Tower of Babble Podcast

  • live
  • Listen
    • Tower of Babble
    • Small Screen Star Wars
  • Archive
    • Game of Thrones
    • Westworld
    • Watchmen
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • live
    • Tower of Babble
    • Small Screen Star Wars
    • Game of Thrones
    • Westworld
    • Watchmen
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • Contact

Blog

When not recording their podcast, the Tower of Babble Crew put pen to paper and put down their thoughts and opinions on some of the latest shows, movies and games for the ToB Blog.

  • All
  • Comics
  • Games
  • Misc
  • Movies
  • Podcast
  • TV
GOT.jpg

Game of Thrones S3E7: "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" Review

Daniel D'Souza May 13, 2013

Episode 7 was written by George R.R. Martin himself, this combined with it being so late in the season had me expecting more from this episode. Not a lot going on this episode other than a few developments in the Riverlands and a bunch of relationship stuff.

In another Jon-centric episode, we see the Wildlings on the south side of the Wall marching towards Castle Black. Orell explains to Jon that his and Ygritte's relationship can never work, as he will never understand her. Later on Orell makes a move on Ygritte, is rejected, and subsequently warns her that she won't love Jon after she sees his true colors. ​This plays on the couples existing insecurities and after Ygritte spends the entire episode mocking the southerners and their customs Jon confronts her and tells her that despite all that the Wildlings cannot win. While nothing is resolved and Ygritte tries to convince Jon to commit to her in the upcoming battle, the couple elects to live and be happy while they can.

​Catelyn and Brynden "the Blackfish" discuss their disdain for Walder Frey, as their being delayed by rain will insult the Lord of the Crossing. Later that evening King Robb finds out he's pregnant and is elated. It is very gratifying to witness a happy Stark family member for a change.

The eldest Stark daughter is less happy in King's Landing. Sansa confides in Margaery that she made some stupid, juvenile mistakes, after learning of her betrothal to Tyrion and the two proceed to cluck for what seems like a really long time but is actually only like 3 minutes.. i checked. I have no interest or patience for Sansa at this point. Tywin finally meets with King Joffrey and makes it clear he is the authority in the capital, Joffrey definitely cowers as Tywin ascends to the throne. While he cannot completely dismiss the young king neither does Lord Tywin back down from him, something Joffrey is not used to. Tywin also dismisses Joffrey's fears about the Targaryen girl in the east and her dragons.

Daenerys Stormborn of house Targaryen, Queen of the Andals and the First Men (and the Rhoynar), Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons is that girl, and she has made it her mission to free all the slaves along her way. Dany meets with an envoy from Yunkai and refuses his bribe while intimidating him with her dragons. Dany demonstrates that she is truly a scion of house Targaryen, unrelentingly taking charge of the negotiation and declaring war on the Yunkai'i. Before leaving the emissary warns of powerful friends who will aid them in their fight against Daenerys next episode potentially.

In a quick little scene Melisandre reveals to Gendry his parentage, not a huge surprise as the audience had already figured this much out, but the portent "There is power in king's blood." may not bode well for Gendry, or anyone else with "king's blood".​

​The Bear and the Maiden Fair

​The Bear and the Maiden Fair

Jaime promises Brienne that he will keep his word to Lady Stark and return the Stark girls, something his character would never have taken seriously before. After his maiming and his time with Brienne Jaime is remembering what it was like to be an honourable knight. After learning a bit more about Qyburn the disgraced maester Jaime races back to Harrenhal to rescue Brienne. Brienne is being forced to defend herself with only a wooden sword against a giant bear, and Jaime jumps in to the pit to save the "maiden fair". I doubt even Jaime knows exactly why he almost sacrificed his life for Brienne but this definitely shows that he isn't the smug, selfish man we first met in season 1.

Theon loses his junk aswell..

Again the Riverlands held the biggest developments, Arya's kidnapping, Robb's baby, Talisa's bum and Jaime's heroism. It still feels like things are just building up, but hopefully after they come to a head we can look back at this episode as necessary and maybe even worthwhile. This episode seemed to jump all over the place and yet get very little, other than relationship gossip, done... not my style.

InTV TagsGame of Thrones
  • Blog
  • Older
  • Newer
Subscribe

Support the Show

Become a Patron!
Donate


REcent Episodes

Featured
SSSW - Tales of the Underworld
Jun 5, 2025
SSSW - Tales of the Underworld
Jun 5, 2025

Lucasfilm Animation has been hard at work on their next major project, 'Maul: Shadow Lord', but they've found the time to deliver another installment in their "Tales of" anthology series. The first ones covering the Jedi and the Empire, they now turn their focus towards the Underworld. However, be warned, this is a bit of a misnomer. Don't expect any crime syndicates or really any large scale criminality here. These 2 mini-arcs instead focus on Asajj Ventress (I know, not the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions the Underworld) as she assists a young Jedi on the run from the Empire, and the origin story of Cad Bane. Which admittedly is closer in line with the criminal underworld concept, but is really more interested in telling a western style revenge story instead. All in all, despite the always great visuals and sound/music design, and few interesting ideas, there's not enough meat on the bone here to satisfy most viewers. But most disappointing is its failure to capitalize on the potential of the Underworld concept.

