The pieces on the board continue to move, with dangerous effects.
What They Say:
Wars to Come – Cersei and Jaime adjust to a world without Tywin; Varys reveals a conspiracy to Tyrion; Dany faces a new threat; Jon is caught between two kings.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Game of Thrones certainly did a lot last season with what it covered, as it moved between a couple of different books and touched on a lot of storylines, including the changes to events at the Wall. And we had a lot of character deaths and paths that were changed along the way that definitely kept things exciting. For me, the season worked well and I’m enjoying the divergences its taking overall and the focuses it has, though of course there are always areas where I wish they did more with certain characters. I’m also still plugging away through the books, though I’m now halfway through the fifth book, having finished the fourth book I think back at the end of the fourth season. The fifth book has proven to be a struggle, though I expect the TV series will play out very differently for the material it covers, or at least be a lot more engaging with what it has to deal with thanks to the way the actors have completely inhabited their characters at this point.
With a pretty solid recap overall covering some, but not all, of they key moments of the previous season, the show certainly has its choices open with what it wants to pursue first. So it’s certainly an interesting choice that’s made to do a flashback story to when Cersei was young, out with a friend of hers in the woods, and heading to see the mysterious woman that lived out there that told fortunes in her little hovel. With much of what’s said here defining Cersei’s life, it lays a little more of the foundation for the character, much of which we’ve seen play out so far, but with far more to be explored in the future as well. Cersei’s confidence here is exciting to watch as she makes her demands, assured of her position because of her father, but it doesn’t play out anywhere like she imagined it would as she could only envision a bright, beautiful future ahead of her. Prophecy where we’ve seen part of it play out is amusing, but there’s enough hints there as well.
Cersei’s time in the present is no easier either as she makes her way to Baelor’s septon in order to see her father before all others. With her having lost Joffrey so recently and now revisiting the same experience here with her father, and with Jaime there guarding him, has a very different tone than before. What this situation is doing is forcing the two of them to really rely on each other at this point as so many people will try and take from them what Tywin had built for the Lannister name. While Jaime is intent on protecting it all, Cersei is all about the blame assigned to Tyrion, and shaming Jaime for what he did that allowed this particular consequence to happen. The Lannister family is not an easy one and there’s decades of complications there to be had, which play out quietly and simply here between the three as Tywin’s presence is strong.
Tyrion’s journey has been a rough one to be sure, cobbled up in a box and transported for quite some time as he’s now showing all the signs of the wear and time on him. With Varys there to set him free from this particular part of his escape, the two have some good, brief banter but also some solid reveals about how long Varys has been working at unseating the Baratheons through Dany and how that initial plan set a slew of mistakes to play out, leaving the seven kingdoms in an even worse position than it was before. With all that Tyrion has gone through since his escape and sailing across the sea, he’s in probably at his lowest in a good long while and it shows with his view of the world.
Varys is certainly looking at the bigger picture in his aiding in Tyrion’s escape and the two have some interesting conversation about it, as Tyrion is all about finding the cowards way of ending his life. Varys sees him as too useful though in the war that’s coming, and his own intention of changing the nature of the Seven Kingdoms, and knows that the way to do it is through Dany. And to achieve that, he intends to head to Mereen with Tyrion with him to convince Dany how she can be the right ruler for the Kingdoms. The right kind of ruler hasn’t existed for some time in the Kingdoms, and the choices they have now are certainly not good ones as Tommen will be too easily manipulated while Stannis will be too harsh in the long run; though Stannis may be the right one to deal with the threat from beyond the Wall.
The shape of things in Mereen has certainly begun to change since Dany’s arrival, and our first look at the place this season has the high statue being torn asunder from the pyramid and down the side of it in a big way that the show doesn’t often get to do. While Dany isn’t the main focus, we get to see one of her Unsullied warriors and the things he does as a eunuch to get what he needs, which is just comfort and contact with a prostitute. It’s a familiar refrain from many stories about men and women like this in that so many are looking for something like this. While he gets this comfort, it doesn’t last long as the prostitute is working for a group known as the Sons of the Harpy that are looking to reclaim Mereen and restore it. Suffice to say, it does not sit well with Dany and she makes it clear that she will provoke the enemy in order to destroy the enemy. Which isn’t something that one suspects will work out well.
