Game of Thrones Season 4 Episode 8 Review

Warning! This review contains spoilers.

Now that we had our week off from GoT, we get to come back to another great episode.  Now we all know The Mountain and The Red Viper fight is in this episode, which is one of the biggest chunks of the show so let me get through the other happenings.



In the North, we see the Wildlings that had climbed the wall with Jon are still raiding, and slaughter most of the people of Moles Town.  Here we see a glimpse of Ygritte, whom we haven't seen much of since Jon ditched the Wildlings, do her Wildling thing and help slaughter people.  However she chooses to spare Gilly and her baby upon finding her hiding in the whore house/tavern.  Not much explanation is given of why she chooses to spare her while really no one else gets spared, other than maybe due to the baby.  There is a reason her and the baby live, they have another part in the story to play, but why Ygritte was shown sparing them I'm not sure, maybe to help sympathize with her character now that she isn't with Jon.  Meanwhile however, back at Castle Black, Jon and friends hear the news, are worried for Gilly, but more importantly know that an attack on the castle is next, and then on the Wall after that.


We also see in the North that Ramsay's plan works. Theon/Reek gets Moat Cailin for Ramsay by tricking the Ironborn soldiers that they will be granted safe passage home.  In the very next scene we see how much of a lie that really is, because the soldier who agreed to Theon's terms is being flayed by Ramsay. Roose Bolton comes along, who then officially makes Ramsay a Bolton, clearing his bastard status.

Wait, Lysa's dead?

In the Vale, Peter is being questioned by all the Noble Lords of the area. Peter claims Lysa's death was suicide, to which not many of them believe him.  They call in Sansa as a witness, who starts by saying she must tell them the truth and explains who she is.  Right when it seems she is going to rat out Littlefinger, she backs him by saying it was suicide in a very dramatic fashion, crying as she explains, yet giving Peter this look as if she is finally understanding how the world works.  Sansa is finally on a path to being more than just a helpless damsel, but how long can this last with Peter, after all he does have the hots for her.

We also get a quick glimpse of Arya and the Hound.  They make it as far as the first castle in the Vale on the way to the Eyrie, where they learn about Lysa's death.  The Hound gets a befuddled look on his face upon hearing this, while Arya bursts out in hysterical laughter.  It's a pretty funny part in the episode, but that's all we get of them.  What's the Hound to do now? He's pretty much out of options with Arya, so will their weird friendship continue? I'm betting we'll find out by the next episode.

Can't see me, can ya.

Over in Mereen, a couple things happen, one being more important than the other.  The first and less important event is Grey Worm spies on Missandei  while bathing in a river.  He does a really bad job of it too.  He just kinda blatantly stares with only his head out of the water, until she notices, and then he dips half his head under water for a minute or two (still staring), and then swims away.  They talk about it later and it seems a relationship kind of forms, she accepts his apology and basically tells him its ok if he wants to look.  Bit of a strange addition to the story, but it adds a little more depth to these characters that don't really get as much story time as the rest.  The more important event in Mereen is that Dany learns that Sir Jorah had been spying on her for a good portion of the time they had known each other.  Jorah begs forgiveness, tries to explain that once he got to know her that he stopped, but she cannot bear the betrayal and gives him until sundown to leave or face death.  That's essentially all we see of the situation, and we most likely won't see Jorah until next season, but keep an eye out for him, his story is far from over.

Now on to King's Landing.  Early on we see Tyrion have another brotherly convo with Jamie, really showing us that Jaime is the only one in the family that cares for Tyrion.  Tyrion is a bit distraught about his situation, I think most people would be too in his shoes, and he asks what the punishment is, how he will die.  Jamie responds with the answer of beheading to which Tyrion seems disappointed in the fact that it is too ordinary and goes on about the various ways people die.  Now if you read the book you might've picked up on it, and if you haven't go back and rewatch this scene, there is an awesome tidbit of foreshadowing in this line.  It foreshadows something that I've been hinting at in my reviews the past couple weeks and I'm really excited to see it, but whether it will be the next episode or the finale, I don't know, but it has to happen this season.

Now once we get to the actual fight, Oberyn is pretty excited and really isn't wearing any armor, but seems extremely confident.  The Mountain then walks in clad head to toe in armor carrying his massive broadsword.  The fight could not have looked any more awesome.  Oberyn danced around with some crazy acrobatic moves, brandishing his spear (my Star Wars nerd kicked in and wished Lucas never killed Darth Maul, one of the few good characters of episode I).  The fight starts pretty evenly, both getting in glancing blows, Oberyn narrowly avoiding a quick death, the Lannisters looking pretty confident.  But soon you can see Oberyn is toying with Clegane, shouting at him while fighting about his sisters death, demanding a confession. As this goes on Oberyn gets more aggressive, landing some hits with his spearpoint between the armor.  He eventually stabs Clegane to the ground, and it seems Oberyn has won.

Clegane still breaths and Oberyn wants a confession, but before Oberyn can finish him, Clegane grabs Oberyn by the head, confesses to him while he gouges out his eyes with his thumbs, and then smashes his head like a melon on the ground the same way he says he did to his sister.  It's freakin awesome and really gruesome.  We get a quick glimpse of the reactions, where Cersei seems thrilled, Tywin seems amused, Jaimie seems worried, and Tyrion just looks at his feet, knowing he must accept his fate.


Most of the episode is really just setup it seems, but there's alot about to happen at the wall and in King's Landing in the next couple episodes so it's alright.  Plus I can't really overstate how awesome the dual was.  So overall I give this episode 7 crushed skulls out of 10.  Be sure to keep watching though, only two more episodes left this season.

-DarthSomething

Oberyn's Head.

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