Game of Thrones – Stormborn Review
Beware! The night is dark and full of terrors. And this Game of Thrones Stormborn review has many, many spoilers!
If you haven’t seen this week’s episode……DO NOT READ ON!
This week……are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin….
Daenerys grilling Lord Varys
At Dragonstone, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) puts Lord Varys (Conleth Hill) in the hot seat. Just because he brought her support from Highgarden and Dorne doesn’t mean he’s off the hook. She confronts him about how he initially supported her brother Viserys without being aware that he was a total asshole, let her get shipped off to the Dothraki, and dispatched assassins to kill her. Plus, she calls him out for turning his back on the kings he served by helping to look for their replacements. Varys assures her he’s on her side, his loyalty lies with the people, not the sovereigns. So, they reach a deal: Daenerys makes him swear that, instead of turning on her, he’ll tell her whenever she’s failing the people. She swears: “If you ever betray me, I’ll burn you alive.” I’m at a loss to understand why Daenerys would trust Varys even with Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) blessing, but I suppose when you have 3 dragons you can afford to extend a little reckless trust.
**Side-note for this scene, the vast majority of Daenerys war council is made up of kick ass women.
Daenerys and Melisandre meet, and we learn a new meaning for Azor Ahai
Melisandre (Carice Van Houten) arrives to Dragonstone and meets Daenerys along with Tyrion, Varys, Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Grey Worm (Raleigh Ritchie) and introduces herself in Valyrian (good move lady). Varys warns Dany that Melisandre used support Stannis Baratheon in his mission to take the Iron Throne, which ultimately failed. Melisandre continues with a mention of Azor Ahai: “The Long Night is coming. Only the prince who was promised can bring the dawn,” she says.
Azor Ahai is a mythical figure alluded to throughout the show who may bring light and justice to the kingdom.
Daenerys says she’s not a prince, but Missandei, her trusted advisor and translator, corrects her. The noun for “prince” in that statement actually has no gender in High Valyrian, so it can mean prince or princess. Melisandre says she believes both Dany and Jon Snow have a role to play in this prophesy. Tyrion, who knows Jon from when they traveled together to the Wall, advises Daenerys that he could make a good ally since he’s strategically placed in the North and he also hates Cersei (Lena Headey). Dany agrees, telling him to send a raven to Winterfell to invite Jon to Dragonstone to bend the knee.
I personally think Jon is the Azor Ahai rather than Daenerys. He’s shown he’s more interested in saving lives, while Daenerys is more interested in power.
Jon, Sansa, and Davos have mixed feelings about meeting with Daenerys
When Jon (Kit Harrington) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) receive the message in Winterfell, they butt heads again. Though Sansa knew Tyrion, she thinks it could be a trap and it’s too much of a risk for Jon to go all the way south. Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham), however, points out that fire kills wights, and if they’re going to fight the army of the dead any time soon, Daenerys’s dragons would be extremely advantageous. I’m getting a little fed up with Sansa undermining Jon at every moment. She’s coming off as a brat, and maybe she wants to make a play for power.
Cersei tries to keep her lords loyal
After she and Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) discussed House Lannister’s lack of allies in last week’s episode, Cersei gathers her lords and urges them to band together and stay loyal to the crown. She also scares them with stories of Daenerys’s rule in Essos painting her rival Queen as out of control.
“You remember the Mad King. You remember the horrors she inflicted on the people. She crucified thousands of noblemen in Slavers Bay. When she grew bored of that, she fed them to her dragons”
One of the men is Randyll Tarley (Sam’s dad), who is a bannerman for House Tyrell, which is currently rebelling against the Lannisters. He finds himself in a conflict between allegiances. When he asks how they’ll stop Daenerys’s three fully-grown dragons (the same number Aegon had when he conquered the Seven Kingdoms), Qyburn says they’re working on a solution.
Jaime Lannister wants Randyll Tarley as his ranking general
Randyll (James Faulkner) is the only one who beat Robert Baratheon in battle, and Jaime wants him on the Lannister’s side when they fight Daenerys. He wants him to swear his allegiance to Cersei, but Randyll is too loyal to House Tyrell to do that.
“We don’t stab our enemies in the back or cut their throats at weddings,” he tells Jaime, snarkily alluding to the Red Wedding. But Jaime promises him that if they win the war, he can be Warden of the South.
Jaime also adds a pinch of xenophobia to make his case.
“She brought Dothraki to our shores. The Dothraki! In Westeros for the first time in our history!” Jaime warned Randyll “Do you want fight with us or with the foreign savages or eunuchs?”
Jorah Mormont and Samwell Tarly meet
Talking of Tarly Jnr (John Bradley), back at the Citadel (and this week not on poop duty), we learn Jorah’s (Iain Glen) greyscale has spread too far. Archmaester Ebrose (Jim Broadbent) says it could be up to 20 years until he dies, but only six months or less before he loses his mind. Since Jorah is an anointed knight, Ebrose gives him an extra day at the Citadel before sending him off to live with the Stone Men. Sam brings up Princess Shireen Baratheon, who had greyscale but was cured. The archmaester argues that her condition was treated in infancy, while Jorah’s is too advanced and beyond their skills. Before leaving the cell, Sam learns Jorah’s name, recognizing it because his father, Jeor Mormont, was a former Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Now this is very convenient, but since we don’t have many episodes left I’ll allow these major convenience moments that are being thrown in to make things move quicker.
