Game Of Thrones Recap: Reviews And Richard Madden’s Take On The ‘Red Wedding’

“Whoah … ” That’s about all there is to say about last night’s episode of Game ofThrones, the penultimate of Season 3 titled “The Rains of Castamere.” If you haven’t watched this devastating, albeit crucial episode of the series, don’t read on. There are heavy spoilers ahead.

Fans of George R. R. Martin’s book series probably knew from the title “The Rains of Castamere” exactly what was to happen in last night’s episode. Fans of the TV show might have figured it out from the show’s formula: The second-to-last episode of each season is usually the busiest and most exciting, while the season finale sets up all the pieces for the next season.

Last night, the event known in Thrones mythos as “The Red Wedding” was finally depicted on screen. The long-awaited sequence, said by showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss to be the scene that inspired them to chase the rights for a TV adaptation, was indeed extremely difficult to watch. Knowing what was coming well before the episode aired, Istill hid under my couch blanket like a little girl.

But I’ll try my best not to spoil the episode for you, and rather sort through the Internet for reactions to it. Most critics, while applauding the episode as the finest of the season, were pretty speechless.

IGN‘s Matt Fowler began his review with: “And you thought last episode’s wedding was awkward… Man. Just, man. Still shaking.” For The Daily Beast, Jace Lacob confirmed “Yes, that actually did just happen” but called the Red Wedding “crucial for the series.”

For folks who have never read the books, David Sims of the A.V. Clubis right there with you, admitting, “I don’t think I’ve really processed what I just watched.”

So who do we turn to for answers about last night’s episode? How about actor Richard Madden, who has played Robb Stark since the beginning? He sat down with Rolling Stone and talked a bit about his character’s shocking death:

“I mean, it’s horrible, obviously. I don’t have any bitterness to it because I think Robb Stark dying in that way is one of the best things that HBO does so beautifully and Game of Thrones does so beautifully, which is just to rip these characters’ hearts out in front of you.

“It’s hard, and yeah, maybe it would have been better for Robb to die gloriously on the battlefield or something else like that. But this is such a – it’s so sudden and violent and horrible. The way that I’ve tried to build Robb Stark up, and the way that the writers have done, there’s no other way we could have killed him, because he is great on the battlefield, and despite his very poor choices, he is a great leader, and I think a lot of people would stick up for him and watch his back. Even in episode nine, they try to, and get slaughtered along the way.

“I feel it’s a really apt death because he’s been outsmarted, and it all comes from his good heart and his trust of other people, his trust that people will do the right thing and not just destroy each other like they do.”

Now it’s full-speed ahead into “Mhysa,” the season finale, and hopefully less than a year before Game of Thrones Season 4. And for those of you who thought the Red Wedding was over, there’s probably still more suffering to be seen in the next episode. There is the matter of what they do to Robb Stark’s body (it’s horrible, by the way) and the disposal/discovery of Catelyn’s body by a familiar character.

Are you a fan of Game of Thrones? What did you think of last night’s episode?

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