Game of Thrones: Season Seven, Episode 4 – “The Spoils of War”

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Aidan Gillen, Alfie Allen, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, Brienne of Tarth, Bronn, Catelyn Stark, Cersei Lannister, Conleth Hill, Daenerys Targaryen, Davos, Diana Rigg, Dragons, Dragonstone, Drogon, Ellie Kendrick, Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones, Gemma Whelan, GoT, Gwendoline Christie, Highgarden, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Iwan Rheon, Jaime Lannister, Jerome Flynn, Jon Snow, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Liam Cunningham, Littlefinger, Maisie Williams, Meera Reed, Michelle Fairley, Missandei, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ned Stark, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Olenna Tyrell, Ramsay Bolton, Rory McCann, Sansa Stark, Sean Bean, Sophie Turner, Television, Television Review, The Hound, The Queen's Justice, The Spoils of War, Theon Greyjoy, TV, TV Review, Varys, White Walkers, Winterfell, Yara Greyjoy

via timeinc.net

“The Spoils of War” picked up where the previous episode left off; at Highgarden. Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) was packing gold into the back of a cart whilst contemplating what Olenna (Diana Rigg) told him at the end of “The Queen’s Justice”, and Bronn (Jerome Flynn) was trying to claim the vacated castle as his own. As mentioned in previous reviews, I like it when there’s continuity on television because it makes a series easier to binge-watch at a later date, so it’s hard for me to complain about this opening scene.

However, in a way starting this episode with Jaime continuing his duties as head of the Lannister army lessened the impact of last week’s conclusion. Neither the opening scene nor “The Spoils of War” as a whole answered the question that was on my mind after last week’s episode; how will Olenna’s reveal effect Jaime’s relationship with Cersei (Lena Headey)? Jaime’s geographical separation from Cersei means that any payoff on this front has to be limited, but the fact that Jaime continued to stand up for Cersei’s leadership disappointed me greatly. It’s not that I expected him to immediately hate her – that would be ridiculous – but portraying the character as though nothing substantial has changed is a mistake.

via slashfilm.com

The episode then logically cut to King’s Landing where Cersei was discussing her victory with Tycho Nestoris (Mark Gatiss), the representative from the Iron Bank who also appeared in “The Queen’s Justice”. I’m not going to say too much about this scene because it felt like filler when I was watching it, but given the fact that Cersei’s conversation with Tycho last week proved to be very significant it may end up that this one was as well – for now we just don’t know. Still, I thought that the information that was conveyed to the audience in this scene could’ve been put across in a more natural way because it felt quite forced to me.

The next scene was much more interesting as we were treated to an interaction that I wasn’t expecting. Given Littlefinger’s (Aidan Gillen) past discretions I expected him to stay as far away from Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) as possible, even though he’s sure to be dubious about Bran’s supposed powers, so to see the two have a face-to-face conversation was a welcome surprise. It’s well-established now that unfortunately I don’t like Hempstead-Wright’s acting on the show, but the scene itself was actually pretty good.

via wetpaint.com

One of the best things about this season of “Thrones” so far is that characters that we never thought would come together are becoming connected through either circumstance or narrative necessity. I personally didn’t consider the possibility of these two characters ever having a conversation, so seeing it happen was genuinely exciting even if the scene itself wasn’t anything to write home about. Littlefinger tried to manipulate Bran into thinking that he was an ally by giving him the dagger that the assassin tried to kill him with in season one, before using the word ‘chaos’. This led to Bran repeating the phrase that Littlefinger once said when speaking to Varys (Conleth Hill) back in season three – ‘chaos is a ladder’.

The conversation that was being referenced is a little bit obscure given the time that has passed since it happened on the show, but personally it’s one of my favourite lines from a time when “Thrones” was offering up some of the best dialogue on television. There was a nice blend of tension and comedy in this scene because it was clear that neither person was genuinely concerned about the other, and Bran revealing that he knew what Littlefinger was up to in the way that he did was clever writing because it was simple yet impactful.

Still, I can’t stay positive for too long and I have to say that the next scene left a lot to be desired. Meera (Ellie Kendrick) isn’t a well-developed character on the show and in fact we don’t know a lot about her at all, but she was likeable and it was frustrating to see her treated poorly. It wasn’t exactly clear what she wanted from Bran after essentially dragging him to safety, and I suppose most people don’t care about her anyway, but personally I find it difficult to justify Bran treating people badly just because he’s omniscient.

via wetpaint.com

This is a writing tool that you see a lot in comics, particularly within the superhero genre when characters like Brainiac and Doctor Manhattan treat emotion as secondary to logic and reason. It seems like there’s the same kind of implicit suggestion going on here which is that because Bran knows so much he deems it necessary to shut out all of his emotions and desires. This doesn’t really add up to me because although being omniscient might lead you to favour a more external perspective on your life and your future, it doesn’t logically follow that you should be numb to things which occur naturally and are caused by your physiology, unless you’re sociopathic.

Maybe Bran has come to the realisation that human emotion is meaningless and without useful application, but he’s still human and sometimes the chemicals in our body make us react to stimuli in surprising ways. Bran (as he’s written on the show) might think that emotions are destructive, corrosive, or perhaps just pointless, but I don’t see how this knowledge would stop him feeling or expressing said emotions at certain points. I’m probably thinking too deep into this because the real issue with the scene was that the writers didn’t respect their audiences’ intelligence, using Meera’s exit to force-feed us obvious information and to emphasise the fact that Bran isn’t the same as he was before, but I think it’s important to note that the characterisation of Bran is too simplistic and reductive.

via watchersonthewall.com

The episode continued at Winterfell as Arya (Maisie Williams) made her long awaited return to her family’s ancestral home. Once again I was frustrated by the speed at which she managed to reach her destination, but at least this time the character was absent for an episode whilst presumably travelling. The notes I made on this moment will not translate well to this review because they are very aggressive, but to put it mildly I hated this scene.

I’m as pleased as anyone to see Arya return to Winterfell and it gets the narrative moving in the right direction, but the execution was idiotic, offensive, and devalued the moment completely. Arya’s presence at Winterfell should’ve been greeted with optimism and cheers from the audience, yet before we got to see her meet Sansa and Bran we had to endure an interaction between her and two condescending guards. We just didn’t need this! It didn’t tell us anything that we didn’t already know about the character and it wasn’t fun to watch; it was just pointless! It was by far the worst scene of the episode; it wasn’t poignant, wasn’t clever, and grossly mishandled a major moment in the narrative.

via ign.com

Nevertheless, when Arya did finally meet up with Sansa (Sophie Turner) it made for good television. Having the pair talk in front of a statue of Ned (Sean Bean) was a nice touch and both Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams did what they needed to do. I tried to enjoy watching the moment play out rather than overanalysing it which I think improved my perception of it, but it was a decent scene.

It’s a shame that Arya’s character arc has been botched ever since she left The Hound (Rory McCann) in season four because now it’s hard to know how to feel about her when she’s letting her guard down. The writing for the character hasn’t been strong enough to make it feel as though she’s fundamentally changed since the series began; she’s not the same as she was and she’s certainly more ruthless, but she’s wanted to be a warrior since the start of the show and all that’s changed is that now she is one. There was a time when she felt hardened and vicious, but since then the show hasn’t done enough to cement this; she basically does whatever the narrative demands and it’s very difficult to route for her as a result.

I’m conflicted about the next scene as well for the same reason because although it was fun to see Bran, Arya, and Sansa plotting together, the scene as a whole felt hollow. This wasn’t helped by the fact that Bran brought up Arya’s list, something which was brought up in the previous scene as well, because it felt as though the writers only chose this aspect of Arya’s story to reference because Sansa already knew about it. Bran could’ve talked about blindness, The Hound, or even something vague about the Faceless Men, and going with any one of these choices would’ve been more entertaining for the audience. It was intriguing that Bran gave Arya the Valyrian steel dagger because given what he knows this might be significant further down the line, but overall this was a safe, middle-of-the-road scene.

via timeinc.net

A moment I did enjoy in the North was when Arya and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) reunited, because although they’ve only been on screen together once there was a sense in which this marked the completion of Brienne’s story arc. Ever since Renly (Gethin Anthony) died it’s been Brienne’s mission to rescue the Stark girls for Catelyn (Michelle Fairley), so the fact that she’s now inadvertently achieved this could be of real consequence for her character. Whether or not this means that Brienne faces a heroic death later this season or in season eight is debateable – she could make it right to the end of the series – but just the fact that she’s done exactly what she set out to do is quite rewarding to watch on a show which oftentimes is devoid of happy endings.

The sparring between the pair was also entertaining as their styles collided, and although this scene was a bit over-the-top I liked how it was shot. It was simple but we could clearly see what was happening which is rare for fight scenes on television. Arya’s explanation that ‘no one’ taught her how to fight was also a fun nod to the last couple of seasons; it was a bit on the nose but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate it.

via wikiofthrones.com

Elsewhere, Jon (Kit Harington) and Dany’s (Emilia Clarke) relationship seems to have become more positive as the pair are now speaking to one another with honesty and less hostility. Jon took Daenerys into the mines to see the dragonglass, with dramatic music played over the top of the scene just in case we didn’t realise that this substance was going to be significant in the future.

