Week 8 (S5E03-S5E08)

Episode 43: High Sparrow

“Olly, bring me my sword”

Major Plot Points: Tommen enjoys the married life.  Arya is forced to serve.  Sansa learns about her new betrothed.  Jon refuses a King.  Tyrion goes to a brothel.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. Tommen was a young child,  about 9, therefore he and Margaery never consummated their relationship.  Weirdly enough they still got married.
2. Littlefinger does plan on marrying Sansa off, but not to someone as repulsive as Ramsey.  There is a lord in the Vale nicknamed Harry the Heir, and if something were to happen to poor little Sweetrobin, he would be in line as the next Lord of the Vale. 
3. Brienne’s father Selywn, is known as Selywn Tarth, Tarth being the name of the island he presides over.  For some reason, Brienne is known as Brienne of Tarth, not Brienne Tarth.  Not sure why but it does sound cooler.
4. Olly did not exist.  It was awesome.
5. Jon sent Ser Alliser away to command the castle Janos died refusing.  It did not prevent a mutiny, the mutiny was just organized by other people. 
6. Fans of the books were furious when Jon didn’t say “Edd fetch me a block”, before beheading Janos.  “Olly bring me my sword” does not have the same ring to it. 
7. At this point of the books, we were on our second High Septon.  The first was killed in the riot that nearly killed Sansa.  The second was murdered under Cersei’s command due to her paranoia that Lancel confessed to him about their incestuous affair.  The High Sparrow was then given power by Cersei.

Other Points to Notice

1. Jaqen tells Arya, “There is only one God.”  This echoes what Syrio Forel told her back in Season 1.  This is either a normal Braavosi thing to say, or the theory that Syrio was Jaqen in disguise has serious legs.
2. Lets pretend Jon takes Stannis’ offer.  He would then break his vows to follow Stannis to Winterfell.  If this happened, he would almost certainly have died fighting with Stannis.  Then the wildling army north of the Wall would all die to the White Walkers, and return as an undead army.  In other words, it would have been catastrophic for the entire world if Jon broke his vows and accepted.
3. I can’t rationalize Sansa agreeing to marry Ramsey.  Roose literally (and figuratively?) stabbed her brother through the heart.  It does not make sense to me narrative-wise.  Did D&D really have no other ideas for how to keep Sansa occupied for a season? Why not spend the time showing her learning the game and trying to marry someone in the Vale? She could then rile the troops to go attack Winterfell and aid Jon, landing her in the same position, minus the gratuitous rape and violence.
4. We have now seen Ned, Robb, Theon and Jon execute someone that served underneath them.  Tragedy seems to accompany this, as all 4 die shortly after.  Yes I count Theon becoming Reek as dying. 

Stray Observations:

1. This is now Margaery’s third husband.  She gives the kiss of death at her weddings apparently. 
2. Stannis giving a subtle nod to Jon after he executes Janos is one of my favorite moments.

RIP: Janos Slynt, the baby murdering ex-captain of the Goldcloaks. 

Episode 44: Sons of the Harpy

“You do not belong across the world with the bloody Stone Men. You are the Princess Shireen of House Baratheon, and you are my daughter.”

