Game of Thrones - The Kingsroad **

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I fully understood that there isn’t much more I personally could add that hasn’t been picked with a fine tooth comb and analyzed ad nauseum regarding Game of Thrones. At some point somebody has made a point or comment about every aspect and characterization involved in each and every episode. But I have had some really good discussion with folks at work about the show, particularly with a few big fans, so some passing thoughts do ping-pong about in the brain. In fact I have actually written about The Kingsroad a few years back on the blog. I’ll try to make it quick, then.

Bran awakening at the end, his eyes opened when it wasn’t expected, I just thought that was great stuff. Certainly he shouldn’t be. With Cersei and Jaime believing their handiwork in the previous episode would take care of him, a hired assassin not preparing for Cat and Bran’s direwolf to defend a comatose Bran also not successful; Bran’s recovery at all is seemingly a miracle. The episode, if anything, emphasizes the direwolf, as protector and victim. When Arya and the “butcher’s boy” are just dueling playfully with sticks, Joffrey and Sansa just so happen to be in the area. Immediately, two episodes in, we see that Joffrey is big-mouth douchebag kid needing a good attitude adjustment. With the crown his eventually (as we would unfortunately find out a little later), Joffrey is this entitled brat who runs to his mommy when he’s embarrassed by Arya, using her own gift sword (from Jon, an earlier sweet scene where he says goodbye to her as he is about to head off to the Nights Watch) as a warning to him. This after Arya’s direwolf defends her by going after Joffrey’s arm. Unfortunately it is Sansa’s direwolf that must be sacrificed, as Cersei demands the attack on Joffrey be repaid (Arya getting the direwolf to leave rescues it but there will be blood when it comes to the Lannisters). That is the lesson we learn every episode: crossing the Lannisters is detrimental indeed. I was chilled by the cold-bloodedness of Cersei when she visits Cat, revealing the loss of her own child, all the while responsible for the hired assassin who nearly kills Cat and was in close proximity of a defenseless Bran. Ned having to leave Cat behind, also expected to allow Sansa’s direwolf to die (ultimately taking care of this himself), while enduring the presence of the Lannisters; Eddard Stark, requested by the king to accompany him to King’s Landing, has to stomach a lot. And telling Jon he’d tell him about his mother the next time they saw each other…a tragedy in itself. Jon will not have that conversation with his supposed father. They part never to see each other again.

I wrote a hell of a lot about this and the first episode in 2016
Winter is Coming & The Kingsroad