Location: 8360 Melrose Ave. Ste 107. Los Angeles, CA 90069. (323) 651-5866

Date: May 5, 2012

Cuisine: ?Modern?

Rating: Very tasty, hard to pigeonhole

I’ve wanted to go to chef Michael Voltaggio’s Ink since I first heard of it last fall. One glance at a few photos of the food told me it was the kind of place I like. But the midtown location and the difficulty of getting reviews — not to mention my busy dining schedule and broken arm — delayed maters considerably. But then Foodie Club member Ryan’s birthday rolled around…

The location is that of the former Hamusaku east (a decent high end sushi place I used to eat at all the time in Westwood). Even planning a week ahead, we had to take a 9:45pm reservation (on a Thursday) and wait nearly half an hour to sit.

The bar.

The cocktail menu. Like most modern LA joints Ink employs some serious mixology. Being a wine nut and pseudo-pro sommelier (I recently got my Italian specialization, working on Burgundy) I’m  not really that knowledgeable about cocktails.

Still, I tried this: “Tequila. jalapeno, passion fruit, agave, lime.” It was good, spicy, and somewhat of an attack on the palette.

And this “Scotch. toasted coconut, ginger, lime, cardamon.”

The space is sleek, cold, and very loud. It even still has a sushi bar.

They had both a tasting and ala carte menu. We ordered from both, supplementing the tasting meal with… well pretty much a whole extra meal.

I brought this Brunello to from my cellar to start. “The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino is a fresh, vibrant offering bursting with dark cherries, violets, underbrush, minerals and sweet toasted oak on a medium-bodied frame. The wine reveals terrific balance in an energetic, focused style, with firm yet ripe tannins. The finish is long, clean and refreshing. This is a gorgeous effort from Loacker. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2019.”

“crab, charred avocado, whipped fish sauce, mushroom chicharron.” While these dishes were hard to split four ways, they sure did taste good. Like Red Medicine (which has a similar presentation), it’s a little hard to get all the flavors in the mouth at once. I liked the sweetness of the crab with the avocado and the fish sauce. The chicharron made me think a little too much of pork rinds.

“carrots, coconut ice, cardamom soil, pea tendril mojo.” This was a surprising and amazing dish. The vegies are what they are, but that white dusty stuff is basically nitro-frozen Tom Yum Goong! It melted in the mouth and really made all the produce spectacular.

“spaghetti, giant squid, squash, hazelnut pesto.” The noodles under there are actually made from squid. This was tasty too, with a bit of an uni type vibe without any uni. The pesto itself made the dish.

“beef tartare, hearts of palm, sea bean chimichurri, horseradish, rye.” I was a little disappointed in this dish. It sounded great, and there was nothing off, but the beef itself didn’t really pop the way it does with truly great steak tartare.

“foie gras, waffle, smoked maple, hot sauce.” But this was wonderful. I love foie in this kind of mouse-like texture profile. It went amazingly with the smoked maple.

Here is the tasting menu for tonight. This had to be done for the whole table and the portions, while individually smaller, resulted in considerably more per dish per person.

Boca is one of my new favorite wines, a total insider’s wine from Northern Piedmonte. 70% Nebbiolo, 20% Vespolina and 10% Uva Rara. It shimmers on the palate with layers of fruit, mineral, and herbs.

“east coast halibut, caesar tempura, melon, espelette.” The individual components of this dish were great, but the whole thing didn’t mesh fully. The tempura is actually balls of caesar dressing, and they were great. The melon was fantastic and good with the fish, but it overwhelmed and him the subtle halibut.

“morels, egg yolk gnocchi, mushroom hay, sorrel.” This was a great mushroom dish and paired perfectly with the Boca’s earthy tones. The gnocchi had an interesting texture, like circus peanuts.

“black bass, fava bean guacamole, puffed corn tortilla.” Mostly, this was just fish. Good fish, but not as exciting as some of the other dishes.

Glee star Matthew Morrison across the way.

“milk-fed veal, asparagus, curds and whey of buttermilk.” Pretty tasty.

