A new location, a new kind-of-undead menace, a rare Drogon sighting, a coming battle for Winterfell and a romance angle that feels completely tacked on. We’re now officially at the halfway point of the season. Here are the five biggest takeaways from Sunday’s Game of Thrones Season 5 episode.
Is the badass Khaleesi back? It seems like it’s been ages since Daenerys has been a strong and decisive leader, let alone the badass who dominated previous seasons. But ordering her dragons to burn someone to death on command is a good way to get some of her swagger back. This flammable moment comes about because Daenerys has got to do something to deal with the latest Sons of the Harpy attack that left Ser Barristan Selmy dead and Grey Worm wounded.
She rounds up the leaders of the wealthy Meereenese families which includes the ever-shifty Hizdahr zo Loraq and marches them down to where Rhaegal and Viserion are still in chains. But Daenerys has not given up on them. “A good mother never gives up on her children. She disciplines them if she must. But she does not give up on them.” And with that, it’s incinerating time. Hizdahr and the rest that were led into the dungeon are spared a dragon can only eat so much in one night, or something but Khaleesi’s point has been made. And doesn’t she just seem so much more powerful and in control when speaking Valyrian?
Things are looking bleak for Hizdahr, who escaped death by crisping but is still being imprisoned. When Daenerys goes to visit him in his cell, he immediately gets on his knees to beg for his life. But Daenerys isn’t there for vengeance, she’s there to apologize. He was right about tradition and right about the fighting pits. So those will be reopening soon, for everyone’s officially-sanctioned bloodlust pleasure. But that’s not her only order of business with Hizdahr. Daenerys feels like she must forge a lasting bond with the land she rules and the best way to do that is to marry the leader of an ancient family. And there happens to be one on his knees already.
With word spreading around the Seven Kingdoms that she’s losing control of her stronghold (thanks to a little Samwell/Aemon exposition for this bit of info) it makes sense that Daenerys would look to consolidate her power where she is currently ruling before taking on the greater Seven Kingdoms.
Don’t take shortcut advice from Jorah Mormont Jorah Mormont continues on his journey to Meereen with his captive/offering to Daenerys Tyrion Lannister. It’s not the most interesting boat trip: Long Sullen Silences and An Occasional Punch in the Face is how Tyrion accurately describes their journey. And worse yet, there’s no wine.
One way to add some action is to take the sea less traveled and sail through old Valyria. Pirates that may be lurking elsewhere won’t find them there, but there’s still the matter of The Doom, a sort of local extinction event that wrecked the ancient city and everyone and everything within it (including all the dragons). Tyrion and Jorah talk to each other/inform the viewers of the mighty history of Valyria. As they row into the ruins, they are greeted with an incredible sight Drogon, soaring above his ancestral home.
The awe is short-lived, though, because a few moments later it’s like somebody changed the channel to “The Walking Dead.” Last week, when Stannis told Shireen about how she overcame her greyscale, he noted that many told him he should send her off to Valyria to live out her days there with others who were afflicted with the disease that caused skin disorders and rabid, animalistic behavior. So we know it’s functioning as basically a leper colony, but we didn’t know that these so-called Stone Men acted basically like zombies in their single-minded plan of attack. Jorah and Tyrion’s boat is attacked by a handful of these beasts, whose skin-to-skin touch can result in infection. Jorah fights a few off and Tyrion would love to defend himself but his hands are tied. Literally. In order to escape one, he throws himself overboard but then gets dragged into the deep…
Except he doesn’t. Tyrion wakes up on the shore, with savior Jorah kneeling over him. Tyrion says none of them touched him (although how could he really know what happened under the water?) and seems generally relieved to be alive. The two still have quite a journey ahead of them, and it might have to be on foot, but Jorah as bigger problems. He didn’t make it away from the Stone Men unharmed there are signs of greyscale on his wrist. And he’s keeping it quiet for now.
Stannis is marching on Winterfell It’s crowded at The Wall, but things will soon thin out. You’ve got Stannis and his army; you’ve got the Wildlings being held captive; and you’ve got the Night’s Watch, the permanent residents. As Sam and Maester Aemon Targaryen read their mail and get caught up on Daenerys’s struggles half a world away, it leaves Aemon to lament that he’s “just a Targaryen alone in the world.” At that moment, in walks Jon Snow. If you’re one for reading into things, then have a ball with that one. Jon has come to Aemon for advice and Aemon’s advice is pretty simple. “Kill the boy.” For once in this heartless universe, that’s not a literal command but a metaphorical one. Jon Snow must become all man.
