Game of Thrones Season 5 Episode 4 Recap: “The Sons of the Harpy”

Episode number 4! The episode that many of you probably already watched a month ago, and now feel sad because you have to wait until next week to see another one! Well, at least you can read this recap and remind yourself what happened in this lovely episode, which is so close to the middle of the season it’s making me want to weep a little.

So what’s going on? Jaime and Bronn are making their way to Dorne to take Myrcella away before someone (ahem Ellaria) uses her to avenge Oberyn’s death. These two are great together, especially now that Jaime only has one hand and so Bronn has to do everything for him. It’s all very cute and sarcastic but I’m also getting a little worried for their not-so-secret mission.

Also in Dorne, Ellaria apparently has daughters? Or at least a daughter and a couple of “step daughters” (Oberyn’s bastards from other women). They’re all badasses, perfect combinations of awesome and scary. Also, they know Jaime is in Dorne so that can’t be good.

Ellaria is still set on using Myrcella to get back at Cersi and possibly start a war, and now that she’s backed up by these three intense ladies, there’s no telling what will happen. This is really too bad since Myrcella is among the few people on the show who really didn’t do anything to hurt anyone so why should she pay the price? But at the same time, these ladies are so cool and I really hope they become central to the story, even if it is through misdirected revenge.

Cersi is finding ways to control King’s Landing although she is no longer the queen. Remember her understanding with the “High Sparrow” from last episode? It pretty much turned into Cersi using this religious cult as her own little army. If she wants to get rid of someone, all she has to do is tell the cult that the person in question is a sinner, and they’ll take care of him for her. This is Game of Thrones after all, everyone’s a sinner in some way.

This arrangement is so scary to me. I like Tommen and was thinking that he could make at least a merciful king, but now it seems like he’s going to have some competition. The first person Cersi targets is of course Margaery, but since she can’t have the queen kidnapped by a local cult, she has them take Loras, her gay brother, instead. Margaery is rightfully pissed off, and tells Tommen to have him released right away. But he encounters resistance from the cult and gives up so they won’t have to turn to violence. Listen up, little boy, this is Game of Thrones. You’re not going to get very far like this.

In Castle Black, Stannis has a lovely exchange with his daughter Shireen about how he’s proud of her and see her as his daughter despite her Greyscale and female-ness. This was one of the only times when I didn’t completely hate him. Meanwhile, the Red Lady uses her breasts to try to convince Jon to join her and Stannis in their war to gain control of the North (and everywhere else). It makes no sense, but I guess the producers felt that there weren’t enough naked ladies in the recent episodes. Lovely. Anyway, Jon rejects her because he is 1. in the Night’s Watch and 2. still not over Ygritte. The Red Lady leaves and enhances her creepiness by repeating Ygritte’s famous line,” You know nothing, Jon Snow.” Okay, moving on.

Sansa is still in Winterfell, hanging around her new fiancé, Ramsay Bolton. He acts very polite and nice, which is even creepier since we know how evil he is. Baelish leaves for King’s Landing, leaving Sansa alone with the damn Boltons, but first he kisses her. On the lips. Bah. Can Sansa’s story get any creepier? I really don’t want to know but I think we’ll find out.

Jorah, as you may have suspected, is indeed planning to take Tyrion to *his* queen, Daenerys. Tyrion points out the irony in this since that’s where he and Varys were headed anyway. Jorah isn’t too impressed with their “joint cause” but hopefully this will all work itself out and we will all find a way to be friends. For now he just punches Tyrion in the face for teasing him about being kicked out of Khaleesi’s team.

Meanwhile, Daenerys’ Mereen is a mess. The Sons of the Harpy, the underground masters’ group that’s been going around killing members of the Unsullied, steps it up and this time prepares an ambush for the Unsullied. They’re apparently extremely well trained in combat because they give the Unsullied quite a beating. Grey Worm and Barristan Selmy both fight bravely, but it seems that at least Barristan did not survive. I’m quite sad about this so I’m just not going to think about it. If Grey Worm is also dead I don’t know what we’ll do. Freak out and cry, probably.

This episode made me quite excited about what’s to come. They’re really playing with us waiting to see Dany and Tyrion meet, and it must happen soon or we’ll rebel! It’s also very exciting to meet the new ladies in Dorne (can you tell that I’m excited by my frequent use of the adjective “awesome”?). It’s nice to have some new blood in the show. Hopefully not literally. I also really hope that Sansa’s story, despite looking incredibly grim right now, will somehow work out for the best (she deserves a damn break) and that Arya will prove relevant to the story instead of becoming the new Bran, exploring her own magical and completely useless storyline. For now I will just wish you a quick week and a painless wait for episode 5!