Game of Thrones S02E05 “The Ghost of Harrenhal”
By Bobot Fett
Warning! Spoilers for S02E05 and Book #2 (A Clash of Kings) included!
Season 2 reaches its midway point with another epic episode as the game of thrones loses a potential king but adds a potential queen!
It has been a hard year for the House Baratheon. The battle between brothers comes to a close as Stannis’ demon spawn stabs (no pun intended) Renly. The moment is over quickly but the repercussions promise to echo through the remainder of the season and beyond. With Stannis’ war fleet approaching Storm’s End new alliances are formed in the wake of Renly’s death. Stannis gets Renly’s army, Catelyn gets Bri, and Baelish gets the Tullys. Margery, played by Natalie Dormer, continues to steal every scene she is in. Her sheepish cry of not wanting to be a queen is immediately devoured by her appetite to be “The Queen”. It’s a brilliant and subtle delivery and you immediately believe her capable of doing whatever it takes to achieve her goals. Renly’s death is also a very strong scene for Brienne. Her refusal to leave his side is as painful as her vows of revenge and her fealty to Catelyn is obvious. Though I enjoy the character, if I was not a hardened Westeros veteran I might wonder at her motivation. We as a TV audience have been given little to no back story on the Beauty of Tarth, leaving her almost religious loyalty to Renly unexplained. With such a massive story and so many characters HBO has done a masterful job balancing the show but a huge amount of emotional weight is lost if we don’t understand why the characters make the decisions they do.
Though the infighting amongst the Baratheon family is over, the Lannisters and Greyjoys keep up the good fight. Tyrion (demon monkey) and Cersei’s (incestuous whore) weekly spar puts Tyrion on the trail of wildfire, the original source of the Targaeryan’s power. Soon enough in classic Tyrion style those working for Cersei are working for him and her plans are his. On the Iron Isles, Theon continues his quest for respect. On a reeking dock (see what I did there) Theon is dominated not only by his sister but by his own crew. But soon, with a little help Theon hatches a plan that could flood the winter in blood.
Arya continues to bear the cup for Tywin Lannister leaving her trapped and vulnerable, but old debts must be paid and she soon gains a deadly ally. Here the rapid fire nature of the show, in comparison to the book, fails the series. Arya’s request for the death of the Tickler might seems crazy when Joffrey and Cersei still live only because the TV audience has not seen her suffer at his hands like the readers have. The remaining living Starks don’t have much to do this episode. Jon continues to wander north of the wall in search of Mance Rayder. The sweeping arctic vistas, coupled with shots like Stannis’ approaching fleet, begin to build the epic scope the series often lacks. Bran continues to excel as Lord of Winterfell but his dreams foreshadow the storm of swords to come.
We close with Daenerys quartered in Qarth. A visit from the Warlocks leaves Dany with an invitation to the House of the Undying. Later Dany receives an invitation of a different sort when a marriage is proposed and a kingdom is offered. In a quiet scene with her bear Mormont we see Danerys the conqueror step out of the shade of the evening and into the fire of her destiny.