This week’s Game of Thrones gave us a return to the dark themes we have been getting accustomed with since season one.  What makes this week unique from all the other events of this season (and part of last season) is that Joffrey was completely absent.  He was only a topic of discussion and was never actually seen.  Instead, the cruelty we endured this week was from Theon Greyjoy.  This week’s episode started and concluded with Theon and in between we saw the person he is trying to become in order to gain the respect of his father and sister.  Along the way he is also trying to earn the respect of his men and I would say that out of all the goals he has set out to accomplish, this is the only one he is doing right.  Robs Army is marching towards Winterfell to reclaim what is rightfully his, and hopefully Theon has his sister coming to back him up otherwise Rob will surely have his head.  Meanwhile Stanis Baratheon and his army move closer and closer to Kings Landing and Tyrion seems to be the only one concerned.

So it looks as though Theon truly is lost now.  He has brutally murdered those two boys and probably their father in his efforts to find Bran, his brother, the Wildling girl, and the half wit giant.  They made it seem like the four of them didn’t stop at the little farmhouse where their friends lived, but they did find shells from the nuts they were eating.  They must have gone there without anyone who lived there having any knowledge.  Those poor misfortunate people.  Bran specifically says to everyone that they can’t stop there because Theon would end up torturing them if they did.  Bran had no idea that Theon has become so horrible and cruel that he would end up torturing them anyway.  I hope that they didn’t stop there and that they are managing to escape Theon and his men.  Theon’s cruelty seems to be effecting him greatly though.  When the burned carcasses of the boys from the farm house are hoisted up for the crowd to see Theon seems very pleased with himself when he hears the gasps and horrors from his audience.  Once he turns around and sees them for himself his smirk vanishes instantly.  He looks horrified and scared, and he has to be both of those, knowing that it was his doing that led these children to their horrible fates.

I don’t think anyone out there didn’t see this coming with Jon Snow.  He’s just too soft and too inexperienced to be one of the Rangers, or at least to be an efficient one.  He should’ve killed the Wildling girl when he was supposed to and none of this would have happened but now he’s trapped.  I was really hoping we would see more of that incident unfolding but of course we are left waiting.  Will he now join up with the Wildlings?  He may have no other choice if he wants to survive, and I certainly hope that this isn’t the end of Jon Snow.  The Wildling girl somewhat hinted at him possibly joining up with them and mentioned that their leader would gladly take him in, she knows he would.

Daenerys’ story just keeps getting weirder and weirder, good grief!  She feels as though she cannot trust anyone, and for good reason.  The King of Karth (I’m not even going to attempt that guys name, I’m so happy he is now King of Karth, so much simpler) and the weirdo from the house of the undying are the ones who took her dragons, and then they murder the rest of 13.  The King wants to claim the Iron Throne for himself and now his plan to do so is in full effect.  What will Daenerys’ do now?  Her and Ser Jorah take off running, are they going to the house of undying to get her dragons back or are they just fleeing Karth all together?  What ever happens next, I just really hope she is reunited with her dragons.

Well, Sansa’s lives just got way worse now that she’s bleeding.  I like that the queen told her not to love Joffrey though, and only love her children, that’s obviously how the queen has lived her life.  ”The more people you love, the weaker you are.”  This conversation really explains a lot about the Queen’s personality as well as her behavior towards everything.

The conversation between Cersei and Tyrion was easily one of the best dramatic moments we have seen in this season.  Both Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey do an incredible job with their roles and this scene really demonstrates why.  Cersei openly admits that her children are not Robert Baratheon’s but are her brother Jamies.  Apparently half of the Targaryen’s went completely mad due to inbreeding and Cersei feels terrible because Joffrey is an example of madness.  They both discuss how Joffrey enjoys cruelty, and something must be done to control him, but that is practically impossible now that he is king.  It almost seems like Cersei is perhaps going to do something drastic, maybe even killing her own son, but it appears that there is going to be no other option.

I really want to know what is going to happen between Katherine Stark and Jamie Lannister.  The last scene we see of them is him tied to post and her holding Brianne’s sword in her hand.  I know I for one had completely forgotten just how horrible and evil Jamie Lannister is.  We see him having a very engaging and almost sweet moment between himself and his distant cousin.  They are talking about similar experiences and then next thing you know Jamie is bashing his brains in.  Jamie is a cold blooded killer and since we haven’t seen him doing anything other than being tied up this season, it was hard to remember that fact.  He is a ruthless murderer who cares nothing for honor and he is proud of it.  I really enjoyed the head game he plays with Katherine before she draws the sword.  He reminds her that even though her husband was so honorable, he Jamie Lannister has only been with his sister Cersei.  Therefore is some ways he is more honorable than her late husband Ned Stark.  He calls her out on being mean to Jon Snow every chance she had and that is also something I had forgotten.  It is hard not to really like Katherine Stark, but then you remember how cruel she was to Jon Snow.  She knew him from the time he was a baby yet was still mean to him because he was not her own.  It will be interesting to see what Katherine intends to do with that sword next week.

