The things we do for love. Or honor. Or power. Or money. But does anyone ever get what they really want? Such are the questions raised by “The Climb” (Season 3, Episode 6).
Enjoy the latest installment in TLF’s weekly recap featuring three fans from very different perspectives: Laura Fletcher, a casual fan of the TV and book series; Corrin Bennett-Kill, a hardcore fan of the book and TV series (she has read all the books four times!); and Cheryl Collins, a TV show fan who has never read the book series.
Miss us last week? Catch up and read “Kissed by Fire.”
We invite you to join the discussion in comments!
Laura Fletcher
Although this was a slower episode, it set the table for big things to come and deepened some mysteries I’m excited to see come to fruition – whether I suspect the endings (based on the books) or not.
Cheryl Collins
You guys keep saying that! I want to believe you, but … we’re halfway through the season now, and it’s so hard to tell where we are going. Although I assume the end of this season will bring a dragon invasion in Westeros. Corrin?
Corrin Bennett-Kill
This episode annoyed me. Although there were some interesting things that happened, some of the adaptation choices are irritating (read: the Melisandre/Gendry thing). I know it’s difficult to adapt a story of the depth and breadth that Martin wrote into a teleplay, but I think some of the confusion non-book readers are having has to do with characters dropped for brevity’s sake or for their ancillary importance to the story line (read: the Loras as heir to Highgarden adaptation).
Cheryl
For me it’s about pacing. It’s hard to feel where the tension is this season. In Season 1, it was Ned’s descent into the hell of King’s Landing and whether Sansa and Arya would survive, among other things. Then in Season 2, the thrust was about Robb’s attack on the Lannisters (of course, there were many side stories). This season, it’s just not clear what the tension is supposed to be about that sustains us.
Laura
Right. I could make excuses and say it was a character-driven episode, but honestly it felt like the writers were moving around chess pieces and reiterating already established character traits (Melisandre, Arya, Jon and Ygritte, the Tullys) or ongoing arcs (Theon’s torture, Sansa the pawn). My husband, who is a TV-only fan like you Cheryl, actually said, “Nothing happened this week!”
Cheryl
Once again, I found some of the writing pretty lame, though as usual, the scenes with the Lannisters were the most sharply written.
Corrin
You’re so right, ladies. …There was a lot of exposition in this episode. Explaining why Edmure has to marry the Frey girl. Explaining Thoros of Myr’s “conversion.” Explaining the Lannister–Tyrell dynamic. It was a bit … dull.
Cheryl
But there was one big event to celebrate: we finally escaped the bleakness north of the Wall! If I had to watch any more grey scenes of arctic waste, I would bail.
The last shot of the episode was like a Technicolor dream. After suffering in the grey colorless void all season, Jon and Ygritte finally get to see a land of sunsets and colors. I felt that was almost a gift to the viewers: “Here, we’re giving you what you want” – you made it through with us.
Let’s pray to whichever gods are most powerful this season that we never have to go back. As I said in a comment last week (and please comment!), I felt my Seasonal Affective Disorder kick in whenever we traveled north of the Wall.
Corrin
There were a couple of highlights. My favorite moment was the dinner scene with Jaime and Brienne, when she helps him as he’s struggling to cut his food.
Cheryl
And they may be separated! I hope not. Neither seemed pleased with that possibility.
Corrin
That scene also gave us a bit more insight into Roose Bolton’s character and possible motivations. He’s playing both sides from the middle: appeasing his oaths to the Starks by sending Brienne back to the north, and making sure Tywin Lannister doesn’t come after him for maiming his heir.
Laura
Separating Jaime and Brienne gave me the biggest sad all episode – sorry, Theon, ha!
Wait, I take that back – Ros’s death gave me the biggest sad. I really liked her character, and I’m not sure if it was worth developing the characters of either Joffrey or Littlefinger to have them do that horrible thing to her. I get the parallel with Margaery’s crossbow sexualization scene with Joffrey earlier this season, but … shiver.
Cheryl
And Arya’s archery lesson (face, tits, balls). Do we think Littlefinger did that just to make sure Sansa would not go to Highgarden?
Laura
I think it was spiteful, and also strategic, since Ros had broken Littlefinger’s leash.
Corrin
It shows what Littlefinger is capable of and a bit more insight into what his real goals are. Varys is, in his own way, an honorable person. He wants the realm to survive and thrive. Littlefinger wants power at any cost, and it doesn’t matter how many bodies he has to step over to get it. That he could also ingratiate himself with the king by providing him a toy and at the same time eliminate someone who betrayed him is a cherry on the cake of his plans. He has a tidy, and yes sadistic, mind.
