Finding a clean way to finish a season of Game of Thrones is akin to one of the many battle scenes we’ve witnessed over 20 episodes: graceful, brutal, and occasionally messy. ‘Valar Morghulis’ is the embodiment of this, poetic and moving at moments, with a few clumsy finishes and anti-climatic conclusions to some seasonal arcs.Much of ‘Valar Morghulis’ is spent on reflection and table-setting, examining the different corners of Westeros and taking a litmus test of the atmosphere as we say farewell to the characters until season 3 begins next spring.
The biggest development takes place in arguably one of the season’s slowest plots: after wandering around beyond the Wall for some time and getting split up, the remaining members of the Night’s Watch are witnessing the shit going down in the blustery, snowy world of the far north. Jon’s is a little more subdued: we only get a glimpse of the wildling camp, and we won’t be seeing the King Beyond the Wall until season 3. We do see him soften up Ygritte a little bit, albeit in the form of murdering Qhorin Halfhand, who becomes the latest respected member of the Night’s Watch to end up dead in the middle of nowhere. Of course, the larger development is the frozen zombie army Samwell witnesses, as well as the first real visual of the White Walkers we glimpsed way back in the opening scene of the pilot.
But having to zip all around Westeros doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for narrative depth in certain areas of the plot, and things have to be a little rushed and overt (re: Tywin’s horse taking a shit on the floor of the Throne room entrance). The entire King’s Landing cast of characters whirled around their scenes last night. It felt odd to bring the Varys/Littlefinger battle of wits back into the story right after the Blackwater battle while the dust was still settling around everyone. On top of the eunuch’s manipulations, there is Maergery throwing her pussy around some more (with serious conviction, I might add) and Tyrion being thrown aside by his family once again.
It leaves no time to deal with Sansa, who’s always been one of the more complicated and underdeveloped characters on the show. The girl’s clearly determined to stay in King’s Landing to get revenge of the Lannisters, but I think even facing the reality of being Joffrey’s rape and bastard doll would inspire the most vengeful of people to re-think their strategy, right? She goes from smiling about not being betrothed, to being surprised at the possibility of being Joffrey’s fuck toy, and then she’s steadfast in wanting to stay in the most dangerous possible place for her to be – especially when Jamie arrives back in King’s Landing next season.
Her sister is kind of in the same boat: after wandering around Harrenhal and being wreckless enough to have to get a bunch of people killed, Arya turns down the opportunity to become a faceless wanderer (by the way… holy shit) to strike out on the road with Gendry and Fatty, but not without learning the phrase of the episode title, which will bring Jaqen back into her life in the future with merely a whisper. If anything happened thematically in season 2, it was upping the ante of weird, mystical shit, and Jaqen’s reveal was the only real reason we saw my favorite character in ‘Valar Morghulis’, which was disappointing.
This was hardly the only story to feel a little rushed or empty. Robb’s sudden marriage seemed too forward for such a calculating (and to this point, honorable) man, and obviously does not bode well for the journey ahead (we still don’t know much about this girl!). Theon and Stannis’s defeated speeches backended each other well – connected by the images of fire in both – but both scenes didn’t serve much purpose: everything Theon said we’ve heard before, and Stannis’s newfound faith in the Lord of Light seems hardly warranted five minutes after he nearly kills Melisandre (stopped only by her declaration that the god she sees is in him… really dude?). Again, table-setting for season 3 as the show tries to check in with every single character in this universe.
The worst of these stories, unfortunately, is Dany’s, whose journey in Qarth comes to an action-packed but hollow end. All she’s learned this season is that people are not to be trusted, something she saw plenty of when she was abandoned at the end of last season. The return of Khal Drogo in her dream was touching, but in terms of the story, felt a little forced, like the writers just wanted to bring back a character who died too early for one more on-screen hurrah. Her journey – unlike season 1, where it was the strongest story thread of the show – somehow became the weakest story of the season, bogged down in big black guys with fake riches (reminding us again, that power is a fleeting thing) and creepy bald guys who are like flammable ghosts.
There are a few moments where the show pauses for a reflective moment, and those are the one which I’ll associate the episode with in memory. Tyrion’s discussion with Shae was a powerful little piece, and I’d be an idiot if I didn’t mention the depressing swan song of Maester Luwin (who might get the most un-dramatic death in the history of the show).
But this is obvious: Game of Thrones is always at its best off the battlefield and out of the history books, examining people and the decisions they make for things immeasurable in life. Power. Love. Family. Morality. All these things are the same things we grapple with every day, and it’s what keeps it from becoming to fantastical, even when there are zombie horses, shape shifters, and dragons that breastfeed and shoot fire on command. All in all a solid, if slightly cluttered finish to a fantastic second season.
Grade: B
Other thoughts/observations:
– If I heard something make the sound a White Walker makes, I might just shit my pants on the spot. No joke.
– I didn’t talk much about the happenings at Winterfell, which are largely confusing. Theon doesn’t run away, gives a speech and gets taken prisoner by his own people (to serve what purpose? we don’t know). Then, some unknown entity comes and burns Winterfell to the ground, and Maester Luwin dies from a pure asshole move by one of the other Greyjoy men.
– I still can’t find reason for Robb to marry this girl. He can marry the Frey girl and bang whoever he damn well pleases (nobody complained about Ned knocking someone up, right?) If he wants to be King, he’ll really have to get his head out of his dick hole… plus, we don’t know what his newly-wedded wife is all about, and that’s never a good sign.
– we saw just about everyone except The Hound in this episode – even the long absent Littlefinger makes a return this week, spending his off-screen time arranging a nice royal wedding.
– One thing I love about Game of Thrones is the bitter, bitter taste of victory.
– I want a Brienne & Jamie spin-off titled Blondies With Big Swords.
what did you think of ‘Valar Morghulis’? I’ll have my final thoughts up this week or next week, but feel free to leave your thoughts/comments on this review, the episode, or the season as whole!
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Game of Thrones finale was amazing. So now I just have to wait about 300 days until Season 3 starts…
This recap left me scratching my head as it seems like an incredibly shallow and inattentive overview of the episode. Did the author not read any of the books in the series? How can you tell if the episode was good or bad if you have no “standard” to compare it to? This river of praise for a decidedly poor episode (as an analogy, one will consider Burger King as the epitome of culinary if one never tries eating anywhere better) is making me feel sad for anyone viewing the TV show as a legitimate substitute for reading the original.
Funny, because your comment left me scratching my head. Here’s why:
– you say this review is a ‘river of praise’… I gave the episode a B, which is three grades lower than the highest grade awarded here (B+, A-, A if you’re unfamiliar with the common American letter grading system). That would mean in numerical terms, it’s about an 80. Hardly a perfect score.
– No “standard” to compare it to? What about the other 19 episodes of the show, along with the 50 years of dramatic television I’ve been studying for the last decade… is that a good enough standard for you?
– your Burger King analogy is idiocy.
– my job is to review Game of Thrones as a TV show, not a list of comparisons on what came over from the book, what changed, and how I felt about its adaptation. You call me shallow, yet you seem to lack the simple intelligence of recognizing the show and the book are two completely different entities, and should never be compared. A big hint to this is the fact the book series and the TV show have DIFFERENT NAMES!!!! The show is called Game of Thrones, and the book series is called A Song of Fire and Ice.
– and yes, I’ve read books in the series. I’m currently slogging through A Storm of Swords, if you need to know.