Meeren
Missendei stands vigil over Grey Worm’s bedside (he isn’t
dead! But he isn’t well)
Daenerys stands vigil over Barriston’s… slabside? (he is
dead, alas). Daario has a tactical suggestion but Daenerys instead chooses to
have the heads of each of Mereen’s great families brought before her. Hizdahr
isn’t a fan of this plan – since it includes him. Daenerys looks like she’s
falling into old family habits
She pushes them in front of her chained dragons,
announcing how she’s still their mother – and watching one of the burn in
dragonfire before being torn apart and eaten. Everyone cowers except Hizdahr
(Valar morghulis – all men must die). The rest she spares
Missendei comforts a wounded Grey Worm who was all sad
and fearful because he thought he’d never see her again – and she kisses him.
Daenerys is torn between the ex-Barriston’s advice
(mercy) and Daario’s advice (kill them all) and turns to Missendei for her
take. She insists that Missendei has experience and knowledge enough to have an
opinion as much as anyone else. I would have loved this scene more if Missendei’s
advice wasn’t basically “zomg you’re just so awesome!”
Daenerys goes to see Hizdahr whose impressive show of
courage is largely a show and he’d rather not be eaten. Daenerys admits she was
wrong – including about the fighting pits (for free men only). She also plans
to marry the leader of an ancient family – Hizdahr. She leaves him not knowing
what to think
Tyrion, kidnapped by Jorah in a boat sailing to Mereen,
continues to annoy Jorah. He pleads for more wine, basically acknowledging that
he’s an alcoholic and withdrawal would be bad. They’re heading to Valyria (with
lots of ominous forboding about this lost land). And while they recite poetry
of lost Valyria, a dragon flies overhead. They are attacked by “stone men”, men
infected with greyscale (the disease Stannis’s daughter Shireen has, a disease
Gilly said turns people into savage beasts). They try to defend themselves and
Tyrion, still bound, falls into the water and is dragged down.
Jorah manages to save him but Tyrion’s thanks is wisely
muted with acknowledgement that Jorah’s kidnapping is what put him in danger.
Jorah has also been touched by one of the stonemen – he is
infected with greyscale.
The Wall
Sam reads correspondence to blind Measter Aemon, bringing
news about Daenerys (he’s her great-uncle) and he’s frustrated by how alone she
is and how far he is from her. John wants advice from Aemon – he needs to do
something but half the men will hate him for it – Aemon doesn’t even ask him
what it is and tells him to do it (half the men already hate him – and John has
already said he has to do it). He urges John to “kill the boy” which is a more
brutal way of saying “grow up.”
John goes to Torvald, the imprisoned wildling, he wants Tovald to gather the Free Folk and bring them south –John will allow them south of the wall and find them land; he says the Night’s Watch was meant to shield all men – and that includes the wildlings. He wants them to fight together and waves the wildling’s vulnerable civilians to counter objections about fighting with the Night’s Watch. He tells Torvald to save his people from the White Walkers and removes his chains to prove courage. Torvald appears to agree – and asks for ships to help move his people.
He also demands John comes with them so they know they
will be safe
This is a hard sell to the rest of the Night’s Watch
(though Sam knows of plenty of land in The Gift for them), even people who
normally support John speaking against it after the slaughter they just
unleashed. John focuses on every dead wildling becoming a white walker. Even
his personal servant and squire, Olly, isn’t thrilled since the wildlings
slaughtered his village. John is practical and also drops the “Winter is Coming”
line. It’s not convincing.
Gilly and Sam continue to interact – she keeps asking her
questions and he gives her half answers, assuming she knows things and
generally being impatient and cluelessly unkind. He does try to reassure her
and point to the many things that she can do he can’t, but she clearly feels belittled.
Stannis comes to see Sam to ask how to fight the White Walkers (with weapons of
obsidian) in between mentioning Sam’s warrior father (who hates his eldest
son). He wants Sam to keep reading and researching
After that he collects Davos, they’re marching south and he’s bringing his queen and daughter with him especially since he remembers where most of the Nights Watch came from – prisoners and criminals.
