One of the great ironies of this season is that two of the ongoing storylines, despite moving into territory outside of the strict canon of the source material, seem almost like adaptations of existing work because they are in lockstep with long-standing fandom theories.  And doesn’t that make sense?  The saga is now far enough into the proceedings that many of the clues about various mysteries need to start coming together, so things like Jon Snow’s fate and his parentage (not to mention the mechanism by which that will be revealed) seem foregone conclusions.

 

 

Sam and Gilly: Parts of this episode were all about characters that we had all but forgotten about, so some reintroduction was in order.  This is especially true since the writers decided not to follow Sam’s path from the books, and instead, have him forego the Citadel and maesterdom in favor of seeking help from his father back in Horn Hill.  Maybe this is a delaying tactic, but I can understand why they would take a left turn with Sam and Gilly; many of the plot threads in the novels that would appear to intersect with Sam’s arrival at the Citadel are completely absent in the show.

 

Ramsey Bolton and Friends: Speaking of characters we haven’t seen in forever, guess who House Umber decided to deliver into the hands of the current occupier of Winterfell?  None other than Rickon Stark, who had fled to House Umber back in the third season for protection.  So much for that, and so much for the notion that Ramsey has lost a huge bargaining chip for control of the North with Sansa’s departure.  This is almost certainly another departure from the intentions of the source material, but it doesn’t really matter, if the writers for the show can make Rickon’s return mean something within this version of the tale.

 

 

One interesting aspect of this betrayal by the Umbers is the killing of Rickon’s direwolf.  The backlash has been considerable, to say the least.  I find that curious, not because it wasn’t vile and cruel, but rather, because in the previous episode, we had a scene where a newborn baby was mauled and eaten alive by hounds.  Barely a peep for that, yet killing Rickon’s direwolf gets a huge outcry.  I would’ve expected both to be decried, quite honestly.

 

King’s Landing: Qyburn is busy recruiting Varys’ “little birds” to his own ends, which is a neat little revelation, as is the rather blunt revelation that Cersei’s zombie bodyguard is, in fact, Ser Gregor aka The Mountain.  Granted, it was obvious, but it was information dropped casually in the midst of other matters, so I was surprised by the manner of the reveal.  But equally surprising was how openly Kevan Lannister and (less surprisingly) Olenna Tyrell disrespected Cersei by just getting up and walking out when Cersei and Jamie crashed the Small Council meeting.  Something tells me the Small Council is going to be on Cersei’s short list awfully soon.

 

 

There was also a strange scene between the High Sparrow and King Tommen.  Tommen came storming in to demand that Cersei get to visit Myrcella’s tomb, and the High Sparrow effectively put the king in his place.  Which is to say, after stating the church and throne are equals, the High Sparrow twisted Tommen’s little mind to ensure the church was more equal than everyone else.  For all that Cersei and Jamie want to get their groove back, The High Sparrow isn’t about to roll over and cede control over the populace.

 

A Girl with No Name: So my concerns over how quickly Arya was going to regain her sight was more or less resolved thanks to the training montage, which methodically demonstrated that she did, in fact, get some nice combat skills out of the entire ordeal.  What’s interesting is that the audience was reminded of Arya’s list, the Hound, and so forth, but in a manner that suggested she had successfully managed to reframe that lifetime as practically fictional, or at least something experienced by someone else.  It’s a big step in her development as an assassin.

 

 

Daenerys: So Dany has now arrived at Vaes Dothrak, and she has learned that living there in relative peace with the other widows of fallen Khals is not so clear cut a fate.  Because she did not dutifully arrive immediately after her husband’s death, there is a trial of sorts to be conducted.  So either that trial will be when she wins over the Khals somehow, or that will be the super-convenient time when Drogon and perhaps even his brothers come to visit.  Whatever the case, this is feeling like a delaying tactic yet again, which has always been the biggest issue with Dany’s storyline.  It completely stalled once she hit Meereen, and has never recovered.

 

Varys and Tyrion: Speaking of Meereen, Varys has uncovered the unsurprising truth that the Sons of the Harpy are being funded by the slavemasters back in power in the rest of Slaver’s Bay.  How is this surprising?  I would have thought that the old Masters would have topped the list of suspects!  It’s perhaps a bit more interesting that Varys is intending to call upon his “little birds”, which could be a way for Cersei and House Lannister to discover the location of Tyrion.  Which would be good, since it might force these plot threads to advance a bit.

 

 

Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven: Some might be irritated that we only bore witness to the beginning of the story that must be told at the Tower of Joy, but I had no illusion that the inevitable would be revealed all at once.  There are clearly plot points related to Jon that must take place before the truth is uncovered, or the impact of certain implications won’t quite hit as hard as they should.  Besides, it was nice to see a young Eddard Stark and one of the scenes oft-mentioned in the novels.  What could Ser Dayne have been ordered to protect, rather than be at the side of his king?  Who hasn’t worked it out yet?

 

Jon Snow: There was no reason to think that Jon would come back exactly the same person he was before, and sure enough, he’s already making some pretty big decisions.  For example, deciding that he’s not the Lord Commander anymore, or even part of the Night’s Watch.  I expect this decision to be debated, of course, which will put a spotlight on the terms of his oath.  It’s just another important step on the road to becoming more than he was.  Of course, the trick is not setting up those plot and character points, but rather, finding the path for Jon Snow as a character to arrive at those same conclusions.

 

 

I’m a little disappointed that we are moving past the schism at Castle Black so quickly; it seems like it would still take a bit more time for there to be any sense of closure on Jon’s “betrayal”.  That said, there’s now a fairly definitive turning point between that chapter of the story and what comes next.  Jon’s decision to leave the Watch seems to mark that turning point rather effectively, though it may take a couple more episodes for his new outlook on life to make itself fully apparent.