‘Game of Thrones’ The Mountain and the Viper Recap: Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold

Oberyn Martell battles the Mountain, Littlefinger has some explaining to do and a trusted general is cast out for betrayal…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

It’s a phrase most popularized in the modern story telling venue of ‘Star Trek’ although the actual history dates back much further, but an exploration of originality isn’t why these words are important to the context of a ‘Game of Thrones’ recap.

Revenge seems to be a great motivator in Westeros, but doesn’t always seem to leave the person seeking vengeance with the best state of mind when pursuing the ultimate goal. Robb Stark revolted against the south and raised an army of over 20,000 men to march against King’s Landing and the Lannisters after his father was beheaded by King Joffrey. His single mindedness got him quite the reputation as a war general. So much so that he was eventually crowned ‘The King in the North’ and nicknamed ‘The Young Wolf’.

But Robb’s revenge clouded him to so many other issues going on around his camps that he didn’t see the enemy standing straight in front of him with an outstretched hand offering a wife, a bridge and a wedding feast. In the end, it cost Robb Stark his life.

The same kind of revenge fetish affliction is probably why Prince Oberyn Martell — for all his wisdom and keen actions all season long — finally met his doom when he had the man responsible for raping and killing his sister and her children broken at his feet. All he had to do was swipe his blade across his throat with one motion and justice would be done. Instead, Oberyn wanted closure. He wanted Gregor Clegane to confess his crimes and while doing so, he would also incriminate the real mastermind behind his actions, Tywin Lannister. It wasn’t good enough that Oberyn had him beat. Revenge predicates that there be some level of satisfaction, and Oberyn’s required a confession.

Ultimately, it cost him his life.

We’ll get back to Oberyn versus The Mountain in a bit, but in other areas around the known world…

From Friend Zone to the Phantom Zone

There was a scene a few episodes back where Daenerys’ translator Missandei was teaching Unsullied commander Grey Worm some English while trying to dig deeper into his psyche now that he’s allowed to be a person and no longer just a mindless killing machine. It was clear at that moment that Grey Worm was warming up to Missandei, getting a little hot for teacher, but Sunday’s episode thrust that to a whole new level.

While the Unsullied boys were on one side of the riverbed as the servant girls were on the other, Grey Worm couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of a very naked Missandei washing her clothes in the stream. The two caught eyes and as Grey Worm’s glance became a stare, Missandei covered up and later confessed this transgression to her queen.

Now it’s not so much that Daenerys was not sympathetic to the peeping Tom currently serving as the master of her guard and army, but she was seemingly more curious if the Unsullied were fully snipped or still had part of their twig and berries — or as she called it the pillar and their stones.

Grey Worm eventually shows up to apologize for his obvious glare when seeing Missandei’s body, but she stops him short and ultimately admits she’s glad he saw her there. She also asks him about his castration and entry into the Unsullied, and Grey Worm’s response was quite noble and sweet at the same time. He tells her that without being deformed and pushed into a slave army as a child, he would have never grown to be a member of the Unsullied, he would have never met Daenerys or killed the masters by her instructions. He would have never been freed, he would have never been a commander and most importantly he would have never stared at a naked Missandei. Okay, he didn’t actually say that part, but you get the gist.

Meanwhile, a raven’s note has arrived at Meereen from the Hand of the King, Tywin Lannister. Ser Barristan Selmy receives the message and after reading it, he has to confront his fellow general Ser Friend Zone himself, Jorah Mormont.

Remember back to season one when it was revealed that Jorah was actually serving as a spy for King Robert as the last two Targaryen children came of age and started to work towards building an army to reclaim the Iron Throne. Time after time, new information leaked into the capital, all being spilled by Ser Jorah, in hopes of receiving a pardon so he could return home to Westeros. Jorah was ex-communicated after it was discovered he was selling slaves, which is a grave offense in Westeros so his banishment could only be lifted by a royal order. Eventually, Robert granted him that, although at the time he turned it away in favor of saving Daenerys’ life when he realized if he was pardoned, it meant she was in danger. Jorah stopped an assassin from poisoning his queen and the pardon from King Robert disappeared.

Until now.

Ser Barristan tells Jorah man to man that he’s going to have to deal with this betrayal, but it won’t be alone with just the company of the queen. Chances are he’ll never stand alone with her again.

In the throne room, Daenerys confronts Jorah about his crimes while Grey Worm and Barristan keep a finger latched onto their swords, ready to strike if he gets too close. Jorah proclaims his love for Daenerys and how his spying for the king in Westeros stopped many moons ago, but he won’t deny that he did it. Daenerys is furious when she realizes that Jorah fed King Robert information about her wedding to Khal Drogo, the Dothraki army that was under their command (for a time) and of course about her child — the stallion who will mount the world.

She’s sickened by his presence, but instead of killing him right then and there, Daenerys instead orders him to leave the city and never return. She never wants to set eyes on him again, and his punishment is walking this world alone for a second time, banished from the home he came to love. Jorah leaves Meereen in shame, and Tywin’s grand plan of creating cracks in the queen’s guard works to perfection.

Tywin’s masterful stroke destroyed an army to the North that had never lost. Now his latest letters may have helped to crush the Targaryen uprising before it ever started. While Barristan Selmy remains a faithful, trusted servant and advisor to the queen, her cunning and crafty knight is gone and with it one of the most valuable pieces to the puzzle of Daenerys reclaiming the Iron Throne.

War is Coming

Jon Snow keeps harping about war on the horizon but nobody seems to be listening much. While the entire army of the Night’s Watch (all 105 of them) are sitting back at Castle Black assuming nothing bad could possibly happen, the Wildings are storming Molestown and raiding the inns and homes in the area. Gilly sees this coming after hearing a Wilding signal from the woods, and she hides for cover and takes little Sam with her.

The battle doesn’t last long as Tormund and the Thenns roll over the little resistance they receive including the three brothers from the Night’s Watch, who happened to be there having dinner and enjoying some skin trade (now they’re down to 102 men). Ygritte has becoming a killing machine since Jon left the camp, but when she discovers Gilly hiding in a closet with the baby wrapped up in blankets, she motions for them to be quiet as she exits out another door. Gilly appears safe for now and Ygritte still has some heart left.

Back at Castle Black, Samwell is sure that Gilly and her son are dead after word of Molestown being run over by the Wilding raiding party. The rest of the brothers are even more concerned that they’re next because the generals leading this party are in such denial that Mance Rayder and his army could actually do any real damage to the wall that they seem intent on ignoring this problem until it’s pounding on their front gate.

The Wilding army is coming and they will arrive in the next episode…

I’ve Got a Name

To the north, Ramsay has arrived at Moat Cailin with his army and his puppet Reek — previously known as Theon Greyjoy. He’s transformed his slave back into his old self at least temporarily to reach the gates and inform the Iron Born inside that if they surrender, they will be allowed to leave and go home and no further harm will come to them.

Once Theon reaches the inner sanctum of the city, the Iron Born are filled with disease, hungry and dying. His offer reaches the head of the army, who spits on the order and in Theon’s face while declining Ramsay’s attempt to get them out of the castle. Much like what happened to Theon back in Winterfell, one of the men decided otherwise and this time it was an axe to the head instead of just knocking him out. The Iron Born ask if Theon’s master will truly let them go home if they surrender, to which he responds with a promise of safety.

Moments later we see what flaying looks like as the man is impaled on a stake, his insides turned out and a rather disgusting display of savagery from Ramsay and the Bolton army. He had no intention of ever letting the Iron Born go, but he needed Theon to convince them of that if they were going to open the gates and invite the Bolton army in with open arms.

Once Ramsay wins back Moat Cailin, he presents the castle flag to his father who tells his son to look all around him. For hundreds of miles to the north, east, south and west, this land is known as the North and Roose Bolton is the Warden of the North. This land is bigger than all the other seven kingdoms combined, and now it’s under his rule. Roose then asks his son to say his name.

