Game of Thrones: Book of the Stranger
The episode ended with a fiery ending with Daenerys emerging from the fires just as she did in season 1. That for me was the low point of an otherwise enjoyable episode. And now to the dissection.
Cersei and Jaime Lannister
It is now Queen Margaery’s turn for her walk of shame. Margaery is looking like hell right about now and her beloved brother, Ser Loras, looks even worse. There is clearly no love lost between Cersei and the queen, something that even her dim-witted son was able to pick up on, but in this case Cersei uses this event to find common ground with the Tyrells, and overthrow the High Sparrow and faith militants once and for all. It was a savvy play by Cersei, showing that she’s finally back on her game after being humiliated.
Tyrion Lannister
I was disappointed with Tyrion’s scene last week, but I thought he rebounded quite nicely in this episode. He showed the sort of political savvy that Daenerys has lacked as a ruler. Daenerys has been a bit of an idealist. She wants all or nothing. Tyrion, who has been around powerful people all of his life, is more into playing the role of a Donald Trump, someone who is all about making deals. And the deal he makes is a sensible one. You can’t expect a complete change in culture and lifestyle over night. This way, Tyrion is giving them an opportunity to adjust out a slavery society.
Ramsey Bolton
Ramsey once again plays the role of the one-dimensional villain. There’s just no nuance to this character. He likes to kill people and revels in his villainry. This time it is Osha who falls victim to his dastardly deeds. Once she started making a play for the knife that was on the table, I knew it was over for her.
Jon Snow and Sansa Stark
Ah, what a happy reunion. The funny thing is, these characters never particularly liked each other. They commented about it on this episode, but this was never something that was revealed in the show, but was dealt with in more detail in the books. But hey, they are all the family they have at the moment. Jon is kind of like Michael Corleone from the Godfather in this episode. He wants to get out, but they keep dragging him back in. I normally don’t care for Sansa, but I liked the Stark grit that she showed here telling Jon she will go to battle with Ramsay with or without her. Without wanting to toot my own horn (hell, I do want to toot my own horn) Jon Snow is going to go to war with Ramsey Bolton and retake Winterfell as I predicted. He’s got the wildings. He’s got a large chunk of the North who remain loyal to the Starks on his side. This is the ultimate showdown of good vs. evil. Ramsay is a one-dimensional bad guy, and Jon is the pure good guy. Jon will bring Ramsay down and reclaim Winterfell for the Starks. Also of interest in these scenes was the interaction between Brienne and Malisandre and Davos. I like her dig at Malisandre, but I thought it was beneath her character to rub Davos’s nose in the knowledge that she killed the man he once served as the hand of the king. Meanwhile, Tormund seemed to be digging Brienne in this scene. A possible romance between them?
Daenerys Targaryan
This was my least favorite part of the show. I was cool with Daenerys being fire resistant. She showed this before. She’s the mother of dragons. Fire doesn’t bother her. Cool. The fact that the building burnt down as quickly as it did was ridiculous. Even more absurd was that while all of this was going on, all of the Khals, who are serious bad-ass warriors, just let the place burn down and never once even tried to kill Daenerys. In fact, they acted like a group of ten-year-old boys. The moment they saw fire, they completely panicked. None of this scene worked for me at all and it muted the impact of Danny’s emergence from the fire.
Absent from this episode is young Ned Stark finding his sister on death’s door after giving birth to Jon Snow in a Bran flashback. I think we’ll see this in the next episode. I’m going to guess that Tyrion’s agreement with the Wise Masters will fall apart once Daenerys returns with a horde of Dothraki following her. She won’t like Tyrion’s compromise and will look to smash her enemies. The Lannisters will overthrow the Faith Militant only to find their enemies from Dorne breathing down their throat.
Cersei and Jaime Lannister
It is now Queen Margaery’s turn for her walk of shame. Margaery is looking like hell right about now and her beloved brother, Ser Loras, looks even worse. There is clearly no love lost between Cersei and the queen, something that even her dim-witted son was able to pick up on, but in this case Cersei uses this event to find common ground with the Tyrells, and overthrow the High Sparrow and faith militants once and for all. It was a savvy play by Cersei, showing that she’s finally back on her game after being humiliated.
Tyrion Lannister
I was disappointed with Tyrion’s scene last week, but I thought he rebounded quite nicely in this episode. He showed the sort of political savvy that Daenerys has lacked as a ruler. Daenerys has been a bit of an idealist. She wants all or nothing. Tyrion, who has been around powerful people all of his life, is more into playing the role of a Donald Trump, someone who is all about making deals. And the deal he makes is a sensible one. You can’t expect a complete change in culture and lifestyle over night. This way, Tyrion is giving them an opportunity to adjust out a slavery society.
Ramsey Bolton
Ramsey once again plays the role of the one-dimensional villain. There’s just no nuance to this character. He likes to kill people and revels in his villainry. This time it is Osha who falls victim to his dastardly deeds. Once she started making a play for the knife that was on the table, I knew it was over for her.
Jon Snow and Sansa Stark
Ah, what a happy reunion. The funny thing is, these characters never particularly liked each other. They commented about it on this episode, but this was never something that was revealed in the show, but was dealt with in more detail in the books. But hey, they are all the family they have at the moment. Jon is kind of like Michael Corleone from the Godfather in this episode. He wants to get out, but they keep dragging him back in. I normally don’t care for Sansa, but I liked the Stark grit that she showed here telling Jon she will go to battle with Ramsay with or without her. Without wanting to toot my own horn (hell, I do want to toot my own horn) Jon Snow is going to go to war with Ramsey Bolton and retake Winterfell as I predicted. He’s got the wildings. He’s got a large chunk of the North who remain loyal to the Starks on his side. This is the ultimate showdown of good vs. evil. Ramsay is a one-dimensional bad guy, and Jon is the pure good guy. Jon will bring Ramsay down and reclaim Winterfell for the Starks. Also of interest in these scenes was the interaction between Brienne and Malisandre and Davos. I like her dig at Malisandre, but I thought it was beneath her character to rub Davos’s nose in the knowledge that she killed the man he once served as the hand of the king. Meanwhile, Tormund seemed to be digging Brienne in this scene. A possible romance between them?
Daenerys Targaryan
This was my least favorite part of the show. I was cool with Daenerys being fire resistant. She showed this before. She’s the mother of dragons. Fire doesn’t bother her. Cool. The fact that the building burnt down as quickly as it did was ridiculous. Even more absurd was that while all of this was going on, all of the Khals, who are serious bad-ass warriors, just let the place burn down and never once even tried to kill Daenerys. In fact, they acted like a group of ten-year-old boys. The moment they saw fire, they completely panicked. None of this scene worked for me at all and it muted the impact of Danny’s emergence from the fire.
Absent from this episode is young Ned Stark finding his sister on death’s door after giving birth to Jon Snow in a Bran flashback. I think we’ll see this in the next episode. I’m going to guess that Tyrion’s agreement with the Wise Masters will fall apart once Daenerys returns with a horde of Dothraki following her. She won’t like Tyrion’s compromise and will look to smash her enemies. The Lannisters will overthrow the Faith Militant only to find their enemies from Dorne breathing down their throat.
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