Major Plot Points: Cersei unleashes the sparrows.  Tommen tries to be a king.  Jaime and Bronn meet Dornishmen.  Jon is seduced by the Lord of Light. Stannis wins the heart of the audience. Tyrion travels with his new captor. Barristan fights peasants.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. No one was sent to rescue Myrcella.  She wasn’t exactly safe, but the royal family of Dorne truly enjoyed having her around, and protected her.
2. Cersei filled the small council with random knights and lords she thought loyal to only her.  She employed a bastard named Aurane Waters as the head of the royal navy, and ordered new ships be built for him, simply because he looked uncannily like Rhaegar Targaryen.  When Cersei was arrested by the High Sparrow, Waters left King’s Landing with all of the new ships.
3. Loras was never captured by the sparrows.  He was instead sent by Cersei to retake Dragonstone from the remnants of Stannis’ army.  While there he led the charge into the castle, where he was gravely wounded by boiling oil.
4. The Tourney at Harrenhal was one of the most influential moments in all of the books, and it took place years before the first novel.  When a man wins a tournament, it was custom for him to give a rose to his beloved, crowning her the Queen of Love and Beauty.  Rhaegar gave a bouqet of blue roses to Lyanna, and not his wife Elia Martell.   This marked the true beginning of the war and led to thousands of people dying, Lyanna and Rhaegar included.  Through the POV of Barristan, we learn that one of his greatest regrets in life was losing to Rhaegar in that tournament, because if he won then Rhaegar never would have given the rose to Lyanna.
5. There were 7 sand snakes, with the youngest being a child still.  Elia did not organize them into a revolt against Doran Martell, Doran had them imprisoned before they could do anything against him. 
6. Barristan is still alive, and still a fucking badass.  He kills elite assasins that come for Hizdahr when Dany leaves Mereen with Drogon.

Other Points to Notice

1. The Sapphire Isle pointed out to Jaime is also known as Tarth, which is of course where Brienne was born.
2. Jon is the only person we have seen resist Melisandre’s seduction.  She seems drawn to Jon, but still believes Stannis to be the chosen one.  When she smiles and remarks “You know nothing, Jon Snow” you can see the horror in Jon’s eyes.
3. Stannis has a beautiful moment with Shireen.  We never see them talk much in the books, but when he leaves the Wall to head south, Shireen, his wife, and Melisandre remain behind.  He tells his men that if he is to die they must continue fighting to put Shireen on the throne.
4. Bronn uses the same trick as Daario to defeat a mounted opponent.  Mercenaries definitely fight differently than highborns.
5. Unfortunately we meet the Sand Snakes.  Three of the worst characters of all time.  Immediately Obara begins telling a ridiculous expositionary tale of her father, which contextually makes no sense since I’m sure her siblings know this story already.
6. Ridiculous that Barristan dies in such a meaningless way; fighting Sons of the Harpy who probably have little to no actual training.  If he stayed alive he could have gotten a much better send off, or been around till the end.

Stray Observations:

1. It’s hilarious Cersei gave the High Sparrow so much power, and never saw a way it could backfire.
2. I predict Bronn will be one of the only survivors at the end of the series. 
3. Who needs cool book characters like Barristan when you can write cool new show only characters like Olly, Ros and Locke?

RIP: Ser Barristan Selmy, also known as Barristan the Bold.  Winner of countless tournaments, slayer of the Kingswood Brotherhood, and the greatest remaining swordsman in the series. 

Episode 45: Kill the Boy

“Kill the boy, and let the man be born.”

Major Plot Points: Daenerys tries to end a rebellion.  Jon begins to make unpopular decisions as Lord Commander.  Sansa spends some time bonding with the Bolton family.  Tyrion travels to the ruins of Valyria

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. Daenerys did not capture the masters in Mereen after the Sons of the Harpy attacked.  She tried everything she could to keep the peace.  However if Barristan died she may have acted differently.  She did still marry Hizdahr.
2. Jon did not go to Hardhome, he sent a group of men there to scout it out.  He received communications that the situation had grown dire, and began making plans to go help.  However he ended up sending Tormund instead, since right before he left he received a letter from Ramsey Bolton that caused him to change his mind.  More on that later.
3. The first time we see Theon as Reek is him waking up in a dog kennel eating a rat.  His hair is white at this point from all the torture and he can barely speak through his broken teeth. 
4. When Stannis left the Wall with his army, he left Melisandre, Shireen, and Selyse with Jon Snow.  This would make it seem like Shireen is still safe in the books for now.
5. The Stone Men were not in Valyria, but in a river known as the Sorrows.  Tyrion went through this area with Fake Aegon and Jon Connington.  Jon was the one who rescued Tyrion from the depths of the river, and he contracted grey scale from it. Connington made it his mission to put Aegon on the iron throne before the grey scale killed him, and Tyrion was captured by Mormont shortly after.

