On this week's episode of Game of Thrones... Yeah. You better not go past the jump if you do not want spoilers. Several really big things happened to say the least, so let's meet again after the jump after you have seen the episode.
Have you seen the episode? Well, now we can get into the fact that JON SNOW HAS RETURNED TO US. That was quick! This means that he has only spent the entirety of one episode of the whole series dead. I think we could all safely assume that Jon Snow would be back, but I do not think we expected it to be this quick. I like this development though. It means we will get the rest of the 8 episodes of this season in a post-resurrection world. That is really exciting.
As for Jon's actual state now, how "alive" is he going to seem? The show and the books have made it quite clear that people who go flirt so much with death and life do not emerge from it unscathed. If we had two sides of the spectrum, we have Beric Dondarrion who has come back to life many times but with a little of himself chipped away each time, and then we have The Mountain who is in complete zombie death soldier mode. I wonder where Jon will fall on that spectrum, but I also wonder about how much of "death" Jon has experienced. Did he go anywhere? Or will it seem like he woke up from the most nerve-wracking nap ever? If he were to say something like "my father told me everything" after waking up, I would lose my mind. The idea of Jon and Nedd Stark being reunited to fulfill lost promises sounds so wonderful to me. I am not sure the show will go that far into existential theology on the show, but it has always made sure that religion and magic go hand in hand.
On that subject, we saw Balon Greyjoy again after a really long absence from the show... for the last time! He was totally thrown off the most rickety bridge ever by his long lost psycho brother Euron who just so happened to finally make an appearance. He was mentioned once before in season one, but here he is in the flesh talking about being a God and killing family members. This character is just the latest in a line of characters who claim to speak on behalf of some sort of higher power or deity. With a rather clear indication of a conflict with the High Sparrows coming up in King's Landing and the possibility of another Red Priestess showing up if the trailer for the season is at it seems, what if this show is going into Paradise Lost territory? It is a far fetched idea, but what if that was the case and God(s) actually made an appearance and they became the focus? There is definitely an "unholy" and "demonic" aspect to the show with the White Walkers and certain things Milsandre has done (RIP demon Stannis baby). They could be the other side of a shared coin with different deities that watch over Westeros? Just a random thought I had, but one that could solidify every little theme and thread of the show in a cohesive way. That is my opinion at least.
Back to actual concrete material, we also got Ramsay making a surprise move this week. He totally betrayed Lord Bolton the same way Robb Stark was! In a supposed proud moment, he was gut stabbed as the result of Ramsay's secret power plays. All it was missing was a "the bastards send their regards" or a "for the watch" to finish things off. This was actually the most shocking moment of the episode for me. I knew Jon Snow was not done yet, but I was not expecting to see Roose Bolton to go so soon. What is Ramsay planning now? After killing off his half brother and step mother, he now has control of Winterfell. Is he satisfied now, or is this just the beginning of a bigger plan? Also, he just killed a Frey daughter. I know Walder Frey will not be happy about that. He has been MIA since he hosted the worst wedding ever in season 3, so I am expecting to see an appearance by him very soon and I expect that his anger is going to be directed toward the North. Ramsay better have some ideas if he wants to figure this pickle out. Though, I think Jon Snow has some choice words to say to him soon. Winterfell is going to become ground zero for many conflicts incredibly fast.
Those were the "huge" moments of the episode, which is saying something because this episode also had a great scene with Tyrion bonding (and unbinding) some angsty dragons, Arya proving that she is "no one", Jaime threatening the High Sparrow, among others as well. There was a lot of stuff going on in this episode that is definitely going to shape what the rest of the show is going to be, but it did not feel as organically put together and paced like previous seasons have. My favorite season so far has been season 4 because it dealt with the fall out of the third season on an incredibly emotional level. It balanced so many different plot threads, but each one (except maybe Brienne sadly) had just the right amount of screen time and focus every episode. Because of this, each episode felt thematically complete and balanced. I did not have that feeling for the last two episodes. I still think they are great and are delivering some incredible scenes, but they feel like collections of scenes rather than coherent and stand alone episodes, which makes the wait for each one all the more difficult and sometimes frustrating. Over two episodes featuring Arya, we have seen two brief scenes. Not terribly interesting ones either. They have been set up for whatever her season arc is. While is conveys the feeling of passing time well, it does not change the fact that we are waiting weeks for certain plots to progress. They end up feeling like tangents. But then even the larger parts of the episode feel so separate from each other. They feel like a list of check marks right now that each episode needs to get through. Great check marks, don't get me wrong, but not terribly cohesive ones.
Despite my gripes about structure and pacing, this was still a terrific hour of television. We got some answers and, in true GoT fashion, more questions. We also got dudes being crushed by bigger dudes in two different instances, which was awesome. I also thought Tyrion's monologue with the dragons was incredibly touching and melancholy, especially in the context of him petting this larger-than-life dragon. There is a lot of great stuff here, but I feel like it is all a precursor to an amazing season arc that is going to blow our minds. I cannot wait.
Grade: A-.
Game of Thrones airs every Sunday night on HBO.
No comments:
Post a Comment