The Bear and the Maiden Fair
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"The Bear and the Maiden Fair" is the seventh episode of the third season of
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
's
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
television series ''
Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...
'', and the 27th episode of the series overall. The episode was written by
George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...
, the author of the ''
A Song of Ice and Fire ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who init ...
'' novels on which the series is based, and was directed by
Michelle MacLaren Michelle Maxwell MacLaren is a Canadian television director and producer. She has directed episodes of ''The X-Files'', ''Better Call Saul'', '' Breaking Bad'', '' The Walking Dead'', '' Game of Thrones'', and ''Westworld''. MacLaren won two bac ...
, her directorial debut for the series. The plot of the episode advances the storylines of Daenerys's arrival to the city of Yunkai, the repercussions of the upcoming marriage of
Tyrion Lannister Lord Tyrion Lannister, also known by the nicknames the Halfman or the Imp and the alias Hugor Hill, is a fictional character in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its televisi ...
and
Sansa Stark Sansa Stark, later Alayne Stone, is a fictional character in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. Introduced in ''A Game of Thrones'' (1996), Sansa is the eldest daughter and second c ...
, and Brienne's fate at the ruined castle of Harrenhal. The title of the episode refers to "
The Bear and the Maiden Fair "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" is the seventh episode of the third season of HBO's fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the 27th episode of the series overall. The episode was written by George R. R. Martin, the author of the ' ...
", a popular song among commoners and noblemen within the series' universe, which had been introduced four episodes earlier. In this episode, it refers to
Brienne of Tarth Brienne of Tarth is a fictional character in George R. R. Martin's '' A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of fantasy novels and its television adaptation, '' Game of Thrones''. She is a prominent point of view character in the novels. Brienne is int ...
(the maiden fair) facing a real bear.


Plot


Outside Yunkai

Daenerys and her army reach Yunkai. Daenerys tells Jorah she will take the city to free its 200,000 slaves. An envoy, Razdal mo Eraz, is sent to offer terms, which include gold and as many ships as she wants. Daenerys refuses his offer, demanding the slaves of the city be freed and compensated for their service or she will attack.


In King's Landing

Sansa is comforted by Margaery, who has heard of her betrothal to Tyrion. Elsewhere, Tyrion and Bronn discuss the match and how it will affect Shae. Tywin meets with Joffrey who asks what they should do about the rumors of Daenerys and her dragons, but Tywin claims there is no threat. On Blackwater Bay, Melisandre reveals to Gendry that his father was King Robert Baratheon.


In the North

Jon and the wildling party continue their journey south. Soon after, Orell speaks to Ygritte, confessing his love for her and trying to convince her that Jon is still loyal to the Night's Watch. Later, Jon tells Ygritte that the wildling cause is hopeless, but she remains undaunted. Theon is freed from his constraints by two young women who begin pleasuring him. They are soon interrupted by his tormenter, who mocks Theon's sexual prowess, before ordering his men to restrain Theon as he removes his genitals. Heading north,
Osha OSHA or Osha may refer to: Work * Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency of the United States that regulates workplace safety and health * Occupational Safety and Health Act (United States) of 1970, a federal law in the Un ...
continues to grow suspicious of the Reeds, calling Jojen's visions "black magic". When she says they have to continue, Jojen reveals that the three-eyed raven is north of the Wall. Osha refuses to allow them to go north of the Wall, relating to them the story of her husband's disappearance, his return as a wight and her having to burn their home down with him inside.


In the Riverlands

Robb, his advisors, and his army are delayed by rain in their march toward the Twins for Edmure's wedding to Roslin Frey. Catelyn and the Blackfish discuss their distaste for Walder Frey, who will see their delay and Robb's oath-breaking as slights against his family. Talisa reveals to Robb that she is pregnant. At the Brotherhood's hideout, Arya berates Beric and Thoros for taking money for Gendry. When Anguy tells Beric of a Lannister raiding party near them, he orders the men to move out in pursuit. Arya calls Beric a liar, and runs away but is quickly captured by the Hound. At Harrenhal, Jaime visits Brienne in her cell and before he leaves, she makes him swear to uphold his oath to Catelyn and return the Stark girls to their mother. Later, Qyburn informs Jaime that Brienne will not be ransomed by Locke. He blackmails the party leader, Steelshanks, to order their return to Harrenhal. There, Jaime finds that Brienne has been forced to fight a grizzly bear while armed only with a wooden sword. Jaime leaps into the pit to protect her and manages to free Brienne from Locke and leaves.


Production


Writing

The episode was written by
George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...
, author of the novels of the ''
A Song of Ice and Fire ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who init ...
'' saga that the show adapts. "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" is based on material from the third book of his series, ''
A Storm of Swords ''A Storm of Swords'' is the third of seven planned novels in '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 8, 2000, in the United Kingdom, with a United States edition fol ...
'', adapting chapters 42 to 46 (Jon V, Daenerys IV, Arya VIII, Jaime VI and Catelyn V). In some of the scenes, Martin had to take into account the changes done by the production to some of his original plots or characters, writing scenes that could never happen in the novels: the books have Talisa's counterpart stay in Riverrun instead of following Robb, Melisandre never interacts with Gendry, and Sansa does not get to confide with Margaery. Martin initially titled the episode "Autumn Storms", because it was supposed to be raining in many of the scenes. When he was forced to change it because most of the rains had been cut from his script in pre-production, he came up with the title "Chains", that worked both in a literal and metaphorical level. However, later on, the final scene including the bear that had been originally written by showrunners Benioff and Weiss for the next episode was incorporated, and the episode was given its final title.