Jon’s next order of business is to check in with Tormund Giantsbane, the de factor leader of the Free Folk, post-Mance. He won’t claim to be their leader, especially as he stands there talking to Jon Snow while in chains. Jon wants to put the past behind them all 8,000 years of bloody battles and oaths to kill each other because that’s just what you have to do when faced with the prospect of being invaded by an army of the undead. It’s a pretty logical argument, give him that. “Make peace to save your people,” Jon pleads.
But it won’t just be that easy to convince Tormund to join forces. Tormund demands that Jon go with him on his mission to round up the Folks. This little adventure will take them to Hardhome, right on up by Storrold’s Point, because you didn’t have enough locations to keep track of already.
Jon’s decision is met with general disapproval by the rest of the Night’s Watch. Jon responds with the very reasonable, but remember that whole Army of the Devil thing. Somehow this doesn’t convince everyone. Poor little Olly thinks it’s a trick and that the real end-game is to slaughter the Free Folk like they slaughter Olly’s family. “I know this is hard for you, but winter is coming,” Jon tells Olly.
Stannis has been making the rounds this whole time, just observing. A good king observes. He makes his way to the library, where Sam is poring through the books trying to learn more about what can kill a White Walker. Stannis tells Sam a quick story about how Randall Tarly, Sam’s father, was the only person to ever beat Robert Baratheon in a battle. Stannis has heard about Sam’s feat of killing a Walker and wants to know just how it is that Dragonglass can prove fatal to the undead. Perhaps with some more time spent with the books, Sam will stumble upon the answer.
But for now, Stannis must take leave of The Wall. Davos is a bit puzzled by the decision, thinking it best for Jon Snow to return with the Wildling reinforcements. Stannis quickly waves off this advice; who knows if Jon is coming back and who knows when he’s coming back? They will march at sunrise, says Stannis. And his wife and daughter will be coming along for the ride, which somewhat concerns Davos, which somewhat concerns me. If anything happens to Shireen… Before riding off, Melisandre finds Jon and locks eyes with him one last time, giving him some of that “don’t you forget about me” look.
Ramsay Bolton: still quite deranged, thank you very much Ramsay is almost too cartoonish to really hate. Somehow his brand of smiling sadism is kind of bringing some levity to this show. His knack for making every single scene he’s in uncomfortable to watch is almost starting to reach Michael Scott levels. (Theon is Toby in this comparison, obviously.) Really, Iwan Rheon is just doing a version of Alex from “A Clockwork Orange,” but I digress…
In the Bolton’s Winterfell, Ramsay’s favorite plaything, Myranda, is very naked, very angry and very jealous. She can’t stand that Ramsay is going to marry Sansa, but Ramsay attempts to console her with the fact that he’ll still have plenty of time for Myranda on his wedding night. That works out great for her all of the crazy guy, none of the societal advancement. She threatens that maybe she’ll marry, too, tries to hit him and that makes him angry, which knowing this guy just turns him on. They kiss, she bites his lip, drawing blood and that’s what passes for romance between these two. Cut to Sansa, who is literally just sitting in a room doing nothing. Her handmaiden walks in with a message, sent by Brienne, who’s staying with Podrick at the Best Western up the road. The handmaiden says that if Sansa is ever in trouble, just go light a candle in the highest window. Honestly, that doesn’t seem all that convenient, but you pay a certain price for secrecy. When Sansa goes to look at what we can presume to be the highest window in Winterfell, we immediately recognize it that’s where Bran was pushed to his almost-death after capturing Jaime and Cersei in the middle of things.
As Sansa stands there, she’s greeted by Myranda, who plays nice, before she doesn’t. She introduces herself as the kennel master’s daughter, compliments her dress and then sends Sansa into the kennels for a surprise. For some reason, Sansa agrees to walk into the dark place that houses dozens of vicious barking dogs at the advice of this clearly-mental woman she just met. If Sansa is going to rule the North one day, she’s going to have to work on her decision making. There at the end of the kennel, curled up in a fetal position, is Theon. Sansa is disgusted at the sight, for many reasons and storms out.
