Book-reader’s recap—Episode 505—Kill the Boy

Spoiler Note: This post is intended for those who have read the books in the Song of Ice and Fire series. As such, the post itself and the comments will contain spoilers. If you haven’t read the books yet, you can discuss this episode in our non-book reader (Unsullied) recap. Thanks!

After the pre-show catch-up footage again reminds us of the importance of greyscale, we open in Meereen, where Daenerys and friends are mourning the passing of Ser Barristan Selmy and the wounding of Grey Worm. Dany is torn apart over the fact that Barristan the Bold, who traveled across a continent to be with her, “died in an alley, butchered by cowards who hide behind masks.” Dany sounds like she’s speaking for a certain contingent of fans here.

Anyway, Daario suggests chasing down all of “the rats” in Meereen while sharing a Very Significant Look (VSL) with Hizdahr zo Loraq, but Dany’s had a rough day and just decides to round up the heads of all the important Meereenese families and feed them to her dragons. Well, she feeds one to her dragons, and makes the rest watch. “You see what’ll happen to you if you piss me off?” she asks, basically. Rhaegal and Viserion look glorious. Hizdahr zo Loraq looks like he wet himself.

Segue time! Sam is reading a message about Dany’s activities to Maester Aemon, who waxes despondent over the fact that his kin is fighting for her life halfway round the world. In the books, of course, Aemon attempts to travel to Daenerys. I’m pretty sure the producers are going to drop that story on the show, so I’m taking Aemon’s speech here as a nod to the plotline that might have been. See also: Sam’s talk later in the episode about the Citadel. I just can’t imagine the producers are going to find the time to show it to us, so they’re wistfully describing it instead. I suppose that’s better than pretending it doesn’t exist.

Aemon’s remembrances are cut short by the arrival of Jon Snow, who wants to chat with the old Maester about a nebulous decision he’s about to make. Jon doesn’t tell Aemon what he’s planning to do, but Aemon, acting with the devil-may-care confidence bestowed upon the very old, gives him advice anyway. “Kill the boy, Jon Snow,” Aemon says. “Kill the boy and let the man be born.” God, I hope Jon knows what a metaphor is.

It ends up that Jon wants to make peace with the wildlings and allow them to to cross to the south side of the Wall, figuring that the more people who are alive to fight the White Walkers when they (finally) come south, the better. Sounds like a solid plan, but he’s got some convincing to do before he can put it into action. First,  he’s got to convince Tormund Giantsbane,the closest thing the wildlings now have to a leader, to gather his people and bring them south. Tormund’s resistant, but warms up to the plan once Jon removes the chains binding his hands—that might mean he and Jon are married by wildling custom now, I’m not sure. Anyway, Tormund agrees on the condition that Jon accompany him to Hardhome, where most of the wildlings are hiding out. And off they go on an adventure—they’re the Jaime and Bronn of the North.

Next, Jon’s gotta convince the rest of the Night’s Watch to go along with his plan. There is much fevered muttering and pounding of fists on tables as the Black Brothers voice their objections, but Lord Commander Snow has spoken. Later, the recalcitrant spirit of the Watch makes a personal appearance in the form of Olly, the kid who blasted Ygritte with an arrow and who’s been giving Jon the side-eye for episodes now. After dropping off Jon’s dinner in a most chilly manner, Olly admits that, yeah, he’s against the plan where the Night’s Watch makes peace with the people who murdered his family right before his eyes. Jon makes an attempt to explain the complexity of the situation, but Olly leaves in a huff, and Jon reassures himself that he was right to decide not to have kids.

I know I said that Jon and Tormund are set to become the Jaime and Bronn of the North, but I forgot that Brienne and Podrick already fill that role, so maybe Jon and Tormund can be the Jaime and Bronn of the Far North. Anyway, Brienne’s getting settled into a room at an inn that has a great view of Winterfell. She can’t get to Sansa, but she does do the next best thing, which is trust in the first random inn worker she meets to deliver a message to that mysterious old lady from “High Sparrow,” the one who told Sansa that “the North remembers.” Translation: “Tell me who you want dead and I will bring you their spleen.” In any case, Brienne’s lucky the Northerners are so unfailingly loyal to the Starks.

And now we have a sex scene starring Ramsay Bolton, which really demonstrates how HBO gives with one hand and takes away with the other when it comes to nudity on this show. He’s arguing with his lover Myranda, the girl who was staring daggers at Sansa back in “High Sparrow,” about his impending marriage to Sansa. She’s jealous. He’s over it. Her kiss draws blood, and they have kinky standing-up sex. Yeah, they have their problems, but they work, these two.

Elsewhere in Winterfell, Sansa sits and contemplates the shape of things. The mysterious old lady enters, and after three seconds of trying to cover for her appearance, she breaks character and delivers Brienne’s message: if Sansa’s ever in trouble, she should light a candle in the highest window of the broken tower, and nebulous help will come a runnin’. They’re so straightforward about their plots, these Northerners. It’s like a castle full of Ned Starks, which does make sense.