Winterfell
Brienne
continues stalking Sansa with Pod for her own good. (Laughable line: Sansa
doesn’t know what danger she’s in”. Oh yes yes she does). She appeals to one of
the may loyal Northerner’s to get a message to Sansa – that if she lights a candle
in a tower Brienne will come rescue her. It quickly passes through the loyal
northern servants.
Ramsay’s
lover Miranda isn’t happy about Ramsay about to marry Sansa – but Ramsay, as he
points out, isn’t a bastard any more who gets to choose his own marriage. As
the heir he has to make a political match. Unsurprisingly, he’s not good at
comforting her and when she tries to exert any independence he’s quick to
belittle her, restrain her, intimidate her and threaten her. He may be playing
nice with Sansa but he’s still evil. They have sex but her face suggests she is
plotting more than enjoying herself.
She lures
Sansa into the kennels (oh Sansa, you’re supposed to be smart and savy now) where
she finds Theon – or the wreck he has become. Later, when serving Ramsay, Theon
tells Ramsay that Sansa saw him. Ramsay amuses himself with more mind games
At dinner
Ramsay continues to play nice with Sansa and his new step-mother, Walda. Sansa
isn’t so nice (poor Walda is and also rather clueless to the undercurrents).
Ramsay shows off Theon as his servant, holding up his suffering as punishment
for the Iron Born attack on Winterfell and him killing Sansa’s brothers (who
are still alive unbeknownst to everyone). He makes Theon apologise to Sansa.
Amazingly this forced apology doesn’t do much to reassure Sansa – nor Ramsay
claiming Theon is the closest thing Sansa has to living family
Roose
quickly moves this desperate attempt not to be socially terrible along and
introduces his own good news – Walda is pregnant! And probably with a boy.
Ramsay, as the newly-legitimised illegitimate son is not that thrilled about a
legitimate son being born. Sansa knows he’s not happy and that’s totally not a
smile, honest.
Ramsay
meets his dad later to make several disparaging and gross remarks about Walda’s
weight. Roose decides to reminisce about Ramsay’s mother and how he raped her
because the awful is splattered all over this family tree. This recounting of
awfulness is all about he knows and acknowledges Ramsay is his son (apple didn’t
fall too far from this twisted tree). Now can they work together to worry about
Stannis.
Daenerys – so she’s the scary dragon lady? Well… didn’t
everyone already know that? I’m glad she realised the error of that tactic and
looked for another way (I also really liked her turning to Missendei for advice
showing she valued her. I didn’t like Missendei’s advice being so fawning and lacking).
Her solution is sensible and shows her finally listening to the only one of her
councillors who may understand Mereen – but there’s also a dragon in the room.
Daenerys doesn’t ask, she presents this to Hizdahr as an order while he is cowering
on his knees shortly after threatening with death by burning and munching. He
can no more say no to Daenerys than Ramsay’s mother could say no to Roose or
Miranda could say no to Ramsay. I fear this will not be acknowledged
I also suspect Deanerys has other plans
Sansa – I’m kind of on the edge of my seat waiting for
her to pull out something awesome. I need her to pull out something awesome.
Her whole story arc is BEGGING for her to have learned and become an awesome player
of the game by this point.
I am glad to see John the Pouty coming into his own and
thinking and taking risks and generally being a good and brave leader. I’ll
admit, he has annoyed me a lot in the past so I’m glad to see the progression
I also really liked the scene with Gilly and Sam because
it does cut through the idea that, because they’re in love, it should solve
everything and it cuts through the idea that Sam is such a nice man. He is nice
– but he’s also keenly intelligent, very well read and not very patient with
people whose knowledge and thought processes are slower than his own. It’s not
even a case arrogantly assuming he’s better than others so much as frustration
and almost bemusement that others don’t know what he does – which jars sharply
with Gilly who comes from such an utterly foreign setting to him and he isn’t
dealing with it as well or as kindly as he should. It calls back nicely to his
relatively ineptitude beyond the wall and her greater experience.
