Game Of Thrones: S2E9

The prenultimate episode of season 2 begins with Stannis's fleet slowly approaching King's Landing. Cersei prepares for the worst by obtaining Essence Of Nightshade from Grand Maester Pycell. Varys brings a map of the tunnels beneath the Red Keep to Tyrion. Joffrey asks Sansa to kiss his sword Hearteater as a symbol of the luck while he is going to fight. While Cersei keeps ordering more wine and spilling nuggets of wisdom to Sansa; Stannis's fleet is almost at the shores. Joffrey is furious to see only one ship sent by Tyrion who plans to please his nephew by displaying his trick with wildfire.

Boom!

Although Stannis undergoes a major loss, his dreams haven't died. He continues to sail his forces towards the mud gate even if this means that thousands of his soldiers will die because of the defense of King's Landing. When Cersei hears this, she orders to bring Joffrey back from the battlefield. Tyrion then decides to raise the morale of Joffrey's men by boasting their confidence. Sansa gets an offer to flee King's Landing with The Hound but she rejects this offer. Cersei is sitting on the Iron Throne with her youngest son Tommen and the vile of Essense of Nightshade in her hand. On the battlefield when Stannis has almost won the war, Tywin Lannister brings Lannister and Tyrell forces and sweeps away the victory from Stannis.

What an exciting episode it was! Did you enjoy it? Do comment below.
Chaos.

Game Of Thrones: S2E8

Sometimes you need just a small revision of where every character is placed and what will be they facing next. This was one of such episodes. Also, I think this was one of the slowest and uneventful episodes of Game Of Thrones season 2. Maybe they were warming up for the prenultimate episode to come.

If you also need a revision then you can read my reviews of all episodes of Game Of Thrones here:

TV Series Explained: Game Of Thrones

So Cersei accuses Tyrion of plotting to get Joffrey killed. As a safety measure for her son's life, she catches Ros instead of Shae thinking that Ros is Tyrion's w*ore and Tyrion is in love with her. Varys informs Tyrion about Danny and her dragons but he seems to be more focussed about the impending war at hand. Arya takes Jaqen's help and escapes Harrenhal with Gendry and Hot Pie. Robb hears that Jaime escaped the previous night. Upon returning to his camp, we learn that it was Cat who freed him in return of her daughters' safe return to her. Furious by his mother's deed, Robb imprisons her. That night he and Talisa finally decide to let their hair down and let their legs up; if you know what I mean!

Beyond The Wall, Jon is a prisoner along with Qhorin Halfhand who tells him to enter Mance's army to learn their secrets. Elsewhere Sam finds draggonglass weapons hidden inside an old Night's Watch cloak. We see Danny and Ser Jorah only for a couple of minutes where Danny orders Jorah to take her to The House of The Undying. Theon's sister Yara comes to Winterfell, not to help Theon keep the castle but to take Theon back with her who refuses to go with her. Maester Luwin follows Osha to the cripts of Winterfell where Bran and Rickon are hiding. He figures out that Theon murdered some farmer's boys and burned them to pass them off as Bran and Rickon and Bran overhears this conversation with a sorrowful expression on his face.

Game Of Thrones: S2E7

There were some intriguing questions asked. Some of them were answered and some of them were not. And some of them made us think. If both the members of the old houses such as the Starks and the wildlings shared the same origins then why was The Wall built? If Cersei and Jaime were noy fully convinced that The Targaryns interwedding themselves was alright then why did they do it themselves? Even after knowing the King Joffrey is a monster but Sansa is to be married to her, shouldn't she love her?

Welcome to Game Of Thrones. The seventh episode shows us Sansa finally getting fit to bear Joffrey's children. Tywin is on the hunt of his killer while Theon is on the hunt of Bran and Rickon. Robb continues her romance with Lady Talisa. Jon loses catch hold of Ygritte only to find himself surrounded by the wildlings. Jaime kills Ser Alton Lannister and a Karstark prison guard and escapes. He gets caught again and Lord Karstark demands killing him but Lady Catlyn urges him to wait till Robb comes back. Khaleesi is still searching for her dragons. She orders Ser Jorah to find her dragons to gain back her trust. Cersei shares some womanly advice with Sansa and tells her never to love anyone except her children. The new King of Quarth Xaro Xoan Daxos makes a deal with the warlock king who murders other members of The Thirteen. He also reveals to Danny that she should visit The House Of The Undying where he has kept her dragons. . Theon hangs burned bodies of Stark children to teach everyone else at Winterfell a lesson and to prove a point that he is the new lord of Winterfell and everyone should obey him.

