“Don’t cheer too loud. They still outnumber us 1,000 to
1.”
Ah, Dolorous Edd! You realistic, sarcastic Night’s
Watchman, you! Sure, the Night’s Watch somehow pulled out a victory against
Mance Rayder’s army upon their first assault on the Wall, in ridiculous odds of
100,000 wildlings vs. 102 crows. But as Edd warned, the wildlings aren’t
magically going away. There are still giants and mammoths and Thenns and, most
importantly, Mance Rayder himself out there. Don’t cheer too loud. The fight
isn’t over yet.
This season’s bottle episode, “The Watchers on the Wall”
was similar to season two’s penultimate episode “Blackwater,” in which all the
action took place in King’s Landing during the battle against Stannis. But
while that episode focused on a few different pairings—Joffrey and Tyrion,
Sansa and Cersei—this one was mostly on Jon and Sam, with lots of talk about
masculinity and honor. (It was all a little repetitive for me, honestly, but I
get that the theme of the hour was duty, so I won’t go on a typical-gender-role
rant quite yet.) Sure, there were check-ins with Alliser Thorne and Jon and Sam’s
friends Edd, Grenn, and Pyp, but this was mostly Jon and Ygritte and Sam and
Gilly. Ah, young romance.
And I’ll be honest: I’m surprised by this episode, because
it only depicted the first battle the
Night’s Watch has against the wildlings. As fellow PDC-er John Nolan and I
discussed on this week’s PunchDrunkCritics podcast, I was sure Benioff and
Weiss would combine the two Night’s Watch battles into one for this episode.
But I was wrong—and this storytelling choice suggests to me that while other
storylines (Dany, Sansa) have been sped up this season with very little regard
for the pacing of George R.R. Martin’s original books, Benioff and Weiss are
taking the long road with Jon Snow and Co. Although Jon Snow is our most
straightforward hero, he’s also somewhat boring—so I’m intrigued to see how
much of his narrative from the books Benioff and Weiss will continue to stick
with.
Anyway! Because of the self-contained nature of this
episode, there weren’t as many typically manipulative, deceptive, or political
developments to speak of—no Littlefinger-like moments, if you get my drift. But
given the ridiculous production value of this episode, there’s certainly a lot
to choose from for “HOLY SHIT!” moments. Let’s go over them! Here, the five
things you need to know. (And, of course, SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.)
+ “You know
nothing, Jon Snow.” Let’s get the sad stuff out of the way first: Yes,
Ygritte is dead. Jon Snow’s lover gets an arrow through the chest courtesy of
young Ollie, the boy Night’s Watch member in charge of sending the elevator up
and down the Wall; granted, she was pointing an arrow straight at Jon at the
time, but still. What is there to say about this relationship but, “Fuck, what
could have been”? Their togetherness and breakup were major turning points for
both Ygritte and Jon Snow as characters: She taught him about the wildlings,
the Others, and their ways, information that will color his role in the Night’s
Watch, and his regret over what happened with them will color all of his actions
moving forward. Throughout the books after Ygritte’s death, she’s never far
from Jon Snow’s mind—he often thinks about what would have happened if they had
stayed in that cave, and whenever he meets a new bunch of “kneelers,” he thinks
about Ygritte pointing out the ignorance of their ways. She changes him, as tragic
deaths of lovers often do, and I like very much the way Jon described her to
Sam: “She had red hair.” Kissed by fire, that one. And the thing about fire is
that it burns you right up.
+ “I am the sword
in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls.” Peace out, Grenn. The
burliest (and most handsome, if I say so myself) of Jon Snow’s friends gets a
heroic death, leading a group of Night’s Watchmen against a giant trying to
break through the Wall. (In the books, this feat was accomplished by one-armed smith
Donal Noye, who also died, but I don’t think he’s really been in the show up
until this point.)
Anyway: A GIANT. If you wondered why you haven’t seen Dany’s dragons much
this season, it’s because the show was clearly saving its CGI budget for this
episode. Two giants, one of them riding a mammoth? Yeah, that will eat your
special effects dollars.
