Instantly continuing where we left off, "What Is Dead May Never Die" is calming the audience after a what I thought to be supremely ominous cliffhanger in the previous episode. Jon Snow is alright and Samwell gets to have his romantic moment. Sort of. Meanwhile, we have Catelyn starting her negotiations with the charismatic gay king Renly, a character that I'm very pleased to see again, Tyrion proving that he is a really smart cookie, and Theon having to decide which side of his two families he's on. And last but not least, there is a small but powerful battle scene at the end of the episode involving Arya.
What stands out in this episode is clearly the way Tyrion, the new Hand of the King, detects Cersei's snitch – a method thoroughly entertaining to watch if you haven't read the books. Even if so, I'm sure you'll find pleasure in watching Peter Dinklage outshine everyone in the same room with him. I, however, found some flaws in Sansa encountering Shae for the first time, a scene that obviously needed more takes, in my humble opinion. Another con was Theon confronting his father, which didn't felt genuine and quite nondescript to watch. I simply dislike the whole idea of him coming back to Pyke and none of the scenes until this point as well as none of the scenes in the next two episodes (I've already seen them) made change my opinion about that.
In the end, those two things didn't bother me a lot because as usual, the good stuff was predominant and I had great fun with the introduction of Margaery Tyrell in particular. Natalie Dormer is an utterly talented young actress who manages to keep her character interesting not only in a sexual sense (she's still hot, though). Gwendoline Christie does a fine job as Brienne of Tarth yet I have the same issue as with the Theon story part: I don't like the original idea by George R. R. Martin. The other returning cast members, Gethin Anthony and Finn Jones, sustain their good performances from season one while still keeping their relationship juicy.
Altogether, this makes for some entertaining 50 minutes filled with the usual good acting, pretty set design, well-written dialogs, great score, and a final scene just as enthralling as the ones in the first two episodes.
What stands out in this episode is clearly the way Tyrion, the new Hand of the King, detects Cersei's snitch – a method thoroughly entertaining to watch if you haven't read the books. Even if so, I'm sure you'll find pleasure in watching Peter Dinklage outshine everyone in the same room with him. I, however, found some flaws in Sansa encountering Shae for the first time, a scene that obviously needed more takes, in my humble opinion. Another con was Theon confronting his father, which didn't felt genuine and quite nondescript to watch. I simply dislike the whole idea of him coming back to Pyke and none of the scenes until this point as well as none of the scenes in the next two episodes (I've already seen them) made change my opinion about that.
In the end, those two things didn't bother me a lot because as usual, the good stuff was predominant and I had great fun with the introduction of Margaery Tyrell in particular. Natalie Dormer is an utterly talented young actress who manages to keep her character interesting not only in a sexual sense (she's still hot, though). Gwendoline Christie does a fine job as Brienne of Tarth yet I have the same issue as with the Theon story part: I don't like the original idea by George R. R. Martin. The other returning cast members, Gethin Anthony and Finn Jones, sustain their good performances from season one while still keeping their relationship juicy.
Altogether, this makes for some entertaining 50 minutes filled with the usual good acting, pretty set design, well-written dialogs, great score, and a final scene just as enthralling as the ones in the first two episodes.