Review: Game of Thrones ("Kissed By Fire")

by richmin3000

"by what right does the wolf judge the lion?..... my name's jaime" - jaime lannister

"I was told you were drunk, impertinent and thoroughly debauched. You can imagine my disappointment at finding nothing but a browbeaten bookkeeper." - lady olenna to tyrion

*my reviews/recaps will not have any spoilers as they relate to future events but will have many explanations or clarifications of events currently happening on the screen so if you want to figure it out for yourself, read with caution.

**due to several recommendations, i will be discussing some spoilery stuff at the tail end of the review so please pay careful attention.

read my review of season 3, episodes 1 and 2, "valar dohaeris" and "dark wings, dark words" - here
read my review of season 3, episode 3, "walk of punishment" - here
read my review of season 3, episode 4, "and now his watch has ended" - here

last week was mostly about plot development while this week we spent a lot of time in character development. jaime, stannis, robb and jon all had to question their roles in the world in light of ever changing circumstances. the choices they make will undoubtedly have serious consequences for the men they will become and the fate of those around them.

house stark of winterfell
no bran or rickon this week.

sansa tells littlefinger she might want to stay in king's landing after all. i don't think littlefinger likes the idea of the tyrells and lannisters trying to take his girl away from him.

arya is still with the brotherhood without banners on her way to riverrun to meet with her brother. gendry chooses to stay behind and join the brotherhood.

jon's loyalties continue to be tested by the wildlings as they approach the wall. and not by just tormund giantsbane but by ygritte as well. at least her tests have less of a chance to end in death, but alas it is game of thrones so all bets are off. either way, he has either abandoned his nights watch oath or has lived up to it by following what qhorin halfhand instructed him to do. this highlights one of the main themes of this episode and the show in general, which is one of loyalties and oaths... specifically, what choices do people make when their loyalties are conflicted and tested... more on this with jaime later.

as jon finds a little grey in the question of oaths, robb thinks in mostly black and white. like he assumes his father would, he beheads lord karstark after the murder of two lannister boys. it ends up costing him half his army when the karstark men abandon him but at least he has his honor right? and a new plan it seems, which is to recruit the help of the freys and take casterly rock, home of the lannisters.

house lannister of casterly rock
no joffrey this week

cersei tries to dig into the tyrell's schemes and learns that once again she's not as bright as she thinks she is when her father (after learning the truth of the tyrell's plan to marry sansa to loras) bequeaths her to marry loras and tyrion to marry sansa.

tyrion has another slow week highlighted by two great scenes, one with his family and one with lady olenna.

jaime tells brienne the story of how he got his nickname and thus the man who once threw a boy out a tower window has become a sympathetic, misunderstood. the complexity of jaime's nature is really well translated from the book. he also had good short scenes with roose bolton and former maester qyburn.

house tyrell of highgarden
it's a battle between lady olenna, tywin lannister, tyrion lannister and dragons for best scene stealer in this show.

house greyjoy of the iron islands
no theon et al this week.

house baratheon of storms end (now dragonstone)
we get to finally meet stannis' crazy wife and sickly daughter, shireen, this week. this is definitely a different side of stannis, who, up until now, came across as completely rigid and overly moralistic. he admits to his affair with the red woman to his wife who gives him her blessing. stannis' daughter is kept away in a dungeon-like room presumably because she's sick with a disease called greyscale, which makes her skin turn into grey scales. shireen goes to visit davos, the onion knight, in the real dungeons.

house targaryen of dragonstone
dany is en route to yunkai (we only know this because it's a new destination on the map) with her new army. she has them choose their own leader, a man named grey worm. her two confidants, barristan selmy and jorah mormont rub each other the wrong way a little bit. jorah tries to find out of barristan knows about his double dealing ways back in season 1 when barristan had the ear of king robert and may have been privy to secrets. it seems that selmy knows nothing about it. barristan, however, does know that jorah is a disgraced former slave trader with a bad reputation in westeros and suggests he take a back seat. jorah politely declines.

night's watch
no news after the death of lord commander mormont.

brotherhood without banners
beric dondarrion faces off against the hound with his firey sword. (where else have we seen swords on fire? if you said on dragonstone when stannis took the oath of the lord of light, you would be right). though the hound is afraid of fire, he's still able to prevail against beric killing him in the process. except that thoros of myr, the red priest, is able to bring him back to life, for the 6th time they say. that's an interesting development. if this was a game of gods show, the lord of light would certainly be winning. the seven would be second and the tree faces would be a distant third.


no hyperbole allowed rating:  A-
although we didn't have nearly as many jump-out-of-your-seat moments this week, this episode was probably the best yet in terms of style and structure. no scene changes felt rushed or out of place as they have in previous episodes as they bounced around from riverrun to dragonstone to yunkai and to king's landing. the world finally felt a little bit smaller and perhaps that's because the various storylines are starting to relate to each other and to the past as well.