Cersei and Qyburn test out his big ass weapon
Back at Kings Landing, Cersei is wondering how to solve a problem like Daenerys (you totally sung it) Qyburn (Anton Lesser) gives the Queen a taste of his “solution” for dealing with the Targaryen dragons in the basement of The Red Keep, where the fossils of Aegon Targaryen’s dragons lie, including that of Balerion the Dread, the dragon he rode across the sea. Qyburn says that one of Daenerys’ dragons was wounded by spears, and if they can be wounded, they can be killed. He shows her a new weapon the finest blacksmiths in Westeros have been working on, which somewhat resembles a massive crossbow. When Cersei tests it out, the spear breaks through Balerion’s dragon’a skull across the room. I am not onboard with the killing of defenseless dragons. Boo hiss Cersei.
Daenerys lays out her plan for conquering King’s Landing
At Dragonstone, not everyone is on the same foot. Yara (Gemma Whelan) urges Daenerys to go fighting immediately; Tyrion and Ellaria (Indira Varma) have a spat because she hates Lannisters and he’s not over the death of his niece, Myrcella, who was killed in Dorne; and Olenna (Dianna Rigg) insists Daenerys instill fear in her people. But Dany asserts herself, insisting they’re not attacking King’s Landing just yet. Instead, they’ll siege the capital, draining it of its resources by starving out the city. Instead of her foreign forces, she wants domestic soldiers on the job—the Dornish army and Tyrell army. She orders Yara and the Greyjoy fleet to escort Ellaria back to Sunspear to pick up her men. Meanwhile, Grey Worm and the Unsullied will debilitate the Lannisters further by taking Casterly Rock.
Lady Olenna is skeptical about Tyrion but great at giving pep talks
After the meeting, Daenerys and Lady Olenna have a moment alone. Dany knows Olenna hates Cersei more than she loves Dany. Olenna advises her to ignore “clever men” like Tyrion before imparting some epic advice:
“The lords of Westeros are sheep. Are you a sheep? No. You’re a dragon. Be a dragon.”
Missandei and Grey Worm get jiggy
Now we take time away from all this talk of war to give Grey Worm and Missandei 5 minutes to resolve their long bubbling lust for each other. Before Grey Worm leaves for battle, Missandei stops by his room for a bittersweet goodbye. “You are my weakness,” he tells her tenderly. He recalls that while training for the Unsullied, boys are forced to face their fears, but he never had one, until he met her. At this point they’re both on the verge of tears and if you aren’t too you’re probably not human. Grey Worm kisses Missandei; she undresses and starts to remove his clothes too, but he stops her before she gets to his pants, because poor Grey Worm has the anatomy of a Ken doll. She insists, taking him to bed under a blurry but nonetheless graphic camera angle.
I think I missed any previously explanation of the anatomy of the Unsullied or I just glossed over it. Whilst watching the scene, I kept thinking “one of them will die now they’ve done it” I seriously have watched too many horror films. We all know when you’ve had sex you will soon be dead.
Sam tries to cure Jorah’s greyscale
Sam tries to convince Archmaester Ebrose that he might’ve found a cure for Jorah’s advanced version of greyscale from a book of rare diseases by Archmaester Pylos (who, ironically, also died from greyscale). However, the procedure is too dangerous and forbidden now. Of course, that doesn’t stop Sam. Late at night, while Jorah is in his room writing a letter to Khaleesi, Sam enters his cell to attempt to cure him. He admits he feels for Jorah because he knew his father and was there when he died. After swigging a bottle of rum, he starts removing pieces of greyscale from the knight’s torso and putting ointment on the infected areas in yet another gag-worthy scene from full of cringe-worthy close-ups and sound effects. Jorah bit on a piece of leather to keep from screaming, but we probably needed one, too.
Arya decides to ride home to Winterfell. (And Hot Pie is back!)
GoT‘s lovable pie maker reunites with his old friend Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) when she stops for a meal at the tavern where he works. Their exchange even includes a sneaky allusion to her murder of Walder Frey. “You’ve been making pies?” he asks her. (Arya killed Frey’s sons, Lothar and Black Walder, and cooked them into the pie she fed him before slitting his throat.)
After catching up and discussing “the big lady” (aka Brienne), Hot Pie (Ben Hawkey) asks Arya why she’s heading to King’s Landing instead of home to Winterfell. She says it’s because the Boltons are there, but Hot Pie informs her that Jon Snow came down from Castle Black, defeated the Boltons, and won Winterfell back. She doesn’t believe him at first, but when she finally does, she’s in shock. She ditches her old destination and decides to ride North instead. She’s going home!
