Courtesy of HBO
Winter has yet to come upon the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, but the third season of “Game of Thrones” came to an end Sunday night. In stark contrast to last week’s “Red Wedding,” “Mhysa” spared more lives than claimed and replaced some of the viewers’ security that was hacked alongside the demise of the Stark regime.
Ultimately, Sunday’s episode was more about supplying answers rather than raising questions. We now know why Theon (Alfie Allen) is being tortured and who is going to save him. We now know why Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) wants to go north of the wall. We now know Jaime (Nickolaj Coster-Waldau) was returned (barely) in one piece to King’s Landing.
I may be relieved by some of these resolutions that neatly finished up the season, but I am not satisfied.
Of course, anything that followed last week’s twist of the century would pale in comparison to the plot shock heard around the world. Unless we found that Bran orchestrated the demise of his family in order to ultimately become king of Westeros and make Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) his queen, it was likely viewers were to be slightly underwhelmed by the follow-up.
Beyond that, though, the episode seemed very rushed and messy. It’s clear that the directors needed a conclusion to the ten trillion storylines that made up season three, so they aimed to feature every sub story in a 64-minute time slot with satisfying closure. This made for a confused episode that ended with yet another predictable Daenerys victory.
I would be a liar to claim that I will not be tuning in to see what the fourth season brings, but the season finale left me a little too content. As I watched, I hoped for a cliffhanger that almost required me to set my DVR to record every episode of season four right now, but the parity of “Mhysa” left me a little indifferent.
However, I am comforted by the mastermind that is George R.R. Martin, who is the author of the series that inspired “Game of Thrones,” and can trust that conflict will soon shake up everything I thought I knew about Westeros. After all, Daenerys has been having a little too much going for her these days, and a blow to her regime is due. Also, Bran’s proposal to defeat the army of White Walkers seems pretty ambitious for a handicapped 11-year-old, so we are sure to see exactly what his powers entail.
The season wrapped up cleanly, but let’s hope the show hasn’t peaked too soon. Someone still needs to punch “King” Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) in the face.
Rating: C+, for being an uninteresting calm to the storm.