Will Theon's lordmanship come to an end when Lord Bolton's basterd take back Winterfell or will Theon be able to get his sister's help to defend the attack on Winterfell? Will Lord Karstark be able to convince Robb to let him kill the Kingslayer as revenge? Will Sansa finally be married to Joffrey? And will Jon become Ygritte's prisoner now? Watch this space to find out...

Game Of Thrones: S2E6

The sixth episode of Season 2 of Game Of Thrones starts with a major turn of events when freshly minted ‘Prince’ Theon captures the castle of Winterfell. He also shocks everyone when he executes Ser Rodrik who denies accepting Theon as the new Lord of Winterfell.

Strange people doing unexpected things, isn't it? In case you also strangely stumbled upon this post out of nowhere and want to check out all my reviews about Game of Thrones then you can click here:

TV Series Reviewed: Game Of Thrones

Alright. Back to the current episode.
At King’s Landing, everyone is gathered at the riverside to see off Princess Myrcella who is being shipped off to Dorne for her safety. But Cersei is still thinking that this is some vicious plot by Tyrion against her and she threatens Tyrion that she will also take away some loved one from him one day as revenge. On their way back to The Red Keep, the people of King’s Landing who are unhappy because of the effects of the ongoing war, attacks the King and his entire party. The King orders everyone to be assassinated as an act of punishment but somehow everyone escapes. Everyone except, poor Sansa. Sansa is almost going to get raped and possibly killed when The Hound saves her and brings her back to the castle. Beyond The Wall, Jon and his brothers of The Night’s watch encounters some wildings who are killed off except a pretty wilding Yiggrite. Jon is unable to kill her and thus takes her as a prisoner and they begin to walk together in search of his other brothers. Lord Tywin is enraged when one of his council members sends a letter to the wrong house and is impressed to know that Arya who is posing as his cupbearer can read. Lord Bealish visits Tywin and he also notices Arya but Arya manages to keep her identity safe. She smuggles one of the notes with her that contains Lannister’s battle plan but is caught red handed by one of the Lannister knights. To save herself, Arya gets him killed before he could see Tywin. A wounded Sansa is being treated by Shae who gives her a good advice to never trust anyone to stay safe. At Winterfell, Osha lures Theon into bed thereby gaining his trust only to take Bran and Rickon to safety. Beyond the narrow sea, The Mother of Dragons is sad after meeting multiple Kings in Quarth because no one is ready to give her ships to cross the narrow sea so that she could take back all seven kingdoms. Upon returning home, she witnesses a mass murder of her people and also her dragons are missing. Finally we see dragons crying for help which are being taken away by a hooded man to The House of The Undying.

Are you keeping the count of how many new characters have been introduced recently? Have you stopped counting number of deaths per episode? Well I have. But the series somehow manages to keep the interest alive even with all the innovative ways to kill people, the politics, different houses and their allies and of course with so much nudity!

By the way, just in case you missed reading my reviews of Amazon Prime's Jack Ryan, click the link below:

TV Series Reviewed: Jack Ryan

Thank you!

Game Of Thrones: S2E5

The episode starts with Cat and Renly forming an alliance. But immediately after this, a shadow kills King Renly and Cat flees with Brianne.

In King's Landing, Tyrion learns that Cersei is preparing wildfire for protecting the city from Stannis's fleet and armies. Renly's Bannerman forces join with Stannis except The Tyrells. Jaquen agrees to kill 3 men named by Arya while Theon is disappointed when his men insults him and takes help from a stranger man to prove himself.

Beyond the wall, Jon Snow joins The halfhand to sneek into Mance's camp and kill him so that the Wildlings will be deafeted. Khaleesi looks beautiful in a blue dress that was gifted to her. She also gets a marriage proposal from Xaro in return of a promise of a lot of wealth which she can use to conquer Westeros. Ser Jorah advices not to accept this marriage proposal and make her own way. Finally, we see a  smile on Arya's face when she witnesses that Jaquen has successfully killed her first target and the episode ends.

