Garden of Bones is perhaps one of the darkest episodes that Game of Thrones has produced yet, and the darkest moment comes right at the end.

Whatever pretence the show might once have had of not being a fantasy series, that’s surely out the window now (as if the White Walkers, their zombie wights, girls impervious to fire and the birthing of three dragons wasn’t enough…), as the Red Priestess Melisandre reveals her impossibly pregnant belly to a horrified Davos, before birthing a very literal creature of darkness.

Game of Thrones is a series that features magic and the fantastic, but they’re usually either so entrenched in reality so as to not be noticed (Direwolves are fantasy, but they’re recognisably similar to the wolves we know), or otherwise used so sparingly that the audience is as shocked by the use of dark powers as poor unexpecting Davos is down in that cave.

Melisandre claims that she is good, but when a monster like that can slither out of her belly, can we really take her at her word?

Similarly dark is the new location of Harrenhal, all rain, mud and melted stone (dragon-fire tends to have that effect). Harrenhal is a place of such magnificent gloom that it’ll make you shiver just looking at it, and it continues the brilliant production designs that the GoT team are achieving this season.

It’s certainly no place for children, but that’s where Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie find themselves languishing and waiting to be picked for a particularly nasty brand of torture.
Thankfully they’re saved at the last minute – by Tywin Lannister, of all people – who swoops in to reprimand his men and take Arya into his service as a cupbearer. This was Charles Dance’s season debut, and with Arya working so close to him, he should feature plenty more going forward.

There’s also darkness in King’s Landing, and despite lacking the fantasy element of Melisandre’s moment, it’s all the more disturbing for being completely grounded in reality. After Tyrion steps in to stop a cruel beating being inflicted on poor Sansa, he tries to do his nephew a favour by sending him a pair of whores for him to enjoy, with the aim of calming his cruel streak.

Unfortunately for Tyrion – and even more unfortunately for the whores – he has underestimated what a psychopath Joffrey has become.

Forcing one of the whores to beat the other bloody, the brooding, building soundtrack coupled with the yelps of the unfortunate victim make it a very difficult scene to watch, and if there was anyone who still had a shred of sympathy for Joffrey, this will surely extinguish it.

As hard as it is to separate him from the character at this point, young actor Jack Gleeson deserves a huge amount of credit for so masterfully portraying a character who is becoming one of television’s most memorable villains. It’s not easy to be that hateable without becoming hammy, but Gleeson keeps things more or less believable, even as he’s so detestable that you might wish he wouldn’t.

Meanwhile, Robb Stark wins another battle, although the action occurs off-screen, in another instance of the show’s frustrating habit of teasing a battle, only to then skip to the aftermath.

This is understandable, given the budget restrictions of television, and – to be fair – this battle happens off-page in the books as well, but the show’s reluctance or inability to show the big fights remains one of the show’s primary flaws.

It seems that this was a distinctly unglamorous victory, and when he meets a field-nurse in the aftermath he’s forced to face up to the ramifications of his actions.

Oona Chaplin’s Talisa proves to be a very capable match for The King In The North, and her tell-it-like-it-is attitude seems to strike a chord with him. Robb has had the mantle of King rather thrust upon him, but when this belligerent woman speaks to him like just any other man, perhaps he sees a chance to drop the royal pretence and just be himself.

No Greyjoy’s or Night’s Watch this week, but with such a strong cast of characters, the absentees are always replaced by others of equal quality, as is the case here, where Stannis and Renly have a fun verbal duel as they square up to each other, while Michelle Fairley does some excellent work as Littlefinger delivers Catelyn her husband’s remains for closure.

A large cast, then, but with Melisandre’s mysterious, unknowable creature now released, everyone had better watch their backs in the weeks to come.

Aired at 9pm on Monday 23rd April 2012 on Sky Atlantic.

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