"The Pointy End" |
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"The Pointy End" is the eighth episode of the HBO medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones, first aired on June 5, 2011. The episode was directed by Daniel Minahan and written by George R. R. Martin, the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels on which the show is based.[1]
The plot covers the aftermath of Eddard Stark's capture. While the Lannisters seek to capture his daughters, his son and heir Robb raises an army in the North. Meanwhile, Daenerys witnesses a Dothraki raid to a peaceful village and Jon Snow faces a new threat at the Wall. The episode's title recalls the first lesson about sword fighting that Jon gave to Arya before their farewell: "Stick them with the pointy end."
This episode attracted 3.6 million viewers for the night, a series high. It was well-received by critics, who praised Martin's adaptation of his own work as well as the actors' performances. It was dedicated to Ralph Vicinanza, an executive producer who had died of natural causes. The episode garnered an Emmy nomination for costuming, but lost to The Borgias.
Plot
Like previous episodes, "The Pointy End" interweaves action in multiple separate locations in and around the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
At King's Landing
After Ned Stark (Sean Bean) is imprisoned following his failed attempt to arrest Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headley), the Lannisters move against the rest of the Stark household. While Ned's eldest daughter Sansa (Sophie Turner) is detained, Arya (Maisie Williams) is able to escape after her fencing teacher Syrio Forel (Miltos Yerolemou) holds off the Lannister men. As Arya runs outside looking for her sword, a stable boy tries to detain her, but she fatally stabs him before fleeing the castle walls.
Cersei convinces Sansa that in order to save her father's life, she must write a letter to her brother Robb imploring him to come to King's Landing and swear fealty to Joffrey. Later Joffrey and Cersei hold court, where they reward Janos Slynt, the Captain of the City Watch, with a lordship while Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) is named the new Hand of the King. Joffrey also relieves Ser Barristan Selmy (Ian McElhinney) as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and gives his post to Jaime. Furious, Selmy throws his sword at Joffrey's feet and storms out in disgust. Sansa takes the opportunity to publicly plead for her father's life, and Joffrey agrees to spare him if Ned accepts him as the rightful king.
At the Lannister camp
As Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Bronn (Jerome Flynn) head towards Tywin Lannister's camp, they are surrounded by a barbarian hill tribe. Tyrion convinces them to serve as his escorts by promising them gold, weapons and an army to help them seize the Vale of Arryn. Tywin is displeased, but agrees to keep Tyrion's promises if the hill tribes join the fight against the Starks. The tribesmen agree, but want Tyrion to follow them as insurance, much to Tyrion's displeasure.
In the Vale
Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) confronts her sister Lysa (Kate Dickie) about the letter she sent regarding events at King's Landing. Lysa refuses to send troops to help the Starks against the Lannisters, as she only cares for the safety of her son Robin (Lino Facioli). Therefore Catelyn leaves the Eyrie.
In the North
After receiving his sister's letter, Robb (Richard Madden) decides that Cersei is manipulating Sansa. He calls his family's bannermen to war against the Lannisters, much to Theon Greyjoy's (Alfie Allen) pleasure. After gaining the respect of Stark bannerman Lord "Greatjon" Umber (Clive Mantle) and leaving Bran in charge of Winterfell, Robb and his army march South and are later joined by his mother Catelyn. During a council of war at which Robb ponders whether to attack Tywin's or Jaime's forces, his men capture a Lannister scout. Robb decides to let him go with a message to Tywin that the North is coming for him.
At the Wall
Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) and their party return to the Wall after finding two frozen corpses. Lord Commander Mormont (James Cosmo) recognizes as them as Benjen Stark's fellow rangers and orders their bodies examined. Sam points out that there is no sign of decay on their corpses even though they have apparently been dead for weeks. Later, Mormont informs Jon about events in the south and warns him to keep his commitment to the Night's Watch. Jon loses his temper after Ser Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale) mocks Eddard Stark's treason. Enraged, Jon charges at Thorne with a knife, but is held back by his companions and confined to his quarters by Mormont.
Later that night, Jon's direwolf Ghost behaves strangely, prompting Jon to investigate Mormont's quarters. As Jon enters, he is attacked by one of the dead rangers, returned to unlife as a wight. The revenant is immune to Jon's sword, continuing to attack even after being run through and losing an arm. As Mormont enters, Jon throws a lantern at the wight, killing it with the burning oil. The next morning, Mormont and the Night's Watch burn the two bodies, and Sam tells them that he read that corpses touched by the White Walkers are reanimated, and can only be killed by fire.
