Bend the knee!
Season 4 of HBO's Game of Thrones had its highs — the death of Joffrey, the empowerment of Samwell Tarly, the rise of Margaery Tyrell, the trial of Tyrion — and its lows — the quagmire of Daenerys, lots of characters walking places and not getting anywhere, and the Jaime–Cersei scene that appeared to be rape even though the show didn't mean for it to be.
But it closed out on a high with "The Children," written by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and directed by Alex Graves. In past seasons, the ninth episode of Game of Thrones has traditionally been its apex, and then the 10th, the finale, has set the table for the next season. It's an interesting narrative strategy — but also a letdown and kind of a bummer.
That was not the case with Season 4, however. The ninth episode, "The Watchers on the Wall," was exciting and visually impressive. (Neil Marshall, who had directed "Blackwater" in Season 2, and excels at huge battles, directed it.) But its sole focus was on the Wall, and let's be real: We also like a lot of the other Game of Thrones characters who are further south.
Which brings us to Episode 10, "The Children," which had the formidable task of pushing forward several plots crucial to the mythology of A Song of Ice and Fire, the George R.R. Martin novels that provide source material for Game of Thrones.
Most of all, our favorites — Tyrion and Arya in particular — have to actually start getting somewhere, which on Game of Thrones is both a physical and an emotional concept.
Onward!
HBO
The battle at the Wall is over, and Jon Snow (Kit Harington) scraped together a win for the Night's Watch. Knowing their triumph is fleeting, however, he's gone to hunt down Mance Rayder.
HBO
HBO
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