This was one of the episodes which had slower momentum because it was setting up the storylines for what is coming up in future. Yet, as always it was filled with so much content that you can't afford to miss it.

Do you like my reviews? If you want me to write about some other show then do let me know in the comments. You can also reach out to me on abhisheksathe12@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!

Game Of Thrones: S2E4

Life is not simple. Sometimes you have horrible people in life. Sometimes your fate is just bad. Sometimes it's the combination of many unfortunate events that throw curve balls at you. What this episode of Game Of Thrones teaches is how to learn from your previous mistakes and adopt to your current circumstances to make the best out of available resources. Some of the major players are learning from maliable aquatic plants who survive even the worst of storms and floods because of their 'agility'. Because if you are stubborn and not ready to get adjusted to the surroundings then the chances of survival are pretty thin.
Okay. Enough of our free dose of life lesson parallels drawn out from the episode.

'Garden Of Bones' starts with Robb Stark winning yet another battle. He rejects Roose Bolton's advise of flaying the Lannister captors. He also meets a nurse who gives him a lecture on the cons of wars which was pretty convincing but Robb has totally forgotten about his bethrowed Frey girl and starts falling for this nurse girl.

In King's Landing, Joffrey has arranged for another one of his torturing sessions. He is making Sansa's life more miserable who gets saved by Tyrion just in time before Sansa was going to get badly beaten. Listening to Bronn's council, Tyrion sends two who*es to calm down Joffrey's raging hormones. But Joff being Joff; does unspeakable things to them and sends his uncle Tyrion a message. What a waste!

Littlefinger arrives at King Renly's camp. He meets Renly, Queen Margaery and they talk. But the main thing is when he talks to Cat. He lies to her face and offers her daughters back in exchange of Jaime. Yes he offers her both of her daughters. He also delivers Ned's last remains as a token of good faith. Meanwhile, King Stannis also arrives there. Cat tries to get the two brothers to be peaceful with each other and not go to war against each other but in vain!

At Harrenhal, Arya, Gendry and other prisoners are being tortured. Tywin Lannister arrives to stop this and recognizes Arya is not a boy but a girl posing as a boy. Smartness overloaded!

For Danny, there is a lot of Drama at the gates of Qarth. But after a considerable give and take with the 'Thirteen', the gates of Qarth are finally opened. At this point we understand the difference inside the gates and outside the gates and why the episode is named Garden Of Bones.

Back to King's Landing, Lancel Lannister (who is now doing Cersei because Jaime is unavailable) meets Tyrion to demand Grand Master Pycell's release from the jail. Tyrion agrees to Cersei's demand but he also makes Lancel to agree to secretly help Tyrion by giving him updates on Cersei moves (while he is moving it with Cersei; if you know what I mean!)

Finally, we again meet King Stannis who asks his man Ser Davos to take his woman Melissandre somewhere discreet. The episode ends on a horrific note when The Red Woman delivers an evil shadow like baby and even Ser Davos loses his sh*t after witnessing this incident first hand.

Breath.

Game Of Thrones: S2E3

It may have been a ride of adventures since we began our Game Of Thrones journey but wait... Have you started losing who's who and where are they now? Why dont we give you a quick revision of the locations and the important people?

So Jon, Sam etc are at Craster's Keep beyond the wall. Bran is currently running the show in Winterfell. Robb is at war. Cat is visiting King Renly Baratheon. Theon Greyjoy is in Iron Island with La Familia. Lord Tywin is making sure Robb doesn't win the war. Tyrion Lannister is Hand Of the King in King's Landing along with Queen Regent Cersei, King Joffrey Baratheon, Sansa, Pycell, Varys, Shae etc. Arya has escaped with Gendry. Jaime is Robb's prisoner. Stannis Baratheon is at Dragonstone with Melissandre making her pregnant and ignoring the Onion Knight. Robert's dead with his headless friend Ned. Drogo's dead. Viserys Targaryen is not a real dragon. And the mother of Dragons is toiling in the red waste.