“poutine, chickpea fries, yogurt curds, lamb neck gravy.” This was amazing, but ridiculously rich. Again with the circus peanut texture, but I was digging it.

“lamb shoulder, lamb’s quarters, tongue, vadouvan, yogurt.” Also very good, and very rich. We probably over ordered, but we still managed to kill it. The fact that the vegetables are tempura fried perhaps threw us over the edge.

“yuzu curd. rhubarb, matcha, jasmine, chamomile.” This was the weakest dessert, but it was still wonderful.

“apple, caramel, burnt wood ice cream.” This one was amazing. Unexpected interplay of textures and flavors.

“chocolate, ice cream, spiced tofu, sesame cake.” Also excellent. Notice the similarity

“greek yogurt, strawberry, japanese peach, coconut.” This also was great. Like strawberries and cream with a wonderful granite. Or maybe like a perfected Hawaiian shave ice?

Coffee made table-side.

Overall, Ink was pretty spectacular. Not every dish worked, but it’s very modern and experimental in a good way. The interplay of textures and flavors — not to mention the “dust and ball” style plating — reminds me of Red Medicine when it first opened (before the even more experimental Elfin period). Despite the very similar look, the flavors at Ink remain much more grounded in American modern and a sort of gastro-pub sensibility. Still, the textural experimentation alone puts it at a very high level. Roberto Cortez has a similar kind of modern too, although his preps are more sophisticated and his palette more subtle and balanced – but that’s beyond restaurant food.

With this kind of uniqueness, it’s no wonder Ink is doing well. It also seems Voltaggio mixes up the menu frequently, so I’ll be back soon — provided I can score a convenient reservation.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

See more Foodie Club meals here.

We use the roughs to establish composition and for me to check that all the details are consistent with the novel. I give him feedback and he then spends the time to polish the image up. Neither of these images required any major changes, but it’s fun to see both how well the rough makes an impression, and how much more detailed the final is.

To get a close up look at this, click one of the images and it will bring up a Smugmug lightbox. You can then use the arrow keys to flip back and forth between the images, including between the rough and the final to see the differences.

This particular image, released previously, shows the mysterious Tick-Tock gloating over a dying Ben Franklin — oops!

And this new one occurs 80 years later across the English channel. Ever wonder if you’d like yourself? Time travelers can find out first hand. Or, perhaps, meeting yourself will destroy the very fabric of the spacetime continuum!

Find out more about Untimed here.

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 17 – May 13, 2012

Title: A Man Without Honor

Summary: Just before the storm

The title of the episode refers to the return of Jaime Lannister, who after a five episode absence, is back with a vengeance. This is the section of the story, in the middle end, where things move very rapidly. There are themes of trust and themes of captivity, but none jumped out at me as totally dominant.

We open with Theon waking to the missing boys. With the killing of Roderick he’s turned down a dark road and becoming increasingly comfortable with the shadows. Case in point, he beats the crap out of one of his men in frustration.

We briefly see Bran, Osha, Hodor and the wolves (yay wolves). They pass a farm and note that they used to play with the farmer boys. This tiny remark sets up something big, but it will probably be lost on the first time audience.

Better to be cruel than weak

Then we cut to John dragging his prisoner Ygritte across the frozen waste. These are my favorite moments of the episode. Broken into three sections, Ygritte gives John a delightful hard time. About his bone and stones. About his people. About freedom. She tempts him with sex. She tempts him with freedom. And it’s all good fun to watch. We even get one iteration of her signature line from the books, “You know nothing, John Snow.”

Then we’re treated to a gorgeous view of Harrenhal and some cruel work at the hands of the Mountain. The place is huge and pretty cool looking. These big vistas do a decent job of making season two look bigger than season one. Tywin shows his mean side in setting the Mountain loose. In the books, he comes off much more evil as he surounds himself with scum of the earth like Hoat, the Mountain, and Lorch. Here, he has more restraint. He and Arya have some more inappropriate conversation. It’s a little weird, but the chemistry between these two fantastic actors makes it totally worthwhile.

