Game of Thrones Season 5: A Detailed Spoiler Filled Review
The reviews are starting to roll in from those bloggers who were in attendance at the Game of Thrones Season 5 premiere at the Tower of London. We’ve already provided you with a spoiler-lite review from Forbes, but now we present an incredibly detailed and spoiler-filled review of Episode 1, from The Telegraph.
See The Telegraph’s review after the jump, but be warned,
MAJOR SPOILERS await all those who venture there.
The Telegraph begins their review with the flashback scene. Young Cersei goes to see Maggy the Frog, and she receives the Prophecy of the Valonqar. This is that flashback scene.
“In the first ever flashback witnessed in Game of Thrones, we see a young Cersei be given her prophesy by a witch. She was told that “gold will be their crowns and gold will be their shrouds.”
Scenes shift to Mereen. Dany’s Unsullied will now face a new threat that will be a bigger thorn in Dany’s side than anything she’s ever faced.
“Golden-masked and murderous, the Harpies, we learn, are a major threat to Daenerys. They slit the throat of White Rat, an Unsullied who sweetly uses the services of a whore merely for a topless lullaby.”
Tyrion and Varys. This seems like the scene from the trailers where Varys uses the “Who said anything about him” speech. It’s interesting to note here that Tyrion is heading to Daenerys to strike an alliance, and he’s doing it far more quickly than in the books.
“”Westeros needs to be saved from itself,” Tyrion is told by Varys, who’s helped him escape. He then urges the imp to spend less time hitting the bottle, and more time backing Daenerys for the iron throne.”
Tywin’s funeral. No, the eye-stones are not supposed to be funny. If you remember way back in Season 1, Lord Jon Aryyn was laid out with eye-stones. It is part of Westerosi funeral practices.
“Charles Dance is back – but only as a corpse. What makes this scene particularly amusing is the bright blue eyestones placed on, well, his eyes.”
Jon Snow and Melisandre. It appears that Melisandre will be attempting to seduce Jon Snow. Is it because she sees something in him that she does not in Stannis? We’ll probably find out this season.
“There’s a tantalizing ambiguity between them in the opening installment: does she want him sacrificed, or is she attracted to him? “Are you a virgin?” she asks him. “No,” he replies, to which she says, “Good.””
Dany, her dragons, and Daario. Will we get to see Dany visit Viserion and Rhaegal in Episode 1? I am hoping she releases them sooner, rather than later. I know we don’t have Quentyn Martell, this season, to start the chain of events that sees them released. So, I am wondering how that will play out, this season.
“Now we’ve seen her return, and even by her own admission, she “can’t control her dragons.” They nearly barbecue her in their airless tomb. But how, as her lover Dario points out, can she be The Mother of Dragons without them?”
The biggest shock of Episode 1…seriously, I’m floored. As an avid fan of the books, this scene simply throws me. I understand that enchanting him to look like someone else doesn’t thematically work for the show, but it just feels cheapened, in my opinion. Plus we know that Rattleshirt leads a group of Wildlings on Hardhome, so he won’t be taking Mance’s place.
“So the heroically stoic Mance Raydar paid the ultimate price and burned in the courtyard at Castle Black rather than kneel to King of the North Stannis Baratheon.”
And then Cersei starts to feel the repercussions of all her nasty deeds. This is probably what gets the ball rolling on Cersei’s season of atonement. That walk of shame is going to be so gratifying.
“A somewhat uncomfortable encounter between Queen Cersei and her ex lover (and cousin) Lancel highlighted just how un-fun things can get when your ex gets all evangelical. Lancel is now wearing some sort of dingy, floor-length monks get up – never a good look – and “repenting” of his former wrongdoing (including the murder of Robert Baratheon, carried out at Cersei’s behest).”
My biggest takeaway from this review is that Mance might actually die. If you have read the books, you know that a certain other Wildling takes his place in the fire, but we have already seen the trailer in which that Wildling is leading an army of Wildlings against Hardhome. If this is legit, then Mance’s death is another major departure from the books, and I for one am sh0cked.
Spoiler Alert!
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