When he ventures down to break those chains, the shackles on the dragons come off mighty easily, with Tyrion simply slipping the pin out. One of dragons even presents his neck to be freed — clearly the dragons have faith in him as much as he trusts them. Although he does scurry away without a ride, and tells Varys (Conleth Hill), “the next time I have an idea like that, punch me in the face.”
* Quick stop in with Arya’s (Maisie Williams) Daredevil training — Jaqen H’ghar (Tom Wlaschiha) returns and says she can come crash at the House of Black and White since she answered “no one,” and “a girl has no name” to all of his questions.
While some “Game of Thrones” characters were having their faith in others reaffirmed, many others were not, including the Boltons at Winterfell. Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) gets a taste of his own medicine with his demon son Ramsay (Iwan Rheon), who straight up shivs his own dad while congratulating him on the birth of his new son with Walda Frey (Elizabeth Webster). Ramsay so prefers being an only child, and the only Lord Bolton at Winterfell, that he lures Walda and the new baby into the dog kennel, where they meet a horrific and gory end. Lesson: never go with Ramsay Bolton to a second location.
* Also to note: Ramsay’s new bud, Lord Karstark, who declares he’s been anti-Stark since King Rob killed his father (for murdering Lannister hostages). So maybe they don’t need Starks to take the North. Karstarks could be important?
And though Theon pines for home, things are looking pretty rough at the Iron Islands. His sister Yara (Gemma Whelan) and dad Balon (Patrick Malahide) argue about strategy (battle on sea or at land), but the point becomes moot when Balon comes upon his long lost pirate brother Euron (Pilou Asbaek) on a rickety rope bridge. The bros argue and Euron tosses him over the side. His watery funeral, set out to sea in a lobster trap, provides an opportunity for Yara to boast about her new power, although she’s shut down instantly — turns out the Islanders are gonna vote on who gets to rule next.
Things are looking up at Castle Black though — Davos (Liam Cunningham) manages to hold off Alliser Thorne’s (Owen Teale) men long enough for Ed (Ben Crompton) to return with the Wildlings, including a giant, and Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju), who stays looking like an X-Games snowboarder. When he sees Snow’s dead body, he astutely observes, “he took a lot of knives.” Yeah, brah.
Davos is emboldened enough to ask the brooding Melisandre (Carice Van Houten) to at least try and revive the Lord Commander. She’s reluctant, questioning her powers, her faith in the Lord of Light failing, believing that her magic never worked in the art of war for Stannis. But Davos has faith enough in her, and with a hearty “fuck em!” and “I’m asking the woman who showed me miracles exist” (he’s talking about the murder ghost baby), rouses her from her funk.
She sponges Jon off, cuts his hair and recites a few half-hearted incantations (this is a terrible spa, 1 star, would not go again). When he doesn’t revive, it seems a failed experiment, and they leave the room dejected, with Ghost as the only witness when he gasps back to life. Hail Jon Snow! Zombie king of ice and fire!
What did you think of the episode? What’s the deal with Euron? Do we need to care about the Karstarks? Why is King’s Landing the worst right now? Leave those thoughts below!
