★★★★★
Wow... am I the only one thinking this is the best episode of the entire season, and possibly the best episode in the whole series so far? Yes, I know it deviates from the books a lot, but as the Hound would say: "f*** the books!" Honestly: every... single... frame of this episode was compelling, fascinating, surprising and/or touching. There were so many things set up and thrown together, that Season 5 is going to be surprising regardless of whether or not you've read the book. Needless to say: I loved every millisecond of it!Obvious spoilers for those who haven't seen the episode yet!
The episode starts where the last one ended, with Jon seeking out Mance Rayder. We had to wait a long time to see our King behind the Wall. He's not exactly happy to see Jon Snow again, but he does has the courtesy to have a drink with him. But just as he's boasting about how he's going to kick some Night's Watch ass, he's in for the biggest surprise of his life as thousands and thousands of riders march in. Finally there's a king who actually does something for the people he's looking to rule. All hail Stannis, the new King in the North!
Qyburn is falling more and more in love with the festering and dying body of the Mountain, and he's looking forward to... treating him. Cersei has no problem with that at all, as long as Gregor regains his strength. But Grandmaester Pycelle knows how far Qyburn will go to achieve that, as it's exactly the reason why he was thrown out of the Citadel. I'm curious to see where that's going.
Cersei proves to be quite the lioness, as she confronts her father about her Tyrell-arrangement once more. This scene shows a powerful performance by Lena Headey, by the way. She'll do anything she can to stay with her boy and even spills the beans about her relationship with Jaime. It was surprising to me that Tywin had no clue what was going on. Even in spite of his pride, he should be too clever to see what's going on right under his nose. After her outburst, she sees Jaime to declare her love for him. I don't think that was the best idea she had today, because that probably was the last push he needed to do what he did at the ending of the episode.
After breaking so many chains, Dany is forced to forge new one's for her dragons, who have gotten out of control. In one of the earlier episodes we saw a farmer presenting the remains of his goat to her. This time another farmer presents her dead daughter, who was killed by Drogon. Dany is devastated, but she has no choice but locking her dragons up. Viserion and Rhaegal are easily captured, but what about the strong-willed Drogon? We'll have to wait and see.
Ygritte gets a proper farewell, as Tormund convinces Jon to burn her body if he ever loved her. Ah, Rose Leslie, thank you for all the wonderful scenes, your charming and powerful performance. Your "You know nothing, Jon Snow" lines will be sorely missed.
Bran and his party finally make it to the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven. But just as they're about to enter, they get attacked by skeletons! Meera and the awesome Bran/Hodor warg team manage to fight most of them off, but in a very unexpected turn of events, Jojen gets stabbed and perishes. That was when I was shouting at the TV: "No! No! No! You can't do that! That doesn't happen in the books! He can't be dead!!!"
The Three-Eyed Raven himself doesn't really look like I expected, though. He's an old, frail guy, but his magic does kick a lot of ass. Also, the Children of the Forest look very interesting. It looks like Bran has finally arrived in the Land of Magic, where he will learn to fly.
Team FTK are minding their own business in the Vale, as Brienne and Podrick happen to stumble upon them. Having sworn to keep Cat's daughters safe, Brienne has no intention in leaving Arya in the company of the Hound. But it looks like the Hound's feelings for Arya are deeper than we thought, and he has no intention of giving her up to some weird she-male. But in the fight that ensues, the wounded Hound is no match for the strong Brienne. She leaves him crippled. But Arya doesn't even want to be saved. She can't bring herself to kill Sandor, as he obviously isn't on her list anymore, and she heads off on her own.
Tyrion is in his cell, waiting for his inevitable demise. But suddenly, Jaime comes in freeing him. Before Tyrion escapes to safety, he wants to pay a visit to his father one last time. And just as he thought his life couldn't get any more shittier, he discovers Shae lying in Tywin's bed! Outraged by her complete and total betrayal, he strangles her with her own necklace.
Then it's time for Tyrion's final confrontation with his Lord father... on the privy, no less. Tywin tries to talk Tyrion down, saying whatever he believes Tyrion wants to hear. But one word he certainly shouldn't have said, was "whore". And so he spoke, and so he spoke... that Lord of Casterly Rock... and now he's dead, right on the loo, with no whore left to f..... okay, let's move on!
The episode ends with Arya finding a ship captain from Braavos, and finally cashing in the coin she's got from Jaqen H'ghar. And there she goes, crossing the sea and heading for the great city of Braavos. Just as a little trivia: did you know the Faceless Men's HQ is in Braavos? We'll see how Arya will put her new found talents to good use in Season 5.
Well, that's it! The final episode of Season 4. I absolutely loved it and I think it's one of the best episodes in the entire series. So I'm pretty shocked to see so many "average" reviews. I will read them all later, but I guess book readers are not liking how this episode destroys their expectations. I can appreciate that. But on its own, this episode is masterfully written and executed. There were great twists in almost every storyline, so I'm definitely looking forward to Season 5!
Valar morghulis!
Read other answers by Geoffrey Reemer on Quora:
- In Season 4, Episode 10 why didn't Tyrion follow Jaime's plan? What was his intent when he deviated from the instructions?
- Content That Contains Spoilers: Why did Stannis Baratheon not come via Castle Black when he aided the Night's Watch?
- Content That Contains Spoilers: Will Bran Stark be able to control the minds of dragons?
from Quora http://ift.tt/1r4FvDs
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