Opening Credits Map
King's Landing -> Dragonstone -> Winterfell -> The Wall -> Eastwatch -> Old Town
On The Road
Shockingly, Jaime's alive! Just kidding. We all knew he'd survive.
So, Bronn helps Jaime out of the water and they're apparently far enough away that Daenerys' army as to not get caught. Jaime is in shock. He says they just got their ass kicked by one dragon and she's got three of them! They're screwed!
Bronn corrects Jaime and notes that only Jaime and the Lannisters are screwed. Fighting dragons is where Bronn's service ends.
Daenerys stands in front of the remaining Lannister army. Apparently her voice projects really well because everyone can hear her. She demands that they all “bend a knee” and swear fealty to her. Her dragon aids in her persuasion.
Most of the army is on board with kneeling instead of getting fried. However, Randyll and Dickon Tarly refuse to kneel out of a mixture of pride, loyalty and xenophobia. Tyrion suggests locking them up but they get melted by dragon fire instead. I guess Sam is the head of the household now.
I think this is supposed to show Daenerys is leaning harder to the dark side but I don't know if I see it. Her enemies had a choice, join or die. She can't let them live to fight another day and I'm not sure what imprisoning them will accomplish. Then again, titles, pedigrees and nobility never impress me much. So, they died. Daenerys already killed a bunch people in the battle. What's two more?
Winterfell
Wun Wun is having a vision or warging or something to see what's going on North of the Wall. Although, what he sees is something everyone already knows, the White Walkers are marching and have a big army. But he still wants to notify everyone else of this despite the fact they've already been told it before.
Meanwhile, a couple of Lords are thinking Sansa should've been ruler of the North. I guess they're impatient with Jon Snow's absence. Then again, he put Sansa in charge so I'm not sure what they're complaining about? Regardless, Sansa reasserts that Jon Snow is still King of the North.
Arya spies on Littefinger because why wouldn't you spy on him if you could? Littlefinger is given a suspicious note. After Littlefinger hides it and then leaves Arya finds the note. It's a note I believe Sansa was forced to write saying that Joffrey ordering the execution of Ned Stark was necessary and asking the Starks to accept Joffrey's rule. I'm not sure what Arya thinks of that but I'd hope she'd realize that A) That was long ago and B) Sansa was probably forced to write it. But, we'll see if this causes discord.
Oh, and Littlefinger plotted to have Arya find the note because of course he did.
Dragonstone
Jon Snow is out wondering about. He's probably deep in thought, wondering what he should do with life. Daenerys comes riding in on Drogon and guess what? Drogon let's Jon Snow pet him. Probably because of Jon Snow's Targaryen blood. Then Jorah shows up. That was fast.
Tyrion and Varys discuss the frying of nobles. They both kind of agree it was excessive and, again, I'm just not 100% on board with that. It's war. She just fried a bunch of soldiers. Why are these two guys that much more important? Break the wheel.
Wun Wun's raven reaches Dragonstone and apparently Daenerys is suddenly going to take the threat more seriously. However, she doesn't want to commit to battling the White Walkers because Cersei would, presumably, take out any armies Daenerys left behind and take back all of Westeros. So, they need a plan.
The plan? Get a group of people to go North of the Wall, capture a White Walker and bring it to Cersei. Apparently, seeing proof of the White Walkers would convince Cersei to agree to a temporary truce while they all take care of the White Walkers together. Color me...skeptical.
Beyond that fact that I don't think Cersei is the type to suddenly cooperate for the greater good (nor is she trustworthy enough to team up with), I'm just not excited to see the plan work. I don't want to see Cersei join Jon Snow and Daenerys. I want her to get her comeuppance.
Oldtown
Wun Wun's raven reaches the Citadel. Archmaester Ebrose doesn't pay it much attention but Sam notifies him that Wun Wun can't walk but somehow survived a year (years?) north of the wall so he might know a few things. But the next fuck Archmaester Ebrose has to give will be his first.
