings Landing, plans are being made for the biggest wedding of the year, King Joffrey and Lady Margaery’s nuptials.  Cersei and The Queen of Thorns (Lady Olenna Tyrell) are with them as well going over the details of who to invite.  They seem to bond for a quick second while talking about the realization that men rule the world and they don’t always rule with their brain.  Meanwhile Joffrey is giving Margaery a tour of some of the rooms where the famous Targaryen’s were murdered and are buried.  Since it panders to his sociopathic tendencies he does this with great excitement.  Cersei thinks it’s a macabre subject to discuss while planning a wedding, but Margaery says she loves hearing about it.  Joff gives her a quick “WTF” look, but Margaery saves herself by saying that even though they may have done bad things it is the history of the kingdom.  In the background you can hear the crowd outside.  Joffrey notices so Margaery seizes the moment (and the fact that Cersei is on the other side of the room) and talks Joffrey into opening the door and going outside to see his people.  He is a little shy at first and Cersei goes crazy when she realizes what is happening.  Margaery is used to the limelight and knows how to work the crowd.  She is waving and Joffrey takes a cue from her.  The crowd cheers them both.  Joffrey realizes that Margaery is loved and not afraid of showing herself.  Cersei is even more insecure with Margaery’s ability to manipulate Joffrey and she is not happy about it.

Varys meets with Ros (Petyr Baelish’s right hand lady).  They discuss a bit of gossip about Pod’s (Tyrion’s squire) rather large member and his remarkable stamina and ability to please some of Petyr’s working girls that insisted he not pay for their time together.  (I think this was added in as an easter egg to book fans.)  Varys asks Ros if Lord Baelish is losing interest in Sansa Stark, but Ros tells him that Petyr has booked a room with two beds on the ship that will take him to the Vale.  They both agree that there is no one Petyr would regard high enough to pay for another bed apart from Sansa Stark (since he was beyond in love with her mother).  After the meeting Varys goes to “personally” welcome Lady Tyrell to Kings Landing.  He tells her he believes they have a common interest in Sansa Stark’s future and what her options for betrothal might be.  Varys admits to Lady Tyrell that Lord Baelish seems to have an interest in Sansa.  He doesn’t trust Petyr and points out that if he marries Sansa Stark he could lay claim to Winterfell.  Lord Baelish will be Lord of Harrenhal and Protector of the Vale (until little Lord Robert comes of age).  If he manages to manipulate marrying Sansa Stark he will have Winterfell too and could try and start a war in the kingdom.  Varys wonders what options Lady Tyrell might have for Sansa and urges that they move quickly.  Margaery goes to visit with Sansa and deepen their bond.  Margaery tells Sansa that she should go see Highgarden, but Sansa reminds her that Queen Cersei has her under lock and key and would most likely not let her go.  Margaery says she will be queen soon and she would love for Sansa to marry her brother Loras.  Then she would have to go to Highgarden.  The Queen of Thorns works fast, but is it fast enough?  We should all remember that Cersei has not forgotten about Sansa and may have plans for her as well.  I guess we will see who moves their pieces into place first on Sansa’s behalf:  the Tyrell’s, Lannister’s, or the devilishly manipulative Lord Baelish.

Tyrion visits Varys to see what he may know about his sister’s plans to kill him.  He needs proof and wants to know if any of The Spider’s “little birds” know or saw anything.  While Varys tells his own life story of how he was made a eunich he is busy taking apart a crate.  He confides in Tyrion that when he was taken as a child he was given drugs to numb him, but they didn’t dull his senses.  Varys was awake throughout the ordeal.  After the sorcerer cut off his parts he said something in a different language and threw them in the fire.  Words were spoken back out of the fire and Varys heard them.  He tells Tyrion to be patient. That is what he had to be, he wanted to live.  He had come to Kings Landing from Myr and had to do unspeakable things to get here.  He did what he had to and was patient and now he could take his revenge.  Varys finishes opening the crate and a man is tied up inside, the very sorcerer that castrated him.  Tyrion’s lesson is that he needs to be patient and figure out the best plan of action before acting on vengeance.  Remind me not to piss Varys off…

Queen Cersei visits the Red Keep to talk with her father.  The scene opens with Lord Tywin dutifully writing letters and sealing them while Cersei waits for his attention.  Lena Headey is perfect as Cersei, the audience can see how aggravated she is at having to wait for her father’s attention as if she was just anyone coming in to talk with him and not his daughter (who is the Queen Regent).  I want to love her for trying to be a strong woman.  I guess I love to hate her.  After a few hems and haws Lord Tywin asks why she wanted to see him.  Cersei asks if they are doing everything possible to get Jaime back.  Lord Tywin reminds her that when Catelyn Stark took Tyrion he started a war and if he would do that much for that “lecherous creature” consider how much he would do for his eldest son and heir.  Cersei doesn’t leave so Lord Tywin tells her to go ahead and say whatever she wants.  She says that he always relies on his sons for his legacy, when in fact she feels that she is more loyal and a better choice to rule the land.  She wants to contribute.  Cersei tells him that the Tyrell’s are a problem because Margaery knows how to manipulate Joffrey.  Lord Tywin thinks that is a good trait because Joffrey has been left to do whatever he wants with no control.  He finally confides to Cersei that he doesn’t mistrust her because she is a woman, but because she thinks she is smarter than she is.  She let her son run loose and do things that hurt is image as a king and wants the power to rule, but is irrational.  She tells her father that he should try telling the King no and he says he will.  I can’t wait to see that.

