'Game Of Thrones' Season 3, Episode 9 Review: The Rains Of Castamere

Sunday night's episode of 'Game of Thrones' was brutal and brilliant and sad---and one of the best episodes of HBO's dark drama yet.


Spoilers for the HBO television drama 'Game of Thrones' and the books by George R.R. Martin follow.

Game of Thrones is a sprawling, epic tragedy. Even beyond the events that made Sunday night's horrifying episode so tragic, all the markers of the classic tragedy are present, woven into a gritty, fantastical world.

Ned Stark's tragic flaw was his honor: he was too noble and too stern in his belief system to play the titular game of thrones. Cersei told him as much, but he wouldn't listen (to her or anyone else.) I'm not sure if he was a fool and believed his enemies to be more honorable than they were, or if he just couldn't stoop to her level. Whatever the case, it cost him his head.

Robb isn't quite the same man. He'll break a vow, for instance---something his father would never have done. Robb's betrayal of Lord Walder Frey was done for passion. "You say you betrayed me for love," the Frey patriarch intones, "I say you did it for...." Well, I'll paraphrase: A pretty face.

Robb is proud but not prideful. He's honorable, but not ruled by his honor. He's a smart warlord, but makes too many mistakes.

Most importantly, he's young.

Is that a tragic flaw? To be young and ruled by lust and romance and short-sightedness? It seems a minor sort of flaw compared to the sins of King Joffrey or the stubborness of Stannis Baratheon or the lechery and mismanagement of King Robert.

Robb simply didn't see it coming, and he overestimated the loyalty of his bannermen: Lord Roose Bolton; Lord Walder Frey---two men allied to one another by marriage whose desire to be on the winning side of the war drives them to a hideous betrayal. The young Wolf showed weakness, and that was the end of him, plain and simple.

Sunday night we come to the first major wedding in the third book of George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire.

The Red Wedding.


But we don't get to that right away. We have Arya and the Hound, Sandor Clegane, approaching the Twins, where Clegane plans to ransom the young Stark back to her brother. Every scene between the Hound and Arya is brilliant, and there's a selfish part of me that's happy to see their journey together isn't quite ended.

Poor Arya, though, to get so close...and to see her brother's wolf slaughtered in his kennel. To know deep down what's happening in the keep up above.

We also have one of the better Jon Snow scenes in the show so far, as Jon's true allegiance to the Night's Watch is revealed when he won't kill a horse breeder when ordered to. To be honest, I'm still not sure the entire arc here has worked all that well. Jon's killing of Qhorin Halfhand last season was nowhere near as convincing as it was in the books, and the entire saga has felt forced.

So it comes as something of a relief to have it over with, and to go out with a fight. The fight itself was nicely complimented by Bran learning to take control of his inner warg. First he possesses Hodor when the giant loses his cool during the storm; then Jojen convinces Bran to possess Summer and drive away the Wildlings.

Good thing, too, or Jon Snow might have turned out the worse for wear.


In the east, Dany and company continue their plodding assault on Yunkai. Fortunately Daario, the grunge-band inspired freebooter, has a plan. He sneaks Grey Worm and Jorah Mormont into the city where they have a really terrific fight against the city guards.

I mean that, too. It was brief and brutal and all three---Jorah, Grey Worm, and Daario---have their own unique fighting styles, and all three fight beautifully.

It's a fast fight, and so lovingly choreographed that I found myself actually wishing there was a bit more of it---something I haven't done much of in the Dany storyline since the first season.

That being said, I think it might have been best to toss the whole thing into next week's episode (or even an episode earlier.)

The thing is, Sunday night's episode had a little room for Arya and a little room for Jon and Bran, but it didn't have room for much else. There was no real reason we needed to know what was happening in Slaver's Bay, and there was no reason we needed the brief scene with Sam and his wildling.


But we did have time for a wedding.

In the books, the betrayal of Robb Stark at the hands of the Freys and Boltons was a huge shock. Like the execution of Ned Stark, I didn't see it coming.

There were hints and signs along the way, of course, and those hints and signs were here in the HBO adaptation as well: Lord Bolton freeing Jaime Lannister and sending him back to King's Landing; the threatening behavior of old Walder Frey toward Robb and his entourage; and finally the song playing over it all, once it's too late, once everyone save Catelyn is too drunk or distracted to notice what's playing.

The Rains of Castamere.

Cersei told us the story of that song a couple episodes ago, of House Reyne, whose power and wealth grew until it rivaled the Lannisters---until the Lion's rode forth and destroyed House Reyne utterly. A Lannister always pays his debts.


Revenge, opportunity, the swift destruction of a pesky rival. Frey, Bolton, and Lannister each get what they want by slaughtering the Starks and all their men. Lord Frey breaks the sacred laws of hospitality (which the show makes a point to highlight early on in the episode) but only with the assurance of Tywin Lannister's protection (the House Frey will be forever marked as breakers of one of the most sacred traditions in Westeros.)

Only the Blackfish, Edmure and Catelyn's uncle, escapes the slaughter in the feast hall. We're not sure of his fate in the show, but he isn't there when the crossbowmen rain death down from above; when Robb's queen is stabbed viciously in the belly; when Bolton sticks Robb with his dagger, hissing "The Lannisters send their regards."

When Catelyn's throat is cut and the credits roll.

I admit, the scene in the book shook me up more, but it's a tough comparison to make. Like I said, I didn't see it coming the first time I read it. This time around I felt the dread like it was new, but I couldn't wipe the memory away. I knew what was going to happen, even if I found myself wishing it wouldn't.

The main difference between show and book has to do with supporting cast. In the books we had several side characters killed or captured in the Red Wedding, which added to its sting. On the other hand, Robb's relationship was more fleshed out in the show (as was Robb himself) and there was a deeper sense of tragedy knowing he'd also lost his unborn child.

Great television, in other words, even if there's nothing quite like the very first time, and even if a book can do more with a wide web of side characters than a 50 minute episodic television show.

I'm interested to see what could possibly come next week in the season finale. This was such a brutal climax. I'm glad we don't end the season on this note. But it's going to be hard to top.

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