Man, I love it when my concerns about a show are addressed in the very
next episode. After last weeks overstuffed premier, ‘The North
Remembers,’ I was worried that every episode this season was going to
have that full-to-brimming feel, as it frantically attempted to cover a
million storylines at once. Well, I needn’t have worried, because the
follow-up episode, ‘The Night Lands,’ does a great job of picking a few
storylines to address, and sticking to them. There are still a few
scenes that feel a bit out of place, but overall the episode felt
coherent and engrossing.
Let’s do the same thing I did last week, and break it down by location,
since there are so many at this point. We start off with Arya and
Gendry on the road with the Night’s Watch, where we also get our
introduction to Rorge, Biter, and Jaquen, the three prisoners in that
cage. All of these guys were cast brilliant, and Jaquen in particular
is going to have a major role to play before the season is over. Then
the Gold-cloaks showed up, and Arya understandably assumes that they are
there for her. However, they’re actually looking for Gendry and his
bull-head helmet, but Yoren doesn’t care. Yoren was so badass in this
scene, holding a blade against the artery in one of the Gold-cloak’s
legs. It was great starting the episode off with such a suspenseful and
badass moment, and it really set a great tone.
Now everyone in camp knows that people are after Gendry, but no one,
including Gendry knows why. What Gendry does know, however, is that
Arry, the little orphan boy, thinks that people are after her. He
surprises Arya by also revealing that he knows she is a girl, which
prompts her to tell him exactly who she is. I really like the
relationship between these two, cause it’s rare in this show to have two
people who actually really get along. The other great moment of this
scene was the beginning of it, where Lommy and Hot Pie, Arya and
Gendry’s companions, argue about what exactly constitutes a ‘battle.’ Is
it juts two guys fighting with armor on? This bit was hilarious, and
totally in-character for these two. I like that the show understands
how important it is to inject humor into the proceedings.
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