Where is Stannis in the rear commanding the battle from atop a high hill? Where is the clash of navies on Blackwater Bay? Where’s Tyrion’s chain? Where’s…
Uh, never mind. Feast your eyes on the beautiful, beautiful wildfire explosion that shot Game of Thrones into the cultural stratosphere.
Welcome back to Watchers on the Wall’s Memory Lane series where each and every Game of Thrones episode is reviewed prior to the start of Season 6! I’m BryndenBFish, and I’ll be your tour guide for this episode. What was all that book wankery at the start? We’ll touch on all that at the end. For now, we’ll be looking back to 2012 and Game of Thrones’ penultimate episode that saw Stannis Baratheon and Tyrion Lannister meet in epic battle. Directed by Neil Marshall and penned by George R.R. Martin himself, “Blackwater” is Game of Thrones at its absolute finest. Instead of focusing on multiple locations and storylines, “Blackwater” directs our entire attention to one location: King’s Landing.
We open to Davos Seaworth and Stannis Baratheon staring into a dark and uncertain horizon as hundreds of ships follow them towards King’s Landing. Below-deck, Stannis’ men huddle in miserable conditions. This was a particularly nice touch on the part of the showrunners. Watching the common men suffering in putrid conditions as great lords stand atop them in the fresh air emphasized the social stratification of Westeros and the terrible condition of the common people in war.
Davos and his son Matthos have a brief conversation above-deck which displays the contrast between Davos’ realism and Matthos’ true-beliefism. Davos fears sailing against the royal fleet after avoiding it for most of his smuggling career. Matthos emphasizes that this is the royal fleet. High Captain Davos makes the point that there are several royal fleets and King’s Landing’s defenders see them as instruments of destruction. This sense of ambiguity that Davos gives is simply glorious and filters into our perceptions as watchers and fans. This is not Battle of Helm’s Deep with ten thousand ugly Uruk-Hai there to end all human life. We don’t know who to root for in the battle to come. There are heroes and villains on both sides of this battle, and while we all want Joffrey gone, we don’t necessarily want Stannis to win.
We flash next to two vignettes of Tyrion and Shae, and Cersei and Grand Maester Pycelle, awaiting Stannis’ attack and why we as watchers maybe don’t want Stannis to win this battle. Tyrion and Shae’s scene focuses on Tyrion’s fear of being burned for being a Lannister and having “no choice” in the matter of defending the city. Cersei and Pycelle’s scene focuses on the start of Cersei’s drunk as she drinks wine while Pycelle gives a boring lecture on the role of maesters and his personal history as Grand Maester. Cersei cuts his story off to get to the point of why Pycelle is there: to give Cersei nightshade. Ominously, as Pycelle sounds off on what each number of nightshade drops will do, Cersei stops him at “ten” and tells Pycelle that she knows what ten drops of nightshade will do.
Next, we get to Bronn’s preparations for the Battle. Instead of fixating on fear and death, Bronn has a celebratory nonchalance on facing battle. Bronn and his men sing “The Rains of Castamere” as pretty prostitutes service him and his men. This is only broken by the arrival of Sandor Clegane and we get our first truly tense moment of the episode as Bronn and the Hound nearly come to killing blows over their conflicting views of what they love. As it turns out, they both love killing, but their near-duel comes to a ringing stop as the bells sound signaling the arrival of Stannis.
The bells continue to ring as Podrick Payne armors Tyrion for battle. Varys stands ominously at the windowsill and tells Pod and Tyrion that he hates bells as they ring for “horror, a dead king, a city under siege.” Tyrion helpfully adds “a wedding” to Varys’ list of awful events that ringing bells signify. (Hello foreshadowing!) Varys then presents a map of King’s Landing’s tunnels to Tyrion and explains that the Targaryens built fifty miles of tunnels under King’s Landing to survive in the event of a siege. Putting on a brave face, Tyrion states that he’s not escaping and he’ll be going down with the ship of King’s Landing which Varys shrugs off as something a ship captain usually says when the ship is still afloat. Varys then reports that Stannis has a red priestess with him and begins to tell the story of his castration but stops unhelpfully before he starts. He finally emphasizes the point that Tyrion is the only person who can stop someone who uses magic like Stannis from taking the city. All armored up, Tyrion grabs an ax and prepares for battle.