Phewww! I guess that was needed, isn't it?

So season 2 episode 3 begins with Craster bringing Jon to his house and asking the men of the Night's Watch to get out. Cat meets Renly and his Queen Margaery Tyrell (sister of Ser Loras Tyrell who regularly fu*ks Margery's husband Renly) Crazy World I tell you!
Renly promises Cat revenge for Ned's murder. We also see Renly accepting Brienne of Tarth as a member of his Kingsguard. Balon and Yara are still treating Theon like sh*t so there's that.

Moving on, Shae finds her a new job as Handmaiden to Sansa. Tyrion pulls an amazing trick to figure out Cersei's spy by proposing Princess Myrcella 's wedding as a political move.
Maester Pycell is the one found guilty and Cersei is enraged again!

Renly couldn't sleep with Margaery. Theon decides to cheat Robb and stay loyal to House Greyjoy. Tyrion calms down angry Littlefinger by sending him on a mission which involves a meeting with Cat. Varys appreciates Tyrion's brains.

Arya learns how to handle emotions from Yoren who is killed by the gold cloaks who attacks the party in search of Gendry. Arya lies to them telling them that they already killed Gendry. Finally, the remaining members including Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie are taken to Harrenhal.

So much happened in so less time. Times are changing. People are getting more fierce. And Westeros is preparing for impending wars to come. Can't wait! Interestingly, we didn't visit Essos even once in this episode. God knows if our baby dragons could survive the heat of the desert? Stay tuned to find out...

Game Of Thrones: S2E2

The second episode of GOT season 2 starts with a bonding between Arya and Gendry. She reveals her true identify to him. She asks Gendry why were he wanted by the men who was looking for him. Gendry doesn't know. But we know that he is an illegitimate child of late King Robert and that's why Joffrey had sent men to catch hold of him.

At King's Landing, Cersei refuses to agree to Robb Stark's terms to end the war. She also rejects Night's Watch's request to send more men. Tyrion is threatened by Varys who finds out the truth about Shae but Tyrion warns Varys to not take any such step against him. Later, Tyrion questions Janos Slynt for his involvement in the mass murders of Robert's bastards and replaces him with Bronn as
Commander of the City Watch. Obviously, Cersei is not okay with this. Tyrion comments about her relations with Jaime. Cersei has a quick response to Tyrion that shuts him up about how their mother had died giving birth to Tyrion. We know that siblings have a love and hate relationship in general. But in Cersei Lannister's case, you either get loved or hated. There is no middle ground. Talking about people who like incestuous relationships and sex out of wedlocks, let's move to Dragonstone.

Ser Davos recruits Salladhor Saan and his fleet to Stannis's 'forces'. Meanwhile Stannis 'forces' himself inside Melissandre after being successfully seduced by the Red Woman who promises him a son. That scene though!

On Iron Islands, Theon is disappointed by his unwelcoming family. His father Balon Greyjoy also questions whether his loyalty lies with House Greyjoy or House Stark. By the way, the girl Theon was hitting on turns out to be his sister! I wonder how many incestuous relationships are yet pending?

Talking about families with incest, Danny's days are not getting any better. One of the bloodriders Rakharo returns but he isn't alive so no good news there. The red waste continues to haunt Danny.

Moving on to the most incestuous family, Sam saves one of Craster's daughters and/or wives; Gilly from Jon's direwolf Ghost. Jon rejects Sam's proposal of taking pregnant Gilly with them to Castle Black.
Remember there was a suspense about Craster's boys? Well, it is revealed; partially. Jon follows Craster who is taking his baby boy in the woods. We are as  shocked as Jon to see Craster leaving the baby to White Walkers. But before Jon could save the baby, he is hit on head and knocked down by a surprise attack from Craster.

Will Jon survive? Will Varys expose Shae's true identify?What will happen to Danny? How will Cersei answer Tyrion's moves? How will Theon pay the iron price? Will Gendry be caught?

Stay tuned to find out...

Game Of Thrones: S2E1

***ANNOUNCEMENT***

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Okay...now that's done, let's slip right into yet another season of Game Of Thrones. We were tired of Danny always keeping her eggs warm and finally we ended last season with three live screeching dragons...well baby dragons but still Hurrah!

