Violet recaps Season 4 Episode 3 of Game of Thrones, titled Breaker of Chains, where we see the fallout from the Purple Wedding, the Night’s Watch is faced with a dilemma, and Daenerys reaches Meereen! Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts on the episode.
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Episode Recap of Game of Thrones, Season 4 Episode 3: Breaker of Chains
King’s Landing
- Sansa flees King’s Landing by rowboat with Ser Dontos, who brings her to a ship that Littlefinger is on. Littlefinger promptly has Ser Dontos killed.
- Margaery talks with Olenna, wondering if she is the queen, considering that Joffrey did not have a chance to consummate their marriage.
- As Cersei and Tommen visit Joffrey’s body in the sept, Tywin has a chat with Tommen about what makes a good king: wisdom. Jaime and Cersei are left alone in the sept. Jaime forces himself on her, despite her protests.
- Oberyn and Ellaria spend some time at the brothel, but are interrupted by Tywin. Tywin orders everyone out besides Oberyn. Tywin insinuates that Oberyn poisoned Joffrey, because he is an expert on poisons. Tywin denies any involvement in the Mountain’s murder of Oberyn’s sister, Elia. In return for arranging a meeting with the Mountain, Tywin asks Oberyn to be the third judge in Tyrion’s trial (Tywin and Mace Tyrell are the other two), and also invites him to sit on the King’s Small Council.
- Podrick visits Tyrion’s cell, and gives him news of his trial, which shall take place in a fortnight. Tyrion tries to come up with someone to call as his witness. Tyrion orders Pod to get Jaime for him, and to flee King’s Landing.
Arya and the Hound
- A father and daughter come across Arya and the Hound, and invite them for dinner and to stay overnight. The man says that he’ll pay the Hound silver to work for him. The Hound steals the man’s silver.
The Wall
- Sam is worried about Gilly’s safety at the Wall, so he brings her and the baby to Mole’s Town. Sam makes a deal for her room and board, but insists to the proprietor that she do no other work than cleaning, cooking, and babysitting. Sam promises Gilly he’ll come back and visit, and says it’s for the best, but Gilly disagrees.
- The Wildlings and the Thenns attack a village, killing all of its inhabitants, save for a young boy. A Thenn tells the boy he is going to eat his mother and father, and has the boy run to tell Castle Black, in an attempt to draw them out. The men of the Night’s Watch try to determine what they should do, and Jon Snow reminds them that Mance Rayder is coming. They decide they have to stick to their job of defending the Wall. Just then, two men who have escaped from the mutineers at Craster’s Keep return to Castle Black, and report that Karl is running things now. Jon Snow wants to ride north and kill them all so that they won’t reveal to the Wildlings how few men the Night’s Watch has.
Stannis and Davos
- Stannis and Davos discuss how to win the war. Davos visits Stannis’s daughter, Shireen, for reading lessons, and they discuss the distinction between pirates and smugglers. Davos comes up with an idea, and has Shireen write a message to the Iron Bank of Braavos.
Daenerys
- Daenerys arrives at Meereen. The city sends out a single rider, and Dany agrees to send Daario as her champion to fight against him. Daario quickly takes down the rider’s horse with a knife through the eye, and slays the rider with a single stroke. Dany addresses the slaves of Meereen, telling them that their masters are their enemy, and that the slaves of other cities she has conquered are now free. She then sends barrels of slave collars hurtling into the city.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 4 Episode 3 of Game of Thrones: Breaker of Chains
Pretty interesting episode as a followup to the Purple Wedding, that in fact picks up right where the last episode left off, with Joffrey’s dead, purple face, and Cersei blaming Tyrion, and taking him into custody. She also immediately orders Sansa seized as well, but Ser Dontos has retrieved her just in the nick of time. And who does he bring her to, but Litttlefinger. We haven’t seen him in awhile! So it is revealed that everything Ser Dontos did in befriending Sansa was at the behest of Littlefinger, and that even the necklace that Dontos gave to Sansa was something that Littlefinger had recently had made. Unfortunately for poor Dontos, who was expecting a reward for his troubles, he gets killed instead. By the way, the actress who plays Sansa is growing up too fast – did you notice that she is taller than Littlefinger?!
Now that Joffrey is dead, that means Tommen is the king. I really liked the chat that Tywin had with Tommen about what makes a good king, and how Tywin came right out and said Joffrey was not a good king. I like Tommen, and I hope that he will make a good king. Unfortunately, he is very young, and passive, and will probably be easily manipulated by those who advise him.
Then there was the very controversial rape scene between Cersei and Jaime. People have been debating whether or not it was rape. Considering that she repeatedly said “no” and “it’s not right” and tried to push him off, that seems like rape to me. In any case, it’s pretty creepy to have incest sex right next to your incest son’s dead body. In the book, there is no question as to whether Cersei gave consent or not. She definitively told him that she wanted him. I’m not sure why the show felt the need to change that. Was Jaime seeming like too good of a guy lately, what with going back and saving Brienne from the bear pit, that the show had to make him look like a bad guy again? Plus, he also saved Brienne from being raped (That did happen in the show didn’t it? Or was it just the books? It’s getting difficult for me to remember anymore!), so why would the show turn him into a rapist?