Speaking of chemistry, Sansa bumps into the hound. This brief scene serves to reinforce their peculiar relationship too. Nod to the SanSan crowd that it is.

And then Dany and Xaro have a bit of a convo where he tries to get her to trust him. I never understood Xaro’s angle in the  books, and I don’t here either.

All you have to do is die!

Another big view of Robb’s camp. These Robb scenes, being as they don’t exist in the book, are  lacking the intensity of emotion GRRM is so good at. Here we see a junior Lannister returning the message from Cersei. We also learn Robb is off for a couple of days, and determined to take the “hot nurse” with him. Perfunctory really.

Riffing on the prisoner situation, Theon is at the farm looking for Bran and Rickon, and not having a great time of it. When he interrogates the farmer he announces his new motto, “better to be cruel than weak.” So he has chosen, and if one were to put it in classic medieval terms, at the cost of his immortal soul.

Jorah and Danny talk about trust. Xaro’s observation and subsequent revelation to her that he’s in love with her has shifted the dynamics of their relationship. Can she trust him? He’s got such blue eyes!

In the third John and Ygritte installment she really lays on the seduction thick and crude. The actress does a fine job with the character too. She runs again, and John finds himself in a bit of a turn around. These last two episodes have really brought the John arc back into the forefront like they are in the books. His movement was feeling a bit anemic for a while.

Sansa dreams of death and wakes to her first period. Shae tries to help her conceal this, but the hound stops by. So on to have a chat with Queen Cersei. The queen really is much more sympathetic and complex in the show than the books. In the novels, she more than Joff instigates a lot of the negative goings on. Here she’s just lost control of her son. In her own cruel way, she gives Sansa sincere advice, like “love no one but your children.”

Then the return of Ser Jaime. He’s in proper form talking to his cousin (or third cousin or whatever). He even tells a Ser Barriston story, because we know we haven’t seen the last of that fine actor. Alas, it’ll take more than captivity alone to make a nice guy of Jaime. He’s not to be trusted. And don’t get in his way.

Jorah is on the hunt for the dragons and goes to visit the new character: prophetess, metal mask fashionista, and masseuse. Cut to Dany meeting with the council of thirteen. The warlock admits to taking the dragons, Xaro gives a speech, and lots of people die. This is all pretty diferent than in the book and I can’t say that I fully understood what happened. Was Xaro in league with the warlocks? Seemed perhaps so, but I don’t see why.

Enjoying your first hunt, old man?

Jaime is recaptured and Cat is there to stop the troops from killing him. Barely. Karstark is pissed. This is a little different than the books where I think the Karstark boy was killed by Jaime in one of the battles, but essentially similar. Jaime is in fine and classic form with his quips though.

Cersei and Tyrion share an interesting scene. She admits she doesn’t control Joff and he actually offers her some solace. For a moment it looks like they might hug, but not. Again, there is more complexity to their relationship here than in the books. Some things gain, some things lose.

Cat interrogates Jaime in his pen. He’s really amusing as he tries again to draw her anger to a murderous boil. If he’s going to die, he wants to die in control. His comments to Brienne are especially hilarious. “Is that actually a woman?” and “Where did you find that beast?”

Finally, Theon is back at castle black. And things are black indeed. Let’s just say I was reminded of that bit in Star Wars (“A New Hope”) where Luke finds out what happened to his aunt and uncle. Pretty grisly.

All in all, a great episode, if not as quite as good as the one before it. All my favorite characters were represented. I don’t miss Stannis and Davos. Sure we only get one Arya scene and one Tryion scene, but things are really moving. I swear, when plotting these books, GRRM must draw out each thread and say continually to himself: “make them do well, make them suffer, make them do well, make them suffer!”

See my review of A Dance With Dragons.

If you liked this post, follow me at: Check out my fantasy novel, The Darkening Dream or all my Game of Thrones posts or Season 1 reviews: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] Season 2 reviews: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]

Maybe picking his nose with the blade wasn't such a good idea!

See you in Sanctuary!

My detailed impressions of the closed beta can be found here too.

