I would first like to admit that when I saw the title of the episode, I laughed and began to sing “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus. Everybody now… “It’s the climbbbbbbbbbbbbbb”.

So, without further ado, I shall just go straight into my recap train and ride away into the snowy plains and up The Wall. God, that’s so lame.

Beyond The Wall

Sam was setting up fire to camp in the middle of the forest in the dark cold winter’s night with Gilly and her son after escaping the chaos in the past episode. Poor Sam didn’t really know how to set up the fire until Gilly told him to remove one of the logs. He admitted to not knowing how to since it was set up by the servants back home. He then showed Gilly a dagger that he found at the Fist of the First Men and told her the story of Castle Black and sang a song for Gilly and the baby. How sweet. But I don’t really think it’s the best idea to actually flee to The Wall, Sam.

The Wildlings meanwhile prepared to climb up The Wall but Jon looked a little scared. As he was preparing himself for the climb (“It’s the climbbbbbbbbbbbbb”), Ygritte commented that he’s loyal and brave, which means he’s still loyal to the Night’s Watch. But she’s his lover now and he must be loyal to her because the Night’s Watch and The Wildlings didn’t care if either of them die. She asked for him to never betray her and he promised.

They then began climbing up The Wall but it proved to be difficult when a little chunk of The Wall broke and fell, hitting Jon, who then fell but the rope held on and saved his life. They continued climbing but later, Ygritte strike a part of The Wall, which began to crack and broke apart, leaving a mass of people falling to their death. The rope saved both Ygritte and Jon but left them hanging without any Wall to secure them. To save himself, Orell cut the rope that was securing both Jon and Ygritte. But before he completely cut loose the rope, Jon managed to secure himself to a part of The Wall and saving Ygritte in return. He pulled Ygritte to safety and continued climbing up The Wall, reaching the top safely. What greeted them at the top was a beautiful sight beyond The Wall. Jon helped Ygritte up and showed her the other side of The Wall, which was the North where he came from. They then kissed. Awwww… so romantic. Is it just me or the song in the background sounds so much like Lord of the Rings soundtrack? 

In The North

Meera was skinning rabbits (okay, I can’t watch. Bunnieeeessss…) when Osha mocked her for the way she skinned them. Osha then showed how she skinned the rabbits. And then they began to argue before Bran diffused the tension by saying: “You’re both good at skinning rabbits.” I started to laugh. I don’t know why it’s funny but it is. The ladies continued to argue until Bran told them to stop or they couldn’t get to The Wall if they continued. Hmmm… I don’t know if The Wall is a great idea right now although Jon would be there so I guess Bran would be saved? Anyway, Meera and Osha ended their argument amicably but was interrupted by Jojen having a fit during his sleep. Meera explained that his visions can take a toll on him. Jojen woke up and told Bran he saw Jon on the “wrong side of The Wall, surrounded by enemies”. Oh that’s not a good sign.

Somewhere else in the North, the cleaning boy (whom now I recognized as the guy from Misfits) woke Theon up from his slumber and continued to torture him. He first threw away the water that Theon clearly thirsted for and then decided to play a game with Theon by getting him to guess who he was and where they were or he would skin off one of his fingers. Well, I don’t know which is – The Hunger Games or this. This is gonna be painful to watch. We were led on to believe that the cleaning boy was one of the Karstarks and since he’s a Karstark, who was following Robb Stark, he was there to torture Theon because Theon betrayed the Starks and tried to kill Bran and Rickon. But no, the cleaning boy was lying and skinned off one of his fingers. Ouch ouch ouchhhhhhh!

Somewhere in Riverlands

Arya was practising her shots with the bow and arrow, which was apparently wrong. So the awesome archer whom I’m gonna call Robin Hood, taught her how to use it properly when she saw someone coming into their camp from behind her target. It was revealed to be Melisandre who came to speak to Thoros in Valyrian. Interesting. Thoros brought her to Beric and she was shocked to learn that he was brought back from death by Thoros six times. It was revealed to us, well at least me since I paid less attention to this and I didn’t read the book, that Thoros was a priest of Lord of Light. Say what? He told the story of how he first saved Beric even though he didn’t believe in Lord of Light because he wanted to save his friend. Okayyyy. Melisandre asked if Beric’s been to the “other side” but he replied that there was no “other side” except darkness and asked what she came to them for. Melisandre replied that they had someone Lord of Light needed, who was apparently Gendry. Wait what? No! Arya tried to tell Beric and Thoros to stop her and told them he wanted to join them but they refused because of the gold they were given. Arya called her a witch but Melisandre turned and told her she’s full of darkness and they will meet again. Why so cryptic? Arya couldn’t do anything but watch her friend being sent away with Melisandre. Poor Arya. I know why they took Gendry. He’s King Robert’s son, if anyone remembered. Sigh. I hope Arya and Gendry meet again.

