At long last, Game of Thrones has returned! As I expected, the epic start to season five did not disappoint… well there was something missing, but I’ll get to that later. If you have yet to watch this episode, I don’t know what you’re doing with your life, but stop reading this because there are spoilers!
The episode starts off with a flashback to Cersei’s past, where she was still just as sassy as she is as an adult, in which she meets a witch to find out about her future. The witch answers Cersei’s questions with answers hinting towards her becoming a queen (check that off the list) and then a younger and more beautiful woman who will rival Cersei would take over as queen… We all know who that is.
Following the flashback, we are taken to Kings Landing where Tywin Lannister’s lifeless body is laying in the Great Sept. More interesting than this is where his killer/son has been. Tyrion has made his escape from King’s Landing via wooden crate on a ship across the Narrow Sea to Pentos with Varys. While Tyrion catches up on lost time and starts “drinking himself to death,” Varys has other plans in mind, plans that include going to Mereen and teaming up with Dany. Tyrion is down with this plan as long as he can drink while they travel to Mereen. I can’t wait to see what becomes of their travels to find Dany and her dragons in Mereen.
Speaking of Dany, she ran into some troubles in this episode. First, the Unsullied are being knocked off by a terrorist group in Mereen as an act of defiance to Dany’s rule. Then there are her dragons that are continuing to grow beyond her control, not to mention that one of them is still missing. It’s okay though, because in the midst of all of this, Dany still finds time to spend in the bedroom with Daario. I’m sure things will turn around for her as the season progresses.
Next off the plot list is Littlefinger and Sansa who had a relatively small part to play in this episode. In the scene we get to see them, along with Robin trying to wield a sword, while they discuss their next moves. Not far from them is Brienne, who is still searching for Sansa and just lost Arya. She is clearly frustrated with her situation and tries to get Podrick to leave her.
Finally, there is everything that has been going on at the Wall since Stannis showed up. The main struggle in this part of the episode was Jon Snow trying to convince Mance Rayder to bend the knee to Stannis to save his own life. In the end, Mance was the King beyond the Wall and would not bend the knee to anyone, so he was sentenced to die by fire. While he was in the process of burning at the stake, Jon had some mercy for his previous captor and shot him with an arrow to spare him the suffering.
Overall, I was incredibly satisfied with this episode. I only had one question the entire time I was watching it… WHERE IS ARYA? Fortunately, the preview for episode two featured her in the storyline, so we will have to wait until next week to find out!