Other Points to Notice

1. There are other officers in the Night’s Watch besides Alliser and Aemon, but we seldom see them on screen.  The show also rarely brings up that Castle Black is not the only fully manned castle on the Wall.  Eastwatch-by-the-Sea is still used by the Night’s Watch, and we finally see it in Season 7.
2. Sansa still is not a great judge of character.  If she were, she would have ran as soon as Myranda began talking to her.
3. Ramsey brought Reek in to see Sansa as a way to further bring her spirits down.  At this point it’s possible Sansa still has hope her brothers live, and Ramsey forces Reek to tell her that he killed them.
4. Roose knew telling Ramsey he was having a son would greatly upset him.  Roose had another son when he was younger, but he died mysteriously after going to meet his half-brother Ramsey.  While it was never proven, it was pretty obvious he was poisoned.
5. When we hear Missandei discuss Dany’s choices, she reflects many of the points Tywin brought up to Tommen about what makes a good ruler, a great ruler. 

Stray Observations:

1. Jon earned Tormund’s full loyalty the moment he unchained him after being threatened.
2. Myranda and Ramsey have to be the show’s best power couple.
3. Roose looked understandably confused when Ramsey stood up at dinner to give a toast. 
4. Greyscale spreads really fast I guess. Idk i found this episode really boring and hard to write about.

RIP: The stone man who drowned trying to kill Tyrion.

Episode 46: Unbowed Unbent Unbroken

“I killed my father. He wanted to execute me for a crime I didn’t commit. And he was fucking the woman I loved.”

Major Plot Points: Arya tells some lies.  Tyrion and Jorah meet slavers.  Jaime flails around with bad actors.  Loras attends a trial conducted by Pope Bernie Sanders. Sansa gets married again.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. The episode title contains the official House Martell words.  This unfortunately means the episode will feature the Sand Snakes
2. It is still unclear how the faces of the faceless men work.  We see them change their entire body and voice from wearing them, which indicate some type of magic is used.  But if this is the case, why do they still need to collect physical faces, as we see Arya do later in the series?  And some of the faces shown in their temple can’t possibly be the real faces of the deceased. 
3. Jorah actually did win the tournament at Lannisport.  He wasn’t a renowned fighter or knight, but he fell in love with a highborn woman and fought better than he had in his entire life in order to win the tourney and propose to her. 
4. The main Dornish guard, Areo Hotah, was actually a POV character in the books.  He essentially served as a window into the political conversations that took place in Dorne.  He rarely spoke in his chapters and as a result earned the fan nickname of “The Camera that Walks”, a play on “The Mountain that Rides.”

Other Points to Notice

1. Faye Marsay, the actress who portrays the Waif, is actually 32 years old.  When I first watched I thought she was in her early 20’s at most.
2. At this point, we viewers are used to the classic “Tyrion talks his way out of danger” trope.  But here it feels forced.  It seems unlikely that slavers would be swayed that easily.
3. Littlefinger is at his best in King’s Landing.  We now see his elaborate plan come together.  He gave Sansa to the Bolton’s to convince them he was on their side.  But he immediately ratted them out to Cersei.  He now has the authority to take Winterfell, and become the Warden of the North.  He could even conceivably marry Sansa somehow.
4. The sand snakes are bad actors.  So of course their fight scene is the worst choreographed fight in the shows entirety.  Check out the below gif and take turns watching both of the girls.  One stands there awkwardly while the other does a random twirl.  So bad.
5. Sansa had a mini power moment against Myranda.  Just another tease of her taking agency with her position.
6. Many people (rightfully) had a serious problem with the Sansa rape scene.  The first reason, is it seemed like more unnecessary  torture for a character that had already been tormented constantly.  Secondly, during the actual scene the camera focuses on Theon, making it seem like he was the real victim.  Obviously he was not, and it made the whole thing even worse. 

Stray Observations:

1. Arya lies about hating the Hound, and she didn’t even realize it.  This gives me hope for their eventual season 8 reunion. 
2. Jerome Flynn (Bronn) has a weirdly good voice. 
3. Why would Jaime and Bronn try to infiltrate a Dornish palace in broad daylight? Why would the Sand Snakes try to conduct a stealth mission in broad daylight?

