Summary: Sansa meets with Littlefinger and refuses to accept his help out of anger. Jon, Davos and Sansa plot to turn the Northern houses against the Boltons to gain an army. Arya gets a second chance to prove herself. She discovers the woman she has been assigned to kill. Theon supports Yara in the Kingsmoot. Euron suddenly arrives and wins the approval of the Ironborn, becoming king. Theon and Yara escape with a fleet. Jorah reveals his Greyscale to Dany who orders him to get better. Jorah leaves to find a cure. Bran uses his powers alone and accidentally gives the Night King access into the cave. The wights attack and the Three-Eyed Raven and the Children all die. Hodor holds a door so Meera and Bran can escape. In the past, Hodor interacts with Bran and witnesses his own death, rendering him unable to speak anything other than "Hodor" a slur of "hold the door".
The Good: This was an excellent episode, focusing on just 4 primary locations which allowed each of the storylines enough time to breathe and get the most emotional impact out of what happened. Sansa's confrontation with Littlefinger lived up to my expectations. I'm really glad to see that Sansa despises Littlefinger for what he did and that she is smart enough to not fall for his tricks again. I liked the contrast with the last time Brieen, Sansa and Littlefinger met together as Sansa is now in full control and firmly trusts Brienne as opposed to Littlefinger. This time it isn't Brienne who is threatened, but rather it's Littlefinger, which is a good way to show progress in Sansa's story. I also like the idea that Jon, Davos and Sansa are turning to getting loyalty back from the North in order to get an army to defeat the Boltons. It makes sense and should lead to some good development as Jon and Sansa will get a good chance to prove their mettle as leaders by attempting to gain fealty from the other houses. Arya's story in Braavos was really good and allowed us to realize that Arya will never properly be no one as aspects of who she was will always haunt her. The play showcasing the War of the Five Kings was a great way to show this as she is visibly upset by the portrayals of Ned and Sansa which remind her of her past and her desire for vengeance. She has swallowed those emotions for now, but they will never truly be gone. I really enjoyed that play as well. It was a perfect example of Medieval comedy which provided a very enjoyable and jokey retelling of the war that has happened. The Ironborn have never been more interesting than they were in this episode. The Kingsmoot was very enjoyable to watch and I liked that the Ironborn followed power, sort of like the Dothraki which fits what we have learned about them over the seasons. I appreciated Yara's claim to the throne and I thought Theon's conflict was staged terrifically. He could have tried to claim the throne for himself and people would have followed him, but he finally makes the right choice and stands by Yara's side. But naturally Euron had to come and ruin everything as he took total control by using his experiences around the world as an advantage. I liked the crowning quite a bit. We have seen precious little of how the Ironborn operate, so to learn more about their religion and the Drowned God was very welcome. I thought Euron's "rebirth" to become king fit the religion very well and was a lovely bit of world-building. The few scenes across the Narrow Sea were pretty good. I really liked Kinvara's appearance. She hinted at the truth about Varys' mutilation which really interests me (see: The Unknown), and also allowed Varys to display his hate for magic again. Dany's farewell to Jorah was a touching scene and it effectively conveyed all of the emotions we should be feeling about Jorah with his Greyscale. Bran's story was the best part of this episode. The set-up for the wight invasion was really tense, particularly with Bran walking through the army of wights. It became genuinely scary when the Night King noticed his presence and the wight army all started looking at him. After that, the wights arrived surprisingly quickly, so fast that it totally caught me off guard. This led to the extremely exciting ending sequence as the wights raided and the situation looked extremely dire. The action was great and the scene had me at the edge of my seat the whole time. Then there was that heartbreaking ending sequence which delivered in a big way. Hodor's death was really surprising and I was downright stunned by what caused him to say "Hodor" for the rest of his life. The concept that Hodor had his whole life ruined by Bran because Bran needed him to keep a door closed to save his own skin is an awful fate, and to live one's own life whilst knowing how they would die is a real curse. The reveal of the origin of Hodor's name combined with his tragic death made for a really emotional gut-punch to end the episode. The final sequence had to be one of the very best moments of the show, and certainly the saddest. The Bad: Littlefinger can apparently teleport now. How did he get to Molestown so quickly when he was in the Eyrie an episode ago? Also, how did his army set up camp at Moat Cailin? Did Ramsay stupidly leave the place undefended? That's downright unbelievable. The reveal that the White Walkers were made by the Children is really significant. But it was so rushed and didn't seem to serve much of a purpose aside from providing an explanation, and a vague one at that. I want to learn more but I don't think we will which is really disappointing. Furthermore, the Three-Eyed Raven was a total disappointment. We spent seasons building up to Bran meeting him and he really didn't do much. He was just a device to get Bran to gain the time-travelling ability and immediately afterwards he was killed. The Unknown: I have tons of questions from this episode. Will Blackfish enlist his army to help Jon? Will he be able to head north in time? Hopefully he doesn't simply teleport like Littlefinger. Euron's decision to go after Daenerys is a huge deal. Will she accept an alliance with him? She has been looking for friends in Westeros so Euron's offer may entice her. But I can comfortably say Euron is not a good person, so is he trustworthy? Will he betray her? Also, I'm curious about Euron's crowning ceremony. Has a king ever died in that ceremony before? Where are Theon and Yara going to go with their fleet? So what was the voice that talked to Varys? What did it say? Is this important? I sure hope it is. I want answers. So it's been confirmed that Bran can interact with the past. What else has he actually done? I'm sure that Hodor isn't the only instance of Bran interacting with the past. What other significant events has he been involved in? Will the wights still catch up with Meera anyways? Hodor can only hold them off for so long, and Meera can't possibly be as fast as Hodor was at pulling Bran along. Best Moment: The final scene inter-cutting between Hodor's death and Wylis having a seizure was extremely sad. Heartbreaking stuff. Character of the Episode: Hodor. Conclusion: This was a terrific return to form. A strong episode with good storylines focused on character which was capped off by a tense climax with a heartbreaking ending. What more can you ask for? Score: 76
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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