Oh, I really enjoyed Tyrion’s farewell scene with Podrick. It was very emotional, and I don’t remember the book being that way. I never realized that Tyrion and Podrick were so close before this, either in the show or in the book. This scene also showcased how noble Tyrion is, and made me like him even more.
Not really sure what Davos is up to. I don’t remember this from the books, so this could be interesting.
Really looking forward to what’s coming at the Wall, but I feel like they’re dragging it out. I seem to recall things progressing more quickly in the books.
As far as Daenerys episodes go, this was a pretty good one. We got to see her dramatically address the slaves of Meereen after Daario effortlessly takes down the city’s champion. Then some barrels were flung at the city, and I wasn’t sure what the point of that was, until a Meereen slave went over and picked up a slave collar that had come from one of the barrels, and looked over at his master, who had fear and realization in his eyes as to what might happen next.
Can’t forget about the scene with Arya and the Hound. This was a much abbreviated and greatly altered scene from the book, so I did not see what was coming. I felt bad for the very trusting father and daughter, and enjoyed Arya’s powerful response to the Hound, calling him out for what he did. But at the same time, you realize that the Hound is probably right that they’re weak, can’t protect themselves, and will probably be dead come winter.
Knowing what’s yet to come this season, I am eager to see it all play out! However, after some of the events of this episode and last, and seeing as how the show sometimes likes to change things, I am wondering whether they will stick to the book’s explanation of Joffrey’s murder, or whether the show might embellish a bit upon that explanation.
Josh’s Thoughts: Game of Thrones, Season 4 Episode 3: Breaker of Chains
While I personally was a little disappointed and bored with this week’s episode of Game of Thrones, other people were disappointed for a much different reason. Now I have not read the books, so I can’t comment on the Game of Thrones readers’ disappointment/outrage. If you are a fan of Game of Thrones I would be surprised if you have not heard about it, as it is all over the internet and social medias, but the scene between Jaime and Cersei in the book is much different than how it was portrayed in this episode. In the book it is much more consensual than how the show portrayed it, from what I have read online. It certainly gave me a sickening feeling watching the scene play out on television, both because of the incest, and because of the rape-ish feeling scene. The passages posted online surely make both versions of this scene starkly contrast each other, as Cersei never seems “into it” even by the end.
There is one other aspect of this that reminds me of The Walking Dead however, in that I do not believe that the Game of Thrones books and Game of Thrones show have to follow each other to the letter in order to be entertaining. In fact, being different may be what makes the show better. In this specific case, according to this Time.com article, the makers of the show don’t acknowledge the scene as a rape, and say that the scene was consensual (I am pretty sure if in our society if Jaime was prosecuted he would be going to jail), which is disappointing. But if the scene was intentionally altered to take Cersei and Jaime in a different direction, I would be interested in seeing that. I would think book readers might be interested to see a different scene as well.
What is disappointing for me is I was actually starting to tolerate and sympathize with Jaime Lannister. I felt sorry for the poor guy losing his hand, and he seemed to possibly be turning over a new leaf. Turns out, this is probably not the case and like 90% of the population of Game of Thrones , Jaime is a jerk.
While most of the rest of the episode really wasn’t that entertaining to me, there were a couple scenes that I did like. Probably my favorite of the episode was Tywin talking to the new king, Tommen. In this scene, we the viewers see two sets of “brain wheels” turning. One being Tommen’s, as he is learning the “best” way to be king. The other though is Tywin. He realizes how badly Joffrey’s short reign went, and is probably relieved he has a “do-over” with Tommen. In this scene, Tywin is clearly trying to rope Tommen in while he is still impressionable. What was even more interesting is that it seemed Tywin might be trying to put a wedge between Tommen and Cersei, which obviously Cersei will not be happy with.
Finally, Sansa escape from King’s Landing was a fun ride to watch, as they race through the city trying to avoid detection. I was hoping for a “good-guy” rebel group that was going to help Sansa get home, but when they arrive to the boat and Littlefinger is aboard I realized things may not be as happy as they would seem. Especially after Littlefinger has Sansa’s rescuer skewered with an arrow. Littlefinger so far seems as if he has good intentions for Sansa, but as we have already seen, Littlefinger usually has his own benefits in mind more than the people he is “helping”.
Other than these scenes, the episode felt a little lackluster. The Hound has returned to his jerk-ish nature, which is disappointing, and there appears to be a battle brewing in the North, but nothing too spectacular this week.
What I would really like to see for Game of Thrones, is a genuinely good character succeed. Apparently in this world, evil so far reigns supreme, and everyone has to weasel their way around to survive. I have a hard time enjoying a world like this, and it is rather depressing trying to root for a “good” character, only to see them dead a little while later, while the “bad guys” continue their games. Hopefully Jon Snow or Tyrion can really begin to fill this gap this season!
Scenes from Game of Thrones, Season 4 Episode 4: Oathkeeper
Here are scenes from the next Game of Thrones episode, titled Oathkeeper:
Can’t wait to see how Tyrian gets out. I hope he gets out
Other than a minor detail they changed for no apparent reason, Joffrey’s murder went down just how it did in the book. The show is going great so far this season.
It certainly does seem like good guys never prosper in this world. The best you can ever hope for is a roughly equal number of bad people die along with the good.