Well, once again, Game of Thrones proves it can be messy, intense and poetic. I made no secret that the first episode of this season felt like a bit like a recap. But this episode was more like the old school Game of Thrones I know and love.
For those of you that haven’t watched it yet, I will say that this had *everything* I complained was missing from the first episode. The narrative was cohesive and so many times there were references to “Home”, so that everything tied in perfectly. It also had a much more intense tempo and there were only a couple of scenes when I felt like it slowed down- which was a vast improvement. Add to that some very quotable witticisms from Tyrion and some poetic lines from the mouths of the villains, and you’ve got one happy orangutan.
Now let’s get into it properly… (SPOILERS ABOUND)
I was so excited by Bran’s visions. I’d seen the hints of flashbacks of Arthur Dane and Ned Stark in the trailers for the season (and in all the leaked spoilers) but I was delighted to see how that would be shown through Bran’s training. I also loved that this set the tone for the episode, by having Bran have the chance to go home, if only through his visions.
Since we’re talking about the theme of Home, I loved the connection between Theon’s longing for home and the intrigue going on in the Iron Islanders. I can see already some really awesome stories being set up there. I cannot wait to see what the mad Greyjoys do next!
And speaking of mad characters- the Boltons never fail to give us those insane moments Game of Thrones is famous for. Somehow, in spite of his psycho tendencies, I didn’t see Ramsay killing his father (in fact, when they went in for the hug, I thought his father was the one that was going to do the stabbing). I did suspect (ok more than suspect) that Ramsay would murder his new brother- so that was no surprise. Either way it was great drama and a nice poetic death for the backstabbing Bolton.
Of course when I heard Ramsay saying he wanted to take the fight upto Jon Snow, I thought “come on then- even dead he could take you!” (Yes my inner football fan came out) And I thankfully I wouldn’t have to wait long! Because- shockingly- Jon Snow came back from the dead! (okay, okay, that’s not a shock at all- we all saw that coming- but I had expected it to happen later in the season) I won’t say we didn’t have to wait long, because I’ve had to wait FIVE YEARS for this cliffhanger to be resolved! Finally my suspicions have been proved correct and Melisandra has brought Jon back- *thank all the unholy gods of Westeros*!
I could easily spend the rest of this post just talking about that, but I have to give credit where credits due, because that wasn’t the only fantastic thing about this episode. As usual, Tyrion practically stole the show with his witticisms and had me laughing out loud more than once
That dragon scene could easily have been the highlight of the episode for me (if Jon hadn’t inadvertently stolen the show later on). I love how we’re getting to see his passion for dragons, because that’s a really big thing in the book. Plus it is my not-so-secret theory that he is secretly a Targaryen. I’d love it if that were true!
My only low point of the episode was king’s landing, because there’s no one I really care about there and nothing new ever seems to happen lately. It just seems to endlessly be the Lannisters promising to punish people- which of course never happens cos they can’t even manage to stop that bloody sparrow already! I swear, every time it goes there now I spend half the time hoping the sparrow dies and the other time hoping someone does away with poor useless Tommen. (Is it bad to feel that way? Ah well, it’s Game of Thrones– I’m bound to have some subversive thoughts about it)
But really ridiculously nitpicky of me and I’m just going to end on how excited I am to see where this goes now!
the orang-utan librarian 