Episode 27 – The Bear and the Maiden Fair – Recap

“A bear! A bear! All black and brown and covered in hair.” Episode seven of season three of Game of Thrones has just concluded. Read my thoughts on tonight’s George R. R. Martin-penned episode, “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”, after the break.

Spoiler Note: This post is for those who have read A Storm of Swords. As such the post itself and the comments will contain spoilers. If you haven’t read ASoS yet, you can discuss this episode in our non-book reader recap. Thanks!

Episode summary coming later…

What I Liked

The Mother of Dragons – I think this scene was quite effective at showing just what it means to be a mother of dragons. Those dragons looked fierce! And the whole thing was gorgeously shot by Michelle MacLaren. Oh, and you have to love Dany’s negotiating tactics. After a season of Dany dithering in Qarth, it is nice to see her with some agency. I’d have to say hers has been one of the strongest stories of season 3.
Side-eye Hodor – Hands down, we got the best Hodor of the series tonight.
Gendry, a King’s Bastard – Again, this storyline continues to deliver for me. the top-down shot was an interesting camera angle. Getting to see the aftermath of the wildfire explosion was pretty neat. And we got a bit more Melisandre backstory, much earlier than we receive it in the series.
Tywin Counsels Joffrey – Finally, Tywin and Joffrey face off. And Tywin lays the smack down on the boy king. “We could arrange to have you carried up.” That line had me rolling! It should be fun to see how this rivalry develops.
The Chain – Something tells me we will be seeing that again…
“And if we die, we die. But first we live.” – I always liked this line in the book. Glad George was able to work it into the series!
The bear and the maiden fair – The Jaime Lannister redemption tour continues! That bear was pretty scary. Was I the only one that wished Jaime would have thrown Locke into the pit before leaving? I’ll have to settle for this great line, “Sorry about the sapphires”.

What I Didn’t Like

Osha’s Undead Encounter – This show likes to bust out a meaty monologue every now and again. Most of them are very good and tell us something about a character or give us important exposition. Osha’s story about her former lover becoming a wight and attacking her was well-written and acted, but I don’t think it was really necessary. Most viewers already understand the concept of the wights and that they can only be killed by fire. And we already know why Osha fled from the north. It was an okay scene, but I found myself wondering what was the point?
Stalling Story – After a series of terrific, densely-packed episodes I feel like the pace of this season has really slowed down. It feels like the writers are having to spin their wheels on some storylines while they wait for important events to unfold elsewhere. It’s a tough thing to juggle this many storylines, so I can’t fault the writers too much. But I hope the last three episodes are a return to the breakneck pace of the middle of this season.

This episode was on-par with last week’s offering, which was good, but not great. While there were a handful of great scenes, too many others felt like a rehash. While normally I’d be okay with a good but not great episode of Game of Thrones, I had high hopes for the combination of George R. R. Martin and Michelle MacLaren, and unfortunately they weren’t met. Hopefully next week is a return to the greatness of earlier this season.

But enough about what I thought, what did you think about tonight’s episode? Sound off in the comments and rate the episodes in our poll.

• Published on 05/12/2013 at 11:14 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:02 PM CDT