Winter is coming, but not soon enough. So to help pass the time until season seven of Game of Thrones, we’re doing a weekly re-watch of the series, episode-by-episode, with the knowledge of what’s to come and—therefore—more information about the unrevealed rich history of events that took place long before the story began. Be warned, though: that means this series is full of spoilers for every season, even beyond the episode itself. So if you haven’t watched all of the show yet immediately get on that and then come back and join us for Game of Thrones Re-Throned.
Because the next best thing to watching new episodes is re-watching old ones.
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Season 3, Episode 10: “Mhysaâ€
Original Air Date: June 9th, 2013
Director: David Nutter
Written by: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
There’s no way to sugarcoat just how embarrassing the final shot of this season is, the sequence that gives the episode it’s name, “Mhysa.” The blonde foreign white lady comes to the rescue of a helpless group made up almost entirely of people of color, and they are so grateful to her they call her “Mother” and lift her up like a deity, all while she soaks in the adoration.
You can understand the intention behind the scene, and how the logistics of filming in a foreign land and needing a huge group of extras dictated the optics, but it just doesn’t work—at all. Even Jorah was uncomfortable watching it.
Fortunately the rest of the season three finale is full of great, important (and telling) moments, so much so that we’re going with bullet points to talk about them all.
Tyrion Threatens Joffrey—Again: We know he didn’t do it, and his trial was a sham, but you can’t really blame Cersei for thinking Tyrion was the one who killed Joffrey. He did consistently threaten to maim or murder his nephew for years, like he did here when Joffrey said he was going to serve Robb’s head to Sansa. That led to an argument between the two over how Tyrion’s new wife would be treated, and it ended with this line from Tyrion to Joffrey.
“Oh, I’m a monster. Perhaps you should speak to me more softly then. Monsters are dangerous and just now kings are dying like flies.”
Joffrey would be poisoned shortly after at his own wedding—where Tyrion just so happened to be acting as his cup bearer. I mean, seven hells Tyrion should have been found guilty.
Tywin Once More Suggests Tyrion Might Not Be His Son: Following a conversation about how the North will remember what Tywin did at the Red Wedding (spoiler alert: the North pretty much forgets), the two talk about duty and family, with Tywin again talking about how everything is done for House Lannister, even making the Lannister children miserable.
Tyrion asks him, “When have you ever done something that wasn’t in your interest, but solely for the benefit of the family?” It’s a great, fair question, but Tywin’s response might answer another question that we have.
“The day that you were born. I wanted to carry you into the sea and let the waves wash you away. Instead, I let you live. And I brought you up as my son. Because you’re a Lannister.”
Much of what Tywin has said to Tyrion before about him not being worthy of being his son—and this is surely how Tyrion hears it—could be chalked up to Tyrion being a dwarf and the same Tywin feels because of that. However, when he says, “And I brought you up as my son,” it sounds like Tyrion really isn’t his son, but admitting so would have brought tremendous shame to the family and to his beloved wife Joanna who passed away during Tyrion’s birth.
It’s just so weird to phrase it that way (in a private conversation especially), and it makes the fan theory that Tywin’s wife was raped by the Mad King, and Tyrion is really his son, feel like one of the biggest secrets we have yet to learn.
Don’t forget Tywin’s last words on earth, after Tyrion shoots him with the crossbow: “You’re no son of mine.”
Bran Predicts Walder Frey’s Death: Sitting in the supposedly haunted Nightfort along the Wall, Bran tells the story of the Rat Cook, who killed a king’s son and then fed the boy to his father in a pie. For this he was then turned into a giant rat by the gods, not for the murder or the pie, but for harming someone in his own home that he had sworn to protect. The show brilliantly goes from that story to a shot of Walder Frey gloating over the Red Wedding.
Arya’s revenge years later, when she fed Lord Frey’s sons to him in a meat pie before slitting his throat, was beautifully foreshadowed here.
Though admittedly “beautifully” is a weird way to describe all of this.
Jojen Hints At Who Can Defeat the White Walkers: After meeting a fleeing Sam and Gilly, Bran says they have to go beyond the Wall, but Sam tells them if they saw what he saw they wouldn’t. Jojen already knows about the White Walkers though, and says they must go, because “the Night’s Watch can’t stop them,” nor can “the kings of Westeros and all their armies.”
Arya Might be the Show’s Lady Stoneheart: What defines Lady Stoneheart? She’s a mysterious woman traveling the Riverlands, brutally killing Freys. Which is what Arya does here for the first time, when she stabs to death a Frey man she hears bragging about putting the head of Robb’s direwolf on his body. It’s graphic and super violent, and possibly a hint at what’s to come, now that she can move around anonymously with her new face-swapping skills.
GENDRY GOT ON A BOAT AND DISAPPEARED FOREVER: Goodbye gentle Gendry. Go with god….s. Go with gods, old and new.
But feel free to come back this season and let us know you’re okay. Don’t worry Gendry, the guy that wanted to burn you alive is dead now anyway.
But what did you think of this episode? What about season three on the whole? Head south to the comments section below to tell us.
Images: HBO
