Last week’s episode of Game of Thrones was mostly about character building, but ended with Jon Snow committing what seemed to be his final act as Lord Commander: executing Olly, Alliser Thorne, and the other traitors. This week, loose ends started to get tied up and characters that had been apart for a while reunited.
At The Wall…
Dolorous Edd complains to Jon about him attempting to bail on the Night’s Watch. Before Jon can leave, the gates open to reveal… Sansa Stark, Brienne of Tarth, and Podrick Payne. Sansa and Jon have a tear-filled reunion. Jon wants to run away and stop fighting. Sansa wants Jon to help her take back Winterfell.
Meanwhile, Davos Seaworth asks Melisandre about what happened with Stannis and Shireen Baratheon. Brienne tells the pair that she executed Stannis, much to their shock.
Jon then gets a letter from Ramsay, demanding the return of Sansa or he’ll flay Rickon Stark. Tormund Giantsbane reveals that the wildling army will be outnumbered by more than two to one, but Sansa’s pleas to take back Winterfell make an impact on him.
In The Vale…
Littlefinger finally returns, presenting Robin Arryn with a falcon for his birthday. He also accuses Yohn Royce of tipping the Boltons off about his plans for Sansa. Littlefinger then manipulates Robin into commanding Royce to declare war on the Boltons.
In King’s Landing…
Margaery Tyrell is let out of her cell and meets with the High Sparrow. He recites a monologue to her about his past sins. The High Sparrow allows her to see her brother Loras in his cell, and Margaery urges him to be strong. Loras… well, doesn’t show any strength at all and cries into his sister’s arms.
Meanwhile, Grand Maester Pycelle attempts to counsel King Tommen. Cersei Lannister puts a stop to that pretty quickly. After a discussion, Cersei and Jaime Lannister explain their master plan to Kevan Lannister and Olenna Tyrell, which is essentially “let the Tyrell army take Margaery back and hope the shit doesn’t hit the fan.” Calling it a tenuous plan seems to undersell things a bit.
In the Iron Islands…
Theon returns! He meets with his sister Yara in the towers of Pyke, and Yara chastises him for not coming back with her on the attempted rescue attempt. Theon then tells Yara that he wants to help her rule the Iron Islands.
In Winterfell…
Ramsey Bolton meets with Osha, who does not appear to be the least intimidated by him. After some pleasant chitchat in which she essentially says she was only with Rickson Stark in an attempt to sell him, she tries to seduce Ramsay. He proceeds to jam a knife in her neck after revealing Theon told him everything about her. Well, so much for her being a key figure going forward.
Across the Narrow Sea…
Tyrion makes peace with the slavers, offering to let them phase out slavery over seven years, as opposed to immediately. Grey Worm and Missandei aren’t too pleased with him.
The Jorah and Daario travels reach Vaes Dothrak, where Daario sees Jorah’s greyscale. They get into a fight with a pair of Dothraki, and Daario saves Jorah’s life before he gets choked to death.
Meanwhile, Daenerys makes friends with one of the Khaleesi in the Temple of Dosh Khaleen… and meets up with Jorah and Daario! They come up with a plan to get her out of Vaes Dothrak, and the plan unfolds when Daenerys goes into the khals’ tent, belittles them, and says she’ll lead the Dothraki going forward. This goes over about as well as expected, but then Dany knocks over a couple of torches to light the entire tent on fire. Everyone dies — of course, except for Dany, who walks out naked and unscathed once again. All of the Dothraki get on their knees in front of her, and Jorah and Daario join them.
It Is Known…
No Bran or Arya this week, which is probably for the best. Tthey want to drag out the Bran story as long as possible since no one other major characters are north of The Wall right now. We also needed a week off from the Arya storyline since in the four episodes so far, only one really featured her doing anything.
Now, onto the featured storylines. This is the first time we’ve seen Jon and Sansa together since I believe the first or second episode of the entire series. Sansa’s been trapped with miserable characters since the end of the first season, so it’s good to see her finally in a friendly place with a character she’s close to (with all due respect, Margaery).
Osha’s death was completely expected. She was a peripheral character that I don’t think anyone expected would play a huge role going forward. There was a thought that she and Rickon could have been delivered to Ramsay as part of a larger plot from the Umbers, and that could still be true after her death — maybe part of “the plan” involved her trying to kill Ramsay, knowing it may end poorly. But if there is a Giant Umber Conspiracy, it’s likely separate from the impending Jon-led, Sansa-inspired Wildling assault on Winterfell, and those two plans don’t seem like they can co-exist.
The situation in King’s Landing is a mess. This is supposed to be the center of everything, and I simply don’t care about anything. The Lannisters are trying to put the Tyrells in a situation where either A) they get Margaery and Loras back and crush the Faith Miltant or B) all the Tyrells get wiped out. It’s win/win for them on the surface, but without that Tyrell army, the Lannisters aren’t exactly in a prime position to defend the city. But then again, everyone is too concerned with their own shit right now… except for Dorne, but we haven’t heard from Dorne since the first episode.
Over in The Vale, Littlefinger’s giant plot seems like a mess. Tell Yohn Royce you’re taking Sansa to the Fingers, blame him for the Boltons “ambushing” his caravan and taking Sansa, then guilt Royce into going to war with the Boltons. When in reality, his plan was “marry Sansa to Ramsay and unite the North”, which went off about as well as expected. What a mess. Ramsay’s going to be dealing with armies from two sides now, and that’s not ideal for him.
And hell, it could be THREE sides if the Greyjoys get involved again. There’s no real direction with that storyline after the the Kingsmoot. We were just introduced to Euron and have no idea what his endgame is aside from “become king”. If Yara wins, she’ll likely end up trying to attack the Boltons to avenge Theon’s flaying. Still a lot TBD here with six episodes left.
Finally, over in Essos, things are taking shape. Dany’s Dothraki power play seemingly went off without a hitch, and the entire horde of Dothraki is bowing to her. However, she still doesn’t have any ships, so it’ll be a chore for her to get back over to Westeros and claim her throne. What I think will end up happening — she takes her army to Meereen where Tyrion and company tell her what happens. A furious Dany then obliterates the rest of the cities on Slaver’s Bay, takes their ships, and starts sailing west. That makes sense, right?
And Now, Their Watch Has Ended
Osha, a whole bunch of Dothraki khals.
