Game of Thrones Episode 1-10 Recap: Dungeons and Dragons

Reviews, Shows

What a season finale! It might have taken me half the season before I started to get into Game of Thrones, but these past few episodes have been so good that I’m glad I stuck with it. (Which is more than viewers of The Killing can say, I hear.)

War! (What is it good for?)

Oh boy!

The finale started right where we left off – Ned Stark had just been beheaded, and the creepy man had to rescue Arya from the resulting madness. It’s a good thing people always thought she looked like a boy, because she was instructed to pull a Mulan for her own safety. He took her to…I’m not really sure where Arya was, to be honest, but they’re being taken to The Wall. She’s going to have to be very, very tough, but luckily she’s not afraid of killing a few more fat kids with her needle sword. And King Robert’s bastard son seems to have taken her under his wing, which is good. I’ve read ahead a little on what’s going to happen to Arya, but no matter what I’m keeping my fingers crossed that she keeps her spunk.

King’s Landing under Joffrey’s rule is an ugly place. When a man was overheard singing a song about the death of King Robert, he brought him to court and forced the musician to choose between losing his tongue or his fingers. He also said creepy things about putting a son in Sansa, and he made her stare at her father’s head, stuck up on a spike. What a charming boy. Sansa is finally coming to her senses, though – when Joffrey declared that he’d also bring Sansa her brother Robb’s head on a spike, she said “Or maybe he’ll bring me yours.” Joffrey knows better than to hit his lady, so he has a guard do the dirty work for him instead. Sure, Sansa will need to learn to bite her tongue if she doesn’t want to keep ending up with bloody lips, but I was proud of her. It also looked like she was contemplating trying to push Joffrey off the bridge, which I would have been totally on board with.

Speaking of Arya and Sansa, Robb has to get them back before he can kill all the Lannisters. The war is really heating up, though, since his men all declared him King of the North. All hell has broken loose now, even more so than before – as Tyrion (the only tolerable Lannister) pointed out, Joffrey executing Ned Stark obliterated any chance for peace. Daddy Lannister wouldn’t listen though, because now his tall, handsome son had been kidnapped. When Tyrion was kidnapped, it was no big deal. Daddy Lannister has finally realized Tyrion is smart though, so he sent him to King;s Landing to become the King’s Hand. Still, I think Tyrion should defect to the North. I bet they’d let him keep his prostitute lady friend.

Baby, Daddy

Meanwhile, Khaleesi (or Dany, whatever…) awoke to discover that she’d traded her unborn son’s life for Khal Drogo’s. Oops! And, it gets worse – poor Khal Drogo was barely alive. Not a good trade. It turns out the witch Khaleesi had “saved” had already been raped three times when Khaleesi intervened, and she wasn’t appreciative at all. Which, you know, I get…but I still felt bad for Khaleesi. Game of Thrones seems to be all about moral grey areas and not knowing who to root for.

Khaleesi killed Drogo (though, he was basically already dead) and put him in a funeral pyre of sorts with the three dragon eggs she’d been given. Khaleesi is really stepping into her role as powerful leader now – she made a great “you’re either with me or against me” speech, and then she tied up the witch who killed Khal Drogo and her unborn son in the fire and promised to hear her shrieks. Then Khaleesi herself walked into the flames.

Who wants to buy my a dragon now?

The next morning, Khaleesi awoke among the smoldering embers naked, a bit confused, and with three dragons. So basically a typical Saturday night, minus the mythical creatures? (Just kidding! Hi, mom.) Anyway, good job HBO and to all the people involved with the show on the CGI dragons. That was some Harry Potter quality work there. And I’m really damn excited to see where this will go, since that was the final scene of the season. I have so many questions! Will Khaleesi and Ser Jorah hook up? Will Sansa and Arya ever be rescued? WILL SOMEONE PLEASE KILL JOFFREY? I can’t wait. I might even have to read the books or something.

OK guys, what did you think of the finale? Were fans of the books satisfied with what they saw? Were newbies surprised by the twists? Let me know in the comments! 


You can follow Jill at her blog, couchtimewithjill.com, or on Twitter @jillemader Jill has been an avid fan of TV since the age of two, when she was so obsessed with Zoobilee Zoo that her mother lied and told her it had been canceled. Despite that setback, she grew up to be a television aficionado and pop culture addict.