Ben, John and Pete absolutely crush it in a recap that crunches into the latest episode of Game of Thrones and sprays insights and analysis all over our freshly cleaned carpets.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-recap-got-s04e08/oti-recap-got-s04e08.mp3]→ Download The Game of Thrones Season 4, Episode 8 Recap
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What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below.
What are we to make of the Missandei x Grey Worm shipping in this episode? I can’t help but notice how close the name is to Misandry, but that doesn’t have a bearing on the episode at large. It seems an interesting counter point to Kings Landing where we have two characters who love both sexes (Tyrion and Oberyn), who are both passionate, but are not intimate in the episode (kisses aside).
I want to connect it to the thread that was followed in the recap about how everyone but Ramsay doesn’t get what they want, or at least have their attempts frustrated.
The closest parallel I can see is to Daenerys x Jorrah which gets ripped apart this episode. Another pairing of unrequited love. Infact, I think just about every pairing seen this episode could be interpreted under the epithet ‘The Mountain and The Viper’.
Although it doesn’t quite apply to the rest of an episode as a whole, the “Downton Abbey” moment for me was the pre-duel aside Oberyn made regarding the size of the Mountain. Although the claim that size didn’t matter when you’re on your back (ahem) was directed at the Mountain, it also applied to Oberyn himself.
On a practical combat level, the statement proved correct. The Mountain was brought down by Oberyn’s superior finesse and agility. However, as noted in the recap, Oberyn wasn’t “in it to win it.” Rather, he was intent on extracting a confession, which isn’t quite a winning strategy in hand to hand combat (on a game design theory aside, there’s something to be said about Oberyn’s win conditions and how the odds were overwhelmingly against him). Due to Oberyn’s abandonment of his own strategy (mobility), he fell victim to it (being grounded).
From a thematic point of view, I suppose we could see this as another reinforcement of the “rules” of the GoT universe, i.e. it doesn’t matter how big your ideals (righteousness, honor, justice, etc.) make you, if you’re caught on your back (or stabbed in it), you will perish.
Just going to leave this here: https://twitter.com/FilmCritHULK/statuses/473337233970171904