Episode 2 was nice! A bit better than the first one, if only because it had to spend less time establishing / welcoming us back.
Bran is as boring as ever, unfortunately, although I feel like they're moving him in the right direction. Max will help. The flashbacks do two different kinds of work: starting to establish a backstory that we don't get to see in the show (and inevitably leading up to a revelation or two that will have an impact on the events of the present), and fan-service (we get to see more Ned, Benjen, Winterfell, and get introduced to characters we haven't had a chance to see yet).
Side-note: If we ever get to see young Robert and Raegar in these flashbacks, I sure hope they cast some magnificent beasts to play them.
Shoe wrote:I found it odd that when describing the Hound Brienne would refer to him as "A man". I feel like the writers just didn't want to deal with the implications of Sansa hearing about the Hound at this time? They kind of have a big relationship.
Not the writers: Brienne. She knows Sansa knows who the Hound is.
Shoe wrote:Comparing it to the book, I don't think Theon would see any reason to return there, especially if it means turning around and going back towards Winterfell. They didn't accept him before he was tortured and mutilated and I doubt they will now. Seems like something old Theon would do and not new Theon?
It's pretty believable and true to his character. He's worthless and has nothing to live for. He knows Brienne and Pod are better than him. He also knows Yara tried to rescue him and be basically hung her out to dry, so he owes her an apology. I think he wants to go and live a quite life in a familiar place (since his other familiar place is even more unwelcoming right now).
I really liked Tyrion's scene. Motivations there were quite simple: he wanted to release the dragons, and the dragons wanted to be released. I think he's right about the dragons being more intelligent than people think. And I think they see something in Tyrion, and liked his story. I hope they don't turn up again for a couple of episodes, though.
Arya's scenes are still boring, but that's mostly because they're playing a really long con about setting up her character. Like, Shoe, your spoiler, that's either something they want to slowly build up to, because it's really a culminating event for her character, or it's something they plan to cut out. But I think it's the former. If her character can't do that, I don't see the point of putting all this effort into developing her journey.
Cercei hasn't really had anything to react to yet. Just having Zombountain around is a good enough reminder to the viewers for now. Jaime did the reacting on her behalf with the standoff against the sparrow at the funeral. It was interesting to see the sparrow kind of acting haughtily with Jaime, basically telling him that if he died killing a nobody commoner, it would be his death that gets remembered, not what he died doing. Interesting position of power from powerlessness. Jaime's going to cook up a plan to deal with him, though.
Shoe wrote:So I guess the Sand Snakes got away if no one knows who killed Tyrstanne? Swam back to Dorne then?
I'm sure they will show up.
They're in the city plotting their next move. Remember, the sand snakes are basically ninjas, and they have a plan.
On to the Iron Islands. I'm finding this stuff as boring (or more boring) than the Dorne scenes. When their scenes were on, I said to Mrs. Kong "these guys have the shittiest kingdom in the realm." It was hard to care about Balon's death because we hadn't even seen anything of him in several seasons, and consequently it was hard to care about Euron. He had some good lines, though. I hope he's as crazy as he sounds.
Shoe wrote:Other than the Salt Throne comment... what happened to the Seastone Chair? Also Kingsmoot is law now? Why have they been calling Theon the heir then?
I don't remember what episode they mention the Seastone Chair in. Theon was the
presumptive heir. It sounds like the current king's son/heir would have had a major advantage in a Kingsmoot. We don't have much Iron Islands history in the show, but it's easy to imagine that the Kingsmoot would have most commonly rubber stamped the presumptive heir.
Shoe wrote:Was Sansa really in Winterfell for 6 to 9 months?
Yes.
I doubt Karstark was already in cahoots with Ramsay. I think he simply saw what was happening and realized his opportunity to keep his cool, especially knowing what kind of person Ramsay is. The Northern Lords won't get to be happy about it or not, because they won't know. The idea of Roose being poisoned by his enemies may backfire on Ramsay, though, because it could split the Northern loyalties (i.e. who were his enemies, who would have poisoned a Bolton? Stark loyalists? Who are the Stark loyalists? Let's get together with them!)—I think this is something we're going to see Davos capitalize on when he goes rallying banners for the Starks, as we saw in the trailers.
As for the last scene, I really liked Davos's role. He realizes Jon's importance, both as the leader of the Night's Watch and as the connective tissue between them and the wildling armies.
This is a good point of character development for Davos. He didn't like Melisandre when she was doing twisted stuff like killing people, and manipulating his lord. But he's seeing a defeated, human side of her, and because he's the Davos we all know and love, he's at least a little bit sympathetic. And if she has the potential to use her powers for good rather than for evil, then she better do that! His hesitating air when discussing the issue is nicely done. The Big Scene itself was predictable (but it was always going to be—it was a TV Event), but I thought it was well done. It shows the difference between Melisandre/Jon and Thoros/Berric quite nicely. Melisandre is more about the ceremony and respect, and Jon is a more important figure than Berric.
"But if Davos doesn't ask Mel about somehow resurrecting Stannis now..." - They don't have Stannis's body.
"One question I do have about the ressurection is that throughout the series we have heard only death can pay for life, will we be seeing a concequence to this?" - That struck me mainly as a Faceless God tenet, not something widely shared among belief systems, but even so, maybe we'll see consequences, but maybe this is itself the consequence. Remember Mance. Remember Shireen. They were sacrificed for Stannis, but Stannis didn't get his successes. He wasn't the "chosen" one. Maybe Melisandre is just reaping the rewards of those sacrifices now.
A couple of points to remember that didn't bear directly on this episode:
Remember that not everyone knows everything that's going on. Ramsay knows that a Lannister army is probably coming for them eventually, but they don't see it as an imminent threat. Securing Sansa is Ramsay's first priority, and sealing off the Wall as a means of her escape seems like it should be easy: the Night's Watch is understaffed. Ramsay doesn't know Jon died, and he doesn't know about the Wildlings.
Remember that Littlefinger promised Cersei that they could swoop in on the Boltons and crush them (and kill Sansa) after they wore themselves out against Stannis. Littlefinger expected Sansa to get away (I don't think he really intended to throw her under the bus). Now his plan will be to consolidate his own power in the East and the North.
Everyone was gearing up for a Bolton/Lannister(+ secret help from Littlefinger) conflict, with a minor clash against 20 Night's Watchmen in the north first. Now it's looking like we're going to get a much more massive northern clusterfuck with Wildlings, Stark loyalists, Boltons, and possibly the others later. It'll be interesting to see what order these things play out. If the Boltons lose their footing in the North before the others even get involved, how will that change Littlefinger's scheming?
haven't heard of Dilane appearing this season though, so we will see.
Maybe they call it the Seastone "Chair" out of respect for the King when the Iron Islands are vassals to King's Landing, but when they entertain independence they call it a Throne.