Season 4 Episode 8 was considered a “mind blowing” one. Of course, that was a pun on the gruesome fate of Oberyn Martell. For Season 5 Episode 8 “Hardhome,” the term “mind blowing” is more appropriate in terms of what goes down.
We start off between one of the most anticipated encounters that fans of the series have probably wanted to see in a while: Tyrion and Dany. Immediately, Dany mistrusts Tyrion because of his family’s backstory and forces Ser Jorah into silence so that Tyrion may say his piece. But like Dany, Tyrion too does not instantly embrace Dany as his journey up to this point has been out of a suggestion from Varys and both must convince each other why they make a good match for one another.
Dany’s first test is determining what to do with Ser Jorah. While Tyrion does defend Ser Jorah, Tyrion explains that there are two sides to the story, which influences Dany into once again sending Ser Jorah away. In some way, it’s baffling why Tyrion does not retain Ser Jorah at his side outside at least for the time being, or request that Ser Jorah prove himself once again to regain his honor for Dany. As Ser Jorah leaves Dany’s court, we see him examining his plague, which is like a ticking time bomb inside of him.
Over in King’s Landing, we see Cersei in her cell, making empty threats against the Septa Unella, who attempts to extract a confession. At the start, Cersei’s still remains arrogant, although now she is dirty and slowly losing her sanity. Regardless, the Septa does not tolerate Cersei’s threats and instead uses her ladle to strike Cersei. Qyburn eventually visits her and implores her to confess as well. However, she continues to refuse. Later, we find her almost completely dehydrated. The Septa returns only to pour water onto the floor. When the Septa leaves after Cersei again makes more empty threats, Cersei, on hands and knees, drinks the dirty water while weeping.
In the meantime over in Braavos, Arya continues her training with Jaqen where she assumes the identity of “Lana”, an oyster peddler. Here, Arya becomes this character and acts as the eyes and ears for Jaqen/the Many Faced God, making the rounds in the city. Her main purpose is to learn about a man who is a gambler and learn information about him before providing him a “gift” of poison.
At Winterfell, Reek/Theon once again brings Sansa her meal but Sansa presses Reek into confessing his crimes for helping to destroy her family and home. However, he slips in accidentally revealing that Bran and Rickon are still alive. Although he evades Sansa in pressing him for more information on their whereabouts, it’s evident that Sansa seems more motivated to have gained this information.
Jorah resubmits himself to his former slave master and will participate in the upcoming grand Fighting Pit. He convinces his slave master so that he can perform in front of Dany. Right here, it’s pretty clear that Jorah has nothing to lose since he already is plagued by Greyscale. But outside of rejoining Dany by proving himself again to Dany, it’s still mysterious if he has additional motivations beyond regaining Dany’s trust. Also, Dany is convinced by Tyrion and accepts him as her adviser. She uses her infamous “I’m going to break the wheel” speech to declare her intentions.
At the Wall, Sam and Giley chat about their previous encounter with the Brothers of the Night’s Watch. Olly enters to provide food and questions Sam about Jon’s motives in aiding the Wildlings. Sam supports Jon 100% and talks about difficult decisions that Jon must make for the living to possibly survive the White Walkers and their army.
That cuts away to Jon’s story. It’s pretty much binary at this point where Jon along with Tormund attempt to gain the Wildlings’ support. However, they do encounter resistance from the Lord of Bones and the Fenns. Still both are able to talk some sense into them to get them to accompany them back to Castle Black.
Then all Hell breaks loose.
Let me say that the last portion of tonight’s episode kept me glued to the seat. I’m not a huge fan of gratuitous action but holy crap was that ending intense! Sure, it was contrived in terms of timing but if anything this was David and Dan pulling a monstrous trigger that needed to have been long pulled. And what a crazy ending!
The Wildlings themselves stood no chance. The minute they barred the gate you knew that it was a horrible move as all the people left behind the gate were nothing but victims that would be transformed into soldiers for the White Walkers. Then as they tried smashing through the pathetic wooden gates, you felt sorrow for these people as none of them stood a chance.
However, tonight was Jon Snow’s night as he demonstrated courage in fighting alongside Tormund and the Fenn leader to try and repeal some of the zombie troopers. Still, the zombie army was too many in numbers without the weaknesses of the living and only a single purpose driving them. One of the best moments was Jon Snow shattering a White Walker with Longclaw, the Valyrian sword which shattered the White Walker apart. Still even with such a weapon, Jon could not withstand the entire army as the White Walker king’s forces literally tumbled off a high cliff and raised themselves to charge against the remaining forces.
That motivated Jon and the other forces to retreat as the few that were still trapped were slaughtered by the army. In a show of absolute power, the White Walker king raised those slain and had them join his ranks, leaving Jon Snow and the others to ponder the futility of fighting against such an unnatural force.
I mean, just WOW! I barely could breathe towards the end in how intense the fight scenes were. There were moments where I was almost doubting Jon Snow’s survival. And the fight wasn’t just a visual masturbatory piece but a very emotional one where you feel the dread of the army and hopelessness overwhelming the humans.
I’ve heard rumors here and there that the White Walkers would make a cameo but I could not anticipate such a brutal action sequence. Prior to this, we’ve only been given small samples and tastes. This was more like the ladle that Cersei kept refusing in terms of dosage.
