(Important Note: A certain scene between Jamie and Cersei caused a lot of controversy the day after. Due to its sensitivity, I will simply address what happened in the episode without analyzing).
Last week’s Purple Wedding was like a fun night drinking with friends. Whether you intended to or not, you had a few too many and it felt fantastic!!! And you were having so much fun that instead of going home when you intended to, you stayed up a few extra hours and enjoyed the moment. But eventually, the sun rises and you have to wake up to the reality that all the fun you had last night did not keep you from the awful headache you have this morning or all the daily responsibilities you now must complete while dealing with that headache.
Watching King Joffrey die last week was a blast for all of us, I am sure. We waited almost four seasons to finally see him pay for all the torture he inflicted on the people of Westoros. But “Breaker of Chains” was our hangover. For all the pleasure we took from last week’s assassination, we now must deal with the reality that Tyrion is facing a fight for his life. “But Tyrion is too integral to the story,” you say. Ask anyone named Stark whether that fact matters very much to George R.R. Martin when writing his books. Fortunately, “Breaker of Chains” was not all relegated to the plight of the Imp. Many characters who sat on the sidelines or had limited time last week return this week and see their stories taking significant steps forward. But before we see the return of Arya and the Hound, the Night’s Watch, and Daenarys, we return immediately to the sight of Joffrey’s purple face for more fallout from the King’s death.
King’s Landing
The opening moments of “Breaker” remind us that Joffrey’s fool, Dontos, took Sansa away from the reception almost immediately after the poison began to take effect. He takes her to a ship conveniently located in a foggy part of the Blackwater holding none other than Petyr Baelish. As it turns out, Dontos was working for Baelish to get Sansa out of King’s Landing. But instead of the gold he was promised, Dontos receives two arrows in the heart to keep him from talking. Despite Sansa’s protests, Lord Littlefinger seems to convince her that Dontos, though he seemed noble, was nothing but a drunk who is just about the money. So after almost three seasons of trying, Sansa is finally out of King’s Landing. But will Lord Littlefinger make a better host than the Lannisters were?
And with Joffrey dead, Tommen, his younger brother, is now king. Tywin wastes no time attempting to influence the new boy king. I don’t believe the coldness of Tywin Lannister has ever been more evident than this discussion he has with his grandson in front of the fresh body of his dead brother about what it takes to be a good king. Cersei is not pleased at all with this discussion her father and son are having as neither one of them seems to be grieving at all like she is. Jamie later enters and Cersei wants him to kill Tyrion for the death of her son. Though Jamie seems torn, he quickly forgets about it and forces himself upon his sister, raping her right next to their son’s corpse.
Tywin continued dealing with important matters of the capital, meeting with Oberyn Martell. Apparently, every important conversation the Red Viper will be having this season will be after someone named Lannister comes in and interrupts an orgy… Oberyn reminds Tywin once again about the rape and murder of his sister at the hands of the Mountain. And Tywin offers Oberyn the chance to interact with the Mountain if he will accept a spot on the King’s Council and a seat in the jury for Tyrion’s trial.
It was encouraging to see Tyrion with some fight in him. In fact, I think we saw more fight in him in that cell that we’ve seen from him all season. His squire, Podrick Payne, comes in and makes very clear the deck is stacked against the Imp at trial. But that does not stop Tyrion from encouraging his squire to do whatever he has to in order to save his own life. You have to admire both Pod’s loyalty towards Tryion as well as Tyrion’s willingness to give himself up if it means saving his squire’s life.
The Riverlands
Has anyone written a theme song for the inevitable spinoff comedy for these two? Arya and the Hound are somewhere neither one of them is quite sure of. We just know they are in Tully territory from the responses of the father and daughter they run into. After some wonderful table manners displayed by the Hound, the man offers him a job doing farm work and protecting him (premise for the spinoff???). But Arya awakes the next morning to find the Hound has taken the silver he was promised without doing the work and is on his way (never mind). When confronted by Arya, the Hound informs her that the man is week and, when winter comes, he and his daughter will be dead anyway. In a world full of hypocrites and liars, you can always expect to Hound to be truthful about the way things are even when he’s doing detestable things.
