WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
The fourth season is the first series of Game Of Thrones
I remember being covered in the media.
This dragon-based fare was no longer the niche preserve of its
traditional audience; it had broken out into the mainstream. Coverage talked of the arrival of Pedro Pascal (from Narcos) and Indira Varma (from Luther) as key Dornishmen and women, bringing
another of the Seven Kingdoms’ countrymen into our theatre of action. With the Red Wedding a distant memory, and
its celebratory murders extinguishing a whole dynasty of characters (Catelyn,
Robb, Talisa), series four is marked by new pairings for key players as they
embark on new journeys, while established groups take on further complications
that, together, leave the impression of a universe expanding following a big
bang and drifting further and further away from ever being resolved in the near
future. As a viewer, this was one of the
most thrilling and compelling parts of Game Of Thrones’ appeal: we could see
ourselves treated to endless high-quality, imagination-rich,
boob-and-nudity-riddled ultraviolent content.
Everything pivots on the second episode’s notorious
poisoning of King Joffrey. As ever, a
reminder, if ever we needed one, that nobody is safe, but it is gratifying to
watch him asphyxiate in his mother’s arms after so cruelly tormenting every
single guest at his nuptials. This in
turns fits the Thronesian wedding trend of every ceremony being marred by a
death (the Dothraki will be impressed).
While this assassination robs us of Jack Gleeson’s
delightfully camp yet sinisterly threatening performance, it sets into motion
the intrigue and scheming required to replace the entire thrust of our
storyline around the Young Wolf. Tyrion
ends up accused of killing his nephew and threatened with execution instead of
being given the firm handshake we surely owe anyone who delivers the little
bastard his comeuppance. This allows Peter Dinklage to
deliver more of his outstanding acting rage, moving on from irreverence and
intoxication, building instead on his sensitive treatment of new (and
unwilling) wife Sansa. Persecuted by his
entire family and, in fact, the entire realm, at his farcical trial, it’s his
betrayal by Shae (whom I never liked) that leads him to deliver one of his most
memorable soliloquys, admitting guilt to his only real crime in their eyes:
being a dwarf. The series’ rip-roaring
finale sees us cheering our Tyrion along as he strangles Shae with Lannister
gold (how ironic) and crossbows down his own dad and veteran actor Charles Dance while he passes
his nightsoil. Tyrion is then spirited
from Westeros in a dual act of derring-do by dream team Varys and Jaime.
The devil, though, is in the detail. The main culprits in the poisoning passed me
by on my first viewing, but now I have enjoyed the episodes several times, I am
able to pick out more foreshadowing, bigger clues and a great deal of stark
obviousness that I had previously failed to detect. Beating her husband to an escape from King’s
Landing, Sansa’s flight takes place in the chaos that immediately follows. Again, I defy anyone not to scream along at
her progress as she dashes through the capital’s alleyways, placing blind trust
in the ill-fated Ser Dontos Hollard, only to be delivered into the little hands
of Littlefinger. She manages to see out
the series at the Eyrie, but we all know that the abuse coming for her in the
fifth season will compound her vile treatment throughout seasons one, two
and three.
Meanwhile, a lot more of the action unfolds beyond the
borders of the Seven Kingdoms. Daenerys
is taking over Meereen and freeing slaves, building her retinue of core
supporters but sadly ending the bristling tension between Ser Barristan Selmy
and Ser Jorah Mormont after she discovers the previous duplicity of the latter
(much to the former’s glee). Bran, who
helps us track the passing of time by monitoring his transformation at the
onset of puberty, has made it beyond the wall, but comes a cropper at Craster’s
Keep, bringing about another near miss as Jon Snow arrives on the scene to sort
out the Night’s Watch mutineers filling their boots with Craster’s ale, food
and wives. I’ll admit to struggling to
work out what Locke is doing on this mission, having seemingly taken the
black. I wondered if he was being
punished for chopping off Jaime’s good hand, but no, he is on another Bolton
baddie posting, tracking down Brandon Stark but meeting a well-deserved bloody
end in the process.
But this series belongs to Jon Snow. Mostly.
Sure, we have more of Ramsay torturing and mutilating Theon, to such an
extent he refuses Yara’s rescue attempt, Brienne ends up in an odd couple with
Podrick, and Arya and The Hound prove it’s not so easy to get along when you
both want to kill each other. But Jon
just does everything right, no matter the cost.
Having betrayed his new Wildling pals, ending up both scratched in the
face by an eagle and shot with arrows by crazy ex-girlfriend Ygritte, he must
face discipline back at Castle Black. Maester
Aemon, ever the voice of reason, manages to mitigate his fate, but Snow’s
enemies are clearly biding their time, despite him outperforming them in every
element of night-watching. This
crescendos into our most ambitious episode to date: The Watchers On The
Wall. Yes, it’s another battle, but
we’re allowed to see a lot more of the action, as there are a lot more actors
in the budget. Even giants. Surrounded on both sides of the Wall, the
Night’s Watch must survive the, er, night in what turns out later to be a giant
waste of time (and a timely waste of giants).
The Wildlings aren’t the enemy; they turn out to be the refugees. Sadly, we don’t realise this till Ygritte,
Pyp and Grenn are killed. Nevertheless,
it presents a great chance to Stannis to do something right for once, but we’ll
save that for next week…
Best newcomer
We finally meet the Three-Eyed Raven. In this series, though, he is no great
shakes, lounging inert in a musty room as you would expect any OAP to on a
visit to the old folks’ home. But it’s
what he represents that’s so significant.
This is why Bran has journeyed so far.
Or should I say, why Bran has made Hodor carry him so far, while Meera
sorts the food and protects them and Jojen trains him in clairvoyance before
getting stabbed in the heart repeatedly by an animated skeleton. Team Bran’s narrow survival of the dead army
awaiting them at their final destination goes to show that season four’s epic
drama does not run out at episode nine.
What is more, we are at last treated to seeing a Child Of The Forest…
Most valuable character
Olenna Tyrell takes all the best lines and steals every
scene. But she more than rises to the
challenge of protecting granddaughter Margaery while fuelling and abetting her
ambition. Her lack of remorse for
poisoning Joffrey before he ever gets the chance to be her grandson-in-law is
truly delicious.
Best death
The Moon Door has always freaked me out, thanks to my
terrible fear of heights. I always worry
I will go momentarily mad and jump off tall buildings, so I can never go near
the edge of things. In a climactic
tussle, envious Lysa Arryn accuses Sansa of stealing away her new husband and
we are on the edge of our seats at the fear of losing our ginger heroine over
the edge of the Moon Door. Demonstrating
cold-hearted calculation, Baelish embraces his insecure lover to reassure her,
before shoving her and sending her tumbling to her death screaming like a mad
woman. As if we didn’t already know:
never trust Petyr!
Jaw-dropper moment
Tyrion’s trial by combat lives on in infamy. The Mountain looks all but defeated, much to
the displeasure of Tywin and Cersei, but he somehow manages to crush Prince
Oberyn’s skull with his bare hands. All
our retinas end up with the image of the poor Dornishman’s squashed head burned
into them, proving that nobody can take on the Lannisters and win.
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