“You smell particularly ripe this evening,” Ramsay later tells Theon/Reek, in what is probably the line of the night. It’s a precursor to finding out that Theon came into contact with Sansa, which is clearly against the rules. But instead of humiliation, Ramsay offers … forgiveness? At a later dinner, with Roose, his wife Walda, Sansa and Ramsay, humiliation is back on the menu. Theon is summoned and asks Sansa if he’s still angry for killing her brothers. Ramsay says that he punished him and that he’s not Theon Greyjoy anymore, he’s a new man “a new person, anyway.”
“Why are you doing this?” Sansa asks, which is truly the perfect question to ask of anything pertaining to Ramsay. After forcing Reek to apologize to Sansa, Ramsay notes that with her entire family dead, Reek is actually the closest thing to living kin that Sansa has. He will be the one to give away the bride at their upcoming wedding. Ramsay’s perverted joy is quickly erased with some news from his father Walda is pregnant and it looks like it will be a boy. For once, Ramsay’s demonic smile disappears as he knows his inheritance is now at risk.
“How can you tell she’s pregnant?” he later asks his father, referring to her already-considerable figure. Roose has no time for this silliness and tells Ramsay that he disgraced himself at diner. This leads to a discussion about Ramsay’s mother, which is about as charming as expected given these two sickos. Ramsay was conceived as his father raped a woman under the hanging corpse of her husband, which honestly explains a lot. When she returned nine months later, Roose’s instinct was to have her whipped and have the child drowned, but Roose must have been won over by Ramsay’s psychotic newborn eyes. This story somehow serves as an effective pep talk; Roose says that Stannis has an army, is after the Iron Throne and that will take him through Winterfell. Ramsay commits to helping his father defeat Stannis.
Can anyone really be invested in a Missandei/Grey Worm love storyline? What Nicholas Sparks movie were these two airdropped in from? “I was afraid not of death … I fear I never again see Missandei from the isle of Naath.” Oh, Grey Worm. Maybe those are the painkillers talking? They were able to get dude some painkillers, right? He got stabbed right in the chest.
Next week: A return to King’s Landing, our first season five glimpse of Olenna Tyrell and maybe something interesting will actually happen at the House of Black and White.
Is the badass Khaleesi back? It seems like it’s been ages since Daenerys has been a strong and decisive leader, let alone the badass who dominated previous seasons. But ordering her dragons to burn someone to death on command is a good way to get some of her swagger back. This flammable moment comes about because Daenerys has got to do something to deal with the latest Sons of the Harpy attack that left Ser Barristan Selmy dead and Grey Worm wounded.
She rounds up the leaders of the wealthy Meereenese families which includes the ever-shifty Hizdahr zo Loraq and marches them down to where Rhaegal and Viserion are still in chains. But Daenerys has not given up on them. “A good mother never gives up on her children. She disciplines them if she must. But she does not give up on them.” And with that, it’s incinerating time. Hizdahr and the rest that were led into the dungeon are spared a dragon can only eat so much in one night, or something but Khaleesi’s point has been made. And doesn’t she just seem so much more powerful and in control when speaking Valyrian?
Things are looking bleak for Hizdahr, who escaped death by crisping but is still being imprisoned. When Daenerys goes to visit him in his cell, he immediately gets on his knees to beg for his life. But Daenerys isn’t there for vengeance, she’s there to apologize. He was right about tradition and right about the fighting pits. So those will be reopening soon, for everyone’s officially-sanctioned bloodlust pleasure. But that’s not her only order of business with Hizdahr. Daenerys feels like she must forge a lasting bond with the land she rules and the best way to do that is to marry the leader of an ancient family. And there happens to be one on his knees already.
With word spreading around the Seven Kingdoms that she’s losing control of her stronghold (thanks to a little Samwell/Aemon exposition for this bit of info) it makes sense that Daenerys would look to consolidate her power where she is currently ruling before taking on the greater Seven Kingdoms.
Don’t take shortcut advice from Jorah Mormont Jorah Mormont continues on his journey to Meereen with his captive/offering to Daenerys Tyrion Lannister. It’s not the most interesting boat trip: Long Sullen Silences and An Occasional Punch in the Face is how Tyrion accurately describes their journey. And worse yet, there’s no wine.
