My recap of Season 1 was posted HERE.
My recaps for Season 2 Episodes 1-3 were posted HERE; Episodes 4-6 posted HERE; and Episodes 7-10 posted HERE.
My recaps for Season 3 Episodes 1-3 were posted HERE; Episodes 4-6 posted HERE;
Episodes 7-8 posted HERE.
Episode 9: "The Rains of Castamere"
The title refers to a song which describes the power dominance of the Lannister family. You do not see a single Lannister in this episode, yet it may mean that their hand is behind the what could be the most unthinkable scenes in GoT history (matched only by the final scene of S01E09, and you all know what a big shocker that was).
Danaerys finally sacks her first city. Jon Snow shows his true Crow colors. Bran Stark shows off his mind control powers over man and dire wolf. However important these may be, everything else that happened in this episode is secondary only to that shock of a heart-breaking, spirit-rending ending.
What was supposed to have been a happy union between Edmure Tully (a picture of dread turned relief) and the unexpectedly pretty and nubile Roslin Frey, turned out to be the worst bloodbath ever seen on this show as the band played "The Rains of Castamere", involving the most unexpected characters. I am in deep shock and speechless for several minutes after watching this. I am still out of breath as I write this summary now as this whole sequence simply knocked the wind out of me.
Episode 10: "Mhysa"
This is the season 3 finale. The whole season peaked last week at the shocking Red Wedding. The purpose of this rather quiet thoughtful season finale episode is to show us the aftermath of last week's major event, and to set up the stories (cliffhangers of sorts) to be picked up in the next season.
Arya sees Robb's head replaced by the head of his Direwolf. This drives her to commit her first killing in the name of revenge.
Theon Greyjoy's twisted tormentor turned out to be Ramsay Snow, the bastard son of Roose Bolton, the very same guy who drove the knife into Robb's chest in the name of the Lannisters.
Ramsay sent Theon's "favorite toy" to Balon Greyjoy as a threat. His sister Yara defies her father and sets sail to save her brother.
King Joffrey dared to accuse his grandfather Tywin Lannister that he was a coward. Tywin tersely sends Joffrey back to his room. Tyrion tells Tywin that he intends to name Roose Bolton the Warden of the North, until a son of Tyrion and Sansa comes of age.
Shae was offered a monetary gift from Varys to leave Tyrion, as she is a "complication," but she rejects it. We learn in this scene that Varys thinks that Tyrion is the only hope to save the Seven Kingdoms from Joffrey's tyranny.
Samwell and Gilly met Bran and his group at the Nightfort. Sam shares with them the dragonglass blades that can kill the White Walkers, but they later part ways. Bran and company wanted to continue going North of the Wall. Samwell wanted to get to Castle Black. It was by Sam's testimony that the Night Guard sends out ravens all over to warn against the coming Army of the Undead.
Jon Snow gets one last sendoff of arrows from Ygritte. (She actually looked good in this scene.) But he still manages to reach Castle Black alive to reunite with his fellow Crows.
Talking about homecomings, Jamie Lannister also makes it to Kings Landing, appearing before Cersei in a wordless scene that is full with meaning.
Despite the fact that Ser Davos helped Gendry escape, Melisandre surprisingly supports him when he explained to Stannis why he deserved to live, given the warnings about the coming clash with the White Walkers.
And finally, we come to the scene that gave this episode its name. "Mhysa" is the name Danaerys was called by the people she rescued from the city of Yunkai, and it means "mother." She was carried in adoration by her new people, as her three dragons fly around above them.
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And so that is it. This Season 3 seemed to come and gone so fast. I liked this Season 3 better than Season 2, though Season 1 is still unbeatable in my opinion because of its shocking novelty at that time. The subsequent season have been following the set pattern where Episode 9 holds the surprising climax. We have another long year of waiting ahead of us. Spring of 2014 cannot come too soon.
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