To those of you who may have complained that the current season of ‘Game of Thrones’ has been too talky and hasn’t had enough action… well, damn, here you go.
Episode ‘Blackwater’ is entirely dedicated to the siege of King’s Landing by Stannis Baratheon’s fleet. Not to sound like too much of a gushing fanboy, but “epic” is really the only word for it.
Director Neil Marshall (‘The Descent‘, ‘Centurion‘) does a frankly masterful job of setting the stage for the conflict with eerie “quiet before the storm” scenes, and manages to balance the intense action of the battle (and there’s plenty of that) with crucial character scenes. Cersei’s matter-of-fact counsel to Sansa to expect “a good raping” should the city fall is a notably creepy highlight, even for this character.
Tyrion proves to be a brilliant strategist. He lures Stannis’ ships in close to the castle without resistance, and then sends just a single, unmanned ship to float into their midst. Those of us who’ve been paying attention to the plot this season can probably guess what he’s up to. Of course, the boat is loaded with the explosive “Wildfire.” Just one flaming arrow from Bronn’s bow, perfectly aimed, destroys the majority of Stannis’ fleet in a catastrophic explosion. Among the wreckage is Ser Davos’ ship, though a brief glimpse suggests that the Onion Knight himself is blown back into the sea and may survive.
Stannis surges forward anyway, and lands his troops (still massive in number) to charge the castle walls. Tyrion is once again a step ahead, and sends The Hound with a battalion of troops to defend Mudgate. The fighting is so brutal that at a certain point, even The Hound, who has boasted of his delight in killing, has enough and simply walks away. Chastised by Tyrion for abandoning his king, The Hound replies, “Fuck the king.” Apparently now broken, he walks back into the castle and waits in Sansa’s quarters. When the girl arrives, terrified by his presence, The Hound tells her that he will not hurt her, and offers to sneak her out of the city and bring her home to Winterfell.
Stannis climbs the castle battlements. His army seems to be winning. Joffrey pusses out and flees to his quarters, leaving Tyrion to rally the troops with his version of the St. Crispin’s Day speech. “Don’t fight for your king,” he tells them. It’s their city being sacked, and their families that will be raped and murdered. That’s what they should fight for. Tyrion valiantly leads a sneak attack on Stannis’ forces from behind, but is injured in battle and his men overwhelmed. All seems lost until reinforcements led by his father Tywin (who we had assumed was marching to battle Robb Stark) arrive at the last minute to save the day and capture Stannis alive.
“The battle is over. We have won.”
HuskerGuy
Damn good episode. Jaw hit the floor with that wildfire explosion.
T.J. Kats
For those that haven’t read the book I don’t know if this will be explained or not but
[spoiler deleted]
Josh Zyber
AuthorT.J., I’ve removed your spoiler (which you did give fair warning of, thank you), only because that plot point may be revealed in the next episode. Let’s wait until then to discuss it. Feel free to repost after Sunday’s episode airs or the next recap is posted. Thanks.
Vince Swallow
Didn’t think it was much of a spoiler since the armor was so specific and I believe they showed that same person earlier in the episode. Now, the intent behind the attack certainly sounds like spoiler material.
Josh Zyber
AuthorIn either case, let’s hold off to discuss that point next week just to be safe.
Aaron T. Starks
The Hound didn’t just “walk away” from the battle. He was severely traumatized by fire as child and is terrified of it. When that burning man charged him he froze. After that, he realized the entire battlefield was aflame and fled.
He actually explained this to Tyrion.
Josh Zyber
AuthorI must have missed that. Was that in this episode? I need to rewatch.
Ryan Griffin
It was actually explained in the first season by Littlefinger (at the jousting tournament) that the Hound was held against a fire by his brother, The Mountain, giving him his facial scarring. Then there are a couple moments throughout the episode that directly relate his fear of fire (flinching away from a passing torch, the look of horror when the wildfire explodes, and also the line, “Any of those flaming arrows land near me and I’ll choke you with your own f***ing intestines!”
Also, I believe Stannis was being pulled away by his own men to safety because he was unwilling to stop fighting, don’t think he was captured by the Lannisters.
Aaron T. Starks
The reason he’s terrified of fire was explained by Littlefinger in S1, the reason he fled the battlefield was explained by the Hound himself when Tyrion tried to get him to go back. The “Fuck the King” scene.
And yes, he prefaced it with the “keep those arrows away from me” scene.
Scott Hunvald
I think my heart skipped a beat when that explosion of wild fire happened, holy crap that was massive.
Shannon Nutt
Never thought I’d root for the Lannisters, but they’re growing on me…with the exception of Joffery (but his mother doesn’t like him either).
matt
It was one of the Kingsguard that attacked Tyrion. I think it was Ser Meryn, but I could be mistaken.
Aaron T. Starks
In the book I believe it was Meryn. In the show, it’s whatever Kingsguard Joffrey ordered to “go with my uncle and represent the King on the battlefield”.