I liked this sequence but I don’t think it was executed brilliantly. Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke are likeable on screen together and they have chemistry, and as mentioned in my previous “Thrones” review their characters mesh well together because they’ve gone through similar experiences, but there was a glaring issue with what we were shown. The issue I’m referring to is that the cave drawings that Jon used to give weight to the existence of White Walkers were unbelievably convenient, to the point that it’s almost insulting to the audience to use this as a plot device.

It’s not just that they happen to be in the ideal location to keep the plot moving forward, it’s also the fact that Daenerys didn’t question them at all. Jon could be an expert stone carver for all she knows and he could’ve snuck into the cave overnight to etch the drawings himself; after all, the timeline has been completely abused so we have no idea how long Jon has been at Dragonstone at this point! I’m not going to drag this criticism out because it’s a problem which explains itself, but surely the showrunners need to take more care with how they present their narrative if they want the audience to take it seriously?

via theverge.com

When the pair left the cave they were greeted by Tyrion and Varys who unfortunately brought some bad news about Highgarden. This scene was fine and I don’t have much to say about it in terms of positives or negatives; it was quick and it did what it needed to do in setting up the climax of the episode.

Later at Dragonstone Jon and Davos (Liam Cunningham) discussed the size of Daenerys’ heart… among other things. Again I have to be honest and say that I didn’t like the direction that this scene took because although having characters come together and build relationships can make for good television it doesn’t work when the motivation is so transparent. Jon and Davos bumped into Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) who was stood waiting for them; they talked about Missandei’s past and eventually came to the topic of Daenerys and her character, with Missandei giving her a glowing reference.

This scene was clearly designed to fast-track a stable relationship between Dany and Jon, which I understand, but I take issue with the fact that the writers pretended that the scene was about developing Missandei. I didn’t have a massive issue with it but it was cheap and didn’t actually achieve anything when it was over.

via screenrant.com

Following this scene we were treated to another interaction that I didn’t expect to see again on “Thrones”, as Theon (Alfie Allen) washed up on the shores of Dragonstone to be greeted by his former rival, Jon Snow. The pair stood quietly for a moment before Theon broke the silence with a simple greeting and began to walk towards Jon. Jon then grabbed Theon and threatened him, explaining that the only reason that he wasn’t dead already was because of what he did to Sansa.

This was an incredibly weird turn of phrase because Jon was referencing the fact that Theon saved Sansa from Ramsay (Iwan Rheon), an act which was noble enough for Jon to spare Theon’s life. This was something that Theon did for Sansa rather than to her. The implication of doing something to someone is usually that you’ve wronged them in one way or another, so using this phrase confused the scene quite noticeably. I don’t know whether or not this was a mistake by Kit Harington that the director chose to overlook or whether this phrasing was actually in the script, but either way it was wrong.

Much like in the previous episode this scene with Theon was used to transition into a more important one, as Theon explained that he needed Dany’s help to rescue Yara (Gemma Whelan) before being told; ‘the queen is gone’.

via ign.com

From here the episode sparked into life and skyrocketed in quality, culminating in a beautifully shot sequence in which Daenerys used the Dothraki and Drogon to decimate Jaime’s forces and destroy the supplies he’d taken from Highgarden. I loved this sequence from start to finish, with my only issue relating once again to the fact that travel on “Thrones” has become superfluous.

The scene started slowly before a rumbling in the background could be heard. The Lannister forces got in formation and awaited their enemy who then appeared on the horizon screaming and ready to kill. The Dothraki on their own are scary enough, but to top it off Jaime, Bronn, and the rest of the Lannister army saw a dragon flying straight for them. The score and the cinematography were sublime during this sequence and you really have to applaud “Thrones” for doing things on a scale that you normally don’t see on television.

via ign.com

It was another visceral battle sequence in the vein of the Battle of the Bastards and the Battle of Blackwater, although admittedly it didn’t have a whole episode dedicated to it like those battles did. The tracking shot of Bronn making his way to the ballista was awesome and the fact that he actually managed to hit Drogon with one of the arrows was a genuine shock.

Whether or not somebody significant like Bronn should’ve died during the battle is a point worthy of discussion, but personally I was glad that everyone important ended up surviving the sequence.

Overall, “The Spoils of War” was an episode of varying levels of quality, but the extended 10-15 minutes sequence at the end was spectacular and left me more than satisfied. I can’t wait to see where the story goes next week as Daenerys addresses the Lannister army, and with things getting a little too close for comfort for Littlefinger in Winterfell the season is wonderfully poised.

7.5/10

Game of Thrones: Season Six, Episode 8 – “No One”

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Anton Lesser, Arya Stark, Beric Dondarrion, Braavos, Brother Ray, Catelyn Stark, Cersei Lannister, Cleganebowl, Clive Russell, Daario Naharis, Daenerys Targaryen, Dean-Charles Chapman, Dorne, Dragons, Drogon, Edmure Tully, Emilia Clarke, Essie Davis, Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, Grey Worm, Gwendoline Christie, Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, Ian McShane, Iwan Rheon, Jacob Anderson, Jaime Lannister, Jaqen H'ghar, Jerome Flynn, Jon Snow, Jonathan Pryce, King's Landing, Kit Harington, Lady Crane, Lady Stoneheart, Lena Headey, Maisie Williams, Mark Addy, Meereen, Michelle Fairley, Missandei, Nathalie Emmanuel, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, No One, Peter Dinklage, Qyburn, Ramsay Bolton, Richard Dormer, Riverrun, Robert Baratheon, Rory McCann, Sansa Stark, Sean Bean, Sophie Turner, Television, The Blackfish, The Brotherhood Without Banners, The Faceless Men, The Faith Militant, The Mountain, Tobias Menzies, Tom Wlaschiha, Tommen Baratheon, TV, Tyrion Lannister, White Walkers

via watchersonthewall.com

“No One” was a divisive episode of “Game of Thrones”. Major media outlets that regularly praise the show in spite of its faults stated that they didn’t enjoy the episode, and in particular they criticised the handling of Arya’s (Maisie Williams) storyline.

I can understand why this storyline frustrated some viewers because a part of me is disappointed that Arya’s time in Braavos didn’t really develop her as a character, but from my perspective the mistakes that were made here weren’t the result of what this episode did. Arya’s scenes in this episode were exciting and well-shot, and Maisie Williams did a great job, so it seems unfair to criticise “No One” in isolation for faults in a story which has taken two seasons to tell.

Having said that, the failings that the showrunners are guilty of as far as Arya’s storyline is concerned are very apparent. When Arya told Jaqen (Tom Wlaschiha) that she was going home it should’ve been a marquee moment for the character, but instead it felt cheap because her actions leading up to it didn’t really highlight what she had learnt from her time with the Faceless Men. Yes, she used her former blindness to her advantage, so being able to fight in the dark is another string to her bow, but it’s not like this parlour trick is going to be her signature move going forward. In the previous episode Arya had a lapse in concentration which nearly cost her her life, so it’s clear that her time in Braavos hasn’t exactly made her the perfect assassin.

via telegraph.co.uk

Much of Arya’s storyline in season five could’ve been omitted and replaced with her arc this year and not a lot would’ve changed in the grand scheme of things, and the events of this episode would’ve been just as impactful if Arya hadn’t been stabbed in episode seven. Arya could’ve gone to see Lady Crane (Essie Davis) in this episode to say goodbye because she felt a daughterly affection for her, which would’ve made just as much sense as Arya surviving after having her stomach sliced open, so the latter now feels like a cheap trick which happened simply because episode seven was uneventful on the whole.

To see a character shake off multiple stab wounds in the way that Arya did is really annoying, particularly on a show which is known for its realism and grim depiction of violence, so I have to question what the writers were going for here. Re-watch season one and you’ll see that Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) died of a similar injury to spark the series into life, so to have a child survive – and be able to outrun a merciless killer in spite of her wounds – is disappointing.

Still, these criticisms aren’t levelled entirely at this episode, so I still feel that the reception for “No One” has been unfair. If you’re going to review “Game of Thrones” episode-by-episode, (which I clearly feel is the way to go because it’s what I do), then obviously you have to balance what you’re saying by taking the series as a whole into consideration. You have to consider where the events of each episode fit into the wider narrative, because you can’t separate scenes which are influenced by five seasons of television from said seasons. However, you still have to look at what an episode does and judge it on that basis, because it’s unfair to judge the father by the sins of the son, or vice versa.

With that in mind, I don’t think that Arya’s scenes in this episode were particularly bad. Her interactions with Lady Crane were engaging and reminded us all about her past and what she has lost – i.e. a mother figure – and Maisie Williams’ acting was fantastic, as it has been throughout the series. Furthermore, whilst the mic-drop moment at the end of the episode was a little cliché, we finally got what we all wanted, the promise that Arya is going to return home. So, from a personal perspective I was more than happy with how this episode handled Arya’s story, I just think that there were a couple of speed bumps along the way because of the mistakes that previous episodes have made.

via comingsoon.net

Much the same can be said for an equally criticised set of scenes in which Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and the Lannister forces took back Riverrun, because whilst these scenes didn’t necessarily land in the way that the writers would’ve hoped for, they weren’t terrible at all. Jaime’s interaction with Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) was wonderful, and it reminded us that he has some good left in him (even if he did proceed to threaten to use a baby as ammunition for a catapult), and so was his conversation with Edmure (Tobias Menzies).

Like Rory McCann, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is an actor who really excels when he can play-off someone else, whether it be Gwendoline Christie, Sean Bean, Jerome Flynn, or Peter Dinklage, so it was no surprise that this episode marked a return to form for him and his character. We saw both sides of the man here – the Oathbreaker and the Oathkeeper – and Coster-Waldau’s acting was brilliant. George R. R. Martin has stated that the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself, and I think that it’s clear in this episode that this perfectly describes Jaime’s character arc.

via collider.com

Since the series began Jaime has been fighting against the person that everyone else thinks he is, and in the process he’s had to decide what he thinks of himself. Is he the Kingslayer or is he an honourable man who broke his oath to save lives? Is he trying to get back to Cersei (Lena Headey) when he threatens Edmure, as he claims, or is he trying to prevent a full-scale attack and thus keep his promise to Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) not to take up arms against the Tullys? You never really know, but I think that this episode posed these questions in an interesting and intelligent way and the writers deserve credit for that.

The issues that there are with the Riverrun storyline aren’t wholly the result of how the scenes in this episode and its predecessor were executed, but rather the result of the fact that not enough time was spent to build up the conflict in the first place because of the Dorne storyline in season five. In my opinion, if the siege that took place in this episode had been prolonged, perhaps occurring over the course of a whole season, then it would’ve been a lot better and more exciting than what we saw in Dorne last year.

The only genuine issue that I had with Riverrun in this episode was the way in which the writers dealt with The Blackfish’s (Clive Russell) death, because having it happen off-screen was a strange decision. He was portrayed as an honourable man who wanted a death to suit his status, so for that notion to be the main driving force of his character and then not have the moment itself appear simply didn’t work. Plus, when a character isn’t shown to have died on “Game of Thrones” the audience is forced to believe that they’re still alive – given the fact that even characters who die on this show aren’t always dead for good – which takes all impact away from the storyline.

via bgr.com

Back in King’s Landing, Cersei took the fight to the Faith by choosing violence rather than surrender. This was a fine scene, but personally I didn’t really care what was happening because it was abundantly clear how the charade was going to end. Nobody in the world could possibly have believed that The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) would be overcome by a fool in a cloak, so it was hard to become invested in the events playing out on screen. Nevertheless, the murder that The Mountain committed was still creative and entertaining, and it served to show once again that he is a dangerous man/zombie. Still, part of me wonders why the Faith aren’t preparing a trial for him as well, given that they have that authority and aren’t too fond of murder.

After seeing the physical capabilities of The Mountain, the Faith clearly had to rethink their strategy for dealing with Cersei, because they must’ve been fully aware at that point that the safest bet for the former Queen would be to request a trial by combat with The Mountain acting as her champion. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together could’ve figured that one out, so in the next scene involving Cersei it was revealed by Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) that the practice would be banned. This was a surprising turn of events and puts ideas of Cleganebowl on the backburner for now.

However, The Mountain isn’t the only henchman that Cersei can call upon when she needs to get out of a sticky situation; she also has the deceptively nasty Qyburn (Anton Lesser), along with his little birds. Having exhausted all other options, Qyburn reveals to Cersei that he has followed up on a rumour that she told him about, and that the results are positive. This could mean any number of things, and it would be unwise to jump to too many conclusions, but it would appear that he is referring to wildfire.

We learned from Jaime in season three that The Mad King hid wildfire underneath King’s Landing as a sort of contingency plan should Robert Baratheon succeed in taking the city. His plan was to burn the entire place down and rise again as a dragon, but Cersei probably has a slightly less drastic plan in place. If I had to guess then I’d say that she’ll most likely want to burn down the Sept of Balor in order to get out of her trial, but I’m convinced that in doing so she will cause a lot of collateral damage and possibly kill Tommen. This isn’t just a theory that I’ve made up off the top of my head, it’s actually got a lot of traction online and I think that at this point it’s quite likely. Hopefully if it happens it will push Cersei and Jaime apart so that the latter can finally be the man that he deserves to be.

via screenrant.com

Finally, we have the scenes in Meereen and the scenes involving The Hound (Rory McCann), neither of which were particularly memorable from my perspective. Meereen is never very exciting, but this week it was particularly boring as Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) awkwardly tried to make jokes with Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) before the Masters returned to reclaim their property. With the situation looking dire, there was a loud banging noise, and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) returned to save the day.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like all three of these characters, but it was frustrating that Daenerys returned to Meereen at such a convenient moment. Also, despite the fact that the conversations between Tyrion and his new friends give Missandei and Grey Worm more depth, I just didn’t think that the jokes in this episode were interesting, well-delivered, or funny. I know that this isn’t a comedy and that the point of the jokes was to act as the calm before the storm, but the jokes could’ve at least been interesting in some way couldn’t they? Tyrion has a wealth of knowledge and is constantly reading, so you’d think that he’d have just the right relatable joke for the situation, and it would’ve been hilarious for Grey Worm to tell a really dark joke and think it was normal.

My point is simply that these characters are diverse and well-travelled people with stories to tell, so a moment like this should give them a distinct voice – that simply didn’t happen here, and in fact it was Missandei who came out of the scene on top because she was at least somewhat endearing.

via bgr.com

The Hound’s scenes were somewhat more exciting than those in Meereen, and actually they were a lot funnier despite the fact that they contained beheadings and hangings. We saw The Hound deal with those responsible for murdering Brother Ray (Ian McShane) and his followers, and we were treated to some time with Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) and the Brotherhood Without Banners. It’s interesting that at this point in The Hound’s story he’s met up with the Brotherhood again, because whilst he isn’t necessarily religious it’s clear that he wants to better himself and fight for a noble cause. He’s lucky to be alive, but he doesn’t really have any reason to go on, so to meet up with men who have a clear purpose could do him a lot of good. Plus, if he’s headed north to fight the white walkers then he could potentially reunite with Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya, which would be something special.

So, overall I liked this episode of “Game of Thrones”. It wasn’t perfect and I have to admit that the climax of Arya’s storyline in Braavos was slightly underwhelming, but in my opinion the problems that this episode encountered were directly caused by the way the story has been handled previously, not because this episode itself was bad. In my opinion, “No One” actually did an admirable job of salvaging certain ideas and making them interesting again, such as Jaime’s inner conflict and Arya’s need for a mother in her life, and there were parts of the episode that I loved, such as Jaime’s conversation with Brienne.

7.5/10

Game of Thrones: Season Six Premiere – “The Red Woman”

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Alexander Siddig, Alliser Thorne, Arya Stark, Balon Greyjoy, Beric Dondarrion, Braavos, Brienne of Tarth, Carice van Houten, Castle Black, Catelyn Stark, Cersei Lannister, Conleth Hill, Daario Naharis, Daenerys Targaryen, Davos Seaworth, Dean-Charles Chapman, Dorne, Dothraki, Ed Skrein, Ellaria Sand, Emilia Clarke, Euron Greyjoy, Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones Season Six, George RR Martin, GoT, Gwendoline Christie, Iain Glen, Indira Varma, Iwan Rheon, Jaime Lannister, Jessica Henwick, Joe Naufahu, Jon Snow, Jonathan Pryce, Jorah Mormont, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Khal Drogo, Khal Moro, King's Landing, Lena Headey, Liam Cunningham, Maisie Williams, Margaery Tyrell, Meereen, Melisandre, Michael McElhatton, Michelle Fairley, Michiel Huisman, Myrcella Baratheon, Natalie Dormer, Nell Tiger Free, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Nymeria Sand, Obara Sand, Owen Teale, Patrick Malahide, Paul Kaye, Peter Dinklage, Pilou Asbaek, Prince Doran, Ramsay Bolton, Reek, Richard Dormer, Roose Bolton, Sansa Stark, Sophie Turner, Stannis Baratheon, Stephen Dillane, Television, The Iron Throne, The Lord of Light, The Night's Watch, The Red Woman, The Sand Snakes, The Sons of the Harpy, The Wall, Theon Greyjoy, Thoros of Myr, Toby Sebastian, Tommen Baratheon, Trystane Martell, TV, Tyrion Lannister, Varys, Winterfell, Xena

This review contains spoilers for everything that has happened on the show so far, including the events of this episode.

“The Red Woman” was one of the most anticipated episodes of television in recent history. People have been talking for months about the future of Jon Snow (Kit Harington), and speculating what’s next for their favourite characters given that “Game of Thrones” has finally caught up to George RR Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series.