Still we’ve got a lot to think about here. The main point is that with Jon being able to deflect the White Walker’s weapon and shatter him with Longclaw, it’s more obvious than ever just whom Jon Snow really is: the Prince that was Promised, Azor Ahai. Jon may not have a flaming weapon but literal interpretations of vague prophecies have led to the downfall of many things.
Another thing that I’m starting to realize is that it’s entirely possible that Season 6 will continue bits and pieces from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. For instance, I think that Jon Snow’s story has fallen a bit behind along with Samwell’s. So for both of them, it’s likely that the last parts from the books will carry over into Season 6 (for instance, dealing with the Wildling at Castle Black for Jon Snow and the trip to the Citadel with Samwell). Same with Arya (unless they decide to cut her story short).
The scenes with Dany and Tyrion I felt were a bit weak, although I did anticipate the dialog between them. For the most part, their mutual distrust for one another makes sense given their circumstances. However, when Dany mentions Vary’s name, I felt that his character instantly became untrustworthy. Dany has a good natural instinct about people whereas Tyrion, although claiming to know people, does have lapses in misjudgment. In the case of Varys, it’s impossible to say if he is being honest when it comes to his plans of helping the realm. We cannot forget Season 1’s encounter where Arya discovers Varys and Illyrio plotting. Similarly, it’s impossible to trust someone who had earned the name “the Spider” over time.
At any rate, I think part of the thing that’s been slowly hinted at the entire time is whether or not Dany is a “good” ruler. While at the core, Dany’s heart may seem pure, her execution isn’t without flaws. More than that though, she’s prone to being borderline psychotic, obsessive, irrationally stubborn, entitled and very narrow minded. We’ve only become accustomed to her as a heroine because those around her mostly are criminals or low life scum. Of course, part of Tyrion’s role is to guide her and balance her out.
In this episode in particular though, we have to contrast her form of rulership as this entitled matriarch to Jon Snow who leads through example. Jon’s leadership comes through necessity and starting from ground zero, evolving over time through being mentored by various epic figures and loss. He learns balance and what compromise means. But more importantly, he learns how to see a bigger picture, which ultimately is this monstrous, unstoppable force ready to demolish mankind. He doesn’t become a leader because of anything except what he’s earned and the respect he’s garnered by his peers. Even the jested “King Crow” title in some way possibly foreshadows his role in the future.
Some other key thoughts are Arya’s plot. Now, I saw a hint where Arya was walking in parallel to Meryn Trant, possibly to assassinate him. While the main thing for her is to become an assassin/killer, the real question is why? What is it that she will gain through becoming a killer? Most people anticipate her in a massive revenge spree against everyone that has hurt her family and her. Yet the lessons she is learning through Jaqen/the Many Faced God is that death isn’t easily given and that some people beg for it.
I did propose that the most obvious choice for killing Cersei will be Dany. However, I have another theory where Arya does eventually slay Cersei but not out of revenge. We see Cersei in a pathetic state as she refuses to confess. However, both of her remaining children are prophesized to meet an untimely end, which is what drives Cersei to protect them. One theory I have is that Cersei will lose everything and that she will continue to slink into misery.
Supposedly, Cersei’s character is modeled upon a historical character, Margaret of Anjou. In Margaret’s case, her final days were that of a queen in exile who lived her final days as a poor, distant relation to the king. It’s very conceivable that in looking at Cersei’s prophecy she will be exiled from King’s Landing and Westeros into obscurity. It’s possible she will end up in a place like Braavos as a whore or some commoner, where she ages ungracefully while mourning all the wrongs in her life. Then in a plea for mercy, she could ask the Many Faced God to end her existence, which is where Arya may (or may not) grant the gift. But at that point, Arya finally realizes what revenge really is, similar to how she allowed the Hound to suffer at the will of the gods at the end of Season 4 Episode 10.
Finally, I want to talk about the White Walkers and return to the topic of rulership. What’s really interesting, at least as a viewer, is seeing this bizarre, voiceless army that haunts the world. At this moment, we can only guess that the White Walkers have a single purpose and are ruled through absolute power without question by the (presumably) king we saw at the end of tonight’s episode. As far as we know, the king’s subjects do not disobey him and his reward to those under his control is eternal life. Not a bad bargain if you want to go on forever! We also can note that this king seems very hands on and has true power.
When we compare the White Walker’s king to everyone else, we can almost say that this guy is the best ruler among everyone. Why? No questions asked, eternal life and a single purpose. There isn’t any petty squabbles between this lord and that, no food they require. Maybe just the cold. But no one is going to fuck with him.
Every other lord out there has a hidden agenda and are imperfect because of their human nature. And even when presented with rational arguments such as the ones that Jon Snow and Tormund provided to the Wildlings, those people scoffed because of past hurts and lacking that purpose that Mance originally gave them.
So the thing that Jon Snow must go against really isn’t the White Walkers. He’s fighting against the petty disputes and human flaws that prevent people from formulating a single organized unit. Even when the Wildlings realized the incoming zombie army, they could not unite to provide a reasonable defense. So how will that bode for the rest of the Seven Kingdoms?
At any rate, I have to say that the director for this episode was the same director as the last one and his efforts were the best this season so far. Lots of delivery, not as much BS but just good pacing and keeping things very interesting. I find it impossible to get myself emotionally invested into a story much less scream at a TV but these last two episodes struck a nerve with me. Hopefully, the final two episodes can deliver the same level of impact.
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