The Children (Game of Thrones)

"The Children" is the tenth and final episode of the fourth season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 40th overall. The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss,^[1] and directed by Alex Graves.^[2] It aired on June 15, 2014.^[3]

Plot

Across the Narrow Sea

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) receives a citizen who wants to be sold back into slavery, as he knows no other way to live. Daenerys reluctantly grants his request, allowing him to form a contract with his former master that can last no longer than a year. The next citizen in line brings her the charred remains of his daughter, who was killed by Drogon, one of her dragons. While Drogon has not returned, she sadly chains her two other dragons away in the catacombs as a precaution.

Beyond the Wall

Jon Snow (Kit Harington) meets with the King-beyond-the-wall Mance Rayder (Ciarán Hinds), ostensibly to discuss an end to their conflict, although Jon actually plans to assassinate him. Their negotiations are cut short when they hear a horn blast, and a massive cavalry charge led by Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) overruns the wildling encampment. Mance surrenders to Stannis and Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham), and though Stannis thinks to kill him, Jon suggests taking him captive instead, as Mance once showed him similar mercy. After holding a funeral for the deceased brothers, Jon burns Ygritte's (Rose Leslie) remains north of the Wall, following Tormund's (Kristofer Hivju) request.

Further north, Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and his companions reach their destination: the large Heart Tree seen in Jojen Reed's (Thomas Brodie Sangster) vision. Upon approaching the tree, they are set upon by a group of undead. Though Jojen is killed in the attack, Bran, Hodor (Kristian Nairn), and Meera Reed (Ellie Kendrick) are saved by a Child of the Forest (Octavia Selena Alexandru). The child takes the group into the cave under the Heart Tree to meet an old man sitting amongst tree roots (Struan Rodger), who tells Bran that while he will never be able to walk again, he will be able to fly.

In King's Landing

Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) lies dying from Prince Oberyn's poisoned spear. Qyburn (Anton Lesser) believes that he can save Clegane, while Grand Maester Pycelle (Julian Glover) disagrees. Despite Pycelle's protests, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) ousts him from his laboratory and gives Clegane's care over to Qyburn who cautions Cersei that, while he may be able to save Clegane, the procedure may "change" him.

Afterwards, Cersei tells her father, Tywin (Charles Dance), that if forced to marry Loras Tyrell, she will admit her incestuous relationship with Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), and that her children are the issue of such.

In the dungeon, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) awaits his execution, but Jaime appears and helps him escape. They say their farewells in the underground escape tunnel, but Tyrion instead uses a small hidden passage to sneak into the Tower of the Hand. He finds Shae (Sibel Kekilli) in his father Tywin's bed. Shae, suspecting Tyrion of malicious intent, tries to fight him. Tyrion has no choice but to defend himself and ends up having to strangle her. Mortified, Tyrion then confronts Tywin on the privy and fatally shoots him with a crossbow. Tyrion then escapes on a ship bound for Essos with help from Varys (Conleth Hill). After hearing the bells in the castle raising the alarm, Varys decides to board the ship as well.

In the Vale

Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and her squire, Podrick Payne (Daniel Portman), lose their horses as they make their way toward the Eyrie. They happen across Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and the Hound, Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann). Brienne deduces Arya's identity and tells her of her oath to her mother, Catelyn Stark, but the Hound is unconvinced of her loyalties, pointing out her Lannister sword and the matter quickly comes to blows. After a brutal brawl, Brienne knocks the Hound off a cliff, and unsuccessfully searches for Arya. After they leave, Arya emerges from hiding and finds the Hound badly injured. Though he begs her for death, she instead takes his money and leaves him to die. Traveling by horse to a harbor, she buys passage on a ship bound for Braavos with the coin Jaqen H'ghar gave to her.

Production

Writing

This episode contains content from two of George Martin's novels, A Storm of Swords, chapters Jon X, part of Jon XI, Jaime IX, Tyrion XI, and Arya XIII, and A Dance with Dragons, chapters Daenerys I, Daenerys II, and Bran II.^[4]

Reception

Television ratings

"The Children" was watched by 7.09 million Americans during its premiere hour, a 32% increase from the previous season finale.^[5]

Critical reception

The episode received universal acclaim. All 36 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were positive, with the site's consensus reading, "Capping off the best season of Game of Thrones to date, "The Children" provides enough satisfying plot developments for a finale, while its twists and turns leave you wanting more."^[6]

IGN writer Matt Fowler called it a "strong seasonal send-off with tons of violent twists, and turns."^[7] Sean T. Collins of Rolling Stone wrote, "Sometimes Game of Thrones is a widescreen epic fantasy, other times it's a small-scale study of violent lives. At its best – and "The Children" is certainly this show at its wide and wild best – Game of Thrones is all of these things, simultaneously."^[8] TVLine named Rory McCann and Gwendoline Christie the "Performers of the Week" for their physical acting in their fight sequence, and wrote that it "was one of the finest examples of the form in recent TV history – absolutely too epic to ignore.^[9]

Piracy

The episode set a BitTorrent record with about 1.5 million downloads within 12 hours and set a record for 250,000 users sharing the file at the same time.^[10]

Accolades

The episode won two Creative Arts Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special and Outstanding Special and Visual Effects.^[11] David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were nominated for the 2014 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for this episode.^[12] For this episode, Alex Graves was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series.^[13]

Omission of Lady Stoneheart

After the episode premiered, some fans of the novel series voiced their displeasure over the omission of Lady Stoneheart, a character from the end of A Storm of Swords.^[14][15] This was in part fueled by a photo posted to Instagram two months earlier by actress Lena Headey that many fans assumed was a confirmation of the character's inclusion in the finale.^[16][17] A day later, director Alex Graves stated that the character was never planned to appear in the fourth season, and that he didn't know whether she would appear in the fifth.^[18][19][20]

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actress Michelle Fairley stated that the character may not ever be included in the TV series, though she did not give a definite confirmation either way.^[21]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Children

• "The Children" at HBO.com
• "The Children" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Children" at TV.com