We’ve witnessed back-to-back episodes of seemingly endless filler, but it’s setting the stage for season’s end nicely nonetheless. The first few episodes were incredibly momentous. Naturally, when things slow down, it’s going to feel much more uneventful. Plus, I for one am still reeling off of the emotional drain of Hodor’s death.
Anyway, stuff happened last night. And things. Let’s try and make sense of it all:
1. The Hound is back. Not often we get a clip in before the intro, so as soon as that happened, I knew something big was about to happen. Boy was it ever big – Ian McShane. Lo and behold, he’s leading a happy band of campers, which always bodes well in the GoT universe. We see the group constructing some sort of building, and all of a sudden, I find myself wondering what the hell this has to do with anything. Then, four men are shown toting a log back to the camp. Followed by a single man toting another. Clearly, this is important. No disrespect to McShane, but I bet this is the guy we’re supposed to be focusing on.
Spoiler alert: that guy is The Hound.
Good, good, good. The Hound was a character who we thought dead before his character arc was settled. He’s tried living in peace, but seeing the Brotherhood Without Banners massacring these sweet people has revitalized his sense of violence.
It’s clear he’s about to enter the fray, but let’s calm down on the Clegane Bowl hype. It’s likely we do see the highly anticipated showdown with The Mountain at some point, but stop and think about where this character is at right now. It’s going to take a lot to get to that point.
The mythos of GoT is so intricately woven that there’s no telling who/what he encounters on his journey. For now, he’s after the Brotherhood….so let’s just enjoy that for the moment.
Devil’s advocate: Might we get to see Lady Stoneheart in the show after all?
2. Arya makes a huge mistake and finds herself on the verge of death. How can you pull some shit like that with the Faceless Men and not immediately start running for your life? Instead, Arya takes her time, stealing some money, setting up arrangements to leave IN TWO DAYS, and decides to stop and smell the roses on a bridge IN THE MIDDLE OF BRAAVOS.
Hate to say it, but Arya kind of deserved to be slashed, stabbed repeatedly, and thrown over the bridge. Don’t worry, guys – I’m sure she’s fine.
What a turn this storyline has taken. At one point, her journey to Braavos was hot stuff. Now, I’m thinking either she’s going to die and all of this is going to be pointless, or something incredibly unbelievable is going to happen to keep her alive. Either way, meh.
Also, Reddit GoT theories FTW again.
3. The Lannisters and Freys march on Riverrun. The Blackfish is fascinating. I’m trying to keep up with all of the Houses and where exactly this storyline fits into the grand scheme of things, and I don’t really know.Because I’m too lazy to use the internet and look it. Some of these guys will end up fighting for Jon in Winterfell. Everyone else? I don’t know.
For now, we get to watch The Blackfish being a badass, and my boy Bronn being the walking ball of charisma that he is so I’m 1,000% on board.
4. Margaery is working the High Sparrow after all. Whew – swift, weird, dramatic changes in character are almost always an illusion, and I’m happy to see Margaery is playing the game after all. It seems she finally realized that the only way she was going to get out of her perilous predicament was to “play the game.” I’m curious to see how she aims to take down the High Sparrow.
Also, the Queen of Thorns was SAVAGE in conversation with Cersei. I am sincerely afraid of that woman.
5. Theon & Yara are on their way to Dany. So much for your conspiracies of Theon and Yara joining The North. We got confirmation in this episode that they are indeed on their way to introduce themselves (and their fleet of ships) to Dany. It’s about to happen, folks. IT’S. HAPPENING.
6. Sansa & Jon do some boring stuff. Yawn. They don’t have enough men to march on Winterfell. Sansa wants to send word to The Blackfish, but Jon thinks they should fight with who they have because they don’t have time to wait. Davos wins over a little girl who runs shit at Bear Island – they get a whopping 62 men from her. Everything else is boring. Let’s just hit the power rankings…
Character power rankings:
5. Bronn – My man! Bronn is back, baby, and he’s better than ever!
4. Yara – I like Yara – she really let her skills as a life coach shine in this episode. “Either be a man or kill yourself.” Seems like she’s really motivated Theon. I bet it’s only a matter of time before this starts showing up in the sports world.
3. The Waif – Hate the bitch, but man did she get her win this week or what?
2. The Blackfish – absolutely stole the show at Riverrun.
1. The Hound – Has to be #1 this week, a triumphant return, and now he’s ready to start wrecking bodies again.
Stoney Keeley is the editor of the SoBros Network, Tennessee Titans Featured Analyst for Pro Football Spot, and covers the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley,@PFSpot, @WrestlingNewsCo
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