robb's beheading bring us back to ned stark in the show's premiere episode. jon's storyline resonates a lot stronger since the death of lord commander mormont. jorah's brief treachery against dany in season 1 has the potential to come back to haunt him. the tyrells and lannisters seem to be on the verge of all-out political warfare. arya seems awfully close to reconnecting with her mom and brother.

i can't believe that the show is already half-way done and yet we have so much farther to go before season 3 is in the books (so to speak). i'll be taking next week off to travel but will be back after episode 7 to recap both episodes 6 and 7.

i'm excited to guide us through season 3 of game of thrones so would appreciate any comments or feedback to help structure these posts as we move forward. you can write to me at nohyperboleallowed@gmail.com, or via twitter @hyperboleNOT, or on our wall on facebook at facebook.com/nohyperboleallowed, or just write something in the comments section below.

****SPOILER SECTION**** (DO NOT READ AHEAD UNLESS YOU'VE READ THROUGH BOOK 3)

- there's been a lot of talk about where this season will end, especially about catelyn's storyline. i think they'll save that for next year. i'm also curious to see how the writers will convince the viewers that robb has figured out a way to save his own ass by marrying edmure tully to one of the freys. at this point i think everyone believes robb is up shit's creek without a paddle so if the red wedding is going to have the super shocking effect i hope it does, the writers will need to rehabilitate robb at least a bit in the coming episodes.
- i'm also excited to see arya and the hound together but it's going to be awful to see her get so close to her family only to have them die.
- i think that shay is not going to like tyrion's engagement to sansa which i presume will prompt her betrayal or maybe it won't be a betrayal at all and tywin will just apply the pressure as he always does. either way, tyrion should get more screen time soon though maybe not till season 4.
- jon, the wildlings and ygritte are about to climb the wall, which will make for another great storyline that ends with death and disappointment.

Review: Game of Thrones ("And Now His Watch Has Ended")

by richmin3000

"I don't distrust you because you're a woman. I distrust you because you're not as smart as you think you are" - Tywin Lannister to Cersei

*my reviews/recaps will not have any spoilers as they relate to future events but will have many explanations or clarifications of events currently happening on the screen so if you want to figure it out for yourself, read with caution.

**due to several recommendations, i will be discussing some spoilery stuff at the tail end of the review so please pay careful attention.

read my review of season 3, episodes 1 and 2, "valar dohaeris" and "dark wings, dark words" - here
read my review of season 3, episode 3, "walk of punishment" - here

last week i wrote that "finally things have really started to move" and that couldn't have been any truer in episode 4. this was most certainly the most plot moving forward episode in 2+ seasons of GOT... so much so that the death of lord commander mormont was not even one of the last couple of scenes of the episode. so much so that the early great scenes between lord varys and tyrion, varys and lady olenna, cersei and tywin were all a distant memory by the time dany burned the people of astapor to a crisp.

house stark of winterfell
bran dreams of a raven and grows frustrated with his newfound skills. catelyn loves to nag even in bran's dreams.

arya is hanging with the brotherhood without banners and reminds the hound of killing the butcher's boy in season 1.

sansa hangs out with margaery and is offered to her brother loras. too bad he's part of the kingsguard...oh and gay. varys however learns that littlefinger is planning on taking sansa to the eyrie when he leaves to become the new lord there.

no jon this week or the wildlings.

house tully of riverrun
no appearance this week.

house lannister of casterly rock
king joffrey continues to be charmed by margaery tyrell and awkwardly waves to the crowd.

cersei is reminded by lady olenna the inequalities of being born a woman so has a nice chat with her father about it. it goes as well as one could expect. and who is tywin writing all those letters to?  hmmm

tyrion learns a lot from varys but not why his sister tried to have him killed in the battle of blackwater bay.

sir jamie lannister, the kingslayer, drinks horse urine. he attempts to fight with his left hand. he becomes a little depressed and starts to question his self-worth. brienne gives him a pep talk and calls him a woman.

house tyrell of highgarden
lady olenna is great. nonexistent meets decrepit...i couldn't get that out of my mind for a day and a half.  she's also quite the schemer just like her granddaughter margaery. they certainly are not willing to stand pat in service of the lannisters it seems. getting sansa stark into the family fold might prove quite useful.

house greyjoy of the iron islands
theon circles back to the place he just escaped thanks to the guy who helped him escape. i get it, but do you? doubtful. i think it'll be worth it once it's all explained but hard for me to say for sure. his storyline in the show is much more detailed than in the books since he doesn't even have a storyline in book 3. i've read many reviews that don't find his storyline very interesting, but as i've said before, i am actually more invested in his storyline that i am any others in show. perhaps that's because i know what eventually becomes of him.

house baratheon of storms end (now dragonstone)
nada

house targaryen of dragonstone
dany speaks valyrian? who knew? one could guess since her people are originally from old valyria but it was a nice twist in the show and well executed. dany knows from her experience in qarth that her dragons are not found of chains and leases. her cunning and moralistic hatred of slavery have resulted in an army of 8k freed unsullied.... and three growing dragons...and two westerosi knights.

night's watch
you could say that the lord commander's death came out of left field but then you weren't paying close enough attention. he fell victim to moral compromise, which dany has shown unwilling to do.. in this case, compromising the values the night's watch were supposed to hold dear... the values that jon and sam kept harping about. lord mormont's reluctant acceptance of craster and his "ways" only led to discord and resentment among his men, especially considering that the lot of them are rapists and murderers to begin with. it was an unceremonious end to his life, but a great turning point in the story of the night's watch especially with the wildlings fast approaching the wall.

brotherhood without banners
we finally meet the leader of the merry gang of vigilantes... beric dondarrion who was re-cast since season 1 although you probably wouldn't remember him otherwise since he only appeared for about 3 seconds. as he states in this past episode, he was ordered by ned stark (whilst sitting on the iron throne when king robert was away hunting) to capture the mountain for pillaging the countryside. ned stark ordered tywin lannister to answer for his bannerman's crimes and stripped the mountain of all lands and titles. so since then, beric has been pursuing the mountain (who was pursuing him while at harrenhall) with the help of thoros of myr, a warrior priest, who also prays to the lord of light, just like melisandre. got it?

miscellaneous
varys deserves a special nod here as well as littlefinger in coming episodes i'm sure. varys teaches us all that he is not to be underestimated after displaying extreme patience in exacting revenge against the sorcerer that took his root and stem. i'd like everyone to remember that in season 1, it was he and magister illyrio (who took care of dany and her brother across the narrow sea and arranged her marriage to khal drogo) who were conferring in the dragon vaults about the impending war (which was overheard by arya). varys' motivations are not well known but suffice it to say that he certainly is motivated.

his conversation with littlefinger's right hand woman and lady olenna demonstrate his eagerness to limit littlefinger's power and influence. is it just to save the realm? he did tell ned stark in his jail cell that he only wishes to serve the realm so perhaps his motivation is pure. perhaps he just hates magic as much as he says. what does that mean with respect to dany and her dragons? why did he have a secret meeting with magister illyrio who was helping the targaryens?  all good questions.

no hyperbole allowed rating:  A
we are moving the chess pieces ever so slightly. dany's power grows across the narrow sea.  the realm's protectors in the night's watch have fallen under hard times just as the wildlings and white walkers are growing in strength. all the while, the families in westeros are all vying for power and influence. even varys and littlefinger take their positions as power brokers behind the scenes.

i like how the writers are focusing each episode on about half the cast instead of trying to squeeze in a storyline for every character. as we get introduced to more and more characters (which we certainly will) it will become impossible to keep up with all the characters on a week-to-week basis. the one character i hope they return to next week and for a few scenes at least, is davos who finds himself imprisoned on dragonstone.

i'm excited to guide us through season 3 of game of thrones so would appreciate any comments or feedback to help structure these posts as we move forward. you can write to me at nohyperboleallowed@gmail.com, or via twitter @hyperboleNOT, or on our wall on facebook at facebook.com/nohyperboleallowed, or just write something in the comments section below.

****SPOILER SECTION**** (DO NOT READ AHEAD UNLESS YOU'VE READ THROUGH BOOK 3)

- i expect dany's storyline to take a little bit of a break since she doesn't really get up to much from here on out. i think they'll throw in some invasion scenes to show her strength and get viewers excited but i think we've reached her pinnacle for the season. makes me think they could have dragged this out for a few more episodes but i'm glad they didn't because we have so much to get through....
- like tyrion and sansa... when is that happening or are they skipping that? the going ons in king's landing should be fun with a lot of twists and turns between littlefinger, varys, sansa, tyrion, the lannisters and tyrells.
- i'm a bit confused as to who roose bolton is pretending to be right now...do his men not know that he's roose bolton or do they think he's reek? i know i'm sort of jumping ahead a bit but obviously they have to let us in on the secret soon or viewers are going to be way too confused to even care anymore.
- i mentioned tywin's proficient letter writing campaign above and people seem to think that he's taking steps to ensure that the red wedding happens without a hitch.

