Baelor (12 Jun. 2011)

Robb goes to war against the Lannisters. Jon finds himself struggling on deciding if his place is with Robb or the Night's Watch. Drogo has fallen ill from a fresh battle wound. Daenerys is desperate to save him.

Director:

Alan Taylor

Writers:

David Benioff (creator), D.B. Weiss (creator),

Stars:

Sean Bean, Michelle Fairley, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Bean	...	Eddard 'Ned' Stark
Michelle Fairley	...	Catelyn Stark
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau	...	Jaime Lannister
Lena Headey	...	Cersei Lannister
Emilia Clarke	...	Daenerys Targaryen
Iain Glen	...	Jorah Mormont
Aidan Gillen	...	Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish
Kit Harington	...	Jon Snow
Richard Madden	...	Robb Stark
Sophie Turner	...	Sansa Stark
Maisie Williams	...	Arya Stark
Alfie Allen	...	Theon Greyjoy
Jack Gleeson	...	Joffrey Baratheon
Rory McCann	...	Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane
Peter Dinklage	...	Tyrion Lannister

Storyline

Sansa begs King Joffrey to spare her father's life. With his mother's support he agrees to spare him provided Ned publicly confesses that he is a traitor and recognizes him as the rightful king. Ned refuses at first but soon recognizes that the lives of his children are at stake and eventually agrees. Arya has eluded capture living in the town and scrounging for food. She goes to the square when she hears her father is to appear. What happens is something no child should have to witness. Tyrion arrives at his father's camp but the elder Lannister is dismissive of his diminutive son. He also tells him that he will be in the vanguard of the attack to take place the next day against Robb Stark's forces arriving from the north. For his part, Robb is proving to be an able field general and takes a Lannister prisoner. Daenerys finds she has little influence after Drogo falls ill and is unable to ride.

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Plot Keywords:

capture | prisoner | confession | loyalty | spear | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 June 2011 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Castle Ward, Strangford, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Television 360, Grok! Studio, Generator Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

57 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tyrion's story about Tysha is similar to its version in the novels, with several changes: according to the novels, Tyrion was thirteen at that time, not sixteen; Tysha was the orphaned daughter of crofter, not wheelwright's; after Tysha was gang-raped by the guards while Tyrion was forced to watch, his father forced him to be the last to take her.

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Quotes

Eddard Stark: You think my life is some precious thing to me? That I would trade my honor for a few more years... of what? You grew up with actors. You learned their craft and you learnt it well. But I grew up with soldiers. I learned to die a long time ago.
Lord Varys: Pity. Such a pity. What of your daughter's life, my lord? Is that a precious thing to you?

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Crazy Credits

The sun tells an important part of the series back story, on its panels. It does so in three segments. First, as the credits start up, the sun depicts how the Targaryens and their dragons conquered Westeros. The second time the sun is shown, a dragon is depicted in a mortal struggle with 3 other animals: The Stag, the Lion and the Wolf. It is a very literal way to show how Robert Beratheon and Ned Stark rebelled, with Tywin Lannister reluctantly supporting them, in the end. Finally, the third time the sun is shown, before the series title enter the scene, a lion (among other animals) is shown "kneeling" to a triumphant Stag. Just as Robert was crowned King after winning the war.

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Connections

Referenced in The Big Bang Theory: The Russian Rocket Reaction (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Main Title"
(uncredited)
Written and Performed by Ramin Djawadi

User Reviews

Could've been the finale, but what a game changer this episode was!

I have never been a big fan of fantasy/sci fi movies or TV shows. I haven't seen any of the Lord of the Ring movies (yea I know) but this series had everything going for it to attract a person like me towards the fantasy world. One hardly comes across a TV show so rich in terms of characters, themes and story lines. Right from the pilot episode, viewer can see a handful of stories running in parallel involving different houses (7 kingdoms) of a fantasy land (westeros) under The Iron Throne. The show is about the battles between these 7 houses for the hold of the throne. Being on HBO show has all the elements necessary for a blockbuster e.g. gore, violence, a lot of crude sex, bucket load of drama. The Show will get a lot of nominations in the next award season but I don't see it nicking the Best Drama at the Emmys. No doubt it was a visual treat just like the color coding of each character in season 4 of Breaking Bad. A few scenes were truly outstanding e.g. the dragons, eating a heart of a horse (yes, that happened), pouring boiling gold on someone's face, murdering a wolf cub, to name a few. For most viewers it was the finale and more specifically the last scene of the season the most moment astonishing moment of the series. However, the episode before was the epic game changer for the show. For those who haven't read the books, this was probably as jaw dropping as that scene from Breaking Bad. Ned Stark, the hero of the show, was portrayed as the noble, loyal, right hand of a corrupt king. The King truly trusted and believed in Ned's ability to rule over his kingdom after King's death; he put it down in writing that Ned will succeed him after his death. However, the queen and her accomplices had different plans. In this episode Ned is held captive by the prince (now the king and the most hated character on television) who later orders Ned's beheading. The beheading it self was filmed in a stunning way. Two of Ned's daughter witness the cruel act ordered by a teenager boy pretending to rule with an iron fist.