Book-Reader’s Recap—Game of Thrones, Episode 510—Mother’s Mercy

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!

Okay, so I hope you like your television really, really bleak.

Melisandre kicks off the hour by staring with great big bug eyes at a bunch of icicles as they melt. Apparently the thaw is underway, meaning that her decision to ritually sacrifice little Shireen Baratheon last week paid off. Only, as we’ll find out later, it absolutely did not. Like I said, bleak. Stannis, for some unfathomable reason, isn’t in the mood to hear about all the good murdering his daughter did, so he gives Melisandre the brush-off. Didn’t see that in your fires, did you?

Stannis leaves his tent and walks down bleak street, where his men tell him that: 1) all his sellswords have abandoned him following his little bonfire, and; 2) Selyse has committed suicide. We see her hanging from a tree, a sad end to a sad life. When Stannis hears about the sellswords, we see Melisandre looking uncharacteristically rattled, as though she’s just now realizing she read the fires wrong. Whatever she realized, it was enough to inspire her to blow this popsicle stand, meaning that Stannis must march on Winterfell alone. Reek, Reek, it rhymes with bleak.

That tone persists as Stannis leads his army to Winterfell, accompanied by some very somber string music. “This probably isn’t going to go well,” it whispers. Inside the castle, Sansa makes use of the barrel auger she picked up in “Kill the Boy” to pick the lock on her door before making a break for the broken tower, her hood pulled high over her head to avoid undue attention. She manages to light a candle in the window, but not quickly enough. Although Brienne’s apparently done nothing but stare at that particular window for the past five episodes, she vacates her post after Pod tells her of Stannis’ approach. Timing makes fool of us all.

Not so far away, Stannis makes siege preparations, but it would appear that the Boltons have rethought their strategy to hole up inside Winterfell and have chosen to meet Stannis in the field. I start to wonder why the Boltons had this change of heart when the camera pulls back to reveal the size of the competing armies: the Boltons’ is much bigger, and has a lot more horses. Oh, Stannis, you humorless filicidal grammar nazi—I still would have rather seen you occupy Winterfell than Ramsay Bolton, but it was not to be.

We don’t even see the battle. It’s implied that it was a massacre. Like at the Blackwater, Stannis takes part in the fighting, and even shanks two Bolton men to death before he finally collapses, spent. Brienne approaches, and we get what could arguably be called one of the few parts of the episode that isn’t a complete downer, as Brienne gets justice for Renly’s death, to which Stannis readily admits, by executing him where he sits. Stannis’ final words: “Do your duty.” R.I.P. Stannis. In a way, this seems like karmic punishment for killing your daughter last week, but then why does it feel so hollow?

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Ramsay stabs a wounded solider as he tries to crawl away. This just in: Ramsay is mean.

Her most recent escape plan a bust, Sansa quickly makes her way back to her room, but is accosted by Myranda on the way. Myranda has a bow and arrow and looks like she’s getting ready to start using Sansa for target practice, but Reek, who’s been watching the whole thing, finally snaps back to Theon and tosses Myranda off the railing. She makes a bloody splat as she lands. Not going to lie—that was kind of satisfying.

Winterfell’s gates open to let Ramsay’s army back in, and Theon decides to roll with this whole personal awakening thing and leads Sansa to the top of the battlements. They look at each other, hold hands…and jump.

Okay, so you and I and all the book-reader’s out there know that Theon and Sansa survive their fall thanks to the heavy snow drifts, but can you imagine how upset some Unsullied viewers must be if they think that, on top of everything else, these two died? It’d be enough to drive them mad. MAD!

Now that we’ve wrapped up the bleakness at Winterfell, we move on to the bleakness in Braavos. It ends up that Meryn Trant, on top of being a pedophile, is also a pedophile who likes to beat young women with reeds. Gee, do you think he’s going to die? There’re three such young women in a room with him, and one of them isn’t responding to the switch. Meryn sends the first two out, and the third reveals herself to be Arya, fresh with a new face from the House of Black and White. She leaps at Meryn Trant and proceeds to just tear. Him. Up. She gouges out his eyes, she stabs him in the chest, she gags him, and she still takes time to make sure he knows that he’s been killed by Arya Stark before slitting his throat.