Drums! Matthos believes that King’s Landing is welcoming Stannis to the city, but Davos knows better. Davos calls for his own music and Matthos (infamously) screams “DRUMS!” The drums beat and Stannis’ men rush to the top deck.
In the Red Keep, everyone makes their final goodbyes. Bronn and Tyrion share quips, Sansa tells Tyrion she’ll be praying for him as she prays for the king, Tyrion and Shae share a secret goodbye and good king Joffrey psychopathically makes Sansa kiss his sword. Sansa then hilariously mocks Joffrey for not leading the vanguard as her brother Robb does. It’s a great bit of acting by Sophie Turner. Her subtle smiles and sarcastic eyes at Joffrey’s false-bravado do 90% of the acting, and it’s wonderful to watch.
Scenes of chaos unfold as Joffrey and Tyrion make their way to the walls. In the distance, Stannis’ drums pound. Joffrey displays his tactical ineptitude and questions Tyrion over where the ships are and why they aren’t sailing against Stannis. An amusing scene follows as Tyrion gives his reason for being on the walls as not really in it for Joffrey — Tyrion’s in it to save his own head from being mounted next to Joffrey’s. Foreshadowing events from later in the episode, a passing soldier rushes past Sandor Clegane with a torch in hand, and the Hound flinches at the fire.
In the Maidenvault, Sansa and Shae quietly confer over why Cersei wanted them there. Cersei, well into her cups already, ushers Sansa forward and gets weird. Cersei’s fixation on death from earlier in the episode continues here as she inappropriately asks Sansa if she’s still flowering. When Sansa notices Ilyn Payne in the room and asks why he’s here, Cersei cryptically tells Sansa that he’s there for their “protection.” This is immediately dispelled when thievery is reported and Cersei orders Ilyn to take care of the thieves.
And now we get to the greatest scene that Game of Thrones ever created. Stannis’ fleet makes its final approach to King’s Landing and a single ghost ship emerges from King’s Landing. Leaking wildfire out onto the bay, the ship drifts out to the middle of Stannis’ fleet. Tyrion throws a torch out to Bronn and the sellsword fires a single fire arrow into the waters. Here, the direction is simply fantastic. The music builds and builds until Bronn fires his shot. The sound of the fire arrow sailing through the air silences Ramin Djawadi’s building music. Davos and Tyrion watch the arrow arc towards the oozing wildfire, both wondering what’s about to unfold. What happens next is pure cinematic awesomeness. Wildifre burns through the water and explodes into a giant green fireball that engulfs two thirds of the screen. Matthos is swallowed by green flame while Davos is blown overboard as sheer panic and horror wrap around Stannis’ fleet. Joffrey and Pyromancer Hallyne look down on the scene of destruction with sociopathic joy while Tyrion, to his eternal credit, looks horrified at the thousands of men burning and drowning to death on the Blackwater.
Defeat seems certain for Stannis Baratheon. His men are burning, his fleet is destroyed, but Stannis will break before he bends. Casting off his black cape, he walks faces away from the scene of destruction and walks toward the lower deck of his ship. His squire (Imry Florent) informs Stannis that there’s fire, archers and that “hundreds will die.” In this scene, Stephen Dillane best resembles Martin’s book character, as he shrugs, grits his teeth and flatly states, “thousands.” He throws down the net to his smaller landing craft and turns to find his men awaiting orders. Channeling that same character from the books, Stannis awkwardly shouts at his men to “Come with me and take this city!” To probably Stephen Dillane’s surprise, the men cheer his charge and everyone descends onto boats and into the chaotic waters.
Back in the Maidenvault, Cersei’s drunk takes on college-bender levels. She notices Sansa holding hands with other women and asks what she’s doing. When Sansa reports that she’s praying, Lena Headey begins acting up a storm. Retorting, “You’re perfect,” Cersei begins sarcastically needling Sansa for her belief in the gods, their goodness and how her father believes in the gods but doesn’t like them. This needling turns shocking as Cersei tells Sansa that she would seduce any man other than Stannis if they came up to the Red Keep. The shock then morphs into cruel realism as Cersei tells Sansa that if Stannis wins, all the women in the Maidenvault will be up for a spot of rape. Fortunately for Sansa, her red flower will prevent her from conceiving any bastard children. Sansa begins chugging wine.
