Sansa is sewing and receives a mockingjay-sealed letter—Littlefinger is in Mole’s Town with news of the Vale army at Moat Cailin. Sansa is NOT happy with him to say the least. She grills him about whether he knew what Ramsay was and digs in deep as to what was done to her. She says he is either an idiot or her enemy. She doesn’t believe him anymore and threatens to have Brienne cut him down. He offers her anything in his power, but she rejects him. As a parting gift he tells her her great Uncle Brynden the Blackfish has retaken River Run.
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| Starring Ms. Phryne Fisher as Lady Crane as Cersei... |
Arya gets beat up a bit more then Jaqen gives her a history lesson on Faceless men and then a job. She goes to the theater to watch the production of The Bloody Hand—a version of the events at King’s Landing that Arya lived through. The version of Ned is hard for her to watch—stupid and power hungry both. And then there is the Sansa abuse reminder. Arya learns what she needs to, though—Lady Crane is the only one who drinks the rum. Though she questions the need to kill the woman.
Bran sees the children gathering and we get our first big WTF… they stab what appears to be dragon glass into a man and he becomes the first white walker. Leaf explains the war with men and the need for protection.
The King’s Moot is happening on the Iron Islands and Yara steps forward.They’ve never had a queen. Someone suggests Theon but Theon supports Yara’s claim. And then Euron steps forward. He insults Theon, then Yara accuses him of killing Balon. He admits it and tells them why—Balon was incompetent--he's sorry he didn't kill him sooner. Theon makes another round of arguments and says Yara will build a huge fleet. Euron agrees, but then says he plans to sail it for Daenerys and her dragons. He says he wasn’t born to be king—he paid the iron price. The people seem to agree so they drown him. For a bit. Yara and Theon and their men flee with Euron’s fleet. Euron announces his intention to murder his niece and nephew and orders the men to get started on his thousand ships.
Dany confronts Jorah and is not sure what to do with him. He shows her his grey scale and says he must leave. She asks if there is a cure and is clearly torn apart over it. He admits he loves her which makes Daario uncomfortable. Jorah says good-bye but she orders him not to walk away, then commands him to find a cure. She tells him when she takes the seven kingdoms, she needs him by her side.
Since the pact with the masters, violence has subsided. Tyrion says they need a PR company to announce their queen was responsible for the peace. He brings in Kinvara, High Priestess of the Red Temple. He asks for her help. She came willingly—says Daenerys was the one promised. She says the dragons will purify non-believers. Tyrion tries to tamp down the zealotry a bit, but she goes on about why they need her. Varys steps forward with Stannis’s story and the Red Priestess who was sure he was the one. He questions her. Tyrion keeps trying to bring it back to their mutual support of Dany, but the Red Priestess steps forward with reminders to Varys of his experience, which she seems to know all about. He is visibly shaken.
Bloodraven is sleeping and Bran is restless, so he decides to take a trip on his own. He appears in a field with thousands of wights, walks through them unnoticed until he reaches the 4 horsemen, and is grabbed by the Night’s King. Bloodraven knows he has been touched and tells him he must go. Being touched destroyed the protection of the tree. Bloodraven says it is time for Bran to become him.
Team Stark discuss who will come to their aid. Sansa and Davos debate—Sansa pointing out northern loyalty, Davos pointing out human nature of self-preservation. Jon points out all the small houses and suggests starting small. Sansa also suggests River Run and tells them of the Blackfish taking it back, though she lies about how she knew. Sansa sends Brienne to Riverrun to ask for the help. Brienne worries about the people Sansa will be with. When Sansa says Jon will keep her safe Brienne asks why she lied to him. The party to recruit help heads out… And Edd has the command.