Across the Narrow Sea
Khal Drogo's (Jason Momoa) horde sack a village in order to gather funds for the ships they need to invade the Seven Kingdoms. Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is shocked by their brutality. After seeing Dothraki raiders gather several village women for rape and enslavement, she orders Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) and her bodyguards to claim the women as hers. Challenged in front of Drogo, she defends her actions with her rights as khaleesi and demands that the raiders marry rather than enslave the women they desire. Impressed, Drogo sides with his wife. The leading raider challenges the Khal to a duel, in which he is swiftly killed by Drogo. Daenerys worries about a cut Drogo received in the fight, and the Khal reluctantly allows one of the spared villagers, a healer by the name of Mirri Maz Duur (Mia Soteriou), to treat his wounds.
Production
Script
The episode was written by George R. R. Martin, the author of the book A Game of Thrones on which the series is based. Martin had extensive experience in television writing, but it had been a decade since he had produced a teleplay. He said that he found writing this episode very easy because of his familiarity with the characters and the story, and that the hardest part was "getting used to the new screenwriting software that I had to use".[2]
Martin delivered the first draft of the script to the show's executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss on May 1, 2010, admitting that it was probably "too long and too expensive".[3] In fact, one scene that Martin wrote – Robb Stark calling his father's Northern bannermen, with a montage of the eight castles receiving the summons and riding out – was deemed impossible to film.[4]
The chapters of the book covered in the episode are Tyrion VI, Arya IV, Sansa IV, Jon VII, Bran VI, Catelyn VIII, Tyrion VII, Sansa V, Eddard XV and Daenerys VII (43, 51 to 54, 56 to 59 and 62). Among the new scenes created for the show are Robb's decision to call the banners, the confrontation at the Eyrie between Catelyn and her sister Lysa, and the scene with the captured Lannister spy. Other changes from the novel include making Arya's killing of the stableboy more of an accident than a murder (if one driven by fear), the omission of most of the Stark bannermen (Rickard Karstark, Roose Bolton, the Manderlys and the Glovers are not introduced), and Drogo receiving a wound not fighting another khalasar but one of his men who resents Daenerys' influence over him.[5]
The first scenes depicting Tyrion descending with Bronn from the Mountains of the Moon and encountering the clansmen were not written by Martin. Since they were originally intended to be part of episode 7, they were written by that episode's authors, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. As happens often in TV production, the scene was moved from one episode to another during editing.[6]
Casting
"The Pointy End" includes the first appearance of two significant recurring characters in the book series: Clive Mantle as the Northern bannerman Lord Jon Umber, known as the Greatjon for his size, and Ian Gelder as Lord Tywin's brother and right-hand man Ser Kevan Lannister.[7]
Filming locations
Interior scenes were filmed at The Paint Hall studio, in Belfast, including all the scenes set in the Red Keep and Winterfell.[8] The exterior of the Stark and Lannister war camps was shot on location in the Castle Ward estate, near the village of Strangford. Audley's Castle in the estate doubled as the ruined remains of one of Moat Cailin's towers, seen when Catelyn and Rodrik join Robb's army.[8]
The scenes at the village of the Lamb Men that is sacked by the Dothraki were filmed towards the end of October 2010 in Malta, at the farming town of Manikata.[9] For the exterior of the Red Keep where Arya recovers her sword Needle, San Anton Palace was used.[10]
Dedication
The episode was dedicated to the memory of Ralph Vicinanza. He had been one of the co-executive producers attached to Game of Thrones, and died in his sleep from a cerebral aneurysm on September 25, 2010. Vicinanza was the literary agent who handled George R. R. Martin's foreign language rights, and (with Vince Gerardis) one of the co-founders of the management company Created By which aimed at developing feature films and television shows based on the works of Ralph's clients. He was instrumental in bringing Martin's work to the screen, recommending the books to David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and leading the negotiations with HBO. He died a few days after HBO greenlighted the series.[11]
Reception
Ratings
The episode was seen by 2.7 million viewers for the first airing, a season high, and by another additional 900,000 for the repeat. It therefore obtained a total audience of 3.6 million for the night.[12]
Critical response
"The Pointy End" was very favorably reviewed by critics. Among the most enthusiastic was Maureen Ryan from AOL TV, who called it "the best episode yet", and wrote that she was "extremely impressed with how many moving parts were deployed smoothly and how the hour just flowed".[13] IGN's Matt Fowler remarked that this mostly Ned-less episode was very busy; he enjoyed that Robb got to share the spotlight as viewers witnessed part of his "maturation." [14]
The episode's multiple perspectives were commented on: James Hibberd wrote for Entertainment Weekly that "for a show that can often seem disjointed due by having so many storylines unfolding in different locations, this was the most cohesive episode we've seen yet, as the entire realm was impacted by Ned Stark being arrested for treason".[15] At HitFix, Alan Sepinwall called it "by far the busiest episode of the series to date", remarking that it not only moved "pieces around the chess board to set things up for the season's final two episodes" but also included "some crackling dialogue, a few good character moments and some of the best action the show has featured to date."[16] David Sims from the A.V. Club wrote that the episode "masterfully kept us abreast of everything going on, while sticking to the point-of-view style the show has held from the start."[17] In Cultural Learnings, reviewer Myles McNutt found the episode "filled with moments where much is done with very little. We don't really spend a sustained period in any one location, with only brief scenes possible to establish some pretty substantial story developments."[18]
"There was a level of sureness and confidence on display in this script, and that makes a whole lot of sense, given that Martin invented this world and created these people. There was no tentativeness when it came to shaping and adapting the material for the small screen. There have been standout scenes in other episodes, and the show has certainly gained confidence and momentum as the season has progressed, but 'The Pointy End' was just on a different level. I loved it."
