Episode 14 – Garden of Bones – New Viewer Recap

Here is We Do Not Sow’s recap and reactions to last night’s episode, “Garden of Bones”.

Spoiler note: The discussion in this post is primarily for non-book readers (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: The understatement in all of Westeros is “The night is dark and full of terrors”, and might I add the Lord of Light, Melisandre, and this newborn shadow figure is going to cause me to lose sleep tonight. Out of all the endings of each episode so far, this has got me totally speechless and I cannot grasp what happened, how it happened and what kind of hell it’s going to unleash. Ok, so I am exaggerating, I know where it came from, and it’s probably going to kick a lot of Renly supporters’ ass. Up until the smuggling of Melisandre into the cove I was thinking, “What a great episode, I should be taking notes.” Two new locations, a great direwolf attack scene, and another great example of Tyrion’s quick wit and sharp tongue, and then topped off with that ending. It took me twenty minutes just to remember what else happened in the episode.

I am not sure if the writers change like the directors do in each episode but I thought some of the dialogue was absolutely incredible tonight. The scene with Renly and Stannis had so many good lines as well as Littlefinger and Catelyn and, of course, Tyrion’s like each episode. I really like the fact that Robb is trying to keep his father’s honor alive and maintain the code of honor Ned lived and undoubtedly taught his son. It will be hard to keep a virtuous stance throughout an ugly war so I hope that Robb can keep his honor and also keep his banner men in line behind his commands.

So we are introduced to the city of Qarth and the Thirteen, this story line with Daenerys had kind of bored me so far this season but I am very intrigued by the Thirteen. I hope to see more of the man who let them in the city on his behalf and the others, it seems like the only democracy going on right now. Hopefully now the dragons will get their strength back and maybe we will see some dragons kicking butt by the end of the season.

The writers and the great acting of Jack Gleeson make it so easy to hate Joffrey. I am usually a sucker for a great villain, but not only is Joffrey so annoying but he is just a dick. I could only imagine what would be left of King’s Landing if he only did what he wanted and didn’t listen to Cersei or Tyrion. All I can say is he is sitting on the Iron Throne with at least four others who want it very badly so I can’t imagine him lasting very long but they really only kill off the characters I like anyway.

Harrenhal seems like it was the place of a great battle once before and now a place for bad men to hide. Arya and Gendry are stuck there and I know Gendry isn’t going to get eaten alive by the rat but every time I think they will figure out a way to escape they keep getting captured by a greater enemy. Now Arya is going with Tywin Lanister and worse yet maybe into the camp of the battlefield her brother Robb may be attacking soon. By the way, I honestly did not even notice until looking it up on the HBO viewers guide but I guess they changed the actor that plays the Mountain? The actor from last season seemed more muscular, it just stuck me as odd, I didn’t realize the Mountain was in the episode until I saw the viewers guide.

Now back to what I started with, what the heck was that?! She gave birth to a shadow figure? Is it actually the Lord of Light or just some kind of spell? Melisandre is like no other character so far, I can only assume she is working with some kind of dark magic. I doubt Renly’s hundred thousand men will stand a chance to whatever it is. I am not sure anyone can stand a chance against the red priestess and Stannis now. Maybe dragons? Or possibly whatever lies behind the northern wall? I don’t know, I am for sure going to re-watch this episode this week and pray this week goes by quickly. Tonight’s ending had me so thrown off I didn’t even mention Joffrey’s love for S & M.

Wow, I still am unsure what happened, and it was pretty darn creepy. New viewers, I would love to hear from you, we are the lucky ones that didn’t know anything like this was going to happen. In fact I expect you will hear a lot of “I couldn’t wait until that happens” tomorrow. Let me know what your reaction was and what you think is going on in camp Stannis.

• Published on 04/23/2012 at 8:15 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:29 PM CDT