Game of Thrones 2.08 "The Prince of Winterfell" 5/20 No Book Spoilers

Cafe Society
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Episode 1: The North Remembers
Episode 2: The Night Lands
Episode 3: What is Dead May Never Die
Episode 4: “Garden of Bones”
Episode 5: The Ghosts of Harrenhall
Episode 6: The Old Gods and the New
Episode 7: A Man Without Honor

This is the thread for people who want to discuss the show without outside information that may spoil the story from either the books or other sources. Discussion about the current episodes and all previous episodes of the series requires no spoiler box. Which means that there should be no need for the use of any spoiler boxes in this thread.

If you are looking for discussions where spoilers are acceptable, please visit the season 2 closed spoiler and open spoiler threads.

Don’t argue about the spoiler rules in the thread, take it to the pit if necesary.

Gukamatz has been moderating these threads because he’s more familiar with the source content than the other cafe society mods. This was his note in the OP of the first thread this season:

We left off with some crispy children. Xaros Daxos Duha Dunebuggy Xerox and his creepy friend making a power play in Qarth. Jon may become de-virginized by a gang of blue balled wildlings, and Sansa may get something similar, only worse. Jaime tries desperately to talk his way into getting beaten to death.

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“Where are the gods of tits and wine?”

3

Oona Chaplin has a nice ass.

4

How many times did someone say the word “cunt” in this episode? I don’t understand why Dany needs whatshishump-- damn, forgot his name-- to take her to where Blue Lips said her dragons were?

Arya should be the contender to the throne and not the whiny mother of dragons.

See what being an exposition whore get you? And there’s no way Cercei even considered offing her son. I can see where her son gets it.

I totally missed the scene between Stannis and Davos. What was said?

5

A recount of the siege of Storm’s End and Davos daring smuggling rescue, some sour grapes about Robert handing Storm’s End to Renly, and telling Davos he’ll be the hand of the king.

6

I was hoping Dany would go to the House of the Undying this week, but all we got was a reminder that she really, really wants her dragons back and Jorah’s still stuck in the friend zone.

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Only two episodes left this season, so start preparing for withdrawal. :frowning:

So, surely Brienne and Jamie are not headed towards Kings Landing, and that was only a ploy to throw them off their tail. But where are they going? Winterfell, like I guessed last week? Even further north, to The Wall?

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Richard Madden, time to get with the program! Drop’em, sonny!:mad:

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(Replying to myself)

Yeah, I know Jamie seems to think they are going to KL, but I’d like to think that Cat isn’t that dumb.

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Did Cersei say Roz (that was Roz the Whore, right?) was wearing a lion’s head necklace? Why would she have one?

Also, Theon gets more and more pathetic. When Big Sis told him that story about when he was a baby he looked like he was going to cry “somebody loves me”. I am looking forward to his comeuppance just so someone will put the poor bastard out of his misery.

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I’m going to restate what I said last week: No way in the world would Cersei ever approve of Joffrey’s death.

…and also no way that Tyrion would order it. Joffrey falls in battle? Fine with Tyrion. Joff gets a sword in the back, Kingslayer-style? Not on Tyrion’s orders.

Tyrion likes being Hand of the King, he likes being a Lannister, he craves the respect of his father and (maybe) his siblings. No way would he ruin all chance of any of that forever for the sake of killing his nephew. I just don’t see it.

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I think Tyrion gave it to her in season 1 episode 1. Theon comments on it when he fucks her, but I’d have to go rewatch to see if there’s a lion. I thought it was just a generic gold necklace.

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Probably gave it to her to pay her to entertain Joffrey, or to apologize for what Joffrey put her through.

In other news, fuck Cat. Seriously, fuck her so very sideways.

Also, poor, poor Ser Jorah. Unrequited love is always painful to watch. You could hear the heartstrings snap at the “they’re the only children I will ever have” :(.

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Oh Peter Dinklage, now you went and made me cry! At first, I was like, “Come on, Tyrion, you can do better than that! Act flip and unconcerned. Make denigrating comments about how whores are fungible, and act like you mean it for Pete’s sake!” But then that scene with Shae really brought it home - she’s the first person he’s actually, truly loved in a long, long time.