The Men of the Nights Watch are still holding up at Craster’s Keep while the wounded are regaining their strength.  Another brother has passed and the men are getting hostile.  Craster is not being very generous with his food, but seems to be fine with taking wine from them.  Lord Mormont assures the men that Craster is being generous and to leave the issue alone.  Craster goads the men as he boasts killing ninety-nine sons and complaining that the men should leave his keep.  Lord Mormont assures Craster they will leave as soon as the wounded can move, but the wildling suggests they kill the wounded or leave if they don’t have the stomachs and he’ll do it himself.  That pushed the men over the edge and into chaos.  One man called him a bastard, which he considered an insult.  He decreed the next man to call him bastard would die.  Lord Mormont told the men to quit engaging with Craster and walked outside the tent for a moment.   That gave them a chance to call Craster a “daughter fucking, son killing bastard”.  They cut his throat.  Lord Mormont hears the scuffle and returns only to get a stake in his back by one of his own men.  The men of the Nights Watch break out into fights against themselves, and Lord Mormont dies.  Sam takes the opportunity to find Gilly and her son and take them on the run before anyone can find them.

Arya wears a hood as she is taken to a cave of the Brotherhood Without Banners.  Their leader is Lord Beric Dondarrion who has been reborn under the Lord of Light.  Lord Beric tells the Hound that he will be punished for his crimes.  He’s been tasked with hunting down the Hound and his brother the Mountain.  The Hound says he is not guilty of his brother’s crimes of pillaging and killing children.  Arya screams out that he cut down Mycah, the butcher’s son on the way to Kings Landing.  Lord Beric decrees that the Hound will have trial by combat.  Will Arya get to cross another name off of her list?  Is she closer to getting home once they’ve dealt with the Hound?  Though her sister Sansa is surrounded by enemies, she knows where she is and who her allies may be.  Poor Arya has been all over the kingsroad and doesn’t know friend from foe.  As soon as she seems to get closer to one of her family she is pushed in a different direction.

Bran is on his own journey that only Jojen Reed and his sister know about.  We’re not sure where they are headed yet, but Bran’s dreams reveal that there is a quest they must go on.  He is still having skin-walker dreams and looking for the three-eyed crow.  He see’s his mother in one and she shakes him so hard that he falls  His journey is just beginning and I’m very excited about the possibilities and mystery of it all.

Theon, Theon, Theon (shaking my head) what will happen?  His ally that freed him from his bonds and slew down the men in the woods says he knows the way to Asha.  As they walk, the young man says he is from Salt Pines and remembers seeing Theon have to leave with Ned Stark when he was a child.  Theon asks if it was true that his father knew those men were torturing him and doing nothing about it.  He says he was forced to choose between his family and the Starks.  He was jealous of Rob and wanted to make his father proud, so he chose his Ironborn brother’s and sister’s and came to his father’s aid.  He admits that he only took Winterfell to please his father.  He found two orphans, burned them and pretended they were Bran and Rickon Stark and then he burned all of Winterfell.  He says he made a choice and it was the wrong one.  His real father lost his head at Kings Landing and he was sorry for his betrayal.  (Okay Theon, you get a few cool points for admitting that.)  Unfortunately Theon discovers he was deceived.  This young man who claims to be taking him to his sister actually leads him back to his captors and that X where he will be tortured.

And finally, the biggest story line of the night (at least in my opinion) is Danaerys Targaryen trading a dragon for an army of eight thousand men.  The slaver Kraznys tells her (through his interpreter Missendei) that some of the men have not been tested and she will need to bleed them young.  He suggests that she sack a few smaller cities selling off the captors as slaves.  As usual, he is calling her insulting and suggestive names thinking she doesn’t understand him.  Finally the time comes for the trade.  Danaerys takes out her dragon and hands the leash to the Slaver.  He is so enamored that he seems to miss all the signs that point to what hell is about to break loose.  He hands Danaerys the scepter and she tests a few commands to the Unsullied in the Old Valyrian tongue.  They get into position.  She commands them to kill every slaver and release all of the captives to be free.  Kraznys is too involved in trying to get the dragon to come to him to hear what is going on.  He tells Missendei to tell the “bitch” that her dragon isn’t coming and before the girl can translate to Dany, she replies back in Valyrian that a dragon is not a slave.  As he looks at her bewildered and tricked she tells him that Valyrian was her mothers tongue,  and of course she would know it.  She yells “dracarys” (fire) to her dragon.  Kraznys is toasted and the dragon flies around burning other slavers as well.  All of the slavers try and command the Unsullied to go after her, but she has the scepter and they are hers now.  After all non-slaves are dead Daenerys takes her Silver (horse) and rides where all the men can hear her.  She tells them that as of today they are all free, but asks if they will fight for her as free men.  They seem to be excited about the opportunity.  That scene was worth the wait!

What will Dany do with her 8,000 men?  Will she sail to Westeros or wait until her dragons are larger?  Will Jaime find his way back to Kings Landing and his place in this world?  What will happen to Sansa and who will the Hound save his own life in trial by combat?  Until next week…