Game of Thrones - The Mountain and The Viper (Episode 8 Season 4) [TV Review]

Ah, Game of Thrones is back. That one week break was killer...
But it is back, and all is still messed up in the Seven Kingdoms.

 

Mormont, on the worst day of his life.

 I know I should expect new material in the episodes. There is so much to fill in, so many events to deal with, and so many story lines to handle. There are things that GRRM may ahve only considered initially that have undoubtedly been added, and changes have been made for the necessity of television.

4 out of 5 stars

 As an example of added material, we begin this whole episode back in Mole's Town. There are Night's Watch there at the whorehouse, where the whores are disturbingly rude.

Thankfully the Wildings led by Torman Giantsbane crash the party in the most violent way possible. Many die, but of course Ygrit spares Gilly and her child.

Then there is a scene in the Eyrie that is also brand new. This largely due to televisions necessity of eliminating minor and side characters, or rolling them into one another. In the Books, there is a minstrel that comes to the Eyrie with Petyr Baelish and Sansa. He is how Petyr deals with the 'incident' from the previous episode. A convenient scape goat. Instead we have this big scene with Sansa.

This is a classically framed shot. A bit too John Ford for me.

But honestly, that was good. It actually improved her character. She is showing some actual depth, character expansion. She is learning how some of the darker sides of politics in the Seven Kingdoms works. It may be one of the few scenes where her character does not just irritate me. And later in the episode when she wears the dark dress... that was almost amazing.

Moat Cailin. It reminds me of Amon Sul (Weathertop).

And then there is the scene where Grey Worm watches Missandei bathe. Considering that Grey Worm was a pretty minor character in the books, this was a completely new scene, and I do not know what purpose it serves story wise. Are they going to do a romance between her and Grey Worm, a eunuch? I have not the foggiest idea.  

Yes, I keep on about the scenes that are new. Because in many these are the scenes that are the most interesting to me.

So, I'm pretty certain that Tyrion's dungeon discussion with Jaime was new. They discuss their slow cousin, Orson Lannister, who it seems enjoyed spending his life crushing beetles under rocks. It was a strange scene... but it had some wonderful lines.

The Hound and Arya arrive at the Vale. Hilarity ensues.

"Turns out far too much has been written about great men and not nearly enough about morons. Doesn't seem right."

The whole scene was a very interesting set up for the climactic scene. The scene that I'm willing to bet almost everyone tuned in to see. The battle between the Mountain and the Viper. The episodes titular battle. It was good. But I knew the battle. It was not as interesting to me as the new scenes.

Two episodes to go. There is still a lot left to happen. Lets see what new things they come up with, and how they handle the things we know have to happen.

It is such a bloody great show.

Here you go. One image from the titular battle. Enjoy.

 To read previous reviews of Game of Thrones, click the links below.
Season 4:
- Two Swords (Ep1)
- The Lion and the Rose (Ep2)
- Breaker of Chains (Ep3)
- Oathkeeper (Ep4)
- The First of His Name (Ep5)
- The Laws of Gods and Men (Ep6) 
- Mockingbird (Ep7)