RIP: This show’s reputation when it comes to well choreographed fight scenes.

Episode 47: The Gift

“Egg, I dreamed that I was old”

Major Plot Points: Jon marches north.  Stannis keeps marching south.  Sansa dreams of escape.  Daenerys receives a gift from Jorah.  Cersei falls into her own devious trap.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. The Gift is a large stretch of land directly south of the Wall.  The legend goes that the mythical Brandon the Builder, the same man who apparently built the Wall, allocated that land to the men of the Night’s Watch.  This episode cleverly uses the title to reiterate Jon’s promise to the Wildlings that they could settle there, as well as the gift Littlefinger gives Olenna, and Jorah’s gift of Tyrion to Daenerys.
2. Maester Aemon was sent with Sam to go to the Citadel.  However they had to travel to Braavos first. While there, Aemon died and one of the men of the Night’s Watch, Daeron, abandoned the group and was later killed in an alley by Arya when she recognized him as a deserter.
3. Before Aemon died, he lamented the fact that Daenerys, the last Targaryen, was alone without anyone in her family to help her.  If only he knew that he was a mentor to another Targaryen.
4. It pains me to say this, but someone has to.  In the books, when Gilly and Sam first have sex, GRRM uses the term “fat pink mast” to describe Sam’s member.  He is an insanely talented writer, but his sex scenes sometimes were the funniest part of the series.
5. Jorah and Tyrion arrived at Mereen after Daenerys left on Drogon.  The last time we see them they are trying to survive outside the city, where a plague is killing refugees rapidly, and several slaver armies are laying siege.  Tyrion then attempts to join forces with a mercenary group.

Other Points to Notice

1. The person named “Egg” that Aemon was referring to, was his younger brother Aegon Targaryen.  Known as Aegon the Unlikely, due to the fact he was the fourth-born son of his late father. He is also one of the titular characters of GRRM’s “Dunk and Egg” prequel novellas.
2. Sansa repeatedly saying “Promise Me” to Theon was an intentional reference to her Aunt Lyanna’s last words to Ned.
3. If the show actually killed off Balon Greyjoy when they were supposed to, Melisandre could have brought him up to Stannis as well, when she was making her claims about the power of King’s blood.  It is strange that Stannis doesn’t bring up how he is still alive.
4. After tearing through Tywin, Tyrion, Cersei, and everyone else she’s ever met, the Lady of Thorns finally meets her match in the High Sparrow.  It is hard to tell if the High Sparrow is truly genuine, or uses his piety as a means to hold power.  We don’t get to see his plot through to the end in the books yet.  It seems to me like he does truly believe in what he does, but has enough political savvy to manipulate people with his faith.
5. Tommen has no idea how literal Cersei is being when she tells him that she would burn cities to the ground for him. 
6. The “handsome young man” Littlefinger was referring to in his conversation with Olenna, was none other than Lancel Lannister.  He knew with this information Olenna could turn the faith against Cersei.  However, it does seem a bit weird that the High Sparrow wouldn’t know about his incestual affair already. 

Stray Observations:

1. Hard to see Sansa in such a distressed state.  A whole season of character development thrown away.
2. Why would Sansa antagonize Ramsey??
3. Very key character scene showing Bronn and the Sand Snakes flirt.  I guess it foreshadows them using their poison again later?

RIP: Maester Aemon Targaryen.  A man who once turned down ruling the Seven Kingdoms, because he already pledged his life to being a maester.

Episode 48: Hardhome

I’ve been pretty harsh on Season 5 so far, but this episode is fucking awesome.  Honestly may be my favorite of the entire series.

“The Long Night is coming, and the dead come with it.”

Major Plot Points: Arya gets her first magic assassin mission.  Cersei enjoys prison life. Ramsey needs 20 good men.  Daenerys tries to help Tyrion with his alcoholism. Jon meets his new nemesis.

