Game of Thrones Episode 501—The Wars to Come—GIF Recap

The Game of Thrones Season 5 premiere gave us so many good scenes that it’s next to impossible to pick our favorites. The episode was a fantastic starting point which the rest of the season can confidently build on, and now that we’ve seen the episode, it’s time to inspect, critique, and break down every minute detail.

Thanks to some technical issues that certainly have nothing to do with infected torrents, I wasn’t able to make all the GIFs in this recap myself. But, thanks to Fansided’s own GIF master, Zombieprophet, I was able to cobble the rest together. This is your Game of Thrones GIF recap.

We start things off with a flashback of young Cersei, who was perfectly cast, visiting the fortuneteller Maggy the Frog. Including a flashback was a bold move by the producers that paid off. Maggy the Frog was a bit too pretty for my tastes (my book purist side kicking in here, apologies), but the scene was moody and effective. She may not have been hideous, but anyone who sucks the blood out of a cut on a young girl’s thumb with this kind of relish can’t help but be a bit scary.

As an avid fan of the Song of Ice and Fire books, I was very much looking forward to seeing Jamie stand watch over his father’s body. Thankfully, there was no inappropriate sex with time around, although I was disappointed we didn’t get to see Tywin’s face stretched into a post-mortem smile.

I don’t know about you guys, but I didn’t even recognize Lancel. Cersei’s response to his newfound earnestness is perfect.

Ever since we first caught a glimpse of it at the end of last year, the image of Tyrion tumbling from a crate has been my obsession. How long had he been in there? Who freed him? Where is he now? The moment he poured forth from his tiny wooden prison, all those answers were quickly answered.

The Imp goes on to provide us with what will probably be one of the most used Game of Thrones GIFs of all time. I can just see the message boards lighting up with images of Tyrion vomiting on everything now.

I can’t get over the fact that Brienne was not 200 yards from Sansa, the ultimate object of her quest, and yet she never knew. And for those of you who say that Valyrian steele doesn’t need sharpening…she could have been just cleaning Oathkeeper, much like Ned did in Season 1.

Speaking of Sansa, she is looking more and more like a real player in the game of thrones. Real players wear black. I can’t wait to see what she’ll do this season.

At the Wall, we got to see Jon Snow—AND GHOST CHEWING ON THINGS—but what was really breathtaking was the moment the camera pulled back to show Stannis and Davos atop the Wall. Also, kudos to the show for using “The Bastard of Winterfell” as Jon’s title. I honestly cannot remember it being used in the series before now…of course, I could be wrong.

In Meereen, Harpys were falling and killing, all in one fell swoop. It’s a shame too, because while the Harpy being pulled down from atop the pyramid was an awe-inspiring moment, what happened next gave me the sads. RIP White Rat.

Dany’s story was really interesting this week. But, what really caught my attention, of course, was the dragons. Viserion and Rhaegal have grown quite large, and they are full-on angsty teenagers with mommy issues.

Finally, we come to the Mance Rayder death scene. We’ll be talking about how poignant and heart-wrenching his last few breaths were for months, I’m sure. Ciarán Hinds had little screen time and few lines, but he knocked it out of the park whenever he showed up.

That’s it for now, we’ll be back next week, with your Game of Thrones GIF recap.

• Published on 04/14/2015 at 2:06 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT