This is a
SPOILER post since there are a lot of things I want to talk about
both from the episode and how it relates back to the novels. If you
haven't seen Dragonstone yet, proceed no further than this
image of Tormund Giantsbane giving Brienne of Tarth the eye.
Let's
start with Sam in Oldtown because in A Feast For Crows
that is the most benighted, boring, time-wasting plot. Sam spends
most of the novel on his way to Oldtown and when he gets there he
meets an old maester who has a mysteriously burning glass candle. The
candle-owning maester than sods off to Essos, leaving Sam behind,
never to be heard of again.
The
whole glass candle plot has been jettisoned in favour of giving us
some background on the Citadel (courtesy a fabulously cast Jim
Broadbent) and Sam actually using his skills to find out information
relevant to the plot. The production team also discover a whole new
way of disgusting the audience on HBO's dime in this plot, which is
an achievement of its own on this show.
Then
there's Arya, rescued from the second most benighted, boring,
time-wasting plot of the novels to finally pursue her revenge across
Westeros and what a fantastic revenge it is! David Bradley gives a
fantastic performance as Walder Frey who is secretly Arya which forms
a great showcase to cap off his involvement with the show.
Lyanna
Mormont is still the best person in the North.
Nikolai
Coster-Waldau puts in some great work continuing Jamie's face turn
with a performance that makes it more and more clear the unspoken
realisation that he is probably going to have to kill his sister.
(By
the way, am I the only one who found Tommen's suicide hilarious last
season? Just me? Okay.)
Said
sister has gone full-on power mad, by the way, as she tries to form
an alliance with the last possible ally she has left: Euron Greyjoy.
Its a great way to impress just how bad a position the Lannisters are
in even before the entire Frey bloodline goes down with a terminal
case of Maisie Williams. They're broke; the North is in rebellion;
the Sand Snakes declared war against them on behalf of Dorne; their
own bloodline is effectively over with the death of all Cersei's
children; and Cersei definitively broke all ties with the Tyrells who
currently own all the food; and, of course, winter is coming and
she's Seven damned pissed off!
Lena
Headey does something fantastic with Cersei, something that isn't new
but that I imagine will become central to the character in these last
two seasons: she puts on a good front where Cersei's confidence never
wavers whilst also making it very clear to the audience that Cersei
isn't as good at this as she thinks she is. Jamie, meanwhile, is
finally getting a clue and tries his best to get her to climb down
from her position of insanity literally walking across a map of
Westeros like she's cosplaying God (such a good scene...).
Up
in the North, Sansa is finally back to being the character who was
beginning to emerge after the death of Lysa Arryn before that
unfortunate and incredibly tasteless version of the Ramsay Bolton
storyline. I don't doubt there's some sort of reckoning coming
between her and Littlefinger but now I have hope that she'll come out
on top, a hope that I felt not a glimmer of when Ramsay was alive and
she was being written as a cringing doormat again.
And,
finally, a tiny snatch of a scene that proves my ship is still
sailing: an almost wordless exchange between Tormund and Brienne as
Pod watches on uncomfortably.
Don't
judge me, this is probably the most psychologically healthy pairing
this show has ever hinted at.
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