that's what ygritte said - ep 4.4
TRANSCRIPT
That’s What Ygritte SaidWeekly Game of Thrones Musings by Sam Ryu
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Not to sound like a political science student trying to finish a second year thesis but... what about the, like, poor people? The characters we follow on Game of Thrones are the ruling elite of Westeros—or to use 2014 terms, the 1%. The Lannisters, Targaryens, Tyrells, and even the modest Starks are houses of privilege. A big part of this show deals with how these powerful families make decisions, and how those decisions change the game and sometimes even change the gameboard it’s being played on. What we haven’t seen, however, is how these decisions affect the commoners. How do people of Flea Bottom feel about Cersei rerouting the royal leftovers? How do the farmers in the Riverlands react after they hear about the Red Wedding that happened just down the unpaved road? You’re right. That probably wouldn’t be as interesting but, I would argue, just as important in getting an accurate image of this fictional world. I bring this up mostly because I’m worried about Daenerys. What happens to all these freed slaves? Do they set up an autonomous government, now that their former masters are all crucified to signposts? Or do they join Daenerys’s crusade? And if they do, how long before there is strife between the factions? Think about Iraq after Saddam Hussein was taken out of power. Or more recently, think what happened in Egypt after the rebels overthrew the oppressive government. Revolution is not enough. There needs to be succeeding plan. And it doesn’t seem like there is one—except more “justice”!
——————————————————————————————————————Season 4, Episode 4 — “Oathkeeper”
The title of the episode comes from the name Brienne gives the Valyrian steel sword that Jaime gives her. But of course it has much more symbolic resonance (more below). We get rare back-to-back scenes of lowborns to open the episode—first of Grey Worm and Missandei and their awkwardly sweet English (or Common Tongue, technically) lesson, then the beginnings of a slave revolt. Bronn keeps his pimp hand strong... by using Jaime’s own golden hand (cue: Ace Ventura). The first heavy metal band in Westeros is born—Jaime and Tyrion present: The Kingslayer Bros. And we get our first look at the leader of the White Walkers: Ice Darth Maul with Coke Nails.
May 4, 2014
Before we dig into Episode 4 though, we have to go back to Episode 2 to do some retroactive detective work. It is pretty much confirmed that Littlefinger and Olenna Tyrell orchestrated the plan to poison Joffrey. (H/t to Ryan, Koushaw, and anyone else who saw it on Reddit/online but pretended like they were the ones to figure it out. Hahahah. Come on, guys.)
“Killing a man at a wedding? Horrid. What sort of monster would do such a thing?” Olenna said as she pulled the poisonous gem off of Sansa’s necklace. You can also see a close-up later on Littlefinger’s ship in S4E3. Case closed.
Left: Locke (Roose Bolton’s “best hunter”) as he captures Jaime in S3E2. He then cuts off Jaime’s hand in S3E3.Right: Locke posing as a new recruit in the Night’s Watch. He’s there to find and kill Bran and Rickon Stark.
Cersei seems to be the only one who finds it curious (or maybe just the only one who cares) that Catelyn Stark would set Jaime free. Jaime swore to return Sansa and Arya back to their mother. He tasks Brienne to find Sansa (everyone thinks Arya is dead) and gives Brienne the Valyrian steel sword that his father Tywin gave him. (Read all about Valyrian steel swords here, page 2.) She names it Oathkeeper, both as a promise to Jaime and as a reminder of their promise to Catelyn. It also recalls the bathtub conversation they had in S3E5 when Jaime opens up to Brienne about wanting to be called by his name and not “Kingslayer” or “Oathbreaker” for killing the Mad King.
The Willem Dafoe-looking guy in charge now at Craster’s Keep (Karl) was drinking out of former Lord Commander Jeor Mormont’s skull. That’s Ser Jorah’s father for those of you who forgot.
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May 4, 2014