Raw Data: The Rains of Castamere - Part Two

Yeah, I'd steer clear of this one unless you have seen the episode or read through Storm of Swords...or even through the episode "Baelor" in the first season for that matter.

The most recent episode of Game of Thrones was.....Seth Rogen says "Shocking"....Amy Poehler says "Horrifying"...Bill Clinton says "Depressingly free of nudity."
- Conan, doing his Celebrity Survey

Many upset at the number of characters who died violently on last night's episode.  Ladies and gentleman all I have to say is wait until you see how this show ends tonight. Bad news for you Andy fans - Conan doing his monologue

This is part two of observations and reactions for Game of Thrones episode 3-09 "The Rains of Castamere".

Game of Thrones often puts even the HBO standard of including violence and nudity to shame.  It's more notable when an episode does not include one or both.  No nudity in "Rains" but plenty of violence.

Whether you were surprised or unsurprised at the turn of events, or sullied or unsullied by the books, the nature of the violence at the wedding was shocking.   This episode used suspense uniquely, everyone walked on eggshells the whole episode, but all for naught.  Often when there's suspense throughout an entire episode, or an entire scene, the payoff is avoiding the obstacle at the end.  Not so here.

Talisa attends the wedding with Robb, rather than stay behind to avoid further risk of insulting the Freys.  Walder calling attention to her makes the payoff even more devastating when you realize he was studying her to see if she was pregnant.

In what feels like a cousin to the cop who 'has just one last case', or who gets shot the day before he retires, Talisa and Robb discuss naming their child Ned and teaching him to ride horses.  Not sure what this trope is called, but another example is in the movie Lincoln where he and Mary Todd discuss what they will do with the war winding down.

The first thing the ambush does is go after Talisa.   But they don't shoot her with a cross bow or slit her throat from behind.  Her attacker runs up to her and stabs her not once but like a billion times in her pregnant stomach.  In a show where it's uncommon to not have limbs or heads hacked off in an episode (and not in the funny Star Wars type way) this is absolutely the worst, most jarring image they've shown.  The wedding as a whole is not over quickly and neither is the attack on Talisa.  The number of deaths shown on Game of Thrones can't be totaled at this point, from all sorts of manner.  But stabbing Talisa is could possible be the image that provokes the most reaction from live watching from sullied and unsullied alike.

There is not much that can surprise in television violence, or movies for that matter.  Television has a tiered system of what they will broadcast, from the networks to cable to pay cable.   It's not so much the graphic-ness (?) of the violence that gets you now, but who it happens to, and why.

This was by far the worst thing I've seen on television in the past year.  The second worst was an episode of Justified involving a character named Constable Bob taking a beating. The wincing born from these two incidents doesn't so much come from the actual act of violence, as lots of people get stabbed or beaten in television, but from our investment with the character on the receiving end and the stakes hanging in the balance.

Constable Bob was a character who had been a bit of a laughingstock throughout this recent season of Justified, those harmless, affable and likeable.  He never became a "real" police officer, instead serving as a constable in the state of Kentucky, where he basically was paid case by case to be a process server.  He even had to buy the lights for his own car.  He was even mocked and beat up by some grown up bullies.  But when the bad guys went after him for the locations of the other good guys he not only didn't give it up but didn't give it up in the most hilarious of fashion.  The beating went out about 5 or 10 minutes longer than it normally would.  There was even a point where I fully expected the scene to cut to another scene, but no, the beating just continued.  Even though there weren't any weapons used, it was absolutely brutal and tough to match on the hard to watch scale.

A couple factors contribute to the brutality of Talisa's stabbing.  It is the first act in the massacre, following the foreboding door closing and chain mail reveal on Bolton. No one (except for Cat), least of all Talisa, realizes what is happening.  All she knows is there is a knife plunged into her pregnant belly over and over again and she's about to be made dead.  Actually, I'm not even sure the last part would have a chance to register.

The fact that Talisa is pregnant speaks for itself.  Cutting her throat would have effectively had the same result in the show, but would not have the same effect on the viewer.

Finally, the stakes and history make it all so hard to swallow.  Since that stag killed the direwolf, the Starks have been crippled, beheaded, made homeless, held prisoner and hostage and are losing a war despite winning every battle.  Much of their misfortune stems from a sense of honor and misplaced trust.  Their war is winding to a close and they need the wedding to go well if they have any chance of taking the battle back to the crown.  But unfortunately when the doors shut on the wedding reception, the doors shut on the rebellion and any chance for the family to live well and be happy. 

Hodor?