Leading his men into battle, Stannis Baratheon leans on the prow of his landing craft, sword in hand. Tyrion orders his archers to engage Stannis’ army with more fire arrows and then orders Sandor Clegane to lead a detachment of men to meet Stannis army on the beach. As Sandor descends down the steps, he grabs the master archer and tells him, “If any of these flaming fucking arrows comes near me, I’ll strangle you with your own guts.” It’s all lovely writing. Stannis hits the beach first and begins jogging towards the walls as arrows fall on Stannis’ men. The scene is pure chaos as Stannis and his men literally hit the wall. Here, the prosthetic department begins to shine. A rock is thrown from the walls and smashes the head of one of Stannis’ men, spraying the king with blood.
Sandor’s men sortie forward into the advancing Baratheon troops as the Hound shouts “If any man dies with a clean sword, I’ll rape his fucking corpse!” A scene of chaotic sword fighting ensues and the Lannisters and Baratheons sustain casualties. Lancel Lannister takes an arrow to the arm and lets out a strange yelp of pain and runs away from the battle.
Cersei bemoans her circumstances as a broodmare who was sold off to Robert, and we get another near-showdown between Cersei and Shae. Cersei begins to question Shae’s background and asks questions that might lead the queen to find out Shae’s true identity until Lancel bursts in and informs the party that the Lannisters are losing the battle. Cersei demands that Joffrey be brought back to the Red Keep. She then turns back to Sansa and tells her the truth about Ilyn Payne. He’s there not to defend the women in the Maidenvault. He’s there to kill them if Stannis takes the city.
We next return to scenes of horror and chaos as Sandor fights wildly outside of the gates. A burning man rushes towards Sandor and paralyzes the Hound in fear. Sandor beats a retreat back through the gates. Stannis brings ladders forward and personally leads his men up them and kills a slew of Lannister men on the gates. We then get Rory McCann at his Sandor best as he tells Tyrion to “eat shit” after Tyrion yells at him that he’s on the wrong side of the wall. When Joffrey commands Sandor to attack Stannis again, Sandor then famously tells Tyrion and Joffrey, “Fuck the Kingsguard. Fuck the city. Fuck the king.” Stannis’ men then begin ramming the gates as Lancel arrives back at the wall and tells Joffrey that Cersei demands that he return to the Red Keep. Joffrey cowardly rushes away from the battle.
As the battle begins to truly turn against the Lannisters, Tyrion stands in front of the last of his men as doubt plays across their faces and realizes the enormity of his situation. Almost to himself, Tyrion says, “I’ll lead the attack.” After a half moment, he shouts louder to those in earshot, “I’ll lead the attack!” In an echo of Eddard Stark’s “the only time a man can be brave is if he’s afraid,” Tyrion gives the battle speech of a lifetime:
Don’t fight for your king, don’t fight for his kingdoms, don’t fight for honor, don’t fight for glory, don’t fight for riches because you won’t get any. This is your city Stannis means to sack, your gate he’s ramming. If he gets in, it will be your houses he burns, your gold he steals, your women he will rape. Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let’s go kill them!
The men raise their swords and Tyrion leads them to battle through the tunnels that Varys conveniently informed Tyrion about at the start of the episode.
In the Maidenvault, Lancel reports that the battle is lost. He tells Cersei that he wants to take Joffrey back to the battle, and when he persists, Cersei punches him in the place where the arrow pierced him earlier. Cersei marches out of the Maidenvault with Tommen in tow. Shae tells Sansa to get out of the Maidenvault, and she rushes back to her chamber to find a shaken Sandor Clegane waiting for her. The Hound tells Sansa that he’s going to someplace that isn’t burning and tells Sansa that he might head north. He wants to take Sansa with him back to Winterfell, but Sansa refuses.
Tyrion leads his men out from under the tunnel and they take a detachment of Stannis’ army in the rear. Tyrion and his Lannisters rout Stannis army ramming the gate and burn the ram. But as the Lannisters chant “Halfman! Halfman!”, another detachment of Stannis’ infantry rushes at them. More chaotic battle is joined. Above the fray, Stannis continues taking out more Lannisters. Below, Tyrion confronts Ser Mandon Moore. Ser Mandon steps towards Tyrion and slashes him across the face. He’s only saved when Podrick Payne thrusts his spear through Ser Mandon Moore’s face. Tyrion falls the ground, and Pod rushes to grab Tyrion.
