Game of Thrones – “Oathkeeper”

Season Four, Episode Four

Grade: B

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Game of Thrones slows things down during the season’s fourth episode, but the theme of justice weighs heavily throughout “Oathkeeper.” The title refers to the sword that Jaime gives Brienne as she leaves King’s Landing to find Sansa to keep her oath she had given to Lady Stark. Killing two birds with one stone, Jaime lends Brienne Podrick, knowing he’s not safe with Tyrion accused of murder. Something I always enjoyed about GoT was how they masterfully paired up characters to extract entertainment from every situation. Brienne and Podrick being on the road together should be great.

At Castle Black, Locke finally reaches the Wall where Jon Snow is training a group of willing crows to fight wildlings. Snow puts together a handful of volunteers to travel to Craster’s Keep, including Locke, to stop the wildings before they gain the knowledge that there aren’t thousands defending the Wall. But surprisingly, Bran, Hodor and company are nearby and get captured by Karl’s men. Karl is one wicked customer and he’s someone whom I’m not entirely sure what he’s capable of. But just front his snarl, he doesn’t seem like someone who is just and fair.

At Mereen, Grey Worm and a group of Unsullied enter the sewers to give the slaves weapons for the uprising. It was a very powerful moment when Grey Worm told the slaves they have to earn their freedom by taking it. Daenerys keeps on getting more powerful. It’s hard to imagine anyone being able to stop her at the rate she’s going. So while the mother of dragons is doing some dirty work freeing slaves across the land, Littlefinger explains to Sansa how he organized Joffrey’s death in order to climb the ranks of power once again. But to create a bit of confusion, Lady Olenna speaks with Margaery and admits she had something to do with Joffrey’s death because she didn’t want Margaery to marry a monster. Hmm…

Staying at King’s Landing, siblings Cersei and Tyrion still are at large. Like Tyrion said, there is nothing that will convince Cersei that he didn’t have something to do with Joffrey’s death. This seems troubling for Tyrion, but it looks like Jaime is on his side, plus it’s clear that Cersei has gone mad and wants to take out her anger on Tyrion. Meanwhile, Margaery has begun winning Tommen over by sneaking into his room during the night. I can see this backfiring eventually, but for now it’s all politics.

Finally, we get a white walker scene at the end of the episode. These damn white walker scenes are rare and what happens is as puzzling as ever. One of the walkers, the king?, looks to have turn a baby into a white walker. What does this mean? I have no idea, and I don’t anticipate any questions to be answered anytime soon. But with so many plot-lines in action, it’s only a matter of time until big events happen. Who will make it out alive by the end of the season?