Episode 5 – The Wolf and The Lion – Recap

Episode five of Game of Thrones. The Wolf and the Lion. Awesome. Epic. Full of win. Pick your superlative. It was damn good. Even though those words describe it pretty well, for those interested, I go into more detail in my recap after the break.

Spoiler Note: This post is for those who have read the first book. As such the post itself and the comments will contain spoilers. The new viewer recap and discussion thread can be found here.

This episode opens with Ned arriving at the tourney field to inspect the body of Ser Hugh. He encounters Barristan, who has been standing vigil for Hugh all night, and they discuss Ser Hugh’s death and add some backstory about Barristan as well. Barristan reveals that Robert wishes to joust later that day, which Ned insists will not happen.

Ned heads to Robert’s tent to try and talk some sense to him, where he finds him struggling to get his armor on over his huge gut. Mark Addy continues to be awesome as King Robert, infusing this scene with Ned with some much-needed humor. There is some great chemistry between these two, a shame they won’t be around much longer.

The second day of the tournament begins. And the two remaining jousters are set to face-off: Gregor and Ser Loras. Interestingly, Loras is referred to as the Knight of the Flowers in the show. A change that was to make a clearer connection to this famous painting? Or perhaps David and Dan got Loras’ moniker in the books confused with the name of this painting?  Either way, it is a very minor change. As the two combatants get ready to tilt, Littlefinger and Renly make a little wager. Not the same wager as the one they make in the book, but one that pretty obviously signals Renly’s leanings. Even more so, the jest Littlefinger throws Renly’s way after he loses the bet.

Just when you thought things would end on a good note, with the noble white knight unseating the evil  black knight, Gregor has to go and chop his horse’s head off and then attack Ser Loras. Just when things are looking bleak for the Knight of the Flowers, Sandor steps in to save the day. After some mighty blows are exchanged between the brothers, King Robert puts an end to the madness and Gregor stalks off. Loras thanks Sandor for saving his life (“I am no ser”) and declares him the champion.

Cut to Catelyn and Rodrik on the High Road with their captive Tyrion. The as-of-yet unnamed and unintroduced Bronn is with them, for reasons unknown.  Tyrion has been blindfolded, but once they remove the sack over his head and he realizes where they are headed, he balks. Lysa has changed since last you saw her, he tells Cat. “She was always a bit touched, but now, you may as well just kill me here.” Rodrik warns that they might do just that. Tyrion replies, “Why? Am I starting to make sense?” Love that guy!

But before Cat or Rodrik can reply, the group is attacked by a mountain clan. Bronn shows off his fight skills, dispatching clansmen left and right. Rodrik even has some good moves for an old guy, though he takes a cut to the back. Tyrion comes to Cat’s rescue, taking out a clansman’s knees with a shield before he can get to her and then proceeds to, literally, pound his face into a pulp. “You need a woman,” Bronn tells him. “Nothing like a woman after a fight.” Tyrion looks at Cat, “I’m willing if she is,” prompting all the Tyrion/Cat fans out there to cheer. (*crickets*)

Back at Winterfell, where Bran is at his lessons with Maester Luwin. A nice way to fit in some exposition and lore. Isaac continues to play a great Bran. From an innocent boy at his lessons, we go to… Theon banging a prostitute, the oft-mentioned Ros. This scene is more exposition and character development for Theon. But hey, what better way to improve a scene of mostly dry exposition than to add nudity! (See also: the Doreah/Viserys scene).

Back to King’s Landing, where we get a quick shot of Arya chasing cats through the Red Keep. Cut to Varys in Ned’s chambers, where he warns him about the Lannisters and reveals to him that Arryn was indeed poisoned. But why? “He started asking questions.” Back to Arya, still chasing the cat when she stumbles upon a dragon skull. It is big. She hides inside the skull as Varys and Illyrio walk past, talking about their plans. I feel like this scene should have been shot much darker, with the identities of the two conspirators a bit more difficult to place. At least it gets the point across, there are lots of pieces moving here and players moving them.

Next, a new scene, between Littlefinger and Varys. The two masters of the game verbally sparring. I love this scene. Not only does it provide some more context to the game of thrones and show the high stakes involved, but it gives two excellent actors playing two great characters a chance to face-off. And despite Varys getting the last little dig in, I think Littlefinger won this round.