Jon Snow decides to meet Daenerys and leave Sansa in charge of Winterfell
In addition to Daenerys’s invitation, Jon also received a letter from Sam revealing that Dragonstone is sitting on a mountain of dragonglass, making it a major resource for the battle against the White Walkers, yet another reason for him to ride south and meet Daenerys But he’s met with opposition: Sansa reminds him the Mad King killed their grandfather; Yohn Royce says a Targaryen and a Lannister cannot be trusted; Lyanna says the King in the North needs to stay in the North. But Jon sticks to his decision and leaves Sansa in control of Winterfell. Upon hearing the news, she and Littlefinger exchange a look. This is what she wanted, of course—to be in power.
I do not trust Sansa as far as I can throw her and I think she will be making a permanent play for power whilst Jon is away. Her alliance with Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) is dangerous. He knows far too much and is playing her like a puppet.
Jon and Littlefinger face off
Jon visits Ned Stark’s tomb in the Winterfell crypts. Littlefinger finds him there and tells him he delivered Ned’s body to Winterfell himself. Now he’s just pushing Jon’s buttons. He brings up Snow’s rough relationship with Catelyn Stark, he asks Jon to say thank you for providing the Knights of the Vale in the Battle of the Bastards, and, as the final straw, he professes his love for Sansa. This is what pushes Jon over the edge. He puts Baelish in a chokehold and tells him: “Talk to my sister and I’ll kill you myself.” Then he leaves to ride for Dragonstone with Ser Davos.
Jon is right not to trust Littlefinger, but he’s stuck because he now has to leave his creepy power hungry sister with the devious Littlefinger.
Arya has a bittersweet reunion with Nymeria
Arya makes a fire in the woods on her way to Winterfell, perhaps somewhere North because there’s snow on the ground and she can see her breath in the air. Suddenly, a pack of wolves surround her, and the last one appears to be a direwolf, as it’s so much larger than the others. In fact, it’s her direwolf, Nymeria, whom we last saw in Season 1 when Arya sent her away after fighting Joffrey Lannister. But the wolf doesn’t seem to recognize Arya, and continues to growl at her. But when she introduces herself and starts speaking, Nymeria calms down. Arya invites her old pet to go home to Winterfell with her, but the wolf backs away and leaves. Arya is dejected, but she realizes she and Nymeria have changed so much since they last saw each other that they live separate lives now. “That’s not you,” she says to herself when the wolf leaves. Way to play with our feelings again, GoT.
Euron captures Ellaria and Yara
Ellaria and Yara have a massive flirt fest while sailing to Sunspear, but just as they begin to kiss, a massive blast hits the ship—they’re under attack by Euron (Pilou Asbæk) his portion of the Greyjoy fleet. He crashes his boat into theirs, rushes aboard, and his men follow onto the ship. He’s got a crazy look on his face, and he kills everyone in his way. There’s a lot much slaughtering and bloodshed, and it’s happening all so quickly. If this is GoT giving us a hint at the battle scenes to come in the war this season, we can certain expect to not be disappointed.
Yara realizes that all of her ships are being attacked and burned, not just the one she’s on. Euron battles two of the Sand Snakes, Obara (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and Nymeria (Jenna Henwick), and kills them both. Meanwhile, Tyene (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers) fights off enemies below deck to protect her mother. Ellaria tells their aggressors to just kill them already and get it over with, but one of them shakes his head. Back upstairs, Yara and Euron have an intense sword fight; he renders her vulnerable, holding a knife to her throat and taunting Theon (Alfie Allen) to come and save his sister. But the younger Greyjoy sibling appears to have a traumatic flashback, and jumps overboard. Euron doesn’t kill Yara but takes her away, leaving behind burning ships, many dead, and Theon sobbing in the open waters.
Summary
While there was a lot of talk this week, when the show truly got back into action mode, it was devastating and deadly. Though the battle at sea may not quite have been the scale equal of Blackwater Bay back in Season 2, it more than made up for it with brutal intensity. Euron’s fighting style is berserker-level fury and while the Sand Snakes put up a good fight, they were no match for a man who proves he’s more than just a good talker. And poor Theon, who discovered that the scars of his past are not so easily forgotten: when faced with real peril again, he leapt overboard. The effects work and the sheer commitment to the personal cost of the battle made it truly effective.
If last week was the pieces being put into position, this one represented a violent new gambit, with Daenerys’ position now a lot less powerful than it was. Shifting the dynamics, even at this later stage, was a smart move, and opens up even more drama. Plus, the show didn’t skip some secondary characters, giving the likes of Sam some meaty material to chew on.
To Summarize:
Highlight: Sea fight!
Lowpoint: The grim moments of Sam trying to help Jorah. Sam really, really doesn’t have the best luck, does he?
Quote of the week: “The lords of Westeros are sheep. Are you a sheep? No. You’re a dragon. Be a dragon.”
Game Of Thrones airs Sunday evenings on HBO in the States, with a simulcast on Sky Atlantic and Now TV in the early hours of Monday and a repeat Monday evenings at 9pm.
