Valar Morghulis:
There's two things you need to know while you're reading this review:
1) I've read all 5 books in A Song of Ice and Fire saga
2) I'm really hard to displease
Now that you know all of the above you can properly frame my review.
I loved Season 2 of Game of Thrones on HBO. Granted, it has it's weaknesses, but I think considering the scope of the series within the books and the undertaking of translating it to a watchable 10 episode season, they did a commendable job.
With 'Valar Morghulis' we return in the aftermath of Episode 19 and the Battle of the Blackwater. Episode 19 had all the making of a season finale; so, episode 20 had better have some twists and turns to keep the TV fans interested for Season 3.
Sidebar from Episode 20: Let's all just bask in the glory that is that Giant Green Explosion at the Blackwater. The Onion Knight's alarmed face. Stannis' grim determination. A shade of fear in Bron's face at what he had done. Amazing. YES.
Back to Episode 20 (or Episode 10 of Season 2). Joffrey is a dick. He's insufferable. I honestly can't stand that little twerp's face. I think I'd actually be tempted to punch the kid if I saw him in public. Therefore, the kid is doing a fan-effin-tastic job portraying the child-King, Joffrey. And, at the beginning of the Episode, we see Joffrey dispatch Sansa for the lovely (slutty) Margaery Tyrell. Sansa is really coming into her own this season. It could be argued that her character has done a lot more maturation as a character than Arya's. It will be interesting to see what they do with Arya next season.
We leave off Arya in the finale with her encountering Jaqen H'ghar and being offered to accompany him to Braavos. She wants to but turns him down. He gives her the coin and the words Valar Morghulis (Valar Dohaeris). The Arya storyline was very hit-or-miss this season. Her relationship with Tywin was fantastic, but they really didn't do much else with her.
Theon is another character that is portrayed admirably. I think Alfie Allen actually thinks he's Theon. But fuhreal, we have a nice moment of getting to pick on everybody's favorite whipping boy (waiitttt for itttt) ((ba-dum-chish)) Theon.
And, to complete the set of story-lines that was altered substantially, we get to see Dany flex some of her muscle in the tower of the Undead. Listen, I think Dany's storyline is a perfect example of WHY they had to chance some story-lines. There is NO WAY they could have fit her story-line into (presumably) 6 seasons. So, they had to speed up and cut some unnecessary characters. Or, at least, they were unnecessary on a Television adaptation.
With Theon's story-line, I would have loved to see Ramsay Snow and Co. coming in and wrecking house. With Dany's storyline, I would have loved to see the true version of the story-line because it would have given me more confidence that I'd see the big coup she pulls over the slavemasters. I have my doubts about that now. It looks like they are writing their own story for Dany and that story might not include Barristan Selmy. Lame.
What made me love this season, and this episode, was the character representations. Tywin, Tyrion, Queen Cersei, Joffrey, Sansa, Robb!!, and Jon all took the place of whatever face you had imagined when you read the novels. You know they did something good.
I love that they focused on The Hound's story-line and on Robb Stark's story-line because they made the show a better product for ratings. Better ratings brings another season of Game of Thrones (and maybe with a higher budget to make those White Walkers extra creepy).
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