Review: Game of Thrones ‘Dark Wings, Dark Words’ – We Have Much Farther To Go

Like the season premiere, ‘Dark Wings, Dark Words’ is a lot more allusion than action (though we get our first sword fight of the season near the conclusion of the episode), setting up the various mystical and political stories for the eight episodes to follow. But while there’s not a lot of forward movement, there are more good character beats than the first episode, which was largely a series of scenes positioning characters across the map.

‘Dark Wings, Dark Words’ opens on another one of Bran’s dreams, seeing the three-eyed raven for the first time since the first season finale. As we learn, there’s more to these visions than we think – turns out Brandon is a Worg of sorts (people who can possess animals, as we see beyond the Wall with one of Mance Raider’s men) who just hasn’t learned to harness his powers when he’s awake just yet. But as Jojen Reed (the son of a man who protected Ned during the rebellion years ago) tell us, there’s “something deeper”, a reason why him and Bran can both see things in the past, the future, and from far away. That’s all that is said for now, but like many other sights we’ve seen in the last season and a half across Westeros, something mystical’s been awakened, and Bran’s “black magic dreams” (as Osha refers to them) are only a small part of it.

There’s a lot of time spent at King’s Landing this week, where Sansa meets Olenna, one of the most fascinating women we’ve met yet in Westeros. She’s got a wit sharper than a castle-forged sword, a wizened old woman who’s got a lot of disregard for the men who play at this game of thrones, including her “oaf” of a son Mace and Joffrey, who she questions Sansa very intensely about. Sansa in particular is fantastic in the scene, showing us a glimpse of the depression barely hid under the facade of her politeness and growing beauty. For the first time since she left Winterfell, she’s allowed to speak honestly – and after some coaxing, she warns Margaery Tyrell “He’s a monster”, recalling her scene in the season one finale where Joffrey forced her to look at her father’s head on a stick next to the other traitors of the throne.

Olenna and Jojen aren’t the only new characters introduced, of course – Jojen’s sister Meera (another woman in a position of power, her brother’s protector) and Thoros of Mir are also brought into the fold, the latter running into Arya and friends as they headed north away from Harrenhal. We don’t learn much about Thoros of Mir here either: just that he’s part of the Brotherhood Without Banners, and is overjoyed to capture an old acquaintance of his: the Hound, who we last saw running away from the sight of fire at King’s Landing. As always, Arya provided some of the highlights of the episode, a perfect parallel to her meek sister, full of bravado and pointing swords at big men as to not appear weak.

Throughout ‘Dark Wings, Dark Words’, there is an emphasis (as always) put on the power women can have in this world, showing up in nearly every scene, a subtle way to connect all the narratives together. We’ve got Brienne overpowering Jamie, Theon’s sister sending someone to save him, Margaery appealing herself to a very uncomfortable and timid Joffrey (breaking down his tough exterior in a matter of moments, I might add), Arya’s bravery, Olenna providing a sanctuary for Sansa, Shae’s influence on Tyrion and protection of Sansa, and Meera acting as her brother’s bodyguard (“some people will always need help” she cheerily tells a wary Osha, who herself is protecting Brandon and Rickon). Always one of the best aspects of the show, the females in ‘Dark Wings, Dark Words’ are very much the focus of the episode, despite the many, many men giving speeches and having conversations in the episode.

There are two things that didn’t work in ‘Dark Wings, Dark Words’, both of them related to Catelyn Stark (a character I normally love). One of them is minor: Hoster Tully’s death is so glazed over in the premiere and tonight, some people may still be wondering where everyone’s traveling and why. Having an awesome girlfriend who has read all the books, I know that they’re traveling to Tully’s funeral, a man who hung onto the world with his grimy little fingers for as long as he could, but finally succumbed.

The bigger of these comes in her big emotional moment, her speech about wishing Jon sick and then lamenting her cruelty, making then breaking a promise to the gods. She sees the events occurring since she broke her promise as her fault, separating her from her entire family because she defied the gods and was a bitch to Jon his entire life, despite knowing the fact she was turning her back on a motherless child who never did anything wrong to her. The speech has its heart in the right place, but it’s too melodramatic to be effective; trying to say she’s responsible for all the “horrible things” that have happened to her family is a bit of a silly notion – although it does speak a little to the religious fanaticism that drives much of Westeros’s culture. But like I said, for any rational person, that’s silly: her actions did remove Jon Snow from the picture, but that literally has no effect elsewhere in the world. I understand the notion, but the connection made is weak – and those are moments Game of Thrones usually nails, so it did stick out a little bit in the episode.

Overall, ‘Dark Wings, Dark Words’ is an improvement from the first episode, allowing itself to be a little more grandiose with introductions (Thoros, Olenna, and Jojen all get terrific entrances), and very quietly connecting the scenes together with the feminine entities of Westeros and their important roles in everything going on (even Arya gets called out by the Hound: “what are you doing with the Stark bitch?”, which makes her situation a lot more interesting), closing it with Brienne and Jamie having a little duel and running into the unfriendly presence of some of Robb’s allies.

Grade: B+

Other thoughts/observations:

– Where is Theon getting tortured? We don’t quite know yet, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

– Tyrell farts smell like roses, in case you were wondering.

– double dose of Hodor tonight: the first a concerned “Hodor?!”, followed by a relieved “Hodor.”

– Olenna’s husband died looking at the sky and driving his horse off a cliff while talking. There’s a delicate balance between looking at what’s in front of you and studying the big picture: failing to pay attention to one will undoubtedly lead to your death.

– Jamie’s various insults of Renly include calling him a “tulip” and saying if he sat on a “throne of cocks”, he’d still be alive and fighting right now.

– Olenna: “Once the cow’s milked, you can’t go shoving the cream back up the udder.”

– Joffrey: “That’s what intelligent women do; they do what they’re told.”

– How did Mance unite 90 clans speaking seven different languages? The two pillars of leadership in Westeros: honesty and fear.

– Samwell’s having an emotional moment guys, he just needs a minute.

– Joffrey’s so weak, he has to have someone make him an automatic bow that doesn’t require strenuous crank turning. Such a wimp.