Change has come to Game of Thrones. Sunday night's episode, 'Oathkeeper,' departed as much from the books as any episode so far in HBO's adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire.
The deviations from the plot leave both readers and newcomers to the story of Westeros and its motley band of heroes and villains entirely uncertain as to what's coming next.
After all, these aren't small changes we're talking about, minor conversations added in to flesh out non-point-of-view characters. What happened in this latest episode completely changes the landscape, especially in the north at the Wall.
For one thing, the man who-in the show-cut Jaime's hand off is now at the Wall, an impostor in the Night's Watch, sent by the Boltons to eliminate the last of the Stark threat.
For another, the entire trajectory of the mutineers at Craster's Keep, and of Bran's story, has been altered.
Now, instead of an extended walkabout beyond the Wall, Bran and his merry band have been abducted by the sadistic mutineers who murdered Lord Mormont and Craster and have set about raping all of the wildling lord's myriad daughters. Now, Jon Snow is headed north beyond the Wall (with Bolton's spy) to put an end to the traitors.
And we're left to wonder: Will Jon and Bran somehow reunite here? Will Jon rescue his little brother? None of this happens in the books, and we have no idea what's coming next because of it. Non-readers, meanwhile, are given a much more entertaining-or at least action-packed-version of events. Bran's story is intriguing in Martin's fiction, but this is certainly more exciting.
On the other hand, the Bad Crows are almost caricature villains at this point. It would have been nice to have somewhat more subtle enemies, perhaps subtle enough to win Bran and the Reeds' trust rather than simply capture them.
Where all this will go remains to be seen, but I think it's a nice change from the books. While Storm of Swords is a pretty action-packed book, the events around Bran in particular can drag and meander and I'm happy to see a higher-stakes game played out on a more personal level.
Perhaps most interesting, however, was the end of the episode, when the Other (or White Walker) took the baby to an icy altar where another Other appeared to transform the babe into one of them. That's a huge revelation, something we've never witnessed in the books, and certainly a glimpse into the secrets of these strange creatures we only ever rarely see in the novels.
What does it mean, though? I suspect that it's in keeping with Martin's over-arching plot, since the only changes made in the show tend to be more contained rather than major alterations of the broader story and epic conflict.
What I was most curious about this episode was how the show would handle last week's bizarre sex scene between Jaime and Cersei, in the Sept (or church) next to the body of their dead child. An incestuous sex scene is bad enough, let alone one next to a dead child king, but this particular encounter seemed to be a rape.
Posted by Unknown on Monday, April 28, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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