4.04 Oathkeeper

[Culhwch]

Jaime trusts Brienne with an assignment. Daenerys frees Meereen. Jon is given permission to lead a group of Night's Watchmen to Craster's Keep. Bran and company are taken hostage.

 

[Mouse]

Oh look, more rape.

Boring episode. Maybe that's why they added the rape? Who knows. Rape's exciting, eh?

As I didn't watch Episode 3: In Which Jaime Rapes His Sister, I still like Brienne and Jaime together. That's pretty much all I liked of this ep. The rest of it was utter crap. Oh, and the Margaery/Tommen stuff makes me sick in my mouth too.

Weirdly, although I've skipped an ep, I felt like I'd missed absolutely nothing at all.

 

[Culhwch]

It certainly has gotten quite rapey the last few episodes. I mean, there was plenty of it implied in the books, I'm sure, but I don't know how much was explicitly shown.

It's interesting to see interest in this show seems to be flagging here on the forums - it doesn't seem to be the case in the wider audience, however I wonder if there will be an eventual slide from this point on. It's a rare show that maintains high amount of interest (or quality, for that matter) through four or more seasons. I've never really thought it was the greatest of dramatic accomplishments anyway.

I'm actually finding I'm more engaged with the portions of the story that are deviating from the book, because there is genuine mystery there for me. I won't outline what those changes are here, though, in case anyone who hasn't read the books is intending to, but I felt like last night's episode was the greatest deviation from the written narrative that we've seen yet.

 

[RebeccaTheWrecker]

I'm actually finding I'm more engaged with the portions of the story that are deviating from the book, because there is genuine mystery there for me. I won't outline what those changes are here, though, in case anyone who hasn't read the books is intending to, but I felt like last night's episode was the greatest deviation from the written narrative that we've seen yet.

Me too. It was nice to be surprised by something. Also, deviating from Bran's storyline for a bit is probably the best thing they could have done for Bran. I like him as a character fine, but they really make his parts of the show slow.

Except, as I am one of those apparently rare people who can't stand Jon (or Daenerys for that matter), I am not looking forward to an extended Night's Watch / Wildling attack plot. Just have the attack and move on. Jon gets much more interesting as a character after that. And as book readers know, some other characters prove their worth too.

From last night's ep, I did like Brienne / Jaime. And I was pretty happy they included Pod in Brienne's travels, as I think he's a great and underutilized secondary character. I'm also glad Bronn is still around. Also, my love for Littlefinger is being tested by his ability to be the creepiest man in Westeros.

 

[Needle]

According to a Vanity Fair interview, the writers stated that this episode was in direct response to viewer complaints. Bran is boring-let's give him a more exciting role. Jon is not a leader-make him a leader. Dany "the white savior crap"-send Grey Worm to free the slaves. Where did the White Walkers go?-Building an army apparently!

 

[svalbard]

Tommen, you lucky, lucky boy

The series has now officially gone off the reservation. Book readers should visit Martin forum for an interesting discussion on this episode. Personally I am enjoying the changes and the pacing of the series.