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Game of Thrones: Kill the Boy

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Not to start off with editorializing, but this was the worst episode viewing experience for me before I ever even got around to watching it. This was my first week watching with HBO Now and getting that up was such a hassle. I think that being able to pay for HBO on its own is a great idea, but the execution needs a lot of work, and I mean a lot. I honestly thought I wouldn’t even be able to watch it today and getting it working was just so stressful. Anyway, that’s enough ranting about how I got to watch (nearly an hour late) today’s show, now let’s talk about the show itself.

This one opens on Messendei, who is tending to the injured Grey Worm, and we get a visual expression of just how much she cares for him. Daenerys is, at the same time, mourning Ser Barristan, and she’s not taking the loss well. She seems to react to this violently, demanding that the leader of each family be brought to her including Hizdahr Zo Loraq who is on her small council. She gets them in a group in the dungeons under the pyramids of Meereen where she ushers them toward her dragons.

This was terrifying, but it was also an epic one of her moments, and I did like watching. Hizdhar zo Loraq is ultimately spared, but we don’t get to find out her intentions for his future. It was nice to see her letting the dragons feed, although it does draw some frightening parallels between her and her father King Aerys II, “The Mad King.”

Sam is reading about Daenerys’s conquests at the Wall, telling of the news to Maester Aemon, her only living relative, who feels bad that she is alone in the world with no one to guide her and no family to lean on. He also thinks he’s dying, something that him and Sam discuss before Jon comes in to seek his council. Maester Aemon tells Jon to do whatever it is he must do, regardless of how the men take it.

Jon speaks to Tormund about the wildlings. His plan is to free the wildlings so that they can fight with them against the white walkers. Jon wants to protect them as well, since he has sworn to guard the realms of men. He wants Tormund to go North of the Wall and bring all the wildlings back so that they can fight together, wildlings and crows alike for the common cause of survival against the growing army of dead to the north. Tormund agrees if Jon Snow will go with him.

The Night’s Watch is largely opposed to this plan, but Jon does his best to convince his men that it’s something they need to do, even if it is a big risk. He believes that the wildlings fighting on their side would be better than that many extra white walkers fighting against them. His squire, Olly is particularly hurt by this, since he was orphaned when the wildlings killed everyone else in his village. Jon does his best to talk to him, but it’s clear he holds resentment against Jon for the decision, as many of the other men do.

Brienne and Pod are still following Sansa, and are watching over her at Winterfell where she is still in the company of the Boltons. Brienne talks to a serving man about the Starks and asks him to get a message to Sansa.

At Winterfell we see that Miranda’s jealouys is still an issue. Ramsay said he would marry her and she doesn’t like that Sansa will be getting that honor instead. He explains that while he could have married her as a bastard, he can’t marry her as a Lord. Ramsay does nothing to make her feel better and in fact tells her that he owns her and she isn’t allowed to leave him or marry someone else, despite what he will be doing with Sansa. She doesn’t seem to take it well, but she also doesn’t seem to have a choice.

Sansa is told by her serving woman that if she’s ever in trouble, all she needs to do is light a candle in the highest window of the broken tower and her friends in the North will help her. While she goes to look at the broken tower, Miranda comes to see her. They talk and Miranda talks her into entering the kennels in what is obviously (obvious to the audience anyway) a trap. In the last cell is Theon Greyjoy, who has been avoiding her since her return to Winterfell.

We see immediately that Theon makes it out okay, because he’s still in service to Ramsay. Theon tells him that Sansa saw him. Ramsay, in a very tense scene, forgives him.

The next day, Ramsay proposes a toast to their wedding. Sansa’s plan from the last episode to charm Ramsay isn’t going well, and we can see that she’s intentionally being very cold to the Boltons. Theon serves their food to them, and Ramsay takes credit for transforming the former Greyjoy into the man we now know as “Reek”, making it out to be a good thing. He makes Reek look Sansa in the eye and apologize for killing her two younger brothers. He points out that Reek is now the closest thing that she has to family (which is not strictly true.) Lord Roose Bolton announces that his new wife is pregnant.

Ramsay doesn’t like this at all, he thinks that this will jeopardize his position and any lands he would receive otherwise. This leads to a conversation with his father, where we learn more about Ramsay’s conception and his father’s affection for him. Roose Bolton does his best to assure Ramsay that his position is secure and then ready him for the upcoming war with Stannis.

Back at the Wall, Gilly and Sam have a conversation. Gilly feels like she doesn’t know enough to talk to Sam sometimes, and he assures he that it’s alright. Sam reveals he wanted to be a Maester before he came to The Wall. Stannis comes into the library and recognizes Sam. He asks him about the white walker he killed, and how he did it. Stannis tells Sam to keep reading, because they’ll need to know how to fight the white walkers when they come. Stannis wants to march south, despite the fact that Jon has not yet recruited the extra wildlings for his army. Davos learns that they’ll be marching the next day, and the both the Queen and Princess shall be coming along for the ride.

We see that Jon is still on The Wall and is in the party to see off Stannis before they march. Melissandre gives him an absolutely chilling look, and the party departs. There’s a wonderful shot of the Wall here, that makes the audience really appreciate the scenery in the show.

Back in the East, Messendei talks to Grey Worm about the battle as soon as he wakes up, and he takes the news of Ser Barristan’s death very hard. He feels like he let everyone down, Ser Barristan, Daenerys, and himself. He tells her that he was afraid he’d never see her again, and the two of them kiss for the first time.

Daenerys asks Messendei her opinion on what she should do. Messendei tells her queen that she most likely already knows what the right decision is. Dany then goes to see Hizdhar Zo Loraq and tells him that she was wrong. She agrees to reopen the fighting pits, and that to unify Meereen she intends to marry him.

Tyrion and Ser Jorah are still sailing, and Tyrion doesn’t seem to have gotten any further in talking to him. They’re taking a path to Meereen that will lead them through Valyria, even though it’s still said to be cursed. This scene was very interesting, at least to me, because Tyrion talks a lot about Valyrian history and actually recites a bit of poetry about it. As they’re sailing through, Tyrion gets to see his first dragon – Drogon, who is still flying free.

The moment was wonderful, but it was also short lived. They’re attacked by stone men, men who have been inflicted with gray scale, which is very contagious and more often than not, fatal. We don’t get to see the end of the fight as Tyrion blacks out. Jorah wakes him up on the shore, and I was relieved to see that the two of them made it out. Jorah says that they will have to walk up to a fishing village, but decides they should rest first. After he walks away, we see that he has actually contracted grayscale, and the episode cuts off there.

This was a roller coaster of an episode. It took some major plot points from the books but there was enough new content and new twists that I was genuinely surprised by a lot of what happened in this episode. I really, really don’t want to see Ser Jorah die, especially not from something as horrible as grayscale. This episode has made me really worried about what could be coming up this season, and there were a lot of very tense, foreboding moments, but it also had my favorite scene so far from this season, where Tyrion gets to see Drogon. It was a gorgeous shot and it was just so emotional, knowing how much Tyrion had wanted to see one. The episode ended far too soon, and I would love to know what happens next week.

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Posted by on Sunday, May 10th, 2015. Filed under Dark TV, Headline, Images. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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