The Sea has come to Winterfell and Bran’s dream has come true in a way he never could have possibly imagined.  Theon Greyjoy and his band of pillagers and rapists (and proud of it) have invaded and captured Winterfell, and Bran has no choice but to yield to “Prince Theon” in order to save his people.  This along with the beheading of Sir Rodrik, by Theon, was how this weeks episode of Game of Thrones began.  The boring set up we were forced to sit through last week was well worth it, and I think anyone who has been following this series could agree with me that we all knew it would be.  Jon Snow is maybe going to freeze to death with his new female Wildling friend, who is also a ginger.  Daenerys is lost now without her dragons, it seems that nothing wants to work in her favor in her quest to reclaim the Iron Throne which once belonged to her father.  Most importantly of all, however, is that we now know for certain that the people of Kings Landing are very unhappy with their new king.  So much so that they even go so far as to hurl a cow pie at him, and it manages to hit him directly on the cheek.  How will Joffrey handle all of his people now that they not only dislike him, but they do not fear him either.

I absolutely loved the first scene between Bran and Theon.  It was short and to the point but Brans words carried a great deal of weight.  I thought that first somewhat honorable thing Theon did in a long time was to go into Brans bedroom, wake him up, and tell him himself what was happening.  Then as Theon left the room Bran asks him very bluntly, “did you hate us the whole time?”  Theon has no words to respond to this question but his facial expression shows just how deep those words cut him.  There was also the words of Sir Rodrick, just before Theon removed his head.  Sir Rodrick turned his face towards Theon and said “Gods help you Theon Greyjoy, now you are truly lost.”  Once again Theon has nothing to say to this but his face lets you know that the words have hit home.  He has to feel lost.  He is trying to earn the respect of his men, his father, and his sister but it seems that in order to earn that he has to do things he knows are wrong.  He doesn’t hate the Starks but he feels like he has to.  I can’t wait to see what happens when Rob’s forces come to capture him and reclaim Winterfell.

Oh yeah, and I hate that I have no idea what that girl who has been hanging out with Bran and then sleeps with Theon in order to help Bran and his little brother escape from the castle.  She is awesome, and I can’t wait to see what her and everyone else does now that they have escaped.  There is also this new love interest of Rob Stark.  She is a nurse, and tries to hide the fact that she is of noble birth.  He jokingly accuses her of being a spy, but her lying about her upbringing and the way she suddenly disappears after being introduced to Lady Stark definitely makes me think she is a spy for the Lannisters.

The scene with Arya and the man who will now only kill one more person for her was hilarious.  Stressful, but in the end it was hilarious, and I honestly thought there was no way in hell he was actually going to pull it off for her.  He seemed to be so set against doing it before it was time, but he did anyway once Arya explained why she was desperate.  Peter Baelish seems to know that Tywin’s new cup barer is Arya, the way he says both of the Stark girls.  What will become of Arya now?  Well I am getting ahead of myself because they left us with a huge cliffhanger there.  What was Lord Baelish about to tell Tywin.  It sure seemed like he knew who Arya was, but maybe not.  I guess we will have to wait for next weeks episode to hear what the rest of their conversation was.

I have to admit I completely forgot that the whole marrying off of Cersei’s daughter was still going on.  For a second I was really confused as to why this was happening but then I quickly remembered that if Tyrion didn’t actually carry out his plan that he would be completely exposed.  Cersei says some very harsh words to him as well, about how she hopes that he loves something so much that when she takes it away he will know how she feels.  All of this conversation is almost immediately forgotten when we witness the riot that ensues.  Joffrey’s weakness is exposed once again, just as it was when Arya’s Direwolve attacked him in the first season.  I loved the way Tyrion slapped him and called him out on all of his flaws as a king.  I hope that Tyrion does not end up paying for this, but I wouldn’t put it past Joffrey.  Thankfully the Dog was there to take care of Sansa, and kill those men just before they were about to rape her, while Joffrey told his guards to “let [the mob] have her.”  The Dog and her have always had an interesting relationship but now she will certainly have a great deal more respect for him.  Next week is sure to be full of just as much excitement as we were given this week and since it was almost absent this week, probably a lot more darkness.

This week’s Game of Thrones was by far the tamest episode we have seen in a very long time.  Not only was there not a whole lot going on but as my memory serves me, this is quite possibly the first episode in this entire series that featured not only zero gratuitous sex scenes but also had no nudity of any kind.  Even the very first episode from season one set the tone for the presence of sexuality in this series, but this episode broke away from that mold.  We did have mention of the inappropriate relationship between the Queen and her cousin, but that was it.  Aside from the lack of sex, there was also a lack of action, as well as a lack of evil that was beginning to be the trend so far in this season.  The lack of evil, though, is easily explained with the absence of King Joffrey from this week’s episode.  His plan of action for Stannis’s approaching invasion seems to be more dangerous than effective.  I hope we get a chance to see it play out next week.

As I mentioned before this episode was incredibly action deprived.  More so than any episode before it and it leads me to believe that we have now reached the middle point of the season.  That being said however there was a ton of build up this week hinting at a lot of action as well as battles for next week.  The action we did see, even though there was so little, was still good.  Both were short lived but still intriguing.  We saw the death of Renly which I wouldn’t say was a big surprise but the way it happened certainly was.  I definitely did not think we would see Stannis’ son until much later on this season, and not the very next episode.  While Renly’s death changes everything, and was obviously a huge plot point, it was so freaking abrupt.  The first time we even saw Renly this episode we also watched him get killed.  I doubt we will get to see the resistance that has now formed against Stannis next week, and what exactly do they plan to do against his shadow son anyway?  The other notable action we saw this week was between Arya and the man who now fights for Lord Lannister but before was in the iron cage.  He killed “The Tickler” and will kill two more men for her and all she must do is provide a name.  The episode ended with “The Tickler’s” death and now what we all want to know, is who will be her next two names?  Arya could easily say Joffrey or even Lord Lannister himself, and the man would have to kill them.  Why would she not say Joffrey?  She’s hated him since season one for having the butchers boy killed and now she has the perfect opportunity for revenge and all she has to do is sit there and wait for it to happen.

While the action was limited this week, the build up dominated.  Theon and his sister are on their way to Winterhold with their rapers and pillagers of the Iron Islands under their command.  This is the battle that I personally am looking forward to the most.  I want to see what Theon will do when the time comes to actually fight against Rob Stark.  Will he be able to do it?  He is terribly conflicted between the family that gave him up and the family that raised him and the time for him to actually make a decision between the two is rapidly approaching.  There is also the events taking place out beyond the wall with Jon snow and his other Rangers of the Night’s Watch.  He and a few others are moving out so some sort of sneak attack.  Both of these events as well as Stannis’ men moving in on King’s Landing should be all the ingredients necessary to provide us with an action packed episode this coming Sunday.

Tyrion seems to slowly be shifting into the role of the main protagonist as this lengthy story unfolds.  It is somewhat ironic, or maybe not, that as he replaces Ned Stark’s role in Game of Thrones he has also taken his job as hand of the king.  This job is one of great importance and carries a great deal of authority but, as we already know, usually leaves the person of this position dead.  Tyrion is going out of his way to make sure this does not happen to him and has decided to use his superior intellect to keep not only his position but his life as well.  This week he demonstrates how, as Lord Varys says, even a small man can cast a rather large shadow by cleverly, and a little bit violently, taking care of his mole problem and now surrounding himself only by those he knows he can trust.  Meanwhile he protects his special lady friend by hiding her right under his sisters nose.  Little Finger and Lord Varys are on his side for now, but how long will that remain the case?

Well I have to say I was really happy when I realized the show was picking up exactly where the last one left off with the crazy old man beating the crap of Jon Snow, but I was quickly disappointed with conclusion to this conflict.  Basically the men of the Nights Watch have to leave now and what Jon witnessed was none of his business and therefore should be left alone.  The Night’s Watch needs men like that to stay alive and there are more important enemies out there to worry about.  I really hope that isn’t the final conclusion to this and something his done about this.  Maybe those male infants he’s sacrificing are what are creating the White Walkers and if they just put a stop to that man they wouldn’t have to worry about fighting those things anymore.  Sounds like two birds with the same stone if you ask me but what do I know.

I really feel for Theon Greyjoy in this episode.  He is obviously torn between fighting against the family who raised him or the one who gave him up.  I got really excited when he finally calls his father out on being angry with him for being raised by the Stark’s.  He didn’t choose to be raised by them, but his father did make the decision to give him up.  His father’s reaction was expected but I think in a way it gave his father more respect for him.  I’m interested to see if he really does carry out this attack and what will become of Winterfell if it actually is invaded by the Greyjoy army.  I really want to see Theon turn against his father and I feel like they are trying to hint that his sister may possibly be more on his side then on their father’s.  I could be reading into that too much but it seems like they are always showing a close up of her face whenever there is something said to Theon, and her expression almost always appears sympathetic.

The alliance with Renly Baratheon and the Starks makes perfect sense.  I guess there will be disputes over who is the true king, however.  The religious people were absent from this episode but it seems like these two parties each have their own claim to the throne.  Robb seems caught in the middle of this but perhaps doesn’t even realize it yet.  As a matter of fact, I don’t think anyone realizes it except for we the audience.  I also find it strange that already Renly has acquired all of these people who regard him as their king and call him their grace.  Things seem tense between him and his lover, the knight of flowers.  It also appears that he has married his sister who oddly enough is perfectly all right with him being gay with her brother, as long as he gets her pregnant.  She is pretty open with this actually and even tells Renly that if he would prefer her brother be involved with the conceiving then so be it.  Wow.  That’s really all I can say about that.

The cliff hanger we are left with this week, is oddly enough the story we started with last week.  Arya and Gendry are captured but their captures have no idea who they really are.  What will end up happening to them now?  I suppose they will be returning to Kings Landing but what will they have to do once they get there?  Maybe those men from the caged wagon will return and save them, or at least the nicer one of the three.  I have a feeling he feels that he owes Arya and will try to repay her for what she did.  I could be wrong though but again, I don’t know why else they would have shown him turning around to watch her as she ran off.  I can’t wait to see what will become of Arya and Gendry now, and I also am looking forward to seeing what will happen with Khaleesi and her troubled group.  They hinted at something taking place involving them next week and I hope it’s finally something good, but from the brief clip we were shown it appears to be even more hardships.

This week’s Game of Thrones continued to remain dark, and I mean really dark.  This season has so far featured baby killing in every episode.  Well, alright that might be taking it a bit to far.  We don’t really know for sure if there was baby killing going on in this episode but it sure seemed like that was happening out in the woods at the very end.  One of those blue eyed things from the first episode in season one took the baby the man who is housing the Nights Watch left in the woods.  My guess would be that perhaps this is how those evil blue people are made, so that baby won’t be killed but instead turned into one of them.  I guess that’s not death but it might be just as bad.  Anyway, Jon Snow witnesses this and is then quickly knocked unconscious and the credits begin to role.  What a great cliff hanger right?  That ending was intense and now I can’t stop thinking about what that guy is going to do with Jon Snow.   Whatever it is I’m sure it will be terrible.

I really want to know what will happen with the three men in the caged wagon.  I hope we at least get to learn if the three of them are together or were captured separately or something.  They have such a short and insignificant scene in this episode so I’m afraid they might not come back but still, they interested me.  I’m glad to see that other than these three caged men, Arya’s journey has become pretty interesting now that Gendry knows who she actually is.  I wonder if those soldiers from King’s Watch will actually return to find Gendry and if they do what will happen?

Khaleesi seems pretty SOL right about now.  She is stranded in the wastelands and now one of the men she sent off’s horse was all that came back, unless you include his severed head in the saddlebag.  I was really hoping there would be some more time spent with her pathetic crew in this episode, especially how dramatic her only scene was.  Hopefully some good news comes her way next week but right now everything seems pretty hopeless.

I still don’t really understand this religious cult thing, as well as their chosen king.  They team up with a perverted pirate and are attacking the Lannisters.  I guess that means they’re on Rob’s side, but is Rob on their side though?  That is, does Rob want this man to be the King?  Is that what he is also fighting for or is he only concerned with defeating the Lannisters and avenging his father?

I have to say, when Theon Greyjoy returned to his home, his greeting was not at all what I was expecting.  His father absolutely hates him now.  He hates the Starks and feels that Ned Stark has now made Theon into a Stark.  Lord Greyjoy also feels it is a big deal whether you buy something with the iron price, killing someone for it, or the gold price, paying for it…with gold.  When Theon tells him that he paid for his jewelry in gold, his father immediately rips it from his neck.  Apparently this principle of Lord Greyjoy not only applies to how you acquire jewelry, but also applies to how he will get his kingdom back.  Now Theon is stuck.  His father flat out tells him that he will not be fighting against the Lannisters.  Theon wants to be loyal to his homeland but the Starks raised him.  He and Rob are practically brothers and when Theon tells his father this it infuriates him, so what shall he do?  Fight against those who raised him or fight for his father who hates him?  His decision is definitely what interests me the most going into next weeks episode.

The long awaited return of HBO’s Game of Thrones has finally come.  The second season picks up right where it left off, as it should and the war between kingdoms continues to draw nearer and nearer.  Incase you forgot about the first season, it ended with the newly appointed King Joffrey decapitating Ned Stark, who was Joffrey’s father’s “Hand” during his reign, and therefore declaring war on the entire north.  Meanwhile the youngest Stark daughter is on the run, while her sister sits beside her “beloved Joffrey” and her brothers are marching towards the kingdom with full armies marching behind them.  The North has declared war on the kingdom, and the beheading of Ned Stark was the trigger that led to the uprising.  Now it is up to Joffrey to keep kingdom alongside his soon to be Queen Sansa Stark.  The rest of the Starks are leading the battle against Joffrey and his mother.

I have to admit that season one of Game of Throne began to get kind of boring towards the middle of the series.  I began to get bored with everyone in the show and everything that had been going on.  Then the last three episodes changed all of that and I became once again very interested in the story and next thing I knew the season was over and I had to wait until now to finally get my Game of Thrones fix.

