Paths long destined to cross finally become reality. What They Say:
The Gift – Jon prepares for conflict; Sansa tries to talk to Theon; Brienne waits for a sign; Stannis remains stubborn; Jaime tries to reconnect with family
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Game of Thrones certainly provided a divisive episode last week with what it ended with, and that makes this weeks episode potentially all the more interesting to see how it’s dealt with. As I continue to slowly read the last book that was released, I find Ramsay to be the culmination of a certain kind of evil that comes from these situations, born into a tragic situation but unable to break the cycle, instead finding comfort in perpetuating it as a way to dominate it and control it. I’ve spent a good part of the last week reading a lot of comments about the episode and what it represents, and I’m curious to see just what path things will follow as stories are blended from the book for characters and new territory is charted as well. I’m certainly not desensitized to things, as the last episode was an emotional punch to the gut even though I knew it was coming.
With Jon having made plans to bring back as many of the Free Folks as possible by using the resources he has at hand, there’s a good sense of unease about it as there are plenty of the Night’s Watch who aren’t thrilled about it, but aren’t about to go against the Lord Commander at the moment. Particularly since Jon is going off himself with Magnar about it, since it hollows out so many of the sacrifices made. There’s a good moment here with Sam that’s full of portents as he gives Jon the Drgaonglass to take with him, and it’s a good balance to seeing the young boy that once looked up to Jon now disbelieving what he’s seeing. Sam has been with him through thick and thin and retaining that feels like one of the more important relationships to maintain in the series. Sam has another important role coming up here though as Aemon, in a moment of lucidity, is insisting that Gilly get the child south of the Wall and far, before it’s too late.
With Aemon’s death here as well, in the calm of the night, it’s another reason for Sam to want to move on as he’s losing what few friends he had that could protect him. Something that Alliser makes clear to him as well, which isn’t subtle in the slightest. And others follow that lead quickly, as we see an attempt by some to take Gilly for their own. Sam does what he can to defend her and fight back, but he’s utterly ruined by it in a brutal way. What saves the day, amusingly enough, is the arrival of Ghost. While Jon has gone off with Magnar, he left Ghost there to be a bit of an enforcer, which is simply delightful to see since he’s quite the presence. All of it serves to draw Sam and Gilly together a little more, which has been a slow moving relationship if ever there was one. But it’s good to see some movement on that front between them, her hesitation understandable considering what she went through back home and the kinds of scars that must leave.
Sansa’s storyline bears some of what had happened as we see her a bit worse for wear after several of the nights are over and Reek is tending to the room. Sansa’s looking to Theon for some help, but all she has to interact with is Reek, who has been so ruined over everything that Ramsay has done that he’s not able to be anything else. But what’s getting through to him, and his guilt all this time, is that Sansa has the right words to shatter some of Ramsay’s darkness, to get him to help her in what needs doing to rally others to her side and with who she really is. You know Theon has wanted to right things as he can, but there’s been nothing to move him in the way needed until Sansa arrived and really made it clear that she needs who he was, and he can attempt to claim some of it back. Of course, it’s not going to be easy for a variety of reasons, Ramsay of course being one of them as he’s always seemingly everywhere.
And Ramsay makes it clear that he knows what’s going on and still has his hooks deep into Theon, as he cannot help but to tell Ramsay what Sansa is up to, which causes one of those that was going to help to be flayed by Ramsay. Ramsay’s certainly feeling his position well here with what the future holds for him as the Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North someday, but we also get to see Sansa putting in a couple of sharp comments that will help stake out some ground with him. But his revelations about Jon prove a surprise to her, which he delights in, and he’s the type certain to do what he can to hold onto whatever power he can grab onto. It’s not hard to imagine him killing any baby that his stepmother might give birth to that would hold a stronger claim as heir.
Stannis’ journey towards Winterfell is one that is prone to problems as the storms are coming in and complicating their expedition, particularly with the losses along the way. This area was a difficult one of attrition in the books, but it’s getting just a simple approach here overall, which is good, as it also gives us some time with Stannis and Melisandre together as she does what she can to convince him that he’s on the right path and turning back to Castle Black is an impossibility.
King’s Landing gets some fun time to follow up events from before with Margaery and Loras as Olenna heads to the High Septon to deal with the High Sparrow directly and find what it is that she can do to get what she wants. The problem is that the High Sparrow is unlike most others that she’s had to deal with as he at least claims that everything he does is the will of the gods. Olenna’s not deterred though, at least at first, as she makes less than veiled threats about what she’ll do that will choke the city, but the High Sparrow is playing well to counter her in a way that speaks right about putting the fear into those in positions of power. Which to her is definitely quite unsettling. She at least is in control of her emotions, unlike Tommen, who is shouting quite a lot about the impotence he feels towards not being able to do anything to help his wife. You do have to give Tommen props for his youthful intensity, which is balanced by the coldness Cersei is harboring that has put all of this in motion.
Dorne gets a little attention as well as Jaime gets a more formal bit of time with Myrcella, where he’s trying to convince her as to the reasons why she needs to go back considering the dangers of the world. She’s intent on staying where she is though, having fallen for Trystane in a big way, and she plays similar to Tommen in a way with her youthful intensity towards love. Jaime’s really having a hard time processing this since she has some sharp words for him though, and his conflict about his actual role and relationship towards her complicates things.
Time in Meereen continues to be a difficult one as Dany has to deal with the various factions at play and the return of the fighting pits, albeit by free men of some sort these days. What she isn’t aware of for awhile though is that Jorah has been sold and moved along to fit in it himself, with Tyrion managing to find a way to tag along in order to stick with Jorah in order to get close to Dany. That takes a rather amusing turn as it goes on and Dany attends one of the pre-Games fights that goes on and we see Jorah step in and show up all those involved in a big. Not that Dany wants to see him considering what he did before, but it’s a great moment when Tyrion steps onto the field and makes “first contact” with Dany, something that has been in motion for some time overall in the scale of the series. It’s one of those moments that has a lot of weight to it and even though it goes only so far here, it feels like we’re definitely ready for something very new.
In Summary:
Game of Thrones begins to do what it does best as we get into the final episodes of the season by making significant changes. They start lightly in some ways, but there’s a lot of pieces in motion again and seeing it unfold is great, particularly as we get right at the end material with Cersei that has been a long time in coming. The show naturally pushes some stories to the side as we get nothing with Arya again, which is disappointing, and even Sansa’s story is kept smaller than it was the last time around, though it brings some new aspects into play. With some good things changing in Meereen as well with Jorah and Tyrion, teases of events in Dorne getting more interesting – they better not kill Bronn! – and other radical shifts in the work, the show hits the strong story beats while building us towards something bigger here that has me really curious to see what becomes the big sequence of the season.
Grade: B+
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