Garden of Bones
It received acclaim from critics, who praised the performances of Peter Dinklage and Michelle Fairley, as well as the episode's more dark and violent tone.
Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie are brought to the ruined castle Harrenhal, where the Lannister garrison, commanded by Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane, tortures and kills prisoners for information concerning "the Brotherhood".
Once ashore, Melisandre reveals she is, impossibly, in late-stage pregnancy and gives birth to a horrific, shadowy figure, which disappears in a cloud of smoke.
One of the most significant affects the character of Talisa, who is based on the novel's Jeyne Westerling, but is given a very different background and motivations (in the books she is the daughter of a minor noble sworn to the Lannisters, while the show has her a foreign lady from the Free City of Volantis).
They felt that the book's approach of having him off-scene most of the time and portraying his deeds in the battlefield only from second-hand reports was not going to work in a visual medium.
Also, the talent and magnetism that Richard Madden demonstrated during the first season convinced them to expand his presence and portray his love story onscreen.
[2] Other deviations include the early arrival of Littlefinger to the Tyrell army and his interactions with Catelyn (in the books he arrives much later, after she has left), the merger of Melisandre's two shadow creatures into a single one (the Siege of Storm's End and the character of Ser Cortnay Penrose were dropped from the show) and having Tywin discover Arya's gender and make her his cupbearer (in the books Arya abandons her identity as a boy and is assigned to work in the kitchens).
[8] Production for "Garden of Bones" continued to use Belfast's The Paint Hall Studios for all interior shots and the set constructed at the Larrybane Bay for the scenes at Renly's camp.
The episode also introduced numerous external locations: the gates of Qarth were constructed in Dubac quarry near Dubrovnik, on cliffs over the Adriatic Sea;[9] the scenes in the caves below Renly's camp were filmed at the Cushendun Caves, County Antrim;[10] and the set representing the huge ruined castle of Harrenhal was built near Banbridge, County Down.
To make van Houten appear pregnant the show's prosthetic artist Conor O'Sullivan prepared a fake belly that could be operated by pneumatics to simulate the childbirth.
[12] Maisie Dee, the pornographic actress who played the abused prostitute Daisy, described her experience with Game of Thrones on her blog.
The scene of her abuse at Joffrey's orders took a day to shoot, using alternately a real leather belt and a soft prop to depict Daisy being whipped by Ros.
The website's consensus reads: "'Garden of Bones' continues GoT's stellar second season with a bleak, disturbing, and powerful episode that culminates in a bizarre confirmation that the night is indeed dark and full of terrors.
It featured: one death by Direwolf; one graphic foot amputation; two separate uses of a crossbow as a weapon of intimidation; the continued humiliation of Sansa, stripped and beaten on Joffrey's orders; the brutal whipping of a whore again at Joffrey's command; two torture scenes (one of which was interrupted); a couple of backhanders; several dead bodies and one (slightly camp) Qartheen blood oath.
"[23] Many commentators praised the acting in this episode, highlighting Michelle Fairley in the scene where Catelyn receives her late husband's bones and Peter Dinklage when Tyrion confronts his cousin Lancel.
[24][25][26] On Talisa's introduction, Myles McNutt at Cultural Learnings wrote: "The problem is that I’m pretty sure any viewer who watched this would know immediately that she is intended as Robb’s love interest, and there’s a simplicity to that which I object to.