All now seems truly lost for the Lannisters as Tyrion lies on the ground and Cersei cradles her son Tommen on top of the Iron Throne and tells him a story of the mother lion and her little cub who lived in the kingswood amidst “evil” stags and wolves. But then the cavalry arrives. The Lannisters and Tyrells led by Ser Loras Tyrell and Lord Tywin Lannister ride into battle cutting their way through the Baratheon men at arms as Stannis screams at his men to “stand and fight!” Just as Cersei finishes her story to Tommen, she produces the vial of nightshade and brings it up to Tommen’s lips.
Tyrion is lowered to the ground by Pod and closes his eyes. In the Red Keep, the doors burst open and Loras and Tywin walk through “triumphantly.”
“The battle is over,” Lord Tywin roars, “We have won.” The Red Keep fades to black as The National performs “The Rains of Castamere.”
And so he spoke, and so he spoke that Lord of Castamere.
The Battle of the Blackwater from A Clash of Kings is a bit different from the show. Stannis doesn’t lead his men from the front, Tyrion’s chain is nowhere to be found, there’s no burning bridge of ships that Stannis’ men-at-arms charge over to engage Tyrion. But the reality is that the showrunners maintained the emotional core and highlights of the battle. If you’re interested in reading some analytical work on the Battle of the Blackwater, there is none better than Steven Attewell’s recently-completed Blackwater. Start here and work your way through Steve’s chapter-by-chapter analyses. Additionally, three years ago, I did some military analysis on Stannis Baratheon at the battle of the Blackwater that you can find here.
“Blackwater” was a triumph of television. Operating on a limited budget, Game of Thrones pulled off a truly epic episode that was able to show the triumphant stirrings of warfare as well as its horrors. While Season 2 of Game of Thrones was somewhat uneven, “Blackwater” more than made up for any shortfalls of the season. Its expert direction, writing, acting, music, VFX/SFX and prosthetics make this episode a truly stirring piece of television.
Deaths: Matthos Seaworth, Imry Florent, a whole lot of Lannisters and Baratheons.
Notable Quotes:
Bronn: Don’t get killed.
Tyrion Lannister: Nor you, my friend.
Bronn: Oh… are we friends now?
Tyrion Lannister: Of course we are. Just because I pay you for your services doesn’t diminish our friendship.
Bronn: Enhances it, really.
Tyrion Lannister: Oh, “enhances”. Fancy word for a sellsword.
Bronn: Been spending time with fancy folks.
Joffrey Baratheon: Hound, tell the Hand that his King has asked him a question.
Sandor Clegane: The King has asked you a question.
Tyrion Lannister: Sir Lancel, tell the Hound to tell the King that the Hand is extremely busy.
Lancel Lannister: The Hand of the King would like me to tell you to tell the King that…
Joffrey Baratheon: If I tell the Hound to cut you in half, he’ll do it without a second thought.
Tyrion Lannister: That would make me the quarter-man. Just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Cersei Lannister: Oh, shut up, you little fool. Praying for the gods to have mercy on us all? The gods have no mercy, that’s why they are gods.
Creative Fandom:
“Those are brave men knocking at our door… Let’s go kill them” by Beautiful Death
BryndenBFish is the creator of the Wars and Politics of Ice and Fire Blog, a blog and podcast dedicated to political and military analysis of A Song of Ice and Fire. He can be found at twitter as @BryndenBFish.
Hodor?
I think this is still the show’s best episode. For obvious reasons, they can’t devote all or most of an episode to a single location all that often, but here it’s justified and it pays off. It’s quite impressive what they managed to do on a TV budget (albeit a large TV budget), and given the short time frame the director had to prepare for it.
That Headey wasn’t nominated for this year has always surprised me, since this seemed like the perfect acting showcase for her — a better one, in some ways, than she’s gotten in later seasons when she was nominated. Eh.
The only notable part that doesn’t work, in my opinion, is the one with Sansa and the Hound (and this is otherwise a good episode for her, quite possibly her best overall). Given its placement, etc., it’s supposed to be the climax of her season, but this is only the second time she’s properly spoken to him, and there’s just no storyline building up to this, to speak of. Moreover, this version of the scene is weirdly constructed; it’s all building up to what plays like an admission of trust on her part (“you won’t hurt me” isn’t saying all that much, of course, but that’s how it plays), but the end hinges on her not trusting him (per the actress). This scene really exists only because there was a scene somewhat like it in the books; based on what the show itself had previously shown, there’s no real reason for it to be there.
