The writing for this show is of exceptional quality on a weekly basis. However, the writing for Second Sons was on a whole new level, showing that Benioff and Weiss know how to write fantastic scripts. The quality of the script is largely the result of the sensible idea to focus on three main plot lines this week, rather than the usual broad focus of the show (which is by no means bad).
The episode started with Arya poised to bash a big rock over the Hound's skull, only for her to realise that she probably couldn't kill him if she tried. This led to a brilliant scene of dialogue in which the Hound spoke of men worse than him who Arya could've ended up with, revealing the Hound to be another of the grey characters that inhabit a universe where there is no true good or evil (except for Joffrey).
Tyrion and Sansa's wedding in Kings Landing was the perfect mix of awkwardness and humour. Two death threats were issued in which, Cersei threatened to strangle her "sister" Margaery in her sleep (before owning Loras) and Tyrion threatened to chop Joffrey's cock off. Joffrey certainly deserved this for his antics in this episode alone, as he removed the stall Tyrion needed to cloak his bride and threatened to rape Sansa once Tyrion had passed out. Finally, Tyrion spent a large portion of the ceremony drunk, leading to an awkward scene with Tywin in which Tywin advised his son that he was too drunk to seal the marriage sexually. Dinklage played this to perfection, with Tyrion promising never to force himself upon Ssnsa, leading to the memorable line "And now my watch begins", when Sansa ruled sex out.
At Dragonstone Melisandre brought Gendry before Stannis, prompting an interesting conversation about the secret sacrificial of lambs, as Gendry was unknowingly about to become part of a ritual. It was Gendry's proposed sacrifice, that motivated Stannis to free Davos (who's up to toddler level reading). This resulted in a brilliantly written scene in which Davos correctly assumes that Stannis freed him at that precise moment, because he knew that Davos would counsel restraint in regards to Gendry. After a brief discussion about wealth, Melisandre began to have sex with Gendry, who incorrectly assumed that some kinky stuff was going on when she tied him up. Of course, her plan was to tie him up and to leech him (one was on his penis), in order to demonstrate her power to Davos, with Stannis casting them into the fire (reciting the names of the 3 usurper kings). The moral of the story here was don't accept sex with a random stranger in Westeros, as it signals bad times for your penis (Gendry this week and Theon last week).
Outside of Yunkai, Daenerys had an audience with the three mercenary captains of the Second Sons, elaborating on how they couldn't possibly defeat her army. This prompted a great line from Jorah when he said "The Second Sons have faced worse odds and run" and a pleasing promise from Barristan to kill the crass Mero in battle. The Second Sons then had a perfectly valid debate about the differences between whores and mercenaries, before the camp Daario was chosen to kill Daenerys. This led to the one flawed scene of the episode for me, when Daario crept into Daenrys' camp with the heads of the other two captains, swearing his allegiance to her. As a reader of the books I know that what happened was accurate. However, I would've liked to have seen the show change it so that either Barristan or Jorah killed the captains and I also, took issue with Daario pledging his heart to Dany after just meeting her.
Finally, the episode ended with Sam killing a White Walker in epic fashion. However, before that we had two great moments of dialogue between him and Gilly, where Sam recalled childhood traumas whilst trying to come up with baby names and the difference between a wink and a blink was debated. This culminated in a fantastic action sequence, with the White Walker coming to steal Gilly's baby, before Sam rescued her. The CGI and effects for this sequence were fantastic, once again pushing the boundaries of what TV is capable of.
Best Quotes: Tyrion: "I'm the God of tits and wine" Mero-Jorah: "The Second Sons have faced worse odds and won" "The Second Sons have faced worse odds and run" Olenna Tyrell: Messed up family tree bit.
The episode started with Arya poised to bash a big rock over the Hound's skull, only for her to realise that she probably couldn't kill him if she tried. This led to a brilliant scene of dialogue in which the Hound spoke of men worse than him who Arya could've ended up with, revealing the Hound to be another of the grey characters that inhabit a universe where there is no true good or evil (except for Joffrey).
Tyrion and Sansa's wedding in Kings Landing was the perfect mix of awkwardness and humour. Two death threats were issued in which, Cersei threatened to strangle her "sister" Margaery in her sleep (before owning Loras) and Tyrion threatened to chop Joffrey's cock off. Joffrey certainly deserved this for his antics in this episode alone, as he removed the stall Tyrion needed to cloak his bride and threatened to rape Sansa once Tyrion had passed out. Finally, Tyrion spent a large portion of the ceremony drunk, leading to an awkward scene with Tywin in which Tywin advised his son that he was too drunk to seal the marriage sexually. Dinklage played this to perfection, with Tyrion promising never to force himself upon Ssnsa, leading to the memorable line "And now my watch begins", when Sansa ruled sex out.
At Dragonstone Melisandre brought Gendry before Stannis, prompting an interesting conversation about the secret sacrificial of lambs, as Gendry was unknowingly about to become part of a ritual. It was Gendry's proposed sacrifice, that motivated Stannis to free Davos (who's up to toddler level reading). This resulted in a brilliantly written scene in which Davos correctly assumes that Stannis freed him at that precise moment, because he knew that Davos would counsel restraint in regards to Gendry. After a brief discussion about wealth, Melisandre began to have sex with Gendry, who incorrectly assumed that some kinky stuff was going on when she tied him up. Of course, her plan was to tie him up and to leech him (one was on his penis), in order to demonstrate her power to Davos, with Stannis casting them into the fire (reciting the names of the 3 usurper kings). The moral of the story here was don't accept sex with a random stranger in Westeros, as it signals bad times for your penis (Gendry this week and Theon last week).
Outside of Yunkai, Daenerys had an audience with the three mercenary captains of the Second Sons, elaborating on how they couldn't possibly defeat her army. This prompted a great line from Jorah when he said "The Second Sons have faced worse odds and run" and a pleasing promise from Barristan to kill the crass Mero in battle. The Second Sons then had a perfectly valid debate about the differences between whores and mercenaries, before the camp Daario was chosen to kill Daenerys. This led to the one flawed scene of the episode for me, when Daario crept into Daenrys' camp with the heads of the other two captains, swearing his allegiance to her. As a reader of the books I know that what happened was accurate. However, I would've liked to have seen the show change it so that either Barristan or Jorah killed the captains and I also, took issue with Daario pledging his heart to Dany after just meeting her.
Finally, the episode ended with Sam killing a White Walker in epic fashion. However, before that we had two great moments of dialogue between him and Gilly, where Sam recalled childhood traumas whilst trying to come up with baby names and the difference between a wink and a blink was debated. This culminated in a fantastic action sequence, with the White Walker coming to steal Gilly's baby, before Sam rescued her. The CGI and effects for this sequence were fantastic, once again pushing the boundaries of what TV is capable of.
Best Quotes: Tyrion: "I'm the God of tits and wine" Mero-Jorah: "The Second Sons have faced worse odds and won" "The Second Sons have faced worse odds and run" Olenna Tyrell: Messed up family tree bit.