'Game of Thrones' Recap: Season 4 'Mockingbird'

There’s nothing quite like a going through the moon door, is there? “Mockingbird” was all about champions announcing their presence, no matter their intentions. It was an episode that careened from storyline to storyline showing everyone just how misguided faith in some champions has become. And while “Mockingbird” didn’t have quite the dramatic punch that last week’s “The Laws of Gods and Men”, it may have been the most cohesive episode of Game of Thrones this season.

D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, the “creators” of the TV show, have often said they do not structure their episodes in order for every storyline to fall under an all-encompassing umbrella theme. Aside from the episodes that strongly focus on one character, however, it certainly is a treat to have an episode show many differently storylines with a common thread between them. “Mockingbird” was an episode that felt like more than just pushing the pieces around the board in hopes of them leading up to some grand finale.

After Tyrion’s declaration that he would rather have a trial by combat he found himself in need of someone who could actually fight on his behalf. Tyrion’s first hope was to have Jaime take up his mantle but Jaime quickly declined, telling Tyrion just how poor of a fighter he currently is as he continues to train with his left hand. Tyrion then turns to Bronn who has clearly been bought off by Cersei before he even opens his mouth. Cersei has not only arranged a marriage for Bronn to Lollys, Sansa’s old friend in Kings Landing, but has also arranged the assassination of Lollys’s older sister so that Bronn may be the lord of their family’s castle. Bronn has never been the emotional type but when the two said their final goodbyes that clearly marked the end of their friendship it was clear that both wished it didn’t have to be so.

Just as Tyrion believes his demise is assured he gets visited by Oberyn who, again, is taking over the show every scene he has. First Oberyn takes Tyrion on a trip down memory lane as Oberyn was disappointed to see the hype behind the monster baby that Tyrion had been described as was greatly exaggerated. Oberyn lets Tyrion know that he wants to avenge the death of his sister and her children at the hands of The Mountain and decides to take the opportunity afforded to him to do so. Oberyn declares himself to be Tyrion’s champion much to Tyrion’s relief. Oberyn’s first words to Tyrion were about how he wanted to kill The Mountain and Tyrion’s trial gives Oberyn just that opportunity.

Just in case you needed a refresher of who The Mountain was, “Mockingbird” gave an excellent reintroduction to the character as the violent behemoth who excels at delivering a violent death. And if the visual representation wasn’t enough “Mockingbird” also reminded the audience of how awful The Mountain truly is while The Hound finally confirms Arya’s suspicions of how he had become scarred.

It seems as though The Hound and Arya are back on their begrudging respect terms as The Hound teaches Arya exactly where the heart is. This information immediately came in handy as Arya stabbed Rorge, a fellow prisoner with Arya, who had tried to kill The Hound for the bounty. Arya then helps The Hound clean out and dress his bite wound he received from Rorge’s cohort. While it was a little gesture it did show The Hound’s growing trust of Arya and allowed Arya to become The Hound’s champion for that moment.

Another unwanted champion, Jon returns to Castle Black victorious and with news of the wildling’s advancements. Despite what he just accomplished Alistair Thorne continues to put Jon in his place time and again, first by telling Jon that Ghost must be caged and then by reminding Jon that he is but a lowly servant and refusing to heed his suggestion about sealing the tunnel. It is time for this “impending” wildling attack to finally happen as it seems to be impending every week. There are only so many places Alistair can put Jon before he runs out.

And while the Night’s Watch is supposedly preparing for the oncoming wildling attack, they aren’t preparing like Melisandre is at Dragonstone. There is nothing wrong with a relaxing bath before shipping off to war but things get weird when you start getting checked out (?) by the queen whose husband you are sleeping with. All sorts of odd innuendo was going on in Melisandre’s chamber. While it is not exactly clear whether or not Selyse was attracted by Melisandre or not it seemed a little more clear that Melisandre planned on sacrificing Shireen, Stannis’s and Selyse’s daughter, at some point during the upcoming battle. And the most clear of all is that Selyse has completely bought into the Lord of Light and Melisandre’s Rasputin ways.

If Melisandre wasn’t to your liking you could always travel a bit further east to Meereen and witness the full moon that Daario gave the camera after talking his way into Dany’s bed. After what can only be assumed to be a rousing bout of coitus between the two Jorah runs into Daario as he takes his walk of shame. The jealous Jorah counsels Dany that sending Daario and his army back to Yunkai to massacre more slave masters was not the right course of action. In a bit of implied cunning Dany changes her mind to give the Yunkai a choice of capitulating or dying and tells Jorah to relay the news to Daario that Jorah had changed her mind. One of Dany’s plans is bound to fail at one point but, at the moment, it is still unclear whether or not she is actually learning how to rule or just allowing her counsel to tell her what should be done.

And while all of that is well and good the biggest waves were made at The Eyrie via the moon door. While Petyr pushing Lysa out the hole to her rocky death will be the most talked about, the scene of Sansa in the courtyard was actually one of the cleverest scenes the show has done. It begins with Sansa, forever the romantic, trying to recapture some childhood innocence by making a replica of Winterfell with the fallen snow. There’s nothing to ruin some child-like fun better than another child and Robin fits the bill perfectly as Sansa’s demented other half. Where Sansa yearns for childhood Robin has been shielded far too long by Lysa and has never matured. Robin accidentally ruins the castle and both he and Sansa, briefly at the same level of maturity, throw a tantrum against each other which results in Sansa slapping Robin across the face. Robin runs off after having been punished for the first time in his life.

Then Petyr descends and makes a remark about how Sansa has done what Lysa should have a long time ago, foreboding what is to come. If it wasn’t enough to compare Sansa to Robin’s mother Petyr makes sure to hammer the point home by giving Sansa quite the open-mouthed kiss that lingered just a tad too long – with Lysa watching everything from the balcony. While it was clear that Petyr wanted to rekindle fond memories of Catelyn at that age it still isn’t exactly clear if he intends on pursuing Sansa romantically, who is pretending to be his niece, or whether it was just because he knew Lysa was watching. Regardless of Petyr’s reasons the scene brilliantly showed Sansa and her need to mature all at once, going from playing in the snow to mothering and being a romantic object in one fell swoop. Whether Sansa finally matures or not is an entirely different matter. And then, of course, Petyr makes the calculated decision to push Lysa out the moon door after Lysa had already released Sansa from her clutches.

“Mockingbird” did a good job of juggling storylines without removing focus on the important storylines. The parallels drawn between storylines, especially between the helpless Tyrion and Sansa, were very well done and the episode feels like a richer experience because the storylines all meshed together. While not every episode of Game of Thrones should unfold under a particular theme of that week it is nice when they happen to come together that way. And who knows, maybe more storylines will come together with The Hound and Arya and Pod and Brienne meeting up at The Eyrie very soon. Wait, this is Game of Thrones, nevermind.