This scene was disgustingly graphic, but kudos to Maisie Williams and the stunt team for making it look plausible that a little girl like Arya could take down a big guy like Meryn. This makes that time she stabbed that random Frey soldier in Season 3 look like a teddy bear’s picnic.

Exhausted from a night of brutal murder, Arya heads back to House of Black and White and puts the face she borrowed back where she found it. Jaqen and the Waif, as expected, are totally on to her, and announce that Trant’s life wasn’t her’s to take. Jaqen informs her that “only death can pay for life” and we think he’s going to force some of the poison lobby water down her throat, but he ends up drinking it himself before collapsing on the floor, dead. Arya is upset, but before she can really let the tears go, the Waif transmutes into Jaqen H’ghar, which lends credence to the theory that whoever Arya’s been talking to all this time is not the same person she met back in Season 2. Jaqen H’ghar the Waif tells Arya that the faces are only meant for “no one,” and that by wearing one she might as well have drank poison. His words prove true enough as Arya goes blind, and that’s a wrap for Arya this year.

Dorne. We’re back in Dorne. Oh, dear. The members of Team Martell are wishing the Lannisters, plus Bronn and Trystane, a safe journey to King’s Landing. In the midst of all the goodbyes, Ellaria plants a really conspicuous kiss on Myrcella’s lips, cause she’s continental like that. Also, Bronn and Tyene have this exchange. Bronn: “I’ve got a noble woman to marry back home.” Tyene: “You want a good girl, but you need the bad pussy.” I’m not sure which one of them wrote it, but either Dan Weiss or David Benioff should be ashamed of himself.

And here’s where I think the brutality of the episode went a bit overboard. In the hold of the ship that carrying them home, Jaime and Myrcella have a well-written conversation where Jaime tries to reveal that he is, in fact, her father. He’s sort of adorable as he frantically tries to establish context (“So, now that you’ve seen more of the world…”) but it ends up he doesn’t have to, because Myrcella figured that he was her father and she’s okay with it. They hug, and insofar as it’s possible for a father to share a tender moment with his daughter by incest, it happens here.

Of course, the theme of this episode is that everything is horrible, so of course that kiss Ellaria gave Mrycella earlier was coated with poison, and she dies brutally before Jaime’s eyes. Back on the docks, Ellaria downs the antidote, drops the mike, and leads the Sand Snakes out of there.

Over in Meereen, things are marginally less horrific, but still kind of low-grade sad. Tyrion, Daario, and Jorah sit in Daenerys’ Daenerys-less throne room, contemplating what they’re going to do now. Missandei walks in with a convalescing Grey Worm in tow. It’s good to see him up and kicking. Well, up. After some getting-to-know-you talk (Tyrion drops the Valyrian word for “dwarf,” if anybody wants to write it down for later use), the team starts to set up Season 6. Daario and Jorah will head north in search of Dany, thereby fulfilling that season’s charming odd couple quota. Tyrion, Missandei, and Grey Worm will stay in Meereen and run the city.

So Tyrion will be stepping into the role Barristan Selmy played in A Dance of Dragons. That could be interesting, and it sets the stage for the introduction of characters like the Shavepate and Galazza Galare. (Helen Mirren for Galazza Galare!)

Also, Varys will be there. He turns up unexpectedly as Tyrion is watching Jorah and Daario set out. Hilariously, Tyrion has absolutely no reaction to his sudden appearance. Fish gonna swim, birds gonna fly, and Varys is gonna show up where you least expect him, courtesy of that vast spy network he’s tapped into. This does put into question who, if anybody, will end up killing Pycelle and Kevan back in King’s Landing, but I can’t say I’ll be sorry to see Tyrion and Varys working together again next year.

Somewhere north of Meereen, Daenerys tends to a wounded Drogon. He seems more interested in napping than in helping her get back to Meereen, but he finally lets her touch his snout, so it seems like their relationship is about as healthy as that between any mother and her teenage son. He’ll grow out of the surly stage eventually, Dany.

Nevertheless, Dany has to get home, so she sets out in the general direction of Meereen before getting surrounded by a Dothraki horde that bursts from almost literally out of nowhere. As they encircle her, she pulls a Pippen Took and leaves her ring in the grass for any would-be rescuers to find. Cue the “They’re taking Daenerys to Isengard!” memes.

