Game of Thrones Season 4 Episode 2 "The Lion and the Rose"

Game of Thrones Season 4, Episode 2 Review: “The Lion and the Rose”

Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

 

No other episode has made more fans cheer over a death than tonight’s episode of “Game of Thrones,” and that is saying a lot! The death of Joffrey Baratheon has been an event most “Game of Thrones” fans has been wanting since the first episode of the show. Those of us who read the books have had to keep our mouths shut while non-book reading fans tell us how much they want Joffrey to die. Finally, the anticipation paid off, some justice has been served, and King Joffrey is no longer with us! We will get more into the repercussions of Joffrey’s death later but let’s quickly recap the other storylines addressed in this week’s episode.

Game of Thrones Season 4 Premiere Review: “Two Swords”

The night begins with Roose Bolton’s bastard son, Ramsey Snow, hunting a girl in the woods with Ramsey’s lover and Theon, aka Reek, following him. The poor girl is running away not only from Ramsey but from a pack of dogs that stay on her tail, ready to kill. The scene is quite disturbing and really highlights how sadistic Ramsey is. The girl gets hit by an arrow by Ramsey’s lover, and when she can no longer run Ramsey catches up. He explains she has to die because his girlfriend is jealous of her beauty, and he sets the dogs on her. As she screams to her death, Theon watches in horror.

As one crazy son hunts innocent people in the North, two imperfect sons dine together in King’s Landing as they catch up over a meal. Tyrion teases Jaime about their inabilities, and Jaime accidentally knocks over his wine with his new hand. Jaime cringes at himself and Tyrion makes him feel better by calmly pouring Jaime another glass and telling him it’s only spilled wine. Jaime explains he cannot protect the king because he can no longer fight, but he is afraid to let anyone know this. Tyrion tells Jaime he simply needs to train to fight with his left hand, and he needs a trainer who is discrete.

After their meal, Jaime goes to meet his new trainer, Bronn. They meet near the sea so no one can hear their swords as they train. Bronn shows Jaime no mercy as he trains him to fight with his left hand.

Back to the North, Roose Bolton and his men arrive at the Dreadfort with his new wife, Walda Frey. Roose introduces Walda to Ramsey, and asks to see Theon. When Ramsey presents Theon to Roose, Roose grows upset with Ramsey because Ramsey flayed Theon. He explains he needed Theon to negotiate with the Greyjoys so he can control Moat Cailin and gain total control the North. He knows the Greyjoys will not want Theon back in his new, broken condition, but Ramsey explains he already tried to negotiate with the Greyjoys and they made it clear they did not want Theon back. Ramsey does not let his father’s anger worry him and shows Roose how well trained Theon is at obeying Ramsey. Ramsey has Theon give him a clean shave as he tells Theon to explains he did not kill Bran and Rickon Stark and that the boys likely fled to Castle Black to be with their brother, Jon Snow. Ramsey knows the Stark boys are a threat and that the Boltons will never truly control the North as long as there are Starks alive. Roose orders Ramsey to head towards Castle Black and bring Theon with him to go see if Jon Snow is sheltering the boys.

Meanwhile, back at King’s Landing, Varys and Tyrion walk around the Red Keep as Varys tells Tyrion Cersei knows about Shae and her relationship with Tyrion. As they eat at a pre-wedding meal, Cersei points out to Tywin which girl is Shae, and Tywin demands she be brought to his tower before the wedding.

During the meal, Tyrion gives Joffrey a book as a wedding gift. Joffrey receives it gladly, which Tyrion seems to find troubling. Next, his grandfather gives Joffrey the other Valarian steel sword, forged from Ned Stark’s old sword, and Joffrey uses it to chop up the book Tyrion gave him.

After the meal, Shae comes to Tyrion’s chambers and wants to be with him. Tyrion tells her their relationship absolutely cannot continue and there is a ship waiting for her to go to Pentos where she can live a comfortable and safe life. Shae knows Tyrion is afraid for her safety and tells him she is not afraid of his father and sister. In order to get her to take him seriously, Tyrion demeans her by saying Shae she is a whore and she cannot bear his children; he needs to be with his wife and give her children. She cries as Tyrion opens the door and has Bronn escort her out of the palace and to the ship.

As the Lannisters prepare for the big wedding in King’s Landing, Stannis Baratheon and his court have Melisandre burn men alive as a sacrifice to the Lord of Light at Dragonstone. Stannis’s brother-in-law yells at Stannis as he burns alive. After the sacrifice is complete, Stannis and Davos walk away and Davos tries to understand why Stannis would kill his brother-in-law; Stannis says he was refusing to stop worshipping his old gods.

As they get back to the castle, Stannis, his wife Selyse, and Melisandre eat while Selyse reminisces on old times when she and Stannis were first together. Then Selyse discusses her displeasure with their daughter, Shireen, and how Selyse worries about Shireen’s soul. Stannis orders his wife not to touch their daughter, and Selyse says she will obey but wishes Melsandre will go see the girl. When Melisandre goes to see Shireen, Melisandre explains her religion to Shireen and answers many of the girl’s questions about the Lord of Light.

North of the wall, Bran hunts in Summer’s body. Bran sees Summer hunt and kill a deer. Meera abruptly wakes him and Bran is upset because he was eating in his dream. JoJen warns Bran not to stay in Summer’s mind too long or else he will forget what it is like to be human.