Review: Game of Thrones ("Walk of Punishment")

by richmin3000

"Maybe you were as good as people said, once. Or maybe people just love to overpraise a famous name" - Brienne of Tarth to Jaime Lannister

*my reviews/recaps will not have any spoilers as they relate to future events but will have many explanations or clarifications of events currently happening on the screen so if you want to figure it out for yourself, read with caution.

**due to several recommendations, i will be discussing some spoilery stuff at the tail end of the review so please pay careful attention.

read my review of season 3, episodes 1 and 2, "valar dohaeris" and "dark wings, dark words" - here

finally things have really started to move in episode 3. we've checked in with all the old characters so we only have to look forward from here on out. we added a new piece on the map in riverrun, home to catelyn stark's family, the tullys, and along with that, a couple of new faces. deals were struck, wars are being planned and hot pie is being left behind. a lot to discuss...

house stark of winterfell
robb and catelyn are in riverrun for the funeral of hoster tully, catelyn's father and lord of riverrun. we meet edmure, her brother and new lord of riverrun, and brynden aka blackfish, her paternal uncle and as his name suggest, the black sheep (fish) of his family. robb, and the north by extension, seem to have little patience these days as a run of victories still have left them with little to show for it except mills.

arya and gendry are off with the brotherhood without banners and the hound to who knows where. not with hot pie though who has decided to stay behind to bake wolf bread. hard to tell if arya is truly a prisoner or a guest as thoros of myr suggests. fyi: arya asked the hound if he recalled the inn they were at... it's the same inn where he killed the baker's boy in season 1 after she struck joffrey... and yes, that seems ages ago.

jon snow and the wildling lot have stumbled upon a lot of dead horses at the fist of the first men. they learn that a few hundred night's watchmen are now running around as zombies. with the knowledge that their defenses are low, mance rayder plans an attack on the wall. jon's old friend, sam, reunites with gilly who just gave birth to a baby boy (whitewalker's favorite!).

no sansa, bran or rickon this week.

house tully of riverrun
edmure (fyi: the actor played brutus on hbo's incredible show, 'rome') tully is catelyn's brother and the new lord of riverrun. but his ineptitude (on display after failing to light his father's boat on fire with his arrow) highlights the sudden perilous position the northerners find themselves in.

if you recall in season 1, the mountain (the hound's brother) was ravaging riverrun on the orders of tywin lannister. in this episode, edmure talks about how he was able to drive the mountain away only to robb's dismay. robb had a grand plan to trap the mountain which edmure inadvertantly ruined by not trusting in his orders. these interactions between robb and edmure highlight the fact that they are young leaders that neither command the same respect as their fathers.

the blackfish is catelyn's uncle and seems to be one of those grumpy vets who have no patience for the incompetence of the young. he's a great character in book 3 and the casting seems perfect. the show does a great job at giving us a sense of several character's nature in short, visual bursts. the introduction of these two characters and riverrun on the map of westeros should clue everyone into its importance in season 3.

house lannister of casterly rock
besides the musical chairs with tywin, cersei, tyrion and the rest of the small council, there was no real movement for tywin, cersei and no appearance by king joffrey.

tyrion is named the new master of coin after tywin announces that littlefinger will marry lysa arryn (catelyn's sister) and become the new lord of the eyrie. it was also mentioned that roose bolton (robb's bannerman) holds harrenhall which was supposed to be littlefinger's.

jamie's storyline was the highlight of this week obviously with him getting the ned stark treatment, only it's his hand that's gotten chopped off and not his head. after his capture by bolton men (stark bannermen) he had a lot of great character moments with brienne and his captors, exposing his lazy reliance on his family name, quick wits and physical gifts. jaime though has come a long way from pushing bran out of a tower window to saving brienne's honor in this past episode. jaime's character is well explained by his choice in life to forego his legal claim to the riches of casterly rock (as described by tyrion earlier this year) and join the mad king arys targaryen's kingsguard. he's a man who has always struggled with his identity, his family name and the ease in which he's coasted through life. now he's a man whose greatest skill has just been taken away from him. i can't wait to see how that will affect his character's story arc.

house tyrell of highgarden
no appearances by the tyrell clan.

house greyjoy of the iron islands
theon was released from his torture device by someone who says he's theon's sister's man only to be hunted down by those who were torturing him only to then again be saved by the same man who helped him escape in the first place. not sure what's going on exactly but i have a pretty good feeling we'll find out soon enough (and i have my own assumptions which i'll explain in the spoiler section down below).

house baratheon of storms end (now dragonstone)
the red woman is off to run some errands and king stannis seems ornery about it all.

house targaryen of dragonstone
dany agrees to purchase all of the unsullied soldiers in exchange for one of her dragons over the fierce objections of both of her consigliere. up until that point, jorah mormont and barristan selmy seemed to be at odds over every other issue. jorah, himself a former slave trader (which caused him to be banished by ned stark) has advised dany to buy the unsullied while barristan has advised her that a slave army will not give her the loyalty she needs to win.

