(TV) Game Of Thrones: Season 3 Episode 6 ‘The Climb’

Hey folks! Welcome to the carnage report first TV review!!! Click on the 'TV' tab on the homepage and you will find the latest reviews on the best shows on the idiot box. Since we are going review the best TV shows on Television, let start with probably the best thing on it in recent years in Game of Thrones, an epic tale that only seems to get better due to excellent acting , writing and directing that is at the heart of why so popular. I'm not gong to talk you to death, lets get started!!  

Game of Thrones Episode 6 was a much slower affair than the two previous however there was let up on the usual intrigue and manoeuvring that defines the show. Of course the big set piece was always going to be the epic scene of Jon Snow and the Wildlings climbing up the wall which was done brilliantly as there was tension and danger throughout.

The relationship between Jon Snow and Ygritte is one the brighter spots in a show that can be horribly depressing given the brutal nature of many of its characters and the Hobbesian nightmare they call home but their bond grew stronger after surviving the epic climb up the 700 feet icy wall.

Besides this epic set piece, the episode spent much of its time exploring the  political nature of marriage in westeros as the heads of the Lannisters, Tyrells and Starks negotiate the terms of which their children (or in Robb’s case, his uncle) should marry in order to further their families interests. The scene between Olenna Tyrell and Tywin Lannister were particularly pleasing watching two political heavyweight lock horns with Olenna besting the usually put down heavy Tywin in wit however this was in vain as Tywin won the battle as he played his hand brilliantly by threatening to appoint Loras to the kingsguard  with Olenna admiring her opponent by observing that “its a rare thing, a man who lives up to his reputation”.

Diane Rigg, just as well as Charles dance, has been excellent in just about every scene we’ve seen them in and have made other actors in scenes with them better with their presence and experience. In every scene, they manage to be compelling without saying much and when they talk, it’s very clear what position they hold in their respective families.

Arya learned the hard way (has she learned any other way?) that compromise can be a real bitch when the Brotherhood without banners sold Gendry  to the “red woman” as Stannis Baratheon referred her (Melisandre) when she came to town and paid Thoros of Myr and Beric Dondarrion a visit. I never have thought it, but Paul Kaye (the nutter Bet Victor ads) has been  fantastic as Thoros and is already one of my favorites as he manages to impress his usually deadpan fellow fire thumper Melisandre  with his ability to bring Beric back from the dead. However the highlight of the Arya/Brotherhood without banners sequence was Arya’s brief exchange with Melissandre when she told the feisty young Stark of the eyes she will shut and that they will again cross paths.

Tyrion and Cersei  in this episode put aside their running duel to outdo each other to  have a real conversation in which  Cersei admits what we knew all along that Tyrion was integral preserving king’s  landing and revealed that it was Joffrey who tried to kill him in the battle of blackwater and that he  is still in danger. However, Cersei did not spare her brother the torturous task  of informing Sansa Stark, in front of Shae , that he was to her , not Loras. The Starks haven’t had the best time ever since Ned lost his head (forgive the rhyming)but of all the Starks, Sansa has had it the worst. She was the wife to be to Joffrey, murderous psychopath (as Ros was to find out as we saw to her eternal detriment) watched her father lose his head  at the Joffrey and has been a glorified hostage and resident pawn ever since at king’s landing.

However, for all that Sansa has been subjected to at the hands of the Lannisters, Im sure she wouldn’t swap her plight for Theon’s for all the Valyrian steel in westeros. It’s one thing to get tortured but it is clearly another to get tortured by a murderous psychopath who is enjoying every second of making you squirm and scream in agony.  While Theon’s location and psychotic torturer identity are a mystery (though it might be less of a mystery to anyone who has read the books), his intentions for Theon are not when he destroys, right after building up through the sickest game of guess who, any hope of Theon escaping his pain other than death when he points out to his captive and indeed to the audience of the wider story that "If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention”.

However a contender for the best scene and lines of the episode belong to a character hated by many for his ruthlessness and how he is played by Aidan Gillen but Gillen was spot on in Baelish's conversation with Conleth Hill’s Varys where he made a virtue of social climbing when he argues compellingly against Varys's rhetorical defense of the realm that “Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, never get to try again. The fall breaks them. Some are given a chance to climb, but they refuse. They cling to the realm, or the gods, or love. Illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is."

Buy the the brilliant first two seasons of the best show on TV here: 
Game of Thrones - Season 1-2 Complete [DVD].

You can also buy the brilliant epic books which the show is based on here: 
Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, 7 Volumes.