O-kay, so some of this episode was in the right vein. And some of it was not. Let’s get to it- and as always I’m gonna get spoilery.
The opening scene picked up where the last episode left off and definitely had my heart racing. Switching between Meera running and Bran’s visions was a very exciting way to start. And what’s more WE ACTUALLY GOT TO SEE THE MAD KING! And that was- oddly enough- an absolute delight.
The Starks seem to be making a *tiny* bit of a comeback as well- what with Benjen Stark turning up. And the Arya scene later in the episode finally gave us an indication that she was leaving the faceless men and that underneath it all she is still a Stark (thank goodness!) But unfortunately that was where the Stark fun ended- because there was sadly no Jon or Sansa or even Rickon in this episode.
Instead we got a little insight into Sam’s life- which was good in a way. I did enjoy his perfectly ghastly father and his blossoming relationship with Gilly. I also liked the fact that Sam rather conveniently got hold of a Valyrian steel sword (whether he’ll make it out of their easily with it is another matter). Either way, it definitely segued nicely into the theme of family.
Which brings me onto the business of a couple of messed up families that had quite a lot of attention in this episode: the Tyrells and the Lannisters. Honestly, I’m not wholly invested in the outcome of what happens in King’s Landing right now, because half the time I’m watching it I keep thinking “someone kill that stupid sparrow and that idiot king” (*hint, hint* Arya– come back and murder them all please).
And speaking of blood thirsty murderers- am I the only one that feels like Dany coming over to Westeros with her Dothraki hoards and murdering a bunch of people won’t be such a good thing at this stage? I mean, there was a time when I wanted her to come in and conquer everyone that deserved it- but at this stage I just feel like Westeros has bled enough. And- dare I say it- I’m past the whole here’s-a-dragon-be-excited phase. Don’t get me wrong- I’ll always love dragons more than anything, but enough with the recycled material already!
To be honest, my main feelings about this episode are that we are now over halfway into the series and all that’s happened so far has felt like build up. Which is good in a way- I do like good build up and I do enjoy good character development. BUT I do want to see things mixed up a bit and some action really wouldn’t go amiss at this stage! I do think this series still has the potential to be a good one and I certainly prefer a lot of the individual episodes to last year, I’m just hoping that all this slow-burning build up is going somewhere. Otherwise I will be far from sanguine.
What did you think of this episode? Now that we’re over halfway, how do you feel about season 6 so far? And do you think I overdid it with the puns? 😉 Let me know!
the orang-utan librarian 