Here are the highlight for Episode 502 of Game of Thrones, “The House of Black and White.” Overall it was a fun watch, more fast-pacing than the first episode but still introductory in nature.
Events at Mereen: Most of the events at this location are modified and added. However, what the producers / writers have done with these changes works perfectly well in streamlining the plot line. Overall it is a great addition that shows Daenarys’ struggle to be a “just” ruler and the realization that ruling is harder than conquering.
Mossador, a former slave serving at Daenarys’ council, murders the masked man, a member of the Sons of the Harpy, who killed an Unsullied in the former episode. This is a violation to the law since Daenarys was planning to give the captured man a fair trial. As a result she has no choice but to have Mossador killed publicly. The end result of this event is a revolt of the former slaves against the masters and Daenarys. It shows that the slaves are not that fond of Daenarys. From the former episode the audience is aware that former slaves who used to be pit fighters are willing to do their old job again. Daenarys might agree to open the fighting pits again in order to keep everybody pleased.
Interesting details from the past are shared by Barristan when he is advising Daenarys about what to do with the captured Son of the Harpy. Her father, the Mad King, did not give fair trial to his subjects. He went on burning castles (House Darklyn), killing sons in front of their fathers (Brandon Stark?), and burning lords alive with wildfire (Rickard Stark and former Hands of the King). These actions forced various lords to rebel against House Targaryen and caused its subsequent fall.
Drogon also comes back to Daenarys. The fact that he was at her pyramid implies that his return was not a coincidence. There is a connection between them but she cannot control him.
Events on the way to Volantis: Tyrion and Varys are on their way to Mereen but they have to go to Volantis in order to take the road to their final destination. I love the line in their conversation that they do not like to be in a box because they think outside of the box. The viewer learns that Cersei is offering a great reward for Tyrion’s head.
Events at King’s Landing: Qyburn gets the head of one of the dwarves “mistaken” to be Tyrion for his studies / experiments. Jaime decides to “rescue” Myrcella from the Water Gardens in Dorne in order to keep Cersei calm. She is starting to get paranoid about her daughter’s safety and, in this case, it is justifiable because of the threat they receive. She cannot control her voice when talking about the true parentage of her children, something that Jaime asks her to be more careful about. Regarding this scene I would have loved Cersei to give him the order to go and get Myrcella as opposed to Jaime taking the initiative. In her council everybody wants to be Hand of the King, and they are displeased with the new Master of Whisperers, Qyburn. There is no love between Kevan and Cersei. Kevan might know who inflicted the wounds on his son at the Battle of Blackwater and also about Cersei’s affair with him. He refuses the position assigned to him by King Tommen. He wants to receive this assignment personally from the King to ensure that he is not Cersei’s puppet. He objects to the fact that Tommen is not present at the council learning how to rule. Basically Kevan can see through Cersei’s manipulations and cannot be fooled by her. He is the only competent individual who can save the position of House Lannister as a royal house. I speculated in my last post concerning the last episode, “The Wars to Come,” that Kevan might be working on sending Cersei to Casterly Rock.
Events at Braavos: Arya arrives at the House of Black and White to find Jaqen H’ghar. However, the man present at the temple tells her that there is “no one” by that name living there, and tells her to go somewhere else. This expression is a foreshadowing for future events in Arya’s plot line and it has to deal with her identity (something that she will likely keep). Later this man from the House of Black and White finds Arya, and changes his face to Jaqen’s. When Arya asks him who he is, he answers, “no one”. Is this man at the House of Black and White the man that Arya met in Season 2? Is he Jaqen H’ghar or just another faceless man wearing his face?
