Game of Thrones Review: Season 5 Episode 2
Last season, I predicted that season five would be an unmitigated disaster if it strayed too far from the books. Today, it appears that I stand corrected. I think we can all agree that this episode, "The House of Black and White", was much, much, much better than the premiere. The premiere was good, but unmemorable. In this episode, we really get into what I think will be the meat of season five. And frankly, I couldn't be more thrilled. Although this episode made it clear that we are going to be deviating significantly from the path the books took, I actually think that the show runners are making the right decision. It's difficult to translate a series like A Song of Ice and Fire, with all its ins and outs, into a TV show, but this episode proved to be that Benioff and Weiss can do it. Let's break it down:
Favorite Moments:
That's The Jaime We Know and Love!: After last week's very disappointing performance from our friend Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, I am delighted to see Jaime moving through the show with purpose and a mission (side note: I can never remember if he spells his name Jaime or Jamie -- frankly, I'm too lazy to check, but I think its Jaime because Jamie is just stupid). I love the idea of Jaime embracing his paternal responsibilities and protecting his daughter; I think it's the natural continuation of his character's role as protector of innocents. Also, I love the idea of his journey to Dorne, which brings me to my second point...
The Adventures of Jaime and Bron: I've been consistently impressed with the way Benioff and Weiss have been able to expand Bron's character and I continue to be impressed in this episode. I cannot get over how excited I am to see Jaime and Bron go to Dorne together. I loved their sword fighting scenes in the fourth season and I think it'll just get better. By the way, I loved Bron's little scene with Lollys. I'm actually sort of disappointed that it seems she'll be married off to someone else. I mean, sure, she wasn't the brightest character, but she sure was entertaining. I was simply enchanted with how excited she was to meet Jaime. It was a bit of a throw-back to season one, when Jaime was the Brad Pitt of King's Landing (side note: is Brad Pitt a dated reference now? Instead, should I say "the Chris Hemsworth of King's Landing?" Either way, the point is that Jaime was hot). I loved the little look Lollys gave him; she was just like "OMG, you're Jaime Lannister" and he was like "yeah. I'm Jaime Lannister."
Tyrion is Back in a Box: Honestly, I feel bad for Tyrion. He got out of the crate for like three seconds before being shoved back into a box. His scene with Varys was awesome though. They have such a great, witty repertoire. Not to mention that the set design was simply awesome. Not to mention, the line where he was like "there's a bug in my wine" and Varys was like "awesome, you might eat some solid food" was really funny. I see what you're doing there Peter Dinklage. You go Peter Dinklage.
Gilly and the Princess: I would like to purpose that Gilly and Princess Shireen had the cutest scene EVER in the history of the show. I love Shireen and I think they did an awesome job bringing her to life and its so great to see her interacting with Gilly. I love that she's teaching her to read and, overall, having really great human interactions. I mean, the conversation about greyscale was really creepy, but otherwise, props to the princess.
The 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch: It was so awesome to see Jon elected as Lord Commander. I got chills when all they all started to chant his name. It seems that Jon Snow knew something after all.
Sansa Doesn't Need Your Help: My heart breaks a little more for Brienne with each passing episode. I like that they decided to have her actually meet the Stark girls, but its really hard -- in a good way -- to watch her keep getting rejected. In any case, it was an awesome, swash-buckling, sword fighting scene. I especially enjoyed Podrick's antics with his horse.
Big Anger at the Small Council: I was very impressed with the Small Council scene this week. I think Game of Thrones does an excellent job of capturing real world politics and this scene was a perfect example of that. The tension was palpable and I loved that Cersei's power is being challenged. In that vein, I'm glad they decided to introduce Ser Kevan. I look forward to his continued thwarting of Cersei's schemes. On a side note, Cersei's scene with Qyburn and the severed head was brilliantly blood-chilling. It's almost like a Tsarina Alexandra/Rasputin relationship -- only with less hemophilia.
Least Favorite Moments:
The House of Black and White: Full disclosure, I'm not the biggest fan of the Arya plot line and, for me, her scenes dragged in this otherwise jam packed episode. On a side note, I do think that the set design for Braavos is very well done.
Dragon on the Loose, Oh Wait...: While I liked Dany's storyline on the whole this week, I was very much not a fan of the return of Drogon at the end. Call me someone who read the books, but this scene just seemed very weird in contrast with his dramatic re-entrance in the books. Not to mention, this scene was super weird and trippy. All of the sudden, he was just there and I was like "what..." I mean, dragons are not that quiet. I get that it was supposed to be a symbolic and touching moment, but, to me, it was just weird.
Things I'm Looking Forward To:
Tales from the Water Gardens: We got a wonderful and tantalizing glimpse of Dorne this week, but, for me, it wasn't enough. So far, I think they picked a great actor to play Prince Doran and the Sand Snakes are shaping up to be really cool, but I really need to see more. Hopefully, they get more air time next week.
On the Road: As I've hinted, I'm very excited about several journeys -- particularly Jaime and Bron's adventures in Dorne and Tyrion's path to Meereen. As always, I'm super excited to see what's around the corner for Game of Thrones.
Valar dohaeris
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