GAME OF THRONES 702 – STORMBORN

GAME OF THRONES EPISODE 62:

STORMBORN

As I watched the episode, there were several moments where I thought to myself, “Oh! That will make a great opening line to my review!” Ultimately there were just too many standout moments, so as you can see, I’m dawdling on instead of recounting them. Among them included:

1. Holy freakin’ Hot Pie! He’s back!!!
2. Nymeria! No wait! Don’t gooooo!
3. Something clever about Euron Greyjoy – ideas?
4. HE YET LIVES! SER JORAH MORMONT OF BEAR ISLAND YET DRAWS BREATH!

But as you can see, I was undecided so I’ll let them all stand. As characters start to merge paths and interact more and more, it’s getting harder to distinguish areas by characters. Moreover, as plots converge, each scene has such a natural progression into the next one that more than ever before, Game of Thrones is feeling like one large story barreling towards its climax at last. Sure, characters have met and plots have intersected, but I’ve truthfully never felt each scene to flow and be as unified as they did in this installment. Given the through line the narrative had this episode, it seems most appropriate to connect how so many characters exhibited traits of a common theme: Just tryin’ to do what’s right. What does ‘right’ mean? It differs greatly based on the character, of course…

Jaime – You may not always love him and you may not always agree with him, but the Kingslayer knows that the coming violence means a lot of death. And while Jaime might be questioning his side’s cause at the moment, he knows that a strong hold on the South will bode well for House Lannister’s chances of survival. His actions might lead to the deaths of some of our favorite characters down the line, but in this moment he is trying to do what he believes is right, even if he has to go behind Cerseis’ back to do so.

Randyll Tarly – The man is doing his best to stay ever loyal to House Tyrell, whose only surviving member, Lady Olenna Tyrell is in open rebellion against the status quo. He might be one of Westeros’ meaner daddies, but you can’t fault a guy for being loyal.

Varys – Speaking of loyalty to a fault, how about that incredible sequence between Daenerys and Varys? I suppose one could harp on the fact that they didn’t have this conversation at all while in Meereen, or while they spent time crossing the Narrow Sea…but I love both of these actors too much right now to care. I really and truly believe with all my heart that Varys’ loyalty to the realm and its people is one of the most honest and goodly motivations any character on this show has.

Daenerys: This is a tough one, because for her, ‘right’ is both murky and speculative. She and Tyrion clearly cooked up some master plan, but Daenerys’ conversation with the Queen of Thorns changes her perspective, and I’ll bet some of the audience’s as well. What is right? Well, Daenerys has just landed on a foreign continent and is currently planning an invasion – there is no…right.

Olenna – I wonder what she considers to be right anymore. For 4 seasons in a row, she was consistently one of the most levelheaded characters amongst the most tumultuous of situations. But now we question how much of her decision is made with the vengeance of her family in mind. Man, ‘right’ can be hard to quantify with these characters…

Tyrion – Similarly driven by vengeance, though perhaps less bloodthirstily, Tyrion both wants to destabilize his sister and also wants what is best for Daenerys. I think Tyrion is too far enough removed from his family politics to be driven by revenge so much anymore. His plan to invade King’s Landing with a Westerosi army, and capture Casterly Rock, the Lannister stronghold is actually quite remarkable. Like Varys, he has demonstrated remarkable restraint over the years, and seems to truly want to bring the least bad to the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism in action folks – it saves lives!

Ellaria – Meanwhile, driven by a heated rage that seethes within her, ‘right’ for Ellaria really just means killing anyone and everyone who had a hand in Oberyn’s death. If that happens to include Tyrion? Let’s just say I wouldn’t put it past her for a second.

Yara – Man, I really hope she doesn’t just die right away in the next episode, but if Euron brings her to Cersei, she will likely be as good as dead. She’s become so interesting over the years, and so devoted to Theon that – well, it’s Game of Thrones…I’m not sure what I expected. However, before the tragic last moments of the episode, what I really liked about Yara was how she pushed back against Daenerys, but once it was clear that the answer was final, she withdrew and submitted. It was noble, and it was the right thing to do.

Theon: Oh poor sweet Drowned God, what are we going to do with Theon? He had just overcome the Reek inside of him…but instead his trauma comes roaring back at the wrong time. The moment was incredibly tense and my heart was pounding…but my heart continues to go out to Theon. GOT isn’t your average TV show – characters don’t just overcome trauma from episode to episode. Theon has had such a trajectory over the course of these 7 seasons, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t think Theon was destined to be one of the casualties of this minor, erm…seaside skirmish. But there he floats, alive and alone in the middle of the water, months of psychological and physical torture by Ramsay gone but never forgotten. Remember how people complained that season 3’s torture of Theon was too repetitive and grew stale? Think to the long game. If we didn’t see and feel Ramsay under our skin the way Theon (literally) did with his, we would continue to find more reasons to call him cowardly remorselessly. I was upset that Theon didn’t attempt to help his sister, of course, but it makes sense. Euron’s utter psychotic nature and grinning and laughing brought him right back to into Ramsay’s grasp. What other choice did he have?