Dragonstone
Stannis is losing patience with his hand, Davos. Of course, Stannis never seems to have patience for anybody or anything since he found out he should be king. And he doesn’t like being stuck on this island with no army or money to push his claim to the throne. But Davos, while reading with Shireen, has an idea. He gets Shireen to write a letter to the Iron Bank of Braavos. The action on Dragonstone was much better this week as we at least received reasoning for why Stannis and his men are still hanging out on the island and now have a potential solution for that problem.
The Wall
Sam and Gilly sitting in a tree!!! Major flirting is going on at Castle Black as Sam worries that the other rangers think of Gilly in an impure way, being she’s the only woman present at Castle Black. But Gilly only seems to wonder if one man thinks impurely about her (look at you, Sam!!!). But Sam proves that his experience beyond the wall has not broken him entirely of his cowardice. He worries for Gilly’s safety and wants to take her to Moletown. But one look at Moletown makes you question how Sam thinks this place is safer. After getting her a room, Gilly assesses the situation accurately. She thinks Sam just doesn’t want to be the one having to protect her. Let’s hope Sam figures out his error fairly quickly here.
One complaint I have so far about this season is a lack of Jon Snow. I think his screen time now totals ten minutes after three episodes. Now don’t expect this continue. The Wildlings are coming and The Wall will take on more importance the closer Thormund, Ygritte, and the Cannibal Thenns get. They attack a village and send a young boy to inform the Night’s Watch they and Mance Rayder are coming. But just as the Night’s Watch prepare to put all resources to the wall, Grenn and Edd return after escaping Craster’s Keep. It is now being run by Rast and the other deserters of the Night’s Watch after they killed him. Jon Snow knows the Night’s Watch must get out there and take care of the deserters, or they will tell Mance Rayder the real state of things at the wall. If Mance knows there are only 100 men and not 1000 men on The Wall like Jon Snow told him last season, then the Wildlings will be far less cautious with the attack.
Across the Narrow Sea
Daenarys arrives at Meereen and the people there do not seem concerned. There is significant laughing as the rulers of Meereen send out a rider (who pisses in front of Dany’s forces) to fight with a man Daenarys selects to go against him. All of Dany’s mighty men volunteer, but she picks Daario because he (using his own words) would be the easiest to lose. Unfortunately, the fight scene here is very anticlimactic. Not to say it wasn’t cool to watch New Daario take the rider down with a throwing knife. But far more intimidating than New Daario is Dany when she speaks Valyrian and sends cases of broken chains (that’s where the name of this episode came from!!!) over the city walls. Prospects for the slave masters of Meereen are not promising for next week.
Notes and Questions for Next Week
-The Iron Bank of Braavos was mentioned last week when Lady Olenna spoke with Lord Tywin after the wedding ceremony. The crown has borrowed a significant amount of money from the Iron Bank, so their interactions with Davos should be very interesting.
-And once again, our Tyrell ladies had the screen time reduced. But it was good to hear the Queen of Thorns remind Margaery that she is better off not married to Joffrey.
-The writers did a wonderful job making us feel sympathy for Dontos before he was killed. The books have interactions between Dontos and Sansa that cover a good part of two books, but I didn’t feel sympathy for him through any of it. The writers wisely narrowed down their conversations to three episodes instead of stretching it out longer, in my opinion.
-Another element so far that has been left out of the TV shows has been Jamie’s love for his brother. The two have a very good relationship despite the way Cersei and Tywin feel about Tryion. Will we see more of this affection for Tyrion now that he is in peril and the two will likely be in the same location for at least awhile?
-Another name to keep in the ears for the future is the Golden Company. They are a well-known sellsword army from across the Narrow Sea. Davos mentioned them to Stannis as a possibility for an army to fight for him.
-The last image (which is up for about a half second) in the preview for next week’s episode has me really excited!!! If it is who I think it is, you will find out about him in next week’s write-up. If not, well then I guess I will just have to remind myself that I should have a life outside of this imaginary world I throw myself into and I should’nt let it disappoint me so.
(Editor’s Note: This article was written by Jeff Merrick)