The first four episodes of Season 5 point Game of Thrones in new directions

When last we left Westeros, whatever delicate status quo that existed at the end of Season 4 had been dashed to pieces. Tywin Lannister, long the man directing events from behind the scenes, was dead, killed by his own son in an act that threatened to tear apart the fragile peace he had established in the wake of the War of the Five Kings. Up north, the wildling army that had been marching toward the Wall for the better part of three seasons was routed by the arrival of Stannis Baratheon, while in Essos, Daenerys Targaryen decided to put down roots in Meereen.

All of these events represented the endpoints of long-running plotlines. The first few episodes of Season 5 don’t so much continue these plotlines as pivot and point the characters involved in new directions. This means that the pace is slower than it was at the beginning of last year, when Joffrey Baratheon kicked things off with a bang by dying. But the extra breathing space is also exciting, since the futures of many characters seem more open than they have been since the first season. It really does feel like we’ve entered Game of Thrones: Phase 2.

Take Arya. For the last three years, she’s been running around Westeros with one group or another in the hopes of reuniting with her surviving family members. This year, she’s left Westeros behind and set up shop in Braavos, where she’s learning the ways of the Faceless Men in a moody new subplot. Similarly, Tyrion has spent the last several seasons mired in the political thicket of King’s Landing, but now he’s road-tripping across Essos with Varys, broken and bitter and wise-cracking all the way. Stannis Baratheon’s plotline has felt stalled since his military defeat in “Blackwater” back in Season 2, but his installation at the Wall gives him a clear purpose and a new set of characters to interact with.

With the possible exception of Stannis, none of these characters have had boring plotlines over the past few seasons, but the change of scenery gives all of them an extra jolt of energy. Predictably, Peter Dinklage shines in his new environment. Murdering both his lover and his father has left Tyrion a self-pitying mess of a man, and Dinklage indulges that dark side in a compelling, funny fashion.

Meanwhile, back in King’s Landing, Tywin’s death has left Cersei in charge of the realm. Book readers know that this season should provide Cersei with some terrific material, and if Lena Headey plays it right she could finally snag an award or two. The show makes up for the mass exodus of characters out of King’s Landing (Tyrion, Tywin, Littlefinger, Varys, and Sansa have all left, by one road or another) by beefing up the roles of Tommen Baratheon and Loras Tyrell, and by introducing us to new characters like the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce), the leader of a rabble-rousing religious movement. Still, for the first time in the show’s history, the political maneuvering in King’s Landing doesn’t feel like it’s at the center of the story.

Not that the political maneuvering has gone away—it’s just shifted venues. The influx of fresh blood at the Wall, for example, quickly produces a new network of tenuous alliances, as Wall mainstays like Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly size up newcomers like Stannis, Melisandre, and Davos. Speaking as someone who always considered the Wall stuff to be among the weakest the show had to offer, it was nice to find myself engrossed in this material. Stannis’ wife and daughter, in particular, serve up some unexpectedly textured moments.

Daenerys also deals with her share of political turmoil in Meereen. Gone are the days of Season 2, when she was scrambling to climb up the ladder and attain influence, or Season 3, when she was marching across Essos making a name for herself as a conqueror. Now, her story is very much about winning the hearts and minds of the (often hostile) Meereeneese citizens. It may not be as fun as flash-flying jackass slavers in Astapor, but the change in focus lets the show engage with ideas concerning what rulers owe their subjects, and vice versa. Again, this was material usually reserved for the King’s Landing crew, but this year, it’s migrated to other parts of the world.

Past Tension

Another thing worth noting is a renewed focus on the rich history of Westeros, which mostly took a backseat last year at princes chocked to death at their own weddings and men’s heads were popped like grapes. In the books, readers are constantly reminded of the complicated events that shaped the world in which the characters live, but the show has gotten away from that. The new season, however, kicks off with a flashback showing a key moment in the life of a young Cersei Lannister. Later, someone brings up Lord Whent’s infamous Tourney at Harrenhal, and more than one character discusses Rhaegar Targaryen at length. All this might just be a function of the season’s slower pace, but it could also indicate that there are revelations coming about what happened in the days before the current crop of young characters was born, revelations that could drastically alter their futures.

Bookish

There’s been a lot of talk about how the show will break from the books in a major way this year, so I was on the lookout for any big departures. There are indeed plotlines that firmly part ways with the source material. Jaime and Bronn, for example, go off on an adventure that looks nothing like their activities in A Feast for Crows. However, other parts of the episodes are surprisingly faithful. The Wall stuff hews closely to the books, for example, and there are wrinkles preserved from Daenerys’ chapters in A Dance with Dragons that I never expected to turn up.

Then there are the plotlines, like the one involving Brienne and Podrick, that are simply past the points they reached in the books. I felt myself tensing up during these sections, since I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen. This must be how Unsullied viewers feel. I don’t how you guys do it. However, most of the plots exist in a middle ground between fidelity and originality. Sansa is of particular interest here. She was pretty well through her Feast for Crows chapters by the end of last season, so I assumed that she would be exploring uncharted territory. She does, but the writers also skillfully combine her plot with one from A Dance with Dragons, so the territory wasn’t quite as uncharted as I expected. Also, fans of “Dark Sansa” will be happy to hear that the show follows through with her makeover from last year. She’s finally ditched the rose-tinted glasses she wore for so many seasons, and treats the ongoing battle for her hand with a hard-won wariness.

It’s a little early to pass judgment on the Dornish stuff, since the new characters don’t really feature prominently in these episodes. One thing I can say is that the locations the production team found for Dorne look terrific. The Water Gardens, in particular, look as serene and opulent as I could have hoped. On the other side of the Narrow Sea, the exterior shots of Braavos match them in terms of atmospherics. Nice job, location scouts.

In fact, everything in these episodes looks terrific. The increased special effects budget pays off with glorious new shots of the dragons, and there are several impressive fight scenes. On the downside, a couple of these scenes feel tacked on because producers wanted a fight scene, but they’re still thrillingly choreographed. During a horse chase in the second episode, I was gripping the edge of my couch.

Naturally, Episode 4 ends with a monster cliffhanger that had me wringing my hands over the lack of additional screeners. That was the moment I really and truly felt like Game of Thrones was back, as the familiar need to know what happens next bubbled up in my stomach and percolated for over an hour afterward. Five seasons in, Game of Thrones can still fascinate, still thrill, still provide food for thought. Not long now. Here we go.

• Published on 04/09/2015 at 3:11 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT