Knee-jerk reaction to “No One:” five best and worst moments
Here are my highly subjective, personal thoughts and feelings, delivered lightning-quick, after viewing “No One,” tonight’s new Game of Thrones episode. This one had some stellar moments but overall it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I offer five Valyrian Steel (Best) Moments and five Flea Bottom Brown (Worst) moments. I’ll hang around the comments section for a while so please feel free to chime in and discuss.
VALYRIAN STEEL (BEST) MOMENTS
VALYRIAN STEEL FIVE: The boys are back in town. The Hound cleaves his way through some baddies and ends up in the company of Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, and the good members of the Brotherhood Without Banners, where he is offered another chance at redemption, whether he wants it or not. Although this time, the redemption will involve armor and blood and battle, and that is certainly more his style.
VALYRIAN STEEL FOUR: I’m not a nice man. The Jaime and Edmure scene started out a little stale for me, but it wound up into such a powerful moment I couldn’t leave the room to get my Doritos. Edmure never had a chance, did he? Once Jaime drops his gentleman’s mask he can prove himself to be the most vicious wolf imaginable. This feeling also feeds into Valyrian Steel One.
VALYRIAN STEEL THREE: I choose violence. Finally, the FrankenMountain gets to rip the spine out of one of the Faith Militant! Way to go, Cersei!
VALYRIAN STEEL TWO: All hail the puppet master. I don’t like the High Sparrow, but he (completely offscreen and in the shadows this time) sure outmaneuvered Cersei by having Tommen outlaw trial by combat in a royal declaration. It truly revealed how everything in King’s Landing has already escaped Cersei’s grasp. Lady Olenna was damned smart get the heck out of there and work the problem from the outside. Cersei is deprived of her champion, but now Jaime will be on his way home from the Riverlands with a big army and spoiling for a fight.
VALYRIAN STEEL ONE: Breaking up is hard to do. I have to say, that scene where Jaime lets Brienne and Pod escape on the boat was special. When they raise their hands to each other in farewell, once mortal enemies now strangely joined in an odd gray dance of honor and friendship, it struck beautiful emotional cords inside of me. This provided a great bookend to the earlier scene in which they stood toe-to-toe in Jaime’s tent, unhappy to be at odds. They see each other as each wishes to be seen. Jaime is a dishonored creep but Brienne sees what little good there is in him. Brienne is a lovelorn knight who usually fails at her quests, and Jaime sees the purity of her heart. This is Game of Thrones, so they’ll probably embrace on the final battlefield while stuck on the end of each others’ swords. A beautiful death. A warrior’s death, like the Blackfish.