*****Spoilers Everywhere!!!!*****
This week’s episode was an over the top, heart pounding, heart attack inducing rollercoaster. I feel like I say this every week, but this week’s episode was one of the best and continues to prove why Game of Thrones is one of the best, if not the best, current TV show around. And this week’s episode not only raised the bar on the series, but essentially opened “the door” wide for major plot progression.
The start of the episode began with Sansa rejecting Little Finger’s aid. This was the first of surprises to come. I was completely shocked by her rejection in many parts because I thought she was starting to play the game. The knights of the Eyrie would have provided essential support to her goal of retaking Winterfell for the Starks but her emotions, mainly anger at Little Finger’s games, proved to be superior, now pushing Jon and Sansa Stark’s story to Riverrun and her famous uncle Tully “Blackfish”. He made a brief appearance in Season 3 and ever since then, we have not heard nor seen him. It will be interesting to see how he will react upon seeing Sansa and her request. I also feel that there may be some kind of terrible fate about to beset Sansa now that Brienne is sent away again. Again, the acting was on par with what we have expected from the characters of the Game of Thrones, and Little Finger especially, as I felt a little bit of remorse coming from him during his pleas to Sansa.
On the other sides of the world, Arya Stark is still Arya Stark. As much as she claims to be “no one”, I feel as though her story will take her back onto the mainland. As a really strong female character in modern TV, it would be counterproductive for her to suddenly give up her independence to become just another servant of the many faced gods. Not that it would be so bad. It would not make for good Game of Thrones TV to follow on her adventures of assassination, especially when the series so far has made good on keeping us on our toes with the political scheming and sudden major battles. More great acting was found with the small scene revolving around Khaleesi’s talk with Jorah, who has finally come out that he will turn into a stone man. I sincerely felt sorrow and then hope in Daenerys’ voice when she told Jorah to find a cure. It was also very pleasant to see her reunited with her friends again. A brief moment of joy in the episode and the season so far.
The real substance of this episode lies within the roughly final half of it. And it focused and centred upon the character who was not at all in season 5. Bran Stark had a very exciting part in this week’s episode. Being Bran, he let his curiosity take the better of him again, as he travelled into the past by himself, to view a Wight army led by the Night King and the Others. This scene revealed to us a lot of details. Firstly, that during these visions, Bran is actually able to interact with the characters and environment around him. When he called out to his father back in episode 3, we had thought the Three Eyed Raven right. That it was just a coincidence his father happened to look at him when he called. In the same scene with the Wight army, the Night King actually reached out and grabbed him, leaving a mark on Bran and essentially dispelled the magic that had surrounded the group in the Weirwood tree. Again, we find out that Bran is able to influence characters in the past when Bran wargs into Hodor while he is still in a vision of the past. Mira’s screaming “Hold the Door” throws Wylis into a spasm while he repeats “Hold the Door”. The words end up jumbling together and we get, “Hodor”. Â Chaos ensues as we find out the Night King has some kind of terrible vendetta against their creators, the Children of the Forest, and the Three Eyed Raven. Suffice to say, the group are overrun, all of the Children of the Forest are slaughtered, the Three Eyed Raven is killed, Summer goes down fighting while whining in pain and the most sad scene of all, Hodor holds the door which holds back the Wights, so that Mira can drag Bran away to safety.
A lot of thoughts and feelings came out during this tense 20 minutes. How did the Children create the White Walkers? Why did Summer have to die? Why did the White Walkers rebel against the Children? If Bran is able to change the past, is this show going to turn into a time travelling fantasy drama show? How will the show runners be able to explain time travelling/time manipulation to the viewers when, I’m pretty sure, the viewers are barely able to comprehend some of the linear progression happening right now? This twist revealed so much in the brief 20 minutes that suddenly, even the Night’s Watch’s preparations for Winter seemed to be a non-importance. I don’t know if this will be the right path. The fate of the show will depend on how well the producers are able to explain and flesh out this time traveling detail because if they don’t, the viewers will be like the White Walkers and show no mercy. A lot now rests with Bran’s story. Where at one point, it was almost a yawn-fest, his story is now the most important on the show. I am pretty sure that the magic of the wall will be undone by Bran just as he undid the magic of the Weirwood. However, we will most likely get more of his story fleshed out a few episodes from now, as it takes a back seat to other characters who have not had the same screen time.
Shocker Moments of the Week:
1) Bran is a time traveler who can also manipulate the past (?)
2) “Hold the door”………..
3) Poor Summer. Loyal to the End!
4) The Children of the Forest created the White Walkers!!!!!!
5) Yara and Theon take the Iron Isles’ ships…but to where?
6) Weirwood spears kill White Walkers?
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