Peter Fenzel, Shana Mlawski, and Matthew Wrather recap Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 9, “The Rains Of Castamere.”
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TV Recap: Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 9
The Overthinkers recap Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 9, “The Rains Of Castamere.”
12 Comments on “TV Recap: Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 9”
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I’m not so sure that Tyrion and Ned Stark’s rejection of the bedding ceremony are really all that similar. From what Catelyn says, Ned rejects the bedding ceremony because “He didn’t want to break anyone’s jaw.” To me, that seems like a very “ownership” view of marriage – his concern was that other people would be harassing what was now HIS wife.
Tyrion’s view is a lot more enlightened. His the concern is much more rooted in what Sansa wants – his whole “And now my watch begins” bit is rooted in Sansa’s age and a wholesale rejection of the idea that society can force sex on either her or him.
I don’t understand where you get Ned having an “ownership” view of marriage, especially if you read the books where it’s pretty clear he loves Cat and views her as an equal. Also there’s the fact that very recently before his marriage, his brother and father had been brutally executed, his sister was missing, the king had called for his and his best friend’s heads, and he was fighting a war. At the time it was a marriage of necessity as he needed House Tully’s men. He may have simply not been in the mood.
As someone who has only read the first book I can’t really judge too harshly but from what I’ve seen of the show I’m starting to question whether the killing off of key characters isn’t just the author’s go to plot device(like a Shyamalan twist ending) when things are getting slow and he needs to give the story a bit of a kick in the pants. Is it lazy story telling? Is he a plot-tease?
I guess those of you who have read all the books will have a better insight into where the story is headed.
Even though I still find the show engaging I’m starting to wonder whether George R. R. Martin is a good author or just a conjurer of cheap tricks. I guess it’s probably time I read the remaining books and find out.
I haven’t seen this season of the show, but I HAVE read the books and I know this scene well. It was a total kick in the teeth when I first read it. I was blown away. I loved it. If that’s lazy storytelling, then the world needs more of it.
I guess I’m not understanding how you distinguish between a shocking plot twist that sends the entire series flying in a new direction and a “cheap trick.” I guess maybe you’re saying that the deaths seemed arbitrary, but I think they’re anything but. Robb Stark didn’t just get hit by a meteor out of the blue. He walked into a trap he could have seen coming a mile away, but didn’t because of his stubborn sense of honor. He died because of his tragic flaw, the SAME way his father did.
To me, it was a perfectly plotted death, at once SHOCKING but also COMPLETELY INEVITABLE because of who these people are and how they see the world.
And I have to give Martin tremendous props for killing off characters that both he and the audience adores. We all wanted to see Robb kill Joffrey in some awesome duel, but this is NOT a world where that happens. And we wouldn’t find it so fascinating if it was.
Can’t wait to see this episode!
Well I do still find the story engaging and I will definitely keep watching.
I guess I’m just wondering whether all the characters and sub-plots are really necessary to tell the tale. If you introduce a character and then have them killed off is it really necessary to introduce them in the first place or can you just start your narrative later on in the story? Do you need seven novels to tell a story you could have told in three? Does the violence advance the plot?
But then again, the journey is what makes it interesting. And you’re right, in this world (and any realistic world) death is inevitable (violent death especially). It’s just that at the moment it feels like it might end up as just an ongoing tale of turmoil with little resolution and at seven novels long it might end up a soap opera of some sort.
I guess I’m still on the fence for now. It will be interesting to see how the story ends (if it ends).
Maybe we’ll find out that everything is really happening in Bran’s mind while he’s recovering in a hospital and all the characters are really just other patients and hospital staff… and there’s a snow globe. :-)
I LOVE that reference. Well done!
I haven’t read all the books, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it really is, as you say, “an ongoing tale of turmoil with little resolution.” It seems like Martin definitely feels that this “game of thrones” is a neverending struggle in which no one really wins. I think that’s a totally legit story to want to tell – he’s taking this fantasy world and subverting all the ideas of chivalry and honor (OR IS HE??). It doesn’t add up to a conventional story where one character triumphs and gets a happy ending (OR IS IT??), but it’s a story nevertheless.
You could imagine the Daenerys chapters from all the books existing on their own (indeed, I believe there WERE serialized on their own before the first novel came out). That’s more conventional storytelling, but we’d be missing out on some great characters across the pond. I guess I don’t mind it being a soap opera that’s flying in a hundred directions when all the directions are pretty damn good.
But as you say, when it’s all done we can judge whether every page was part of a greater whole or not.
I’m not sure that Martin really feels that way given that he makes clear that prior to the start of this story the Targaryen family ruled for something like 300 years. So some form of stability is possible.
But yes, subverting our ideas of what this type of story should be is one of the things that keeps me watching.
Maybe the point that he’s trying to highlight is that regardless of all of our petty human struggles the real problem is the ice zombies.
One element of the books that is different from the show is the distinction between POV/non-POV chapters. In the book, I think there is a definite difference between POV characters, for whom you see their thoughts, feelings, etc. first hand, versus non-POV for whom we only see how other characters perceive them. IMHO, the Red Wedding was primarily shocking in the books because Caitlin died – OK, sure, it was pretty surprising that Robb would be killed off, but since he was a big presence, but we’d never gotten “into his head.”
By the time the Red Wedding came along, Caitlin was only the second POV character to die (the first being Ned Stark). I guess that it’s hard for me to see the deaths as being a “cheap trick,” as in the book they occur less than once/book. Obviously, that doesn’t translate to TV, since Robb (and several other major but non-POV characters) had just as much screen time as the POV characters, and as such can seem just as well-developed, and therefore their deaths are just a shocking.
Nice episode, just the right level of nerdiness for me. One thing though, I don’t think you need to worry about bad language when you talk about GOT. They say some pretty foul stuff on the show, not to mention the gratuitous sexposition and womb stabbing that goes on. Let loose!
This is a really interesting point. We try to keep the site PG-13, but what’s the point when the subject matter we’re talking about is a hard R?
Good point. Mostly I’m happy I can let loose and say Red Wedding now. REDDDD WEDDDDDDING
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