GOT Review: Episode 9 – Baelor

Here’s where the second biggest twist this show ever had takes place. And man did it throw people for a loop. If there was no book material, we would have gotten a completely predictable and uninspiring fate for Ned Stark, at least in my opinion. Can’t say I think anything of the show runners that isn’t “shit, shat, shittary”

Summary: Cat bargained with Walder Frey in one of the worst trades in history. Jon gets a pretty badass sword and learns a lot about his long lost relative (spoilers!). Dany tries to save Drogo by opening several gates of hell. Tyrion sleeps through the battle. Robb bests Jaime in a battle. We see no combat in Westeros whatsoever. Ned is sentenced by the justice of a sword to the back of the neck.

Quote

Bronn  – I would have killed the man who did that to me.

Bronn says this in response to Tyrion’s story of Tysha. In the story, Tysha is saved from rapists by Tyrion and Jaime. She is low-born, but Tyrion falls for her quickly and marries her. Afterwards, Tywin makes Jaime reveal that she was a whore and the whole plot was orchestrated. Then, an entire Lannister soldier group rapes her, paying each time. In the show, it ends there, but in the book a lot of different things happen – first, Tyrion is forced to rape her after everyone else did. Then, we find out books later than Jaime was forced to lie to Tyrion about her being a whore – she wasn’t. In the show, the story stops there, and while tragic, it doesn’t have the same impact.

What does have an impact is Bronn’s words, as this will become true as the story goes on. Tyrion will ultimate kill Tywin, but not over Tysha, but rather Shea. It’s a bit of subtle foreshadowing I didn’t notice till this re watch. 

Varys plea to Ned – Varys visits Ned’s cell, giving him water and letting him know that Sansa pleaded for his live. To try to show his loyalty, Varys tells Ned a very personal story. If Varys can be trusted, and I don’t think that’s possible, he would want an honorable man like Ned alive. Varys claims he wants peace. Then Varys tells Ned that Robb is marching South for his freedom. He also doesn’t believe Stannis would not be a good king. Varys pleads with Ned to claim Joffrey as a king and go to the Night’s Watch.

Ned says he’s honor isn’t worth anything, even his life. He’s not afraid of death if it means doing the right thing. This is the fatal flaw of Ned Stark. It’s also very concerning considering everything Varys says. In fact, the only thing that makes Ned question he decision is Varys telling him to think about his daughters. It’s the first time in the cell he considers anything other than honor. I think this is when he decided to change his strategy at the “trial”.

Hero’s rewards for Jon – Jeor Mormont gives Jon Longclaw, the sword he will wield for the rest of the series. It is Valerian Steel, which becomes an extremely important tool as the series goes on. The sword was originally for Jorah, but he’s too busy being a fish out of water across the world and banished for selling human lives for money. Jeor’s gift is for Jon saving his live. Think about how meaningful this gesture is – Jon gets a sword meant for Jeor’s only son. Maybe this Stewardship thing isn’t so bad.

Jeor sent Thorne to King’s Landing with the torn hand as proof of the walkers, and also as a favor to Jon. Hell, this is a significantly better gift than Longclaw. Not even close. Jeor definitely sees something in him, and Jon brightens up a lot about his place in the watch. He becomes a hero toward a lot of the Watch, though this favoritism will get him enemies. Like dick bag Alliser Thorne.

Robb accepting his duty – Cat returns to grant the crossing, as well as providing men, in change to marry Arya to one of his songs, squiring another, and unfortunately for Robb, being forced to marry a Frey daughter. It’s a big power play from Frey, getting to marry into the family that could rule the North twice. I don’t like Frey, but for an old men, his shriveled up balls still must be pretty big. Did I mention shriveled? I want the imagery to stick.

Robb doesn’t sway from the comment, though he’s not happy about the lack of suitable daughters. Robb has no choice, so he agrees. Robb cares so much about duty and saving his family, he’ll marry a Frey. Yuck.

Surprise frigging Targaryen- After Jon hears what’s going on with Ned and Robb, he feels like he needs to be there with his family. Aemon, the maester and a man of about 350 give or take, explains that the reason the Night’s Watch has no wives or children is to not be conflicted in their commitment. He tells Jon that it’s not easy to make the choice, and Jon flips out on Aemon saying he doesn’t know how conflicted he is. For most people, this would be true. Aemon on the other hand had even a worse experience – the extinction of the Targaryens. Reading the book, this casual confirmation of another Targaryen was always crazy to me. Here’s a man who only has, now, one (well two, but you know, SPOILERS) relatives left, dealt with unspeakable atrocities to his clan and even gave up the throne. I mean, this man could still be king. In fact, if he chose the throne, the mad king wouldn’t have taken the seat. That has to be tough to live with it.

Aemon says it’s up to Jon to make he choice, but he must live with it. Aemon seems a bit sad that he stayed behind at the wall. In some ways, it seems like he’s pushing Jon to go if his heart believes in it.