Also, the Dinklage/Headey commentary track for this episode is the best cast commentary of them all. Not just thanks to the way they play off each other (like Dinklage making fun of how Cersei is never actually shown taking a drink), but because they’re actually in pretty much the whole episode, so the cast has much more to say than is usually the case.
Great episode! Loved Cersei’s story and Tywin’s entrance in the throne room.
I loved this episode, it was actually the episode that got me into the GOT show in the first place.
I loved the Wildfire! The fights! Tyrion. Joffreys cowardice. The Ladies’ “bunker”.
And the last scene where Cersei tells Tommen a story was morbidly beautiful, I did shed a tear, haha. Then Tywin came in like a boss. Perfection.
Hodor!!!
Best episode of the season and great character development for Cersei. The scene where she pushes Loras still cracks me up.
And in the middle of the chaos, the despondent killer, known as the Hound, only wanted a song from his temporary little bird before he fled. While Cersei was ready to snuff it, taking Tommen with her, Sansa’s blossoming courage in the face of harm was memorable.
I relish the unexpectedly moving moments in this book and show series, especially in this harrowing and most excellent episode.
Nice writeup, Ser BFish.
While the Hardhome battle sequence and the season 4 battle episode may be considered superior, Blackwater will always be the best episode of the series. While the other two battles were more impressive, they lacked the emotional moments that form the core of this episode. I get chills just thinking about Cersei in the Iron Throne with Tommen. This was the episode that cemented my love for Lena Heady’s performance as Cersei.
P.S: why is Davos’ son yelling DRUMS infamous?
Good write up. Definitely a series highlight, only surpassed by Hardhome in my estimation.
Also, every goddamn battle episode should have drums. That beat was hot fire.
RandomGoTfan,
Ha, it’s more the way that Matthos screams it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4kNneOct6A
RandomGoTfan,
I think it’s probably infamous among certain corners of fandom? People have their in-jokes. It’s not particularly memorable to me.
I LOVE Lena’s acting in this episode. You start to see just how much of a lush cersei is becoming, as well as a full display of her acid tongue (“that’s the worst curtsy Ive ever seen…mastered it when I was 5”). I was surprised she wasn’t nominated for an Emmy…
“It was expected of me.”
Flayed Potatoes,
Ugh I meant Lancel. Always mixing up those 2 names.
Ah, the Blackwater. Back to when Tommen was a little boy and Stannis was simply known as “The Mannis”.
I loved this episode, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite from Season 2. I prefer those which mix action and story, and this one doesn’t have much of the later. That’s why I love Hardhome so much. For all the credit the battle received, it only took half of the episode’s run time, so it still had time to develop the other plots.
The ending scene of this episode is still the best one GoT has ever had, with Cersei telling Tommen her story as the episode montages through Tywin’s cavalry breaking Stannis’ lines. Some amazing filmmaking right here.
Yes! It was a perfect episode and deserved all the acclaim.
Truly enjoyed. So many great moments in this episode! Thank you!
One of you guys recently rather brilliantly described Season 2’s “lazy susan” approach to dropping in on the various locations. In retrospect it is this approach (without any sense of narrative ‘build’ throughout many individual episodes) that makes Season 2 the weakest. It is ironic then that Season 2 also pioneered the single location approach in Blackwater and I think it’s this, rather than the wildfire effects and battle scenes (wonderful though they are) that makes Blackwater such a success. I think it was a big lesson for D&D. Although they’ve only used the single location approach once more, I think it taught them that the pacing of the overall episode is more important than checking in on every storyline.
One nice little touch I always like in this episode is seeing Ser Dontos in the background as a fool (and doing it terribly).
LOVEDDDD this episode. Was my favorite till Hardhome came along 😉
I don’t need to sell anyone on this episode. It’s a masterpiece.
After we were treated to “The Watchers on the Wall” in Season 4 and “Hardhome” in Season 5, it’s easier to nitpick “Blackwater”. Yes, it takes place on a smaller scale than the battles that would follow. Yes, the budget is clearly less (though astronomical at the time), and so the battle takes place outside one gate and is shot in darkness to help hide the edges. No, it doesn’t have the multi-chapter escalation of the books with the chain and the bridge of burning boats and pick-your-favorite-literary-detail-that-was-omitted-here.