One way to add some action is to take the sea less traveled and sail through old Valyria. Pirates that may be lurking elsewhere won’t find them there, but there’s still the matter of The Doom, a sort of local extinction event that wrecked the ancient city and everyone and everything within it (including all the dragons). Tyrion and Jorah talk to each other/inform the viewers of the mighty history of Valyria. As they row into the ruins, they are greeted with an incredible sight Drogon, soaring above his ancestral home.
The awe is short-lived, though, because a few moments later it’s like somebody changed the channel to “The Walking Dead.” Last week, when Stannis told Shireen about how she overcame her greyscale, he noted that many told him he should send her off to Valyria to live out her days there with others who were afflicted with the disease that caused skin disorders and rabid, animalistic behavior. So we know it’s functioning as basically a leper colony, but we didn’t know that these so-called Stone Men acted basically like zombies in their single-minded plan of attack. Jorah and Tyrion’s boat is attacked by a handful of these beasts, whose skin-to-skin touch can result in infection. Jorah fights a few off and Tyrion would love to defend himself but his hands are tied. Literally. In order to escape one, he throws himself overboard but then gets dragged into the deep…
Except he doesn’t. Tyrion wakes up on the shore, with savior Jorah kneeling over him. Tyrion says none of them touched him (although how could he really know what happened under the water?) and seems generally relieved to be alive. The two still have quite a journey ahead of them, and it might have to be on foot, but Jorah as bigger problems. He didn’t make it away from the Stone Men unharmed there are signs of greyscale on his wrist. And he’s keeping it quiet for now.
Stannis is marching on Winterfell It’s crowded at The Wall, but things will soon thin out. You’ve got Stannis and his army; you’ve got the Wildlings being held captive; and you’ve got the Night’s Watch, the permanent residents. As Sam and Maester Aemon Targaryen read their mail and get caught up on Daenerys’s struggles half a world away, it leaves Aemon to lament that he’s “just a Targaryen alone in the world.” At that moment, in walks Jon Snow. If you’re one for reading into things, then have a ball with that one. Jon has come to Aemon for advice and Aemon’s advice is pretty simple. “Kill the boy.” For once in this heartless universe, that’s not a literal command but a metaphorical one. Jon Snow must become all man.
Jon’s next order of business is to check in with Tormund Giantsbane, the de factor leader of the Free Folk, post-Mance. He won’t claim to be their leader, especially as he stands there talking to Jon Snow while in chains. Jon wants to put the past behind them all 8,000 years of bloody battles and oaths to kill each other because that’s just what you have to do when faced with the prospect of being invaded by an army of the undead. It’s a pretty logical argument, give him that. “Make peace to save your people,” Jon pleads.
But it won’t just be that easy to convince Tormund to join forces. Tormund demands that Jon go with him on his mission to round up the Folks. This little adventure will take them to Hardhome, right on up by Storrold’s Point, because you didn’t have enough locations to keep track of already.
Jon’s decision is met with general disapproval by the rest of the Night’s Watch. Jon responds with the very reasonable, but remember that whole Army of the Devil thing. Somehow this doesn’t convince everyone. Poor little Olly thinks it’s a trick and that the real end-game is to slaughter the Free Folk like they slaughter Olly’s family. “I know this is hard for you, but winter is coming,” Jon tells Olly.
Stannis has been making the rounds this whole time, just observing. A good king observes. He makes his way to the library, where Sam is poring through the books trying to learn more about what can kill a White Walker. Stannis tells Sam a quick story about how Randall Tarly, Sam’s father, was the only person to ever beat Robert Baratheon in a battle. Stannis has heard about Sam’s feat of killing a Walker and wants to know just how it is that Dragonglass can prove fatal to the undead. Perhaps with some more time spent with the books, Sam will stumble upon the answer.
But for now, Stannis must take leave of The Wall. Davos is a bit puzzled by the decision, thinking it best for Jon Snow to return with the Wildling reinforcements. Stannis quickly waves off this advice; who knows if Jon is coming back and who knows when he’s coming back? They will march at sunrise, says Stannis. And his wife and daughter will be coming along for the ride, which somewhat concerns Davos, which somewhat concerns me. If anything happens to Shireen… Before riding off, Melisandre finds Jon and locks eyes with him one last time, giving him some of that “don’t you forget about me” look.