As they walk through the forest, Summer comes across a tree covered in red leaves, as opposed to the dead trees surrounding them. Bran has Hordor bring him to the tree and he finds a face carved into it. Bran touches the tree and immediately sees visions of his father, Daenerys’ dragons, and other events from the past and from the future. Within the visions, a voice tells Bran he needs to go further into the woods and under the trees to find what he is seeking.

After we see these visions of the past, present, and future, the episode concludes with the wedding of Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell. Wedding bells ring throughout King’s Landing as Margaery walks down the aisle to met Joffrey. Joffrey kisses his bride at the end of the ceremony and the two are officially wed. As the wedding party moves from the church to the reception, Lady Olenna walks with Tywin Lannister and jokes about the wedding expenses and how much it is costing her. She alludes to the fact that she knows the Lannisters are in debt from the war and that the Iron Bank may come to collect their debts soon.

Once they reach the reception area, Lady Olenna approaches Sansa and expresses her sympathies for what happened to Robb and her mother at the Red Wedding. She is well aware the Lannisters are listening to her as she tells Sansa it is wrong to kill someone at a wedding. She tells Sansa she and Tyrion should come to Highgarden for a visit once everything is settled after the wedding.

During the meal, many guests mingle and play their cards to the appropriate competitors. Brienne gives Margaery and Joffrey her well wishes, and as she walks away from their table Cersei approaches her and thanks Brienne for bringing Jaime back safely. She then makes a point to note that Brienne has aligned herself with Renly Baratheon, Cateyln Stark, and now Jaime Lannister, and how nice it must be to switch allegiances so casually. Brienne makes no comment, and, clearly irritated, Cersei asks Brienne point blank if she loves Jaime. Brienne continues to stay quiet and walks away as Jaime looks on.

Prince Oberyn approaches Tywin and Cersei and introduces Ellaria Sand. Cersei insults Ellaria’s bastard parentage and Oberyn quickly insults Cersei back by saying Cersei’s daughter is safer in his family’s lands as his people do not believe in raping and murdering women and child, like the Lannisters did to his sister.

The wedding festivities continue as Joffrey presents entertainment with dwarves reenacting the War of the Five Kings. There are five dwarves, each one representing one of the five kings from the war. Joffrey laughs at the performance as Margaery, Tyrion and Sansa look on in disgust. Everyone stares at Sansa with sympathy when the dwarf portraying Joffrey kills the Ned Stark impersonator.

After the dwarves are finished performing, Joffrey addresses the crowd and tells Tyrion he wants him to go and continue performing with the dwarves. Tyrion holds back his anger as he calmly outwits his nephew by saying the dwarves do not give Joffrey’s bravery justice, and Joffrey should use his new sword to show everyone how well he can fight. Joffrey walks over to his uncle and pours wine over his head, then insists Tyrion be his wine bearer. Tyrion knows he has to obey and when he goes to get Joffrey’s goblet, Joffrey kicks it away. Tyrion gets the goblet and fills it with wine, and Joffrey demands Tyrion kneel as he presents the wine. Tyrion resists and Joffrey grows more angry at his uncle’s stubbornness.

Fortunately, Margaery is able to break the tension by making note that the pie is being presented. Joffrey leaves his uncle and uses his sword to break open the pie to let out doves. As Joffrey eats his pie he demands Tyrion to pour him more wine. Tyrion gives him his goblet, and as Joffrey eats and drinks he begins to look like he is choking. As they call for a doctor, everyone quickly realizes he is not choking but was poisoned. Cersei rushes to her son and screams in horror as everyone looks at Joffrey, who has blood coming out of his eyes and nose. In the panic, Ser Dontos gets Sansa’s attention and tells her to flee with him or else she will die. She follows him, as no one is paying attention to her. Laying in his mother’s arms, Joffrey coughs up blood and manages to point at Tyrion who is standing near Joffrey’s table holding the wine goblet. Cersei stares at her brother with hate as her son dies in her arms. Cersei screams at her father to have Tyrion taken away, and the guards apprehend Tyrion.

And now the King of Westeros is dead! But with this death, sadly, one of the most beloved characters is imprisoned. It remains to be seen if Tyrion poisoned Joffrey, but it is hard to fathom how Tyrion could have managed it. He looked just as shocked as everyone when Joffrey started dying. We will have to see what becomes of Tyrion in the coming weeks, but knowing Cersei, his fortune is not looking bright.

And now that Tyrion is being accused of killing Joffrey, what will become of Sansa? Where did Ser Dontos take Sansa? Will her disappearance make her look like more of a suspect? And what will happen to the Tyrells now that Margaery is no longer married to the King? There are simply too many questions now that Joffrey is dead. But thank goodness he is dead as he was an awful person.

Speaking of awful people, there is one character that is unbelievably worse than Joffrey, and that is Ramsey Snow. As a reader of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, I was quite surprised they are moving the assault on Moat Cailin and Ramsey and Theon’s story so quickly. Ramsey and Theon, aka Reek, do not begin their search for the Starks until the fifth book. However, the timeline makes sense and will certainly give some much needed interest to the stories outside of King’s Landing. But at the rate the writers are going, they might be out of material by the end of this season or next if George R. R. Martin does not finish another book soon.

Nevertheless, with only two episodes thus far, this is proving to be one of the most exciting seasons of “Game of Thrones” yet. I can assure you Joffrey’s death will make for some very interesting and exciting stories to come. His death will impact the events from here on out, and I am looking forward to see how the writers will bring these stories to the screen.

 

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