Tyrion missing the battle –  After a night of heavy drinking, Tyrion is awoken to Bronn saying the war is starting. Even trying to get to his post is difficult as he is nearly run over for the other soldiers. Tywin has decided to put Tyrion’s tribesmen in the front line, which doesn’t sound good for him. Bronn’s advise – Stay Low. What a lovable asshole

Tyrion gives a rallying speech to the tribesmen, and as they race to battle, he is knocked in the head by one and is knocked unconscious by a hammer. He comes to being pulled on a wagon by Bronn. The Lannisters won the battle and we missed all the action.

Now, it would seem like I should hate this move. Clearly the writers saved some budget by avoiding showing any battle scenes. However, let’s think realistically – should Tyrion beat anyone in a fight with metal weapons? I’ll say no. This was actually a more realistic outcome for Tyrion surviving – missing the fight. I like this change from the book. I read that Martin hated having Tyrion fight and do well in the book. This seems like a good way to avoid that.

Robb’s battle plan – In another stroke of grim genius, the main Lannister forces only defeated 1/10^th of the Stark army. Tywin advises Tyrion of this, and they realize their battle was a diversion – the true battle was for Jaime’s men.

It’s a bit grim of a battle plan, but effective. Robb returns to Cat with Jaime Lannister captured. Jaime still has quips. He tries to goad Robb into 1 on 1 combat to end the war and save lives. At the time, this felt like a bluff, but I think Jaime’s being honest. He’s rather fight 1 on 1 because he believes himself to be the best knight in the kingdom. Also, he does care about lives – though we aren’t supposed to know about that yet. Robb is not the level of soldier that Jaime is, like his father he’s a strategist, and passes. He wants to trade Jaime for Ned, Arya and Sansa. Robb feels incredible guilt about the 2,000 men he used as a diversion. That can’t be good. Robb also gives a speech that this one victory and capture has not won anything. I mean, we still have 60 episodes to go, so he’s right.

All of this just again shows what a great job the show has done on Robb. They capture his brilliance for strategic combat (like his father should have been shown), he’s smarts in not accepting Jaime’s challenge, and his honor in feeling remorse for having so many of his men killed to win a battle.

Ned’s Death – The crowds hate Ned, and boy does this crowd show to be fickle as the series goes on. While being carrying away, Ned notices Arya, and tells Yuron to go get her in code. After the discussion with Varys, it’s clear Ned will choose his family over his honor, only the second of third time he’s done so. Here’s a list of the times he didn’t show honor:

1. Jon – Except not really.

2. Changing the wording of Robert’s last will and testament – Though this was because he wanted it to be accurate.

3. At his trial to save his daughter’s life

By contrast, Walder Frey told 7 lies while taking his morning shit.

Ned looks at Sansa before confessing his treason, an act that probably hurt him more than anything in his life short of his father and brother dying by the hands of the mad king. He lies and says he plotted for the throne himself and declares Joffrey the true king. It’s a wonderfully acted scene – you can feel Ned forcing the words out of his throat, against his will. Even for his daughters and avoiding death, he doesn’t want to sacrifice his honor.

Joffrey reveals his official heel turn, noting that Cersei wants Ned to join the Night’s Watch and Sansa’s pleading, yet still demands Ned’s death. Sansa flips, Arya is terrified while in the crowd, and even Cersei says this is the wrong thing to do. Ned, having sacrificed his honor for his children, realises he’s lost everything.

The episode ends in near silence, all we hear is Ned’s breathing and his shame. We don’t see the beheading, but we get the confirmation in the next opening. I even like they left that small glimmer of hope for a week. That, my friends, was a roller coaster episode and the best of the season.

Character – Lord Eddard Stark – I think the most important thing about Ned is that he’s not really as important to the main narrative as you might think. No really, think about it. Sure, Ned has a big impact on the past, and sure he is the main character of this season, but al his actions are really set up for the main plot for the next few seasons – the battle for the throne, the war of the 5 kings, and the plotlines for the Stark Children. He was built and presented as to being the most important character in the show, but he was really a plot device. I guess technically you could argue anyone is a plot device, but I think he definitively was

Honestly, think about his character, and other than honor and caring about his kids, was there a lot there? Not really. And I don’t have anything against Ned – really I don’t. It’s just that there’s a reason they didn’t seem to give him a lot of sides and angles like the other characters. Part of that is because Ned didn’t get the time to undergo a full character arc – Martin knew he wasn’t making it past the first book/season so his arc was short. But looking back, how much more depth did a character like Oberyn Martell get over Ned? I’d argue a ton. And he was in the story for less time. Trust me, I’ll be complaining about that.

The biggest moment for Ned in his character arc is his decision to throw his honor away at the Baelor and confess to be a traitor who made up lies. It seems kind of silly for anyone who knew Ned Stark. But this was his fatal flaw – following the letter of the law to a T. He wouldn’t even tell Jon the truth about his parents when he was of age. I guess the need to protect the kid, but eventually he should know – especially when he’s considering joining the Night’s Watch to not feel like a Bastard. This could have stopped Jon from banging his aunt. I don’t think anybody should want that… well maybe Jaime and Cersei would understand.