The episode itself had to balance a number of characters, meaning that although it lasted for an hour, it felt as though it had been on for all of ten minutes when the credits rolled. It was a strong season opener, but it could’ve done with a bit more focus and more thoughtful writing.

The episode began where season five finished, with Jon Snow’s corpse lying in the snow. Ghost’s cries of anguish at his master’s death were mirrored by fans as they saw that the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch really was dead, and that if he’s coming back it won’t be any time soon. The scene itself was fine, but it left me with one nagging question in my mind – why was the body left there? Was it a ‘we’re in charge’ gesture or a plot hole? We all know that men of the Night’s Watch are wary of the dead being resurrected as wights, so leaving a dead body lying around inside Castle Black seems like an unnecessary risk. Such an oversight felt like a convenience for the writers to allow Jon Snow to come back, rather than an understandable decision by the characters in the “Game of Thrones” universe.

Melisandre (Carice van Houten) made her entrance almost immediately, entering the makeshift tomb of Jon Snow to speak to Davos (Liam Cunningham). She expressed confusion at the sight of the dead man and explained to the group surrounding the body that she had seen him in the flames fighting at Winterfell, with a look of anguish on her face which explained just how much her faith had been tested by the events of the previous season.

Melisandre’s words gave weight to the theory that Jon Snow will come back this season, because many people thought that they could see Jon fighting at Winterfell in the trailer, and we know from that trailer that the Boltons will face a battle at some point this season. Furthermore, it is likely that at some point the White Walkers will get past The Wall, so Jon could fight them at Winterfell to bring Melisandre’s vision to life. Either way, it seems like a strange specification on the part of the writers to have Melisandre say exactly what she saw in the flames if that isn’t then going to come true.

This scene was followed by another at Castle Black, as we saw Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale) placating a crowd of outraged Night’s Watch men following Jon’s death. He told them that he had performed the act along with the other officers, and that he did so for the sake of the Watch, not for his own selfish reasons. This wasn’t a particularly hard sell, which was slightly annoying, but the men at The Wall are murderers, rapists, and thieves, so to convince them probably wouldn’t be that difficult (particularly when they know that if they disagree with him he might stab them to death).

It’s hard to argue against his leadership skills or his rationale here, but he clearly misses the bigger picture. Jon Snow was one of the few people who had seen what the Night’s King was capable of, and he was also able to bring the wildlings on side, which is obviously going to be important if The Wall is to stand. I can understand why Thorne doesn’t see this, because he’s been fighting against the wildlings for the majority of his life, but when he says that Jon would’ve been the end of the Night’s Watch he must also realise that trying to take on an army of the dead with only 50-ish men would lead to the same sad outcome.

After the initial scenes at the Wall we travelled to Winterfell, where we saw Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) share a sincere moment with the body of Myranda (Charlotte Hope). He explained his love for her and told her that he would avenge her death, and this scene served to show that whilst Ramsay is the most evil character on the show (move over Night’s King), he does have feelings. Those feelings ended up being used for comedic effect when Ramsay said that the body should be fed to the hounds, but it added another dimension to his character nonetheless.

This scene was then followed by another at Winterfell in which Roose (Michael McElhatton) and Ramsay had a heart-warming father-son conversation… or not. They spoke about Sansa (Sophie Turner) and how they desperately needed to get her back in order to cement their hold on The North, and Roose made a veiled threat to Ramsay that if he didn’t solve the problem then his unborn child would take Ramsay’s place as heir to The North. The scene was mostly a reminder for the audience of what happened last year, but it also explained what the Bolton’s motivations would be for the rest of the season, and suggested that at some point this season Ramsay and Roose may actually come to blows.

After hearing about how important Sansa is to the Bolton cause, we watched on as she ran as far away from Ramsay as she could, accompanied by Theon (Alfie Allen). The scene itself was quite good, with Sophie Turner looking mesmerising in the snow, but some aspects of it didn’t make a lot of sense. Personally, I thought that the Bolton soldiers were quite tame when they found the pair, because although they were given orders to find them and bring them back to Winterfell they could’ve roughed them up a bit. Roose isn’t a nice man and neither is Ramsay, so presumably their soldiers would follow suit and take pleasure in the pain of others.

Nevertheless, I liked how Theon did something heroic for once because I’ve grown very tired of the Reek angle. I actually thought that his moment of bravery would’ve been a great way for him to die on the series, because it would’ve been redemptive given that he would’ve died for the Starks whom he had previously let down. I still think that his transformation has felt forced and happened far too quickly, but it makes sense that the writers would fast-track his storyline as fans of the series are pretty sick of seeing him act like a coward.

Another character who finally did something positive for the Starks was Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), who saved Sansa’s life and went some way to fulfilling the oath she made to Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) back in season two. Many of the reviews that I’ve read have cited this as an emotional moment and their favourite part of the episode, but I have to say that personally I wasn’t affected by it. I liked the music that was playing in the build up to the scene, and I thought that Gwendoline Christie’s performance was great – her intensity in action sequences is always fantastic – but it didn’t really get me. It felt like a scene which will be significant going forward, but it also felt a little bit too convenient for my liking.

In King’s Landing, Cersei (Lena Headey) had to deal with the loss of her daughter, as Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) returned from Dorne with Myrcella’s (Nell Tiger Free) corpse and a soon-to-be-dead Trystane (Toby Sebastian). Lena Headey’s performance in this scene was perfect, as we saw the joy turn to ash in her mouth (Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) promise was finally fulfilled as he inadvertently caused his niece’s death by sending her to Dorne in the first place) when she realised that she was going to see her daughter again, but not as a lively young woman, rather, as a lifeless body. She was as excited as I think we’ve ever seen her when she heard that a ship was returning from Dorne, even though she tried to hide it, but she ended up looking more broken than she was at the end of her walk of shame.

The conversation which followed between Cersei and Jaime wasn’t very powerful, at least not in my opinion, but I thought the performances were pretty good. It’s not that I didn’t like the scene, but these days I find it hard to take Jaime seriously when he’s talking about destroying his enemies, given that he’s no longer a great fighter and he’s grown a conscience.

I did think that it was interesting to gain insight into Cersei’s thoughts about the Maggie the Frog prophecy, because last season it played a huge role in her behaviour towards Margaery (Natalie Dormer) and also informed her decision to have Jaime go to get Myrcella back. Having her verbally address this in the episode explained to the audience that the flashback we saw last season was important and played a significant role in Cersei’s poor decision making, in a sense making the prophecy self-fulfilling, and the fact that Cersei was so willing to accept the validity of that prophecy represented a shift in her personality; from a position of control to one of self-pity, vulnerability, and perhaps most importantly – shame.

Skipping over the throwaway scene in which The High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) and one of his annoying henchman played good-cop-bad-cop with Margaery, the next important scene of the episode took place in Dorne. Last season Dorne didn’t go down very well with fans – it felt disconnected from the rest of the show so nobody could get behind Jaime’s rescue mission, especially because we never really got a feel for Myrcella as a character.

However, this episode has given Dorne a chance, because what we saw was probably the best moment in the setting so far. To see Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) kill Prince Doran (Alexander Siddig) was a real shock to me and I suspect everyone else, because this is something that hasn’t happened yet in the book series and also because Doran was the brother of Ellaria’s former lover Oberyn (Pedro Pascal). I was personally expecting Ellaria to be the one who got killed off in Dorne, as Doran had warned her last year that any further treason would be punished severely, but instead we saw a brutal and memorable death scene involving a not-yet-explored character.

I have to say that on the story side of things the scene was a little bit strange, because Ellaria basically killed Oberyn’s brother in an effort to avenge him, but at least this scene will bring Dorne into the fold and possibly start a war with the Lannisters. I’d be interested to know whether or not these murders were a reaction to Dorne’s reception last year, or if they are a storyline which will happen in the books that the show has shot forward to, but this remains to be seen. It feels like the former to me, because I don’t think that you cast someone like Alexander Siddig if you know that the character he is going to playing will be given barely any screen time… but I could be wrong.

With Prince Doran dead, the episode then showed us all just what the Sand Snakes are capable of, as they brutally disposed of Trystane as though he was a fly that needed swatting. I still don’t know exactly how they made it onto the boat that Trystane was on, because it seems like it would’ve been difficult to hide on such a long journey, so maybe they went on a separate boat… maybe. It’s not particularly clear right now so I hope that they address the issue in order to ensure that this admittedly cool scene makes sense going forward.

I’m also not sure what the timeline is meant to be, because the episode was filmed in such a way that it seemed as though Trystane died after Prince Doran, but surely the Sand Snakes couldn’t have known exactly when to kill him because they were miles away and there was no form of communication to get a message across. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but how could they be sure that Prince Doran would condemn Ellaria’s actions? If the plot was in place from the moment that Ellaria kissed Myrcella with poison on her lips then a situation could’ve occurred where killing Trystane would’ve jeopardised their overall plan. I suppose the point I’m making is that either: 1) the plan wasn’t fool-proof, or 2) the plan hasn’t been properly explained yet on the show.