no hyperbole allowed rating:  A-
this was a big character development episode. i think we are starting to see some holes in the northern leadership, particular with experience and decision making. the lannisters for all their strength and money aren't the tightest family around. dany is struggling with the idea of buying slaves after her quiet stroll down the walk of punishment. jon will have to choose how far he's willing to go in order to prove his worth to the wildlings... will he attack the wall with his new brothers? theon is learning quickly that strength lies in honor, family or purpose, of which he has none.

i'm excited to guide us through season 3 of game of thrones so would appreciate any comments or feedback to help structure these posts as we move forward. you can write to me at nohyperboleallowed@gmail.com, or via twitter @hyperboleNOT, or on our wall on facebook at facebook.com/nohyperboleallowed, or just write something in the comments section below.

****SPOILER SECTION**** (DO NOT READ AHEAD UNLESS YOU'VE READ THROUGH BOOK 3)

- the first thing i want to discuss is theon's storyline which i think, after two slightly confusing (bc his storyline was only told as recollections in book 5 and not told in the present in book 3) episodes, has cleared itself up.  i have to assume that the person who helped him escape and later saved him is really ramsay bolton, roose's bastard son, who was supposed to rescue winterfell and was obviously the one who burned it to the ground. the main clue is that when he shot a guy with the arrow he called him "bastard" both a fact and insult. i am very interested in finding out how they resolve this storyline and expose his identity to the audience.
- a longer term spoiler so i will keep it short - tyrion's mention of the bank that has lent king's landing all that money... they always get paid one way or another.
- edmure and robb seem destined for great things together...
- i think next week we'll see the planned union between tyrion and sansa and soon thereafter, littlefinger's escape with her to the eyrie.

Review: Game of Thrones ("Valar Dohaeris" and "Dark Wings, Dark Words"

by richmin3000

"We'll find you accommodations more suited to your name and as a reward for your accomplishments during the Battle of Blackwater Bay. And when the time is right, you will be given a position fit for your talents, so that you can serve your family and protect our legacy. And if you serve faithfully, you will be rewarded with a suitable wife - and I would let myself be consumed by maggots before mocking the family name and making you heir to Casterly Rock!" - Tywin Lannister

*my reviews/recaps will not have any spoilers as they relate to future events but will have many explanations or clarifications of events currently happening on the screen so if you want to figure it out for yourself, read with caution.

**due to several recommendations, i will be discussing some spoilery stuff at the tail end of the review so please pay careful attention.

back by popular demand, i will be recapping season 3 of hbo's game of thrones much like i did for season 2, which you can read here. i will try and follow a similar structure to last year which means i will group my focus on the various families or locations, depending on what each episode requires or allows. due to some lengthy travel plans in the middle of this season, i won't be able to provide a recap every week but will play catch up when i can.

house stark of winterfell
at the end of season 1, the starks were the supposed good guys of westeros, victims of lannister deceit and cunning. at the end of season 2, the starks were dismantled, dismayed and seemingly disinterested in honorable pursuits. robb had gone off and married a foreign nurse even though he had already been promised to another... so his army could cross the twins. arya escaped harrenhall with some trickery along with gendry and hot pie. bran and rickon escaped winterfell after theon's assault. sansa was plotting an escape of king's landing with the help of lord petyr baelish. jon snow killed qhorin halfhand to join up with the wildlings. and catelyn stark released jamie lannister in the hopes of exchanging him for her daughters.

at the beginning of season 3, we find that the starks continue to face a multitude of precarious situations with little reason for optimism. robb is still married to a charlie chaplin's granddaughter and now catelyn is her son's prisoner. his army is beginning to lose faith after the loss of jamie and also stannis' loss at the battle of blackwater bay. the lannister army, now with the help of the tyrells, is twice the size of robb's. even for a boy king who has won every battle so far, that is daunting.

catelyn stark continues to blame herself for all of her families' misfortunes and right she should. she sucks. it's possible she'll acquire some redeeming qualities down the road...

sansa is still planning on escaping king's landing with lord baelish without any sense of suspicion. oh you silly sansa, full of traitor's blood, when will you ever learn?

jon snow finally meets the king beyond the wall, mance rayder, a former crow (aka night's watchman) himself. they seem to be heading in the same direction as everyone else... south. it may have something to do with zombies (as an aside, the zombies are not whitewalkers. whitewalkers are the ones who ride horses and eat craster's baby sons. the zombies are called wights).

