I wasn’t sure what kind of pacing we were going to see during the fourth season, given that the writers had to finish out the plot threads of the third novel and find a reasonable path forward to cover volumes four and five.  It’s now fairly clear that the events between the Red Wedding and the end of the third novel will dominate the landscape, but elements of the fourth and fifth book are already creeping in.  In fact, this episode raises the possibility that story elements and revelations from books yet to be published are being introduced!

 

It’s hard not to start a commentary on this episode without acknowledging the ongoing controversy of the rape scene in “Breaker of Chains”.  It seems pretty clear from the tone and interactions within this episode that it was not meant to be that definitive a situation, or it should have been a far more dominant portion of the conversation between Jamie and Cersei in this episode.  Instead, beyond a scathing comment from Cersei at the very start, the rest of the conversation went about as well as any of their recent interactions.

 

I’m not entirely inclined to give the writers and producers a pass on this, though; not quite knowing how to navigate the tricky narrative waters of consent that they effectively introduced when changing the point at which Jamie re-entered King’s Landing is their own self-inflicted wound.  Some point to the apparent desire of HBO to cater to the more prurient elements of the audience, but there have always been more fitting ways to do so; the universe of Game of Thrones is hardly puritanical.

 

I prefer to go by what is implied by the narrative, rather than assign damning personal labels of sexism or misogyny on the writers/producers.  (I’ll leave such judgments to others.)  In this case, if one takes the scenes with Cersei as they seem to have been intended, then it fits the picture of Jamie trying to reclaim the world he lost when Robb took him prisoner.  The conversation with Cersei in this episode makes it very clear that he can never go back, and now that he sees his father’s and sister’s hate and cruelty for what it is, right down to what those lessons created in Joffrey, he has started down a different path.

 

It’s important to point out that redemption is not an objective goal; there is no hard criteria to establish when a person has or has not earned redemption.  It certainly isn’t for the individual who has committed the wrongs for which he seeks atonement; personal forgiveness in no way mandates forgiveness from others.  I have no idea if George R.R. Martin intends to finish out his epic with some kind of definitive redemption achieved by Jamie, thus implying that every reader should agree, but the smart move for the next couple of seasons (at least) would be for Jamie to act to redeem his former decisions and leave it to others to decide if he has earned it.  That would, in turn, give the audience the ability to debate the matter and come to their own personal conclusions.

 

His actions with Brienne are a reasonable start.  He gives her everything she needs to begin the quest to save Sansa, including his own heirloom sword, a set of armor, and a squire.  This also gives the character of Podrick something different to do, which serves a greater purpose.  Having Brienne roam Westeros in search of Sansa on her own would be difficult to translate to the screen; having a familiar face around to help add some variables to the quest is a smart move.

 

Meanwhile, Sansa is beginning to realize that she is basically now a pawn in Littlefinger’s game, which means she went from one bad situation right into another.  But her confusion and indignation make for the perfect opportunity for a bit of exposition, such as rolling out the entire regicide plot.  Littlefinger had designs, and so did Olenna Tyrell.  For Olenna, it was getting rid of a monster so Margaery could become queen to a far more manageable King Tommen.  For Littlefinger, it’s all about causing the chaos that allows him to rise above the fray and take control of the outcome.

 

I haven’t seen many comments on Margaery’s seduction of Tommen, which thankfully was more playful and only mildly suggestive.  Any teenager, even one barely into puberty (and I’m not sure Tommen is, actually), would have very little reason to object to Margaery sneaking into his bedroom.  It’s been very clear from the start that Margaery knows her way around a seduction, and anyone who has seen The Tudors knows that Natalie Dormer can pull it off with remarkable realism.

 

Meanwhile, over in Essos, Daenerys manages to spark a slave revolt and dish out a bit of “justice”.  It doesn’t take long for her banner to replace the golden harpy of Meereen, but I can’t help but notice that she’s added a lot of mouths to feed.  And unless all those former Masters are dead, this is going to get very messy.  Dany’s decision smacks of the kind of pride that precedes a fall, and as I’ve said before, failure is often a better teacher than success.  (Not to mention that it’s still a bit messy over in Westeros, so the timing isn’t quite right for her to return, anyway.)

 

Up at the Wall, Jon is trying to get the Night’s Watch on the right path, and there are some who see him as a potentially good leader.  Others, not so much; Locke is basically going along with Jon’s plan to wipe out the traitors up at Craster’s Keep because Jon thinks Bran is there, and he’s been assigned to kill Bran (and Rickon, if anyone even remembers that he exists) by the Boltons.  Clearly this is why Bran’s gang makes the surprising detour to Craster’s, which is not how it plays out in the source material.  A confrontation between Locke, Bran, and Jon is meant, it seems, to keep the action flowing until Mance hits the Wall in, presumably, the ninth episode of the season!

 

Speaking of Craster’s, I don’t think I’ve wanted a group of people dead more than the traitors, and that’s saying something when it comes to Game of Thrones.  I mentioned in the review for “Breaker of Chains” that Sam’s concern about Gilly’s welfare doesn’t quite take into account what she endured as one of Craster’s daughter-wives.  Well, if she could see what was happening there now, she’d probably stop complaining about working in that brothel.  Did we really need to see that the traitors were raping the women?  I mean, they are clearly depraved, and we’ve been reminded time and again that a lot of the questionable members of the Night’s Watch were convicted of rape.  That would have been enough, I think!

 

Since we’re above the Wall, it seems appropriate that the final topic be the most shocking: the revelation that the White Walkers were taking the male children from Craster and transforming them into new members of their kind.  This would apparently be how they reproduce, which was not at all covered in the books that have seen print.  Is this something that the producers pulled forward based on information from Martin, or is this something that Martin never intended to reveal?  Whatever the case, this is one of those instances where reading the books beforehand didn’t matter one bit.