Cheryl
But I wondered if it was also trying to keep Sansa for himself – she’ll now see him as escape.
Corrin
Spot on, Cheryl. The kernel at the heart of Petyr Baelish is unrequited (and belittled) love for Catelyn Tully. Getting Sansa to come to him willingly would be a coup of epic proportions for him.
Laura
Littlefinger is one of the scarier characters, which is easy to forget. He’s more than slimy and tricky, and I suppose there was a lot of seamy underbelly in this episode. Tywin has never been in the running for Daddy of the Year, but Cersei and Tyrion’s forced marriages are pretty seamy. And of course, the Brotherhood without Banners and Melisandre can make all the excuses they want for shipping Gendry off to Stannis to make king potion or whatever, but as Arya says, it’s about gold.
Cheryl
Meanwhile, behind high walls, Cersei and Tyrion contemplate how fucked they are as they face their respective forced marriages.
Corrin
I actually liked that scene, Cheryl. It was a rare moment of commiseration between the estranged siblings, and a moment of humanity from Cersei.
Cheryl
I was interested in that scene because, as you both say, misery loves company, and they could finally make common cause. But also it showed them stuck behind the crenellated walls and windows of the castle, trapped by their father in loveless arrangements, separated from those they most love. Quite, quite different from Jon and Ygritte, who seemed to throw off the yokes of their binding sense of loyalty to god knows what and ascend the highest mountain, as it were.
Laura
Jon and Ygritte look too happy – I was half expecting Ygritte to die on the wall (and Jon would survive). Not that that happens in the books, but at this point, as we’ve said before, anyone and anything is fair game as a twist!
Cheryl
Jon seems to finally commit his loyalty to a real person while on top of the wall, straddling two worlds: the oath binding him on one side of the Wall (the Night Watch) and the false loyalty and a sort of freedom on the other (Mance Rayder and the Wildings). I felt like he was saying he was going to make his own way.
Corrin
Great observation, Cheryl! Scaling that wall crystallized something in Jon about who and what was most important to him. The idea of him forging his own path, coming back to the land he was raised in after having gone through trials, and emerging with a clearer sense of who he is and what he wants – Jon is finally emerging from the shadow of his own bastardy.
I liked that Ygritte basically told Jon that she knew he was still a Crow in his heart and further, that she knew this because she “knows” him and knows he’s an honorable man who is loyal to his bones. It was insightful and gave her a depth that I think she lacks in the books.
Cheryl
Sam also seemed to be edging toward some kind of freedom, as well, with his proto-family in the woods, looking for all the world like they are stuck in the middle of some very grim fairy tale. With the flock of Crows dwindling, the mutiny at Craster’s, and Mormont’s death, I wonder if the Night’s Watch is on the edge of imploding, which would conveniently give Jon and Sam an honorable way of side-stepping their oaths.
Corrin
Nothing like a pretty girl to stiffen a man’s spine. We also saw the dragon glass …
Laura
On an I-like-these-characters-note, I’m glad we got to see Sam and Gilly this episode, since they fled alone with a baby into the great north! Cheryl, did it feel like the show was being super-obvious that the spear Sam had would be important? It felt heavy-handed to me.
Cheryl
No, not at all, because we were introduced to it before. But now that you say it … hmmm.
Corrin
Laura, I think it was a tip-of-the-cap to the book fans who have been waiting for a Sam moment that should have already happened.
Laura
Corrin, agreed wholeheartedly.
Cheryl
And how about characters we don’t like? Back in Episode 3, Melisandre forsook Stannis after telling him his balls were crusty – I mean, “Your fires burn low, my king,” with that very tired look every guy who has been sent to the friend zone recognized.
Melisandre also mentioned that sacrifices must be made and that others share his blood. Now we get a little closer to finding out what she was talking about: she takes away Gendry, Robert’s bastard. He’s a bit more virile than Stannis. And it was after Gendry gave her the appreciative male-eye once-over. Be careful what you wish for, Gendry!
And Arya is abandoned, again.
Corrin
Stannis is still the one true king, but he’s not the only source of kingly blood: hence, Gendry. This is an adaptation moment. There was another bastard of Robert’s that, in the books, was living at Storm’s End that Melisandre wanted Stannis to take for her purposes. Gendry is able to stay with the Brotherhood.
Laura
An aside that may mean nothing: Interesting that Gendry the blacksmith is drawn into (and maybe sacrificed to?!) the fiery Lord of Light.
Cheryl
Ooohhhh. Do you think that eagle flying overhead in the last scene was the “Love, Actually” kid (aka Jojen Reed) with Bran and Rickon?
Laura
I think we were supposed to think that was the Wildling warg’s bird, but interesting possibility.
