*Note: This review contains spoilers for the episode and light references to the books.
This week was a very action-packed episode, but some sequences worked better than others. And, oddly enough, it was the quietest scene of the episode that was the most impactful. In the first several seasons, Stannis was seen as having no chance at the throne, even though he deserved it more than anyone. But now, he’s kind of the only real candidate left, at least the only one in Westeros. And not that he’s softened, necessarily, but he’s definitely become more likable. It was hard to root for him when he was burning his bannermen alive and making dark magic babies in order to murder his little brother. But now, he’s taken a liking to one of the most popular characters in Jon, and it’s become clear that he really loves his daughter, which isn’t something you could say of his wife. Basically, the writers are getting us to invest in him so they can kill him off in a few episodes. Maybe not, but I can guarantee you that someone is getting greyscale before this whole thing is over. They’re starting to beat us over the heads with that stuff.
While Stannis works to retake the North in order to eventually take the South, Littlefinger works for similar goals, but from a completely different angle. Stannis is about combat and strength, while Littlefinger focuses on alliances and manipulation. And judging by what we’ve seen on the show so far, it seems like the latter focuses tend to work out better. But, Littlefinger is heading back to King’s Landing, and considering the Sparrows just killed most of the staff and patrons at his brothel, I’m guessing he won’t be receiving a warm welcome.
Now, let’s talk about the three big “action” sequences from the episode. First, there was the formation of the Faith Militant, which felt extremely rushed. In one scene, Cersei was telling the High Sparrow that she could convince her son to make the Faith Militant thing happen, and then in the next scene, it felt like they’d been around for weeks. I get that the writers were trying to show a passage of time in that montage, it just felt a little unclean and awkward. We still just don’t know much about the High Sparrow, which I’m sure is deliberate, but I just don’t really understand why Cersei has been so quick to trust him. Is she really that desperate for allies? She’s already been making moves to take out Margaery’s allies by sending her father away to Braavos and imprisoning her brother. It all feels forced for the sake of the plot.
We also got a really great fight scene with Jaime and Bronn, and boy is it great to see them kicking ass together. The look of “Oh shit, I should have just died” on Jaime’s face when he blocked the sword with his golden hand was brilliant, even if it only lasted for a second. I would totally watch a spin-off where the two of them travel the world, solving mysteries and bedding women.
The final fight scene in Meereen wasn’t as successful. What I’ve gotten from the Sons of the Harpy subplot so far is that the Unsullied are super overrated. Look, I understand that they aren’t used to fighting in tight spaces and that they were mostly outnumbered in this episode, but come on. The Harpies aren’t even trained soldiers and they completely ripped the Unsullied to shreds. It’s embarrassing. And then you have Grey Worm, who got lucky and only had to fight a bunch of dudes that went to the “Kung Fu Movie” school of fighting, AKA everyone just stands around waiting to attack one by one instead of all ganging up like any intelligent murderers would. And if you want Grey Worm to look like a badass, maybe give him some fluidity to his attacks instead of “Attack. Reset. Attack. Reset.” And poor Barristan Selmy. Hard to tell, but is he dead? It would certainly make sense considering all of the reminiscing he did in the prior scene with Dany. Remembering good times always leads to bad times on this damn show. But again, there was just a lot of bad fight choreography going on. I understand that he’s past his prime, but he was once the best swordsman in all of Westeros, even better than Jaime (when he still had two hands). This didn’t look like a 60 year old man that used to win every fight he got into, this looked like a 60 year old actor who only got a week of sword training before shooting his scene.
To wrap up, here are a few other quick thoughts on the episode that I was too lazy to form into paragraphs:
– Boy, poor Tommen just isn’t cut out to be king. Those Sparrows ran right over him, and Margaery and Cersei are already sick of babying him. A king just can’t get no respect.
– The Sand Snakes scene in Dorne was seriously terrible. Thinly veiled exposition, bad accents and acting in general, and no real context for who the characters even are other than “generic badass sisters.”
– I’m glad that we spent less time with Dany and no time at all with Brienne and Arya this week. All three are great characters (most of the time), but right now their personal storylines aren’t really going anywhere. But, with Tyrion and Ser Jorah heading quickly to Dany, and Brienne likely caught in the middle of the war between the Boltons and Stannis (both of whom she hates), I’m sure things will be heating up rather quickly.
– I hope you were all paying attention to the scene between Littlefinger and Sansa, when they were talking about Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. That shit’s gonna be important.
– That moment when Melisandre said “You know nothing, Jon Snow.” OH SNAP!