Read More →
Jun 5, 2025
SSSW/ToB Film Club - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
May 22, 2025
SSSW/ToB Film Club - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
May 22, 2025

It's hard to believe that 'Rogue One' premiered nearly a decade ago. At the time, it was fairly well received, considered to be a decent first step into the standalone Star Wars movies, if not a bit messy. As the years passed, we learned more about the production. Gareth Edwards, who retained sole directing credit, was assisted by Tony Gilroy to "fix" the project. Tony went so far as to call it a "corpse" when he came aboard for rewrites and reshoots. It was Tony's inclusion that brought us some of the movies most memorable moments, and ultimately led him to leading the charge on 'Andor', a prequel project that flew under the radar as hits like 'The Mandalorian' hogged the spotlight. With 'Andor' now complete, considered by many to be a masterpiece in storytelling, not just in Star Wars but on television in general, now is the most appropriate time to reexamine the movie that spawned the Cassian-centered prequel series with fresh eyes. 'Andor', which leads directly into the events of 'Rogue One' recontextualizes much of the film, creating a unique viewing experience that pays off a multitude of threads that are brilliantly laid over the two seasons of 'Andor'. It takes the movie, which was already pretty good, and makes it great. Now existing as part of a whole that weaves a cohesive narrative from the nascent moments of the Rebellion all the way through to the destruction of the Death Star in 1977 (the seed that begat ALL Star Wars, and what we appropriately align our Star Wars BBY calendars to). It all feels wholistic and considered when viewed from the broader perspective - an accomplishment that should set a shining example of what Star Wars can and should aspire to.

Read More →
May 22, 2025
SSSW - Andor S2 Finale
May 15, 2025
SSSW - Andor S2 Finale
May 15, 2025

After only 4 weeks - the blink of an eye - it's all over. The best Star Wars story since the Original Trilogy has graced our screens and left us in awe. These final three episodes weren't able to reach the emotional highs of last week's arc, but that wasn't the goal. Instead, it provides time to look back at what brought us here, and sets the stage for the climax of the story to take place not in this moment, but within the now recontextualized film that birthed all of this in the first place, 'Rogue One'. And while the show may carry Cassian's name on the title screen, it's been the cast of characters we've met along the way that truly elevated this experience. Not to pick favourites, but in particular, Luthen and Kleya, who get an episode all to themselves this week are the standouts. And what an episode it was, as their story which shepherded much of the series came to an end, as we all expected it would have to. Embracing those feelings of closure, in the final moments of the series, as Cassian flies off into 'Rogue One', we are treated to our last glimpses of our heroes and villains. From Dedra to Vel and even Perrin, we are left to consider their fates as the story marches with inevitability into what begat all of this way back in 1977. Will we ever see Kleya, Vel, Wilmon, or Bix again? One can only hope - and rebellions? Well, they're built on hope.

Read More →
May 15, 2025
SSSW - Andor S2 E7 - 9
May 9, 2025
SSSW - Andor S2 E7 - 9
May 9, 2025

When dealing in the world of prequels, it’s impossible to escape the inevitable - Anakin will fall, Han will win the Falcon, Cassian will die on Scarif. Somehow, in the midst of some of the most thrilling episodes of television ever put to screen, Tony Gilroy and his team found a way to address that impending doom and weaponize it against the audience to induce some of the most gut wrenching and heart breaking moments we’ve yet to see on ‘Andor’ - “There’s some place he needs to be”. At a larger scale, the show continues to outdo itself on a weekly basis, proving that the Star Wars galaxy provides a colour pallet of some of the richest hues from which to paint bold and personal stories. Proving you can go beyond the larger than life stories of heroics and grandeur to human stories of loss and pain and everything in between. That’s without mentioning the deft touch in pulling in themes that resonates with the contemporary while remaining timeless - a feeling that is a staple of Star Wars. Every detail is considered, every character is deep and interesting. There isn’t much more that can be said about such a powerful piece of art, except that not even the audience can escape the inevitable - only one week remains of this masterpiece.

Read More →
May 9, 2025

youtubetwitchfacebook-unauthtwitter-unauthapplepodcastspotify-unauthurl
  • About
  • Contact

Tower of Babble Podcast

We're a podcast network talking about the things you care about. Characters, places and events that aren't real... but are. Three friends chat about the goings on in geek news. Film and television are the focus with a variety of shows that also concentrate on gaming and comics.

, Winnipeg, Canada

youtubetwitchfacebook-unauthtwitter-unauthapplepodcastspotify-unauthurl
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Google+