Game Of Thrones: Sons Of The Harpy

Game of Thrones delivered it's A-game this week in 'Sons Of The Harpy' as all parties involved got some meaty stuff to chew on: 

- Shall we start with Kings Landing? In this weeks addition of 'CERSEI IS F*CKING STUPID' she arms the cult of crazy religious fanatics we met last week just so she can get one back on Margaery. The result? A mass sinner culling, which in Westeros means basically everyone is implicated. This extreme depiction of religious fanaticism is weirdly offset by High Sparrow's calm demeanor, but even with Jonathon Pryce's humble exterior any group calling themselves the 'Faith Militant' should set off alarm bells. Not for Cersei though, because she's f*cking crazy. The ensuing onslaught leads to the Faith kidnapping Ser Loras for his sexual crimes and successfully Margaery woos Tommen into rescuing her brother. Tommen's kindly nature gets the better of him however as he refuses to order the mass murder of several Sparrows on holy ground in order to free Ser Loras. Of course Margaery then berates him for this. It's kind of horrible seeing two women manipulating a young boy for their selfish ends, Tommen's public humiliation in this episode is a direct result of their actions. It's abuse, to be frank. While Cersei is well written in the sense that you can see why she is such a bitch her actions in this episode prove that she deserves whatever bad karma is coming towards her, I mean there's no way this could backfire on her right? Judging by their treatment of gays the newly restored Faith Militant probably doesn't approve of incest, and now that cousin Lancel is one of them....

- Cersei also sends Mace Tyrell and Meryn Trant off to Dorne to parlay with the Iron Bank, and seen as Arya is also in Dorne and Trant is on her kill list I think we can all see who her first assassin kill will be. 

Jaime's fake hand is becoming increasingly handy (ouch)

- Can Jaime and Bronn get a spin-off? They're the perfect odd couple: Jaime's good looks and mournful attitude, Bronn's weathered visage and snappy one liners, it all just fits and is great fun to watch. We actually had two scenes with them this week to make up for last weeks no-show, the first taking place on the trade ship heading for Dorne. Bronn is his usual cheery self chatting about how much the Dornish like to, as he puts it: 'fight and f*ck, f*ck and fight' but Jaime is having none of it, he just wants to prevent a war between Dorne and Kings Landing. It's also startling to see how much Jaime hates Tyrion now (which shouldn't be surprising considering Tyrion killed his father and endangered his relationship with Cersei), especially with their emotional goodbye at the end of season 4. The second scene takes place on a beach outside Dorne as the two discuss how they want to die. For Bronn it's an incredibly boring one to contrast his colorful life but Jaime? He wants to 'die in the arms of the woman I love'. Aside from the ominous death talk it's incredibly sad because the reason Jaime is doing this is not to rescue his daughter (Jaime regards his daughter as a cousin, which Bronn picks up on) but instead to get back into Cersei's good books, who clearly despises him now just as much as he does Tyrion. He's like a loyal dog, he just can't seem to get over her. Bronn of course echoes this, simply stating 'does she want the same thing?' Judging by the look on Jaime's face, the answer is most definitely no. After the beach chatting they then get into a fight with some Dornish soldiers, with Jaime finally putting his metal hand to good use and Bronn continuing to be a badass. Between the inability to row, plant graves AND a cool blocking move Jaime must be really loving his fake hand now eh?

- On the same beach as Jaime and Bronn Ellara Sand is meeting Oberyn's daughters nicknamed the Sandsnakes. We're almost halfway through the series and we still haven't seen much of Dorne but things have got to kick off soon as Ellara is hellbent on starting a war with the Lannisters over Oberyn's death, and apparently needs the Sandsnakes help for this. Also thanks to the captain of the trade ship Jaime and Bronn sailed on they now know that Jaime is making his way towards the Water Gardens to rescue Mrycella. This scene is to brief to get to know any of the Sandsnakes well, right now they're 99% thick Spanish accent and 1% ninja. There is a lot of potential for girl power here (I like their different choices of weapons), hopefully it won't be proven by having them put Jaime's head on a pike.

