Breaker of Chains - Game of Thrones

Episode 4-03
"Breaker of Chains"

Taking a page from True Blood or Alias, the episode picks up on the same frame from last week, Joffrey's beautiful purple dead face.  And boy is Tywin mad!  Sansa makes a break for it, doing her best Melisandre impresssion of a redhead wearing a hooded cloak at night.

The Reign of King Tommen I (i.e. Tywin's in charge)
Tommen is already thirty steps ahead of Joffrey in terms of being a king.  It's been a day and he hasn't chopped anyone's head off, so that's quite a good start.  Tywin reminds me of Ganondorf from Ocarina of Time.   He gives a professorial talk to Tommen about what it is to be king asking him what it takes to be a good king.  And Tommen even names a few good qualities (holiness, justice, strength) that it takes.  He leaves out being a psychopath and sadist.  While Tywin doesn't lead him all through the Triforce (courage, power, wisdom) it is close.  He gets to wisdom and it's apparent that his entire talk is framed to make it so Tommen does whatever Tywin says.  It is like when Don Draper gives advice and his advice always boils down to "Be more like Don Draper."  Basically, listen to Tywin when you are young, and then you may as well listen to Tywin when you are old as well.

Interestingly, he refers to "King Robert" rather than "your father" as though Robert was some sort of abstract figure who he never met.  I imagine that's not far off from the truth, but still...there are times when the Lannisters aren't even pretending like they have a legitimate claim.  Tywin ends the talk doing something all sides can agree is a good thing, he pulls Tommen away from his mother.

Later, Tywin also acknowledges the real threat of Wildlings in the North and the dragons in the East, as well as the Greyjoys who are probably the least of their worries at the moment, as he'll allow Roose Bolton to deal with that as his reward for betraying the Starks.  

The Faith of the Seven
This episode more than any other in the series has a religious overtone, and maybe that's not by accident this Easter Sunday (also Orthodox Easter).  Tywin and Tommen discuss Baelor's holiness.  The Sept provides a setting.  The Riverlands family that takes in the Hound and Arya are devout and say an excruciatingly long grace before chow.  There's talk of the gods and their vengeance.  Besides the Faith, there's more talk of the Red God and even Davos is acknowledging its power.

Braavos
Braavos got a mention earlier this season.  This episode saw a few more.  There's talk of the Iron Bank again.  And Arya and the Hound both discuss going there.  Perhaps to make it a little more real in our minds, and bring back some memory of it, Davos mentions he was almost beheaded by the First Sword of Braavos...our friend from Season One, Syrio Forel (who I refuse to believe is dead despite Meryn Trant still talking about).  Most significantly, Davos sends a letter to the Bank on behalf of Stannis after his boss rings him out for not rallying enough people to his cause.

"The Iron Bank will have it's due" is kind of a relation to "A Lannister always pays his debts" (no mention of a female Lannister paying back debts though).  The Bank gets paid one way or the other, either from the loan recipient, for by funding the enemies of the deadbeat debtor.

Oberyn
If Oberyn didn't already hate the Lannisters, he sure would now after they keep barging in on his whorehouse time.  Ellaria is discussed for a third week in a row.  One of the things that makes Oberyn so awesome/dangerous are the zero shits he gives about everything coupled with the restraint he's able convey.  It is so much more dangerous than someone like the Mountain who Robb Stark described as "a mad dog without a strategic thought in his head" as Oberyn is probably one of the few people in the Seven Kingdoms who could hang with the intrigue of Kings Landing and fight as a warrior.


Daario
The New Daario is a sellsword much closer to Bronn, fighting dirty, than whatever they were going for last season.  The wink was a bit much, but that seems more of a directing choice than an acting one.  Anytime you can win a duel in the vein of Indiana Jones though, you have something working.

Sir Not Appearing in this Film

• Brandon Stark, righful Lord of Winterfell (and company)
• Brienne 
• Ironmen, still not found in Season Four which is quite all right
• Roose & Bastard

Come to think of it, this episode packs quite a lot of characters and settings in.  Hound/Arya, Jaime/Cersei, Tywin, Tyrion, Oberyn, Stannis (and Davos) making his first appearance, the Wildlings and the Wall, all punctuated by the East.

Heads chopped off this week: 1