‘Game of Thrones’ 1.09 Recap: “The Dead Will Dance Here Tonight”

Holy crap. Let me repeat that to let it sink in: Ho-lee Crap. As if the titular game of thrones in ‘Game of Thrones’ didn’t already have enormously high stakes (what with numerous factions vying for control of an entire continent), this week’s episode raised those stakes considerably by… well, I’m not going to spoil that on the main page. You’ll have to read on after the break for the spoilerific recap.

The show’s previous episode was one of the few this season that didn’t end with a shocking plot twist. I don’t consider that a disappointment. Not every episode needs one, and if you do it too often, it becomes a gimmick. Nonetheless, this week’s episode (called ‘Baelor’) delivers a whopper of a shock at the end, the biggest one yet by far. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

The episode starts with another conversation between Ned and Varys in Ned’s dungeon cell. Ned refuses to give in to Cersei’s demands that he confess his alleged crimes and pledge fealty to Joffrey. His honor is more important than his life. Varys reminds him that more than his own life is at stake. So are his daughters’.

Ned’s son Robb marches his army of 20,000 men en route to battle with the Lannisters. To get there, he needs to cross a bridge called “the Twins” (so named for the castles on each side) ruled by Lord Walder Frey, a cranky old man who doesn’t seem particularly bound by the oath of loyalty he swore to the Stark family. Catelyn manages to negotiate for the army’s crossing by pledging to marry Arya to one of Walder’s sons and Robb to one of his daughters. (Apparently, he has one who isn’t completely hideous.) Robb reluctantly agrees.

Up north at the Wall, Jon Snow is BMOC again after having dispatched the White Walker. Lord Commander Jeor Mormont gives him his family sword, the one originally intended for his disgraced son Jorah. When he hears word of his half-brother Robb marching to war, Snow’s immediate instinct is to go join him. Blind Maester Aemon reminds him that his responsibility now is to the Night’s Watch, not to his family. The reason that the men of the Watch must swear a vow of chastity is because, “Love is the death of duty.” Aemon also reveals that he is in fact a Targaryen, the grand uncle of Viserys and Daenerys.

Speaking of Daenerys, things aren’t looking so good for her in the Dothraki camp. As feared, Drogo’s chest wound has gotten infected. He’s sickly and near death. If he dies, Dany’s position as Khaleesi will be meaningless without an heir. Already, members of the tribe are jockeying for position to take over. Jorah has to defend her by killing Drogo’s #2 man Qotho in a duel, and is injured in the process.

Against the wishes of Jorah, Dany won’t flee. She refuses to leave Drogo and, in desperation, orders the Wilding witch to use dangerous “blood magic” to cure him. This involves the witch slicing open the throat of Drogo’s horse, which spews blood all over him. As the witch orders everyone out of the tent, horrible otherworldly screams can be heard from inside.

While this is happening, Dany also goes into labor (prematurely?). None of the Dothraki midwives will help her, so the Wilding witch will have to deliver the baby as well.

Out at the Lannister camp, Tyrion has Bronn secure him a new whore to take his mind off the fact that he’s being sent to the front lines of the war. Bronn brings him a mysterious woman named Shae who will not reveal much about herself. In a drinking game, she gets Tyrion to tell the tragic story of his marriage, which he learned was a sham orchestrated by his father.

The next morning, Tyrion dutifully gives a speech to rally his Hill People forces to battle, and is promptly knocked out cold when one of the brutes thoughtlessly walks right into him with a giant hammer swinging at his side. Tyrion misses the whole battle. He awakens afterward to learn that the Lannisters won. However, they fought only 2,000 Stark soldiers, not the 20,000 expected.

The other 18,000 men were with Robb Stark, who sacrificed the 2,000 in order to misdirect Tywin and launch a sneak attack on Jaime, who is captured alive. Jaime challenges Robb to a duel to end the whole war then and there, but Robb is not foolish enough to take him up on it. “This war is far from over,” he declares.

And then we come to the shocking climax. Arya wanders the streets of King’s Landing like a beggar, until drawn by a crowd to see her father’s public trial. In order to spare his daughters, Ned swallows his pride and “confesses” his treason, then declares Joffrey the one true king, exactly as Cersei wanted. In return, Cersei has instructed Joffrey to pardon Ned and command him to serve out the rest of his life in the Night’s Watch. This will serve the dual purpose of appeasing the Starks and ending the war, while also humiliating them and affirming Joffrey’s rule.

It’s a very clever strategy, until little shit Joffrey decides to assert himself as a tough guy, and orders Ned executed anyway. As Cersei yells at her son and both of Ned’s daughters look on in horror, the executioner chops off Ned’s head.

Yes, the show really just killed off its biggest star and lead character. And this wasn’t even the season finale. Holy crap. I can only imagine what’s in store for the next episode.

The only thing I felt was underdeveloped in this episode was the nature of “Baelor” itself, which is confusing and not properly explained. A little research afterwards informs me that Baelor is the name of one of the gods that people of Westeros worship, and it’s from the leg of his statue that Arya watches her father’s trial and execution. I think a few extra lines of dialogue would have gone a long way toward clearing that up within the episode.

6 comments

  1. This episode was excellent. I’m amazed at how well they creators of the series have been able to keep the series coherent with so many different plot threads being interwoven throughout. Tip of the hat to them. My favorite moment in this episode is again a Tyrion scene.

    Watching the Imp detail that tryst in his past, and seeing how devastating it was for him was powerful. I had disliked Tywin Lannister before, but now I downright hate the man. And oddly enough that story also paints Jaime in something of a better light, although I would argue he was definitely misguided in his actions.

    And we bid goodbye to poor, stupid, honorable Ned. So long! You’ll be missed. A fantastic episode all round.

  2. john

    hey there, good recap as usual but Baelor is not a god.

    He was a Targaryen king who was known for his extreme piety and was known afterward as Baelor the Blessed. The place where the event at the end the episode takes place is called the Great Sept of Baelor, which is the main temple of the Faith of the Seven, the main religion of the Seven Kingdoms.

    Cheers!

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      Thanks for the clarification. This was not clear to me at all. I really think that a couple extra lines of dialogue would have helped this scene enormously.

  3. I was torn at the end of this one. On the one hand, it’s great that they’re willing to sacrifice a lead character like that for the story, but I also felt a bit disappointed because as much as I like the rest of the cast, there just isn’t another charismatic seasoned heroic adult character to take his place. I was beginning to look forward to Ned exacting some brutal vengeance in the near future… Guess that’s out!

    I’m wondering if this is going to be one of those shows that suddenly leaps several years at some point. Mainly because so many of the main characters who appear to be building up to their various ‘destinies’ in typical fantasy novel style, are so young at the moment. Arya especially, who I can’t help thinking we’re going to see as an adult. I’ve not read the books, though, so I have no idea really lol!

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      I agree with you that the loss of Ned will leave a hole that no one else in the cast can really fill. However, I suspect it’s possilble that someone new can step in next season.

      I haven’t read the books, but a friend of mine who has tells me that they don’t jump forward in time. Each picks up pretty much where the last left off (and that a couple of them actually take place concurrently with each other). I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers, so I haven’t discussed the later books with him in any more depth than that.

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