Sam is copying more text while Gilly is about to impart some interesting and possibly important knowledge on him. But Sam decides to mansplain to Gilly about all the important things Sam should be doing but instead of transcribing text. Sam gets so fed up he flees the Citadel with Gilly and her child and the knowledge Gilly was about to impart is gone...possibly forever.
King's Landing
Jaime is back in King's Landing and tells Cersei that they're screwed. Three dragons is three times the number of dragons they already can't handle. Cersei is still confident that the Lannisters can take on anything. We'll see.
Tyrion and Davos arrive in King's landing via Davos' smuggling route. Meanwhile, Bronn is taking Jaime to the bowels of the Red Keep under the guise of sword training. Instead of training, Tyrion is there to meet with Jaime. The meeting is tense but Jaime still has a soft spot of Tyrion. Tyrion asks for a meeting with Cersei.
Across town, Davos finds what he's looking for, Gendry! Gendry is smithing weapons for the Lannister army but is none-to-pleased about it. So, it doesn't take much for him to agree to leave with Davos.
Just as Davos and Gendry get to their boat they are spotted by a couple of guards. Davos tells them he's just smuggling some crab Viagra and then pays the guards off. They would've bought it too until Tyrion strolls up. They recognize Tyrion so they got hammered to death by Gendry for their troubles.
When Jaime next sees Cersei she, of course, already knew Jaime met with Tyrion. That might not be good news for Bronn. Jaime notifies Cersei that Tyrion did not kill Joffrey. But I don't know if Cersei doesn't believe it, doesn't want to believe it or simply doesn't really care. She does seem open to the idea of meeting with Daenerys. Probably because a ceasefire is in her interest and also because she's most likely plotting to betray Daenerys.
Oh, and Cersei is pregnant. Or so she claims.
King's Landing
Jon Snow, Jorah and Gendry are the ones tasked with nabbing a White Walker and arrive at Eastwatch with Davos. That was fast. Tormund is showing them around but thinks their plan is dumb. Don't we all.
Tormund directs the crew to a group of men that were captured trying to go north of the Wall. It's the Brotherhood without Banners, including the Hound. Jon recognizes the Hound but Gendry recognizes the rest of the Brotherhood as the people who sold him to Melisandre. Tormund notes that Jorah's father killed a bunch of Wildlings. What a mismatched, ragtag group of misfits!
We end with the Fellowship of the White Walkers journeying north of the of the Wall.
Other Thoughts
I think this the first time that Game of Thrones had people in two different locations in one episode. That really doesn't lend itself to the location-by-location breakdown treatment I give it.
I'm still confused why exactly Daenerys is on board with fighting the White Walkers now.
I really hope Arya and Sansa don't start feuding.
I was also hoping Arya would, at some point, up and kill Littlefinger.
Gendry's back! Honestly, I didn't really miss him or need him to be found. I am curious if he'll serve any greater purpose, though.
Good thing Jon Snow decided to steer clear of Winterfell before heading to Eastwatch. You wouldn't want to check on your people and hear important/interesting information from your brother. Or you know, even see him and the sister you haven't seen for years.
Davos: This is Gendry.
Tyrion: He'll do.
Davos: Nobody mind me. All I've ever done is lived to a ripe old age.
Jon Snow: He's right. We're all on the same side.
Gendry: How can we be?
Jon Snow: We're all breathing.
Season 5 Totals
Boob Count: 3
Full Frontal Count: 1
Butt Count: 4
Coitus Count: 2
Main Character Death Count: 4 (This show has been faster paced but still, the characters are staying alive.)
Daenerys could have killed the Tarlys in the Westerosi fashion, beheading them. Any other way confirms her foreigner status, and burning them confirms her madness brewing.
ReplyDeleteI´m guessing the "King IN the North" implies an issolationist policy is a key to the post, so the northern lords might have a reason to be miffed with Jon's leave.
