“We have to get the girls back, and then we kill them all.” – Catelyn to Robb
A thrilling and tantalizing end to Game of Throne’s first season, “Fire and Blood” provided a few additional surprises to follow up upon the Westeros-shattering events of “Baelor,” while wonderfully setting up a Season Two that will depict events from A Clash of Kings, the second novel from A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin.
One thing we know now for sure is that newly crowned King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) is a naughty, nasty prepubescent monarch indeed. His shocking decision to behead Ned Stark (Sean Bean) – even to his own self-interested Lannister clan – has deep and lasting repercussions.
But before we get there, I have to give full credit to the outstanding performance of young Gleeson alongside Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark. Sansa, Ned’s daughter, looks like a ghost walking around her own life in this episode, totally appropriate for a girl whose entire life has been ripped inside out. The scene in which Joffrey forces Sansa to look at the head of her father and her septa on spikes is brutal, and shows what might await a Westeros under the leadership of this bloodthirsty boy amidst an intensifying civil war.
In any event, we know that Ned’s death prevents any short term truce from being settled with the furious Starks in the north, while daughter Arya (Maisie Williams), witness to the beheading, was rescued by Yoren of the Night’s Watch (she’s now Harry the orphan boy on route with the scum of Kings Landing’s prisons to the Wall, as “no one will give a —” about her/him with short hair and dressed in rags).
After the northmen’s victory at the Battle of the Whispering Wood, Robb Stark’s bannermen decide not to back either of the Baratheon brothers to claim the Iron Throne and instead declare Robb as King in the North, roughly analogous to Scotland declaring its full independence from England. Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) has a great scene with Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in which she visits him after his capture. His bitter advice to the new widow is revealing: get some rest as we’re all about to settle in for a long war. It’s also noteworthy that while he chooses to cop to the act of throwing Bran out of the tower in Winterfell (which was an inciting incident for many events that follow), he did not reveal why.
Lord Tywin meanwhile recognizes that the “young wolf” has wind at his back, and decides to send Tyrion (Peter Dinklage, amazing in every scene he’s in) to King’s Landing to rule as Hand of the King in his stead. His real mission of course is to bring the foolish and impetuous young king to heel and his mother along with him “if needs be.” Also, he tells his son, “You will not take that whore to court. You understand?” But just before that he actually refers to Tyrion as his son, something the Imp would likely have never thought possible.
It’s again a credit to the writers and producers throughout the season that they were able to capture so much of the story and flavor and culture of the book without overwhelming the television audience. Another standout duo is Aidan Gillen as Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish and Conleth Hill as Varys. These might be the two smartest and most pragmatic people in King’s Landing, and it’s clear that each both respects and dislikes the other. And meanwhile we saw more of Maester Pycelle (Julian Glover) than we have to date, revealing that the elder statesman and advisor is far less senile than he chooses to appear in public.
Up at The Wall, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who along with Tyrion is among my favorite characters, faces a crossroads. There’s a great scene where Samwell and Pip and Grenn talk Jon out of deserting, recounting “the words” sworn to the Wall and the Night’s Watch. Samwell Tarley (John Bradley) shows substantial character development over the course of the first season, from painfully shy and inept laughingstock to brave ally and friend to Jon.
Commander Mormont (James Cosmo) lets Jon off the hook lightly for deserting, perhaps in part due to the fact that he is preparing his forces to go beyond the Wall, into the realm of the wildlings and White Walkers, to confront the realm’s enemies and find Benjen Stark. And all the while Bran back in Winterfell is still dreaming about three-eyed crows.
And if all of that isn’t enough for you, we get major game-changing events going on across the Narrow Sea. Daenerys’(Emilia Clarke) unborn son, the stallion who was supposed to mount the world, dies as price to bring back her “son and stars,” Khal Drogo, but for nothing more than to have an empty shell brought back to life.
Now Daenerys has lost her child, lost her husband, and lost her standing amongst her Dothraki people (most left the moment Khal Drogo became seriously ill). Perhaps knowing that she has nothing to lose while having some sense that she cannot be injured by fire, Daenerys walks into the funeral pyre that is consuming Drogo, Mirri Maz Duur (the witch who betrayed her), and the three dragon eggs… and walks out the next day alive, naked, and with three baby dragons huddling to their mother, the so-called daughter of the dragon.
Drogo and Ned Stark’s death show that not only is this series willing to kill off its “big” characters in surprising and even startling ways, but that these losses have important and profound impact on the story and characters as well. And when we return to Westeros in the spring of 2012 for Season Two, we will see raging civil war taking place while northern creatures conspire beyond the wall and a new master of dragons emerges in the east. That’s to say, I can’t wait for more.
More thoughts on “Fire and Blood”:
- “My boy, they have your sisters. We have to get the girls back, and then we kill them all.” – Catelyn to Robb
- “The dark is coming for all of us. Why grab at it?” – Jaime Lannister
- “Three of those riders had already raped me before you ‘saved’ me, girl.” – Mirri to Daenerys
- “Do you think your brother’s war is more important than ours?” – Commander Mormont to Jon Snow
- “When dead men, and worse, come hunting for us in the night, do you think it matters who sits on the Iron Throne?” – more Mormont
Some stats and info about Game of Thrones, “Fire and Blood”
TV SHOW – Game of Thrones
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 10
AIRED ON – June 19th, 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.