Location: 852 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014. 213-413-UMAMI (8626). @umamiburger

Date: April 20, 2012

Cuisine: Gastro Burger

Rating: Top Burgers

UMAMIcatessen is a rather peculiar concept (albeit one that works). Grafting Umami Burger, The Cure (high end deli) and P!GG (pork oriented charcuterie) together under one roof. Not to mention E&O donuts!

The triple menu. Click here for PDF.

Truffle cheese fries. Oh my!

Onion rings and sweet potato fries. These alone would be damn good.

But we have five sauces. Homemade ketchup (this one actually is better than Heinz) and four others. Spicy, mustard, etc. All were great.

Smushed potatoes. Dutch yellow creamers, double fried with some kind of aioli.

The cure bagel. Lox, creme fraiche, onions etc. A very (very) slightly lighter high end version of the classic.

Manly burger. Beer-cheddar cheese, smoked-salt onion strings, bacon lardons. Wow!

Shrimp Burger with Yuzu-Kosho. Wild shrimp patty with japanese spices.

Ahi Tuna Burger. Hand chopped ahi tuna, crushed avocado, gingered pickles, wasabi flake.

The greenbird. Shelton farms turkey, crushed avocado, green cheese, butter lettuce, sprouts, green goddess.

And after a “light” meal like that, donuts!

Carrot cake, rum raisin, cream cheese. Pretty much like what it sounds like, a carrot cake donut!

Tres leches, cajeta, ceylon cinnamon. Yep, tasted like tres leches.

Beignets, chicory, cafe brulot, burnt sugar. The carmel alone was to die for!

The concept here of glomming together a bunch of different high end comfort food joints is kind of interesting. Basically it works as the flavors are unified by fat, plus the execution is good. It’s casual, fun, modern (not in an avant garde way). Basically jammed with flavor, so what’s to complain about?

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Genre: Horror

Watched: May, 2012

Summary: Old school gothic

The upcoming Tim Burton remake reminded me that I wanted to rewatch the 1991 Dark Shadows revival. I saw some of it at release, but being a lover of all things vampire, felt it my duty to revisit. Now, that vampire-philia doesn’t extend so far as to actually watch all 2,231 episodes of the 1966 original, particularly when it’s black and white and shot live!

Anyway, back to the 1991 version. It has a certain production cheese. I think the photos to the right make that pretty clear. But the writing is actually good. This can not always be said of the acting (David Collins, I’m thinking of you!). Still, some of the leads are solid. Victoria Winters is cute, and Barnabus has an old school vibe. He even says yes instead of “yes.” Imagine the classic horror movie vampire voice as the italics. He has all that classic vampire goodness: No reflection, sunlight challenged, a fear of crosses and stakes. Fog machines follow him everywhere and when he gets excited, out come the red contacts and the pop in fangs.

This show has everything: vampires, dopplegangers, witches, ghosts, curses, familiars with low IQs, vampire-curing doctors, even time travel! And all that in just twelve episodes. There is a classic sensibility to all of it. Barnabus arrives (recently freed from his coffin) and poses as a long lost relative. What a coincidence, he looks just like his namesake from 200 years ago! And, the family tudor is the spitting image of his long dead love. I love a good Bram Stoker homage. I enjoyed that the writers actually plotted a real story with solid characters and a bit of complexity. There might be hammy moments, but the characters remained true to themselves.

Plus, the last four episodes are all set in 1790, which is always cool.

Check out more TV reviews.

Strangely though, I am reminded a bit of Ralph Bakshi’s bizarre The Lord of the Rings.

Location: Cesar’s Palace, Las Vegas

Date: April 14, 2012

Cuisine: French

Rating: Spectacular

A good friend’s bachelor party brought me back to Las Vegas and that meant: extreme food. On my last trip I sampled  é by José Andrés and Twist by Pierre Gagnaire so this time it was time for Guy Savoy. Guy himself is one of the few and proud Parisian Michelin 3-star chefs (even if he’s originally from Burgundy). The Vegas outpost is overseen by the older chef’s son. It’s tucked  away in a quiet section of the main Cesar’s Palace, near the wedding chapels.

