GAME OF THRONES SEASON 3 EPISODE 10 SEASON FINALE TV RECAP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Game of Thrones wraps up a stellar season and sets us up for season 4, can you stand to wait another year?

Game of Thrones, Season 3, Episode 10, “Mhysa”—Last week could have been the better way to end season three, but with only 10 episodes in a season, us die-hard fans don’t mind getting another one, even it’s a “set-up” type of episode that will slide us into season four, which is really the other half of George R.R. Martin’s second half of his book, “A Storm of Swords.”

Although this episode wasn’t as epic as the last, it still served its purpose and had some interesting, future plots for us to pay close attention to.

Bran, while held up safely in an old abandoned castle with his little crew, tells one of his old Nan’s stories about a man who killed a king’s son for revenge and fed him to that king in a meat pie. But although the man thought he got his revenge, he was turned into a giant white rat doomed to eat his young forever.

If you didn’t catch on, or haven’t read the books, when you enter someone’s home and you break bread with them, whether you’re a friend or foe, you are safe. This rule is sacred in Westeros and Walder Frey broke it, with Tywin Lannister’s backing.

I’m sure we’re all waiting for some kind of revenge on our beloved Starks, which never seems to come. But perhaps some justice will be served up in the next season, one can only hope. But as mentioned, if you’ve read A Storm of Swords, the best book in the series thus far, it’s devastating but also satisfying.

Back on to episode 10, like most of the episodes it was staggered, trying to squeeze in every character and their storylines into one cramped scene. With so much material, it’s hard for the writers not to pack in as much as they can.

It was great to see Samwell and Gilly come face to face with Bran, Sam is shocked to learn that Bran will not reunite with his brother Jon but will forge ahead North to his destiny. What that is exactly, we do not know.

At King’s Landing, Joffrey is as nasty as ever and tells the small council that he wants to serve up Robb’s head to Sansa at his wedding. Does this dude ever stop? Rotten to the core, Joffrey’s tirade took a wrong turn when he decided to challenge his grandfather Tywin, who with one icy cold stare reminds him that he is a king in name only. But the best part was when Tywin sends Joffrey to bed like a cranky child.

When they’re gone, Tyrion reminds his father that the Robb Stark kill was dirty and underhanded but Tywin doesn’t seem to care. He goes on once again, reminding Tyrion that he never wanted him and that he tried to kill him as a boy. If only Tywin would recognize what Varys does, that Tyrion is probably the smartest and most cunning men in Westeros.

Another man who is smart Davos. After letting Gendry go, despite Stannis’ order to have him killed because he has king’s blood in him, he’s sentenced to death by Stannis. But he is saved when he shows Stannis a note from The Night’s Watching pleading for help against what Melisandre deems the real war against the realm. The Others are coming and the wall is unprotected. Davos tells Stannis he’ll need him and a true king would help protect the Wall. Thankfully, the Red Witch reads this truth in her fire.

Back to Theon. We finally get confirmation of the man holding him hostage to be Ramsey Snow, the bastard son of Roose Bolten, who now holds the North. One can’t be sure why he’s ripping Theon to shreds other than the fact that he’s just sadistic (it’s worse in the book). This is clear when he chows down on a pork sausage, reminding us, and Theon that his manhood is lost.

Speaking of Theon’s greatest “toy,” it shows up packaged in a box and sent to his father in the Iron Islands. His father doesn’t care, but interestingly enough Yara does and plans to get her brother back.

Arya gets some revenge on the men who killed her brother Robb and mother when she and the Hound come across a few of them bragging about the kill and sewing Robb’s direwolf to his body. Arya savagely kills one of them while the Hound kills the rest. She gives him back the knife and realizes she’s alone but utters the words, Valar Morghulis: all men must die.

At Castle Black, Jon makes it there by the skin of his butt. On his way, Ygritte finds him and as he tries to run, she manages to get a few arrows in him. It was a weird scene and one that I wasn’t expecting to play out at this time. There’s more to that later, but this scene seemed out of place but it did lead us to some relief that Jon does make it to the wall and to Sam.

In other very, very short news, Jaime finally makes it back home and to Cercei’s room. We also see that Brianne is also in King’s Landing. Shae tells the Spider, Varys, she won’t be paid off to leave Westeros and Tyrion behind. And, last but not least, in Yunkai, Daenerys Targaryen greets her audience of newly freed Yunkish slaves. Needing to know if she’s a conqueror or a freer of people, she greets them as her liberator. In response, the crowd chants “Mhysa,” Ghiscari for “mother.” They lift her into their arms while her three dragons fly above.

This war has indeed been a slow burn, and although we can expect more riveting seasons ahead, us GOT geeks are dying to know: Who will win the game of thrones?

 

 

—Toni-Marie Ippolito