So season 2 episode 1 begins with King Joffrey celebrating his birthday in a really horrible manner. However his celebrations are disturbed with Lord Tyrion Lannister (acting) Hand of the King's arrival. Cersei is also pi*sed off to meet her brother.

At Winterfell, Bran is the current Lord who is learning how to rule. He is then taken to Godswood with Hodor and Osha where they notice a red comet in the sky. Osha interpretes this as dragons' arrival. Although Danny's dragons are born, her life is still a struggle. She may have prepared to be a mother but she has no idea how to feed her dragon babies. Also, there is no food or water for her and her Khalasaar so she sends her riders in each directions to look for a place for shelter. Poor Danny!
Another comet transition.
We come to Craster's Keep; beyond the wall. This man takes incest to a new level. He marries his daughters and does something unknown with his sons. Jon doesn't really approve of this, but the brothers of the Night's Watch need Craster's place to stay.
Red comet.
At Dragonstone (historically House Targaryen's ancestral seat, currently ruled by Stannis Baratheon) we see Stannis writing letters to all Lords of Winterfell that he is the true heir after Robert's death. Earlier he has received Ned's letter from last season. We also see magical Lady Melissandre. Her nights are longer and full of terror. Maester at Dragonstone doesn't believe the red woman Melissandre's powers and sacrifices himself to prove his point. Meanwhile, Melissandre is safe and sound right there to help Stannis win the iron throne.
Again. Comet.
Jaime is still Robb Stark's prisoner. Robb sends Theon Greyjoy to his father for help in war against the Lannisters. Robb also sends Cat to make an agreement with Renly Baratheon. By the way, Renly has also started to call himself a King.

Back to King's Landing, Cersei and Littlefinger engages in a display of power play and Cersei clearly wins. Remember, 'Power is Power'. Joffrey has heard of rumors regarding the incestuous relationship between his mother and his uncle Jaime. He is worried that one of Robert's bastards may contend him as a better alternative for ruling the seven kingdoms. So he orders mass murders. All of Robert's bastards are killed. All of them except, Gendry who is now on the beautiful Kingsroad with Arya. The episode ends with both of them traveling towards the Wall as new recruits for the Nights Watch.

So much happened in an hour and yet we feel like we should immediately move to next episode, right? Let me know what do you think in the comments.

Also, do share the blog in your social circles. Now that TV Series Explained has made it's way into Top 50 TV blogs and websites list, we promise to bring more and better content regularly. Promise.

Game Of Thrones: S1E10

While we still can't bear the idea of Game Of Thrones without Lord Eddard 'Ned' Stark, Westerosis have already started to move on. Of course everyone is dealing with this news differently.

Sansa is still a captive. Arya runs away disguised as a boy along with Gendry (one of Robert's bastards) Robb is declared the 'King in the North'. Jon decides to break his oath and run away to help his loved ones but is convinced otherwise by his brothers Sam and Pyp. Tywin sends Tyrion to King's Landing as acting Hand Of The King. While he asks Tyrion to leave his mistress Shae behind, Tyrion does the opposite. Tywin himself plans to gather his remaining troops at Harrenhal.

On the other side of the narrow sea, Danny wakes up and learns that her son was a stillborn. She is curious to see what she gained after sacrificing her child. But another bad news is right around the corner. The Witch; Mirri; has saved Drogo but he is in a vegetative state with no chance of getting better. Furious and grieved by the outcome, Danny decides to punish the witch after giving sympathy death to Khal Drogo.
We will miss you Danny's sun and stars!
Danny orders that Mirri be tied to Drogo's funeral pyre and also puts her dragon eggs on top of it. Everyone including Ser Jorah is convincing her to not go inside the fire but Khaleesi is not in the mood to listen to anyone. There is a newfound fire and some sort of confidence in her eyes. The audience is left in a state of shock when Danny walks inside the fire as if nothing bothers her while Mirri is screaming with pain. The next morning, the remaining members of her Khalasaar and Ser Jorah are shocked to see Danny still alive. She rises; Unburnt; as a true Targaryen along with three screaming baby dragons.

All hail 'The Mother Of Dragons' !!!