Thankfully on Sunday, the day season 2 premiered, HBO was showing a marathon of the entire first season, and my roommate had it on in our living room all day.  I was able to catch bits and pieces of almost every episode and even sat down and watched one or two entirely.  This helped immensely because I know there were a ton things I would’ve completely forgotten had I not done this, such as Robert Baratheon, Joffrey’s supposed father, having countless sons born from woman all over the city.  I feel that the way the first episode ended, with the soldiers running through the brothel and killing babies, as well as seeing other young boys hunted down and murdered was kind of unexplained.  Had I not seen the part where Ned Stark learns of King Robert’s infidelities I think that final sequence would’ve been a huge mess of confusion.

Tyrion arrives at the capital to inform his sister that he is now the Hand of the King she outraged by this, since her father is the appointed Hand of the King but he has decided to release that authority to his son Tyrion, Joffrey’s uncle.  Tyrion’s role will be very interesting to watch play out.  He is one of, if not the most interesting characters on the show and he knows that his role is to keep Joffrey and his mother from doing more damage than they already have with the beheading of Ned Stark.  Will Tyrion be able to accomplish what he has set out to do though?  It is a mighty tall order that has been given to him but I think he will be able to find a way to trick Joffrey into doing what is best and not what the spoiled brat wants.

There are three things that are plaguing Joffrey and his mother.  The first is that they are now in the middle of a war against the North.  The beheading of Ned Stark has caused the entire North to rise up against them and are now moving in for battle.  The second is the winter that is approaching.  In the Game of Thrones universe the seasons last for years at a time.  Apparently, this has been one of the longest Summer’s that anyone can remember and if there has been a long summer, there will inevitably bring a long winter.  As it stands, right now, the kingdom has enough food to last for 5 years.  If the winter lasts any longer than that people will begin to starve. When the Queen is informed of this, it doesn’t really seem to bother her but I have a feeling it will be one of those things that does come back to haunt her.  Finally, the last thing and probably most detrimental to their reign is the rumor that has begun to spread about Jamie Lannister and his twin sister the Queen.  The two are lovers and have been for who knows how long.  The youngest Stark boy, Bran, witnessed the two of them going at it in a high tower last season and was then pushed out of it by Jamie Lannister which then caused Bran to lose the use of his legs.  The rumors also claim that Joffrey is not the son of King Robert and Queen Cersei but is instead the son of Cersei and Jamie Lannister, born in incest.  These rumors are growing more and more and are even beginning to say that Ned Stark learned of this truth and therefore had his head removed.  These three factors are all adding up to the undoing of Joffrey’s reign and will most likely ruin the Lannister family.

I know that there is no way this could possibly be the case, but it looks as though all hope is lost for Khaleesi now that her husband is dead.  The majority of the tribe has abandoned her from last season and now what is left is wandering the wastelands.  She has her dragons though which is freaking awesome!  I cannot wait to see what ends up happening with those.  There is also the story of Jon Snow, as he calls himself.  He is the bastard child of Ned Stark and has joined the night watchers and they are heading North to the wall.  I was beginning to worry about what had become of the youngest Stark girl, Arya but we finally get to see her in the closing moments of the episode.  I love the way we see the man being tortured and he tells them that the boy they’re looking for, another one of the kings bastards, has a bulls head helmet.  Then we see a shot of the bulls head helmet sitting on a cart with Arya then sitting down in front of it as the boy the helmet belongs to helps into the cart.  This episode was quite slow and had a lot of buildup before it finally starting good, but that’s to be expected in any season opener, and especially one of this magnitude.  I cannot wait to see more of what season two has to offer us.

The final episode of HBO’s On Freddie Roach opened with a knockout.  This knockout however was not by one of Freddie’s fighters, but by Freddie himself.  Freddie never got to the level of boxing that he wanted to reach.  He never won a world title and therefore was never a world champion, but today he known as the best trainer in boxing, and has been in the corner for dozens of world champions.  Freddie trains fighters constantly, and literally never takes a day off despite being affected by Parkinson’s disease.  Peter Berg does an absolutely fantastic job giving us a glimpse into his life and each one of these 6 episodes.  The final episode is by far the most fascinating and gives a perfect conclusion to one of the best documentaries I have seen in a really long time.

The majority of this episode was spent on the day of the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.  The lead up to the actual fight isn’t all that interesting, but the fight itself certainly is.  I remember watching this fight back when it happened in November and I can remember Freddie telling Manny in between rounds that he was losing the fight.  I remember him telling Manny after the 10th round that he had only 2 rounds left to knock this guy out.  Freddie certainly seemed to think Manny was losing the fight.  I remember I thought the same thing as I watched these two men battle for the 3rd time, and even when the judges announced the majority decision victory for Pacquiao the crowd also seemed to see the fight the same way I did.  Manny was hailed with boos from the audience and seemed to be deeply affected by this during his post fight interview inside the ring.  This part was left out of this episode of On Freddie Roach, but we did get to see Freddie and Manny’s interaction in the locker room after the fight.  Freddie doesn’t admit it to anyone, not to Manny and certainly not to the press, but he seemed to think that Manny was definitely losing this fight while it was happening.  All he ever really says, though, is that he thought the fight was close, and it certainly was but was Manny actually the winner?  Not in my opinion at least but my opinion means very little in the sport of boxing.

