Written Recap Round-up: Season 4, Episode 7, “Mockingbird”
Critics and bloggers wrote up their thoughts on Sunday’s “Mockingbird.” Reviews were overwhelmingly positive. Though it was pointed out that this episode seemed to be setting up future episodes, the word “filler” was barely present. Instead, praise was given to the consistently tight and emotionally rich dialogue. Given the flack previous episodes got, “Mockingbird” seems to be the best-reviewed episode of the season thus far.
Read the Books
Sean T. Collins – Rolling Stone
Kindness and violence get dished out in equal measure in an episode that’s both sexy and disturbing
James Hibberd – Entertainment Weekly
Tyrion has a shot at survival as ‘Game of Thrones’ teases us with hope, bonding and sellsword sex in ‘Mockingbird’
After so much darkness this season, tonight’s Game of Thrones was unexpectedly upbeat, with bonding moments and hopeful news scattered across Westeros and Essos.
This was the most emotionally intense Game of Thrones episode yet
Last night’s Game of Thrones was ridiculously eventful, with a number of major turning points. But “Mockingbird” was also full of intense moments, where people revealed their defining tragedies and made life-or-death decisions. And discovered what they’re willing to kill, or die, for.
Alyssa Rosenberg – Washington Post
“Game of Thrones” makes you feel lots of things — excitement, dread, disgust, sadness, confusion — but it doesn’t always make you feel all of those in each episode. “Mockingbird,” arguably the most masterful episode of the season to date, comes pretty close to checking every box. There were no dead spots, except for that literal one at the end. The most honorable characters were at their most noble and the most devious character continued his unstoppable run of murderous scheming. Major events were set into motion for the final three installments of the season, yet nobody would dare call this a transitional episode. There was nudity and there was disemboweling. There was existentialist theorizing and sword-through-the-heart murder — both by a child. There was a little bit of everything.
Myles McNutt moonlights at A.V. Club for the expert review
B+; I’ve found this season of the show to be tremendously effective when considered from the perspective of adaptation, as it has me successfully disjointed without taking away the pleasure of “knowing.” It’s setting the table for events that we know will likely transpire, but it’s doing so with a wink and a nod, as though the writers are—yes, I’m going here—good-naturedly mocking us.
More book readers and Unsullied recaps, reviews and reactions under the cut
Every player in this game, it seems, wants to knock down someone’s castle. But in “Mockingbird,” which adds to Littlefinger’s already impressive list of dastardly deeds, the real problem is knowing what to rebuild afterward.
This was a set up episode meant to smooth our way through the rest of the season. Lots of short scenes, boring dialogue, people being sent this way and that. It was kinda boring! But there was one important bit of back story in there, one that might change the way you look at Cersei Lannister forever. Power rankings for Episode 7
Game of Thrones can be a pretty manipulative show, always twisting your reactions and uncomfortably tweaking your pleasure centers, and sometimes it just feels really good to smile at the choices the writers and directors make (D.B. Weiss, David Benioff, and Alik Sakharov, in this case). There were a number of moments last night that felt … well, sunny isn’t quite the right word, but at least we might say they were rather uplifting, given the grimness that is the show’s consistent backdrop.
“Mockingbird,” named after House Baelish’s fitting emblem, had several excellent moments. Enough to hopefully hold us over for two weeks until the next episode…For the most part this episode was filled with great, subdued conversations.
“Mockingbird” was a busy hour of Game of Thrones, spending time as far north as the Wall and as far south as Mereen — but every story in the episode could be boiled down to a matter of trust.
“Mockingbird” takes over in our mind as the best episode of the season, filled as it is with strong performances, sharply written scenes that resonate strongly, and another excellent directorial turn from Alik Sakharov. Though not every scene works equally well, as a whole this episode reminds us of last season’s superb “Kissed by Fire”, both for the way it brings about some significant changes in circumstances for some of the characters and the manner in which it’s structured, focusing on a few major plot strands while smoothly keeping track of a number of others with brief scenes.
Unsullied
In some ways, the accomplishments of “Mockingbird” are more impressive than some of this season’s earlier highlights. It’s not a format-buster like “The Lion and the Rose,” nor does it feature a thundering piece of oratory like Tyrion delivered in court last week, nor does it feature the death of anyone of real substance. Instead, it’s simply an episode that bounces around two continents, offering strong scenes in each place — sometimes even finding new depth and shading in previously iffy characters like Melisandre and Stannis’ wife — and linking many of them together not by plot (because precious little connects what the various groups are doing this week), but by character, and by the sense of shared historical and familial burden they share.
A-; Fitting to this setup, “Mockingbird” is obsessed with binaries. “There’s good and evil on both sides in every war ever fought,” Jorah tells Daenerys, alluding to gray areas that don’t exist this week. You either are or you aren’t—and if you wind up presenting wishy-washy evidence without any serious back up, you’re going to wind up pulling late-night watch duties with Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly. Things could always shift or change, but at the end of this week’s episode, it feels like plenty of character dynamics within this new Westeros are cemented. Dany draws the line in the sand herself: “They can live in my new world or they can die in their old one.”
Through seven weeks, I’ve found the fourth season of Game of Thrones to be its most enjoyable by far. Perhaps it’s because Benioff and Weiss had just the right patch of plot to till or perhaps it’s because they’ve simply gotten better at picking their spots. Regardless, this year has been the first that gained both steam and clarity as it has advanced. Story lines and themes that were introduced in the premiere have snaked their way through each episode, leading toward rewarding payoffs…The price we pay for this sort of traditional structure, however, is episodes like “Mockingbird.” It wasn’t that it was a bad hour — far from it. But it was, save for one dramatic drop at the end, a traditional filler episode.
Laura Stone – Hey, Don’t Judge Me
Lord Freaking Petyr Baelish gets the last damn laugh.
Mod note: Seriously though, you gotta read the whole thing
David Malitz – Washington Post
“Game of Thrones” makes you feel lots of things — excitement, dread, disgust, sadness, confusion — but it doesn’t always make you feel all of those in each episode. “Mockingbird,” arguably the most masterful episode of the season to date, comes pretty close to checking every box.
This week’s installment of “Game of Thrones,” “Mockingbird,” brought a coupling and a decoupling, both of which provided satisfying releases in an otherwise plodding episode.
Last week’s Game of Thrones had a fan favorite fighting for his freedom. This week has that same character brewing for a life-changing (or life-ending) confrontation, while a manipulator we love to hate made a move that has us conflicted…This episode was all about setting up for what seems to be this season’s major showdowns.
Natalie Bochenski – Sydney Morning Herald
More time was spent exploring secondary characters like Hound, Melisandre, Jorah, Bronn, and Oberyn Martell, with major players like Dany, Tyrion, Cersei and Arya sitting by quietly and letting their companions hold the Talking Stick. While there may not have been much kidney in this week’s episode (well, except for the steaming ones that Cersei so delicately stepped around), in the end the time spent perfecting the gravy will make the pie that much more delicious, overall.
Well, looks like the Eyrie plotline is headed into AFFC territory and there are some exciting things happening over the next couple of weeks. Adding in the stragglers as they get posted. Also, I work with a lot of links in a short amount of time for these, so many thanks for pointing out when I get one wrong!
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