‘Game of Thrones’ season 4, episode 8 review: Did Oberyn or The Mountain win trial by combat?

How great was Sunday night’s “Game of Thrones” episode? Save for one story with Greyworm and Missandei, we feel like there really wasn’t any filler at all thrown in here. Instead, we had non-stop action, relentless entertainment, and a few characters making some very surprising choices.

What was one of the biggest ones to us? Seeing Jorah be sent away by Danaerys after the nature of his pardon was made clear to her. Finally, the man’s past caught up to him in a very surprising manner. We really liked Jorah despite his indiscretions, and we wanted to see him stick around with her.

The other surprising note in here? Sansa Stark managing to actually take some power into her own hands as she worked with Littlefinger to help control the Eyrie. She back up his story that Lisa Arryn killed herself, and told it in a very convincing way. Sansa haters, this is proof that she knows how to play the game and play it well. We’re actually excited about her future, and we never thought we would say that previously.

But let’s get to the main order of business here in the trial by combat, since that is what was the major note at the end of the episode. In the end, it was The Mountain who was victorious, but quite possibly in the most horrifying way imaginable. Oberyn had an opportunity to kill him, but he refused to do so until he had his confession. His own pride sealed his fate.

Now when it comes to shock endings, this has to be one of the biggest ones to date, especially in the way in which it happened. Pedro Pascal completely killed it in his performance here, and he had one of the most horrifying deaths that we have seen on the show  ever, and that is with Joffrey and the Red Wedding in mind. His end basically means that there is almost no hope left now for Tyrion Lannister, unless something truly insane happens in King’s Landing.

Finally, there were a few little updates on the Jon Snow story as the Wildings are approaching, and war is clearly coming there. But we will have more on that later (along with Arya arriving to the Eyrie), since we’re going to spend some time having Oberyn’s death run through our nightmares.

Overall, and even in spite our sadness here, this was still one of the best episodes of the entire season by far. Grade: A.

What did you think about tonight’s “Game of Thrones” episode, and are you going to miss Oberyn? Share your thoughts below.