Kissed by Fire
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"Kissed by Fire" is the fifth episode of the third season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 25th episode of the series. Directed by Alex Graves and written by Bryan Cogman, it aired on April 28, 2013.
Plot
In King's Landing
Queen Cersei (Lena Headey) asks Lord Baelish (Aiden Gillen) for assistance in ridding King's Landing of the Tyrells, whom she claims do not hold the Crown's best interests at heart. Later, Lady Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Lady Margaery (Natalie Dormer) watch Ser Loras (Finn Jones) practicing his swordplay. After the practice, Loras and his squire, Olyvar (Will Tudor), have sex. Unbeknownst to Loras, Olyvar is a spy for Lord Baelish and reports to him the Tyrells' plan to marry off Sansa. Baelish then meets with Sansa to discuss their journey to the Vale, but she tells him that she wants to stay in King's Landing.
Elsewhere, Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) has a meeting with Lady Olenna (Diana Rigg) regarding the rising cost of the royal wedding. She agrees to pay for half of the wedding, which Tyrion takes to his father, Lord Tywin (Charles Dance). Tywin tells Tyrion that he has learned of the Tyrells' plot to marry Sansa to Loras, and that he intends to act first by having Tyrion wed Sansa. Tyrion objects, but to no avail. Cersei is pleased by her brother's discomfort at the notion, until Tywin tells her that she will be wed to Ser Loras.
At Dragonstone
Queen Selyse Baratheon (Tara Fitzgerald) is visited by her husband, King Stannis (Stephen Dillane), who admits his infidelity to her. He is surprised when she tells him that Melisandre has told her everything, and that she not only has no issue with it, but encourages it, as service to the Lord of Light. Stannis then visits with his daughter, Princess Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram). When she asks about the battle and Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham), Stannis tells her that Davos has been imprisoned for treason. Later, Shireen sneaks down to the dungeons to visit Davos and bring him a book, but Davos admits to her that he is illiterate. She begins teaching him to read, using a book on Aegon I's conquest of Westeros.
In the Riverlands
Thoros (Paul Kaye) leads the Brotherhood in prayer before Lord Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) and the Hound Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann) begin their trial by combat. Dondarrion lights his sword on fire, frightening the Hound, due to his pyrophobia. The Hound soon overpowers Dondarrion and kills him. When Arya (Maisie Williams) moves to kill the Hound, she is stopped by Gendry (Joe Dempsie). The three are then astounded to find that Dondarrion has been resurrected by Thoros, who frees the Hound, accepting that the judgement by battle has proved his innocence. Later, Arya finds Gendry repairing Dondarrion's armor, and he tells her that he intends to stay with the Brotherhood and work for them as a smith. After leaving Gendry, Arya talks with Thoros about taking her to Riverrun, before Dondarrion joins them. Thoros tells Arya that the Lord of Light has resurrected Dondarrion six times.
At Riverrun, Lord Rickard Karstark (John Stahl) and his men slay the captive Lannister boys. King Robb (Richard Madden) captures them and then orders Karstark be locked in the dungeon, and his men who assisted him be hanged. When he orders Karstark be killed for his treason, Queen Talisa (Oona Chaplin), Lady Catelyn (Michelle Fairley), and Lord Edmure (Tobias Menzies) beg him to hold Karstark prisoner, to keep the Karstark men loyal to their cause. However, Robb personally executes Karstark. With the Karstarks abandoning him, Robb tries to plan a strategy for continuing the war against the Lannisters. He then tells Talisa that his new plan is to attack Casterly Rock, the home of the Lannisters, and to make up for the lost Karstark forces, he intends to forge an alliance with Lord Walder Frey; the man who controls the Twins, and whose daughter he was to marry in exchange for letting his army cross on their way to rescue Robb's Father, Eddard.
At Harrenhal, Locke (Noah Taylor) delivers his prisoners, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), to Lord Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton). Bolton, furious that his men have maimed a valuable hostage, frees Brienne and orders his men to take Jaime to see Qyburn (Anton Lesser), a maester who was stripped of his chain. Qyburn treats what remains of Jaime's right forearm. Later, Jaime is taken to the baths, where Brienne is already bathing. Jaime then tells her of Robert's Rebellion, the "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen, and the Mad King's plot to burn all of King's Landing using hidden stores of wildfire all over the city that the pyromancers have hidden at his command. Jaime reveals that he slew the Mad King to save the city and its people.
Beyond the Wall
Orell pries information about the Wall patrols from Jon (Kit Harington). Jon says that there are a thousand men left guarding the Wall and Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) threatens to kill him if he lies. Shortly afterward, Ygritte (Rose Leslie) steals Jon's sword and has him chase her into a cave, where she convinces him to break his vows and have sex with her.
Across the Narrow Sea
While on the march, Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) and Ser Barristan Selmy (Ian McElhinney) discuss the siege of Pyke during Balon Greyjoy's rebellion against the throne. Jorah pries into Barristan's motives for joining Daenerys's cause, trying to discover if Barristan is aware that when he joined Daenerys he was working for Robert Baratheon and his Small Council.
Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) assembles the officers for her Unsullied army. The officers have selected Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) as their leader. She tells them that they are free to choose their own names, but Grey Worm tells her that he will keep his current name, as it is the one he had when she liberated the Unsullied.
Production
Writing
"Kissed by Fire" is the third episode in the series written by the co-producer and executive story editor Bryan Cogman, after the first season's "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" and the second's "What Is Dead May Never Die". Cogman is the member of the writing team entrusted with keeping the show's bible and mapping the story arcs with those of the original books for each season.
The sections of George R. R. Martin's novel A Storm of Swords adapted in the episode include parts from chapters 20, 21, 27, 32, 35, 38 and 40 (Tyrion III, Catelyn III, Jon III, Jaime IV, Arya VI, Jaime V, and Arya VII).[1]
The scenes with Stannis' wife and daughter were written to present the characters, whose introduction had been delayed in the show since the begining of season 2. The idea of queen Selyse conserving the fetuses of her stillborn sons in glass, absent in the orginal novels, was a notion that Cogman came up with while writing the episode.[2]
Cogman enjoyed that the episode he was assigned to write included several fan-favorite scenes, and involved a lot of material with the child actors: "The kids are always my favorite characters to write... Maybe it’s because I’m so fond of the actors who play them, and I’ve watched them grow up for the past four years."[3] He wrote all the Arya scenes before starting with the other storylines.
Initially the episode did not include any scene with Daenerys, but early in pre-production some scenes originally written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for the next episode were more moved into the script. The confrontation between Jon Snow and Orell was written and included by Benioff and Weiss later during production.[4]
Casting
The episode introduces Stannis' family with actresses Tara Fitzgerald and Kerry Ingram as queen Selyse Baratheon and princess Shireen Baratheon, respectively. Selyse had briefly appeared in the first season 2 episode during the burning of the gods at the Dragonstone beach, played by an uncredited extra. Jacob Anderson also debuts playing Grey Worm, the commander of the Unsullied.
Starring cast members Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran), Jack Gleeson (Joffrey), Alfie Allen (Theon), Sibel Kekilli (Shae), John Bradley (Samwell), Conleth Hill (Varys), and Jerome Flynn (Bronn) do not appear in the episode and are not credited.
Filming locations
Most of the episode was shot in the sets built in The Paint Hall studios at Belfast. Also at Northern Ireland, the Pollnagollum cave at Belmore Forest was used to film parts of the hideout of the Brotherhood, and the gardens of Gosford Castle served as the Riverrun exteriors where Lord Karstark was beheaded.[5]
The scenes with Daenerys were filmed at Morocco, and the ones with Jon at Iceland. The Wildlings camp was built by the shores of lake Mývatn, with its distinctive vertical lava formations clearly seen. The nearby grotto where Jon and Ygritte have sex is cave Grjótagjá. The thermal water pool is actually used for bathing and is a popular tourist attraction.[6]
Finally, two Croatian exteriors appear in the episode: the conversation between Cersei and Littlefinger takes place at the inner terrace of Fort Lovrinejac, and Littlefinger's later visit to Sansa was filmed at the Trsteno Arboretum.
Reception
Ratings
"Kissed by Fire" set a new ratings record for the series, with 5.35 million viewers for its first airing and a 2.8 share of adults aged 18 to 49.[7]
Critical reception
"Kissed by Fire" received positive critical reviews after airing. IGN's Matt Fowler gave "Kissed by Fire" a 9.5/10, his highest rating of the season, writing "No dragons this week, but Game of Thrones still gave us some of its best material ever."[10] Reviewing for The A.V. Club, David Sims gave the episode an "A–", commenting on how despite the lack of shocking moments like those of the last episode, the show delivers quality in its slower, dialogue-driven scenes.[8] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+".[9] Sean T. Collins of the Rolling Stone magazine also gave an overwhelmingly positive review, calling it a "nearly flawless" episode, praising especially Maisie Williams' acting in the scenes with Arya and the Brotherhood. [12]
References
- ^ Garcia, Elio. "EP305:Kissed by Fire". Westeros.org. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ "Interview With Bryan Cogman". HBO. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ Zalben, Alex (2 October 2012). "Interview: Bryan Cogman On 'Inside HBO's Game of Thrones,' And Season Three". MTV Geek. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
- ^ "Ask a GoT Writer: Bryan Cogman on the writing process, Robb and Talisa, and Renly's peach". WinterIsComing.net. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
- ^ "Day 26: Gosford Castle as Riverrun". WinterIsComing.net. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ "More on Game of Thrones filming in Iceland". Eeykjavik Travel. 16 November 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ Bibel, Sara (April 30, 2013). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Game of Thrones' Wins Night, NBA Playoffs, 'Vikings', 'The Client List', 'Mad Men', 'Veep' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
- ^ a b Sims, David (April 28, 2013). ""Kissed by Fire" (for newbies)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
- ^ a b VanDerWerff, Todd (April 28, 2013). ""Kissed by Fire" (for experts)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 29, 2013.
- ^ a b Fowler, Matt (28 April 2013). "Crow Patrol". IGN. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ Power, Rob (29 April 2013). "Game Of Thrones 3.05 "Kissed By Fire" REVIEW". SFX. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/game-of-thrones-recap-perfect-game-20130429