In Riverrun, Robb held a meeting with two men of Lord Walder Frey. They came with a message that Lord Walder Frey would agree to an alliance with Robb if he would agree to his terms, which are a formal apology for not marrying one of his daughters (seriously?), Harrenhal and all of its lands, and for his uncle to marry one of his daughters, Roslin (seriously?). They needed Robb’s answer before they left or the alliance would be over. His granduncle mockingly asked if Lord Walder Frey knew they were at war (that’s what I thought) but the men replied that he’s old and his only concern was to see one of his daughters wed. Robb asked to discuss this in private and tried to convince his uncle to marry Roslin. His uncle refused but Robb told him that without the alliance, he would lose the war no matter how many battles he had won before. Finally, his uncle relented and Robb thanked him for sacrificing this for him. Yeah… so now you have Lord Walder Frey’s men. Yippee! Now what?

In Harrenhal, Brienne and Jaime were brought in for a meal with Lord Bolton but Jaime clearly had difficulty eating with his left hand until Brienne helped him with it. Awwww… By the way, I’m so used to seeing Brienne in her armour that her in a dress threw me off a little.  Anyway, Brienne told Lord Bolton that she’s acting on Catelyn’s behalf to return Jaime to King’s Landing but Lord Bolton told her that when Robb left Harrenhal, Catelyn was his prisoner for committing treason. Lord Bolton then told them he could have returned them both to Robb. Jaime then asked why he didn’t instead. Yeah, that’s my question. After much talking back and forth, Lord Bolton agreed to let Jaime return to King’s Landing once he’s well enough as a restitution for the mistakes his men made if he swore to tell Lord Tywin that he had nothing to do with Jaime’s maiming. Jaime assumed that Brienne was going to leave with him but Lord Bolton was going to keep her in Harrenhal for abetting treason. What? Jaime insisted but was refused. Oh dear.

King’s Landing

Lord Tywin met with Lady Olenna to discuss about getting Loras to marry Cersei but Lady Olenna refused. Lord Tywin then told her about Loras being gay but Lady Olenna knew all along and asked whether Lord Tywin had never been there when he was young and he denied. This whole conversation reminded me of an LGBTQ debate in real life. Anyway, Lady Olenna said that while homosexuality was okay in Highgarden, incest did not. Lord Tywin tried and tried but Lady Olenna still refused to marry Loras to Cersei but that’s until he told her that if she refused, he would make Loras the King’s Guard and he would never marry and have children, which would make the Tyrell’s name fade away and Highgarden would go to Joffrey’s and Margaery’s children, which would make it Lannister’s. Lady Olenna finally relented. Oh damn.

Meanwhile, Sansa was trying to get acquainted with Loras but it was super awkward and I was having second-hand embarrassment from this scene. Loras told Sansa of his dream of having a wedding and complimented Sansa for being a beautiful bride (or going to be or not). He then asked Sansa whether she had ever been to Highgarden but Sansa told him that she had never been out of Winterfell until King’s Landing and couldn’t wait to leave the place. Loras agreed that it’s a horrible place to be and left hand in hand with Sansa.

Cersei and Tyrion watched the whole exchange in the garden. Tyrion wondered who would be the most miserable one between the four of them. After comparing who would be the most miserable between them, Tyrion accused Cersei of trying to get him killed even though he helped them win the battle against Stannis. But the silence from Cersei got him to realize that it was Joffrey who ordered for his murder. He then asked Cersei if he was still in danger with Joffrey but she told him it was not Joffrey he should be worried about if he’s still in danger. Tyrion then told her that she would be saved when Jaime returned but she wondered if he would ever since they didn’t know where he was. But Tyrion couldn’t be saved either way. Poor Tyrion.

Afterwards, Sansa was trying out her dress for Joffrey’s wedding when Tyrion came to visit her and wanted to talk to her in private but Sansa insisted that Shae could stick around. Tyrion then reluctantly told her that she would not be married to Loras but to him. We didn’t know how she reacted to that but we did see her sobbing as she watched the ship sailed away. She could never leave King’s Landing and her only hope lies on her brother.

Elsewhere in King’s Landing, Lord Varys found Littlefinger by the throne and played their mocking game. Littlefinger revealed that he stopped Lord Varys’ plan of marrying Sansa to Loras. He also revealed that he knew Ros was Lord Varys’ informant for all of his plans and we were shown Joffrey killing Ros with his crossbow. Lord Varys told Littlefinger that he did what he did for the good of the realm. And the scene ended with a great dialogue from Littlefinger, I have to say: “Chaos is a ladder. Many who tried to climb it failed, never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some were given a chance to climb but they refused. They cling to the realm, or the Gods, or love. Illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is.”

So that’s the end of the episode. It was okay for me. It started off quite slow but it ended off really well there with the dialogue and the scene at the end when Jon and Ygritte looked to the North. There are a lot of questions now but I’m sure it will be answered sooner or later. I said it before and will say it again now, Game of Thrones is like a chess game. You will see things change each episode and will keep us guessing who will win this war. It’s anybody’s game.