Whether or not Manny won the fight has absolutely no affect on Freddies schedule.  It is simply another day in his life.  After the fight is over he immediately returns to the wild card gym in Hollywood to begin his training with Julio Cesar Chavez jr.  The man never takes a day off and I love the voice over he provides for us when he is preparing Manny for his fight.  During this voiceover Freddie tells us that he doesn’t want to just be the guy who sits in the corner outside of the ring and yells at his fighter.  He likes getting in there and working with them.  Freddie puts on the mitts and gets inside the ring and works just as hard as his fighter works.  He feels this is important to show his fighter.  He’s going to get in there and train them, not just instruct them.  He’s going to work just as hard as they work because that’s how much he is committed to them.  It doesn’t matter who they are, whether they are Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan, or even the U.S. olympic prospects, he is going to put on the mitts himself and get into the ring with them.  Freddie explains that this is how he and Pepper were raised.  They were taught that you work hard and you always see the job through to the end.

I feel like every episode of this series you learn something fascinating about one of the characters involved in Freddie Roach’s life.  This time around though, the person we get to learn something about is Freddie himself.  While everyone is out at dinner, one of the guys at the table reads a tabloid headline from London that calls Freddie a choir boy, and then in the same sentence mentions how he once bit a man’s eye out.  Freddie and everyone at the table laughs at this ridiculous story but then several minutes later, in one of his voiceovers, Freddie tells us the story.  Just when you think you are really getting to know someone, you hear them tell a story that ends with them biting out someones eye and then spitting in their face.  Wow.  I will never ever look at Freddie Roach the same way.  My favorite part of the story was at the end when Freddie finishes telling us everything that happened he simply says “and here I am today.”  That’s it, one time I tackled a guy to the ground, bit his eye out “and here I am today.”  Wow, what a guy.

I loved the way this episode, and therefore series, ended.  Freddie tells us that he lives one day at a time and doesn’t think about Parkinson’s.  It is truly remarkable how he is able to live his life with this horrendous disease constantly affecting him, but he does it.  He doesn’t let it him slow him down once so ever, and he even says that right now he feels like he’s going to outlive all of us.

Freddie Roach is an amazing human being and HBO and Peter Berg did a fantastic job giving us this opportunity to take a glimpse into his incredible life.  All in all this entire series was amazing.  HBO does a great job with their documentary series 24/7 but On Freddie Roach was on an entirely different level.  This series was easily the best sports documentary that I have seen in a really long time, and I would even go as far to say this was one of the best documentary’s I have ever seen.  I would watch anything that Peter Berg does going forward.

Last week in On Freddie Roach we saw Freddie beginning his training with his most talented, and by far most popular fighter, Manny Pacquiao.  This time, however, Freddie is not in Manny’s native Philippines.  Instead Manny is in Hollywood at Freddie’s Wild Card Gym, and is only a few days away from his third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.  It was incredible to see the change in the gym once Pacquiao is there.  Any other time we have seen the Wild Card is has looked like any other boxing gym, but with Manny’s presence it has an entirely different aura, and in the middle of it all is Freddie who quietly reigns over everyone else inside.  Pepper is still in rough shape from his stroke but he is definitely better than he was when we last saw him.  It’s still sad to see him struggling to walk around, and move objects with his left hand when we saw him in the second episode having all of his motor skills functioning properly.  The thing that easily stuck with me more than anything else from this episode though, and was something I didn’t think too much of last week, is the temper of Manny Pacquiao.

I really like how Freddie’s first voice over this week was about how he runs his gym on the honor system.  People come to him and explain that they are kind of short that month and will be able to pay him the next month, and whenever they ask if it’s okay for them to still train, Freddie never tells them no.  About 5 or 10 minutes after Freddie tells us this, and in the middle of Pacquiao’s media day, Freddie has to step outside for a moment to speak with Vince Phillips who is a former light welterweight champion as well as former trainer at the gym.  Vince apparently owes Freddie a lot of money and has come to talk with him about it. They never reach any conclusions or even discuss anything in particular but Freddie remains extremely calm and handles the situation with a completely cool head.  Vince inappropriately patted a 14 years old girls butt during a training session and this girl is now threatening to sue Freddie and his gym.  Vince claims there was nothing sexual or inappropriate and claims it was merely a greeting between athletes.  Freddie doesn’t argue with Vince about that, or anything he says to defend himself for that matter, but instead simply tells him how it is.  Freddie has every reason to go off on Vince and I think any person in Freddie’s situation would have done just that, but he doesn’t.  He only talks for a minute and then says goodbye.