I was surprised they killed off Dickon after recasting him with the guy who played Bill Bones on BLACK SAILS. I figured he'd be sticking around a while, since they went with an actor who just came off another regular starring role. (But maybe that's what they wanted me to think!)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm glad to see the writers have their fingers firmly on the pulse of the fandom. I know we were all waiting with bated breath for Gendry to return as a hardened killer.
I wish Tyrion and Bronn had had more time together. I like Jaime and Bronn too, but the pairing with Tyrion was always more fun.
Lastly -- I find myself wondering how much time was supposed to have passed in this episode. Considering how much traveling everyone did, it must've been several days or even a week or two, right?? It's really disconcerting how this show went from long, drawn-out journeys to the "speed of plot" over the course of the past year or so. As I've said before, everything feels super rushed now.
Had to have been a couple of weeks at least, given the time involved sailing up to Eastwatch.
DeleteI've become less bothered by the speed, and more bothered by the lack of temporal indicators. If the show wants to jump weeks between scenes, fine. Plenty of shows do that, and this show has always taken *some* timing liberties, even if they used to be less egregiously-obvious (the trip down to King's Landing in season 1 happened relatively fast, and Catelyn was zipping around between Winterfell and King's Landing quickly as well). But at least make it clear how much time has passed. It doesn't have to be as inelegant as putting "two weeks later" on the screen, but when the only way we have of reckoning the passage of time is the relative time it's taken characters to travel from point A to point B in the past, and now the show is speeding up the depiction of that travel time, then we need *something* else to use as an indicator. in its place.
Daenerys stands in front of the remaining Lannister army. Apparently her voice projects really well because everyone can hear her.
ReplyDeleteI think about this more often than I should with many stories set pre-microphone. Like, how did anyone hear anything back then? When Cersei is all proclaiming her intent to marry Euron or riling up the xenophobia in the throne room, how is anyone in a crowded room, especially in the back, hearing her, especially since she's being all dramatic and not just yelling at the top of her lungs?
TV Magic, I suppose...
I guess Sam is the head of the household now.
Technically, he gave up all claims to the house when he joined the Night's Watch, but given the zero fucks the characters are giving lately to things like succession and whatnot, I'm sure he could still claim lordship if the right king/queen wanted him to.
So, they died. Daenerys already killed a bunch people in the battle. What's two more?
Part of it, I think, is the idea of killing in battle vs. killing cold blood, because dead people totally care about *how* they died. The other part is, as Daniel pointed out, that she burned them rather than beheaded them, which ties in with the whole xenophobia/Mad King Redux fears.
Then again, he put Sansa in charge so I'm not sure what they're complaining about?
The Northern lords just seem like a bunch of goddamned whiners. Except for Lyanna Mormont, who wasn't involved in this latest whine session.
I don't want to see Cersei join Jon Snow and Daenerys. I want her to get her comeuppance.
Ditto. I remain confident, despite the looming team-up, that the series will still give Cersei some comeuppance before it ends, but my confidence is dwindling.
They recognize Tyrion so they got hammered to death by Gendry for their troubles.
In most show, "hammered to death" would involve alcohol; here, it means being hammered with an actual hammer, to death. :)
I'm still confused why exactly Daenerys is on board with fighting the White Walkers now.
Yeah. That turn happened...quickly. And not "quickly" like the speed of travel this season, just quickly and mostly off-camera.
I think the idea is supposed to be a combination of cave paintings and feels for Jon Snow has won her over, but the show could have made that more explicit. I also think this whole "capture a wight" plan would work better/be more understandable if not still dumb at heart if part of the reason for capturing one was also to convince *Dany* of the threat. That would have also helped explain why she didn't just fly north with one dragon to help out.
Good thing Jon Snow decided to steer clear of Winterfell before heading to Eastwatch.
I mean, I'd chalk it up to Winterfell being in the middle of the continent and not on the coast like Eastwatch, and time being of the essence, but then, this season has made it clear characters can get where they need to go quickly, so maybe don't count on that as a fallback explanation for stuff.