Ed West Ed West

Game of Thrones: lucky we just get to watch this programme – the North Koreans are living it

Spoiler alert: this is a review of last night’s episode

Anyone watching Game of Thrones for the first time last night would not have been dissuaded of Peter Hitchens’ argument that the show is cruel and will promote cruelty.

It opened with Lord Bolton’s bastard Ramsay Snow, who in the last series did that thing with Theon Greyjoy we shall not talk about, chasing and torturing some poor woman before showing off his new eunuch – now called Reek – to his sinister father. Then there was the wedding of the appalling Prince Joffrey, which didn’t go entirely according to plan; flanked by his grandfather Tywin, the king at first shows some wisdom and grace towards his guests before he is given a Valyrian sword and reveals himself to be the monster that he is. (Lucky we just get to watch this programme – the North Koreans are actually living it).

Last night’s episode also featured the sinister Melisandre, apostle of the god of light, follower of a new and strange religion that has captivated the claimant Stannis Baratheon. Talking to Stannis’ disfigured daughter Shireen, Melisandre says that the ‘Faith of the Seven’ is just a tale, and that there are only two gods, ‘a god of light and love and joy, and a god of darkness and evil and fear’. There are no seven hells, she explains: ‘There is only one hell, the one we live in now.’ I remember hearing this exact same line from a friend who was in the National Secular Society, although it did sound rather more rational coming from him as he hadn’t just burned to death three people to appease the god R’hllor.

It’s a cruel, cruel world they live in, which is what alarms Peter Hitchens.

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