Okay, we’re in King’s Landing, which means we’re going to get a very intense Cersei scene. Let’s see how the production handles it.

Things start out well, as Cersei finally gives in to Septa Unella’s constant insistence that she confess, and admits to a couple comparatively minor transgressions (sleeping with Lancel) before the High Sparrow. Headey does a good job of letting us know that Cersei isn’t really sincere about this, even though she makes a show of crying and groveling. As in the books, she denies having fathered children with Jaime and blames Stannis for spreading rumors, an answer that pleases the High Sparrow (I wish he would have tied her answer back to his dislike for Stannis’ Red God, though). As a reward for her honesty, the High Sparrow decides to let Cersei return to the Red Keep, a boon for which she seems truly grateful, but only after her “atonement.”

Said atonement involves chopping off Cersei’s hair and forcing her to walk through the streets of King’s Landing from the Sept of Baelor to the Red Keep while naked. Although it’s pretty clear that a body double is used, Lena Headey absolutely smashes this scene, and director David Nutter gives her the time she needs to make an impact. The “good people” of King’s Landing call her names, spit on her, throw food, and generally degrade her in any way they can, but Cersei manages to keep herself more or less together, only falling down once and holding most of her tears back until she’s safely inside the Red Keep.

Of all the characters adapted from the books, Cersei is the one who suffers the most by losing access to her thoughts, since her placid exterior is so often at odds with the rage inside. Headey, however, sells every second of her walk, as her grim determination gives way to embarrassment and fear. Also, points for overlying the scene with the mournful tones of “The Rains of Castemere”—that really drove home the irony of a Lannister being brought so low. And yet, the experience doesn’t destroy Cersei, which is kind of admirable.

After she’s home safe, Qyburn wraps her in a blanket and presents the newest member of the Kingsguard, the reanimated body of Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane. As he tells her about FrankenGregor’s mission to kill all of her enemies, Cersei gets a familiar glint in her eyes. She’s down but now out.

Up at the Wall, Jon regales Sam with tales of his exploits at Hardhome. “He raised his hands, and they all stood up at once. Tens of thousands of them, the biggest army in the world.” It looked more like a couple thousand wights to me, but I won’t stop Jon from embellishing. After doing a bit of bonding over their mutual pariahship, Sam pulls a page out of A Feast for Crows and suggests that he, Gilly, and Little Sam journey to Oldtown so Sam can become a Maester. Okay, so he wasn’t the one who suggested it in the books, but I’m still surprised to hear that this plot is going to happen—I figured the producers had cut it. Also, the two of them make oblique references to Sam getting laid before Sam rides off into the sunset. Bros for life, however short that may be.

Sam might be gone, but that doesn’t mean Jon doesn’t have people to talk to—he’s arguing with Davos about sending reinforcements to help Stannis, a moot point now, when Melisandre rides through the gates of Castle Black, visibly dejected. Jon and Davos ask her about Stannis and Shireen respectively, and her silence says it all. Davos crushes me as his big friendly face falls into grief.

And finally, we have Jon’s death scene, which we all pretty much knew would be the final scene of the season. What else could the show have gone with?

Jon sits in his office, brooding, when Olly bursts in and feeds him a line about a wildling who knows the whereabouts of his Uncle Benjen, last seen riding off beyond the Wall way back in Season 1. Of course, it’s a trap, and Jon soon finds himself caught between a wall and a gaggle of disgruntled Night’s Watchmen with daggers. Alliser Throne, who I was hoping wouldn’t be a part of this, is the first to stick Jon with the pointy end. “For the watch,” he says. A bunch of the other Black Brothers follow suit. Olly is the last in line. After a long beat, he delivers the killing blow right in Jon’s heart. Jon lies in the snow, as blood pools around him, and that’s Season 5, folks.

Odds and Ends

Is this the end for Team Stannis? After something of a comeback season, Stannis would seem to be down for the count. If he really is dead, and I think he is, it’s pretty huge. Does this mean he’s going to lose the Battle in the Ice in The Winds of Winter? And what will Melisandre and Davos do without their leader? For that matter, what made Melisandre turn tail and run so quickly? She’s always been a true believer in Stannis, but she seemed to abandon that faith pretty damn without a moment’s delay after she found out a big part of his army had deserted. Although we have some inklings of what’s going to happen from the books (although somehow I doubt the producers are going to bother sending Davos on a quest to find Rickon), the cold hard truth is that, at this point, no fan really knows the answers to these questions.