- Tyrion sums up his scene best with 'A waste of a good kidnapping'. After Jorah unties Tyrion's gag the dwarf wastes no time in sussing out who he is Sherlock syle and starts poking fun at him for such a pointless kidnapping. He's actually reminiscent of his pre-season 5 self, now that he's been put back in a situation where he has to outwit someone again he seems a lot more jolly and less prone to self hating, although I'm sure we'll see a lot more of that. Jorah responds with a punch to the face, indicating we have another unrequited bromance in the works. Good, this show needs all the bromances it can get. 

EWWWWWWWWWW!

- Sansa is busy remembering her aunt Lyanna in the crypt beneath Winterfell when Paetyr sneeks in for a goodbye (fun fact: that feather she finds on Lyanna's grave? Robert Baratheon put that there back in the first season). Their conversation touches upon Lyanna Stark and her relationship with Rhaeghar Targaryan, who according to Sansa kidnapped her and raped her. Interestingly Littlefinger decides not to dwell on the subject, implying he knows more about this war starting feud than he lets on. Instead he declares that he's leaving for Kings Landing and gives Sansa a pep talk to boost her resolve. He tells her he's waiting for Stannis to take Winterfell and make Sansa the the new ruler of the North, so essentially painting the marriage between her and Ramsay as temporary. This appears to be his genuine plan, and it's a smart one. With Littlefinger in charge of Harrenhal, the Vale AND potentially the North through Sansa, he will be a pretty powerful guy by owning three of the seven kingdoms (one by proxy) if his power play works out. Leaving Sansa to the mercy of Ramsay though is perhaps not the smartest of moves, unless Sansa succeeds in manipulating him, playing 'the game' as it where. 

- Best scene of the episode WASN'T the Jaime/Bronn pairing as I had predicted but was in fact Stannis' 'Father of the year' speech to Shireen. He's a tough cookie to crack but their is definitely a human being inside Stannis and this scene proved it with an incredibly touching performance by Stephane Dillane. Stannis seems almost autistic in the way he has trouble expressing his emotions but he clearly loves his daughter (unlike his bitch wife who I'm hoping will die already) and still considers her his heir despite the greyscale disfigurements. I'm 100% rooting for Stannis now not just because of his goals (we were mostly on his side because he's against all the bad guys) but also for him as a person, it's taken three seasons but you finally want to see him win for the right reason. 

- We also got to see Melisandre naked for like umpteenth time, now in front of Jon Snow. She clearly sees something in his blood, which makes Stannis' remark about Jon: 'that was not Ned's way' (implying that he doesn't think Jon is a bastard of Ned Stark) all the more interesting. Jon wisely refuses her offer for sex, but she creepily utters Ygritte's 'you know nothing' line which implies she has the power to see into his soul or something. I think it's high time we learnt something more about Melisandre as a character rather than a) showing her burn people and b) showing her naked in pretty much every other scene she's in, it's getting a bit tired at this point and her character has seemingly no depth other than her desire for making monster babies. 

RIP Ser Barristan the badass

- Both the beginning and the ending of 'Sons Of The Harpy' involved brutal uprisings by insurgent factions. The episode ends with the titular Sons Of The Harpy mounting a large scale attack on the streets of Meereen, targeting both the Second Sons and the Unsullied with several bloody ambushes. Following an unsually upbeat conversation with Daenerys about Rhaeghar (the second time he was referenced in this episode funnily enough, with two different viewpoints) Ser Barristan comes to the rescue of Greyworm and kills a good dozen Harpies before keeling over, presumably dead from his wounds. This was an amazingly well choreographed and structured sequence with that patented Game Of Thrones 'anything can happen' feel. Both Greyworm and Ser Barristan get wounded pretty badly so I wouldn't be surprised to see one or both of them dead next week. Greyworm is unlikely though, he sustained survivable injuries and there has been no resolution between him and Missandei which in narrative terms means he still has a part to play. Barristan however, while clearly a badass (he killed so many Harpies I actually thought he might survive!) would make sense as his death leaves a door open for Jorah to step back in AND would make Daenerys more prone to making stupid decisions that she otherwise wouldn't have done due to the wise counseling she has always got from him. So yeah....Barristan is likely a goner but boy did he go out fighting. I'm intrigued to see how this impacts Danaerys next week, but also saddened to see one of the genuinely 'good' characters hit the dust once more. Team Dany has taken another hit.   

'Sons Of The Harpy' was compelling from beginning to end and has a nailbiting cliffhanger of an ending. Next episode please: 8,5/10