In any case, this scene has breathed life into an otherwise dying storyline, and I’m excited to see what the Sand Snakes get up to over the course of the season. Hopefully Nymeria (Jessica Henwick) and Obara (Keisha Castle-Hughes) will remain in and around King’s Landing, causing all sorts of mayhem and killing their enemies. Maybe they could kill Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) so that we can have a more exciting king on the throne?

Over in Meereen, Tyrion and Varys (Conleth Hill) are ruling over a city which is in tatters after the attack on the fighting pits by the Sons of the Harpy. The people live in fear and the whole place is on the verge of a revolution, which is made all the more problematic by the fact that we see a red priest preaching to peasants on the streets. We all know from experience that red priests/priestesses can be extremely dangerous, so the Lord of Light could prove to be another unwanted complication for Tyrion as he attempts to keep the peace between the masters and their former slaves.

Watching Peter Dinklage and Conleth Hill play-off each other has been great ever since they started to become friendly back in season two, but in this instance I could’ve done without the comedy that the writers forced into the scene. We’ve heard ‘Varys is a eunuch’ jokes before so having Tyrion make fun of him for not having any genitals wasn’t exactly inspired, particularly because it was a completely pointless bit of dialogue. There was also a weird joke made about Tyrion not being well-spoken in Valyrian which felt all too similar to a joke which was intended to make the same point at the end of season five. Neither of these jokes felt necessary and neither made me laugh – I want to take events in Meereen seriously this year and joking around just doesn’t help.

Nevertheless, the fact that there was a mention of Varys’ little birds and their mission to find out who the leader of the Sons of the Harpy is got me back on board, because when this person is finally revealed it should be a high point of the season. Hopefully it’s someone who we already know.

It will also be interesting to see what’s done about the boats in Meereen after they were all destroyed in this episode, because Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) can’t simply fly to King’s Landing on her own atop Drogo and expect to take the city. She needs her army and they need ships. This could be where Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) comes into the wider story, because he must have some sort of role in the big picture for him to be cast so late in the game, and we all know that The Greyjoys like two things, power and ships – they have one of these, and if they help Daenerys take the Iron Throne then they could very well get the other. Balon (Patrick Malahide) has previously said that he doesn’t want to help someone else take the Iron Thorne because the Greyjoys take what is theirs by force, but he might not be around for very much longer. This is all speculation, but it does make a lot of sense.

Speaking of things that make sense, wouldn’t it be great if all the storylines on the show were well-conceived and thought out? Well, they aren’t. Jorah (Iain Glen) and Daario’s (Michiel Huisman) scene was by far the worst of the episode, as they magically followed Daenerys’ tracks, found a ring in the middle of nowhere, and generally annoyed me to a point where I felt like turning off my TV. The scene, at least in my opinion, didn’t feel like it belonged on “Game of Thrones” – it felt more like something out of “Xena: Warrior Princess” from back in the day.

I have to admit that I haven’t been a fan of Daario ever since Ed Skrein was replaced by Michiel Huisman at the start of season four, but it wasn’t just Huisman’s performance that made the scene painful to watch. For one, I really didn’t like that Jorah took a look at his greyscale again; 1) because Daario didn’t question the fact that he randomly stopped, and 2) because its sole purpose was to remind the audience about the disease. It played no other role in the narrative and will be quite jarring when binge-watching the DVD’s because he does it more than once in the space of a couple of episodes for no apparent reason. The whole scene was awful.

I also wasn’t particularly fond of Daenerys’ battle of wits with the Dothraki leader, Khal Moro (Joe Naufahu), although at least it gave us an insight into what she’ll be up to for the first few episodes of the season. It’s not that any of the performances were particularly terrible in this scene, but for me Daenerys was far too assertive given that her petulance could’ve got her killed and basically ruined the entire show. She might feel more powerful than in previous seasons, but in fact she’s in the same position that she was in when the story began, with no allies, no dragons to be seen, and seemingly no common sense. The audience knew that Daenerys was in no real danger, but the character should’ve acted as though she thought that she was. Plus, we’ve seen Daenerys listen in on a foreign tongue before only to reveal that she in fact speaks it fluently, so there was nothing particularly surprising for us when she started speaking in Dothraki to the new Khal.

A scene which I did enjoy was Arya’s (Maisie Williams). It was a short scene, but as she sat on the streets of Braavos begging for change, trying to come to terms with life as a blind and faceless woman, I was captivated. Maisie Williams was incredibly expressive despite the fact that her eyes were clouded over, and she sold me on the idea that Arya was blind. I just hope that Williams gets enough screen time in future episodes to really push this storyline, because Arya has the potential to once again be one of the best characters on “Game of Thrones”, provided that she’s given the chance.

Finally, the episode took us all back to the Wall to end where the episode had begun, and for some reason Alliser Thorne thought that he could defeat Stannis Baratheon’s (Stephen Dillane) right-hand-man with idle words and false promises. He politely offered a pardon to any man who would put down his sword and leave the room… an offer which nobody in their right mind would accept because Thorne had just stabbed his commanding officer to death in cold blood. Still, Davos replied politely, staying put in the room and mentioning that Melisandre could be of help if he and the men of the Night’s Watch were going to protect Jon’s body whilst staying alive. This season Davos looks like he’s finally going to be a leader on the show, something which he’s shown he has the mind for ever since he was first introduced, so I’m excited to see what he will achieve in the next nine episodes.

After Davos mentioned The Red Woman, we were treated to a scene which will surely quash fantasies the world over. Melisandre looked into the fire with pain etched on her face, before standing in front of a mirror and looking at her reflection with sadness in her eyes. She then proceeded to disrobe and take off her necklace, which made me roll my eyes because I didn’t understand why she needed to be naked… until she was naked. Melisandre, one of the most beautiful characters on the show, became an old crone with wrinkles upon wrinkles, white hair like string modestly covering her head, and posture that makes the Hunchback of Notre Dame look like an Olympic athlete.

She became the opposite of what she has been since the first episode of season two, as the scene showcased her true form, and marked a symbolic transformation for the character. We saw that The Red Woman had been broken by Stannis’ death and that she was losing who she was; we saw that for all her trickery and power she is still as vulnerable as any other character on the show. The Red Woman is The Red Woman – the beautiful and powerful priestess we’ve seen throughout the series – but Melisandre is something more. Her beauty and her strength have been representative of her power from day one, but now we see that both of these aspects of her persona are false.

What this will mean for her in the future is unclear, but it seems like a focus for the season will be the humbling and subsequent rising up of characters (Sansa, Arya etc.), so maybe Melisandre will get a similar arc and perhaps regain her confidence by resurrecting Jon Snow. If you remember back in season three Thoros of Myr (Paul Kaye) (the red priest who had resurrected Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) several times) spoke to Melisandre about his crisis of faith, and how when things seemed darkest the Lord of Light showed himself through the resurrection of Beric. Perhaps this scene will take on greater significance now that Melisandre is losing her faith.

This episode was called “The Red Woman” for a reason, as the final scene placed Melisandre at the forefront of the series, changing every scene that she has been involved in so far. Initially she was a wildcard for Stannis – she could do amazing things, but he didn’t even take her to the battle of Blackwater, and by all accounts he valued Davos’ opinion more than hers. With Stannis gone, Melisandre can actually be seen as the main character in their storyline, with every scene involving Stannis playing a part in her development up to this point rather than his.

Overall, “The Red Woman” was a flawed but enjoyable hour of television, which was epitomised by the fact that the final scene was excellent yet marred by a continuity error (which I have intentionally ignored because I feel that it has unfairly become the main talking point of the episode). It had to juggle a lot of characters, which it did admirably, but I think that the short amount of time spent with certain characters like Tyrion and Margaery meant that their scenes lost a lot of their intended impact. I loved the ending, and I thought that the scene in Dorne was great, but there were plenty of moments which could’ve been improved. It was a good start, but I hope that future episodes focus more on one or two characters so that narratives can be properly explored and enjoyed.

