Game of Thrones 1.6: Molten Ever After

Back from Barcelona with a delayed review of the excellent Game of Thrones 1.6, in which

• King Robert proves to be wiser, or at least craftier, than we may have thought.  He gets Ned to put his Hand badge back on, without relenting in his vow to kill Daenerys, by plainly saying that he'll put the badge on Jaime Lannister if Ned doesn't take it back.   Then Robert goes hunting, leaving Ned as the Hand in charge, and able to send out warrants and men to bring the Lannisters to account for the killing of Ned's men last week.   Clever moves on Robert's part.
• As for Ned, we get confirmation that bringing Tyrion to trial was entirely Kate's idea (though that should have been obvious).   Ned also realizes another obvious point: that the King's son is really the Queen's and her brother's - about as pure a Lannister as you can get.
• Meanwhile, we get a delightful example of Tyrion's craftiness - that "shit imp," as the King calls him - as Tyrion deftly manipulates his captors to gain his release from his "sky cell" (nice term, that).  Especially good to see was Tyrion paying the dim-witted jailor the gold Tryion promised him - "the Lannisters pay their debts" - as he walks off to freedom.   I wonder, though, if it's the Lannisters or just Tyrion?
• But the biggest change happens in the land across the sea, where Viserys finally get the gold crown he has been seeking - in molten gold, alas, for him, poured over his head to his horrible death.

Daenerys is totally fine with that - not only because her brother was threatening her baby, but because she is now convinced that she has a special relationship with the dragon, which makes her (among other things) impervious to heat, which her brother is not.


So Game of Thrones continues to expertly weave at least four diverse stories (though we saw nothing of the north in episode 1.6), and pull them gradually, inexorably together, toward an ending this season that will no doubt see others join Viserys in painful deaths.


See also A Game of Thrones: My 1996 Review of the First Novel ... Game of Thrones Begins Greatly on HBO ... Game of Thrones 1.2: Prince, Wolf, Bastard, Dwarf ... Games of Thrones 1.3: Genuine Demons ... Game of Thrones 1.4: Broken Things  ... Game of Thrones 1.5: Ned Under Seige

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