arya, hot pie and gendry are on the road again and this time they'll definitely make it to their destinat...oops, they got caught again. though, their captures this time don't seem as intent on feeding them to rats. led (in the show and for now) by a merry vigilante by the name of thoros of myr, the brotherhood without banners were spoken of last season by the tickler in harrenhall. without spoiling their purpose in the show, let's just say that they fight for the people against the wicked. i'll give further explanation in the spoiler section and in the coming weeks once we know where the show is heading. at the end of the episode 2, the brotherhood without banners captures the hound (who left king's landing during the battle of blackwater bay) who immediately recognizes arya as a stark.

lastly, bran and rickon are headed north to find jon snow. that probably will work out just as planned. anyway, in the books, rickon and wildling osha go off on their own, while bran, hodor and the reeds head north. also in the books, the reeds are in winterfell when theon attacks. they are there to hang out with bran because howland reed (who is mentioned in the show as saving ned's life once) is very close with the starks.

the most important character development with the starks thus far is with bran, who they have flat out acknowledged to be a warg, which is like a psychic/were(wolf). the show did a bad job just laying it out there like that, but they did a good job by showing us a wildling warg in action right before telling us that bran was a warg. a warg essentially can go into the mind and body of an animal though bran can only do that while he's sleeping. he's been doing this since season 1 when we would see him dreaming of himself as a wolf so this shouldn't be a big surprise for those who haven't read the books.

bran though is not just a warg but also a greenseer, like jojen reed, the strange boy who is explaining this all to bran (and us). a greenseer is someone who can see into the past, future and present. remember in season 1 where bran and osha went into the winterfell crypts because he had a dream about his father being dead???? remember??? no? well, he did. believe me. osha said it was a dream and then when he came up, maester luwin told him the bad news about his father being dead. coincidence? nope. he's a greenseer.

in that same scene in season 1, recall that when bran went down to the crypts, he ran into rickon who said he had the same dream essentially. i have no added knowledge about this from the books, but i think we can only assume rickon has some of this ability as well.

i also want to note for people who think this rise in magic is either stupid or random, let me remind everyone that all the "magic" is tied to either the whitewalker or the dragons or both. the whitewalkers had been dead for a long time and just recently have come back. same thing with the dragons. and in season 2, the warlocks of qarth mentioned that their magic had grown stronger since the birth of the dragons. this is not a coincidence and we can only assume that bran's abilities or anyone else's for that matter are tied to these things.

house lannister of casterly rock
i'd say as a family, they are doing pretty well. at the end of season 2, the lannisters had just defeated stannis baratheon in the battle of blackwater bay. tyrion was the mastermind who held down the fort until his father, lord tywin, could come with reinforcements.

to start season 3, things look at least status quo for the entire family, if not particular pleasant. jamie was en route to the capitol to be reunited with his family until his very recent predicament with some bolton men (more on this later). never change joffrey... never change. cersei seems bored. tywin seems busy. tyrion seems annoyed.

the biggest development is jamie's potential recapture by the bolton clan, who are bannermen for the starks. house bolton should become a very important family this season. they are led by lord roose bolton, who is robb stark's right hand man (not the guy with the big beard but the other one who comes with bad news in episode 2). roose's bastard son, ramsay, is the one who was sent to winterfell to take it back from theon. and now some boltons are on the verge of taking back jamie. that's all i can say about that right now.

house tyrell of highgarden
there's not much to say about them but i needed to fit them in somewhere. at the end of season 2, they joined forces with the lannisters. i'm sure the main reason was to make margaery a queen, but i also think sir loras wanted to get revenge on stannis for killing his beloved renly.

margaery seems like she'd make a great queen not because she is so sweet but because she can play so many different roles. she can be just as cunning as cersei without being such a bitch about it. she's a character that didn't get as many pages in the book as she's getting screen time but i like what the show is doing with her character. in fact, i think some of the best characters in the show are ones that did not get a lot of time in the books (theon, for example).

house greyjoy of the iron islands
at the end of season 2, theon went from overtaking winterfell to being betrayed by his own men. we aren't exactly sure what happened to winterfell (i'm fairly certain but they don't really explain it in the show) and that uncertainty has extended itself through these first two episodes of season 3. also, i think we're left to assume that lord balon greyjoy, theon's father, and yara greyjoy, his sister, are still plundering the north in the starks' absence, but that is just an assumption at this point.

in season 3, we find that theon is being tortured by a group of unknown characters. they are interrogating him about his reasons for attacking winterfell. i don't know whether they are just trying to get information or whether they are northmen, but hopefully we'll find out soon.

house baratheon of storms end (now dragonstone)
stannis was defeated in the battle of blackwater bay at the end of season 2. his would-be hand, davos seaworth aka the onion knight, was thrown into the sea after the wildfire explosion.