Dany’s struggling with aspects of rule within Mereen and Yunkai as the Sons of the Harpys are certainly a problem, but there’s also a push by a segment to reopen the fighting pits, under the guise of free men being able to fight there freely. It repulses her in a big way and she refuses to reopen them, but it’s Daario that gets through to her more on it in private as he relates his past to her and the importance of such places for men to become something more. This is all just another problem on top of the rest, including the way her relationship with her dragons are, particularly since Drogon has been missing for weeks and could be anywhere by now. The other two… kept underground in darkness, are certainly not the kind of dragons we had known before for obvious reasons. Her visit to them shows her just how violent they’ve become towards her, which is very easy to understand as she’s treated them so poorly and lost control over them.
Events at the Wall are poised for a change this season, just in how the alignment of forces there have altered, as Jon is training as he can with what he has while some of those that have taken the Black for an age are frustrated by it, particularly with Alliser and his long grudge against Jon. Jon has that to contend with, but he also has to deal with Stannis – and Melisandre. Stannis is looking to figure out his position as best as he can with all that’s changed since coming here, and the two men have a good balance of each other through their dialogue as each has their position. What’s intriguing is that Stannis is looking to convince Jon that the wildlings should join Stannis in taking Winterfell and rewarding them with land and citizenship afterwards. But to do it, he needs Mance for it – and Mance is not an easy one to convince. Even with the threat of burning at Melisandre’s stake.
Jon’s attempt to get Mance to change his direction is one that’s filled with plenty of tension, and a kind of resignation on Mance’s part, as he knows what’s going on. The two men certainly understand each other in a lot of ways, but Jon’s youth keeps him from truly understanding why Mance won’t kneel before Stannis even if it will save so many lives and offer them a future. The only moment that Jon gets through is when he explains that his fate will be burning by Melisandre, but he still knows that it’s a better fate than betraying his people. Each man has their position well staked out, coming from different experiences and looking at the larger viewer, and there’s no bridge to be crossed between them, much to Jon’s dismay as he knows the fate that awaits Mance. Not that it’s a fate that takes long as Stannis is not one to wait around for an answer, and that just adds to the weight of events towards the end to see a particular arc end. With Melisandre giving the speech before it, it’s definitely chilling in its own way, especially if you believe that she is acting in the right here overall, pushing Stannis to protect the world in a way that all the other Kings can’t understand. It’s a solid bit of theatrics on her part, which is highly necessary. But the fear on Mance’s face, the real understanding of his choice and his commitment to it, that’s what’s truly scary.
Baelish and Sansa went through a lot in the last season at the Aerie, with Baelish taking up enough of a position of power while seeing over Robin. Robin is proving himself to be utterly useless in many ways and seeing that reinforced here is comical, providing a touch of levity to the episode early on while reinforcing just how well Baelish can manipulate things to cement his power even more. With Robin left with Lord Royce for a bit, Baelish and Sansa are heading for their own little adventure while providing some deceit about it so they can get Sansa further away from Cersei. What’s amusing is that as they begin their journey, they roll right by Brienne and her “squire” as he reminds her that even though Arya refused her help, she should still seek out Sansa as she may need help. It’s one of those small crossings that populates the series in both book and TV form, which makes for some very fun little moments.
In Summary:
The wait between seasons for Game of Thrones is a killer for people, but when a new season arrives and we return to all the motions and see the fallout from the last season. A lot of the cast is covered here, even if in brief from time to time, but it does better than I expected overall in working through so many plotlines that are in motion. Depending on which storyline that you prefer, it’s like a lot of other episodes in that there’s either good stuff here or stuff you don’t care for. For me, it hit a lot of what I liked and left me wanting a lot more. But I’m also in anticipation of the next episode simply because we’re getting to Dorne for the first time and that land will introduce a lot. I’m really curious to see how certain things will be explored, and hoping for some areas to be chopped down in size (Tyrion’s journey, I’m looking at you). It’s definitely great to be back in Westeros – and elsewhere – and this episode sets up a lot of expectations for the future of this season.
Grade: B+
