Game of Thrones: Season 4 Episode 7 Review

This review contains spoilers.

Hey HiddenLevelers, another week, another episode of Game of Thrones (if you missed last week click here.).  We're seven episodes in and we aren't too far away from the finale.  Don't forget though that we have to wait two weeks until episode eight.  This week's episode, "Mockingbird" was pretty good, but it's hard to compete with last weeks.  As usual, the episode covers a lot of characters so I'll just dive right into it.

Like the past few weeks, we see Arya and the Hound on the road and there's a bit more "I hate you but you're kinda my only real friend right now" thing going on.  I have to say though I'm really enjoying watching how it plays out on screen, it's actually not too far from the book but for some reason on screen it's a bit more enjoyable.  They find a man dying on the road who they give comfort to too before giving him a clean death which is where the Hound teaches Arya where to stab the heart.  This lesson comes in handy almost immediately when a couple guys try to jump the Hound to collect on the bounty on his head.  The first guy bites his neck before getting his neck snapped, and the second man is recognized by Arya as one of her previous captors and she puts that lesson to use by stabbing him in the heart.  The Hound refuses to cauterize his wound at even when Arya insists, and not to give too much away but that is going to come into play later.  One thing thats been bugging me regarding Arya, is how everyone says her name, no one pronounces the "r" in Arya (which is ironic for me to complain about seeing as I'm from New England and rarely pronounce the letter myself).  In past episodes some characters have said it with the "r" but for the most part no one really does, it's really not a big deal I just don't get it.

With Brienne and Pod they run into Hot Pie (the fat kid that was with Arya at Harrenhal if you don't remember) at an inn.  While there they learn from Hot Pie that Arya is still most likely alive.  Pod warns Brienne it might not be the smartest move asking about Starks in Lannister controlled territory, but after learning what they have from Hot Pie, Brienne kind of gives a "you were saying..." to Pod.  It worked out, but I mean really Brienne, Pod is kind of right on this one, it probably isn't the safest move.  With this information and Pod's knowledge of the noble families, they decide to head to the Vale to look for Sansa and Arya.

In the North at the wall, not much happens really.  Jon keeps giving the Watch his warning about how strong the Wildling army really is, and that they are not too far away.  His suggestion is to seal up the gates and hold strong.  Pretty much all the higher-ups fervently fight his opinions merely over the fact that they hate Jon.  I know sometimes there's just that person you can't stand, but if they have better information on your potential doom, you think they would at least give him a little slack and maybe listen to him a little.  They pretty much tell him to shove it and make him and Sam take command of standing watch at the top of the Wall until the Attack comes.

Back in Mereen, Daenerys gives in to Daario's advances finally, but decides to send him and his troops back to Yunkai to recapture the city and kill all of the masters.  Sir Jorah goes to visit her in the morning and has to walk past Daario leaving her chambers so needless to say he seems kind of jealous.  Dany tells Jorah her plan, and while he seems happy to send Daario away, urges her not to be too ruthless, reminding her that he once sold men into slavery and is alive through the mercy of a good ruler.  She decides to send Hizdahr Lo Zoraq to rule Yunkai in her stead, and offers the masters a choice, to live with out slavery or to die defending it.  This seems just more setup than anything else, the only part that I wonder about is Sir Jorah.  At this point in the book he is not in good terms with Dany at all, which leads to some interesting developments in his story.  Although what creates the tension between the two I guess can really come out at a later time and still not really change the story too much so for now I'm ok with it.

This week, when we get a peek into Stannis's faction we only see Melisandre and his wife back on Dragonstone.  Essentially all that happens here is that Stannis' wife asks to leave her daughter on the island on the next journey, hoping that Melisandre will convince Stannis that it's not a good idea to take her.  Melisandre does her usual The Lord of Light spiel and says that they need her, although we don't learn where they are going. If you're not a reader of the books, or you haven't made it this far yet, it's a pretty good surprise where they end up.

In King's Landing we learn who the fighters will be for Tyrion's trial by combat.  Cersei goes for the biggest, meanest guy she has left in her arsenal, The Mountain- Gregor Clegane, the brother of the Hound (who we get to see chop up a bunch of guys who look like they've never held a weapon before, probably more for his entertainment than anything else).  Tyrion on the other hand has some trouble in this department.  He asks Jaime (probably more out of brotherly respect than anything else seeing as he is his only relative that cares for him), to which Jaime obviously says no due to only having one hand.  That and the King's guard and the rest of the family and a million other reasons.  Tyrion then turns to Bronn, who we learn is bought off by Cersei.  Bronn is to marry Lolys and receive her older sisters inheritance of a castle and money after the "accidental death" of her older sister.  Tyrion has no one to turn to when Prince Oberyn comes in and offers his services for the chance to get revenge on the Mountain who killed and raped his sister.  If the fight next week is anything like it's described in the book it'll be a really great episode.

Finally, we go to the Eryie.  At first we see Sansa building Winterfell in the snow in a courtyard when Robin joins her. They get along at first but being the weird bratty kid he is, he ruins it and Sansa ends up slapping him.  She worries that Lysa will be mad when Littlefinger comes and pretty much says he deserved it, and goes right in for a "romantic" kiss (if middle aged men kissing young girls is your thing).  Well Lysa sees this and calls Sansa to the main chambers of the Castle where the moon door is.  She goes into a crazy jealous rage over Petyr and threatens to throw Sansa out the door.  Petyr comes in again and calms her down with a pretty cold hearted line.  He tells her there's only been one woman that he's loved in his life and that it was he sister.... and shoves Lysa right out the door, ending the show.

Preview of the fight.

I enjoyed this episode even though I think the majority is pretty much just set up but the ending really brought it up a notch.  I'm pretty pumped to watch Oberyn and the Mountain fight, and not to give too much away but the events in King's Landing following the fight will probably one of the best moments in the season if not the history of the show.  I just don't know if we'll get to see it next episode or if we will have to wait for episode nine, but truest me whenever it comes, it'll be worth it.

Couldn't pass up adding this. If it doesn't work click here.

By DarthSomething

Click Here for the Game of Thrones Season 4 Episode 5 Review

Click Here for the Game of Thrones Season 4 Episode 6 Review

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