By: Robert Murphy
"God, no! I didn't mean to do that!" This episode was even more unforgiving than the first. Yes, the second episode for Telltale Games Game of Thrones series is here and it gives you just as much hardship as the last episode did, if not more. "The Lost Lords" puts you smack dab between a rock and a very hard place as House Forrester is facing extinction at the hands of their enemies. Why is it that evil always seems to win in this world, I both love and fear George R.R. Martin for his skills in creating a universe where only the cunning and underhanded can survive. Unfortunately, House Forrester isn't an underhanded house and much like the Starks, they will have to evolve if they want to survive the destruction of their house.
The death of Ethan Forrester last episode left me with not only complete shock but it also leaves players with a whole mess of fires to put out all over the place. With no lord for House Forrester things look bleaker and bleaker every moment that goes by, Whitehills have moved into the Forrester castle and with half of their Ironwood gone, there isn't a lot of options to go around. The glimpses of hope do come out for players, in more ways than one as the episode starts off with you meeting the second born son for the house, Asher Forrester, who is the exact image of the warrior the house needs right now. He's currently a world away though, trying to make it as a sellsword in Yunkai which has just been captured by Daenerys Targaryen. This isn't the only good news for players though, it would seem that our eldest son, Rodrik, survived the attacks at the Red Wedding but is barely clinging to life. Mira Forrester also returns in this episode as well as Gared Tuttle. Mira is still trying to pave the way and make relationships at King's Landing for help and Gared Tuttle has now dawned the black and is trying to become a ranger of the Night's Watch.
Now, with all that you heard above that's going on in the story you would expect drastic changes for this episode but things are not as grand as I would have hoped. All the characters are engaging this time around to be sure, meeting Rodrik and seeing his exploits in Yunkai is especially a great bit of fun. He is a large, bearded warrior character that you would think would be a cliche at this point but I still loved him and his surly companion. His female sellsword and partner, Beskha, isn't someone you would want to mess with, her face has a few battle scars and it's clear that her and Rodrik have been through a lot together since he was exiled from home. Asher being alive was by far the biggest surprise for the episode, I jumped to attention the moment I saw him and despite looking like death, his character still carries strength for the episode. Asher's and Mira's choices for diaolgue were by far the hardest of the episode, Mira once again meets with Tyrion Lannister and makes plan for the future Ironwood. She also must continue to either make friends with Lady Margaery which puts you into even more of a challenge in choosing between her and your family. I'm hoping my loyalty pays off with her. Gared, has a few things going on and is trying his best to fit in with the people at the Wall, the highlight is probably your conversation with Jon Snow, while not enlightening it's still enjoyable.
It's a wonderful concoction of events that happen but after the initial stress of your situations wears off you realize that not much ground gets covered. Much of what "The Lost Lords" episode does is serve to bring the pieces together and position them for hopefully the next episode. There's nothing wrong with this, you need episodes like this to lay the ground work of whats to come but really when I looked at things it felt like I hadn't gone anywhere since episode one. Asher is joining the party but he still needs an army, just him and his sellsword friend won't be enough. Rodrik is great to see alive but he suffers through much of the same fate that Ethan did, he even has to contend with Lord Whitehill again and it feels like history just repeats itself. I already got beaten down once, why do you gotta do it again? Garren doesn't make too much headway quite yet with the Night's Watch. Mira honestly has the most going on for the episode, her decisions with not only herself, her family, her handmaiden friend and Margaery Tyrell made me very uneasy with what would happen after I chose my words.
In the end, history seemed to repeat itself for the Forresters in "The Lost Lords" and much of what happened in the first episode didn't really change. Not much footing is gained by this episode, we still don't know what the mysterious North Grove is and many of the Forrester's problems don't improve, this is to be expected but shake things up a little bit. Outside of the shock of seeing Rodrik alive and Mira taking on all of King's Landing by herself, there wasn't a whole lot of suspense to be had and I certainly hope our next episode makes some headway.
Good:
- Rodrik and Asher are both excellent additions to the story
- Mira's storyline and her basically being surrounded in a snake pit of enemies and hard decisions
- Still a very strong Game of Thrones experience
Bad:
- Not much headway is made from the first episode
- Things tend to repeat themselves for House Forrester and need to be changed up
Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10
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