1. The Blackfish. Tonight, we open on a funeral that’s nearly botched. It’s one of those ancient, send-you-off-on-a-boat-downriver Viking kind of funerals, where a guy lights the boat on fire with a burning arrow. But for a long, silent, awkward 2 minutes, we watch the guy whose job it is to light up the floating pyre extinguish his arrows with useless splashes into the river. After three failed attempt, the Blackfish (as he’s called) exasperatedly rips the bow out of the incompetent archer’s hand and carries out the job himself with one try. In a world that’s always gambling between life and death, this is an "Office" like moment of awkwardness.
2. Tyrion. This week’s writer and director David Benioff really seems to like his long, long silences. Even when he’s silent, Tyrion manages to say quite a bit. Tonight, his father Tywin gathers him, his sister, and various other holders of high office for a brief conference. Waxing dramatic, Tywin says nothing, staring them all down with his pitiless eyes. Tyrion decides to readjust himself. Standing up, he slowly drags his chair to the head of the table opposite his father. That awful sound chairs make against floors ensues with Tyrion never breaking eye contact with his father.
3. Theon. This week we’re also treated to a horse chase sequence, without any dialogue. It’s not exactly silent, but it’s a well-executed bit of action that plays with our expectations of tone. One moment it’s almost light-hearted adventuring, with Theon and his pursuers dodging tree limbs battling on horseback, but by the end, it dips into creepy "Deliverance" territory.
4. Arya/Hotpie. Learning how to use the power of death hasn’t done much for Arya in the way of making friends. So when it comes time to tell Hotpie goodbye, she doesn’t really know what to say. Granted, she met Hotpie at the end of season 1 (right after her father was beheaded) where Hotpie thought she was a boy and threatened to kick her in the balls until dead. But through their shared misery in Harrenhall last season, Hotpie’s also become one of Arya’s two friends in all the world. But when it becomes clear their roads are forking off from one another, neither really has the right words. As a parting gift, he gives her some bread he baked into the shape of a wolf, similar to the Stark's sigil. She takes it, and walks off after a stunted “goodbye.” He watches her go for another long, awkward, wordless moment. It’s really sad. Finally, Arya turns back around and yells “It’s really good!” ending their contact on the up and up.
5. Jaime. Jaime’s big moment is nonverbal, in the sense that there aren’t any coherent words spoken, just screaming. A few brief seconds of physical and existential terror manifested in sound, escaping from his throat in the shocking last image of the episode. Jaime’s captors get fed up with his trying to smooth-talk his way out of things, so they cut off his right hand. Jaime, whose only real value as a person is being the greatest swordsman alive, is now a cripple. It only takes a second, but we can see that realization read out on his face, right before the credits roll to a Flogging Molly-esque Celtic rock cover of one of the "Game of Thrones" folk ballads entitled "The Bear and the Maiden Fair." It’s a fantastic ending for the episode.