Jon: Jon has a lot of decisions to make in this episode and very little time in which to make them. Receiving ravens from both Sam and Tyrion, his decision to head south to Dragonstone is clearly unpopular, but Jon won’t let that stop him from making his decision. Last time, doing what was right brought the wildlings south of the Wall and invited numerous daggers into Jon’s heart; will his similarly dangerous-seeming but morally correct choice come back to bite him in the furs?

Sansa and the Northern Lords: The Wardeness(!) of the North has been known to exercise more caution than ever before these days. Littlefinger’s tutelage has aided her for better or worse, and she wants only to protect the land she’s got. While I disagree with her decisions, just like I argued last week, I caution you not to overlook why she feels this way. It makes an enormous amount of sense why Sansa feels untrustworthy of just about anyone. The question for the future is whether the northern lords will submit to her rule going forward.

Arya – This is actually a hard one to spin. What does she even consider right anymore? Last episode, she was dangerously close to going on a murder spree with a bunch of soldiers wearing a uniform she didn’t like. This episode, she was faced with the difficult decision of pushing onwards to King’s Landing vs. heading home to the Ultimate Stark Reunion(™). Her run in with Nymeria gave me so many feelings, but I can’t help but feel that the show missed an opportunity here – after speaking with Hot Pie and learning that Jon is King in the North, I wish she decided to push through to King’s Landing believing it was her destiny, only to run into Nymeria and then decide her true place is in the North – very Lion King-ish for sure, but I think it would have been a stark (heh) reminder that if she continues aimlessly for KL, she’d end up like Nymeria, destined to roam the Riverlands forever, as opposed to taking her place as the Stark we know her to be.

Sam – I absolutely let out the biggest cheer in the world when Sam defied Maester Slughorn and the Citadel and attempted to heal Ser Jorah. Jorah remains my favorite character and no silly skin disease will take him down! Sam has always been one of the most good-hearted characters and his defiance here begs no exception.

On the flipside, we’ve got three characters who are not doing what’s right, so much as doing their best to keep a grasp on, or seize more power:

Cersei – She tried to do the ‘right’ thing for a little while, but…that never quite suited her style. At this point, with half the kingdom in open rebellion against her, she needs to even the odds as best she can, whatever the cost. And if that means playing up how evil the Mad King was so that Lannister and Tyrell bannerman can be terrified of what his daughter will do when she attacks, so be it.

Euron – I don’t…remotely know what is up with him. He’s kinda fun to watch? I guess? It’s like they took all the cockiness from Joffrey with all the psycho of Ramsay and combined it into an older character who looks like he is from a made-for-TV Grease remake.

Littlefinger – He’s got an important part to play before the long game is up. I’m surprised that Jon didn’t insist on Littlefinger’s coming south with him. With Jon gone, Littlefinger will be sure to put all his cards on the table in his nonstop attempts to wrap his finger around Sansa. I think she’ll be able to resist but only for so long.

Other cool things:

• Grey Worm’s and Missandei’s scene was touching in a way I don’t ever remember a love scene being done before on GOT. It felt real, despite Grey Worm’s circumstances, and was as authentic as I believe a scene like this could have been. They both have such great chemistry together and I hope to the gods I’m wrong about including him in my season 7 death pool.
• Melisandre is back and right in the hot seat where she once left! She gets right to work prophesying and establishing her importance in the wars to come. I’m not one to theorize, but good gods! Melisandre and Davos are headed towards each other…I don’t foresee them both surviving this.
• Am I correct in assuming that Cersei and Maester Qyburn in the basements below King’s Landing ushered in a new song track? It was the closest thing to ‘The Imperial March’ as we’re going to get and continues the trend of not even remotely shying away from ‘Cersei is a bad guy now. – This is not a grey area.’
• Randyll Tarly may as well have turned to the camera when introducing Rickon Dickon: “This is my son- he’s been recast from last season, you’ll recall.”
• Have I mentioned how beyond excited I am that Ser Jorah is making a comeback?
• Where’s Bronn? I know he’s not essential to the story but he’s essential to my heart.
• Speaking of which…are we just leaving out our Br___n characters? Because Bran arrived at the Wall and while I’m sure he’s having a dandy time, I’d love to know what’s next for him.
• After they inevitably kill Euron off GOT, I can with 97% certainty guarantee that Euron Greyjoy will be the undead bad guy for Jack Sparrow to fight in the 6th(!) Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Deaths:

• Obara Sand – who?
• Nymeria Sand -who?

Acting shoutouts:

• Maisie Williams (Arya), for holding her own against the direwolf green screen in a truly beautiful scene
• Alfie Allen (Theon) can act anything and convey whatever you need with only his eyes

What’d you folks think? Did I miss anyone? Which other actors had standout episodes, aside from, you know, all of them?