“A Man Without Honor” built on last week ’ s child - centric episode with a number of scenes that looked at adult-child dynamics from various angles, exploring the question of what kind of power adults have on the young people around them - and vice versa. But the Daenerys scenes last night felt even more tangential than they have in the past, which just seems to me a waste of a rich character. I get that dealing with forces beyond one’s control is a big part of life in GoT, and I understand the appeal of getting to occasionally drop into an exotic locale after all that time in grim Westeros. But I want to see less stuff happen to Daenerys and for Daenerys to do more stuff. I like a bonkers surprise as much as the next person, and the scene made me very excited that True Blood - where it would have felt right at home - is coming back soon. (Does Pyat Pree give anyone else flashbacks to the Gentlemen from Buffy?) Or to Daenerys, who in this episode found herself caught up in a spectacularly out-of-left-field Qarthian coup as Pyat Pree - who, we learn, stole her dragons - slaughtered the other members of the Thirteen, making Xaro Xhoan Daxos the king of Qarth. Its his personal choices that move his plotline forward, and they do so in a way that’s consistently rooted in his psychology and his history, making him the most satisfying character in a show that can often feel like it’s moving its players around on a big animated map in order to hit predetermined narrative targets.Ĭompare Theon’s story line to that of Ned Stark’s other almost-son Jon Snow, who has spent most of this season bumbling around in a pretty, pouty fog before being captured, conveniently, by Mance Rayder’s wildings. Weiss noted in an HBO clip about the episode, Theon wants desperately to belong, to some place and some people.
The scene at the end of “A Man Without Honor,” in which he unveils what we’re to take are the charred bodies of Bran and Rickon, is the terrible endgame that Game of Thrones has been setting up for several episodes now - one that even Theon doesn’t seem prepared for.Įven as he does horrible things, though, Theon has our empathy we understand, even if we can’t condone, why he does what he does, which isn’t something you can always say about everyone in Game of Thrones. Theon’s growing up, but he’s growing crooked. But as he struggles to do so, he’s become the prime example of another of the show’s central themes: the capacity for individuals to make awful choices that have awful consequences.
Game of thrones season 2 episode 7 how to#
Like several other members of his generation, Theon is trying to learn (painfully and publicly) how to be a leader and, by extension, an adult. In Theon, we see not only the attractions of power but its dangers the comforts of family and its limitations the importance of loyalty and its complications. Part of this is thanks to the fact that, of all the major story lines this season (and there have been, by my latest count, about 397), Theon’s has had the most consistent presence and the clearest arc: It’s rare that we shift to a Theon scene and I think, Oh, that’s where he’s been all this time.īut Theon’s journey has also explored, deeply, the major themes of the show - power, family, loyalty - and done so from the most extreme vantages. But now, with only three hours left in this installment of the series, I’m surprised to find that - of all people - Theon Greyjoy has become the heart of the show for me. I had assumed it would be fan-favorite Tyrion or, failing that, Ned’s son Robb. At the beginning of this season, I wondered who would emerge as the new center of Game of Thrones, now that Ned Stark was dead.
0 kommentar(er)