I suppose Bran’s ragtag band of misfits is something we didn’t discuss. But, honestly, yawn.
Corrin
Yawn, indeed. Moving on. OMG! The scene between Robb and the Freys!
Cheryl
Ahh, Blackfish.
Laura
And Edmure the milquetoast.
Corrin
Cheryl, how did you read that scene?
Cheryl
Not that big a deal – but I suppose I’m wrong? Edmure makes the sacrifice. Good for him. Can’t wait to see who his wife will be.
Laura
I worry that Edmure will somehow screw things up for Robb and, by extension, the entire North.
Corrin
I know I take a lot of swipes at the writers who are adapting the books to the show, but this is one of those moments where they need a tip-of-the-hat instead of a wag-of-the-finger. They are treading the line of fanatics like me who know the story and TV-only fans.
I was squirming in discomfort at the scene with the Freys because of what I know. Those who don’t know the backstory won’t have that reaction, but they get a lot of meat out of the Melisandre-Gendry scene. A little something for everyone, and done surprisingly deftly for all that needs juggling.
Laura
This is good transition to Olenna and Tywin, which isn’t in the books but was awesome to a book fan. I find it fascinating that Olenna and Tywin have that tete-a-tete, ending with Tywin’s seeming victory – though I wouldn’t be surprised if Olenna has more up her sleeve, and that Sansa and Loras’s wedding was just her opening parry.
Cheryl
That’s how I felt – that was just the first battle, not the war. Finally there is someone who is not afraid of him.
Laura
Yes! That scene was a nice reminder of how a matriarchy can still exist in Westeros, if not in literal power, then at least in exerted power.
Now how about that ladder of chaos that Littlefinger mentioned, juxtaposed with the Wildlings scaling the wall?
Cheryl
About the wall: it seemed Jon pushed through his fear – of everything – and finally claimed what he wanted and needed. Most of us never do. As Littlefinger says, most “cling to the realm, or gods, or love.” Littlefinger is bound to nothing but his own amoral desires.
Laura
I thought it was very foreshadowing-y, for Littlefinger specifically and for the show in general. The Wall, after all, is meant to guard Westeros from chaos.
Cheryl
Just as the Night’s Watch is falling apart.
Laura
Yes, exactly! And now that we know the White Walkers are real and very dangerous, plus the Wildlings now know the best places to scale the Wall without being shot down by the Night’s Watch (thanks to Jon’s intel), this chaos is going to be just as important as the political machinations in King’s Landing and elsewhere. Perhaps this episode seemed dull because at this point a lot is balancing on the edge of a knife.
Cheryl
That’s hopeful! I guess things are building up to something or other, although it doesn’t quite seem so yet.
Yes, we hope Westeros burns, because it will make better TV!
Did that last kiss on the Wall make you wince? Or were you thrilled by the latest turns of events? Bored stiff? Let us know in comments!
[Note: just because I am married to an avid book fan and co-author of these posts doesn’t mean I have access to any book spoilers. We have few rules in our house, but that is one of them.]
I think Olenna played the Lannisters for fools, and the entire Sansa/Loras arrangement was a bluff to bring Cersei back in play from a marriage perspective. Had Olenna not been openly plotting to marry Loras to Sansa, Cersei would have likely lived out her days in Kingslanding without ever marrying again (something Cersei had so resigned herself to that she didn’t see Tywin’s move coming). She would have been able to exert her influence over Joffrey as a counter to Margaery’s growing influence, and would have also continued to work to have the Lannisters as the family with the most influence over the crown and the realm. Now that Cersei will be whisked off to Highgarden as Loras’s bride, though, her influence over Joffrey and the Lannister family’s longevity will be greatly diminished.
Cersei is a much better “prize” for the Tyrell family than Sansa ever could be. Sansa’s family have all been branded as traitors, and Winterfell is too far from Highgarden to really do anything. Depending on how the war(s) play out, the Starks may not even have a seat of power much longer. Why would the Tyrell family actively seek to marry into a shamed and powerless family? I think even Tywin agrees with the post-war power position of the Starks, as he is marrying Sansa to his own “miscreant runt” of a son who will never be in charge of anything. Sansa was a red herring.
Even Olenna’s comments during her conversation were designed to enrage him (questioning his sexual history with men and bringing up the incestuous relations of his children). She was, pretty obviously, trying to make Tywin want to hurt her by denying her the thing he thought she wanted. By the end of that meeting, it appeared as if he got what he wanted but he actually diminished his own family and strengthened hers. Olenna 1, Tywin 0.
Interesting take on Olenna v. Tywin. What are the negotiations like at your house about holiday in-law visits?
I liked the smile on Tywin’s face as they launched into their negotiations, as though he was going relish the challenge.