Episode 10 – Fire and Blood – New Viewers Recap

Game of Thrones season one has come to a close. And if you new viewers are anything like us readers, you are ready to start season two immediately. Unfortunately you will have to wait until next year for that (unless, of course, you pick up the books). But there is a lot to discuss with this finale. We Do Not Sow gives his thoughts after the break. We invite you to discuss your reactions in the comments below.

Spoiler note: This post is intended for new viewers only (book fans can discuss the show here). We ask all the series veterans to refrain from posting spoilers in the comments here, veiled or otherwise. This show is best viewed without knowing all the surprises beforehand, so please be respectful of your new, fellow fans. Thank you!

We Do Not Sow: Well ten weeks ago, when I sat down to watch the first episode of Game of Thrones, I had hoped it would give me more than the stereotypical fantasy series. I was wishing for a great plot line and characters that would captivate me and keep me thinking throughout the week, in anticipation for the next episode. Even without knowing anything of this series I still found myself giving it a higher standard, maybe because it’s an HBO series or maybe they had put together an interesting cast of veteran English actors and a slew of newcomers I had never heard of. I sat down a few nights ago and relived the journey we had taken the last nine weeks and realized what I had hoped to see from the series was easily accomplished by the third or fourth episode and without taking notice I had been swept away, enjoying the ride and totally been mesmerized by a great story, wonderful acting and the beautifully created world of the Seven Kingdoms.

As I said 10 weeks ago we started with stumbling upon a stag and a direwolf in the woods and now we just ended this season with three small dragons. Mentioned in a comment from last week’s post I had missed the foreshadowing of the dead stag and direwolf as it pertains to Robert and Ned. Now I can not help to jump to the conclusion of Daenerys and her three baby dragons being reborn out of the ashes of Drogo and into a powerful position next season. I am really looking forward to this storyline next spring. AHHH next spring, it seems so far away. Speaking of Drogo, I thought for sure we hadn’t seen the best of him yet. Like so many of you had mentioned in your comments, they keep killing my favorite characters! I’m going to miss his character. After Viserys and Robert had been killed off, I was O.K. with it, they had their main story arc completed and they were both charactesr that you can take at face value. But then came Jory, Syrio and now Drogo, and I feel slightly cheated. I would have liked to spend more of my Sunday nights with them.

Before I saw the little dragons I was yelling at the television, “They are leaving the Wall! And they’re gonna leaving me hanging aren’t they?” I was really excited to see everyone at the Wall ride out into the unknown, I mean, I am excited to find out more about the White Walkers, the blue eyed zombies or whatever they are, and I should have guessed that they wouldn’t give me too much with only 15 minutes left in the episode. I never really thought Jon was going to leave the Wall, but when he rode over Sam I was a little taken aback. Once I realized it was Sam that had hit the branch, I figured it was his friends coming to get him back. I thought that was a great moment in tonight’s episode with the three friends reciting the oath while they stood around Jon. That scene gave me chills running up my spine in anticipation of next season when there is a war at the Wall.

The other scene I really loved tonight was in the Riverlands when the lords of the North were claiming Robb the King of the North. It was great to see the man who gave Robb such a hard time before going to battle lead the way in bowing his knee before Robb first. I am sure that Jaime is worth more alive than dead to Robb, Cat the the rest of the North. I was shocked not to see them take revenge on Jaime tonight though. After Jaime confessed to throwing Bran out the window to Cat, I would have thought anger, rage or some kind of reaction to Jaime would have taken place. As Tyrion said tonight, Robb is winning this war. It will be interesting to see what kind of response the Lannisters have in battle next season. It also sounds like Robb’s northern army will join up with the Baratheons army, I would assume there would have to be a few larger battle scenes, well I can only hope.

Last but certainly not least, the little boy, Arya, is in the middle of finding a way back home and no fat boys better stand in her way. Look who is with her and on his way up to the Wall, but King Robert’s bastard, the one Ned had met right before being captured. I am really excited about him next season! The crew of misfits at the Wall need more younger and stronger men like Jon and this new guy. It should be really interesting to see if they get along together next season, I can see it going either way.

This episode wasn’t as thrilling as the last but I don’t know if that’s possible. My highest moment this season was finding out they had split the troops and captured Jaime and I think the lowest moment of this season was when Bran fell or rather when I found out that he will not walk again. What were yours? How did all you new viewers enjoy season one? Did you start watching when the show first aired or did you join us more recently and got to take in 3 or 4 episodes in one sitting to catch up?

Is it Spring of 2012 yet?

• Published on 06/19/2011 at 9:59 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:04 PM CDT