Time: 9 pm EST
TV Channel: HBO
Director: Jack Bender
Writers: Dan Weiss and David Benioff
Run Time: 57 min
Tyrion seeks a strange ally. Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) learns a great deal. Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) goes on a mission. Arya (Maisie Williams) is given a chance to prove herself.
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS. Do not read if you are not caught up to Season 6, Episode 5. May contain book spoilers.
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Hold the door guys, this might have been my favourite episode yet! The amount of shizzzzzz we learn in this episode is amazing! So yeah, let's begin!
I was a bit confused when we see that letter being given to Sansa in Castle Black. I immediately thought they were doing a sequel to the Pink Letter. Turns out nope, just Petyr Baelish and his cunning ways. It's no secret that I have always liked Baelish and I truly think in the TV show, they're portraying him in a subtler, nicer way than in the books. In the novels, Baelish very well knew of Ramsay's intentions and still made Sansa wed him. Clearly in the TV series, he did not know and seemed to be disturbed by it. I found Sansa just so grown up and mature when she made Baelish speak about what he thought Ramsay did to her. It was a total badass and queen like move that clearly, Sansa is learning and understanding the game of thrones. I see really big things for her as the season continues on but I still can't help be a little sad she is dead set on not seeing Baelish ever again. We all know that's never going to happen but I wonder how they'll reunite and what will happen IF Jon Snow and Brienne find out Baelish kissed her so long ago, then proceeded to murder his wife, her aunt. There was a really great line she said to Baelish at this point:
"If you didn't know, you're an idiot. If you did, you're my enemy."
After that history lesson, Jaqen gives Arya a second chance and gives her a task to kill an actress, Lady Crane, by the Many-Faced God's will. As Arya is enjoying the acting on stage, she soon realizes it's actually the play of what happened to her father, Eddard, in King's Landing. Wow. This actually got me so mad I had to stop and think, "Why do I feel so angry about fiction" LMFAO. No joke, it was ridiculous how much I wanted Arya to say, Sod this, I'm killing all of you. They basically made fun of Ned and Sansa while they acted out his death scene. Just the look on Arya's face was everything. I'm actually shocked she didn't kill them all right there and then. There was a lot of hidden metaphors in this episode and this was one of them. So, Lady Crane who played Queen Cersei, needs to die because the actress playing Sansa thinks she's better than Crane. She wants to get rid of 'Queen Cersei' so she can play the queen. It makes me wonder if in the future, Arya will almost make way and clean up the mess of Cersei (since she is on Arya's list) so Sansa can rise. It was a really surreal scene, finally having Arya see what happened to Sansa when she left. She must know Joffrey's dead but still, I wonder if this is the emotional trigger that everyone's anticipating will set Arya off to continue her vengeance. It's pretty exciting to see this scene though considering it's actually from a sample chapter George released for The Winds of Winter. It was an excellent chapter and so amazing to read, if you're caught up on the books, make sure to read it!!
We then get the origins of the White Walkers from Bran's vision. We see Leaf and the rest of the Children of the Forest ready to do some poor things on this man tied to the tree. Leaf forced a Dragonglass dagger into the man's chest and finally, turning him into the first ever White Walker.
Dan and Dave are really changing some of these origin stories but I know they have to simplify it somehow so it can fit into a 10 episode season. So while this flashback was taking place, it was set in the war against the first men. They were the first settlers on Westeros and waged war by cutting and burning down almost all weirwoods. Even though the Children were magical and really strong when using dark magic, the first men were larger and more advanced in warfare. There was a truce however and they went their separate ways, in peace (Children in the North, First men in the South). The part that may be confusing with what the TV show has shown so far is that the Children did in fact almost win because they shattered the Arm of Dorne with the hammer of the Waters. We're only 5 episodes in, but I don't know if they will do that in flashbacks. So instead, it seems like the Dan and Dave are basically only going to show that the Children created a weapon -White Walkers- and lost control of them during the years and now the Nights King is killing off his creators -the Children-. It's really interesting when you read about it and again, this is where I recommend you reading the books to fully comprehend because it gets really in depth.
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| The First Men cutting and burning the weirwood trees that lead to war. |
"Where are my niece and nephew? [beat] Lets go murder them."
LIKE DAMN, EURON. If you didn't see though, yep, Theon and Yara stole their ships and ran, good thinking guys. I really want to see if Euron will meet Daenarys and what his reaction will be to her dying of laughter when she demands to be her husband. I HOPE Daenarys either kills him or helps Yara and Theon kill him. That'll be a great scene if it comes.
This next scene was just so heartbreaking. I never really liked Daenarys from the beginning but this had me fall in love with her. AWWWW DANY. I was pretty surprised how heartwarming and sad she took the news of Jorah's grayscale. He finally confesses that he loves Daenarys and it was so bittersweet. We all know that can't happen as Daario explained in the the previous episode, but still. Now, I really wonder if there is a cure????? I mean, don't give up yet, Dan and Dave either put that line there for false hope or actual truth. It could go both ways, but at least while Daenarys continues to recruit people, she can at least know Jorah is fighting for a cure, and essentially, for her. I wonder if this will affect Dany's ruling over Meereen and with the High Priestess finally introduced, magic is now in Dany's life.
Speaking of Meereen and High Priestess, we finally get introduced to Kinvara! Yet, a new complicated name to add to the character list. She was so mysterious and I instantly loved her. I know Varys was trying to catch her off guard with the whole Melisandre mistake but she took it like a pro. It was literally a fighting match: Varys vs. High Priestess. It was so much fun to get introduced to her and I wonder if she'll become a huge character in the future. I do hope so. Kinvara will probably teach Daenarys her family's history and what happened from an unbiased P.O.V. I just felt like the little match between Varys and Kinvara was so important. We finally get some insight on why Varys is a eunuch, and that Kinvara fully well knows that the Red God was talking to him during it, all those years ago. It's really weird to see Varys caught off guard for the first time and have himself at the disadvantage. I just remember smiling throughout that whole scene because Kinvara just proved herself worthy of being with Daenarys and her rise to the throne.
