SPOILERS if you haven’t seen the episode!!!
Recap
Ghost's howling alerts Davos who finds Jon’s body. With the
help of a few loyal brothers they move Jon. Ed fetches Ghost then goes for the
OTHER people who owe their life to Jon (aka: the wildlings). Alliser explains to the Night’s Watch
that a bunch of them killed Jon over his wildling plans. The Watch seems torn.
Ramsay mourns Miranda, the only person not afraid of him… and
then says to feed her to the dogs. Roose scolds Ramsay about Sansa and Theon disappearing. He messed up. Daddy
made him feel it.
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| Theon helps Sansa into the river to escape the hounds |
Sansa and Theon run, cross a river, get caught anyway, and
then… BRIENNE!!! Pod holds his own and even Theon pitches in, but Brienne is
the big hero. She then swears fealty to Sansa in a scene reminiscent of when she swore to Lady Catelyn.
Jaime and Myrcella’s body arrive, breaking Cersei’s heart.
Cersei tells Jaime of the Wood’s Witch prophecy. Jaime tells her they are going
to take it all back.
Septa Unella abuses Margaery with the Seven Pointed Star, telling
her to confess. The High Sparrow interrupts and also also urges a confession, saying
King Tommen misses her.
Dorne: WTF? Seriously. What just happened? Prince Doran gets
a message, reads of Myrcella’s death, and then Ellaria stabs him and Tyene
stabs Areo Hotah while all the household guards stand watching. Ellaria
declares no weak man will rule Dorne again. Obara and Nym somehow appear on
Tristane’s boat and kill him, wiping out the Martell clan.
Tyrion and Varys wander Meereen. Tyrion offers to buy a baby
to eat, or so his poor translation leads the woman to believe. Varys smooths it
over. They discuss Dany’s poor PR, then hear a red priest saying the Lord of
Light sent Dany. He urges them to take up the flame. A mass of people runs by in fear and
when they go to investigate they see the harbor (and all the boats) is on
fire, knocking the option of sailing back to Westeros right off the list of possibilities.
Jorah and Dario find charred bones, then find the evidence
of the Dothraki hoard and the ring Dany dropped so they know who has her.
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| Dany faces Khal Moro |
Dany is marched into the Dothraki camp and brought to Khal
Moro. Khal Moro and his bloodriders discuss the joys of life (such as looking
on a woman naked). Dany tells him who she is and he doesn’t care until they get
to the topic of Khal Drogo—nobody is to lay with a Khal’s widow. She is meant to
go to Vaes Dothrak where all widows of Khals live out their days.
Blind Arya begs in Bravos. The waif shows up with two sticks and
taunts Arya first with words, then she gives Arya a stick, tells her to fight
and starts hitting her. Arya gets knocked around badly then the waif says “see
you tomorrow” and leaves.
Back at the wall Ser Alliser tries to get in to where Jon’s
body is being guarded by Ghost, Davos and a few others. Alliser offers amnesty
and to let Davos ride south. Davos asks for mutton. They are awaiting the
wildlings and Davos notes the Red Woman may help. Unimpressed, one of the Watch asks what one redhead can do against forty men... oh, if they only knew...
Melisandre goes to a mirror and undresses because it wouldn’t
be a Game of Thrones episode without Melisandre undressing. She takes off the
ruby at her throat and is suddenly VERY OLD. She goes to bed like that.
Assessment
I thought this was a fantastic first episode. I’d only rank
season 4 higher for a season opener (well, and one, but that is a special case). Several of the things that happened were
sort of what I expected from the books or teasers, but they came out more awesome. I
loved the Sansa and Theon escape, nearly getting caught and Brienne saving them
heroically--probably my favorite sequence of the show. I like Ramsay on edge under his father’s disapproval. Anything that makes the bastard squirm. Davos was all
kinds of awesome and I love Ed going for the wildlings… all expected, but the
execution was great. The only sort of confusing thing is if Jon is dead, why are they protecting him? What do they think they can do? Are they just wanting to make sure he is dealt with respectfully, or does Davos have some inkling of what is possible? I’m thrilled that Arya’s story seems to be following her
book path.
There are two big book departures. Myrcella has not died yet
in the books, so maybe Jaime and Cersei WILL bond when that happens, but to me
it messes with Jaime’s redemption arc. Not as big a fan of that. And Dorne…
holy CRAP! In one episode wiping out the
royal family… My thought is that without Quentin to woo Dany, Arianne to woo
Aegon (or even Aegon) the rest of the Dornish plot is just about war baiting,
and leaving this to the sand snakes makes some sense. I certainly liked these
sand snakes better than last season’s. But so much for the Dornish Master Plan,
eh?
I’m very excited to see where all this goes. Sansa is set to
finally get her season, I think. I am eager to see how she and Brienne interact
and what that does for Sansa’s confidence. Brienne will be following Sansa’s
orders, which puts Sansa in charge for the first time ever. The war at the wall
(between the traitorous brothers and the wildlings and loyal brothers) should
be interesting. I expect Jon to be raised somewhere in there and if Mel is
touting him as Azor Ahai he will probably inspire an army. The battle of the
bastards should be amazing.
So anybody have any thoughts they want to share? I'm giving the episode a 9, I think...