Events at the Wall: Jon Snow is offered to be legitimized as a Stark by Stannis since the Northern lords, represented by the letter sent by Lyanna Mormont, do not want the Boltons as their lords paramount. This is foreshadowing for the subsequent conflict between House Bolton and their few supporters (House Frey) against the other Northern houses and Stannis. Jon takes his vows seriously and refuses Stannis’ offer. He also let Stannis know an important detail: the Wildlings will not follow him if he burns their own alive. Again this is the case in which a foreign ruler needs to get familiar with the ways of the Wildlings in order to be successful. Jon is elected Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch; he defeats Ser Allister Thorne by a difference of one vote casted by Maester Aemon. This is foreshadowing for the future division within the Night’s Watch. However, it seems that those who supported Ser Mallister from the Shadow Tower are looking forward to work with Jon.
Another interesting detail that is given to the audience is greyscale based on what happened to Gilly’s sisters. Greyscale leads to madness and death. In the case of Gilly’s sisters, they acted like animals. The books reveal that Shireen Baratheon survived greyscale because she contracted it as an infant. The age in which Gilly’s sisters contracted the disease is not given.
Brienne and Sansa: Brienne now knows how the Stark girls look like which is a plus to her assignment. However, one of the major players, Littlefinger, is aware of her presence and goals now and he is very dangerous. Brienne acknowledges this by saying that Sansa cannot be safe with him and that her refusal was most likely due to her becoming wary of people and her association with House Lannister (Brienne was present at Joffrey’s wedding). She and Pod decide to follow them. The scene in which she fights the knights not only shows how a good fighter she is but also the worth of having a Valyrian sword that breaks other swords.
Events at Dorne: This is probably my least favourite scene of the episode. The acting is great but I do not like the adaptation. Basically Ellaria has taken the role of the eldest Sand Snake from the books, Obara Sand, one that is looking for revenge without thinking much about it. What does not make sense to me is that a mother would like to keep her children safe. TV Ellaria resembles book Cersei in this way. In the books she is against violence due to the repercussions it might bring to her daughters, the younger Sand Snakes, especially after loosing Oberyn. What is not defined in the show is the sender of the threat against Myrcella to King’s Landing. It looks like Ellaria is to be blamed for it, but one cannot discard Doran or the Sand Snakes as possible candidates.
For those who watch Outlander I am currently working on a new post.
All images are property of HBO.
So, has Martin had a complete falling out with HBO or something? This season brings major deviations from the books. I mean with these kinds of Arc’s I can’t see how Martin and HBO will even have the same story any more. Like what’s with the Bastard of Bolton marrying Sansa now? And I’m not talking about Jeyne Poole playing Sansa instead of Arya as was in the books, I’m talking the real Sansa! This completely takes away from whatever role Martin had intended for Sansa in the books IMO (i.e. perhaps defeating Little Finger at his own game playing out at the Eyrie?). Really not liking where this deviation is going.
Another thing, it seems to me the quality of the writing has gone down. I think the first 4 seasons when they could draw upon the actual books and the grand plot Martin had laid out, you had a rather interesting and complex grand story playing out on the screen. So far season 5 is resembling more of the one dimensional ‘to be continued’ plots of regular television shows.
Well, just my 2 cents anyway.
Concerning Sansa’s plot line, I agree with you. In the books, she has developed as a character. For some reason, I cannot see that in the show yet. My husband who has not read the books was pretty upset with that scene in which she refuses Brienne’s protection. I think that Jeyne Poole’s role is going to be taken by TV’s Miranda and Sansa. So far I am not happy with this change but I guess it is better to wait and see what happens. I also like the new gift chapter in which Sansa meets Harry the Heir. It seems that the chapter will be cut off unless Ramsay Snow (to me he will be always be a “Snow”) takes the role of Harry the Heir. Do I like this change? No.
Regarding the quality of the writing, it is “supposedly” associated with budget restrictions. However, I do not see any budget restrictions. I think HBO is making good money out of this, and I wish they could have extended the show to one or two more seasons. My husband who watches another show adapted from books, Outlander, prefers better what the producers and writers have done with it over Game of Thrones. He basically thinks that Game of Thrones could be more interesting. I guess he would agree with you regarding the quality of the writing in Game of Thrones (not the best lately). Game of Thrones also suffers from character development – I wish they would have spend more time developing them.