Review: Game of Thrones ‘Walk of Punishment’ – Always The Artists

Now that everything (for the most part) has been set up for the events of this season, ‘Walk of Punishment’ can finally start to take a few steps forward – except it really doesn’t, spending some more time discussing things, warning of winter, and alluding to many of the things that follow. There is some movement in King’s Landing of course, and a nice, brutal ending to top things off – but it still kind of feels like the show’s slowly pushing to get the ball rolling, stuck in a lot of expository mud and long distance traveling to get there.

‘Walk of Punishment’ begins with Hoster Tully’s funeral, spending some time with struggling Catelyn, who is afraid she’ll never see her sons alive again, even as Uncle Blackfish tries to console her. Meanwhile, Robb is strategizing, chastising a bannerman for giving up 208 soldiers he can’t replace, all in favor of a worthless mill that the Lannister army could care less about. Like every army except the one in King’s Landing right now, Stark and his lieutenants have to think and move carefully, their war budgets (and therefore, margin for error) grows thinner with each battle they fight, win or lose.

Over by the sea, Stannis isn’t fighting everyone, begging Melisandre for another vagina smoke monster to kill Joffrey and Robb, making his life a whole lot easier. Here, we learn that Melisandre’s heading off for a trip, as an impatient Stannis begs for some mystical help. But Melisandre is not in the mood for smoke-baby making; she warns him his “fires are low” and that “sacrifices” would need to be made if he wanted to sit on the Iron Throne  For a Lord of Light, Stannis clearly isn’t feeling very lordly, less of a flaming leader (and not in the Renly sense) than a smoldering one, licking his wounds in his castle while he waits for Melisandre to return from her unknown destination.

Meanwhile, Baelish is planning a trip over to the Eyrie to win the hand of the mentally unstable Lysa Arryn (which means another character on a long journey throughout the season, presumably separated from a large contingent of the cast). Turns out Lysa was another one of his lady friends as a child, and he thinks she will be open to his offers of marriage (not entirely sure what advantage this brings the Iron Throne, but hey, I’d like to see what her crazy ass is up to). This brings about some of the best scenes in the episode, when Tyrion sits at Small Council and then takes over for Baelish as Master of Coin, and realizing just how in debt the throne really is. Littlefinger can provide money at the snap of a finger, sure – but how much longer until they’re in debt to the point that the Iron Bank of Brothers starting funding other armies against them? Being in debt to the family on the throne isn’t a big deal – but being in massive debt to a group of people with money and a fancy name? That’s never a recipe for good business, whether in Wall Street or Westeros.

I’ll talk a bit about the other plots in the observations at the end of the review: I want to dig in quickly to the two best (and what appear to be most significant) scenes in the episode: Dany in Astapor and Brienne and Jamie (of course). Dany first: I’m starting to get the whiff of something foul with Dany’s behavior, especially when she offers her biggest dragon to the dickhead salesman. Having been sold like a slave, the purchase of the Unsullied is a delicate moral thing for Dany, one she doesn’t take too kindly to once she sees the Walk of Punishment, where people are hung and tortured for minor crimes.

What’s going to happen seems fairly obvious to me (note: I haven’t read past the midpoint of A Clash of Kings, so this is PURELY speculation… please do not spoil this for anyone, including myself, in the comments): Dany’s giving her biggest dragon to this man, yes? In exchange, she gets EVERY man and half-trained boy for her army. ALL OF THEM. So once she has her men, what will stop her from setting fire to Astapor? It will be unguarded, and her dragon will already be in position, like the world’s most valuable Trojan horse. She’s clearly unsettled by the treatment of people here, and her behavior in their negotiations (taking his translator as a small gesture of power) that she’s got something up her sleeve.

Now… Brienne and Jamie, the most fascinating – and surprising – part of the episode. They’ve been captured by some men, who say they fight for Robb Stark, but largely seem to be doing whatever the fuck they want. Despite all this, Jamie sticks up for Brienne as she’s about to be gang raped (foreshadowed in an wonderful conversation between Jamie and Brienne, as they’re tied together on a horse), telling their leader they could get all the sapphire in the world from her father if she was kept safe.

Oh, fathers in Westeros. A war broke out because of the death of one, a boy is king even though his father never was (and grandfather protects him), others kill their brothers in cold blood, and of course, many a son is recognized by his father’s house, or lack of one. But distance is extremely relevant in Westeros: just as Brienne’s father can’t pay off these men, neither can Tywin save Jamie from them – something Jamie finds out when they throw him down on a table and cut off his hand, a shocking moment that closes the episode.

This has some major reprecussions: being Jamie’s sword hand, he’s gone from being the best fighter in Westeros to a non-entity, making him even more reliant on his female companion than he was before. It’s two of the things Game of Thrones does so beautifully, meshed right together: punishing Jamie for a single bad decision, and again putting a woman at the top of the power pyramid (even though right now, she’s as helpless as Jamie is). More so, it closed a relatively quiet episode with a much-needed bang, reminding us all the swift consequences of mistakes in this world at war.

Grade: B+

Other thoughts/observations:

– back in season one, The Hound killed the baker’s boy on Cersei’s orders. Tonight, they got a new baker’s boy, as Hot Pie’s talents were finally realized (happening while The Hound is prisoner). Otherwise, not much else to see with Arya and company this week.

– I know Theon’s torture is a lot longer and more psychological in the books (a spoiler-free reveal thanks to my girlfriend, whose read the books). However, it would’ve taken a whole season to get where Theon was in the book (for example, his captors give him a different name, and it gets to the point that Theon forgets who he is, and what his real name is), and as we see when he gets saved in the woods, someone else has more important plans for him.

– Podrik must be talented with the ladies – they didn’t even accept payment for the time they spent with him.

– The Night’s Watch is back at Craster’s, where Samwell watches the girl they interacted with in season 2 birth a child (which will probably get fed to the White Walkers, being a boy and all).

– Jorah gets two great quotes in the episode: “Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought bravely. And Rhaegar died. ” which was preceded by “There’s a beast in every man that stirs when you put a sword in his hand.”

– Ser Barrister Exposition, at your service!

– Blackfish makes a great point when he says that only a tiny part of Westeros is at war, even when the whole kingdom is fighting. Most of it is just quiet, with nothing going on at all.

– Dany: “All men must die… but we are not men.”

– Samwell sees Ghost in the woods… or is it?

– please forgive me if I’ve spelled any names wrong… this shit is hard to keep track of.