Episode 8 – The Pointy End – Recap

Episode 8, The Pointy End, is in the proverbial books. How awesome was that? Man, that George R.R. Martin guy sure knows how to write. My recap and reactions, after the break!

Spoiler Note: This post is for those who have read the first book. As such the post itself and the comments will contain spoilers. The new viewer recap and discussion thread can be found here.

Well they waste no time getting into the action this week. We open on Arya and Syrio training, but quickly move to the Stark men getting slaughtered by the Lannisters. Septa Mordane has her own Syrio moment. It’s all for naught though as Sansa eventually gets taken in by a very creepy Sandor.

Back to Syrio and Arya, where Arya learns a lesson that will stick with her for a while. “The seeing, the true seeing, that is the heart of swordplay.” Just then Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard enters, accompanied by a retinue of Lannister guardsmen. They plan to take Arya but Syrio stands in their way. “My name is Syrio Forel and you will be treating me with more respect.”

In an epic fight scene, Syrio disarms all the Lannister guardsmen with just his wooden training sword. Meryn Trant moves in, breaks Syrio’s training sword and… it’s then that Arya runs. What happens with Syrio? We don’t know, but perhaps Martin provided a little clue here… “And what do we say to death?” Syrio asks Arya. “Not today,” she replies. Not today, Syrio fans. Not today.

Hats off to Miltos Yerolemou for his portrayal of the Braavosi swordsman. Absolutely pitch-perfect in every scene and his send-off here lives up to the hype.

Arya makes her way out of the Red Keep, but not before notching her first kill. Poor stableboy, you messed with the wrong 12-year-old girl. She runs for it. Down in the Red Keep’s dungeon, Ned gets a visitor. Varys arrives to give Ned the bad news: his men have been slaughtered, Arya is missing, Sansa taken by the Queen. Why didn’t you stop them, Ned wonders. “When you look at me, do you see a hero?” But that isn’t all the bad news: Catelyn has lost Tyrion, Ned is as good as dead. Ned asks for Varys to kill him on the spot. “Not today,” Varys answers. (A familiar phrase. I can’t help but think Martin is dropping more clues here… this time about something Syrio and Varys may have in common. Some past training perhaps? Hmmm….)

To the Wall, Jon and Sam and the other black brothers are back from beyond the Wall and they’ve brought two dead brothers with them. Dead for some time, but yet they don’t smell, Sam points out. Mormont orders them to be taken to Maester Aemon for him to examine them. Just then, a raven arrives. Dark wings, dark words. Mormont tells Jon about what is happening in King’s Landing. He warns him not to do anything stupid.

Back to King’s Landing, where Sansa is being encouraged (read: coerced) by the Queen and the rest of the Small Council to write a letter to her mother and brother, telling them to come to King’s Landing and bend the knee.

To Winterfell, where the letter has arrived. Robb is not buying it. He orders Luwin to call the banners. Theon looks pleased. “Are you scared?” he asks Robb. Robb looks at his shaking hand. “That’s good,” Theon tells him. “It means you’re not stupid.”

At the Eyrie now, where Catelyn has finally received her letter, no thanks to Lysa. She is furious that Lysa didn’t bother her to tell her any of this immediately. Lysa, crazy as ever, doesn’t seem to care what is going on. She just wants to stay in the Eyrie where it is safe. She refuses to help and tells Cat that her and her knights will not get involved in this war.

Staying in the Vale, we catch up with Tyrion and Bronn who are making their way through the Mountains of the Moon. But they don’t make it very far before they are set upon by the hill tribes. Shagga, son of Dolf, is ready to kill them both when Tyrion makes offers them a deal, help them make it through the mountains safely and he will give them the Vale.

Back at the Wall, Thorne taunts Jon, causing him to come at him with a knife. Mormont sees this and tells him he is confined to quarters for the night. While there, Ghost whines and howls at the door (Ghost is speaking again! Oh noes!). Jon follows Ghost, who leads him to Mormont’s room… and right into undead Othor’s trap! Othor attacks but Jon runs him through, apparently killing him for a second time. Nope, he’s still moving. Kill it with fire! This time it appears Othor is down for the count.