we find davos strewn upon a rock in the middle of the sea only to be saved by salladhor saan's men and brought back to dragonstone to meet with a defeated and darkened stannis, who regrets not taking melisandre to war with him. his defeat has lent more credibility to her cause which does not sit well with davos, who gets thrown into jail for standing up against the red woman.

unlike theon's storyline which is much better in the show than in the books, davos' storyline is quite the opposite. in the books, they are thorough with his backstory and allegiance to stannis but in the show, he comes across as naively loyal. i'm hoping they do a better job with his character since he's a favorite of mine in the books, but i don't like what's happening thus far in season 3.

house targaryen of dragonstone
dany had the worst storyline of season 2, made worse by the show's need to provide the audience with glimpses of dragons every so often. the highlight of book 2 was her experience in the house of the undying, where she saw a lot of inexplicable images that the fanboy community interprets to be prophetic in nature. the show didn't exactly go that route but dany's experience in qarth and especially in the house of the undying were still the only thing that happened to her in season 2. her dragons were able to protect her and themselves from danger and allowed her to take money and ships out of qarth by force.

in season 3, we see that the dragons have grown some but are still not the immense creatures we imagine they will one day become. dany and her khalasar have set sail for astapor in order to buy an army. astapor is a slave city that specializes in training and selling mercenary slave soldiers named the unsullied. dany is preparing for her eventual return to westeros. dany, however, finds herself in a moral quandary about buying and using slave soldiers. jorah mormont is advising her that the only way she'll be able to become queen is to have an army worthy of battle.

while dany and mormont are walking around astapor, they have a little run in with a warlock girl and are saved by barristan selmy, who you may have seen during the "previously on" segment before episode 1. in season 1, he was forced into retirement by king joffrey for failing to protect his father during his hunting trip. selmy said a few parting words and left. he tells dany upon their meeting that he's been looking for her so that he could join her queensguard.

barristan selmy's appearance in the book was very surprising as he pretended to be someone else for some time before exposing himself to dany. but that's easier to pull off on readers than viewers so the way the show did it seems fine to me. what people need to realize is that barristan selmy was kingsguard to king aerys II aka the mad king, who was the king that jamie lannister killed that immediately preceded king robert of house baratheon.

no hyperbole allowed rating:  B and B+, respectively for both episodes
these two episodes taken together are mostly table setters for the numerous characters' storylines to come. with the addition of several new characters, we probably will be left without visiting some of our favorite characters week-to-week, like dany in episode 2. i think it'll be for the best especially since it would be foolish to squeeze in character developments for everyone each week.

just to orient everyone to the characters' whereabouts.
- jon, the wildlings and the nights watch are heading south to the wall. bran, rickon, et al are heading north to the wall.
- robb and catelyn along with some of their army (the rest are staying in harrenhall under the leadership of roose bolton) are heading to riverrun (in the west) for catelyn's father's funeral. arya and her crew are also planning on going to riverrun to find protection from her grandfather who she doesn't know is dead.
- the lannisters are hanging around in winterfell with the tyrells. jamie was headed there before his seeming recapture. remember that myrcell (cercei's daughter) was sent to dorne (which we haven't seen yet) for her protection before the battle.
- dany is in astapor, across the narrow sea, to the try and raise an army

last season, we had this buildup to a big battle between stannis and the lannisters. this season we don't have such a specific plot point to look forward to so it'll be mostly about dany trying to make her way back to westeros, those beyond the wall trying to fend off the white walkers and warn everyone else of their danger, the lannisters and tyrells trying to hold onto their power, and the starks trying to find a way to regroup as a family and army.

i'm excited to guide us through season 3 of game of thrones so would appreciate any comments or feedback to help structure these posts as we move forward. you can write to me at nohyperboleallowed@gmail.com, or via twitter @hyperboleNOT, or on our wall on facebook at facebook.com/nohyperboleallowed, or just write something in the comments section below.

****SPOILER SECTION**** (DO NOT READ AHEAD UNLESS YOU'VE READ THROUGH BOOK 3)

- piggy...i mean sam... forgot to send the ravens. now no one in the seven kingdoms will have the chance to receive the news of whitewalkers and completely dismiss it as northern superstitions.
- so we've met thoros of myr, but what about beric dondarrion???? i assume he'll show up if for no other reason than i just googled it and he will show up. that's probably a good reason though to assume things. thoros is quite funny and i think he'll make a good team with beric as his straight man. would like to see his flaming sword though (that's what she said!). ha.
- i'm a little unsure what's going on with theon right now. obviously in the book, his backstory isn't explained thoroughly, if at all, until book 5. i want to assume that he is being tortured by bolton men and is in the process of becoming reek, but there are some things that make me question if that is what is occurring right at this moment or if they are going to change his story around (which i can't imagine being the case). the reason i'm a bit confused is because the show makes it seem like he is going to escape with the help of his sister's men. i hope that the show does a good job with theon's backstory here because his story in season 2 was my favorite part of the show and one that was not fully fleshed out in the books.
- i'm assuming, along with everyone else who has read the books, that this season will end with the red wedding. i'm a bit surprised that lord karstark told robb that he lost the war the day he married talisa. i'm not sure if they are being too heavy handed with that storyline or if it is going over people's heads.

