Two Swords - Game of Thrones

"Two Swords"
Episode 4-01

Written by showrunners Benioff & Weiss.

Directed by Weiss.

Lots to do kids, and there's one less worthwhile voice out there to talk about it, so let's get to it.

• The first episode is good for one scene for each character, maybe two.  We're spending a week, maybe two, establishing where everyone is a mere several weeks after the Red Wedding, both physically and their state of mind.
• HBO, particularly Game of Thrones, does great "previouslies" and there are a lot of chickens coming home to roots, some things you may not have thought about in quite a while.
• Ruthlessly pragmatic Tywin thinks Ice is big to a silly extent, so he makes the titular "Two Swords".  It's a bit like killing Ned all over again seeing the Stark family Great Sword melted down and turned into, of all things, a new Lannister heirloom.  Actually, it's more like Sansa becoming a Lannister via marriage.
• Though, what did Tywin throw on there at the end?  A pig?
• I love Tywin because everything he does is grounded in pragmatism, and he has no aspirations or pretension of his actions being anything other than effective. 
• As much as Tywin talks about his/the Lannister legacy and name (starting a war for the "least of" them), when he kicks it one day, he essentially has no heir.  He won't give Casterly Rock to Tyrion (but pragmatically gives him Winterfell), Jamie still forsakes his claim, and he has no faith in Cersei who also happens to be a girl.  Maybe Tommen can get it (even though he's technically a bastard) with Myrcella, also a girl, enjoying Dorne.  But they are short on options.  
• On second thought, maybe the two swords are "Ice" and "Needle" rather than the two Lannister swords.  The Stark swords bookend the episode after all.  Maybe I am just refusing to pick the obvious choice here though.
• Dreadfort is added to the always epic credits, as is Mereen.
• "Can you read the sigils?" "Yellow balls?"
• Jamie's wave...perfect.
• Oberyn steals the show, as expected.  With all the Starks dead, there's a lot fewer people to root for.  So we're pretty much reduced to rooting for enemies of their enemies.  Probably not ideal foreign policy
• Passing his hand over the candle says more in a half second than the rest of it combined 
• Tyrion's indifference to Oberyn stabbing the Lannister soldier is quite hilarious
• Doran Martell gets a mention and I ponder who they will cast for him next year 
• The best way to describe Oberyn is as a honey badger, giving zero shits. 
• It is somewhat impressively how quickly and seamlessly they integrate the exposition of the Martells beef 
• Funny how everyone screamed bloody murder at this casting.  Turns out its going to be okay
• Alisair Thorne ascending to acting commander is just the ultimate version of getting stuck with a horrible boss following a good boss.  It is basically Jason Sudeikis' part in Horrible Bosses
• The Gold Cloaks commander showing up at the Wall is one of those chickens coming home to roost.  It appears he's weaseled himself into some sort of leadership position, despite goldbricking it and not actually going north of the Wall yet
• Was that a statue of Joffrey?  It looks like something Calvin would imagine
• "Reigns of Castamere" times heard: 2
• Sansa Lannister gets a bird to roost as well via Ser Dontos
• Looking forward to seeing the result of Pedro Pascal's Wushu master training
• The Hound quotes Omar "A man's got to have a code"
• Arya's scene at the inn mirrors the new, just published chapter of The Winds of Winter
• Chickens roosting!
• It's impressive that the first episode of a season actually has many payoffs, rather than the traditional structure of building over the season and having payoffs towards the season end
  
• I didn't think the old Daario was particularly bad, but the new one is obviously better and living up to more of the potential
• "The king is safe"
• Three seeds planted.  The dragons can't be tamed, Oberyn is looking for trouble, and the jig is up on Tyrion and Shae 
• Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Episode
• Stannis (and Melisandre and Davos), Roose Bolton, Bran & Co., the Ironmen.  Was Varys in there?
• Still dead: Most of the Starks.  Most of the Targaryens. Robert. Renley.

The War of Two of the Five Kings

I wonder how things would've played out between Stannis and Robb, had he lived.  Robb went from rescue mission, to vengeance to war for independence.  Stannis had no love for him and would've fought into the North just to be ornery if one or both of them had taken Kings Landing.

Pragmatically, Robb could've accepted his terms and gone back to being Lord of Winterfell under Stannis as Ned was under Robert.  Not sure his lords would've been keen on it though, spilling that blood to not rescue Ned and not be independent.  It may work if they did get the chance to kill all the Lannisters and Joffrey though.  I feel like a good compromise may have been something like a semi-autonomous republic, like Crimea.  But Stannis, being "iron" would probably not bend to that.

The two kingdoms at the peripheries of Westeros are both a bit like that, looking at themselves as their own deal.  Dorne even calls its lords "princes".

Two Characters

Sansa Lannister nee Stark
The episode spent an impressive amount of time  showing her grieving and hitting a lot of the right notes.  Sansa's never been one for actively taking out her anger, unless she is mad at her father or sister.  And she is still as polite as ever to her husband whose family murdered her whole family.  Not wanting to eat or sleep, Sansa's only retreat is the Godswood. 

Just like I was thinking about how Robb-Stannis would play out, it's interesting to think what would've happened with Sansa if Joffrey had been even the least bit not sociopathic.  Her ability to play along with everything is impressive and takes a certain temperment.  She also showed how she could handle queen-ly duties when they hid in the Red Keep as Stannis stood siege, while the actual queen drank and exuded contempt for everyone there.

Part of her grieving is her saying what she's heard about the Red Wedding, including how deep the cut was to her mother's throat.  

Arya Stark aka Arry aka Boy aka Girl
Without giving anything away, I'll say very generally that the show has deviated from the exact scenes that take place.  This of course causes some people to scream bloody murder over the Internets.  However, the one thing the they've stuck very closesly to is conveying the ideas in each of those scenes, as well as Arya's state of mind.  Simply put, there is more than one way to skin a cat and the way some things have been handled, while deviating from the original material, make the show all the more impressive.

For example, the scenes between Arya and Tywin are some of the best in the show.  However, they do not exist in book land.  It gave a lot of insight to both characters, as well as allowed us to spend time with two favorites. 

Arya's story so far is her trying to go somewhere and then being interrupted and taken somewhere else.  Yoren tries to take her to Winterfell via the Night's Watch route, she's interrupted and taken to Harrenhall.  She escapes and tries to go to Riverrun, but is taken to the Brotherhood Without Banners.  She's supposed to go to the Twins, but can't.  Now the Hound is taking her to Eyrie...