Online Previews Game of Thrones 2x10 Valar Morghulis
After all the talk and all the preparation, war comes to King’s Landing before Free Download Video Game of Thrones 3rd June 2012 Episode On HBO Tv Online Tv Live Streaming Video .winter does, and Game of Thrones calls upon author and executive producer George R.R. Martin, Online Watch Game of Thrones Full Episode Watch Stream HD Video on Internet TV. and director Neil Marshall (The Descent, Centurion) to properly depict the battle for the Iron Throne in ‘Blackwater.’The episode also reunites the director with Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), who has found himself in a Neil Marshall picture on more than one occasion, so it’s fitting that the ever-humble Davos would open the episode in conversation with son Matthos (Kerr Logan) – an ardent supporter of the claim Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) has to the throne. Matthos’ belief in Stannis’ greater numbers and supposed allegiance to the “one true god” will be tested beyond what he’d imagined since the fleet Davos commands is on a collision course with an enormous gamble made by Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), in an effort to cull the enemy’s fleet before they can make land.And while the impending battle is likely the pressing concern for the viewer, Martin and Marshall take their time by setting up the preparation for war; paying considerable attention to the sense of impending doom and helplessness, as nearly everyone in King’s Landing seems to reconcile themselves with the likelihood that this will be their last night on earth. There is even a Saving Private Ryan moment, where a soldier in Stannis’ army does the old Technicolor Yawn in anticipation for the carnage about to be unleashed.Tyrion and Shae (Sibel Kekilli) spend the time with a quiet moment together, while Cersei (Lena Headey) brusquely dismisses Pycelle (Julian Glover) after he delivers to her a vial of nightshade (poison) – just in case things get to that point. Meanwhile, brazen in the face of impending battle, Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) stops to introduce Sansa (Sophie Turner) to his new sword, Hearteater – which seems destined to remain as pristine as the day it was forged.Some, like Bronn (Jerome Flynn) and Sandor “The Hound” Clegane (Rory McCann), who both revel in taking lives, spend their last fleeting moments of calm by drinking and, in Bronn’s case, displaying a lovely singing voice. Given their respective loyalties and aptitude for violence, the pair nearly face off in that typical ultimate killing machine sort of way, but the sounding of the city’s bells halts any chance of bloodshed.
As pointed out by Varys (Conleth Hill), the bells only signal horror: war, death or weddings, but they also ring out loud enough that Davos orders his drum players to strike up a terrifying beat in response. As Stannis’ fleet emerges through the blackness, though, they are met not with an armada waiting to engage in battle, but instead by a single, empty vessel spilling Wildfire as it slowly approaches the enemy ships. While Joffrey cries for the archers to attack, Tyrion holds his signal to Bronn until it is too late for Davos and many of the other ships to turn back. The order is given and Bronn, with a single flaming arrow, ignites the Wildfire – which then lays waste to a great number of ships, including Davos’, in a spectacular explosion that’s as visually stunning as it is deadly.
Perhaps the best decision was to leave aside the multiple plot points, characters and locations of this second season and to focus entirely on the siege of King’s Landing. It’s certainly a big enough event to warrant its own episode and I never found myself wondering what Daenerys was up to (probably stomping around complaining about her lack of dragons) or what scrape Jon Snow was getting into North Of The Wall. And there was plenty going on away from the battlefield at King’s Landing too…
The first half of Blackwater was given up to the preparations, and there were some immense scenes, whether it was loathsome Joffrey’s big talk in front of Sensa, or the horrible sense of foreboding from Varys in his discussions with Tyrion, or Davos and his son on their way to battle. There was almost an epic battle between The Hound and Bronn, but the two were interrupted in their war of words by an actual outbreak of war. It would have been interesting to see the two best scrappers in the kingdom go head to head, but better things were to come.
It can’t be understated what a challenge this battle was for the producers of a television show. I’ve never read any of Martin’s books, but an obvious visual comparison would seem to be the Helm’s Deep battle in Lord Of The Rings, one of the most acclaimed battle scenes in movie history. But it probably took as long to film as the entire second season of Game Of Thrones and cost ten times more money. Delivering something similar on a TV budget would be impossible, so the makers were apparently going to tell the story through the eyes of Cersei and Sansa, with the fighting mostly off-screen.
Happily, they managed to bump up the budget, and while Marshall was a last-time replacement director, there’s no doubt that his skills at achieving a lot with a little (the effects in Dog Soldiers, for example) must have been crucial. The Battle Of Blackwater never looked cheap, it seemed to involve many more people than any other battle scene in TV history, other than the bigger budget ones in mini-series like Band Of Brothers or The Pacific. And, perhaps because of the limited budget, the identifiable characters never got lost in the mix.
Of course, the most spectacular scene was Tyrion’s masterplan of sending a boat rigged with wildfire out to meet Stannis’ fleet, and the moment that Bronn fired his flaming arrow to set off the explosion is right up there with the execution of Ned Stark and the revelation of the dragons in the season one finale. Again, the effects looked real, which is something when you compare it to the special effects in a lesser show like Once Upon A Time. After that, the battle raged on with the remnants of Stannis’ army trying to storm the Mud Gate and Tyrion and his men fighting back until Tywin and Loras (good work from Littlefinger there?) riding in together to save the day.
There were so many great moments that it’s hard to recall them all, but Tyrion’s rallying cry of ‘There’s a lot of brave men out there, let’s go kill them’ was pretty much perfect in its unromantic honesty, making it better than a thousand similar lines from films. Obviously, Joffrey’s cowardice came to the fore and it will be interesting to see him next week when he was surely be trying to claim victory from his betrayal of his own troops. At least soppy Lancel proved himself on the battlefield, despite having silly girly hair.
Still, some of the most interesting scenes were those away from the battle, with the complex relationship between an increasingly drunk Cersei and the permanently confused-looking Sansa playing out in a room of ‘frightened hens’. But when it came to the crunch, it was Sansa who comforted the women in their hour or need while Cersei went off to potentially poison her youngest son if Stannis won the battle. Whether or not Sansa took the offer of escape with the disillusioned Hound we will have to wait and see, but there will be an interesting power dynamic if the Lannisters have managed to lose both of the Stark girls.