Outside, Sansa contemplates the shape of the broken tower, the same one Bran fell from in the pilot. Myranda approaches and tries to chat Sansa up, but Sansa isn’t having it, either because she senses something is off about Myranda or just because she’s aghast that a peasant would dare speak to her. It’s not clear. After failing to engage the eldest Stark in conversation, Myranda points her toward the kennels, and tells Sansa that there’s a surprise waiting for her at the end of the room. After walking by the a line of dog cages in a scene that reminded me of Clarice Starling walking by prison cells on her way to meet Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Sansa finds Theon lying in his own filth. Even though these two never spoke, at least as far I can remember, it’s still the most awkward semi-Stark reunion we could have possibly hoped for.

And the fun doesn’t stop there. After Ramsay tells Reek about the importance of withholding information from him (definitely don’t do it), the Boltons, complete with Fat Walda, sit down to to a nice meal of chicken and terrified silences. Ramsay takes a lot of pleasure in parading the Reek-ified Theon around the dining room, even insisting that Reek give away Sansa at her wedding. Sansa mostly keeps her cool, although there is one moment when she all but demands that Ramsay explain why he’s being such a little weirdo, and she takes some pleasure in his discomfort once Roose announces that he’s going to have a baby boy with Fat Walda.

Incidentally, I’m glad that Michael McElhatton is getting more time to shine as Roose this season. He’s every bit as implacable as Tywin was, but there’s a bone-dry sense of humor McElhatton brings to the role that’s really enjoyable. The smile Roose gives right before dropping the pregnancy bomb could cut glass.

It would seem that this episode is making a concerted effort not to jump around in space too much, as we’re still at Winterfell in the next scene. Bryan Cogman wrote this episode—does anybody remember if his other episodes tended to stick in one place for long periods of time? Anyway, we get the funhouse mirror image of the touching scene from last week when Stannis reaffirmed to Shireen that she was, indeed, his daughter. Ramsay is nervous that Roose’s new son will replace him as heir to the Bolton “dynasty.” To reassure him, Roose tells a horrifying story about how he raped Ramsay’s mother after having her husband hanged, but still accepted her baby, Ramsay, as his son. Because he has a very warped idea of what constitutes appropriate family behavior, Ramsay is comforted, and agrees to help Roose defeat Stannis’ army.

Speaking of Stannis’ army, he’s planning to lead it south before winter hits, but not before he has one more unlikely run-in with a Wall-dweller. Down in Castle Black’s library, Stannis chats with Sam about what a failure of a soldier Sam is before engaging him on the topic of dragonglass, which Sam used back in Season 3 to kill a White Walker. Stannis mentions that there was a lot of dragonglass back on Dragonstone, although I don’t believe he’s ever talked about trying to mine the place for it like he did in the books. It’s good of the Game of Thrones to remind us of the importance of dragonglass. There are so many words on this show.

Elsewhere, Davos carves…a cat? What is this?

Anyway, he’s carving it. Stannis tells him to mount up for the march south, and also reveals that he’ll be taking Melisandre and Shireen with him to Winterfell. Interesting. Shireen continues her campaign to become Season 5’s MVP by having an adorable conversation with Davos and sharing a sly goodbye wave with Gilly. Aw, we never got a scene where Gilly and Davos discuss what freaks all these lord and ladies-types are. Ah, well. It also ends up that Stannis is lending Jon the ships he and Tormund will use to get to Hardhome. I’m also going to miss the dynamic between these two. I’m going to miss the intermingling of Team Wall and Team Stannis as a whole, actually, and I’m a little wistful as Stannis’ army rides off into what passes for the sunset around these parts.

Back in Meereen, Daenerys asks Missandei for advice on how to handle the ongoing Meereenese quagmire. Missandei doesn’t so much offer advice as she does compliment Dany’s decision-making skills, but she’s still a lot more compelling here than she was making out with Grey Worm. Anyway, Missandei’s pep talk helps Dany come to a decision: she’ll reopen the fighting pits so the former Masters and slaves can have something to talk about. Oh, and she’s marrying Hizdahr, an announcement that seems to throw Hizdahr for quite a loop. It’s interesting that the show has put Dany so firmly in the driver’s seat of this decision. In the books, she’s backed into a corner and does it because she’s desperate.

Finally, we rejoin wacky duo number four, Tyrion and Jorah, as they make their way to Meereen by boat. I think this is smart trimming on the parts of the producers—they’ve combined a couple of stretches from Tyrion’s riverboat journey in A Dance with Dragons into one hauntingly beautiful trip through Old Valyria, which we’ve never glimpsed in the books. The imagery here is gorgeous—very Apocalypse Now, complete with the foreboding dread of the unknowable.

