4.10 The Children Usually, the tenth episode of the season is kind of a chance to relax, reflect on what happened in crazypants episode nine, and generally just catch your breath and get ready for the next season of weirdness in Westeros, Essos, and the whole of George R.R. Martin’s imagination. However, The Children offers no such breathing room. From the very beginning, as Jon Snow marches north to palaver with Mance Rayder, to the very end, as Arya Stark flees Westeros for her new life as a Braavosi sellsword (or Faceless Man), there was not a chance to breathe, and the extra-long episode allowed for more exploration – albeit still not enough for most fans of the show. I’m really not even sure how to approach everything that happened in the episode, except to say that all the groundwork the show laid across this entire season, from the trial of Tyrion Lannister to the journey of all and sundry associated with Arya Stark to the Eyrie, ended up paying off in spectacular and violent fashion. Brienne and Sandor Clegane engaged in one of the most brutal fights in the history of Game Of Thrones. There have been stellar fights this season, from the Mountain and the Red Viper to the last episode as a whole, but the brutal street fight between two non-knights with very different concepts of honour and fighting fair started out as a pretty straightforward duel and degenerated into something incredibly brutal and messy, with an ending left depressingly ambiguous. Given the show’s tendency to pair off characters, I’d love to see Stannis and Mance hang out and talk king stuff while Jon Snow gets to apprentice at the side of the brilliant Onion Knight, the guy who really knows how to get stuff done. This seems to be the direction they’re heading with Tyrion and Varys, the relationship the show has hinted at several times, but not outright shown all that much considering just how alike the two are and how the two seem more concerned with the good of the realm rather than the survival of one particular king or ideology. Alex Graves has turned in a great episode this week. The action scenes are handled with visual aplomb, particularly the helicopter shots of Stannis literally riding in with the cavalry and running the wildlings out of the forest north of the wall. However, the most effective scenes, as usual, involved Tyrion Lannister. From the shared hug with brother Jaime to ending the life of the woman he loves, Tyrion (and Peter Dinklage) was on fire this episode, and Graves did a great job showcasing these brutal, vitally-important actions from the little Lion of Lannister. The death of Shae was great; claustrophobic and heartbreaking in turns, with a memorable last shot of Tyrion and Shae sharing one last tender moment after Tyrion strangled her to death with a gold necklace. The final moments of Arya celebrating her new life, the mad scientist lair of Qyburn (Anton Lesser) and his experiments on the dying Mountain, and of course the Ray Harryhausen skeleton warriors chasing Bran, Meera, Jojen (RIP) and Hodor into the arms of the mysterious Children of the Forest. The combination between director skill, great writing (from Dan Benioff and D.B. Weiss, as per usual), and great special effects is one that’s hard to top. Even the wind-down episode of the fourth season was a thing of tense, affecting beauty, with heartbreak, celebration, violence, and tragedy in equal measure. It’s part roller-coaster ride, part check-in, part set-up for next season, and definitely a sign that the show is moving in the right direction. After an action-packed fourth season, I’m not sure how Game Of Thrones will live up to its own reputation, but I’m sure it will be fine. The fifth season is only ten long months away… Read Ron’s review of the previous episode, The Watchers On The Wall, here. US Correspondent Ron Hogan is very glad to report that Hodor made it north of the wall without any major incident, and that Bran was able to protect him from evil wights. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