True to its Michelin form, the place has a lot of carts. First to greet us is the champagne and aperitif cart. I’m not really that big a champagne fan, and done off the cart for the table often results in some serious financial hike. But, as you’ll see, you don’t come to Guy Savoy to keep the budget under control!

This first pre-amuse is fois gras and brioche on a stick. Can’t complain about that!

Then I crack open the wine tome. Even though I have recently become an “Italian Wine Specialist” there was very little vino from the boot, so I had to go French.

Jadot is usually very reliable and I have a soft spot for Clos Vougeot. “Charred meat, black currant, and wet stone characterize the bouquet of Jadot’s Clos Vougeot. Savory, salty, brightly-fruited and invigoratingly juicy on the palate, this displays more energy and acidity than I would have expected from the appellation. For all of the clarity and juiciness of this wine’s fruit, grilled meat and stony earthiness combined with the emergence of formidable tannins and subtle but persistent cyanic and iodine notes to turn its formidably long finish somewhat austere.”

Then another amuse, this cheesy “parmesan waffle.”

And the menu. Check out the prices. Because we must, we took out a mortgage, and ordered up the Inspiration Menu.

The amuse was this artichoke soup with black truffle and toasted mushroom bread. A nice start.

Then the bread cart comes around. Just a few varieties. When we failed to remember the 14-16 different types we could choose from on the first recitation the bread boy (who was just a tad creepy) offered to create a “bread tasting” for us, pairing various breads to each food course. How could we refuse?

A few samplings include on the right, bacon brioche!

“Concasse of oysters, seaweed, lemon granite.”

The granite itself is added later. Truthfully, this dish was a revelation. The flavors were pure and intense. Briny oyster and this potent cold lemon thing.

One of our party doesn’t like oysters, so he got this avocado and chickpea variant.

“Santa Barbara Spot Prawn caught in sweet and sour fishnet.” Mostly this just tasted like a very good shrimp with some interesting vegetable texture stuff going on. It was pleasant, but not one of the best dishes.

The shellfish hater got this pea and egg salad. Twice peeled English peas, pea gelee, pea puree, dressed in chive oil. It was then topped with greens some bread and a quail egg.

On my way to visit the elegant little boys room I photoed the “smaller” of the two private dining rooms.

It’s white asparagus season! “White Asparagus and Caviar, Smoked Sabayon.” The sabayon was in the egg. You pour it over the dish.

Voila. A “simple” but spectacular dish. The asparagus and sabayon is similar to the classic Dutch version, but the caviar took it up a notch.

This was a long meal and so we quickly exhausted the Burgundy. This Barolo by old school producer Giacomo Conterno was a bit “underpriced” (if anything in the tome could be called that). Parker 94+ “1999 Barolo Cascina Francia—Medium red. A classic in the making, the 1999 Cascina Francia offers a quintessentially pure expression of Nebbiolo in it aromas of roses, licorice and tar. It is powerful and potent on the palate, where endless layers of sweet fruit blossom with exceptional length. Though I expect it to be relatively accessible within a few years, it will also reward cellaring for several decades, and may ultimately be deserving of a higher score. A great effort. 94+/drink after 2009.”

“Marinated-Grilled Hamachi Aged Sherry Vinegar, Radish Gelee, Eggplant Puree.” The fish was nice but the really interesting bit was the jelly. It was made of radish (hence the color) and tasted somehow so Japanese. It was a very bright and intense flavor and I really liked it.

Next up, “Salmon Iceberg.” Scottish salmon.

“Cooked” on dry ice.

Then dressed with grapefruit bits, bockchoy, and little jelly cubes of something.

Then finished off with a consommé. Spectacular actually. Hot and cold in the same dish and expressed the flavor of the fish wonderfully.

This is the large private room, with a Krug theme. After you win $100,000 in the casino, you can blow it here.

“Seared Dices of Foie Gras with Horseradish, Braised-Grilled Celery Stalk Sepentines, Potato Chips Bouillon.”