We know two things now. At of now, Game of Thrones has pretty much caught up with the published books. At this point, book-readers only know a couple of things the show-watching fans don’t: how Arya gets over her blindness and the fact that Theon and Sansa survive their jump. Yes, we also know about Sam’s journey to Oldtown, but most of the major events that happen along the way (Sam and Gilly having sex, Maester Aemon dying) were included in this season. Also, we know about the Ironborn shenanigans, but who knows how different that plot is going to be once Benioff and Weiss are done with it. Assuming that Sam’s journey and the Ironborn count for half a thing apiece, maybe we know three things.

Nitpicking the House of Black and White. As much as this season has drifted from the books, Arya’s journey has remained pretty faithful. While I enjoyed this week’s scene in the Hall of Faces, there were a couple things I couldn’t help but nitpick. To avoid seeming ungrateful, I’ll point out a change I enjoyed for each one I didn’t care for.

• Good: Arya goes blind because the faces themselves are poisonous to those without the proper training.
• Bad: the Waif turned into Jaqen H’ghar. So they can change shapes as well as faces now?
• Good: Arya pulling all the faces off Jaqen no one was really creepy.
• Bad: Arya’s face was included in the role call, but how would he have gotten hold of that face if Arya is still alive?
• Funny: Jaqen H’ghar wearing the Waif’s clothes.

Down and out and depressing in Dorne. So, on the bright side, it ends up that the Tyene-Bronn flirtation had a point after all—it established that Tyene was an old hand at poisons, which explains how Ellaria was able to poison Myrcella tonight. On the down side, the whole thing was still sort of pointless, as Jaime and Bronn went through all that and are still coming home empty-handed. Mrycella is dead, and just when I was starting to like her. Speaking honestly, she’s probably going to die in the books at some point, too, but she was such a different kind of character for Game of Thrones, a sunny yet intelligent young woman who I think could have brought something to the show. Ah, well. Such is life (and death) in Westeros.

Sailing the Dothraki sea. Although we know precious little about what’s going to happen between Dany and the Dothraki in The Winds of Winter, I’m a little troubled by the fact that Drogon wasn’t around to intimidate the horde tonight. Without him, Dany’s going to be at a serious disadvantage, and I’m afraid that they’re going to play out a whole “Jorah and Tyrion chase after Dany” subplot as a way to kill time before Drogon swoops in and saves her.

So Jon’s dead, right? Although there’re surely going to be debates about this over the next year, I think Jon’s dead. While George R.R. Martin has dropped hints that he may yet survive, or be revived, in the books, there’s no guarantee of that. And even if he does survive in some form in the novels, David Benioff and Dan Weiss are not George R.R. Martin. Although they’ve bent the rules occasionally (hello, Frankengregor), they’ve been less enthusiastic about bringing characters back from the dead than Martin has. Mance died for real this season, and it seems like Catelyn is gone for good as well, despite the Lady Stoneheart truthers’ protestations to the contrary.

And really, I’m okay with Jon being dead. It’s definitely in keeping with the modus operandi of the show—this is the same program that killed off Ned and Robb Stark, after all—and it works dramatically. Without Jon there to fend them off, how long before the White Walkers tear down that Wall?

And that’s it. That’s Game of Thrones Season 5. It’s going to take weeks to unpack everything that went down, but at first glance, this seems like the bleakest season of the show so far, and that’s saying something. This episode especially was as bleak as bleak can be, with almost no ray of hope to be found. I know we say this every year, but it seems like there’s nowhere to go but up.

Thanks for tuning in, and do stick around for analyses, breakdowns, and arguments as we head into the off-season. It’s been a real pleasure writing about the show for you guys, and we’ll be back this time next year minus ten weeks to do it all again. Now, for one last time this season, have at it!

• Published on 06/15/2015 at 3:35 AM CDT
• Last updated on 06/15/2015 at 6:23 PM CDT