S3·E8 — Second Sons
The hour retold
Second sons everywhere: the sellsword company of the title, camped outside Yunkai; Tyrion, the Rock’s unwanted spare, standing under a cloak-pinning at his own wedding; even Sam, disowned by Horn Hill, alone in the snow with somebody else’s baby. The wedding is the hour’s set piece — Sansa Stark married to Tyrion Lannister under Tywin’s stage management, Joffrey removing the groom’s stool so the bride must kneel for the cloak, and the groom, drunk past diplomacy, threatening to geld his king with a table knife at the feast. Tyrion plays the fool to walk it back; the fool’s act is the only thing in the room protecting either of them. The bedding does not happen. In that marriage, mercy is the only consummation on offer.
East and north, the episode sharpens two blades. Outside Yunkai, the Second Sons debate murdering Daenerys and send their handsomest captain to do it; Daario Naharis arrives in her tent with his officers’ heads in a bag instead — loyalty, sellsword style, delivered as courtship. On Dragonstone, Melisandre leeches king’s blood from Gendry, and Stannis names three usurpers into the fire: Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy, Joffrey Baratheon — a scene the season will spend its remaining episodes cashing. And in the snow beyond the Wall, a White Walker comes for Gilly’s son, and Samwell Tarly — fat, frightened, and the only man present — puts a dragonglass dagger into it and watches it shatter. Sam the Slayer, the brothers will mock. He is the first man in eight thousand years to kill one. Nobody believes him, which is the Watch all over.
What happens
- Yunkai hires the Second Sons; their captains debate killing Dany; one of them delivers his officers' heads instead.
- Sansa Stark weds Tyrion Lannister; Joffrey removes the groom's stool; the bedding does not happen.
- Melisandre leeches king's blood from Gendry over three names: Robb Stark. Balon Greyjoy. Joffrey Baratheon.
- Sam kills a White Walker with a dragonglass dagger and doesn't stop running to think about it.
The people of the episode
Daenerys Targaryen — Gains a sellsword captain with flexible loyalties: Daario Naharis.
Tyrion Lannister — Threatens to geld his king at his own wedding feast. Worth it.
Sansa Stark — A Lannister cloak on her shoulders she never asked for.
Samwell Tarly — Sam the Slayer, though no one will believe it.
Stannis Baratheon — Three leeches in a fire, three kings named.The fallen — spoilers
- Mero, the Titan's Bastard — Captain of the Second Sons, his head brought to Dany as a courting gift.