Arya emerges from the Red Keep dungeons (a cool shot!) and goes to talk to Ned, but not before first showing off her spunk to the Gold Cloak guards. She excitedly tells Ned what she has heard, about “the wolf fighting the lion.” But before Ned can calm her down enough to make sense of anything, Yoren arrives with some troubling news. Before he delivers the news, Jory escorts Arya out of the room where he assures her that they are in no danger, that one northman is worth ten of these southron swo– wait, what? No! First they cut Desmond, and then they cut his only good line? Man. Back to Ned, Yoren informs Lord Stark that his wife has taken Tyrion captive.

Cut to Tyrion and company arriving at the Eyrie, where they are greeted by Ser Vardis Egan. Wow, the Eyrie is really, really high up. Not at all what I imagined it to look like and much more fantastical than anything else we’ve seen in the show yet. But it does look cool. And how cool is Bronn? “Give me 10 good men and some climbing spikes and I’ll impregnate a bitch.” Love that line. Although at this point, new viewers have to be wondering who the hell this guy is and why he’s here.

Back to King’s Landing, where Ned’s day proceeds to go from bad to worse. The king is at the Small Council and requests his presence immediately. The news of Dany’s pregnancy has reached the Seven Kingdoms and Robert is furious. He wants both mother and unborn child dead. Ned, the honorable man that he is, balks at this suggestion. An argument ensues and Ned resigns as Hand. An absolutely amazing scene. As Ned is packing to leave the capital, Littlefinger arrives and tells him he can take him to the last place Jon Arryn visited before his death. Ned decides to postpone his departure and, accompanied by Jory and two of his best guardsmen, heads out with Littlefinger.

Returning to the Vale, where Catelyn’s party has arrived at the Eyrie and has been brought before Lysa Arryn. And we see that they haven’t toned down Lysa’s craziness one bit. Kate Dickie may not look like the Lysa from the book, but she captures her paranoid insanity quite well. Plus she’s willing to let an 8-year-old kid suck on her boob! Gross. Robin is ready to make the bad man fly and Cat is clearly regretting bringing Tyrion here. Lysa orders the Imp be thrown into the Sky Cell. And holy crap, do they look AMAZING. The whole Eyrie looks great, but the Sky Cells are epic and awesome and just as I imagined. My favorite CGI shot so far and that includes the Wall.

Next, a new scene, this one has Loras shaving Renly’s chest. Welp, they aren’t beating around the bush on this one. A good scene, with serves to set up some later developments, but it is strange to see it sandwiched between all these other scenes with big plot developments from well-established characters.

Another new scene, between Cersei and Robert. They talk about Robert’s fear of the Targaryens returning a reclaiming the Iron Throne. But also touch on their painful past. It is a very good scene that displays a moment of honesty from these two characters who are used to putting up walls around themselves. Both Addy and Headey are amazing in this scene. “Someone took her away from me and Seven Kingdoms couldn’t fill the hole she left behind.”

More from Ned’s Worst Day Ever, at one of Littlefinger’s brothels, he discovers another of Robert’s bastards. As he goes to leave the brothel, he is accosted by Jaime and he is none too pleased. Jaime is ready to kill him when he tells him that Catelyn acted on his orders when she seized Tyrion. “If you kill me, your brother is a dead man.” Jaime then orders his men to seize Ned and kill his men instead. The two guardsmen get spears through the chest before they even know what hit them while Jory is able to cut his way through to Jaime. Jaime parries his attack and stabs him through the eye with his dagger. Ouch. Poor Jory.

Then Ned and Jaime cross swords. Yes, this is a change from the book, but I can understand why they did it. It is much more exciting to have these two face-off at least once. The only thing I wish is that they would have kept this scene at night, as a nighttime battle in the street could have looked really cool.

While the younger and more brash Jaime looks to have the upper-hand, Ned more than holds his own. Until one of the Lannister guardsmen decides to shove a spear through his thigh. Even Jaime finds this in poor taste, but rides off leaving Ned lying in the street with a spear sticking out of his leg.

Wow. A great episode. I think it is my favorite of the first six. So many great scenes, classic lines and epic moments. The lack of any Dany or Jon scenes in this episode allowed them to focus on the action in King’s Landing and the Catelyn/Tyrion storyline, which is directly affecting the events in King’s Landing. If anybody hasn’t been sucked into the show by now, there is no hope for them. The next episode is great too and then after that I will be experiencing the episodes for the first time on Sunday night like everyone else. I can’t wait!

• Published on 05/15/2011 at 10:03 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:04 PM CDT