Here with the Bouillon added. This was a very nice foie dish, extremely savory, but not overly heavy.

“Lobster Bordelaise, Raw and Cooked Hearts of Palm.” Wow, was this good. The lobster was great lobster, but it was that sauce in the middle. It was as complex as a fine wine!

“Wagyu, Cannellini Bean Puree, Saffron and Marjoram Crust, Sponge Cake.” A very nice beef dish.

Then one of my favorite parts of any serious French meal, Les Fromages.

Some closeups.

And more for good measure.

This is our humble selection. I can’t remember them all but it included Brillat-savarin, one of my favorites.

A relatively lightweight Sauternes. The 1999 Raymond-Lafon. “Aromas of honeyed pineapple/tropical fruit and toasty new oak, as well as an exotic, flashy perfume. The wine possesses an opulent, full-bodied, exotic, lavishly rich personality, and moderate sweetness.”

In the glass. You can tell from the color this isn’t a crazy sticky Sauternes.

This “sunny side up” isn’t actually an egg, but mango and cream! It was pretty great too.

Then this “exotic” tapioca, avocado, with lime sorbet. Really quite incredible.

Here it is with the sorbet.

Then the chocolate. This was just a simple scoop of incredibly intense and wonderful chocolate gelato.

And a bit of earl grey ice cream, which, even as a non-tea fan, was a subtle and lovely ice cream flavor.

I thought the cheese cart was heaven, but then this came. There are just oodles of little desserts here. When our waiter (a seven foot tall Gaul we nick named “French Lurch”) asked us what we’d like, we said, “yes.”

A different view. There are pots of creme, rice pudding, citrus shooters, homemade marshmellows, pate des fruits, frozen grapes, and all sorts of other yummys.

The pots were among my favorites, particularly the rice pudding.

Strawberry pate, coconut macarons, chocolate things.

Those spongy things on the spoon had a bit of passionfruit to them.

In case the heart wasn’t about to quit, the conac cart!

And finally, a triple expresso. I was worried about falling asleep when we went out clubbing (after this 6pm – midnight meal!) but this puppy kept me up straight to 9am. Given that I was trying to sleep from 5am on, that, perhaps, wasn’t ideal.

Overall, this was a spectacular meal. Much more substantive than é by José Andrés and much more focused and palatable than Twist by Pierre Gagnaire. It was classic “fancy french” updated with spectacular ingredients and very fine flavors. I’ve had a lot of opulent meals and I generally judge them by “consistency” and “impact.” This was highly consistent in that every dish worked. Perhaps the shrimp was the weakest, but it certainly worked. And more importantly, a number of dishes, such as the lobster, oyster, and salmon were mind-blowing and highly memorable. Bravo!

For more Vegas dining reviews click here.

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Watched: Episode 16 – May 6, 2012

Title: The Old Gods and the New

Summary: The pace accelerates

If I had to give this episode a theme, it would be trust (and betrayal). We open as last week with what was foreshadowed before, the arrival of the sea at Winterfell. But the producers did some serious cheaping out. We see none of the assault, none of the battle, instead merely Luwin running to send a raven and Theon telling Bran what he did. Didn’t they here “show don’t tell?” They knew though, it’s just the money, and perhaps the minutes. Still, it’s effective enough, but… cheap. But we do concentrate on the characters, and when Theon gathers everyone, we see the conflict written on every inch of his face. He makes his choice when he decides to man up and execute Rodrick. He is, as the dialog says, “lost forever.”

In the north, John and Qhorin Halfhand continue their excursion through the snowy waste of Iceland. Some got lucky and filmed in Dubrovnik Croatia, some in Iceland. Who had more fun? We see Ghost wandering around again. They must have figured out how to make the wolves economical.

Then Arya continues to serve Lord Tywin Lannister. The acting here  between Arya and Tywin is absolutely first rate. The latter is more complicated, more human, and more likeable in the show than the books. Sure he’s a hardass, but he is reasonable. Then Littlefinger arrives. This is new to the show and deliciously tense. The subtle ways in which Arya tries to maneuver herself to face away, really good stuff.