Favs Was on the Today Show

I was up till 5am working on wedding invitations, so when my fiancee tried to wake me up to watch retiring White House speechwriter, Jon Favreau, on the Today Show at 7, I turned over and went back to sleep. But I thought to myself, I bet that all-knowing Internet thingamabob will have some record of it. And lo, I am wise.

http://uverseonline.att.net/tv/show/nbc-today-show?play=h___60186224

Good thing we gave him the ol' podcast 3rd degree to polish him up before his first TV appearance.

Podcast: No Hyperbole Allowed (Episode 22)

We're pleased to welcome to the podcast Jon Favreau, the chief speechwriter for the President of the United States, Barack Obama, in case you didn't know the name of the president. You should really know that. He's even more famous than Honey Boo Boo.

So many questions! As nerdy political types, we were rather giddy at the prospect of asking lots of questions to the most famous guy we've had on the podcast, and the fact that he works in the White House makes him one of the most interesting guests we can imagine. We had probably 50 more questions to ask, but we all needed to get to sleep so we could get up and do our day jobs, which are of varying importance. Jon's office is obviously in the White House, so that's a pretty big deal. Colin works at his parents' house and it's kind of a brownish grey, so that's not quite as glamorous. Rich lives in New York City, so you know, he thinks whatever he does is super important like everyone else in New York. Probably trying to get some jerk off for a crime he doesn't want to take responsibility for committing. Whatever.

In this week's podcast, Jon gives us the rundown of how he got the gig, in case you're trying to get a job as chief speechwriter of the President of the United States. It seems to involve meeting the guy who becomes president before he does so. That's critically important, in fact. So that's one of the early steps to say the least. You'll have to listen to learn about the other steps.

Jon tells a couple of funny White House stories, but mostly what we've gleaned is that Barack Obama is a man he admires and respects and is the real leader and mentor of the men and women who work in the White House. It is encouraging to learn that Jon has not been made cynical by his time in Washington, but he would never dream of a career in politics. Our bet is that he gets a cushy think tank gig, maybe spends some time on the Rachel Maddow show, teaches a course at a university, writes a couple of books, etc.

This is POTUS' speech to the Nobel committee in Oslo, Norway in December of 2009. Jon mentioned it as perhaps his proudest moment as the president's speechwriter.

We bet there aren't too many of you who've watched it in its entirety. Aren't you glad you did? You probably had an opinion about his having received the Nobel Peace Prize, but you probably didn't take the time to watch the speech. Seriously, what would you know about anything without this podcast? Thank you, Jon, for recommending it.

Get your podcast, here!!!! or
http://traffic.libsyn.com/nohyperbole/No_Hyperbole_Allowed_Episode_22.mp3

Podcast: No Hyperbole Allowed (Episode 21)

**Just in time for Hurricane Sandy...there's no better way to spend your hours shut in with no electricity than to listen to our podcast on one of your (hopefully) battery-operated devices. And in case your TV stops working, just listen to it over and over again**

Aaaaaaaaand we're back! 2 months off have been good rest for our podcast muscles. The ones in our brains. The brain muscles. It's all very scientific. Our most recent podcast is so old that in it we recapped the London Olympics. We barely even remember those! Other than the fact that we beat the crap out of China.

Rich and Colin have a surprise guest this week! Guess who! Just guess. We'll give you a hint: he's related to Colin and his name rhymes with Fawn O'Shiggins.

We spend most of this week's 'cast talking about politics, which is nice for Colin since he gets to gang up on that pinko commie, Rich, with his America-loving conservative brother man, Sean. Guess who's writing this podcast description! We'll give you a hint: he's extremely good-looking and his name rhymes with Folin O'Shiggins. And also, he's quite handsome in case we forgot to mention the part about his extreme handsomeness.

We make some small mention of how awesome TV has become with shows like Game of Thrones, Homeland, Waking the Dead or the Walking Dead or whatever, and all that other stuff that's on. Rich thinks it might not be that the TV shows are so awesome but that it's probably 'cause we're old and can't be bothered to go out and do what those crazy kids do with the dancing and the drinking and the bizzing and the bopping.

And also, this is what we think of when we see President Obama's "Forward." campaign slogan.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/nohyperbole/No_Hyperbole_Allowed_Episode_21.mp3