Warning: Fullfor the episode follow...

"The Gods have no mercy. That's why they're gods."Wow. Just wow.

As the Song of Ice and Fire ballad "The Rains of Castamere," performed by The National, still plays on my TV, I begin this review. With many books fans afraid that the much-anticipated Battle of Blackwater Bay wouldn't get the proper amount of attention on a series that sometimes needs to shuffle and shave, the episode "Blackwater" was nothing short of a stunning triumph. We might have had a few Game of Thrones episodes in the past that felt like they heavily focused on one story as an anchor, but never an episode that truly stayed with only one scenario the entire time. And what a freakin' fantastic journey it was.

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And not that we don't love Arya, Jon, Daenerys and the rest, but I couldn't even imagine cutting away from the castle siege story for a second. Even before the fighting started, when we hopped around the castle and checked in with everyone, I was hoping that we wouldn't leave. "Blackwater" was written by author George R. R. Martin himself and directed by Niel Marshall (The Descent, Centurion, Doomsday); a man who definitely knows how to "do more with less" and came in during the eleventh hour to triumphantly oversee this series' most ambitious production yet.

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From Bronn and The Hound butting heads before battle, to Cersei drinking herself into sad, bitter stupor and taunting Sansa inside the ladies panic room/suicide station, this episode is to be celebrated. Just every single moment resonated with awesomeness. Tyrion's decision to lead the troops himself after Joffrey pussed out. Stannis, acting the exact opposite of Joffrey, being the first man up the damn ladder. The Hound suffering sort of a trauma-induced paralysis at the site of fire and then offering to take Sansa back with him to Winterfell. All while she looks at the doll that her father gave her back in Season 1 - that she rejected! It was all so damn good.And let's not bury the lead here either. The flaming bay full of green wildfire! The exploding ships. Davos and his son Matthos being blown sky high. The horrid screams coming from the water as Tyrion and Joffrey looked on. The Imp's plan worked. But will he get credit for it? It was nice to hear Varys, a man that we as an audience rarely even trust, place his faith so solidly in Tyrion. And mean it. So there are those within the ranks that truly know how clever and industrious he is. But did he win the day? Well, that remains to be seen. Because right as a battalion of men were chanting "Half Man!" in his honor, Ser Mandon, of the Kingsguard, slashes at him, cutting open his face. Nice save by oddball Podrick by the way! Spear through the skull will do it very time.Which now brings us to all the glorious hacking and slashing. Limbs lopped off. Heads bashed in. People cut in half. It was quite the slaughterhouse. Which is what, I think, helped make this a perfectly balanced episode as far as overall tone goes. Quiet moments. Humorous ones. Slashing violence. Big surprises. All in one package. And what makes the siege of King's Landing work so well as a story is the fact that, normally, we'd all be rooting for Stannis. We'd want to see him sack the city and put Joffrey's head on a spike. We want to see the Lannisters in ruin. But then there's Tyrion. And because he's there and because he's the only one actively trying to save the city, we want to see Stannis turned back. And yet still, part of us roots for Stannis because the honorable/logical Ser Davos is on his team. So we find ourselves rooting for and rooting against both sides. So in the end, we just want to see the people we hate get a sword in the eye. But Sansa knows better, doesn't she? "The worst ones always live."And while some might have said, at the outset, that Tyrion (and perhaps Bronn) were the only reasons they were rooting for a Lannister victory, I think this episode did wonders for Sansa as a character, as she's become a Sansa who no longer is afraid to get a bit "lippy" with Joffrey. Yes, she comes at him harder now with her sarcasm and sass. Also, the way that she still tried to remain strong for all the other women, even after a sauced-up Cersei had done her best to scare the utter s*** out of her; getting more and more playfully pissed at her as the night went on ("You are perfect, aren't you?). So I do think, as much as there are plenty of Sansa haters out there, that she's definitely another reason to want to see Stannis' formidable forces defeated. Also, I think that fact that The Hound is clearly in love with her, in a Beauty/Beast sort of way, helps endear her to us.By the end of "Blackwater" -- when Tywin and Ser Loras rode in together (as per their new pact brokered by Littlefinger, yes?) -- it all felt like the moment that this season had been building to. Stannis vs. King's Landing. With the detour (a great detour, mind you) being Stannis having to eliminate Renly and get all his ships. This is Season 2's crowning achievement. Was it all portrayed as epically as those of us who read the books imagined it? Probably not. But it vastly surpassed my expectations and gave us the story of a splendidly hopeless situation turned back by a character no one ever expected to be a hero. This was Tyrion's masterpiece. And even though he repeated, many times throughout the season in fact, that he was only defending the city so that his own head wouldn't wind up on the chopping block, we've come to know, over two seasons of growth and development, that there's more to it than that. Tyrion might not be as honorable as Ned Stark, but it's his mix of both honor and self-preservation that has done more to rid the city of scoundrels and protect its citizens than any "Hand" had ever done that came before him.Now, to watch it again...

Matt Fowler is an Editor of IGN TV . You can follow him on Twitter at @MattIGN : Noon the comment sections for our Game of Thrones reviews. Please do not post anything that will ruin the series for others. You will be banned. And for everyone else, beware of trolling jerks.For those who want to talk about the books, with regards to the TV series, why don't you head over to section of IGN's Game of Thrones Wiki Guide focused on the book and TV show differences . Feel free to add to the Wiki while you at it!