“Ramsay Snow”, he utters while trembling before his father.

Roose hands him a parchment and then tells him that from this day forward until the day he dies he is legitimized and his name will be Ramsay Bolton — the son and heir of Roose Bolton, Warden of the North. Ramsay falls to his knee to praise his father because for all the sick twisted games he plays with Theon and the torture he unleashes on his enemies, at the end of all this the only thing he truly wants is his father’s approval and recognition. Now, Ramsay has both and you have to wonder how patting a sociopath on the head and saying ‘good job’ may end up only making him that much more vicious.

Fly Me to the Moon

In the Vale, Littlefinger is answering to the council overseeing the investigation into Lysa Arryn’s ‘suicide’ after she dropped through the moon door and fell to her death. Now obviously we all know she was pushed out the door by Lord Baelish, but they don’t need to know that! The council is quite suspicious of Lord Baelish (as they should be) but what will confirm or deny their suspicions is the young girl who was in the room when Lysa died.

They believe this is Baelish’s niece and before he can go and fetch her, the council reveals that she’s already there. You see they wanted an unfiltered testimony from the girl about what actually happened to Lysa that night near the moon door.

Sansa appears and apologizes to Lord Baelish because like George Washington, she cannot tell a lie. She reveals to the council that she’s not Baelish’s niece, but instead Sansa Stark, eldest daughter of Eddard Stark, the murdered King in the North. The members are all shocked of course, but promise her safe keeping at the Vale while also making sure he secret stays safe.

Sansa then turns her attention to Lord Baelish and what happened that night in the throne room. She regales them with tales of a man who protected her at every turn, kept her safe as much as he could out of Joffrey’s wicked grasp and then yanked her out of her prison state to bring her to the Vale where she could be with her family once again. Sansa then explains how wildly in love Lysa was with Baelish and how her heart couldn’t take it when she caught him kissing her on the cheek (we know it was much more than that, but this is Sansa’s version of the story). Jealousy and rage overcame her and Lysa couldn’t suffer any more indignity and decided to take her own life by leaping out the moon door.

Sansa’s overwhelmed by emotion as the tears streak down her face and as she glances as Lord Baelish while being comforted, he knows that she chose him over any other option and she’s learning quickly how to play this game of thrones. For the biggest part of three seasons, Sansa has been tormented and tortured while routinely being called stupid, childish and selfish with her behavior and princess like demeanor. Comments about Sansa usually include how mind numbingly oblivious she seems to be when it comes to looking out for her own good or the good of her family.

Tonight’s episode was a clear case of Sansa Stark growing up and realizing how to survive in this world. It’s not a princess fairy tale filled with lemon cakes, walks in the flower garden and beautiful dresses sparkling with diamonds and gold. It’s an unforgiving, harsh world where power is power but knowledge is also power and now she has one up on Baelish because she kept his secret. She might be the first and only person on the show that’s proven to be a formidable friend and foe for Lord Baelish, and as she said ‘I know what you want’ when talking to him, it appears Sansa has him wrapped right around her little finger.

Outside the Vale, The Hound and Arya have finally arrived at the gates where he will exchange her for a pile of gold from good old Aunt Lysa. The guards have to inform them, however, that Lysa died three days ago and Arya bursts into laughter. The fit of hilarity likely stems from one of two places — either she finds is rather funny that The Hound traveled all this way through starvation, bitings and other ordeals to end up with nothing or that this is the ultimate irony of her life. Arya lost her father while she stood just a few feet away. At the Red Wedding she was just outside a door where her brother and mother were being slaughtered. And now after all this time she’s about to be reunited with the only family she believes is left in this world and now Lysa is dead.

A Battle to the Death

And now we come full circle to the battle between Ser Gregor Clegane aka The Mountain and Oberyn Martell aka The Red Viper. This was a fight to the death with Tyrion Lannister’s life hanging in the balance.