Ramsay Bolton: still quite deranged, thank you very much Ramsay is almost too cartoonish to really hate. Somehow his brand of smiling sadism is kind of bringing some levity to this show. His knack for making every single scene he’s in uncomfortable to watch is almost starting to reach Michael Scott levels. (Theon is Toby in this comparison, obviously.) Really, Iwan Rheon is just doing a version of Alex from “A Clockwork Orange,” but I digress…
In the Bolton’s Winterfell, Ramsay’s favorite plaything, Myranda, is very naked, very angry and very jealous. She can’t stand that Ramsay is going to marry Sansa, but Ramsay attempts to console her with the fact that he’ll still have plenty of time for Myranda on his wedding night. That works out great for her all of the crazy guy, none of the societal advancement. She threatens that maybe she’ll marry, too, tries to hit him and that makes him angry, which knowing this guy just turns him on. They kiss, she bites his lip, drawing blood and that’s what passes for romance between these two. Cut to Sansa, who is literally just sitting in a room doing nothing. Her handmaiden walks in with a message, sent by Brienne, who’s staying with Podrick at the Best Western up the road. The handmaiden says that if Sansa is ever in trouble, just go light a candle in the highest window. Honestly, that doesn’t seem all that convenient, but you pay a certain price for secrecy. When Sansa goes to look at what we can presume to be the highest window in Winterfell, we immediately recognize it that’s where Bran was pushed to his almost-death after capturing Jaime and Cersei in the middle of things.
As Sansa stands there, she’s greeted by Myranda, who plays nice, before she doesn’t. She introduces herself as the kennel master’s daughter, compliments her dress and then sends Sansa into the kennels for a surprise. For some reason, Sansa agrees to walk into the dark place that houses dozens of vicious barking dogs at the advice of this clearly-mental woman she just met. If Sansa is going to rule the North one day, she’s going to have to work on her decision making. There at the end of the kennel, curled up in a fetal position, is Theon. Sansa is disgusted at the sight, for many reasons and storms out.
“You smell particularly ripe this evening,” Ramsay later tells Theon/Reek, in what is probably the line of the night. It’s a precursor to finding out that Theon came into contact with Sansa, which is clearly against the rules. But instead of humiliation, Ramsay offers … forgiveness? At a later dinner, with Roose, his wife Walda, Sansa and Ramsay, humiliation is back on the menu. Theon is summoned and asks Sansa if he’s still angry for killing her brothers. Ramsay says that he punished him and that he’s not Theon Greyjoy anymore, he’s a new man “a new person, anyway.”
“Why are you doing this?” Sansa asks, which is truly the perfect question to ask of anything pertaining to Ramsay. After forcing Reek to apologize to Sansa, Ramsay notes that with her entire family dead, Reek is actually the closest thing to living kin that Sansa has. He will be the one to give away the bride at their upcoming wedding. Ramsay’s perverted joy is quickly erased with some news from his father Walda is pregnant and it looks like it will be a boy. For once, Ramsay’s demonic smile disappears as he knows his inheritance is now at risk.
“How can you tell she’s pregnant?” he later asks his father, referring to her already-considerable figure. Roose has no time for this silliness and tells Ramsay that he disgraced himself at diner. This leads to a discussion about Ramsay’s mother, which is about as charming as expected given these two sickos. Ramsay was conceived as his father raped a woman under the hanging corpse of her husband, which honestly explains a lot. When she returned nine months later, Roose’s instinct was to have her whipped and have the child drowned, but Roose must have been won over by Ramsay’s psychotic newborn eyes. This story somehow serves as an effective pep talk; Roose says that Stannis has an army, is after the Iron Throne and that will take him through Winterfell. Ramsay commits to helping his father defeat Stannis.
Can anyone really be invested in a Missandei/Grey Worm love storyline? What Nicholas Sparks movie were these two airdropped in from? “I was afraid not of death … I fear I never again see Missandei from the isle of Naath.” Oh, Grey Worm. Maybe those are the painkillers talking? They were able to get dude some painkillers, right? He got stabbed right in the chest.
Next week: A return to King’s Landing, our first season five glimpse of Olenna Tyrell and maybe something interesting will actually happen at the House of Black and White.
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