Episode 12 – The Night Lands – Recap

Episode twelve, “The Night Lands”, is (officially) in the books. What did you think? My thoughts and reactions are after the break. Read them and then share yours in the comments!

Spoiler Note: This post is for those who have read the A Clash of Kings. As such the post itself and the comments will contain spoilers. If you haven’t read the ACoK yet, our new viewer recap will be up soon.

I’m gonna try something different. Instead of doing a play-by-play of what happened in this episode (I mean, you all just watched it, some of you for the second or third time), I’m going to list the stuff I liked and/or disliked about this episode.

Things I Liked

Everything Greyjoy – House Greyjoy, alongside to Stark, is my favorite house in the series, so I was anxious to see how they were portrayed on screen. I’m thrilled to see that they nailed the Ironborn. Everything from Balon’s surly and contemptuous demeanor, to the dark and dank stronghold of Pyke, to Yara’s playful but tough attitude, the Greyjoys are spot on.
GoT Laughs – The humor in this episode was great. Between Hot Pie and Lommy, Gendry and Arya, Yara and Theon, Tyrion and Bronn, there were lots of chuckles and a few laugh-out-loud moments in this episode. This is something that was lacking at times last season and is a welcome respite from a lot of the bleakness of this world.
Bronn gets promoted – When I was scripting season two, I struggled a lot with the absence of Jacelyn Bywater. I knew that him not being cast meant that David & Dan would be making a change from the books with regards to who would be commanding the Gold Cloaks this season. I took it to mean that Janos would stay on as commander, and either get sent to the Wall later than he does in the books, or even end up getting killed in the Battle of the Blackwater. So it was quite a happy surprise to see that Slynt did in fact get his dismissal and verbal smackdown at the hands of Tyrion, and it was a brilliant move by David & Dan to put Bronn in charge of the Gold Cloaks.
“…and I keep on paddling.” – How great was this scene? Conleth Hill is *sing-song voice* killing it.

Things I Didn’t Like

Littlefinger’s Peep Show – Look, Littlefinger is a creep, but he’s not that kind of creep. And then I was worried that they were going to make him fall in love with Ros for a second there. Thankfully, turns out he’s actually an evil bastard after all. Whew!
Sexy Stannis – I know that it was heavily implied in the books that Stannis and Mel got it on, but I always had the impression that for Stannis it was less about passion and lust and more about doing what he thought needed to be done to achieve his goal. Like, I always pictured him just layimg there until it’s over. It was weird seeing him get all horny.

So what did everyone else think? What did you like or dislike about this episode? And let me know what you think of doing the weekly recaps this way. Better than the summary of events method or worse? Lastly, be sure to scroll down to the poll section and rate this episode!

• Published on 04/08/2012 at 10:00 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:29 PM CDT