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Posted by on Jun 14, 2013 in Pop Culture, Scott Signorino, Television | 0 comments

Game of Thrones: Seasons Endings (Part 2)

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Mhysa”

Poor Theon Greyjoy.  If “Mhysa”, the slow-burning close to Season 3 of HBO’s Game of Thrones left me with any resounding thought at all, it was POOR THEON GREYJOY.

 

If you’ve been following the show then you know that Theon Turncloak has been suffering a bit of nastiness by a formerly unnamed, incredibly sadistic young man.  One of my favorite scenes in “Mhysa” was Roose Bolton’s “revealing of Ramsay.”  Prior to Season 3 we’ve probably referred to Roose Bolton as the weird bald guy who followed Robb around Westeros as he fought in the name of the North.  In a brilliantly executed scene, Roose explains to Lord Walder Frey exactly what happened at Winterfell when his bastard son stormed the castle.  Ending this explanation, Roose’s iron tones announce in almost defeatist fashion that “Ramsay has his own way of doing things.”

 

The very next scene is a horrifying exchange of symbolic penis-oriented double entendres between who we now know as Ramsay and a defeated, and now castrated Theon.  Ramsay makes many observations about Theon’s manhood and snacks on a pork sausage nonchalantly before bestowing a new moniker on Lord Greyjoy, “Reek.”  When reading the books I was probably the most interested in Theon’s story arc.  While there have been a few deviations from the printed page to the big screen, all of the key points are hit.  Theon’s paying big time for his incessant self-regard and his insecurities as a ward of the Starks.

 

“Mhysa” takes us all over the Game of Thrones world, and in keeping with the theme of “Poor Theon Greyjoy” we find ourselves at the Iron Islands.  Balon Greyjoy, ever the sympathetic father, is hand-delivered his son’s manhood.  Asha, Theon’s rather cold sister, vows to take avenge and rescue her brother taking the best of the best that remain on the Iron Islands and the fastest ship around.

 

In the Riverlands, poor Arya Stark and her brutal caretaker Sandor Clegane travel to parts unknown after the bloody miasma of the Red Wedding.  You begin to soften any attitudes you had towards the Hound given the bit of humanity he showed to Arya as she watched her brother’s dead body paraded around at the Twins with a hilariously awful prop wolf’s head sewn on top.  All of that aside, Arya makes her bones in her apparently newfound career as a murderer by ruthlessly stabbing a Frey bannerman boasting about Robb’s death.  Sandor gives her a hand with the remaining Frey soldiers and you have to applaud their newfound partnership.

 

King’s Landing hears about the death of Robb Stark and as Joffrey acts like Joffrey, Tywin coolly reminds him that “A man who has to say ‘I am the king’ is no true king” in one of my favorite Charles Dance moments of the series.  Tywin and Tyrion share a borderline heartfelt father-son moment where Tywin reveals that he relented throwing Tyrion in the sea as Tyrion is a Lannister and Tywin always puts family first.  You begin to feel for Tyrion because in the grand scope of things, he’s one of the few almost wholly likeable characters on the show and it was a shame that his relationship with Sansa tragically regressed after it showed a hint of thawing once Sansa heard of her brother’s death at Lannister whims.

 

Stannis Baratheon receives a raven from Castle Black to which Sam and Gilly return after a chance meeting with Bran at the Nightfort.  While Sam and Gilly were running from what lay beyond the Wall, Bran and his entourage soldiered through the Black Gate with great abandon into the bleak unknown to put a stop to the rising of the dead.  I’m glad Bran’s purpose has finally been revealed, albeit clumsily during an almost forced interaction between he and Sam.  It really just felt like Bran was traveling to nowhere the entire season.   I’m also glad that after sending warning to those declaring themselves king in Westeros, Stannis Baratheon has been given another chance at proving his worth to the realm by answering the call of the Night’s Watch.  Speaking of member’s of the Night’s Watch, Jon Snow teaches us that all you need is a little love and a penchant for being riddled with arrows to smite the wrath of your lady.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed for Jon Snow and his arrow wounds.

 

As expected, a scene with Danaerys wrapped it all up.  Her army awaits the openings of the doors at Yunkai, and essentially Game of Thrones turns into a music video at a concert as Dany crowdsurfs in a sea of slaves chanting “Mhysa”, the Ghsicari word for “mother”.   In this reviewer’s opinion, the ending was a little lame as I had hoped for more of a supernatural cliffhanger a la the first two seasons, however, “Mhysa” definitely kept me interested for what HBO has in store for us next year.

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