Recap: Game of Thrones S04E04 Oathkeeper

Game of Thrones. S04 E04 Oathkeeper
by Nikole Gunn

“No, no, no. This is not how it happened in the books.  This is not how it was supposed to happen. What has HBO done?”

I’m tipping we’re going to be hearing a lot of this as the TV show quickly catches up with and threatens to overtake the books.  The story is now moving away from the source material.  It doesn’t make the show any better or worse, but its now its own beast.

Much like the Jaime-Cersei rape scene of last week, things have been changed to suit the TV story line and book purists might be left wondering what’s going to happen next.

It’s not such a bad place to be.  Knowing what’s going to happen next via the books, can make things a little predictable and the ‘superior air’ of the book reader can be grating to those TV watchers.

Now we’re on a level playing field, which should make things very interesting if George RR Martin falls behind with the writing.

So, where are in TV Westeros?  After closing out the last episode, we plunge straight back into the world of Daenerys and her mission to capture the slave city of Mereen. 

We get a little taste of ‘slave insurrection’ as the leader of her Unsullied vows to ‘kill the masters’.  And he does.  The city is captured and the slave traders are rounded up.

For every slave ‘crucified’ on the road to Mereen, she exacts revenge upon the masters.  In her words, rather than answer injustice with mercy, she ‘answers injustice with justice’ 

And that’s the last we see of Daenerys for the rest of the episode.

Back to King’s Landing, where Bronn is giving Jaime a work out with the sword and acts as his conscience, asking why Jaime hasn’t been to visit his baby brother in the dungeons.  He knows Tyrion didn’t kill Joffrey, so why hasn’t he done the right thing?

So he does and they enjoy a nice little family reunion.  Tyrion denies all knowledge of the regicide.  But The Imp knows what he’s up against with Cersei; she wants his head on a spike and that of Sansa’s.

Speaking of which, Sansa and Littlefinger on their way to The Eyrie, where Petyr is to marry her Aunt.  He basically confirms he killed Joffrey, who wasn’t a reliable ally.

He did it for his new friends – and just to make sure we know WHO he’s talking about, we cut to Lady Olenna Tyrell (the amazing Dame Diana Riggs) who calmly tells her grand daughter Margaery, that she wasn’t about to let her marry the beast called Joffrey.

The bulk of the episode now moves to North of The Wall, apart of a brief ‘touch base’ with a drunk Cersei, while Jaime sends Brienne off on a quest to find the Stark girls.

Once north of the Wall, the biggest changes to book storylines occur.  And it will take a bit of getting used to it.

Bran, Hodor and the Reeds are close to Craster’s Keep, where the rogue Black Brothers are still wenching their way through a long winter. 

Jon Snow has also surmised his half brother could also be heading there and convinces other members of the Nightswatch that they’d better go deal with them, before the Wildings get their hands.

Bran and co are captured by those at Craster’s Keep, while one of the Wight Walkers takes up a newborn baby left as an offering – he’s the last male child born of the incestuous Craster.

The child is then delivered to what appears to be the chief Wight Walker and ‘turned’.  Eyes turn blue, fade to black, end credits appear.

THIS DID NOT HAPPEN IN THE BOOKS.  Not at all, not one little bit.  Am I happy with the changes?  Not sure.  I like the books, but part of me is interested to see where we go and how far will we stray.