Well. Who saw that coming?
In a rare twist for something from the mind of George R. R. Martin, Episode 2 of Game of Thrones’ fourth season closed with the death of someone who actually deserved it.
Yes, it’s true. For those of you who looked away in the last three minutes of ‘The Lion and the Rose’, all round bad egg King Joffrey got done in with a dose of poison at his own wedding. Leading, presumably, to people around the world leaping out of their armchairs in a fit of joy.
Of course, Joffrey being very much the Nasty Nick of the Medieval Big Brother House that is Westeros, we will be a little sad to see the back of his evil blonde head.
Joffrey’s death also looks set to make life difficult for Tyrion, who now stands directly in the firing line, fingered as suspect numero uno by Cersei and even the dying Joffrey himself.
In another exciting twist, Sansa found herself whisked away moments after the poisoning by Ser Dontos (that chap who gave her the necklace last week), which – we don’t have to tell you – doesn’t look so hot for her husband Tyrion.
All in all, this episode was largely spent working up to its shocking conclusion, and thus focused on Joffrey and Margaery’s wedding – a setting which played host to all sorts of delectable double-dealing drama.
We got a beautifully pass-agg conversation between the Dornish lot and the Lannisters, Oberyn Martell still being rather tetchy over the fact that Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane murdered his sister. Elsewhere, Jaime warned Loras Tyrell against marrying Cersei, Cersei told Maester Pycelle to piss off, and Margaery played nice in the face of her new husband’s outrageous behavior.
What really shone through here – and what continues to make Game of Thrones such a sophisticated series – was the complexity of the show’s cast of characters and the extent to which everyone is involved in political game-playing. During the wedding celebrations, Joffrey’s utter vileness was taken to extremes when he arranged for a cast of dwarves to play out the war of the five kings, complete with a horrifying finale in which Joffrey’s dwarf knocked the head clean off Robb Stark’s.
As the camera moved around the audience, many cheered and laughed, whilst others – Sansa, Tyrion, Tywin, Margaery, Oberyn – remained stoney-faced, aware that if they wanted to keep their heads and their hold on power, Joffrey would have to be endured. The upshot of this, of course, is that there is now a list of suspects as long as Gregor Clegane’s arm.
Not to be entirely outshone by the Baratheon/Tyrell wedding, though, this episode also visited Theon and his vicious master Ramsay Snow. In a particularly unsettling addition to the episode, we witnessed the extent to which Theon has been broken down by the torture he has endured.
Elsewhere, we said goodbye to Shae – driven away by Tyrion in an attempt to protect her – and got a very brief glimpse of Bran, who, in perhaps the weakest strand of this episode, conveniently stumbled upon a magical tree which gifted him with a vision.
Devilishly enjoyable denouement aside, this was another fantastically strong episode. But, boy oh boy, if we won’t be re-watching this one for another glimpse at Joffrey kicking the bucket…
Aired on Monday 14 April 2014 on Sky Atlantic.
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