7/10

Game of Thrones: Season Six Preview – Part One

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Aidan Gillen, Alfie Allen, Arthur Dayne, Arya Stark, Azor Ahai, Beric Dondarrion, Braavos, Bran Stark, Brienne of Tarth, Bronn, Carice van Houten, Catelyn Stark, Cersei Lannister, Cleganebowl, Daario Naharis, Daenerys Targaryen, Daniel Portman, David Bradley, Dean-Charles Chapman, Dorne, Dragons, Drogon, Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones Premiere, Game of Thrones Season Five, Game of Thrones Season Six, Game of Thrones Season Six Preview, Ghost, Gwendoline Christie, Hardhome, Ian Beattie, Is Jon Snow Dead?, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Iwan Rheon, Jaime Lannister, Jaqen H'ghar, Jerome Flynn, John Bradley, Jon Snow, Jon Snow Dead?, Jon Snow Death, Jon Snow Resurrection, Jonathan Pryce, King's Landing, Kingsguard, Kit Harington, Kristofer Hivju, Lady Stoneheart, Lena Headey, Liam Cunningham, Littlefinger, Lyanna Stark, Maester Aemon, Maisie Williams, Margaery Tyrell, Max von Sydow, Meereen, Melisandre, Meryn Trant, Michael McElhatton, Michelle Fairley, Michiel Huisman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, No One, Oathbreaker, Paul Kaye, Peter Dinklage, Peter Vaughan, Podrick Payne, R + L = J, Ramsay Bolton, Rhaegar Targaryen, Richard Dormer, Richard Madden, Rickon Stark, Robb Stark, Roose Bolton, Samwell Tarly, Sansa Stark, Ser Davos, Sophie Turner, Stannis Baratheon, Stephen Dillane, Television, Television Review, The Boltons, The Dothraki, The Gravedigger Theory, The Greyjoys, The High Sparrow, The Hound, The Iron Throne, The Mad King, The Night's King, The Night's Watch, The Red Wedding, The Red Woman, The Three-Eyed-Raven, The Tower of Joy, The Wall, The Wildlings, Theon Greyjoy, Thoros of Myr, Tom Wlaschiha, Tormund Giantsbane, TV, TV Review, Walder Frey, White Walkers, Winter Is Coming, Winterfell

This preview will contain spoilers for everything that’s happened on the show so far, as well as a couple of fan theories and some book plot points which are yet to appear on the show.

On the 25^th of April “Game of Thrones” returns to our screens. After months of speculation we’ll finally discover the fate of Jon Snow (Kit Harington), the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch who was mercilessly left in a puddle of his own blood in the season five finale, as well as a few other things that fans have basically ignored over the last few months.

Jon Snow

via mtv.com

I should start with the elephant in the room… will Jon Snow be brought back from the dead? His death has been the focus of multiple fan theories since the season five finale, with many book readers stating that he will be resurrected; this has led to denials from several cast members and indeed Kit Harington himself. Personally, I would love it if Jon Snow didn’t come back this year simply because of the collective outrage that there would be, but it seems very unlikely. In my opinion, it would be quite ridiculous to put so much work into developing the character, placing him at the forefront of the story, just to kill him off.

This has happened before on “Game of Thrones”, but there’s an important difference when it comes to our favourite bastard. The problem with Jon Snow not coming back is that it would significantly weaken the show’s narrative and the work that has been done so far, because not only has the character himself been given a lot of screen time, but other characters have spoken on several occasions about his parentage and the mythical Azor Ahai. There have been references to the fact that Jon Snow could in fact be a Targaryen ever since the show began, and there have also been many mentions of a possible death and resurrection involving the character – remember when Maester Aemon (Peter Vaughan) said ‘kill the boy Jon Snow, let the man be born’ last season? These aren’t just throw-away lines of dialogue written for dramatic effect; they have a purpose and they foreshadow what is to come.

We know that Jon Snow’s return is possible in this universe because of Beric Dondarrion’s (Richard Dormer) resurrection at the hands of Thoros of Myr (Paul Kaye) back in season three, and there’s no coincidence in the fact that Melisandre (Carice van Houten) – who spoke to Thoros directly during season three about such things – finds herself at The Wall at the start of season six. She’s lost her reason for existence now that Stannis (Stephen Dillane) is dead, and she will be looking for a new person to lead the realms of men against the White Walkers, with the obvious choice being Jon.

It’s been too easy in the build up to this season for the actors to say things like ‘Jon Snow isn’t coming back’, ‘Jon Snow is dead’, and ‘Kit Harington has been seen on set because he’ll be playing a corpse’, because all of these things are true. Nobody has to lie to say any of those things because Jon really was killed at the end of season five, he will be a corpse at the start of this one, and he may not come back as the exact same character.

In any case, I don’t think that Jon Snow will come back straight away. Pacing will be of the upmost importance when it comes to this storyline because the writers will want to keep people guessing for as long as possible, so we may have to sit back and theorise a little while longer.

As a side-note, I’d like to mention the fact that the Night’s Watch mutineers didn’t burn the body immediately after killing Jon Snow, which is something that you would’ve expected them to do when they had the chance. For me, this is a significant plot hole which speaks to the possibility that he will be resurrected, because it really doesn’t make sense that men of the Night’s Watch would leave a dead body out in the open when they know that it could be reanimated as a wight, unless this would somehow serve the story. Of course, I can’t be 100% sure that they don’t intend to burn the body before something stops them (maybe Ghost, the wildlings, or Davos (Liam Cunningham)), but the marketing team has edited the trailer in such a way that it does seem as though the body has simply been left to decay.

The Boltons vs. Sansa, Theon, Davos, Tormund, and the Northern Lords

via screenrant.com

Sticking to the North; Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) ended last season on a high, defeating Stannis’ army and partaking in his favourite pastime (murder). However, he isn’t going to be quite so happy when he returns from the battlefield at the start of this season to find that his prized asset has escaped from Winterfell. Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Theon (Alfie Allen) took the long dive down into the snow from the castle walls in the season finale last year to get away from Ramsay, so it’s likely that his first priority will be to get them back when we see him again.

There’s also the small matter of the fact that his lover died at the hands of those same escapees, so I dread to think what torture he will have in store for them if he actually finds them.

Despite the fact that Ramsay has lost his toys, this season wouldn’t be the same if he wasn’t playing the role of the show’s most hateable villain. With that in mind, I think the most obvious course of action for him would be to kill his future half-brother and mother-in-law so that Roose (Michael McElhatton) doesn’t have a legitimate heir – this would be suitably evil because Roose’s wife seems pretty harmless, and killing an unborn baby is frowned upon even in the “Game of Thrones” universe. I’d also like this moment to be followed up with Roose confronting Ramsay, only for Ramsay to say something along the lines of – ‘I learnt it from you’ – given the fact that Roose killed Robb Stark‘s (Richard Madden) unborn child at the Red Wedding. In a dream scenario this would then be followed by Ramsay killing his father, or vice versa – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

A plot point like this would be shocking and maintain the character’s persona, whilst also giving him something to do whilst Sansa is away. It would also make sense given the nature of Roose as a character, because he’s definitely going to reprimand Ramsay for giving Sansa a reason to run away and this will frustrate the young Lord to a point where he may feel that he’s left with no option but to take drastic action.

The most interesting aspect of this storyline from my perspective is the reason why Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) and the wildlings seem to be fighting against the Boltons in the footage from the trailers. We know from experience that the wildlings don’t like to get involved in power disputes in what they see as the South, so there has to be some outside reason why they are willing to fight, other than the fact that Ramsay is an absolute bastard despite his legitimisation.

One possibility here is that they have been forced away from The Wall after Jon Snow’s death, which would be interesting because Winterfell is the obvious place to go for protection. It’s been said on the show that 50 men could defend Winterfell against 500, so there’s every chance that they could see the castle as their next best option after The Wall.

It looks like the wildlings could rally around Ser Davos, who will most likely try to persuade the Northern Lords to help him in fighting the White Walkers, so there’s a chance that he could seek Roose’s help along the way. Maybe Roose refuses to help, and thus Davos agrees to join the other lords to defeat him in return for their aid against the Walkers? It’s just a thought, but it could be interesting. A simpler explanation would be that Jon Snow is resurrected, finds out what Ramsay did to Sansa, and decides to get some lovely revenge. This would fit with the theme of the season, as many cast members have spoken about how vengeance will be a key aspect of “Game of Thrones” this year.

Bran vs. The White Walkers

I think we can all agree that Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) is one of the least memorable and least likeable characters on “Game of Thrones”, which is why no one noticed his absence in season five. However, hopefully we can also agree that one of the best moments from the season six trailer is when Bran turns around to see The Night’s King standing behind him.

This scene probably has a lot of people wetting their pants at the exciting possibility of Bran exiting the show for good, but let’s be clear – Bran can’t walk. In that scene he’s clearly standing up, so it’s obvious that this moment is either a vision or a dream. We know that off-screen Bran has been going through a tedious training montage with the Three-Eyed-Raven (Max von Sydow), learning all about greensight and how to make the most out of his powers, so it’s probably a vision. Still, there’s a good chance that Bran will come face to face with the White Walkers for real at some point over the course of this season, because they are clearly seen causing damage on the trailer. They’ve already taken Hardhome, so there’s a high probability that their next stop will be either the lair of the Three-Eyed-Raven, or The Wall.

Isaac Hempstead-Wright has spoken publicly in the build-up to season six about how his character will have visions of the past, present, and future this year, with the past probably being the most documented as it appears extremely likely that Bran will provide our insight into Jon Snow’s true parentage, with the Tower of Joy all but confirmed. For those of you who can’t remember, this is where Rhaegar Targaryen took Lyanna Stark after he (allegedly) kidnapped her. The flashback will show Ned Stark and his men taking on Arthur Dayne and two other members of the Mad King’s Kingsguard, in what is sure to be one of the best moments yet on “Game of Thrones”, answering a question which fans of the books have been asking for twenty years.

