Review: Game of Thrones - Mother's Mercy

Valar Morghulis - All Men Must Die. Who would have thought that this term would be so literal in Game of Thrones? The deaths in this series is really getting ridiculous now, I think everyone who watches Game of Thrones will absolutely agree with me. If you are planning to watch Game of Thrones, I’ll tell you what everyone else tells you...do NOT get attached to a character. Also, do not read this review, there are major spoilers ahead of you.

Stannis Baratheon is readying himself for war against the Boltons, only half of his men has mutinied and his wife committed suicide after the sacrifice of their daughter. What a great start! Nothing more than what Stannis deserves, of course. I grew to love the man, but when he sacrificed Princess Shireen, I have stopped caring about him. Or so I thought. There was something about him and his army that I couldn’t quite let go of. But it doesn’t matter, I will never know what that something that I held onto was, because Stannis and his army are all dead. Yet that red bitch somehow managed to survive. Then again, we don’t actually see Stannis die. Brienne of Tarth only draws her sword and takes a slash, but the scene changes immediately at a parallel to Ramsay Bolton killing a man from the Baratheon army. There was a quick exchange between those scenes; we don’t actually see Stannis’ death, so perhaps viewers should look out for his survival. A lot of theories will break out, I’m sure.

In Winterfell, Sansa Stark has had quite enough of his Bolton’s ass and decides to flee. Theon joins her as they jump from a tall tower. Could we be saying goodbye to another Stark? I doubt Sansa is dead, HBO, Game of Thrones and George R. R. Martin have already played with our emotions enough. And if she turns out to be dead, I’m fucking done with this show. But they land on snow and hopefully it’s like landing on a pillow.

Arya takes out another person on her list, the paedophile from the King’s Guard. The one who killed her dance teacher. But that life was not hers to take, according to Jaqen H’gar. So he pays the lost life with a death and drinks poison. Arya is devastated by Jaqen’s death. Yet she is suppose to be no one, thus it shouldn’t affect her so. She weeps and weeps. Then Jaqen reappears, he tells Arya that she is still someone. Arya fails to become no one. Arya turns blind, but neither Arya nor the audience know what she is about to encounter. I doubt it’s her death. Perhaps she’s becoming no one. Who knows? But I just pray to God that it’s something good. Arya is my favourite female character in the show.

Meanwhile, Jamie has a heart-to-heart with his niece/daughter, Myrcella. She confronts Jamie that she knows he is her father, but she’s glad. If I was her and I discovered my mother and father were brother and sister, I’d die from throwing up so much. But thankfully for Myrcella she does die, but not of sickness. From poison given to her by Ellaria through a kiss of the lips. I don’t think anyone cares about this death. I certainly don’t. Myrcella didn’t do anything wrong, so I guess it’s a bit cold from my part, but Cersei deserves this and more.

Tyrion, Daario Naharis and Ser Jorah decide between themselves who is to go find Daenerys after she flew off with Drogon in the last episode. Daario tells Tyrion, Messandei and Greyworm to stay put and look after Meereen. While Daario and Ser Jorah go out looking for her. A nice face to see is the return of Varys as we lost track of him after Tyrion was kidnapped from Ser Jorah. No telling what’s going to happen there. What that characters don’t know that the audience do is that Dany is in the middle of nowhere with Drogon who will not move. She is surrounded by the Dothraki (I think) she once led, but we don’t know exactly what will happen to her. If Emilia Clarke was not such a bad actress, I’d probably support Dany more. If Tamzin Merchant was playing her, I’d be team Dany all the way.

Cersei probably encounters the worst walk of shame imaginable. After confessing to her sins, only one actually, which was fornication, she has to endure the walk of atonement - naked. Not only that, a woman has to ring a bell and say “shame” about fifty times as she walks home...naked, in front of everyone. The crowd are very hostile towards her. They throw rubbish at her, dirt and food. She has no hair to cover her bare chest. This really is a terrible tragedy. But we enjoy it because it’s Cersei Lannister. In which case, it’s not a terrible tragedy but an outstanding miracle.

Then the absolute finale. The scene where everything goes wrong. Stannis was not the only to receive a mutiny among his ranks. Jon Snow, dubbed a traitor by his own men and murdered by about 5 men. “For the watch” they all said. Fuck the Watch. I liked it once, I no longer do. The whole wildling collaboration did not bode well for the brothers of the Night’s Watch. I wonder what Sam’s reaction would have been. Jon Snow was my all time favourite character, and to have him killed off like that, was plain cruel. Not just stabbed once, a quick pierce to the heart, no, being stabbed multiple times, where is the mercy? Oh and by the way, if a brother of the Night’s Watch accidently slips a jagged-edged sword into Olly’s wretched little gut, then make sure it’s properly filmed, in both HD and 3D, with a Beats-by-Dr-Dre type sound.

Fuck you HBO. Fuck you Game of Thrones. Fuck you George R. R. Martin. Fuck you.

10/10