“You think my life is some precious thing to me?” – Eddard Stark
Although I am aware of major events that are coming on Game of Thrones the show as I’ve read the book, by George R. R. Martin, I still found “Baelor” to be deeply suspenseful and engrossing and entertaining.
The HBO series gets better each week as our relationship with the characters and story grows deeper. And this was a dazzling hour of television and the penultimate episode of the season, as major events unfolded across multiple plotlines.
Robb Stark (Richard Madden) and his Northmen found themselves at an impasse on the road south to confront the Lannisters in attempt to rescue the portion of the Stark family being held in King’s Landing. In order to travel by land into the southern part of Westeros, the fortress and bridge known at The Twins must be crossed, which has long been held by the Freys, nominally bannerman to the Starks and the north.
Elderly and lecherous Lord Walder Frey must be appeased and quickly, and a heavy price ends up being extracted in negotiations with Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) – Frey allows the crossing and puts his forces behind the north in exchange for future marriages between both Robb and Arya and two of the many Frey children. This gets into the fascinating politics of the series, which are not far off those of medieval Europe, a time where security is ever precarious and marriages and hostages (or wards) are used to bind families together for mutual safety (or mutually ensured destruction).
The themes of honor and obligation and loyalty and family are hit upon again and again throughout the hour, and we feel the burden of all of the above on the shoulders of “bastard” child Jon Snow (Kit Harington) up in the frozen climes of the Wall. After Lord Mormont (James Cosmo) gives Jon the sword Longclaw, a family heirloom, for his loyalty and bravery for fending off an attacking wight, Samwell (John Bradley) drops the news that Robb is headed south for war.
Soon after, Maester Aemon (Peter Vaughan) tells Jon that he knows that he is considering leaving the Wall and abandoning his oath to the black to be with his half-brother. Real honor is only shown when it is put to the test, he says, and notes that love is the death of honor. He then reveals that he is Aemon Targaryen (or the family that used to have dragons, as we’ve come to learn), and once refused the crown and the Iron Throne out of obligation to his order. His brother Aerys went onto become The Mad King that preceded Robert Baratheon’s reign, setting up the events that occur at the beginning of the series.
Meanwhile, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) is one for whom honor and loyalty seems to mean very little save what the gold from the vast Lannister fortune can buy (and as we can imagine, Littlefinger would well agree with this worldview of the real politik). In this episode we learn a lot more about why: Dinklage gives an award-worthy performance as he reveals to the prostitute Shae and his sell sword Bronn how “drunk and stupid” he was at 16, when he and Jaime had helped rescue a girl, Tysha, from being raped, only to find out that it was all a set-up. She was a prostitute placed in his path by Jaime to help his little brother get over his fear of girls (and virginity). When it was discovered that the love drunk Tyrion married Tysha, Lord Tywin forced his son to watch her have sex with a barrack’s worth of soldiers. She was well paid of course, as we know that a Lannister always pays his debts.
Across the Narrow Sea, the bonds of family loyalty are based on strength and not blood, as Jorah (Iain Glen) tells Daenerys (Emilia Clarke). As Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) lays dying, the Dothraki prepare to engage in a new leadership battle. This essentially means that Dany’s relative stature as Khaleesi is now in peril. Jorah strongly advises that they get out of Dodge while they can, but Daenerys refuses, instead bringing in the “witch” Mirri Maz Duur to whip up a potion to save her “sun and stars.” We leave this scene with the blood of the Khal’s horse sprayed across Dany’s face and strange incantations coming from the tent with Drogo and Mirri Maz within.
The episode ends with two major plot shifts. The first comes as Robb Stark proves that though he is young he has the ability to outwit the Lannisters on the military stage. Sending 2,000 of his men to be sacrificed in a feint (underscoring the escalating price and body count in the so called game of thrones), his main force earns an early victory and importantly captures Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).
Back in King’s Landing, Lord Stark (Sean Bean) finds that his deep sense of honor and loyalty has no place in the capital of King’s Landing. Finally relenting to Varys’ (Conleth Hill, who is terrific in the opening scene with Bean in the dungeons) advice to tell the Lannisters what they want to hear – that Joffrey is the true heir and that he was a traitor in attempting to install Stannis on the throne – he hopes to be able to “take the black” and head to the Wall while saving the lives of his daughters and avoiding all out war in Westeros.
However, everyone seems to forget the sticky little problem that a nasty pre-teen called Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) with essentially limitless power is sitting on the Iron Throne. So, ignoring his mother Cersei’s (Lena Hedley) wishes and his bride-to-be Sansa’s tearful pleas, Joff has an “off with his head’ moment (with poor Arya and Sansa in attendance), which will have very real world consequences.
In short, this war ain’t gonna end anytime soon, and no one is safe.
More thoughts on “Baelor”:
- The show’s opening theme music is quickly becoming one of my very favorites, up there with Mad Men. And looking out for new locations weekly on the dazzling map of Westeros is a true delight (ooh look, The Twins!).
- The episode was directed by Alan Taylor, one of TV’s finest behind the camera.
- “What of your daughter’s life, my lord? Is that a precious thing to you?” – Varys
- “Stark, Tully, Lannister, Baratheon. Give me one good reason I should waste a thought on any of you?” – Lord Frey
- “Your mother was a milkmaid until I squirted you into her!” – More from Lord Frey’s greatest hits
- “Love is the death of honor.” – Maester Aemon
- “Stay low. If you’re lucky, no one will notice you.” – Bronn. “I was born lucky.” – Tyrion
Some stats and info about Game of Thrones, “Baelor”
TV SHOW – Game of Thrones
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 9
AIRED ON – June 12th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – HBO, Max
GENRE – Fantasy, Drama, Action Shows
CREATED BY – David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
CAST – Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Iain Glen, John Bradley, Alfie Allen, Conleth Hill, Liam Cunningham, Gwendoline Christie, Aidan Gillen, Jerome Flynn
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.