Following a solid but slightly disappointing opener Game Of Thrones delivers a couple of killer scenes in 'The House Of Black And White'. It's still set-up in a few places and we're just starting to see the pieces move but the various segments were all better than those in 'The Wars To Come', in general a slightly longer running time allowed for a bit more focus than last week's frantic pace. Once again here are my thoughts on the various moving pieces:
- We didn't get a lot of Tyrion this week, basically the equivalent of a minor update. Despite the limited screen time his pairing with Varys once again threatens to steal the show. Depressed Tyrion is clearly feeling a lot of guilt, he practically quotes Walter White by admitting that the reason he didn't run away with Shae back in season 4 is because he "liked it". Add to that Varys' quote (“They will never follow us. They find us repulsive and we find them repulsive, which is why we surround ourselves with large, comfortable boxes to keep them away. Yet no matter what we do, people like you and me are never really satisfied inside the box”) and what we basically have here are the portraits of two well intentioned misfits who get kicks out of outwitting everyone else. As Tyrion smartly pointed out back in season 1 we're largely watching a show about cripples, bastards and broken things, and it remains compelling to see these oddballs face off against the overwhelming odds and cruel nature of Westeros.
- Speaking of surviving overwhelming odds Arya is somehow after four seasons still alive and has devolved by now into a bloodthirsty murderer intent on killing everyone who has wronged her family. It's why she's so eager to get inside the titular house of black and white, to become one of the faceless men. Arya's introduction to the season was a bit meh, however we did get to see more of Bravos and the re-reveal of Jaqen H'ghar was unexpected and awesome. As for what's inside the house? I guess that's for next time, I for one expect many a training montage.
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| Why is it called the house of black and white again? |
- The second Bronn showed up I punched the air. It's a shame he'll probably never interact with Tyrion again but the show offers us the next best thing: a Jaime and Bronn team-up to rescue Myrcella from Dorne! I'm going to declare this short 4 minute segment as my favorite scene of the episode, everything from Bronn's simple minded wife to the casually implied murder ("Bad things happen to mean people...") and his reaction to seeing Jaime ("That's Jaime F*CKING Lannister") was effortlessly portrayed by Jerome Flynn. Not only is this a fun team-up but it finally pays off on Jaime's sword fighting practice scenes with Bronn from season 4, which were fun but seemed inconsequential back then. I mean come on, Jaime and Bronn going on an adventure together to Dorne? Who wouldn't want to see that? F*CK YEAH! I'm in.
- Back in Kings Landing Cersei continues to mess things up by populating the small council with idiots and psychopaths. She's also ordering the head of every dwarf in the kingdom, because of course she would do that. Obviously the arrival of that thinly veiled threat (IT'S A THREAT JAIME!) from Dorne isn't helping with her crazy levels, so she's all for Jaime going on a suicide mission to Dorne. Reckless decision making and assuming power you don't have are all big no no's in GOT so she's clearly on her way down. You reap what you sow, as they say. As for the mad doctor, what could he possibly want a dwarfs head for? Please don't tell me this has to do with his experiments on the mountain...
- Did anyone else think that the sudden transition to Dorne was a bit odd here? This is a completely new locale for the show and it felt shoved in rather workmanlike into the episode with barely any fanfare. We had one sweeping shot of an exotic garden, were introduced to Doran Martell for a few minutes and also setup a revenge plot for Oberyn's paramour. It was a good scene but why place it in this episode? A more natural introduction would be when Jaime and Bronn land in Dorne. We also got a glimpse of Myrcella from afar, so is she going to be a major character then? Generally when introducing new characters and locales you devote a good chunk of the episode to setting this place up, but Dorne's introduction left a lot to be desired.
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| She's going to be trouble... |
- Brienne's story picked up a lot this week by having her encounter Sansa and Littlefinger. She once again offers her service to another Start and gets horribly burned by Petyr Baelish's adept tongue, who makes a few good points: Brienne is a loser through and through, fighting is pretty much the only thing she's been good at so far, plus the fact the whole 'HE WAS KILLED BY A SHADOW' thing doesn't really add up. Littlefinger obviously doesn't want Brienne tagging along on his top secret mission but in a bit of a bitch move Sansa also rejects her, which is a bit stupid if you ask me. A badass knight on your side (regardless of her track record) HAS to be an upgrade over Littlefinger's creepy advances. All this lead to an angered Brienne instigating a fun chase, which showed us that a) Littlefinger's guards are bad at their job and b) Podrick is delightfully incompetent. Better luck next time Pod.
- Daenerys had a couple of good scenes this week. Once again sticking to her guns instead of doing the smart thing, she executed a good man in front of her subjects who were all begging for her to show mercy. First of all: why did she have to kill him? Lock the former slave up and then impose a death penalty for the next guy who disobeys the law. It's fair and this way she gets to keep her morals but also avoids any inevitable backlash. Also ALL of her subjects in that scene were pleading with her to let him live, popularity is an essential part of ruling. All this was apparent the second she showed up and the crowd turning against her (that hissing was creepy as hell by the way) should make a good wake up call. So Daenerys' inability to compromise continues to be her downfall. I admire her tenacity but things don't just change overnight, if you want to alter the fundamentals of the society you've conquered it's probably best to ease that stuff in slowly and discreetly, not make a big public demonstration of it. The money shot of Drogon appearing at the end was just another sign that things were about to go south, she should have been focusing on her dragons the whole time.
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| Sam is basically Jon's Ser Davos, he's always pushing him in the right direction. |
- The biggest development of this episode was once again centered around Jon. Stannis smartly recognizes that the northerners are stubborn as hell when it comes to obeying anyone that isn't a Stark, so he offers to make Jon a Stark and help him recapture Winterfell. Jon refuses on the quite frankly bullsh*t claim that his vow to the Night's Watch matters (it totally doesn't) and literally turns down the offer of a lifetime. Thanks to Sam's rousing speech though he then gets voted into becoming commander of the Night's Watch on the same day, again refusing to accept anything that would remotely better his position even when it's in the palm of his hand. Jon you're a nice guy but why do you have to be so stupid sometimes? You yourself admitted that it was your LIFELONG DREAM to become a Stark and you still refused out of some misplaced sense of honor for a sh*thole filled with criminals and bastards. This selfless hero shtick has got to change. And can someone just promote Sam already, the guy is like a swiss knife of hidden talents and has seemingly all the luck in the world when it comes to killing white walkers and picking up chicks. So regardless of whether he wants it or not, big things or on the horizon for Jon Snow.
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