Episode 13 – What Is Dead May Never Die – New Viewer Recap

We Do Not Sow provides his take on tonight’s episode, from the fresh perspective of someone who has not read the books. If you are a fellow “book virgin”, read and react in the comments below.

Spoiler note: The discussion in this post is for non-book readers 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 fellow fans. Thank you!

We Do Not Sow: I am finding it tough to start writing tonight. It seems that every time you get a glimpse into a secondary character, they don’t live much longer for you to appreciate them. I am going to miss Yoren, I was hoping he would escort Arya and Gendry to Winterfell, but that would have been too easy, I guess. I had really enjoyed the Arya and Gendry storyline so far, so although Yoren is gone maybe this will lengthen their trip north. The whole time I was watching the scene where the northern travelers were being caught I just kept saying “You should be hiding! Yoren told you two to hide!”

Still in a state of disappointment, between losing Yoren and the scene of Theon burning the note to Robb, I will move on to Theon and the Greyjoys. Like I said last week, I think Theon will do anything to win the affection of his father but after this week’s episode, I really don’t like Balon Greyjoy. I get a weird, creepy vibe from him. I was really hoping I would like all the Greyjoys and be happy and satisfied in the selection of my moniker, but we have a long ways to go in this story, so who knows what will come in the end. I was disappointed when Theon was burning the letter to Robb, it was almost like he was burning the Winterfell years of his life away. Maybe I am reading too much into it but I feel like Theon has chosen the path to follow his father and in time attack the Northern castles while the men of the north are fighting in battle. I hope I am wrong about Theon’s motives and also about Balon and Yara.

Tyrion is an all-around awesome character and the way Peter Dinklage brings him to life is amazing! Tonight’s episode plot was vintage Tyrion. Still trying to weed out all the liars and backstabbers in King’s Landing, he sets up the three councilors of the throne with a little test. It was priceless; the film editing was great, as well. It was an all-around excellent execution as far as the show goes, readers let me know how this played out in the book but I would assume pretty similar to the show tonight.

I was really excited to see the fallout between Craster, Jon Snow and the rest of the Night’s Watch. I really didn’t get the action or fight scene I was expecting. To take that farther, I was beyond excited when they left the Wall in the season finale last year and I am still waiting for something worthwhile to talk about. Now that they are leaving Crasters, something big has to be coming. On a side note, Sam and Gilly sitting in a tree…

I think something I have yet to mention over the past 12 episodes might be even bigger than I ever could have thought. That is the dreams that Bran has been having. Just a hunch or maybe a wild stab in the dark, but I think he might be right and maybe they are more than just dreams. While we’re chatting about Bran, I still want to see more of him on horseback and it seems like Hodor is a big fan favorite among the book reading fans. I wonder how much more he is involved in the books. He interests me, or maybe the infatuation of the readers interests me, either way I want to see more of Hodor.

Finally, we get to see more of camp Renly. I instantly recognized Renly’s new wife Margaery from Showtime’s The Tudors and off the bat she seems to be playing the same type of part as Anne Boleyn. We shall see what she brings to the table besides trying to give Renly a child. Loras and Margaery and Renly.. oh my. This seems like a love triangle gone bad but at least Margaery knows what she is there for and is OK with the arrangement. I thought that new warrior Brienne was going to mess Loras up in the beginning. Once I saw how tall she was the first thing that came to mind was getting Brienne and the Mountain to have super warrior children.

From the previews after tonight’s show, it looks like any day now the mayhem will break out and we will all be holding our breath for one hour every Sunday night for the next two months. So it’s an hour or so after I just finished and I’m still a little upset about Yoren and the possibility of Theon turning on the Starks but I will get some rest and revisit this episode later in the week. New viewers like me, let me know which potential kings are your favorites. So far, with the main five right now my order would be Robb, Stannis, Daenerys, Renly and then Joffery. Just like everyone else who is writing tonight I will leave you with ” I always hated crossbows…”

• Published on 04/16/2012 at 12:08 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:29 PM CDT