Rhapsodies

Ever have one of those days?

Well now that we’ve gotten past the long awaited Purple Wedding we have a nice slower episode that moves more pieces into place and providing more examples of how the show is wonderfully different from the book.

The most noticeable  changes were the absences of characters from the book it looks like it’s official that Kevan Lannister and Fat Belwas have been written out. There’s still a chance they’ll be brought in in season five since both have very important roles in the next two books. To a certain extent it’s almost a shame since Belwas’s finest moment occurs in this episode and it’s given to Daario Naharis.

The other big changes are characters that are so radically changed to the point they are different characters with the same name. The most blatant example is the introduction of Joffrey’s younger brother Tommen. (technically not an introduction he’s been around in the last three episodes but he was pretty much just a prop and he is now been replaced with another actor) He is now noticeably older than he is in the book with the actor’s voice just beginning to break. This makes a huge different. While I’m sure he’ll still do everything his mother and grandfather want him to do, he certainly isn’t the sweet little boy who will sign any paper put in front of him.  A lesser example of these changes is Ser Alliser Thorne he’s just as much of a bastard as he is in the book but in this season he’s a useful bastard one who you’ll want in your corner when the chips are down.

Beyond that things continue to meander in ways I can’t predict. I don’t know how Arya and Sandor’s story will go since they started their story with what in the book was it’s end (except that the Hound survived), It Looks like they are padding the Night Watches preparation for the inevitable attack from the Wildings and the stuff going on in King’s Landing is just getting very interesting. At the moment in fact the only plot line that is “On Schedule” is Sansa’s and I don’t intend to bet money on that.

All in all a fun episode. My favorites being Tyrion in prison where he sends his squire Podrick Payne away from King’s Landing after Pod made the ethical, and suicidal, choice of refusing to testify against him.