— Maureen Ryan, AOL TV[13]
Many critics considered that a great part of the episode's merits were due to George R. R. Martin's script. Sepinwall felt that "Martin didn't get the easiest draw when he wound up having to dramatize the events depicted in "The Pointy End"", but still loved the results.[16] Mo Ryan concluded that anyone who was doubting whether Martin had forgotten about writing television scripts should put now their doubts to rest.[13] The "expert" review from the A.V. club by Todd VanDerWerff noted "a definite sense of Martin's hand at work here. Characters that have never quite worked onscreen—like Sansa—suddenly feel much more alive. Characters that have been working—like Tyrion and Arya—get lots of fun stuff to play that never once feels labored."[19]
The scenes of Sansa Stark being taken hostage by the Lannisters were also noted. According to Elio Garcia from westeros.org, "Sophie Turner really shines in her scenes. There are a lot of people out there who judge Sansa very harshly, but you would have to have a heart of stone not to sympathize with her plight in this episode."[5] Many reviewers agreed with this sentiment, commenting on the transition from a "spoiled brat" to a young, confused, but courageous teenager.[20][13][16] Time's reviewer James Poniewozik emphasized the growth of Robb Stark's character, praising both Martin's writing and Richard Madden's acting.[21] Maureen Ryan highlighted the scene where Syrio Forel confronts the Lannister men to allow Arya's escape, which she considered masterfully staged.[13]
Emmy nomination
Michele Clapton (Costume Designer) and Rachael Webb-Crozier (Costume Supervisor) were nominated for an emmy award for "Outstanding Costumes For A Series 2011" for "The Pointy End",[22] but lost to The Borgias.[23]
References
- ^ "Episode Guide". Winter is Coming.net. Retrieved May 24, 2011.
- ^ Radish, Christina. "George R. R. Martin Interview". Collider.com. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
- ^ Martin, George R.R. "May Day". Not a blog. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
- ^ Bennett, Tara. "How George R.R. Martin was won over by Games of Thrones miniseries". Blastr.com. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
- ^ a b Garcia, Elio. "EP108: The Pointy End". Westeros.org. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
- ^ Martin, George R.R. "The Pointy End". Not a blog. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
- ^ "Game of Thrones Episode: "The Pointy End"". TV Guide. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ a b "Locations of Thrones: Northern Ireland". Culture Addict/History Nerd!. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
- ^ Cogman, Bryan. "Dispatches From The Seven Kingdoms: Speaking Dothraki". Makinggameofthrones.com. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Cogman, Bryan. "Dispatches From The Seven Kingdoms: The Favored Hand". Makinggameofthrones.com. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Martin, George R.R. "Ralph". Not a blog. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
- ^ Rice, Lynette. "'Game of Thrones' hits ratings high". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Ryan, Maureen. "'Game of Thrones' Season 1, Episode 8 Recap". Aol TV. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Fowler, Matt. "Game of Thrones: "The Pointy End" Review". IGN. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ Hibberd, James. "'Game of Thrones' recap: Unleash the Direwolves of War". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ a b c Sepinwall, Alan. "Review: 'Game of Thrones' – 'The Pointy End': Family feud". HitFix. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Sims, David. ""The Pointy End" (for newbies)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ McNutt, Myles. "Game of Thrones – "The Pointy End"". Cultural Learnings. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ VanDerWerff, Todd. ""The Pointy End" (for experts)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Meslow, Scott. "'Game of Thrones': The Sins of Ned Stark". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Poniewozik, James (June 6, 2011). "Game of Thrones Watch: The Quality of Mercy". Time. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ "2011 nominations for outstanding costumes for a series". Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ "2011 EMMY AWARDS – WINNERS and NOMINEES". Retrieved January 14, 2012.