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| Hold the door |
Meera is excited to head south. She talks to Hodor about going, discussing food. But she can see Bran has been out too long. She runs outside and sees they are surrounded—wights and white walkers both. The Night King makes a threatening mini-avalanche and Leaf says to get Bran and run. Bran and Bloodraven are back at Winterfell when Ned was small, and the children battle the wights. The white walkers come right through the flames, but the wights have to go around. They swarm the tree as Meera gets Bran into the sledge. The wights start to break in, so Meera begs Bran to wake up—they need Hodor and Hodor is frozen, panicking. Bran hears her pleas through time and wargs Hodor, but somehow it wargs BOTH Hodors. Meera kills a white walker, summer jumps into the wights to defend them and dies with a screech. The Night’s King finds Bloodraven and in the past, he vanishes, presumably killed at the other end. Meera and Hodor run. Leaf produces a fireball and takes a bunch of the wights out as they swarm her. They reach a door, which they finally get through with difficulty. They close it to seal it up and Meera begs Hodor to hold the door—again and again… Hodor in the past hears it and has a sort of seizure in which he keeps shouting “Hold the Door, Holde door, Holdedor, Hodor”.
Review
Go Sansa! So glad she was tough with Littlefinger. Though I did want her to accept that Vale Army… I hope Littlefinger helps her anyway—decides to prove himself. Not that I trust him, but it's always nice to have unexpected backup.
Poor Arya… Revisionist History is a bitch. And she was so heartbroken watching it. Hard to be no one when faced with that. I like Arya questioning the morality of killing someone who doesn’t necessarily deserve it here, too. Especially when the play could have really spiked her temper. The misrepresentation would make someone like, say... Cersei... murderous. (in fact I saw a review suggesting it may have been Cersei who paid the Faceless men for the hit, even though it is much more sympathetic to Cersei and Joffrey than reality)
Holy CRAP—that white walker creation, but BOY HOWDY. I’ve seen some speculation about the Children and whether they are good or bad, but I like this shade of grey much better—they were desperate and so did something to save themselves that later badly backfired. And they've been trying to make up for it since... helping build the wall anallat...
I’m not typically a Greyjoy fan, but I really liked Theon supporting Yara and loved the fast one they pulled on Euron, taking off with his ships… exactly what reavers ought to do if you ask me. And since Euron is CRAZY...
Lots of feels with the Jorah/Dany conversation. I like them finally being honest with each other.
Anybody else getting a feeling of dread about the worshippers of R’hollor and Dany? Dragons burning non-believers? Erm… let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, eh? Though zealotry being what it is, it probably will.
Bran’s frozen scene, unmoving undead, is a little weird, but I suppose it is meant to be. Nobody sees him until the Night's King does. And it’s terrifying to realize being touched has destroyed the protection of the magic that has formerly kept them out. They created their own destruction. (heavy, eh?) My personal prediction is this means when Bran passes through the wall, THAT magic will be broken, too, and the wights and white walkers will be able to pass.
The Stark strategy meeting was good—I like the team work. I am truly curious though, about Sansa’s lie. Is she protecting Littlefinger? Keeping an ace up her sleeve? And off Team Stark go… YEAH for promising plans! I like how they all contributed. And Brienne is headed back toward her book plot in the Riverlands, so that is good. Also love that Edd is effectively in charge at the wall.
The escape scene in which first Summer, then Leaf, then finally Hodor sacrifice themselves so Bran can get away is heartbreaking—especially when we realize this moment has always been why Hodor could say nothing but Hodor. And this time loop always had to happen.
This episode had some spectacular parts. I think the difficulty with that is they sort of overwhelmed some quieter parts. Like I think the Stark strategizing was actually really good, but it was so quiet compared to having just seen how the Children created White Walkers. Same with the King's Moot. It made the pacing a bit uneven. I don't have any complaints quality wise except that sort of uneven feel.
Tin Foil Thoughts
What if all this was set up by the children so the White Walkers CAN get through the wall... If Bloodraven and the Children had this plot to end men.
Also, what if now that Bran understands how this works, he is really ALL the Brans... Brans through history... Bran the Builder, Bran the Breaker, there are all these Brans who did all these things... what if they are all Bran?
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