Arya

The last Stark on my to-do-list for this preview is that charming blind assassin known as Arya (Maisie Williams). At the end of last season Arya brutally killed Meryn Trant (Ian Beattie), as revenge for the murder of her ‘dance teacher’ Syrio Forel (Miltos Yerolemou) in season one. This act cost her her eyesight, as Jaqen H’ghar (Tom Wlaschiha) punished her for taking a life which was not hers to take. She will be blind at the start of the season and for the foreseeable future, so I expect to see her adapting to this new difficultly whist also trying to serve the Many-Faced God.

Nevertheless, I don’t think that she’ll be blind for the entirety of the season. I’m hoping that she finally moves on from Braavos and becomes the person that she’s meant to be before season six finishes, because I think that the majority of the audience is getting tired of how her story has stagnated recently. She was my favourite character in season four but she’s become something of an afterthought after last season, so I hope that she’ll decide that being No One is someone else’s calling. How this will come about is anyone’s guess, but there’s only so many times that a girl can get slapped and be called No One before she slaps back.

Littlefinger

via whatculture.com

There’s not a lot to be said about Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) right now, other than that he seems to be losing control. He’s had a plan from the beginning, and it seems like he’s always been one step ahead, but last season he was juggling a lot of powerful people and he made a couple of stupid mistakes. He’s always got a trick up his sleeve, but it’s unlikely that Sansa will be happy about the situation that he left her in last year, and I don’t think that Cersei (Lena Headey) will be very pleased if she finds out that he had a hand in delivering her to The High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce).

I had a sneaky suspicion that Littlefinger’s time might be up on “Game of Thrones” until very recently, because it doesn’t seem like he has a place in this world if the White Walkers get past The Wall. However, in a recent interview, when asked about what she’d like to see happen on “Game of Thrones”, Sophie Turner said that she wanted to see Littlefinger on the Iron Throne. This would be incredibly difficult if he happened to be dead before the end of season six.

Still, this isn’t proof that he survives the season – far from it – because Turner has also stated that this year she hasn’t read parts of the script which don’t relate to her character so that she can watch the show as a fan. This does suggest that Littlefinger could die in an upcoming episode without her knowing, but I still believe that it would be quite difficult for Sophie Turner to remain ignorant of Littlefinger’s fate when he seems to appear in the North on the trailer. It was my contention that if Littlefinger was to die then Sansa would have to have a hand in it, or that it would at least come to her attention, so maybe we can put thoughts of Littlefinger’s demise on ice for now. On the other hand, if Lady Stoneheart appears and Littlefinger is in the North then it is definitely squeaky-bum-time.

Brienne, Jaime, and Lady Stoneheart

via variety.com

(SPOILER ALERT) Speaking of Lady Stoneheart… whether or not the resurrected and very angry Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) will make an appearance in season six is another aspect of the story which remains unclear, but it has been reported that Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr will return, which leaves me feeling very suspicious. If Lady Stoneheart does turn up then Brienne’s (Gwendoline Christie) head will be on the chopping block for failing to protect the Stark children, as will Jaime’s (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) for crippling Bran back in episode one.

It seems like Jaime, Pod (Daniel Portman), Bronn (Jerome Flynn), and Brienne will meet up again at some point this season, because it looks like Pod is grabbed in the trailer by Bronn, so they will all be in one place if our least favourite dead Stark comes back from the dead.

There are a lot of theories going around suggesting that Jaime will help Brienne to get revenge on the Freys on behalf of the Stark children, which would be interesting and could save his skin, but I think it’s a tough one to call. If Jaime is going to stand at the head of the Lannister army, which the trailers suggest that he will, then I don’t think it would be a very sensible decision to go after Walder Frey (David Bradley), even if Jaime feels he has an oath to keep.

That’s it for Part One – Part Two will focus on King’s Landing, Meereen, The Greyjoys, and Daenerys’ troubles with the Dothraki. I’ll also go into detail about a fan theory relating to The Hound and the possibility that seasons seven and eight will be shortened to eight episodes each. Thanks for reading!

Game of Thrones: Season Five, Episode 4 – “Sons of the Harpy”

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Aidan Gillen, Barristan Selmy, Bronn, Carice van Houten, Catelyn Stark, Cersei Lannister, Daario Naharis, Daenerys Targaryen, Dean-Charles Chapman, Dorne, Emilia Clarke, Finn Jones, Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, Grey Worm, Gwendoline Christie, Hizdahr zo Loraq, Ian McElhinney, Iwan Rheon, Jaime Lannister, Jerome Flynn, Joel Fry, Jon Snow, Jonathan Pryce, Kerry Ingram, King's Landing, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Littlefinger, Loras Tyrell, Maraery Tyrell, Mark Addy, Meereen, Melisandre, Michael McElhatton, Michelle Fairley, Michiel Huisman, Natalie Dormer, Ned Stark, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Oberyn, Pedro Pascal, Raleigh Ritchie, Ramsay Bolton, Roose Bolton, Sansa Stark, Sean Bean, Shireen Baratheon, Sons of the Harpy, Sophie Turner, Stannis Baratheon, Stephen Dillane, Television, The Faith Militant, The High Sparrow, The Hunger Games, The Sand Snakes, The Wall, TV, Winterfell

This review contains spoilers for the fourth episode of “Game of Thrones” season five, as well as a fan theory which could end up being a spoiler for a major character’s background. The fan theory spoiler will be clearly signposted so that you can avoid it if you want to.

This episode, entitled “Sons of the Harpy”, set the groundwork for the rest of the season, as character’s pasts and futures were explained implicitly to the audience. For those of us watching carefully enough there were numerous nods to a particular fan theory which could play a pivotal role in the story going forward, and there was also a lot of foreboding for what we might see before the end of the season, whether it be Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Bronn’s (Jerome Flynn) conversation regarding how they would like to die, or Littlefinger’s (Aidan Gillen) final lesson to Sansa (Sophie Turner) before he left for King’s Landing. It wasn’t the most exciting episode ever, but it did a lot of the hard work for this season, introducing the Faith Militant properly, the Sand Snakes, and the aforementioned fan theory, which will no doubt give future episodes much more clarity.

The next section contains possible spoilers for the future of the series, relating to a fan theory about a certain character’s parentage.

This episode more than any other has taken us past George R.R. Martin’s books and into new territory, through what seemed to be the beginning of the end regarding the mystery of Jon Snow’s (Kit Harington) parentage. There’s a pretty popular theory among fans that R + L = J. This might not mean much to people who haven’t been paying close attention, but as far as I’m concerned it has to be right, and I can appreciate the series so much more because of that fact.

In this equation, R stands for Rhaegar Targaryen, son of the Mad King and brother to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). Rhaegar was killed by Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) during Robert’s Rebellion, and he has been mentioned before on the series, most notably in the first episode when Robert and Ned (Sean Bean) were talking in front of Lyanna’s grave in the crypts of Winterfell.

L stands for Lyanna Stark, Ned Stark’s sister, who died long before the start of the series. The tale of Rhaegar’s affection for Lyanna was told by Littlefinger in this episode, followed by Sansa’s scathing comments about the supposed subsequent kidnapping and rape, although Littlefinger didn’t confirm or deny that theory, he simply smirked and carried on.

Finally, J stands for Jon Snow, meaning that, according to the theory, Jon Snow isn’t actually Ned Stark’s son at all; he’s the bastard child of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Without going through it too much, this makes a lot of sense and from the moment I heard about it I was sold, but the series hasn’t really made much of an effort to confirm the theory until now, other than the strange scene in the first season in which Ned refused to tell Robert who Jon’s mother was (the theory explains why he wouldn’t want to tell Robert, because Robert loved Lyanna and he wouldn’t like it if he knew that Rhaegar wasn’t actually a villainous rapist).

via theloop.ca

In this episode the writers wove this theory into the dialogue and the story beautifully, first with Stannis’ (Stephen Dillane) observation that sleeping with a woman other than his wife was very unlike Ned, second with Melisandre’s (Carice van Houten) sexual advances towards Jon (because she wanted to make another shadow baby, which requires royal blood – Targaryen and Stark would do pretty fine on that front), third with Littlefinger and Sansa’s conversation in the crypts of Winterfell, and finally with Barristan Selmy’s (Ian McElhinney) slightly out of place tale of a kind and gentle Rhaegar, who liked to sing and meet the people.

I don’t believe for a second that these comments were wasted words, rather, to me they seemed like a subtle nod from the writers to the fans, letting them know that something big is coming, and that they should all be ready. The way that the writers fit this theory into the episode really was impressive, because it wouldn’t take you out of the story if you didn’t have any idea who Rhaegar was before turning on your television, but if you do know the theory then you can appreciate the whole story right from the first episode that little bit more.

To someone casually watching the show these conversations would just seem like world-building, idle talk based around settings and the theme of leadership, yet in reality they are the beginnings of a pay-off that we’ve been waiting for since day one. The true brilliance of this episode is how the theory was worked in; how the writers winked at the audience and said ‘here we go’. That’s why I’ve taken time to spell it out, because this episode could seem completely ordinary and perhaps even lacklustre to someone who didn’t understand the bigger picture, but once you realise just how well the writers have done to not give away too much whilst also teasing their more enthusiastic fans, you see just how awesome the episode actually was.