And yet, fresh off of rewatching this episode for perhaps the 20th time, I’m hard-pressed not to rank it as the best of the series, and one of the best hours of TV ever. Perhaps I’ll feel differently once the re-watch progresses (I generally say either “The Watchers on the Wall” or “Hardhome” is my favorite episode, but all three big battle episodes are very, very close at the top of my list). Right now, however I’m still in awe. The unequivocal success of “Blackwater” was just so improbable, yet so resounding. There had never been anything like it on TV at the time, and the only things like it on TV since are … well, the aforementioned “The Watchers on the Wall” and “Hardhome” (perhaps soon to be joined by another battle in Season 6).
The fact that Neil Marshall didn’t win – hell, wasn’t even nominated for – an Emmy for directing this episode is fucking criminal. The fact that he was brought in only a week before shooting commenced – after the previous director dropped out – and still managed to pull it off is insane. He deserves all of the Emmys, and probably a medal as well. And a tall bottle containing the spirit of his choice.
There are so many things to discuss about this triumph of an hour, but for now I’ll be superficial and say I will never get tired of watching the wildfire explosion. I had no idea that it was going to be that impressive. It still wows me to this very day.
The only problem with this masterpiece is that those thrice-damned Lannisters won!
This episode is one of my favourites. Like many here, I just adore the scene where Cersei tells Tommen a story.
Like the review said, there are good and bad people on both sides, and even if you hate the Lannisters and love Stannis, you couldn’t help but fear when you realise that Tommen, who is just a child, will be killed as well, and that the women of the city will be raped. With all the discussion about sexual violence on game of thrones, I still think the several mentions to it are important. Both when we discuss fantasy worlds and real events, we seem to forget it’s not good x evil and that’s what happens in a war. How many decades had passed before we could discuss what happened to Italian or German women after WWII, because they were in the “losing side”? Or the bombings of cities like Naples or Dresden by the allies, with the explicit goal of provoking panic between civilians?
Like Jorah said, ” that’s good and evil in both sides of every way ever fought”, and we can already see the in the blackwater.
I probably didn’t enjoy this episode as much as most, simply because Martin made Cersei too vicious for my tastes. She didn’t fit how I thought of her based on the rest of the season. I’m glad he stopped writing for the show.
That explosion was nice, though.
Tremendous Ep
Despite beheading Ned, at that point Joffrey wasn’t a lost cause as a king – he wanted to know what went on in the council, he thought Dany was a future threat. Even in S1 he acknowledged he was scared when Nymeria bit him. But in the end Joffrey made a terrible decision to abandon his men before battle. Like Theon executing Cassel, it was the point of no return. If only he had led the men as Tyrion advised. (Had he lived, Joffrey might have taken care of the Sparrows properly and avoided the mess Cersei made in S5.)
I really like that exchange between the two. It seemed like they were flirting with each other, almost.
Another Sansa moment I liked was when she went back to her room, and picked up the doll Ned gave her in S1, the one she rejected. Now, she finds comfort in it, like her father is still with her.
Other great moments: Tyrion’s inspiring speech, the Hound having a meltdown from his fear of fire, the wildfire explosion, and Cersei becoming totally unraveled as the episode went on.
Hi BryndenBFish! Thanks for the great recap! (Waves) 🙂
“Don’t feel sorry for it, it will be halfway up your ar*e before the night…”
Legendary episode. I still prefer Watchers on the Wall and Hardhome, but Blackwater is in my top 10.
I love drunk Cersei, she’s hilarious. Rory made such an impression too… I had to have a “f*ck the king” tshirt after that. Can’t say enough good things about this episode.
While season 2 is my least favorite one, Blackwater is still my favorite episode overall, closely followed by Hardhome and Watchers on the Wall.
I really liked the last moments before the battle, the rising tension, soldiers vomiting on the ship (which really reminded me of Saving private Ryan). When the bells started ringing, the whole athmosphere became more intense and then one of my favorite lines: “DRUMS!” Even Joffrey’s attitude completely changed. He was all cocky inside the Throne room but he actually got scared when he entered the night.
I think putting Stannis in the middle of the battle really defined his character. His face expression when he arrives at shore is just excellent. And there is “Stand and fight! Stand and fight, damn you. Nooo!” Like Donal Noye said: “Stannis is like iron. He will sooner break than bend.”