Back to John in the mountains. They creep up and kill a bunch of wildlings, sparing only one, Ygritte, a pretty redhead. John accepts the responsibility of killing her. Qhorin trusts him to do it. This is a very intimate moment between Snow and the girl. There is something twistedly sexual about the power of life and death, and the lingered moment is exquisite.

Lipstick north of the wall?

The Lannisters see Marcella off to Dorne. Tyrion was right when he insisted that she’d be safer there, because the crowd is angry. Joff isn’t exactly the most endearing of kings, as Ty says, “cruel AND stupid.” The riot is fairly well done. It’s chaotic and dangerous, yet the armored troops have the individual upper hand, as they would. The septon is torn to pieces, literarily. We have various changes. The halfwit daughter of lady whatever isn’t really present. The queen finds herself in less jeopardy, and Sansa gets in some real trouble only to be saved by the Hound. This does a nice job reinforcing the SanSan relationship that the books have more time to develop.

Dany has a brief scene in Qarth with Xaro and the newly arrived “spice king.” He reminds me a bit of a Ferengi.

No love lost here

More Arya and Tywin time. We learn that Jaime is dyslexic, which is a nice bit of character building and exposition— except we haven’t seen Jaime since the first episode, which is a pity. In a way, Ty and Arya’s funny relationship reflects the whole trust thing. Arya snitches a paper about Robb, and then gets herself in a bit of trouble, but good thing she’s got her own pet assassin. The timing of the resolution has a very nice tragio-comic touch.

On the battlefield with Robb, he’s working his relationship with the nurse, Lady Talisa Migia (spelling could be wrong because she’s a new invented character). I’m not really feeling it with these two, but mom arrives to spoil the party and remind him he must marry an ugly Frey girl. I wonder what was wrong with the setup in the novels? Bolton shows with news. How many will noticed the “Flayed Man” on his sigil?

John marches through the waste with a captive Ygritte. Their little chase (which occurred in the previous segment of the thread) was nicely done. Here he has to deal with her and she sets to work on his manly weakness. I liked the two of the them in the books and I like it here.

Robb, Cat, and Bolton discuss Theon’s betrayal. I like how they have given Bolton a little more skin in the game (haha) and how they improve the clarity of him sending his bastard son to relieve Winterfell. This is a tad obtuse in the books. One of GRRMs weaknesses as a writer (and made worse by his complex POV structure) is that certain parts of important events are often a little vague. I forgive him, he has so many strengths.

Osha is fairly convincing when she comes to work Theon. Trust and betrayal. He gets what he sows. She even goes in for the full frontal, which is the only bit of nudity in this sexposition free episode (two in a row!). With Littlefinger out of town and Daisy nursing her bottom, what are whores to do? Theon has fallen for women several times before, it stems from his insecurities, and this time is no different. Contrast him with his  ”step” half-brother John who resists Ygritte’s advances (for now).

Very brief status with Sasha being tended by Shae. This is mostly just to let us know she’s okay.

Then back to Theon. Osha sneaks away. She’s always had an interesting feral quality to her, with her head cocked and the like, but naked it’s doubly so. She’s pretty badass with the guard and it’s good to see the Stark boys (and the wolves) make a clean escape. Theon’s in trouble now! You reap what you sow. Wait, I thought Greyjoy’s didn’t sow!

Why does everyone want to marry me?

Then Dany (with Xaro) finds her people raided and slaughtered and her dragons missing. This too is a major change from the book but I don’t blame them, her  Qarth plot in A Clash of Kings was a little anemic. But here, trust or betrayal? And where was Jorah when we needed him?

And so ends another great episode. As usual, as the plot lines twist and knot, with the setup mostly accomplished, things move very rapidly here in the middle of the season. I so wish I didn’t have to wait another week!

See my review of A Dance With Dragons.

If you liked this post, follow me at: Check out my fantasy novel, The Darkening Dream or all my Game of Thrones posts or Season 1 reviews: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] Season 2 reviews: [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]

With only men in the watch, don't forget to look over your shoulder