Hello all, and welcome to the recap of another amazing episode of Game of Thrones.
As always, SPOILERS.
This episode stuck to a small selection of characters, yet eventful as always it was, with extra action.
Lets start off with the small talk. Cersei seems to be nice all of a sudden to everyone. This might seem like she’s turned a page, but if you know her, and you notice the people she’s being nice to, you would then realize that she’s being manipulative. She is trying to win over the judges in hopes of them convicting Tyrion (those being Margeary’, since her father is a judge, prince Oberyn and Tywin).
We also see the crowing of young Tommen… now the new king.
Dany finds out the the previous cities she liberated are now going back to how they were (without her to stay and rule). High lords are retaking their seats and re-slaving the people. And while Sir Jorah tells her to keep marching and go to Westoros, she see’s this differently. How will she rule over Westoros, when she can’t rule these 3 cities. So she decides to stay and rule there, and make sure things are stable, before she moves on.
Littlefinger finally reaches the Vale with Sansa (who’s undercover as his “niece”) – though obviously Lady Lysa knows her. She’s still as weird as she was (along with that strange boy of hers), and obsessed with Lord Baelish. She wants to marry right then and there. And though Baelish tries to postpone (in the books he actually delays the wedding a whole book), in the show they get married that night. Littlefinger wants lords to be around and see him get married… accept him in his new position. Lysa cannot wait though, so the wedding happens.
The big twist happens later when you see how crazy Lysa is, as she berates Sansa for thinking she hooked up with Littlefinger. She’s extremely jealous, and knowing Littlefinger’s love for Sansa’s mother, she believes that he may have wanted her. Sansa denies it (obviously, as she didn’t) and she calms down… but clearly she’s crazy. Then later, when she confronts Baelish about it, she makes a huge revelation… that SHE was the one who poisoned her ex husband, Jon. She then lied and sent the letter to her sister Kat about believing the Lannisters did it… all at Littlefingers request. And so, this whole story starting at season one was upon a lie.. created by Littlefinger.
Varys once said that he believed Littlefinger was one of the most dangerous people alive. Now we finally see what secrets, well played maneuvers and lies can cause. And now, he has become Lord of the Vale. What else is Littlefinger planning.
Arya counts her list of people she wants to kill, and Clegane hears how he’s on this list. Of course, he just intimidates her, as she’s just a little girl to him. And they move on…
Brienne continues traveling with Pod, and we see how good of a kid he is and how hard he’s trying to be a good squire.
And now to the action. Bran and the group are captured. Jojen has another vision of how important Bran is. I love these scenes… they show the importance of Bran even more so than the books. Jon and the men of the Nights Watch finally arrive and battle breaks out. We see Locke (who so far was “pretending” to fit in) had a secret agenda, and sneaks away to capture Bran (which he had noticed when he was spying in a little earlier. This part is a little unclear, but as it holds no more importance, i’ll explain from the books. Locke was actually punished for cutting Jaimes hands off in the books. Thats where his story ends. But then Lord Balton hires an assassin to go North and find Bran and Rikkon (since he knows from Theon that they still live), and kill them. He needs to erase any remaining Starks. I won’t mention how he gets killed, as it will ruin what happens at the end of the season (at least reveal the event). It matters not though, as either way he gets killed. In the show, they just combined the characters with Locke (which still works), and it is why he ends up where he does.
So… Locke take Bran, who instantly goes into Hodor’s body. He uses the massive strength to break free, chase Locke down, and free himself (Bran)… lifting, choking and snapping Locke’s neck so hard, the bone breaks through the skin. AWESOME. Bran has the chance to talk to Jon, who he see’s fighting, but knows that he can’t (in fear that Jon might take him back to castle Black), so, sadly, they leave. They free Summer (and Ghost while they’re at it).
Jon fights and kills Karl (with a little help from one of Crasters wives/daughters). A pretty brutal, and awesome, kill I might add. Finally, the last of the traitors, Rast, is running like a little girl. And he passes by the cage they were keeping Ghost (and he was teasing last episode), only the gate is open. And goes who comes and says hi… Ghost. Another deserving death. And so Jon and Ghost reunite.
This marks the half-season point. And let me tell you, the second half of the season is about to heat up. Till next week…
~mozeus