Also, this episode nearly doubled Sansa’s screentime of season 2. She was really sidelined in previous episodes and seemed more like a secondary character instead of a main one. This episode fixed it.
Tommen as a child… I really hope The Dragon Demands will change Tommen’s age on GoT Wiki which lists him as being 19 years old in season 6. That means he is the same age or even older than Sansa which is impossible in my opinion. Even from Dean Charles Chapman’s portrayal, I got a feeling that Tommen is still pretty young, certainly not older than 15. And the actor himself mentioned several times how “uncomfortable and disturbing” the wedding night was, because Margaery is much older than Tommen. The Dragon Demands apparently originated from the fact that Kevan Lannister called Cersei “Queen mother” not “Queen regent” and apparently he assumed that Tommen must already be 18 years old in season 5.
A fantastic episode. The først hæld hour (with the slow buil-up, the sense of impending doom and the brilliance of the wolf fire explosion itself) is one of the shows best sequenes. The second half isnt quite as utterly brilliant but it is still amazing. I particularly like the messyness of the battle, though towards the end (just before Tywin and Tyrells arive) the low budget shows, if only for a couple of minutes. In my opinion Balckwater is the third best of the shows three battles due to that one little complaint. Still, it is perhaps the best written of the three, with the heavy focus on the participants’ despair all the way through the battle; the hounds’ breakdown, Joffreys cowardice, the growing nervousness of Stannis’ men and Cerceis drunkness and growing fear inside Maegors Holdfast. And even visually, nothing has yet topped Stannis’ fleet exploding in green flame.
The weakest season, on of the strongest episodes.
The recap forgot my fav bit of dialogue…
Lancel: Your Grace, the Queen has sent me to bring you back to the Red Keep.
Tyrion: If you won’t defend your own city, why should they?
Joffrey: What would you have me do?
Tyrion: Lead! Get down there and lead your people against the invaders who want to kill them.
Joffrey: What did my mother say exactly? Did she have… urgent business with me? (pleasepleaseplease)
I know I’m in the minority here but “Blackwater” was never a reference episode for me and I really do not get all the rave about it. I truly appreciate all the magistral dialogue around Cersei’s drunken scenes and the epic Tyrion battle speech but other than that I just find it a fun average episode. Maybe the pacing of the battle does not work for me, I truly do not know, but I never got the chills like for “Watchers on the Wall”.
Oh well, we do not all respond to the same things and that’s probably better.
When I read the books afterwards, I really missed the chain element, as it put forward the ingenuity of Tyrion, more so than his braveness…
Seven hells, the wildfire scene in this episode is glorious. I usually have to rewind it a few times whenever I rewatch the episode. Perhaps I have a mild case of pyromania.
“Fifty feet high, a swirling demon of green flame danced upon the river. It had a dozen hands, in each a whip, and whatever they touched burst into fire.”
I simply love Roy Dotrice’s appearance in this episode.
He has no business being there. Hallyne is about 90 years old, isn’t exactly a warrior, and if the gates are breached by Stannis’s forces, he’s not exactly getting away easily.
So really, he’s there as a nod to Dotrice both being the guy who reads the books for audio, because he was first cast to play Pycelle, and because he’s so much fun in his first appearance.
So having him there to give Tyrion the torch (which any able-bodied soldier can do) is just more or less for fun. And also probably because unlike the others (Tyrion, who is horrified, the Hound, who is both horrified and mortally frightened, and Joffrey, who is surprised but glad for the outcome), Hallyne is visibly delighted at his creation, which makes him a crazy old coot of course. It’s great stuff.
house stork,
I love this.
Greatjon of Slumber,
Seconded. It’s a great payoff episode. We remember Hallyne’s love of wildfire from earlier, and when he shows up full of glee, you know horrible shit is about to go down.
Cersei, Stannis, Joffrey, Tyrion and the Hound’s reactions to the battle are so rooted in their characters. It comes off very naturally. It’s lovely to see the Hound stop being a killing machine, Cersei as a perverse Yoda, and Tyrion, who hates largescale murder, being good at it.
It’s my favorite chapter in the books because of the moment where Tyrion makes some calculations and decides he has to be outside the gates. And outside the gates is nothing but chaos.
KABOOM!
