Reviewed: GOT: The Laws of Gods and Men

There will be spoilers ahead so read on at your own risk...

Game of Thrones is impressive for so many reasons, but one of those reasons is that it is one of few television shows in history that never has a bad episode. Go on, think of all your favourite television shows, you'll be able to think of a few bad episodes but can you think of a bad Game of Thrones episode? For a show that never has a bad episode, Game of Thrones still somehow manages to amaze audiences on a regular basis with incredible episodes like this one, The Laws of Gods and Men where four episodes after the 'Purple Wedding', Tyrion finally has his trial for the murder of King Joffrey which will likely go down as the finest episode of this season and one of the best yet in the series.

The highlight of this episode was no doubt Tyrion's trial but let's start by looking at the other characters who were given some screen time in this week's episode. First of all, Stannis, whose segment was significant for many reasons, one of them being that we saw Braavos (which is now featured on the show's intro) for the first time, a place I expect to see a lot more of in the coming seasons. Stannis and Davos were in Braavos to ask the Iron Bank of Braavos for a loan, this was somewhat of a last ditch effort by Stannis to keep the war alive; as he tells the bank, he has just 4,000 men and 32 ships and they produce no food to feed those men. These reasons alone were enough for the bank to dismiss his request.

But Davos came to Stannis' rescue; he tells the people of the bank that with all the money they have sunk in to Westeros by loaning it to the Lannisters, Stannis will be their best chance of getting it back. Tywin is 67 years old (which happens to be the actual age of Charles Dance), his son is a Kingslayer, everyone hates Cersei and the king is a boy born of incest, Davos does make some good points. And it appears because of Davos, the bank did decide to eventually grant Stannis his loan keeping his hopes of winning the war alive. It looks like it is finally time to view Stannis as a serious contender to the throne again. It was also just nice to see Davos have some success for once, he's one of the most likeable characters and it's about time something finally went his way.

We also got to see one of things I've been anticipating most this season, Yara coming to rescue what used to be Theon. But when Yara and her men manage to find Theon sleeping with the dogs in the Dreadfort, it's obviously he doesn't want to leave. He even bites Jara and goes back in to his cage during the melee between Yara and Ramsay's men, Yara and what remained of her men end up retreating to her boats when Ramsay releases the dogs. She says her brother is dead as they depart, which is true as Theon is no more, only 'Reek' remains now. Ramsay rewards Reek's loyalty with a bath and tells him how he has a mission for Reek which involves him pretending to be someone that he isn't, Theon Greyjoy. Even though this highly anticipated scene was over in a matter of minutes, I really enjoyed it. There were still questions about Reek's loyalty to Ramsay before but not anymore after this scene.

Once again our look at Daenerys was brief and a bit disappointing, she finds out that being a Queen is much harder than she thought, but we did finally see one of her dragons for the first time since the season premiere. She also met Hizdahr zo Loraq played by Joel Fry, who could end up being an important character. I'm still holding out for another Daenerys episode in this season. I'm also really pleased we got to see a small council meeting for the first time in a while, these are always great. We see my new favourite character, the bumbling Mace Tyrell and Oberyn Martell on the small council for the first time. We see them discuss things such as the looming threat of Daenerys, the dragons and her Unsullied as well as the Hound who they now know killed some Lannister men.

Then we have the trial, where Tyrion sees witness after witness come up and give testimony against him, spinning half-truths to implicate Tyrion and turn the crowd against him. During a break, Jaime visits his father and offers to leave the King's Guard and return to Casterly Rock so he can marry and carry on the Lannister name as long as Tywin lets Tyrion live. Tywin immediately accepts, and says Tyrion will be sent to the Knight's Watch if he asks for mercy. Tywin managed to position himself perfectly to get his dream scenario as always, his family name lives on and he never has to see Tyrion again. He also gets a scapegoat for the murder of a King that he knows his son probably did not do.

Jaime tells Tyrion of the deal he made with Tywin and Tyrion seems to go along with it, knowing that the Wall may be the only alternative to death for him at this point. That was until they bring out Shae, the woman he loves to testify against him, and testify against him she does. Shae says Tyrion and Sansa hated Joffrey and planned to kill him, she also told everyone about her relationship with Tyrion. It's not yet clear why she would do this, did she return on her own to do this or did Cersei find her and make her a similar deal that Podrick was offered to testify. Maybe Bron finally found someone who would pay him more than Tyrion would and revealed Shae's whereabouts. 

It was clearly heartbreaking for Tyrion to see the woman he loved do this. He had finally had enough though, as Dinklage then launched an incredible tirade against everyone in attendance where he still denies killing Joffrey but says he wished he had killed him because of the pleasure it gave him to see Joffrey die. He continues, furiously telling the crowd how he wished he never saved he city so Stannis could have killed them all before saying he can't get any justice here so he'll let the gods decide by demanding a trial by combat, just like he did in the Eyrie. The question now becomes who will he name as his champion presuming he doesn't wish to fight himself, last time it was Jaime he named before Bron stepped up. Both are possible but Game of Thrones has taught us to never expect the obvious.

Moment of the episode went to Grand Maester Pycelle who said Tyrion killed the most noble child that the god put on this earth during his testemony, the awkward silence that followed his ridiculous statement was priceless, but it was Charles Dance and Peter Dinklage who both put on an acting master class during the trial, I don't think there are two men on Earth who could play these characters better than these two. It wasn't just the trial that made this a fantastic episode; the great fight at the Dreadfort, Davos' speech to help Stannis get his loan as well as Varys' constant scheming all contributed to set up hopefully a great final four episodes in the fourth season. I didn't expect any episode to better The Lion and The Rose this season but this one did it with ease.

Next week's episode is entitled 'Mockingbird' and will hit our screens on Sunday on HBO and Monday on Sky Atlantic in the UK. As always, here is our short preview of Mockingbird thanks to the Game of Thrones YouTube channel.