Thursday, June 20, 2013
Well, season 3 is over, and we’ll have to wait a long time for season 4. There’s been a few deaths, a few marriages, and a lot of nudity. One of the things I like about the series is that there are so many storylines that all intersect. I’m going to attempt to rank the storylines of season 3 by how interesting I found them, how much character development occurred within them, and generally which ones had the coolest things happen within them.
Now, I know some of the stories overlap quite a bit, particularly in King’s Landing, but in general, the storylines follow a single main character, so that’s how I tried to split it up. That’s pretty much how the books are organized: each chapter is from the perspective of a single character. So, let the ranking begin!
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
11: Bran
After fleeing a black and smoky Winterfell, Bran, Rickon, Hodor, Osha, and the wolves head north toward the wall. They’re joined by the Reeds: Jojen and Meera, and continue to Queenscrown, where Rickon and Osha go their own way. The others reach the Nightfort, cross paths with Sam and Gilly, and take the secret passage beneath the wall.
This storyline wasn’t all bad, some parts were pretty good. Bran’s dream in which he’s shooting a bow with Jon and Robb watching was a really great sequence. I didn’t expect there to be anything interesting about Bran’s trip to the wall, but it still wasn’t very enjoyable, apart from when Hodor uttered his catch phrase. They did some good stuff with the Reeds, but mostly it was just boring.
10: Sam
After somehow escaping an undead army, Sam rejoins the Night’s Watch, who fall back to Craster’s Keep. The Old Bear meets his demise as the Watch breaks into turmoil, and Sam escapes with Gilly and her newborn babe. Sam kills a White Walker and reaches the Wall in time to meet Bran, then continues back to Castle Black.
I think Sam is an underrated character. Most people don’t like him because he’s spineless, and in season three we see him at his most pathetic, barely able to walk any further, content to fall to the ground and die. The Sam-Gilly relationship is somewhat interesting, but generally I found this storyline pretty boring as well.
9: Tyrion
Physically scarred from the Battle of the Blackwater and emotionally scarred from being kicked out of the Tower of the Hand, Tyrion adjusts to a more modest life in King’s Landing, forever on the search for the one who wants him dead. He and his father continuously clash, and although he is made the Master of Coin, he is denied his right to Lordship of Casterly Rock. He is eventually forced to marry Sansa Stark, much to the chagrin of his sweetheart, Shae. Generally, he just keeps getting upset because nobody likes him.
This just wasn’t Tyrion’s season. He had some good moments, and his dialogue is as quippy as ever, but this just wasn’t the time to do a lot with him. That’s okay, he has a long road ahead of him, and I’m sure it was nice to relax a bit before things get crazy. On the positive side, there was some good development between him and his father, and the Sansa situation was also enjoyable.
8: Theon
This one’s pretty straight forward. He’s tied up and tortured, Ramsay helps him escape, he’s nearly raped, then Ramsay leads him all the way back to where he started. Tied up again, more torturing, skinned peeled off his pinky, and then a nasty surprise when he suddenly finds himself literally dickless. His manhood gets Fed-exed to his dad, and he gets a new name. Happy Birthday, Reek.
Adding this storyline to the season was a bit like adding almonds to ice cream: unnecessary, but it adds a little zing. I guess it was enjoyable for anyone who really likes watching people get tortured, but for most people, it just made you wince. No doubt, Theon deserves some rough treatment for being a douche in season two, but this is going a bit far. Ramsay was very amusing though. “Pork Sausage...”
7: Davos
I guess being stranded on an island sucks when you have short, stubby fingers on one hand. Luckily, he’s rescued by a black pirate and taken back to Dragonstone, where he is promptly dungeoned for wanting to kill Melisandre. Shireen gives him a book, and he teaches himself to read, then convinces Stannis not to kill Gendry. He even gives Gendry a rowboat.
Slightly boring, not one of the better ones, but still nice to see what happened next to the Stannis gang. Learning to read was a cute touch, and connecting with Gendry was a nice addition. This was another story they sort of had to stretch to make it last the season, but it worked out fairly well, and set up some major events in the next season.
6: Sansa
Poor Sansa. Despite an ending to her engagement to Joffrey, which she was very thankful for, she is still a captive of the Lannisters. Things get interesting when she befriends the Tyrells and almost gets engaged to Loras. Unfortunately, she is forced to marry Tyrion, though he can’t bring himself to take her maidenhood. Littlefinger also promises to bring her north, and then reneges. What a jerk!
It was nice to see her spirits brighten a little, after seeing her on the verge of tears for the entirety of season two. Sansa and Margaery as BFF’s was fun. I always feel like Sansa is an object more than a character. She’s just tossed around between people: Littlefinger, Varys, Olenna, Cersei, Tywin, Tyrion, they’re all just throwing her around back and forth, making life decisions for her, and she doesn’t do a thing to stop them. She very unlike the other characters in that she doesn’t plot and scheme, she doesn’t stand up to her enemies and take what’s hers, she’s just there. That may change, but for right now, you can’t help but feel sorry for her.
5: Robb
Robb and his army of northmen arrive at Harrenhal and receive word that his grandfather Hoster Tully has died, so he heads to Riverrun and leaves Harrenhal in the capable hands of Roose Bolton. After watching Edmure fail at archery, he cuts off Rickard Karstark’s head for being a whiny bitch, devises a superfluous strategy to storm Casterly Rock, and weds Edmure to a mystery daughter of Walder Frey. The wedding gets kind of rough when he gets killed, along with his pregnant wife and his mother.