There are so many ways Ned could have survived before the trail but not worrying about honor. Had he sided with Renly, he’d be on the council and things would be significantly different. Instead, the only person he trusted was Littlefinger, a man who outright said “Don’t trust me.” I guess judgment wasn’t one of Ned’s qualities.

In the end, Ned died when he gave up his honor, hoping to save his children and join the Night’s Watch. Imagine him being involved in some of those battles. I don’t think Martin would have killed Ned off for a while. He might have even taken Stannis’ offer about being named Lord of Winterfell – remember, they lose their titles in the watch, driven by revenge for his family. He could have become a very, very interesting character. Alas, he died in the first season, setting the stage for his kids… Even Bran. Damn it Ned.

What didn’t work

Cat and Lord Frey – Lord Frey is, how to say, a low brow piece of shit. He speaks down to Cat and pretty much every one else in his own family. He considers everything a slight against him. Frey wants nothing to do with the conflict. He says he swore loyalty to the crown and to the North. He doesn’t see any reason to bother with conflicts that don’t involve him. He doesn’t want to help the North or the South, he’d rather just be an old bastard who takes about 80 wives. It takes a very VERY favorable deal for Cat to get him to lower his gates and give some men, though it wasn’t many. This wasn’t Cat’s best bargaining either, but that’s the price to win a war.

Artemis is a bad influence – When a weakened Drogo falls off his horse, it doesn’t look good for the Dorthraki leader. Dany’s immediate reaction is to get Artemis to look at it, probably her worst decision of season one. I also believed that Mango poisoned his blade when he cut Drogo, but it could easily have just been Artemis making the wound worse instead of healing it. I’m not sure which. I lean toward the latter, but both make sense

Jorah tells Dany two significantly bad things: 1, Drogo is going to die. 2. The new Kahl, whoever takes over after a ton of fighting, will likely have Dany and her unborn son killed. Drogo’s second in command tells her this, and will have Dany killed for letting the witch touch Drogo. That’s not looking good for Dany.

Artemis tells her she can bring back Drogo, but it requires a lot of blood magic. Drogo’s… horse… will need to be sacrificed. I underline horse because that’s going to be a lie. Do to Dany’s desperation, Dany allows it. The horse is brutally killed and everyone is sprayed with blood.

One of the blood riders, Qotho, who is so badass he doesn’t even follow language rules of Q always being followed by u, takes offense of this blood magic and tries to stop it. Jorah bests him in combat, mostly due to his armor. Then, Dany’s baby is about to come, and the only person capable of delivering, according to Dany, is Artemis. She wants to go into the shrieking, blood soaked room? That sounds incorrect. Jorah does so, and the results are not pretty.

The drinking games – I like two of the three characters involved in the drinking games a lot, but I don’t know, it seems like an excuse to build up who they are. We do get some background info on Bronn, but it just makes him seem like a semi clichéd killer with a tragic past. I don’t think there was much thought to it, and it’s played up for humor. Shea doesn’t really take part at all and makes a lot of the scene seem unimportant – filler if you will.

The one story we get of meaning is Tyrion discussion his terrible experience with Tysha, his first wife that lasted about 4 hours. We never get more info about this in the show, and it’s a real shame. Tysha is part of the driving force in Tyrion’s storyline after the third book. Because the show ultimately drops the ball here, I’m not going to address much of it. But let’s just say there’s a decent chance Tywin would still be alive if it wasn’t for Tysha.

I mean, probably not, but maybe.

Jaime’s capture –  For all the hype that Jaime has gotten as being one of the best knights in the Kingdom, we sure haven’t gotten much out of him yet, have we? I mean, he was captured by Robb and this was his first battle. It’s just been an unimpressive showing from the Lannister. The funny thing is throughout all seven seasons, I don’t think we ever get to see a good fight from Jaime. The one against Ned wasn’t great because Ned should have been fodder to him. We never really see him fight again. Maybe Tywin was right – season 1 Jaime is wasted potential.

Cersei’s effort in controlling her son – For someone who wants power more than anything, Cersei sure did drop the ball trying to run interference and prevent the beheading. Killing Ned doesn’t really help the Lannisters – it not only makes them look like tyrants, but it loses their main bargaining chip in war for Jaime. They don’t know he’s captured, but it’s still better to keep lords in prison or, you know, ALIVE. This shows Joffrey is uncontrollable and Cersei has no reigns on the kid. That’s going to be a problem.

Death – Qotho, Khal Drogo’s Horse, at least 2,000 Starks and countless Lannisters (off screen) oh and Ned Friggin Stark.

Boobs – 1

Needless Graphic Sex – .25 Shea and Tyrion make out. Not really sex.