GOT Review: Episode 17 – A Man Without Honor

Tywin also tells the story of Harrenhall, the greatest fortress built by the leader of house Harren. It was built to withstand land attack, but was destroyed because of Aegon the conqueror and the dragons. Arya knows a little too much Aegon history for Tywin’s taste. Way to break character again Arya. It’s like you want to die. Even when Tywin says he’s impressed, she keeps going on and on, something a commoner would have no clue about. Arya really needed Gendry to elbow her in the ribs and shut her up. Ultimately she gets away with it by mentioning one of Aegon’s sisters, a badass warrior who rode a dragon, is her hero.

Again, Tywin questions how Arya’s father taught her all this, saying he never met a literate stone worker. He lets her slight of asking if he’s met many stonemasons go with just a slight warning. He also tells her that common folk speak m’lord, which Arya never says. He knows there’s more to her than he lets on, but doesn’t make the full connection. Perhaps he doesn’t want to make the connection. If he did, he wouldn’t let her continue to serve him or treat her like an equal. These two always have good scenes, and when it’s paired with the uneasiness of wondering how much Tywin knows, you have some real good tv.

But you know what? It doesn’t matter. Spice King is dead as shit. That’s all I was looking for. Now let’s fast forward to Dany getting her dragons back and never, ever talk about Qarth again. Seriously. I hope Dany torches it worse than Harrenhall.

Cersei says that trying to control Joffrey has proven to be difficult. Cersei had hoped that Joffrey would be like Jaime. Tyrion seems to believe he’s more like Robert. Cersei disagrees because Robert didn’t like cruelty. This is telling for how much Cersei hated Robert, and the fact that Robert had quite the mean streak himself. Robert was no stranger to violence, so Cersei can’t have a positive opinion on old boy Joff.

Cersei questions if Joffrey is a punishment of their sins of incest. Tyrion cites the Targaryens married their siblings, but Cersei says that you’d flip a coin to determine if one child was mad or not. Tyrion mentions that Tommon and Myrcella are good kids, so they beat the odds, bringing Cersei to tears. Even she knows that Joffrey is a monster. This is a rare moment of emotion between the two. Well, other than anger. It won’t last long but in isolation, this was really nice, in a sad way. They are siblings, though I don’t think they ever act that way again.

 In his cell, Jaime talks to Ser Alton, a cousin of his Jaime had no recollection. After several references to an event when Ser Alton squired for him, Jaime does remember him. In fact, Jaime remembers very specific details to the day. I don’t know if he was playing with Alton, or really didn’t remember until it became about Jaime.  Alton idolizes Jaime, saying he’ll remember that day all until he dies. That’s convenient. This seems to be the best day of Alton’s life. Boy did he jump the gun. 

Jaime recounts the time when he squired her Barristan Selmy, and it was a very similar tale. Jaime was mesmerized with Selmy’s battle prowess, saying he was a painter who only used red. He says squiring for him was a dream come real, and that leaving the battlefield was a nightmare. Jaime was an awful squire, but skilled enough to kill one of the outlaws in the fight with Selmy. He says he’s lucky to be who he was. 

Jaime says he’s not built to be a prisoner. He believes that Ned Stark was a great prisoner, another shot at him. Mocking Ned is Jaime’s past time. Jaime then reveals his escape plan, killing Ser Alton. Alton looks stunned, and then Jaime attacks and kills him with no remorse. Like holy shit, even knowing this happens, it’s shocking. By the way, it’s off screen in the book. This was dark. I mean, I loved the bonding moments between the two, but the death was brutal. It shows how much Jaime wants to get back to Cersei. You poor beautiful imbecile. 

An honorary LVP nomination to the guard, for not being able to locate Jaime when finding a dead body. I mean, it’s a frigging cell. There’s only a body and Jaime. How did he get confused? The guard examines the body, and gets choked out by Jaime. This gives Jaime a sword and an open gate. Seriously, he deserves a second death for that bumbling. Ring the shame bell for him. 

Jaime knows that the odds are he will die tonight. He also asks if Brienne was a woman not taking it as serious as you’d might expect. He also might be checking in on her availability later, but that’s a spoiler.  Jaime mentions about the thousand of vows he has to take and how they conflict with each other as quoted below, and just when you think he’s being real, he insults Brienne. I think Jaime was trying to go out on his terms. 

Cersei calls Jaime a man without honor. So there you go. It was Jaime the title referred to. Gasp!

Jaime goes as far to say since he was only with Cersei (this is how you know he was sure he would die) and then says he more honor than Ned, citing Jon, and Cat hatred of the boy because he was a reminder of infidelity. He’s basically goading Cat to kill him. She draws a sword, so it looks like he was successful. I have to give it up to Jaime here. For whatever reason, he pulls his balls on the table when tied to a cell and talks some hard hitting shit. And has anyone ever been more petty than Jaime about Ned? The man is dead for Christ sake. 

The episode ends with Theon showing off mutilating corpses of two children, causing Luwin to scream in agony. I really don’t get the point of this. Is this to show Theon means business, or to make sure every last Northern man comes to wreck Theon’s shit? Having prisoners, even ones who go around killing their cousins, matters in war. All this move did was put a target on Theon’s back. This is why you should always listen to Norbert instead.