We’re officially past the middle of the season. I know, it went by way too fast, but things are finally picking up a little. Weirdly enough, I feel a bit like not enough people have died yet, like I’m not really watching Game of Thrones. That makes me a little nervous that the second half of the season will be completely wild and brutal. Okay I’m actually excited by that idea. Don’t make me regret it by killing all of my favorite characters, please!
We start with Khaleesi. As I guessed in the previous recap, Barristan died but Grey Worm survived. That’s at least something. Daenerys is rightfully furious and decides to gather the heads of the wealthiest families in Mereen and lets her dragons eat one of them. She later changes her mind about this killing thing and instead decides that the best solution to the situation is for her to marry one of the family heads, specifically her counselor, Hizdahr zo Loraq. This was quite a strange twist (I thought she was just going to have them fight each other in the fighting pits). I mean, he’s pretty cute and all but this is Khaleesi we’re talking about! You’d think she wouldn’t just marry anyone. I guess that’s the life of a queen.
But the romance isn’t over with Khaleesi and her new fiancé. Surviving the ambush was a turning point for Grey Worm and Missandei, being so close to death makes him reevaluate his actions and so he tells her that when he got stabbed, she’s the one he thought about. Then they kiss! Game of Thrones really doesn’t give us a whole lot of romantic and sweet moments, so I really appreciate this one. Grey Worm and Missandei 4EVER!
Jon Snow, as you might recall, was left with the decision of what to do with the Wildlings. He seeks Maester Aemon’s advice and the Maester tells him to go for whatever it is he thinks is the right decision. Maester Aemon is pretty much the best, if I didn’t mention that already, but his advice is a little creepy: “Kill the boy, and let the man be born.”
Jon’s plan is pretty much the same as Stannis’ previous offer to the Wildings, except that Jon doesn’t care about them kneeling to him. He will let them cross the wall and give them land to settle on, and in return they’ll fight with the Night’s Watch. Pretty much obvious. This doesn’t sit well with many of the Crows, who find it hard to forget their long, bloody history with the Wildlings. They’ll just have to deal with it.
Podrick and Brienne are still watching Sansa from a safe distance, and they find some allies around Winterfell, folks who are still loyal to the Starks. Right now it seems that Sansa needs all the help she can get, as she is by herself in her now Bolton-filled hometown.
Inside Winterfell we encounter someone I completely forgot about, Myranda, Ramsay Bolton’s “girlfriend”. If there’s anything worse than one psychopath roaming free – it’s two psychopaths in love. Myranda casually hangs out in the nude (obviously) while telling Ramsay that she’s jealous of him marrying Sansa. I’m a little relived that he has Myranda so he can explore his messed-up side with a willing partner (so he hopefully won’t take it out on Sansa), but it also gains Sansa another enemy in Winterfell.
Myranda plans a little revenge and takes Sansa to see Theon/Reek, in his “room” next to the dogs. As you might recall, everyone thinks that Theon killed Bran and Rickon, the youngest Stark boys, but they actually escaped and he faked their deaths.
When Ramsay learns that Sansa saw Theon he pretty much abandons his little “polite young man” façade. When he and Sansa have dinner with Roose Bolton and his wife, Ramsay declares that Theon will give Sansa away at their wedding since he’s the closest thing she has to family. The whole situation is unnerving, but at least now Sansa knows that Ramsay is dangerous.
We also learn that Roose’s wife is pregnant, which obviously upsets Ramsay since he might lose his position as heir. I get a feeling that he might end up killing his “stepmom” and her baby, but for now his dad tells him the story about how he raped his mom to reassure him of his position as his real son. What a lovely family. These two really deserve each other.
Lastly, Jorah and Tyrion are still sailing their way to Mereen, and Jorah decide to take them through Valyria, the ruined city that was once the home of House Targaryen. They see Dany’s missing dragon and are then attacked by the Stone Men, people who were infected with greyscale and apparently sent off to Valyria. As you might recall, greyscale is super contagious and you get it from simply touching an infected person.
Jorah and Tyrion fight bravely and eventually reach some shore safely. Except apparently Jorah has been infected, but he pretends to be okay. This can’t end well. I suppose he thinks he can just be so manly that the greyscale will simply give up? Or maybe he’ll deliver Tyrion to Dany and her gratitude will cure him? Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense and I have a feeling Tyrion is going to have to kill him at some point and the whole thing is just going to get ugly.
The episode was noticeably free of any Lannister-related drama. I have to admit I didn’t really miss it. I mean, Cersi and Margaery’s passive-aggressive exchanges make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, but even that can’t go on forever. I think this was a much needed break from them to remind us that there are still other people in the Seven Kingdoms, and they matter too! I’m sure the Lannisters will be back in the next episode to remind us that they’re the most important.
Meanwhile I think that Sansa’s storyline is equally interesting, exciting, and terrifying. I think she’s going to surprise us and the Boltons with her resilience and power. The North remembers! And she’s had worse fiancés. Maybe. Anyway, she’s resisting in her own quiet way, like in the little exchange with Mama Bolton, who tells her “It must be difficult for you, being in a strange place,” to which Sansa answers “This isn’t a strange place. This is my home. It’s the people who are strange.” I bet every single person who watched the episode felt like saying “HELL YEAH GIRL” when they saw this scene. Because damn she is fierce.
Dany marrying the cute former-master is also quite an interesting direction and I have to admit it surprised me. We’ll see how that goes. Will they have little beautiful babies? Will Daario be jealous? Will the former-slaves be pissed that she’s marrying a former-master? Will she ever find time to go take over Westeros with all of this city drama? Will I ever care about any of the storylines more than I care about Grey Worm and Missandei finding creative way to hook up? Only time will tell.
Leave a Reply