Before the fight began, Tyrion received a final visit from his brother Jamie as they conversed about better times before one of them didn’t have a hand and the other wasn’t about to have his life decided by two warriors stabbing at each other until one of them falls over.

Tyrion reminds Jamie of their cousin Orson Lannister, who was dropped on his head as a baby and because of it, he was what you would call simple. Orson loved nothing more in life than sitting in the garden for hours at a time while smashing beetles with a rock and toiling away with laughter as each bug was squashed under the weight of his blow. This intrigued Tyrion to no end as a child.

He used to sneak into the garden for hours to watch Orson in the act while ultimately trying to understand why he did it. At one point, Tyrion even questioned cousin Orson, although his mind couldn’t quite comprehend why, just the carnal nature he had to smash beetles all the live long day. The notion that Orson must have had some reason to kill the beetles perplexed Tyrion to no end and to the point where you could say he became obsessed with trying to deduce his motives.

In the end, Tyrion realized something that was also at play today — some things just are the way they are and there’s no reasonable explanation for it. Tyrion has been tortured his whole life for being a dwarf and being the child that was born just before their mother died. Neither of these actions were his fault, but Tyrion has been blamed for both for decades. Now he’s once again living at the end of a rope for something he didn’t do and there’s no rational explanation for why this is happening.

It’s just happening.

In the arena, Tyrion sees his champion drinking wine and wearing no armor at all. Oberyn explains that he like to stay fleet of foot, and his confidence is brimming with the prospect of finally getting vengeance for his sister’s death.

Once Tywin initiates the battle, Oberyn dances around the Mountain with ease and while he loses his first spear and gets knocked down a couple of times, overall his quick moves and rapid strikes eventually incapacitate his much larger opponent. The entire time Oberyn is battling the Mountain, he’s demanding the Lannister knight admit that he killed his sister, raped her and butchered her children. All of this happens while Oberyn continuously allows his eyes to land directly at Tywin Lannister, who is standing in the pulpit above watching the action unfold.

Finally, Oberyn’s spear plunges deep into Clegane’s gut as he’s on the ground and the battle appears over. But instead of taking the spear out of his stomach and then finishing off the giant, Oberyn instead demands answers. He wants a confession. He wants closure for his sister and her children. He wants the people of Westeros to know that this ‘champion’ of the queen is actually a murderer and a rapist and the orders to do both came at the behest of Tywin Lannister.

Unfortunately his emotional reaction costs him dearly.

The Mountain clips one of his feet out from under him before lifting him in the air by the throat while punching him viciously as his teeth go flying. Clegane rolls back on top and finally gives Oberyn what he wanted — yes, he raped his sister, murdered her and then killed her children just like he’s about to do to him. Clegane jams his thumbs into Oberyn’s eyes before smashing his head open like a cantaloupe. Ellaria — Oberyn’s paramour — screams in terror watching her lover die a horrific death.

Tywin then reads the sentence that Tyrion has now been found guilty and will indeed be killed for his actions that led to the death of King Joffrey. Both Tyrion and Jamie look stunned and scared at the same time.

For all the brutality ‘Game of Thrones’ has unleashed over the years, this might have been the hardest scene to watch. There was likely not a person watching at home that wasn’t rooting for Oberyn to get what he always wanted and finally make the Lannisters swallow some of their own medicine. Instead this served as yet another reminder that this series is unrelenting and unforgiving even in the face of what should have been a healthy dose of justice. Oberyn died because he couldn’t kill without hearing a confession from his sister’s killer. The Mountain killed him because it was a matter of survival.

In the end, Westeros lives, breathes and dies on the principle of survival of the fittest. It’s kill or be killed, and if you want justice, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Next week’s penultimate episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ promises to be a good one as Mance’s army finally arrives at the wall and the Night’s Watch prepares to do battle with the Wildings as they attempt to storm Castle Black and begin their descent further and further south.