Game of Thrones S4x02 “The Lion and the Rose”

Game of Thrones made its triumphant return last week with a fantastic premier episode Two Swords, and The Lion and the Rose succeeded in continuing the fine form that the previous episode started, picking up threads with characters who perhaps were pushed aside in the premiere, touching threads such as Stannis, Theon and several other characters whilst ignoring others – we got no news of Arya this week after such a fantastic storyline with her last week.

Of course, everyone will be talking about the Wedding. It’s become a tradition for weddings in Game of Thrones to well, not go down well, with George RR Martin penning this episode and he did not disappoint – with the big moment being handled very well. Those of us who have read the books knew it was coming, but fans who haven’t get the satisfaction of being surprised by the turn of events.

There were some great scenes with Jamie and Bronn this week as Tyrion recruited Bronn to train Jamie in the use of his other hand. The interesting partnership of a man who everyone assumes has no honour and a Knight with no honour gave us some moments in the vein of the Arya/Syrio scenes from Season 1. The Jamie storyline was big this week as well on not just that front – his scenes with Tyrion, again – for the first time Since Season 1, proved that these two should get more screentime together.

There was no Arya, Jon and Daenerys this week but this episode more than made up for it with the big Wedding event. The Lannisters were the focus of this episode and it was handled very well, with the entire build-up to what was about to take place pulled off greatly, with some good pacing beforehand, allowing this episode not to feel disjointed.

The Lion and the Rose is no doubt going to be one of the big talking points of this season. It’s difficult to keep this review spoiler free given the massive event that happened towards the end of the episode but let’s just say that you’ll enjoy what happened here. This episode is great, and it’ll be very interesting to see how this show deals with the aftermath in the third episode, which of course makes the wait for next week all the longer.

Stannis also got his first appearance of the season in this episode. We got our first significant exposure to his wife and it was interesting to see how the thread here was handled. Where things go with his storyline will no doubt be interesting to see, although at the moment I am more invested in the Lannisters and the Starks respectively.

The fact that this show has been renewed for two more seasons allows it to move forward with more confidence. Whilst there was little doubt that it wouldn’t be renewed it’s good to see the show having an extra couple of seasons especially with the fact that the premiere received the biggest ratings on HBO since The Sopranos series finale. Just something of note, in case you missed last week’s episode.

On the whole, The Lion and the Rose proves once again to be an amazing episode of my favourite series. Game of Thrones is knocking it out of the park, taking us on some great character journeys and week after week reminds us why it’s so good. Hopefully we’ll see the fallout of this event to be very interesting – and the focus back on Arya, Daenerys and Jon. So until next week.