Meanwhile, what’s Roz’s deal? I would have liked a LOT more background on why she went along with the ruse, at the risk of her life! Having had Tyrion as a client isn’t enough, surely. If she protested that she’s not his main squeeze and they didn’t believe her, so she gave up, some indication of that would have been nice. Likewise if she has some deep devotion to him or Shae that motivates her.

So let me take the opportunity to admit that I completely misread that scene last week where Tyrion mentioned Tommen and Marcella are decent people. Given this development, that protracted silence must have been Cersei thinking, “Shit, he’s totally going to let Joffrey get killed - must start plotting . . .”

Arya is such a clever girl, she should be played by a velociraptor. Come to think of it, she’s equally dangerous, too. She’s already giving Cersei a run for her money in the cold and calculating department. Lucky for Westeros she’s on the side of good.

Yeah, couldn’t agree more. I was very happily surprised when Robb arrested her. No more rash unilateral actions that put the whole effing kingdom at risk, Mom!

He did look upset, but when I heard that line I assumed that the death magic hadn’t just dragonized and killed her fetus, but also rendered her sterile. Did the witch mention anything along those lines?

But I’m really tired of Dany’s story. Very tiresome. It’s neck and neck with the Robb/Talissa romance for inducing boredom.

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Damn, I’d love to see Joffrey striding out by himself to confront Stannis. I know he’s cruel, but is he really that stupid?

My thought was that they never really bothered to fully inform Roz regarding why they were beating her, so there was no opportunity for her to say anything that would give Shae away. Roz has been working on and off with Tyrion. Perhaps, so far as she knows, she’s being held as a hostage for that reason alone.

Of course, the conversation between Tyrion and Roz – “I hope I am not forgotten” – seems to indicate that they have some kind of explicit understanding. But I’m pretty sure that Cersei caught Tyrion off guard – until he saw Roz, he thought that Cersei really did have Shae.

Just because Cat is Ned’s widow and Robb’s mother, you kind of want her to be just as good and smart as them. But she’s really very selfish and tunnel-visioned. All she can think about is saving her children in the short term. I don’t know where the hell she told Brienne to take Jamie, but there’s no “safe” place either northward or southward.

At least it doesn’t take up much screen time.

I’ve been sticking with it, hoping for full frontal.

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He’d have to go to KL for Cat to get her daughters back though, otherwise there is no point in freeing him.

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He’s headed for his own obviously terrible decisions though.
I don’t know what they feed’em up North, but it doesn’t seem to beget much sense. Ned, Cat, Theon, Sansa, Robb, Jon… even Arya, as much as I love her. Each more slow witted than the other, although you got to hand it to Theon : he’s the fuckedest in the head by a mile.

I took it as a direct “don’t get any ideas, boy” myself, coming either out of faithfulness to Drogo (i.e. “I’ve had the manliest motherfucker on this green Earth, I’m not settling for any less now”) or more likely out of DURN NEED CHILLUN GOT MAH DRAGUNS!
You heard it here first: Dany is on her way to becoming a bona fide crazy cat lady.

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You don’t seriously think that Cat believes that Brienne can execute a prisoner exchange all by herself?

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I don’t see what’s to execute, Cat was acting out on the offer Littlefinger brought from King’s Landing. It’s obviously foolish and almost guaranteed to be a trick but i thought the intent was clearly to get her daughters back i exchange for the Kingslayer.

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This seems plausible. Also, Roz is of such low status in that kingdom that they’d probably just kill her if she turns out to be the wrong whore. I did like the idea that Cersei and Tyrion were fighting with each other, at a time when they need to work together to plan the defense the castle. And she’s really pissed at him for what he did with her daughter, but didn’t he just send her away for her own safety? It wasn’t like he’s killed her or is holding her prisoner.

Presumably the castle defense is going to mostly rely upon those thousands of jars of wildfire (which I assume is similar to Greek fire). But they’ll need a delivery mechanism for it, so I was surprised not to see catapults or trebuchets being built. Perhaps they can use archers to deliver it?

And as for Dany, she’s really irrelevant until those dragons are fully grown. And she’s completely irrelevant if she doesn’t possess them by then.