Warning! Major Spoilers!
The Laws of Gods and Men has turned out to be one of the better episodes of the series so far, which has already been fantastic to watch. The big talking point of the sixth episode of the fourth series will no doubt be Tyrion’s trial, where he’s held accountable for the murder of King Joffrey, even though we know he’s not responsible for the crime. Tyrion has been a vital part of the series since its inception and has been dragged through hell ever since Catelyn accused him of attempting to murder Bran back in Season 1. He’s led the forces of Kings Landing to victory in the battle of blackwater in Season 2, but is now hated. It’s a tough life being a dwarf, but Peter Dinklage manages to pull off an incredible performance.
We opened with Stannis’ story in Braavos, where he meets with Mark Gatiss’ character Tycho Nestoris, a debt collector. It was great to see Gatiss, co-creator of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes himself, in the show, but that was far from the only interesting thing that happened this week. We also saw Yara’s attempt to rescue Theon from the Dreadfort, but Theon has been so broken by Ramsay that he now no longer wanting to be known by that name but instead by Reek. And finally, whilst there was no Arya or Jon this week, we got action with Dany and her exchanges with the locals in Meereen, who aren’t too happy with her dragons.
The trial is easily the highlight of the episode however, and it’s going to be a talking point for a while now. The build-up was great and the performances put in by multiple actors was amazing, with some gut-wrenching betrayals from both Varys and Shae, the latter being more unexpected for non-book readers who might have believed that she left the boat. It was also very interesting to see that Jamie was willing to stand up for Tyrion despite of all this, but the plan to get Tyrion to take the Black, joining the Night’s Watch (although you have to take into account what also happened to Ned Stark, the only other person who was offered this deal in the series) – was shattered when Tyrion was betrayed by Shae. Peter Dinklage has managed to show the audience just why he’s so good an actor, putting in a strong performance that has me looking forward to his outing in the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Yes, the main talking point is once again at the second half of the episode, much like earlier in the season with Joffrey’s death in episode 2. However, that doesn’t mean that what was leading up to it is bad however – it’s full of high quality stuff that’s pulled off very well meaning that we get another excellent evening’s entertainment.
The cliffhanger ending also worked well this week, with the Trial by Combat challenge being issued by Tyrion. He got out of a trial this way before with the Tullys by recruiting Bronn, but it should be interesting to see how this is handled this time around. The Trial by Combat is no doubt going to be the biggest talking point of next episode as well, so let’s hope next week’s Mockingbird doesn’t disappoint.
It’s also worthy of note that The Laws of Gods and Men is one of the few episodes not written by David Beinoff and D.B. Weiss, but instead penned by Bryan Cogman. He was responsible for Oathkeeper, episode 4 – focusing on the aftermath of the Purple Wedding, which was one of the stronger episodes of the series. The Laws of Gods and Men also happens to be one of those as well, so hopefully we’ll get to see more Bryan Cogman-penned scripts in Season 5, as this is his last for this series.
That was another fantastic episode of Game of Thrones, then. With the promise of Trial by combat just around the corner, next week’s episode should be fantastic – and it will be interesting to see if there are any moments that can live up to Peter Dinklage’s strong performance as Tyrion in this episode. But we’ll see.
What’s your favourite episode of the season so far and what did you think of this episode? Let me know in the comments below.
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