It’s also nice to see Jorah and Tyrion getting along, or at least being civil to the point where they’re reciting poetry aloud to each other. Dinklage, typically, is stealing the show here. Losing everything has given Tyrion a new, morbid outlook on life, and seeing Dinklage slur and scowl his way through scenes is proving extremely entertaining. That also might be what makes the moment he spots Drogon flying through the air so affecting—even a natural cynic like Tyrion can’t help but be awestruck by the sight of a real live dragon.

Naturally, the awe can’t last for long, and the episode segues nicely into an exciting but eerie action sequence in which Tyrion and Jorah are attacked by stone men. So this is why so many characters have been talking about greyscale lately. Tyrion gets dragged underwater by one of the stone men, the screen cuts to black, and for one infuriating moment I think it’s going to be another cliffhanger, but not so. Tyrion and Jorah wake up on some beach, and apparently almost getting killed by rock monsters has brought them closer together, as they both seem far more congenial.

But the episode still ends on a down note, as we find out that Jorah has contracted greyscale. The soundtrack tells us that this is very, very bad, and that’s a wrap.

Odds and Ends

Déjà vu returns to the North. So the show is sending Jon to Hardhome. Obviously, this is a departure from the text, and I can’t help but be reminded of last year’s mid-season excursion that saw Jon return to Craster’s Keep to clean out the mutinous Night’s Watchmen. In that case, it seemed like the producers needed something to fill the time before the battle at Castle Black. Here, it seems more like they don’t trust Jon’s adventures in politics from A Dance with Dragons to be compelling enough, and want an excuse to have a wildling vs. White Walker battle scene. Frankly, I don’t approve of either deviation, but I guess I can see why they’d want to give the White Walkers more screentime.

Ramsay v. Ramsay, Round 2. I continue to think that the stuff at Winterfell is the most compelling part of this season, and I continue to think that Ramsay Snow, of all people, is actively contributing to that success. Ramsay is loathsome in the books, and that’s about all he is. He’s loathsome here, too, but he’s also grappling with a few more relatable problems. He wants to please his father,  and he takes the time to reassure his girlfriend, twisted as their relationship is. After all Ramsay’s done, it would be irresponsible of the show to try to take him all the way to sympathetic (I was a little worried they were toying with the idea when he refrained from punishing Reek), but the added layers do make the character more interesting to watch.

What about Jon (Snow)? Stannis is taking Melisandre, Selyse, and Shireen with him to Winterfell. In A Dance with Dragons, all three of them stayed behind at Castle Black—this change has interesting implications for the rest of the season, especially as it relates to Jon Snow’s story. A great many book-readers are expecting this season to end with Jon Snow getting ambushed and probably killed by Night’s Watchman angry about his decisions as Lord Commander (expect that Olly kid to really twist the knife with enthusiasm). A popular fan theory is that Melisandre will call upon that Lord of Light she loves so much and revive him, but that won’t be possible if she’s down south. This could just mean that the fan theory is wrong, or it could mean that Jon dies but is revived in the books but will just die on the show. How very intriguing.

Does ANYBODY care about Missandei and Grey Worm? Call me hateful cynic, but I thought the scene by Grey Worm’s bedside was ridiculous. I guess Grey Worm has always been a little more emotive than his brethren, but all those feelings of shame and regret really don’t jibe with what we’ve been told about how the Unsullied work. This romance seems to have been concocted to please someone I can’t for the life of me identify. The relationship has no effect on the plot and the plot has no effect on the relationship—it exists in this weird, apathetic bubble. Maybe the producers concocted it because they couldn’t find anything else for the actors to do? That might explain why it feels so tacked on.

What about Jon (Connington)? While it’s not a foregone conclusion, it could be argued that Jorah’s contraction of greyscale is yet more evidence that Jon Connington has been cut from the show, along with young Aegon Targaryen. In A Dance with Dragons, Connington contracted greyscale while saving Tyrion from the stone men—if Jorah is filling that role on the show, what need is there for Connington to exist? Of course, Connington took his greyscale to Westeros while Jorah is taking his to Meereen, but we don’t yet know whether Connington’s condition will make a difference in Westeros at large, so it may be a moot point. In any case, poor Jorah. It’s one bad break after another for him.

As usual, the show saves the best scene for last, and Tyrion and Jorah’s strange trip through Valyria is one of the best scenes of the season. Between the crumbling ruins, the poem about the Doom, and Drogon’s fly-over, there was a world of atmosphere packed into that scene. I also appreciated how the show appeared to be holding its breathe again after the whoosh it let out last week. The scenes in Winterfell, in particular, are fraught with tension. I just hope Stannis gets to duke it out with the Bolton’s by season’s end.

• Published on 05/11/2015 at 2:58 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:04 PM CDT