"Everyone is what they are and where they are for a reason. Terrible things happen for a reason. Like what happened to you Lord Varys when you were a child. If not for your mutilation from the hand of a second rate sorcerer, you wouldn't be here. Helping the Lord's chosen bring his light into the world. Knowledge has made you powerful. But there's still so much you don't know. Do you remember what you heard that night? When the sorcerer tossed your parts (EW) in the fire? You heard a voice call out from the flames, do you remember? Should I tell you what the voice said? Should I tell you the name of the one who spoke? We serve the same Queen. If you are her true friend, you have nothing to fear from me." That was so intense HOLY COW. I can't wait for more scenes with her.
One of the main questions everyone has been asking since the series came out was, what if all these different religions and Gods were all the same one?
Well, this episode was a bit history happy with all the origin story's and lessons on Westerosi history. They really shed light on the religions when Jaqen explained the Many-Faced God, Kinvara explained the Red God and prophecy and finally the White Walkers and Children of the Forest. They all seemed to connect and I didn't quite see it till after, having re-watched it for this recap. We've always learned about these Gods as separate Deities, but the way the Red God is explained, when He's always existing in a constant state during battles with the Great Other, the entity that the White Walker's serve. Yet, we learned in this episode that the Children of the Forest created them does that mean, them too, worship this 'Great Other', coinciding with the Red God? Then Jaqen telling Arya that it's all the same to the Many-Faced God and how He doesn't always come for the evil ones. Another thought into that is the Red God's prophecy for Daenarys is in High Valyrian, which is genderless/gender neutral. It's really interesting how all of these religions and Gods are meshing into one another as history unfolds and we learn more about them. A moment in which most people forget is that Jaqen once told Arya that she stole 3 deaths from the Red God, yet he worships the Many-Faced God, a seemingly total different deity. So confusing guys.
In Castle Black we have Sansa and Jon at a table with the others trying to see who would be on their side or Ramsay's. It doesn't seem to be going to well for the Starks so Sansa finally tells Davos and the others that her uncle has a successfully taken back Riverrun and has an army. I found it weird that she lied how she got that information. Obviously we're probably going to all run in to Baelish when they arrive yet she slowly starts to play the game of thrones and her first move is apparently keeping the information to herself and Brienne.
FINALLY WE HAVE THE FINALE. This was so sad. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see. It's probably no secret by now that Hodor is dead :( also, not to forget, Summer (Bran's direwolf) is too! The death of the direwolfs are just getting way to much. Anyways, to start this scene off we have the huge trailer bit where we see Bran walking out and seeing the Wights. He walks through them so creepily, I was expecting one of them to jump scare us. We finally see the White Walker's in all of there glory looking out and finally the Night King turns his head and fully sees Bran standing there. THAT WAS WAY TO CREEPY FOR MY LIKING. Especially when all of them looked at him next, like yikes. I did not envy him. I couldn't believe he grabbed Bran. I was so not expecting that and for him to leave his mark on his arm! It was so sad to see Meera trying and failing to get Bran to wake up and for Hodor to help. It was such an epic running scene when Meera and Hodor are running from the wights and the wights are just crawling on the ceiling and literally 2 steps behind them. I couldn't quite believe that the Night's King killed the Three Eyed Raven and most of the Children of the Forest. To think that Leaf and her gang so long ago created them just to be killed by them is horrible. So it's clear now that Bran has become the Three Eyed Raven himself and can have visions a. by himself now and b. without a weirwood tree. I loved when Summer randomly came out to protect Bran, like every other direwolf to their master. The only direwolfs left alive are Ghost (Jon) and Nymeria (Arya). Though there still is speculation on Shaggydog's life. Leaf sacrifices herself for Bran and it was bittersweet because now all of the White Walker's creators are dead.
Next to die, because 3 deaths aren't enough for Game of Thrones is Hodor. Ugh. I couldn't quite believe that they killed him off. There was an interview Dan and Dave did years back describing their feelings to finding out how Hodor became Hodor was. I had to agree with them, the origin of that really is shocking. It makes the rumour that Bran was the one that made Daenary's father, the Mad King, crazy. So, if I understand correctly, Bran warged into adult Hodor and yet was so close to young Hodor he just went absolutely crazy. Meera was the one screaming over and over so much that Bran and young Hodor could hear, "Hold the door!" and that was the only thing young Hodor could say for the rest of his life. I can't believe the transition between hold the door and Hodor. Having seen and heard it, it really makes sense how he went from that phrase to his current name. It was so satisfying though to find out literally all the way back from Season 1, Episode 1 when Old Nan had explained that no one quite knows why her son went from Wylis to Hodor. Just the last minutes of the episode when Meera is looking back while running and we see the wights just tear into Hodor and all the cuts.... SO SAD.
So that was episode 5. I have to say, again, this was one of my favourite episodes so far! The trailer for episode 6 is out and we finally get to see the battle between the Faith and Tyrell's in Kings Landing!
RIP Leaf, RIP Summer, RIP Three Eyed Raven, and RIP Hodor, you will be missed.
Photo Credits: HBO and Emergency Awesome
Air Date: Sunday May 22, 2016 Time: 9 pm EST TV Channel: HBO Director: Jack Bender Writers: Dan Weiss and David Benioff Run Time: 57...