We head across the Narrow Sea for the first time this episode. The Dothraki have raided a Lhazareen village and are now taking their spoils. Dany is not pleased with the Dothraki way and orders the men to free the women. This does not set well with one Dothraki rider in particular, who goes and blabs to Khal Drogo. Bad idea, dude. Drogo predictably sides with his wife, who is getting more queenly (khaleesily?) by the day. The would-be raper does not like being bossed around by a girl and he calls out the khal. So Drogo completely owns him. Jason Momoa, you one badass mofo.

To Winterfell again, the Stark bannermen have answered the call and assembled at Winterfell. Robb Stark is already having his rule challenged as the Greatjon Umber is demanding to lead the van into battle. Robb remains firm but the Greatjon doesn’t like taking orders from boys. Grey Wind helps him see the light. Mmm… Umber fingers. (How awesome is Clive Mantle as the Greatjon? Man, the casting in this show is so perfect.) Robb says his goodbye to Bran in a poignant scene. And hey, a Rickon sighting!

In the Godswood, Bran prays to the Old Gods to keep Robb safe and bring everyone home, when Osha appears. She tells him that the Old Gods have heard his prayers. Hodor makes an, ahem, appearance. Osha then tells Bran that Robb is marching the wrong way. He needs to go north, not south.

Back in the North, the black brothers are burning the wights. Sam tells them they were touched by the White Walkers. That is what caused them to become zombies. He read it in a book, a book that said that the White Walkers sleep for thousands of years but when they wake… what? “Let’s hope the Wall is high enough.”

Somewhere in the Neck, Catelyn and Rodrik arrive at Robb’s camp. She greets her son and his bannermen. The Greatjon is his typical, blusterous self. “Have no fear m’lady, we’ll shove our swords up Tywin’s bunghole! Then it’s on to the Red Keep to free Ned!” Robb dismisses his men and has a heart-to-heart with his mother. He has no choice but to go to war, she tells him. But he must not lose.

At Tywin’s camp now, where Tyrion has just arrived with his ragtag team of Bronn the sellsword and the hill tribesmen. They meet Tywin Lannister, who informs Tyrion of the state of affairs. Tyrion asks his father that the hill tribes be rewarded for their help. But before he can finish his request a messenger comes and delivers some news from Addam Marband (wonder if he will be cast at some point?). Robb Stark has moved south of the Neck. Tywin commands Kevan to ready his men for battle and asks Shagga if the hill tribes will fight for him. Shagga agrees, but only if Tyrion fights alongside them. Tyrion does not look thrilled at the prospect.

To Robb’s camp again, where Robb is holding a war council. It is decided that they need to cross the Twins, but that means dealing with Lord Frey. Before they can decide how to deal with the Late Lord Frey, a captured Lannister scout is brought before Robb. Robb asks him how many men he counted, 20,000 the scout answers. Greatjon wants to have him killed but Robb lets him go free. But not before giving him a message. “Tell Lord Tywin, winter is coming for him. Twenty thousand northerners are marching south to find out if he really does shit gold.” Eff yeah, Robb Stark!

And finally, to King’s Landing, where Joffrey is holding court. Janos Slynt is raised to lord and given Harrenhal. And then Barristan is dismissed from the Kingsguard and Jaime made Lord Commander. Barristan is furious. Sansa then comes before Joffrey to plead for her father’s life. Sophie Turner is fantastic in this scene. Sansa is scared, but brave in the face of her fear. She insists that Ned must have been lied to and says that he deserves mercy. Pycelle blusters about treason being treason. (Shut up already old man!) But Joffrey says her words have moved him. He will show Ned mercy, but only if he confesses his crimes and bows the knee. He will, Sansa ensures him.

And that is it for this week. Not the epic endings of the last few weeks, but still a fantastic episode all around. It started out very action-packed and then had a lot of table-setting to do for the final two episodes, but Martin made each scene exciting to watch. A true master at work. The final two episodes should be packed with lots of exciting scenes. I can’t wait!

• Published on 06/05/2011 at 10:05 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:04 PM CDT