(This Game Of Thrones post is written from the point of view of someone who has not read the books the series is based on. As such, spoilers are strictly forbidden. Any spoilers in comments will be deleted on sight. If you see spoilers, please mark them as best you can and e-mail todd at vanderwerff dot us or contact Todd on Twitter at tvoti, and he'll take care of them as soon as possible.)
If Game of Thrones wasn't based on a successful novel, "Baelor" would be one of the more audacious episodes of TV ever. As it is, it still has a conclusion sure to blow the minds (and break the hearts) of all us non-initiated fans. The episode itself, while terrific, was not quite as fast-paced as a lot of the latter half of the season has been. But it's impossible to criticize this show for lack of narrative thrust considering those last few minutes.
The question is, for those of us who hadn't read the books, did you see this coming? Were you, like me, hoping against hope that Arya would somehow draw her sword and save her dad, or that Ned would be able to take the black and hang out on the wall with Jon? His plot was loosely linked with his illegitimate son this week, as both weighed the choice between honor and love. Ned, discussing his possible death with Varys, says he has no problem dying, since he's a soldier. But lying, throwing himself on Joffrey's mercy, and calling himself a traitor — Ned says, and we know, that that's not in his character. And yet once he sees Arya in the crowd and Sansa next to Joffrey, the choice for him is no choice at all, since he desires to protect his kids more than anything.
On the flipside, Jon's talk with Master Aemon up at the Wall reveals that Aemon was once in line for the throne himself, as part of the Targaryen dynasty, but he turned it down to take the black, and had to remain neutral even when his family were deposed and killed. Jon is now wrestling with a similar choice as Robb heads to war with the Lannisters and Ned dies (although obviously he doesn't know that yet). Aemon's point is that the black watchmen, who have no wives or children, still have to wrestle with their familial ties — something Jon will be doing even more now that Ned is gone.
Benioff/Weiss and HBO really pulled off a grand trick with this one. All of the Game of Thrones marketing had Sean Bean front and center, and from the start it was clear he was our hero, our eyes into the world of Westeros. But as the show went on and everything seemed to go against him (even as he remained the steadfast honorable man), it became clearer that this wasn't a show about a traditional hero saving the day. Ned did everything right — he challenged Robert's bad decision-making, he solved the mystery of Bran's attempted murder and Jaime and Cersi's parenting of the royal children, and he tried to maneuver Joffrey out of the throne once Robert died without bringing the nation to civil war.
But all that failed. Oh well. Ned's failure is his belief that he's playing on an honorable field, as we've discussed in previous episodes, and his mistakes are too many to number here. His final scene was very effective and disturbing. Everyone — Petyr, Pycelle, Cersi, the Hound and the rest of them — who had greeted Ned as the new Hand of the King at the beginning of the show (OK, Renly was missing, but apart from him) was there to see him die. It's clear that Joffrey's decision to kill Ned was not part of the plan, from Cersi's panicked reaction, given that it will just serve to piss everyone off.
The second Joffrey shouted his command and the slow countdown began, it was pretty obvious no one was going to rescue Ned, and, well, the whole thing was just very upsetting. Beautifully directed, very moving, and quite the tear-jerker. Ned's final act of compassion, having his man protect Arya from watching her father die, was especially touching. Unfortunately for Sansa, a prisoner in the gilded cage of the Red Keep, things aren't going to get any easier.
Jeez. What else happened this week? There was a lot of fighting, but all of it was off-screen. The majority of the episode focused around Tyrion — Ned was only seen at the very beginning and end — and Peter Dinklage rose to the occasion as usual. His little slumber party with Bronn and his new concubine was quite an amusing sight but turned into a very well-acted game of truth, as Tyrion revealed his sad history with romance, revealing more twisted layers to his relationship with his father. Those Lannisters are a fucked-up bunch.
I'm happy to see that Tyrion remains his own special kind of hero — his men win a victory on the field, but it's against a decoy force sent by Robb to draw them away from his main attack. And Tyrion isn't really there to savor the victory, since he gets knocked out with a hammer after rallying his men to battle (although that does technically give him a war wound, to the surprise of Tywin). In his scenes the night before with Bronn and Shae, we see his real fear over the idea of going into battle, and so, even though he doesn't participate, the sheer fact that he's getting thrown into the thick of it is a real growth for his character.