As I said in the first paragraph, the thing that stuck with me the most from this episode was by far, the temper of Manny Pacquiao.  It is something that we never actually see ourselves, and I have never seen it outside of this series it and when it came up last time I honestly thought nothing of it.  Last week, when Freddie first arrived at the gym in the Philippines someone asked him where Manny was, and if he had congressman stuff keeping him busy that morning.  Freddie explained that the reason was that they were afraid to wake Manny up.  Freddie told the man that if Manny didn’t wake up naturally or on his own he would get very upset and try to fight whoever it was trying to awaken him.  At the time I thought that he was probably just joking.  People probably were afraid to wake him up, but because he was Manny Pacquiao not because he would flip out.  Apparently this was no joke, because this week’s episode ended with a man, who was never named, telling Freddie, on the day of Marquez fight about what took place the night before.  Apparently Jeff Ariza, Manny’s strength and conditioning coach, came into Pacquiao’s hotel room and told him that he needed to go to bed.  At the time Pacquiao was on the phone and told Jeff that he would go to sleep eventually.  About half an hour went by and Manny was still on the phone, so Jeff came in and told him once again to go to sleep.  Manny gave Jeff the same response so Jeff made a comment along the lines of “that’s what Mike Tyson said the night before Buster Douglas knocked him out.”  This comment sent Manny over the edge, and was proceeded by him throwing the phone at Jeff as well as tables, chairs and basically anything else in the hotel room that wasn’t nailed down.  He then told his guards that if they let Jeff back in, that he (Manny Pacquiao) would kill them (the guards) himself.  After the man tells Freddie this story, we see his face filled with concern with only a few hours before the fight starts, and then the credits roll.  Manny has always presented himself as an extremely nice and carrying individual and it is almost impossible to picture him acting this way but this is obviously not the first time he has done something like this.

This weeks episode of HBO’s On Freddie Roach we finally get a chance to see Freddie working with his bread and butter, Manny Pacquiao.  Manny Pacquiao is single handedly the reason Freddie Roach is the most famous trainer in this current era of boxing.  The two of them went from being somewhat well known in the boxing community to super stars of the sport and they did so with the help of one another.  This gave both men a great deal of respect for each other, and I love the way Freddie Roach puts it in one of his voice overs.  He says that Manny do this day still calls him master, but the reality of it is that without Manny, Freddie would not be the same person he is today.  Before Freddie heads to the Philippines he attends what appears to be a party for Pepper’s release from the hospital.  Pepper is still in rough shape from his stroke and it appears that he is barely able to get around even with the aid of his stick.  His left arm is also in a cast of some kind, and it’s movement is still limited.

There were two things that really stood out to me during Peppers party.  The first was that James Toney was in attendance.  James Toney was a dominant force at middle weight during the early 90′s and was one of the few men to win titles at both middle weight and heavy weight.  He also played Joe Frazier in the movie Ali, and had a brief and very unsuccessful attempt at UFC, although by this point he was well past his prime.  He is more or less retired now, but he still claims celebrity status in the boxing community.  It was never really explained why he was there.  I’m assuming it has to do with Freddie, but I don’t think Freddie ever trained Toney, and it’s not like any other of Roach’s fighters made an appearance.  The second thing was the shot of the man pulling Freddie aside and telling him what a beautiful house Pepper has, that Freddie was able to purchase for him.  Freddie takes care of those close to him to say the least.

The first voiceover we hear from Freddie this week came shortly after he said goodbye to his girlfriend.  In his voiceover he talks about how much he fears loneliness yet has accepted it as part of his life because of his profession.  He travels alone, it makes it sound as though he has to but I don’t understand why.  He seems to work at his Wildcard Gym in Hollywood just fine with his girlfriend Wendy around, but either way he departs for the Philippines without her.

It’s hard to comprehend just how much of a superstar Manny Pacquiao is in the Philippines.  Here in the U.S. we don’t have anyone who even comes close to his level of popularity.  He is “The Pride of the Philippines” and it shows.  Once Freddie arrives he is immediately confronted by the media who want to know what his plans are for training Manny for his next fight.  Whenever Freddie leaves Manny’s training facility he is greeted by screaming girls who want pictures and autographs.  Freddie is a huge celebrity in the boxing community but he is on a superstar level, not quite the same as Pacquiao, but not too far from it either.