Also rest in peace to Pyp, another of Jon Snow’s friends,
who dies courtesy of a Ygritte arrow through his neck. When he told Sam, “I
think we’re going to die,” you knew he wasn’t long for this world. But this
leaves the Jon Snow and Sam friend contingent down to only Dolorous Edd—a
change from the books that is interesting because in a very important plot
point moving forward, Jon and Sam will need strength in numbers. Two people
might not seem like much, but in some instances—hm, maybe a vote of some
kind?—they could make all the difference.
+ “From now on, wherever
you go, I go, too.” If you care, Gilly and her son are safe at the Wall,
and Sam finally kissed her, and they both survived the fight. For the record: I
do not care. (Oh, and Sam also finally cursed,
in relation to Pyp letting Gilly through the gate. I do not care about this
development, either, but in the pursuit of comprehensive coverage, here we
are.)
+ “Imagine the stories
wildlings tell about us.” We all know my fondness for Ser Grandfather
Barristan Selmy, but my other favorite old man on the show is Maester Aemon
Targaryen, great-great uncle to Dany. Aemon is about 100 years old—so old that
most people have forgotten that his house words were “Fire and blood”—but Aemon
could have been king once, and even before that, he was just a young man. And
all young men love. I really enjoyed his speech to Sam about youth and desire,
so I’ll excerpt it in full here and discreetly wipe my tears away.
You know who I was
before I came here? What I could have been if I had only said the word? Of
course you do. I met many girls when I was Aemon Targaryen; a future king
always does. Some of them were quite forward in their attempts to win my
affections. One of them succeeded. I was very young. I could tell you
everything about her: who she was, how we met, the color of her eyes, and the
shape of her nose. I can see her right in front of me. She’s more real than you
are. We could spend all night trading tales of lost loves. Nothing makes the
past as sweet a place to visit than the prospect of imminent death.
+ “You’re right,
it’s a bad plan. What’s your plan?” And finally, let’s end with where Jon
Snow is going next: to kill Mance Rayder. Good luck getting past all wildlings
wanting to kill you, Jon! See you next week.
+ And finally, some last thoughts:
+ “What our vow has to say about other activities is up
to interpretation.” I like that Sam is talking to Jon about sex before he even has his first kiss. Nice
planning ahead on his part.
+ “Right now, I don’t want to think about the bear you
never fucked.” Rest in peace, Ygritte. This world will miss your sassiness.
+ I really liked how this episode contrasted between
Alliser Thorne, the Night’s Watch master-at-arms who rises to the occasion
during the fight, and Janos Slynt, who used to be head of the City Watch in
King’s Landing and helped in Ned Stark’s death, and ran and hid during the
fighting. Thorne is terrible to Jon Snow, but his sense of duty is on point: “This
is not the end! Not for us.”
+ Let’s look at some of my favorite shots from last
night! My absolute favorite was the panning shot that begins with Jon Snow,
loops up to Ygritte, follows the Thenns, and then tracks Tormund Giantsbane as
he climbs the steps, fighting Night’s Watch members. Go back and watch that!
And here are some others:
… The shot of Night’s Watch archers rigged into rope
pulleys, shooting arrows vertically down the Wall …
… The barrels full of burning oil falling down the Wall,
almost hitting the wildlings climbing up it …
… and the giant shooting an arrow with such force that it
impaled a Night’s Watch member. Sorry for your luck, guy.
+ For my book readers:
When the giant screamed when his friend was killed, did anyone else think of
Ygritte singing, “I am the last of the giants, my people are gone from the
earth”? I certainly did.
+ And finally, I liked some of the Night’s Watch
artifacts featured in this episode, like the horn used to signify whether
rangers, wildlings, or White Walkers are advancing:
And Commander Jeor Mormont’s Valyrian steel sword with
the bear on the handle, which should have been his son Jorah’s, if Jorah hadn’t
decided to become a slaver who brought shame upon the Mormont name. Enjoy your
exile, Jorah.
