S3·E3 — Walk of Punishment

The hour retold

An episode about competence and its absence, arranged as a comedy until the last thirty seconds. It opens at Riverrun with a funeral: Lord Hoster Tully sent down the river burning — except that Edmure cannot hit the boat with a fire arrow in front of the assembled North, and his uncle the Blackfish shoulders him aside, makes the shot without watching it land, and establishes the Tully chain of command in one gesture. In King’s Landing the joke is drier: Tywin makes Tyrion master of coin, a promotion into other men’s ruin, and Tyrion discovers that Littlefinger’s famous financial genius consists of borrowing millions from Tywin Lannister and the Iron Bank of Braavos. The crown is not rich; it is merely fashionable.

In Astapor, Daenerys makes the season’s boldest trade: all eight thousand Unsullied, plus the boys in training, for one dragon — and Jorah and Barristan protest in unison, which is how the audience knows to pay attention rather than worry. And then the road: Jaime, marched through the dark by Locke’s men, spends his charm buying Brienne’s safety from rape with talk of sapphires, and then overplays the only card he has ever needed — his father’s name. Locke, a small man handed a large opportunity, explains the new order of things with a cleaver. The hand that made Jaime Lannister the finest sword in Westeros lands in the mud, and the season’s great reclamation project begins with a scream and a smash cut to a jaunty tavern song.

What happens

• Riverrun sends Lord Hoster down the river burning; Edmure can't hit the boat.
• Robb's uncle Brynden takes command of the Tully host in all but name.
• Tywin makes Tyrion master of coin — a punishment dressed as promotion.
• Dany offers a dragon for eight thousand Unsullied; Jorah and Barristan protest in unison.
• Locke tires of Jaime's talking and takes his sword hand off at the wrist.

The people of the episode