To me the most interesting part of this episode was when Freddie was at dinner and a Philippine man who spoke perfect english was there telling negotiating a contract for Freddie to sign to become another fighter’s trainer.  The man seems to be a very normal agent, very well spoken and well mannered and then when he leaves he cracks a joke about killing the guy who cut his fighters hair.  Everyone laughs but then, after they leave, Freddie looks at the camera and informs us that the man is actually the Governor of the area they are dining in.  He also goes on to mention that if anyone was caught selling drugs in his providence that he would march them out into the town square and shot the convicted dealer in the head, public execution style.  Then 3 or 4 years ago they did away with the death penalty so he can’t do that anymore.  The man sitting next to Freddie who seems to be his translator, or perhaps guide then says that in order to be the Governor in that area you have no choice but to be somewhat of a gangster.  Growing up in the U.S. this was a complete culture shock to me, and you even see this Governor later in the episode and there is no way I will be able to look at him the same after hearing that.

This weeks episode of On Freddie Roach gave us an opportunity to see yet another side of the remarkable Freddie Roach.  For the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics Freddie has taken it upon himself to work with each one of the U.S. hopefuls.  One thing that HBO didn’t really go into much detail on about this is that Freddie decided to do this on his own.  No one is paying him, and no one asked him for his help either.  Just the idea of asking a professional trainer, especially one as accredited and famous as Freddie Roach, is unheard of.  What is discussed in this episode, by Freddie himself, is that he wants boxing to be what it once was in this country.  Professional boxing is no where near what it once was in terms in popularity but amateur boxing is in even worse shape and Freddie is determined to change that.

While part of me feels like it is unnecessary to keep showing Freddie going to the hospital and receiving treatments every episode, I did enjoy this one.  It was the very beginning of the episode and we saw the doctor having Freddie do all kinds of different things that involve the use of his basic motor skills.  While watching this is rather boring, it was kind of cool to see Freddie laughing and joking with his doctor throughout the visit.  Even though this was a serious doctors visit for a very serious illness both men seemed to be enjoying themselves.  I don’t know what it was exactly, but seeing Freddie smiling and laughing while going through this was very uplifting to watch.

I remember watching HBO’s Ring Life: Manny Pacquiao a while back before his 3rd fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, and Pacquiao’s manager was talking about how Pacquiao was fighting in the L.A. area and wanted to work out in a gym while he was there.  Pacquiao and his manager had heard that there was a trainer in the area who was really good with the gloves, and they wanted Manny to get some work in with him.  That trainer turned out to be Freddie Roach and from that point on their relationship developed into what it is today.  Watching Freddie work the gloves with one of his boxers is truly incredible to watch.  What I really liked about this episode in particular though, is that before we only saw Freddie working with fighters who were already established professionals.  This time we saw him working mostly with undeveloped amateur boxers so there was a lot more teaching involved this time around.  It was awesome to see Freddie training these kids while working them out.  With other fighters such as Amir Khan or Pacquiao, Roach is basically doing a routine that he and his fighters know extremely well so there is no need to stop and teach.  Seeing Freddie share his knowledge with these young amateurs was incredible to witness.

One thing that I absolutely love about these documentary series’ that HBO puts together are the little aesthetic touches that they throw into almost every episode.  We got to see all the U.S. hopefuls, along with Freddie Roach, sitting in a classroom being talked to by a sports psychologist.  At first she is asking the boys to picture an orange and eventually peeling and eating said orange, but the words she uses to describe this experience aren’t exactly the best choice when speaking to a room of adolescents.  This results in a lot of laughter, and even Freddie can’t help but crack a smile amongst the giggling.  Then the attitude in the room changes dramatically when she asks the boys to imagine that they are walking into the boxing ring leading up to a fight.  As she we hear her speaking inside of the classroom, we are shown the boys training and it is absolutely incredible.  To hear her speak and watch these boys training in the gym doing their own routines is absolutely beautiful to behold and gives you a glimpse to what the sport of boxing is really all about.

Finally there is Domenic Peppin Roach, or Pepper as he is better known.  Pepper is still in the hospital but has been doing rehab and is slowly regaining the use of the left side of his body.  At the end of the episode Freddie finally goes to see him and shortly after we hear Freddie giving one of his narrations on Pepper.  Pepper was always the better athlete than Freddie and was a much better boxer.  Whenever the two of them boxed, Pepper always dominated Freddie.  Freddie then explains that shortly after Pepper joined the Army he got really into drugs and from there his life went downhill.  He explains that Pepper always wanted to be the bad guy, even though Freddie felt that that simply was not who he was.  I thought it was really interesting that as we hear Freddie saying this, we see a picture of Pepper with his shirt off revealing all of his tattoos including one of the Nazi “SS” very big on his chest.

Freddie obviously loves his brother, but I feel like his brother also served a big role in his life as far as what not to do, and what not to become.  Hopefully we will see Pepper return to the gym before long, and I really hope that we get a chance to see Freddie working more with the U.S. team next week.  While amateur boxing still has a long way to go to get back to where it once was, having Freddie Roach in its corner is certainly a step in the right direction.