Robb was pulled in multiple directions in this season, he had several ups and downs. On the one hand, he’s been winning battles, but his lead is only marginal, the success of his quest is always teetering on the edge. Despite being good at battle, he lacks the kingly skills of politics, lordly customs and family dynamics, and that’s what gets him killed. He’s honorable, like his father, and that’s what leads him to wed Talisa. The only thing holding him together is his wife, and you can imagine his joy when learning of her pregnancy. Of course, the showrunners really know how to tear someone down after building him up. The red wedding is perhaps the biggest emotional roller coaster in the entire series, and I’m glad we’re finally through it. I can’t bear to live through that again.
4: Jon Snow
Jon meets Mance Rayder and is tentatively accepted into the wildling army. A group led by Tormund Giantsbane moves south through the Frostfangs and climbs the Wall. Oh, Jon and Ygritte have sex too, I should mention that. South of the wall, they arrive at Queenscrown, whereupon they discover Jon’s true allegiance to the Night’ Watch and try to kill him. He escapes with a few of Ygritte’s arrows stuck in him and makes it back to Castle Black.
This one probably had the most travelling in terms of physical distance. He starts way up north, climbs the wall, makes it down to Queenscrown, and ends at Castle Black. That’s a lot of distance to cover. I like that the whole season showed his identity crisis, being split between the wildlings and the Night’s Watch. Ygritte makes things more complicated and creates a Romeo-and-Juliet scenario, and there’s that whole thing where the wildlings give him a hard time, saying “you’re not one of us.” Climbing the wall was a hell of a feat, and reaching the top was a highlight of the season. Most of all, Jon and Ygritte have become many fans’ favorite couple, because despite being caught up in a war and having unconventional ways of showing affection, there’s something undefinable between them. This storyline had many nuances, and I loved every minute of it.
3: Arya
As the season opens, we find the younger of the Stark girls wandering the riverlands with her cohorts Gendry and Hot Pie. They are found by the Brotherhood and taken to the secret hidey hole of Beric Dondarrion. After a swashbuckle between the Hound and the Lightning Lord, Melisandre steals away Gendry and a distraught Arya runs away and is captured by the Hound. They make it to the Twins just in time for the red wedding and are forced back into the countryside.
Arya has always been one of my favorite characters, so that may account for why she’s so high on the list. I felt such emotional growth, such anger from watching her scenes, it was just fantastic. She feels like everyone’s abandoning, and nobody is helping her with what she really wants, except the Hound. The dynamics between these two characters is great, so much loathing and bitterness, and yet they have certain commonalities. Getting so close to her mother and brother before it all goes to hell was a great climax to her story and has clearly sent her over the edge. Now she’s pissed, and you better not mess with her. Just ask that Frey soldier.
2: Jaime
After a nice long nature walk with Brienne, Jaime bites off more than he can chew and tries to gain his freedom with a little swordplay. Getting captured by some Bolton men finds him with one less appendage, and he is brought to Harrenhal, where even a naked Brienne in a bathtub can’t drive away his depression. He leaves for King’s Landing, then goes back because he forgot to help Brienne get out of a bear pit. Finally he’s arrives in King’s Landing, shows Cersei his new nubb, and gives her a big nubb-hug.
Umm, wow. That’s what I have to say about Jaime’s story. I didn’t think they could do it, but they did it. They took a smug, sassy character who many people despised, and made people fall in love with him. How did they do it? I guess this is the kind of character transformation that can only happen when you get a hand chopped off. The Jaime-Brienne relationship had great depth, and it was simply impossible to not cheer when Jaime jumps into the bear pit to save her. It’s just wonderful to see the stages of his recovery, and his realization that he can’t rely on his father to fix everything. We can look forward to more development from him in the future, especially since he just got back to King’s Landing.
1: Daenerys
She’s on a boat! Then she arrives in Astapor and meets Barristan Selmy, who joins the Targaryen cause. A dragon seems like a pretty steep price for eight thousand unsullied soldiers, but she has a trick up her sleeve, and the slave trader gets burned. Yunkai is slightly less inviting than Astapor, but Darrio Naharis, new captain of the Second Sons, seems very willing to help her take the city. Maybe her standing in front of him naked had something to do with it. Anyway, without much credit to Jorah or Barristan, she is greeted at the city gates by a bunch of freed slaves who all seem to think that she’s their mother, and she’s okay with that.
To be honest, this one almost lost to Jaime, but I mean, come on, it’s Khaleesi, the freakin’ mother of dragons. She went from a boat full of seasick Dothraki to an army of Unsullied, the Second Sons, and huge numbers of freed slaves lifting her up on their shoulders. Her situation has improved so drastically, and she’s on a roll. It started at the end of season two, and now she just doesn’t take crap from anyone, she takes what’s hers, it’s awesome! I suppose they could have done a bit more with character development, but this one made it to the top spot from sheer badassery. She’s finally acting like a queen, and if anyone deserves to sit on the iron throne, she does.
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Well, that about wraps it up. I’d love to hear your feedback on the rankings, especially if you disagree. Just try to support your claims with examples, like I tried to do.
Great job!
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