Episode: Blackwater Blackwater was a hyped episode that lived up to its hype in every sense of the word, creating an episode which should be considered a masterclass on television adaptation and directing. It cuts corners in the right places, and manages to create epic scale on a TV budget, which is something few in the industry ever accomplish. That this episode got made is an accomplishment in and of itself, but for the action to be this damn good was another accomplishment all of its own. This sequence brings the chaos of medieval warfare to the characters of Game of Thrones, who had only up until this point hinted at the kind of horrors a full-scale battle can bring. While the episode is most notable for it's effects and spectacle, it's real success is finding a way to remain grounded in the same world that is normally quite devoid of such massive battles. It does so by grounding the action in the actions of the characters, prioritising the strategic decisions Tyrion makes over the geographic staging of the whole affair (which can get vague at times). If there is anything that is distinctly odd about this sequence, it is that no major characters die in this massive battle, despite Game of Thrones being most notorious for killing main characters off. It wouldn't be too bad, but remember - this is the episode Stannis Baratheon literally led a charge against massed archers while posing on the brow of a rowboat, before being first over the battlements by the Mud Gate. How he didn't snuff it is one of life's great mysteries.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
