The Lion and the Rose focuses primarily on the royal wedding between Joffrey and Margaery and features the famous ‘purple wedding’ which fans have been waiting for for a very long time.
Seeing Theon, now known as Reek, in such a broken and obedient state is pretty sad. That shaving scene is pretty tense and great as it really does show how far Theon has fallen. Roose Bolton and his son Ramsay do have a very interesting relationship. Stannis also appears in a very awkward dinner scene, he has resorted back to burning people alive but for what purpose specifically hasn’t been stated. Stannis’ care for his daughter is notable, it seems like she is the only thing he does care about. Bran and the weirwood tree is also quite interesting.
The bulk of the episode takes place in King’s Landing which gives it a much more focused and special feel. Jaime and Bronn make a good combo and it is nice to see Jaime finally doing something to try and help recover from his disability. Shae’s naivety is a little bit annoying, surely she must realise how much danger she is in. Tyrion has to be mean to her to get her to leave which is pretty sad to see as now they depart on a sour note.
The entire wedding ceremony is so grand and just fantastic with lots of nice little dialogue scenes. Cersei overruling Margaery about giving the food to poor people is quite a nice touch as it just shows how petty Cersei is regarding not being able to let go of her power. The dwarves thing is just so distasteful which is why it fits so well to Joffrey’s character, it’s just such an awkward event as many people can be seen looking uncomfortable.
The little jabs between Joffrey and Tyrion turn into Joffrey outright humiliating Tyrion and it is just so bloody tense. Seriously, the tension levels are goddamn sky high towards the end. Then for the ending in a shocking moment king Joffrey dies, it is pretty gruesome and so bloody satisfying. Of course Tyrion gets the blame which after all the conflict between the two creates a very large case against him. Also, ser Dontos is so bloody guilty as he suddenly appears to take Sansa away.
Joffrey is such a perfect example of what happens when you give lots of power to a spoiled sociopath so watching him die is so rewarding. Cersei’s reaction though does create a little bit of sympathy as no matter how horrible Joffrey was, his mother loved him dearly and watching your own child die in front of you must be one of the worst things ever.
Overall, this is an outstanding episode. The wedding is the real highlight here, the whole sequence is amazing with Joffrey’s death being the highlight as it is so satisfying and a huge game changing moment. The other storylines featured also get some some quality scenes too.
10/10
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