Observations from a Book Reader:

1. Arya did go undercover as a clam girl (??), and during this time actually lived with a fisherman and his daughters.  It was an interesting aspect to her mission, since it indicated that almost all of the people within Braavos would do anything that the Faceless Men asked of them.
2. Cersei sends Jaime a desperate letter whilst in prison, begging him to come be her champion in trial by combat.  Jaime at this point was trying to take over Riverrun, and had just found out from Lancel that Cersei did in fact sleep with him.  When he got her letter, he immediately burned it, indicating he had fully moved on from her.  It took Jaime much longer in the show to do so.
3. Varys did not do much for Dany, instead he devoted his efforts to helping Aegon, the Targaryen who may or may not be authentic.
4. Hardhome was once a legitimate wilding city, the only place north of the Wall that had a natural harbor and was equipped for a large population.  Around 600 years before the series begins, an unnamed catastrophe struck it, and it has been abandoned since.  Some say the entire settlement was captured by slavers, others believe cannibals from the island of Skagos arrived there and slaughtered the populace.
5. Since the books did not have a POV character at Hardhome, we are still uncertain what happened there, but this episode does an incredible job at showing us how horrible it must have been.   Also, the Thenns did move south with the rest of the wildlings.

Other Points to Notice

1. It isn’t ever really talked about, but Daenerys is a good judge of character (in the show at least not so much the books).  You can tell she started to like Tyrion as soon as he told her that she may not deserve his service.  The rest of their conversation is really just her testing his temperament.
2. Sansa learning her brothers are still alive actually helped her morale significantly.  This is the first time in years she finds out she may not be the last Stark.  Jon doesn’t count. The two of them were far from close as children due to Sansa adopting her mother’s icy demeanor towards him.
3. Ramsey demanding 20 good men is a bit cringeworthy to me.  It seems a bit far fetched they could travel into a military camp undetected, and it makes Ramsey seem more like a cartoon villain than a real character.
4. Sam saying that Jon always comes back was hilariously one of the main reasons people were certain that he would rise from the dead in season 6.
5. Part of what makes this episode so great, is that it’s the only real battle in the show we did not see coming.  This episode also confirms a long held fan theory, that Valyrian Steel could kill White Walkers.  It is possible that this is the main reason it was created.

Stray Observations:

1. Ramsey says “feast for the crows” which is basically the title of the fourth book.
2. We haven’t seen the Lord of Bones since season 3.
3. Dany’s wheel speech was better as a promo, it came off a bit forced in an actual dialogue scene.  Like what would Tyrion say in that conversation after she said it?  “Oh cool, I’m down let’s do this shit.”
4. One of the wights Jon kills has the distinctive skull markings of a Thenn.  Cool detail.
5. The 4 White Walkers looking down on the battlefield have to be a direct reference to the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. 

RIP: Karsi, the badass female wildling who immediately became a fan favorite, and then died, all in the same episode.

Almost done with Season 5.  I consider this the weakest of the 7 seasons, but it still had some cool moments.  Mostly Hardhome.  Arya’s story seemed to stagnate, as did Dany’s and Tyrion’s.  Luckily Jon had some great moments, from his speech at Hardhome to the wildlings, to his inauguration as Lord Commander.  And don’t even get me started on the Dornish plotline.  Crazy how close we are getting now to Season 8.

Things I Liked: Everything about the battle at Hardhome.  The impending sense of dread, the actual action scenes, and the way it helped display the true might of the White Walkers.  This is easily my favorite battle in the show.  I also have to admit that I am a big fan of Jonathan Pryce’s performance as the High Sparrow.

Things I Did Not Like: Everything about Dorne.  Obviously I hated the Sand Snakes, but I also hate what they did to Doran Martell.  In the books he acted calm and placid but was scheming the entire time to overthrow the Lannisters.  I also did not enjoy watching Arya scrub floors for 3 episodes. Finally, Sansa’s plotline seemed unnecessarily cruel to me, especially her wedding night. I still think D&D could have written her a better story arc in the Vale, learning politics under Littlefinger’s tutelage.