I love this episode, but I must admit, one aspect that bothers me is Stannis storming the walls of KL…. without so much as a helmet. I know. I know. This horse has been well and truly beaten. This is not a book deviation problem (I don’t typically get caught up in those). This is just…. dude. They are dropping huge rocks on you. Put a helmet on! (and for me, this is somehow different than “it’s cold, put on a hat”). Also, the charging Lannister cavalry and the Baratheon armies seemed a little thin………. this is really the only place in this episode I felt the constraints of the production budget. Overall, this is one helluva production for TV, and so many elements were so well placed- the tension building with the dialog, the score, the conflicts- really well done.
I love the hound, sansa, tyrion, cersei stuff. Joffrey. What a little bitch. FUCK THE KING!
This is probably my least favorite episode of season 2. Has nothing to do with the quality of it as I think the crew knocked it out of the park as usual, I just find myself less interested in the episodes where a full battle takes place. I felt the same about Watchers on the Wall and wasn’t as thrilled about Hardhome as everyone else.
One thing I noticed from watching this episode that I never noticed before was the burnt body hanging from the embankments which is briefly shown before the tavern scene with Bron and Sandor. Is this something from the book? It looked a lot like one of the burnt orphans hanging from Winterfell in the previous episodes.
Also, the technical achievement of this episode is enhanced even further when you realize that Jeremy Podeswa (directed 2 episodes in season 5 and season 6) had to drop out very late in the process due to personal reasons, and Neil Marshall took over with only 2 weeks till filming started I believe.
One way to retrofit it is to say it’s because he believes he’s the chosen one, protected by the Red God, fated to win. He thinks he can’t lose and is invincible.
This was a magnificent episode. It is one that I re-watch frequently. So many great moments: drunk Cersei; the Hound’s resignation speech; Sansa & Shae; Cersei & Tommen.
What a superb episode Blackwater was and I take my hat off to ‘BryndenBFish’ for such a well written and in-depth recap. A great walk down memory lane. He didn’t miss a thing! Wiki’s and other breakdowns of GoT episode 209 I’ve seen on the web pale in comparison to this one!
That little shite Joffrey was certainly full of himself before the start of the battle? Saying he would give Stannis a ‘red smile’ and getting Sansa to kiss his sword. He was only too pleased to leave when Lancel told him his mother wanted him to return to the safety of the keep. I had a chuckle on hearing that 😉
Tyrion’s speech to his men was brilliant and not forgetting The Hound’s “Fuck the Kingsguard. Fuck the city. Fuck the king.” which is reminiscent of a later episode when he and Arya confront Polliver, et al in that inn.
I just love The Hound and his dry sense of humor and hope to see him again in S6.
Lord Parramandas,
Wiki is wrong, simple as that.
Mr Fixit,
Doesn’t help that The Dragon Demands is pretty insane.
A superb episode, which I could watch (and have watched) over and over again, though I don’t recall Bronn’s lady friend having been clothed. 😉
Nicely done essay btw.
I’ll be in the minority with you. This episode is one of the ones I usually skip in my rewatches. While I love that the Hound finally breaks from the Lannisters, and chuckle at drunk Cersei being an awful hostess to the women under her “protection, for the most part I find it hard to enjoy an episode in which the Lannisters come out victorious.
I knew how the battle would end, but that didn’t stop me from yelling at my TV and at Cersei to drink that f*cking poison already and rid the kingdom of her reign of terror. And when the music swells and Tywin triumphantly enters declaring “We have won!” I always want to yell “f*ck you!”
And I agree with you about the pacing. It feels like forever for the battle to start and then all the going back and forth between the actual fighting and the women hiding turned an already ‘eh’ episode into ‘meh’. For an epic battle episode there sure was a lot of talking and milling about.
But different strokes for different folks.
My sympathies were entirely with Stannis. I really hated the Lannisters and wanted them to lose. I still wanted Stannis to defeat them in season 5.
I preferred Blackwater to Watchers on the Wall. It had a greater density of characters we cared about (partly because King’s Landing is so central to the show).
The only scene in the series in which Joffrey is partly humanized is when he’s conflicted over whether to leave the battle. He’s a mostly amoral person, but he knows that what he wants to do isn’t the right thing for the king to do. And even though Tyrion has disrespected and repeatedly slapped him, Joffrey actually does respect his judgement and desires his approval.