Sibling reunions! Brienne gets checked out! Emilia Clarke nudity! Fire! It's the "Book of the Stranger!"
Once again we begin back at the Wall as Jon Snow lingers after abdicating his leadership last week. Edd confronts him with some sensible questions about the challenges facing the Night's Watch and the impending White Walker invasion. I'm glad the show is raising theses questions as, while I'm happy to see Snow leave the Wall and become a player in the story, I know that Game of Thrones punishes characters who drop the ball to pursue their personal agendas at the expense of the greater good. I can't help but think there will be bad consequences for Jon taking off.
Soon Sansa's party arrives and we are treated to an actual Stark reunion which is incredibly emotional and satisfying as this family has suffered so much in the first five seasons. Although Jon and Sansa had never had a scene together and were never close, it was still a powerful moment in the show's mythology. We even get a moment for these two to work out their heretofore unseen conflicts. Not only was this a long awaited and satisfying moment for these characters, it marks a major convergence of character and plot and a movement into the show's endgame.
This also an opportunity to have some new character interactions which is always a fun part of the show. Brianne not only gets some some strange looks (including some hilariously appraising gazes from Tormund) she gets to interact a bit with Melisandre and Davos, two characters with whom she has some business from her time with Renly and their time with Stannis. Melisandre, in particular, looks terrified of Brienne. Also, it doesn't seem like it will be long before there is a reckoning for Shereen's death last season. It almost was revealed in this episode and Davos seems determined to find out. If Sansa and Jon are converging their traveling parties, there seem to be some explosive conflicts brewing.
Because many of the show's plots seem to be speeding towards their climaxes this season my hope was that Tyrion and Varys would find a way to resolve the Meereenese Knot that has entangled the Dany storyline for the last couple of years, However, Tyrion seems to have come up with a less-than great plan to phase out slavery in Slaver's Bay over the course of seven years, which pisses off Dany's supporters. What's more, Meereen seems to be in such a precarious situation with the other slave cities closing in on it that I don't know what leverage Tyrion thinks he has to be able to make demands. Either way, we are now even deeper in this quagmire than before.
Theon makes his way back to the Iron Islands and gets a cool reception from his sister Yara who suspects him of wanting to challenge her for the Salt Throne but he would be, shall we say, a flawed candidate to lead the Ironborn. He does pique her interest when he tells her that he is going to support her claim. I guess he's going to be her campaign manager? I don't know how he's going to function at the Kingsmoot except to appeal to the haunted and twitchy vote. Theon is waaay off book at this point so I have no idea where they are going with him.
Our third reunited sibling pair are the Tyrells as the High Sparrow finally allows Margaery to visit Loras after a long (probably untrue) monologue about his past as a socially up-jumping cobbler who found humility and faith in the Seven. Loras is in really bad shape after having been tortured by the Westeros Baptist Church. I don't even want to imagine what the "atonement" for being a gay man consists of but Loras seems ready to throw in the towel. Margaery, on the other hand, has a lot of fight in her and seems to have something up her sleeve.
Cercei and Jamie again try to crash a Small Council meeting and, after another sick burn from the Queen of Thorns, the Tyrells and Lannisters form an uneasy alliance to use the Tyrell army to break the Faith Militant and prevent Margaery's Walk of Atonement. Tommen comes to the realization that his mother may not like Margaery very much. This kid makes me miss Joffrey.
At Winterfell, Ramsey has a meeting with Osha who tries to use her old seduce-and-stab routine on him but, having tortured Theon, Ramsey knows exactly how she managed to escape last time and knifes her before she can do anything. This is a sad loss for me as I really liked this character, who didn't have enough to do this season. She's a tough wildling chick and I was hoping she would at least get to get a few licks into Ramsey before she died. At least we avoided another rape scene or a scene of Rikkon getting tortured. My hope is that Rikkon will find a secret way to hide in the castle and go all Home Alone on the Bolton men until help arrives.
Back at the Wall, Sansa and Jon are having an awkward Bon Voyage meal at Castle Black. Sansa urges Jon to help her take back Winterfell as she did earlier. Jon is strangely hesitant about it and still somewhat shellshocked from all he has experienced. Their meal is interrupted by the arrival of a letter from Ramsey Bolton, the show's version of the infamous Pink Letter. The letter taunts Jon and threatens Rikkon, Sansa, and the Wildlings. This finally urges him to action and it looks like the forces of Jon and Sansa are going to devote themselves to raising an army to take back Winterfell, which I think we can all get behind. The first step will be convincing the Wildings but this may prove to be easy both given Ramsey's threat to them and their growing dedication to Jon Snow who risked and even gave his life for them at Hardhome and Castle Black.
What's really great about these scenes at the Wall is Sansa, who has consistently had the best storyline this season. For all the darkness she has endured in prior seasons, she is developing into a strong character and a real leader. It is not Jon, but Sansa who is the brains and visionary of this formative coalition to take back the North. While I don't know book Sansa's ultimate path, the show's controversial decision to bring her north is turning into a deeply satisfying storyline.
Speaking of Sisters Doin' It For Themselves, Dany very inconsiderately decides she doesn't need to be rescued by Jorah and Daario or even Drogon as we had all expected. During a contentious meeting with the Khals to decide her fate, she tells them off and proceeds to knock over all the braziers setting the building on fire and killing them all. When she walks out of the flames unburnt, she gets pretty much the standard Dothraki miracle reaction, only now she has many many more Dothraki in her thrall than she did at the end of season one.
While I feel like was a very fast development, maybe too fast a development, I also know I shouldn't complain about anything happening in this plotline too fast because it has been dragging literally for years. I hope she can Dothraki her governing problems away by the end of this season and set sail for Westeros. Moreover, this may be a return to a version of the character who is less burdened with the particulars of governing and more in touch with her inner power and nature. Part of this excursion back into the Dothraki might be a way for Dany to really believe the litany of titles she has amassed. By the time she was facing down the Khals in this episode you get the sense that she really owns all of them and is not just reciting them. So, look out complex Meereenese political situation, Mama's comin' home!
No comments:
Post a Comment