Casting

To play the part of the bear at Harrenhal, the producers chose the nearly nine-foot-tall
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
n
brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...
Bart the Bear 2 Bart the Bear 2, also called Bart the Bear II, Bart 2, Bart II, or Little Bart (January 20, 2000 – November 14, 2021) was a male interior Alaskan grizzly bear who appeared in several films and television series, including ''An Unfinished Life' ...
(a.k.a. "Little Bart"), who was born in 2000 and trained by Doug and Lynne Seus (the same trainers of his well-known predecessor, the original
Bart the Bear Bart the Bear (January 19, 1977 – May 10, 2000) was a male Kodiak bear best known for his numerous appearances in films, including '' The Bear'' (for which he received widespread acclaim),Prettyman, Brett"Utah's Bart the Bear: Hollywood star, ...
).


Filming locations

The production continued to use Morocco to depict the Slaver's Bay. While the coastal city of
Essaouira Essaouira ( ; ar, الصويرة, aṣ-Ṣawīra; shi, ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort, formerly ''Amegdul''), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It ha ...
had doubled as Astapor, this episode used the city of Aït Benhaddou (near
Ouarzazate Ouarzazate (; ar, ورزازات, Warzāzāt, ; ary, وارزازات, Wārzāzāt; shi, label= Berber, ⵡⴰⵔⵣⴰⵣⴰⵜ, Warzazat), nicknamed ''the door of the desert'', is a city and capital of Ouarzazate Province in the region of Dr ...
) to depict Yunkai. Daenerys's camp was built in the nearby location of Little Barrage. The scenes with Jon Snow and the wildlings were filmed in the forests around
Toome Toome or Toomebridge () is a small village and townland on the northwest corner of Lough Neagh in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies in the civil parish of Duneane in the former barony of Toome Upper, and is in the Antrim and Newtownabbe ...
, in
County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. The scenes in Northern Ireland were filmed six weeks before the production moved to Iceland to film several scenes for the previous episodes. Due to the legal restrictions and the difficulties involved in the transport of large animals, the scenes with the bear Little Bart had to be filmed in the USA. Although it was only used for a single scene, this was the fifth country where the production filmed during the season (after Northern Ireland, Morocco, Croatia, and Iceland). The actual bear-pit set was built in Northern Ireland: the bear was filmed where it was living in Los Angeles, interacting with its trainer, and was later digitally added into the footage from the bear pit set in Northern Ireland.


Reception


Ratings

4.84 million viewers watched the premiere airing of "The Bear and the Maiden Fair", a decrease of 0.67 million compared to the previous week. This ended the streak set during the four previous episodes, each of which established a new series high in ratings. 1.12 million people watched the second airing, bringing the total viewership of the night to 5.96 million. In the United Kingdom, the episode was seen by 1.023 million viewers on
Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO ...
, being the channel's highest-rated broadcast that week.


Critical reception

The critical reception to the episode was generally favorable, although most commentators agreed that it was not among the best episodes of the third season, or the ones written by Martin.
Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
surveyed 21 reviews of the episode and judged 81% of them to be positive with an average score of 8.05 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, "'The Bear and the Maiden Fair" feels like a bit of a holding pattern as Game of Thrones moves its pieces into place for the final three episodes." The quality of the dialogue and characterization was widely praised. ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
''s David Sims found that the interactions felt more natural, and Elio Garcia from
Westeros.org The ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' fandom is an international and informal community of people drawn together by George R. R. Martin's ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' book series, the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the related merchandise ...
suggested that the characters "oozed a richer version of themselves". Many reviews signaled the lack of focus as the main flaw of the episode, although they agreed that the story required preparing the stage for the final part of the season: Emily VanDerWerff wrote at ''The A.V. Club'' that it was a "somewhat disjointed hour, full of characters moving into place for what’s next (...) it nonetheless accomplishes what it sets out to do". According to Myles McNutt from Cultural Learnings, the episode "never evolves into a particularly exciting hour of television, content mostly to sketch out the boundaries of the season’s storylines in preparation for the oncoming climax." The final scene, where Brienne is forced to fight a bear, was very well received:
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
's Matt Fowler called it "a spectacular moment",
HitFix HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...
's Alan Sepinwall deemed it "gorgeously staged and executed", and David Sims found it "tense, thrilling television". Other scenes that were highlighted were the parley between Daenerys and the slaver, and the confrontation between Tywin and Joffrey. In the latter, the camera work used by director Michelle MacLaren was lauded. In contrast, the scene featuring Theon's torture was criticized for what was seen as its gratuitous violence and nudity, and for the repetitiveness of the storyline over the season. Sepinwall declared that he had no need "to witness more of The Passion of the Greyjoy", and Sims considered it "boring and confusing to watch". VanDerWerff concluded: "Endless torture sequences don’t make for terribly exciting fiction, and that’s more or less bearing out here." On the other end of the spectrum, the reviewer for ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'',
James Poniewozik James "Jim" Poniewozik (; born July 12, 1968) is an American journalist and television critic. He is the chief TV critic for ''The New York Times''. Earlier in his career, he wrote ''Time'' magazine's ''Tuned In'' column for 16 years. Early life ...
, considered it "chilling".


References


External links


"The Bear and the Maiden Fair"
at
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bear and the Maiden Fair 2013 American television episodes Game of Thrones (season 3) episodes Obscenity controversies in television Television controversies in the United States Television episodes written by George R. R. Martin