From here on out there will only be spoilers for this episode and those that have preceded it.

via feministfiction.com

My favourite scene in this episode was Sansa and Littlefinger’s conversation in the crypts of Winterfell, not because of the theory which I’ve already mentioned, but because it gave me a better grasp of their relationship. I was slightly suspicious of Littlefinger’s motives before this episode, because no matter how nice Littlefinger is trying to be, there’s usually a good reason for his trying. For example, in episode three he told Sansa that if she didn’t want to marry Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) then she didn’t have to, he would turn their caravan around and they could go wherever she wanted to go, but he only did that to give her the confidence to make her own decision to go to Winterfell and go through with the marriage. He’s a manipulator, so it’s really hard to know what’s going on in his head.

This scene made me feel like Littlefinger actually cares for Sansa in his own disgusting and slightly perverse way. He’s a father figure to her, coaching her on the ways of the world and how to get by with the skill set she’s been given, but he also kisses her on the lips and seems to have projected his love for Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) right onto her. Despite the strange nature of his affection, it was almost sweet to see him give her a pep talk and leave her with a plan – if Stannis gets the better of the Boltons she will have the North, if he doesn’t she must make Ramsay give it to her by giving herself to him. Littlefinger always has a plan B, and I enjoyed him putting the cards on the table for Sansa before leaving her with the Boltons, even if he was perhaps doing so for the audience just as much as he was for her.

What’s interesting about this scene is that it raises a lot of questions for the future; Littlefinger is heading back to King’s Landing to deal with Cersei (Lena Headey), who could have a nasty plan for him, given how she’s been treating everyone else in her inner circle. There’s also the fact that Roose (Michael McElhatton) knows that Littlefinger is headed back to King’s Landing, and he could, should he wish, tell Cersei all about Littlefinger’s betrayal (even leaving out Sansa’s inclusion if he wanted to). If Roose did that he’d have his alliance with the Lannisters back, which is arguably a better position for him to be in than having an alliance with Littlefinger. Finally, the Faith Militant are now running around King’s Landing invading whorehouses and locking up those who go against the gods, which doesn’t spell good times for Littlefinger, especially given that the whorehouse they invaded in this episode was his.

I’m extremely worried that Littlefinger could die in the next few weeks, because everything is stacked up against him, and going back to King’s Landing could be his first strategic misstep. The fact that he told Sansa all about his plan and tried to make her feel more at ease, finally showing his softer side, only heightens this worry. It feels as though the show really wants us to become invested in the pair, which usually means something bad is going to happen to at least one of them. Littlefinger’s death would also propel Sansa forward, possibly making her even more hateful of the Boltons, and giving her the motivation she might need to overcome Ramsay. It would also give Brienne’s (Gwendoline Christie) storyline a push in the right direction (although I think the mere fact that Littlefinger won’t be at Sansa’s side will have that effect). It’s a difficult time to be a fan of Littlefinger, which I most definitely am, so let’s hope that he makes it out alive!

via momentumbooks.com.au

In King’s Landing things are heating up, and it feels like it won’t be too long until they reach boiling point. Cersei is playing her usual games and this time Loras (Finn Jones) is the one to suffer. I’m extremely interested to see what becomes of him in the future, because he’s always been a bit part player in “Game of Thrones” – he feels expendable, but at the same time he’s been around since the start of the series so if he was to go I think it would be a shame. He hasn’t really been explored as a character, and now it feels like he’s just there to act as a catalyst for Margaery (Natalie Dormer) to come to blows with Cersei, so perhaps it’s time for him to bite the dust, even if only so  that Margaery finally shows her true colours.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve actually felt sorry for Cersei, because despite how vile a human being she is, she loves her children and she’s seeing them slip through her fingers. However, this episode changed all that, because now she’s manipulating her son just like she does everyone else, just so that she can get back at Margaery. Sending Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) to speak to the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) was a really despicable and foolish thing for Cersei to do, because it could’ve quite easily resulted in his death. I think that he did the smart thing by walking away from the Faith Militant, because if he’d told his men to attack he could’ve been caught in the ensuing melee, and he might’ve also caused a riot, due to the fact that members of the crowd behind were heckling abuse such as ‘bastard’ and ‘abomination’.

via joannahayes.wordpress.com

At The Wall, Stannis showed his love for his daughter, proving that whilst he is a stern and formidable leader, he’s also a man that can feel something for other human beings. He’s a man with pride and honour, even if he can be overly harsh and too eager to punish. I’ve never been overly keen on Stephen Dillane’s acting in the series, because I’ve often felt that he hasn’t given the character a clear voice or direction. However, Stannis has been a far more interesting character since he arrived at The Wall, so I’m starting to think that it was Stannis’ story, rather than Dillane’s acting, which was previously lacking.

With more to do at The Wall Stannis has become one of my favourite characters, and his mannerisms now make sense to me. The scene in which Stannis told Shireen (Kerry Ingram) that she belonged with him was one of the more touching moments on the series to date, and it was also very well acted, as Dillane looked intentionally awkward and avoided physically displaying his affection, standing upright and remaining cool, before finally looking his daughter in the eye and basically telling her that he loved her. The scene fit with Stannis’ character, but also displayed another dimension to him, which in turn gave me a deeper understanding of the character and will make me care about his fate in upcoming episodes.

In warmer climates, the Sand Snakes were finally introduced, and they were… disappointing. I don’t like their accents (although one of them sounded like Oberyn (Pedro Pascal), which was sort of cool), and I don’t think I’m going to like their storyline. I have to say that all in all I’m not incredibly invested in what’s going on in Dorne. I feel like Jaime has had his arc and has become a slightly miserable and lonely man, which makes me wonder what his purpose is going forward. If he died I’d be disappointed because he’s a likeable character, but I don’t know what he offers to the series going forward after this storyline has played out. There was a bit of foreboding as he talked about how he’d like to die with Bronn, which could be a sign of things to come, but it also might’ve been a tool to make the audience think that their fight scene later in the episode was potentially a fatal one.

I hope that things in Dorne get a bit more interesting in coming weeks, but for now I’m not convinced that it can live up to the already established settings which we see on the show.

via gameofthrones.wikia.com

Lastly, in Meereen the stakes were raised once more, and Daenerys is yet again facing a set-back. After having a cheerful and warm exchange with Daenerys, Barristan Selmy went into the city to be with the people. He heard a ruckus and went to investigate, finding Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson, also known by the stage name Raleigh Ritchie) in a lot of trouble, as the Sons of the Harpy surrounded him, ready to kill. Selmy killed plenty of the masked men, displaying the fighting prowess that he was known for in his younger years, and possibly saving Grey Worm’s life in the process. However, it seems like his efforts were his last, because he was stabbed and at the end of the episode he laid in a pool of his own blood, presumably dying from his wounds. Grey Worm was also injured, but it was unclear whether or not his injuries were as serious as Selmy’s, so I’m not quite sure yet if his efforts were all for nothing (although I expect not).

It was a good way for Barristan Selmy to go, because he got to show off the skills that made him who he was, and he also hopefully saved the life of a friend. I have to say that I wasn’t overly surprised by what happened, because I predicted that Selmy would die before the start of the season, but I thought it was a smart way to end what was a very dialogue heavy episode. The scene didn’t feel completely convincing to me, because given the no nonsense history of the show I don’t think that Grey Worm would’ve made it; there were points in the fight at which he was surrounded, yet only one man would go to attack him, which didn’t make a lot of sense or fit with the nature of the show. Still, it was what it was, and I’m sure some people enjoyed it.

via snapcracklewatch.com

A final point regarding Daenerys and the story at Meereen relates to Hizdahr zo Loraq (Joel Fry), who has been a recurring character on the show, and I actually like watching him quite a bit. Until now he’s not had a lot to do, because he’s basically there to convey demands to Daenerys and attempt to sway her opinion, but this episode led me to believe that he’s got a much larger role in the grand scheme of things. The way that the characters referred to him as harmless was just a bit weird, so it seems to me like he’s being set up to be the bad guy in Meereen. Somebody has to be leading the Sons of the Harpy, so perhaps it’s him – if it is then I’m on board.

I was hoping that Daario (Michiel Huisman) would be a secret villain, because he’s such a waste of a character, and I’ve never connected to him as a hero, but Hizdahr would probably be the next best thing. He’s got a real authority in his voice and looks quite scary when he’s just being normal, so I think it would be very cool to see him suddenly turn on Daenerys later on in the season. It’s also worth noting that on the trailer there’s a scene in which the Sons of the Harpy are surrounding Daenerys in what appears to be the fighting pits, and those pits are Hizdahr’s main focus right now, so perhaps that adds weight to the theory.

All in all, this was another very solid episode. There was a lot of dialogue, but that’s not a problem in my view, because I usually find the conversations between the characters much more compelling than the occasional action sequence. “Sons of the Harpy” had a lot to get through; it did very well in setting up the future of the season whilst also keeping me engaged in both the characters and the isolated plot of the episode, and it was overall a really good hour of television.

8.5/10