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The second episode of the season normally plays a few main functions. The first is to include the "catching-up" of any plot lines that did not make it into the first episode, while also continuing to set the stage for further progression of certain story lines and possibly even beginning new ones. This episode achieved all three of these functions in some form or another.
I am going to dive right into the recap for this episode because it needs to be done. This episode blew me out of the water for several reasons, and I will begin to explain those right now.
As always, be warned, this post is DARK and full of SPOILERS!
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The episode begins by bringing us far beyond the Wall to the cave of Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven, whom we haven't seen an ounce of since the end of season four. Bran is much older now, and it is safe to assume that he has been learning to control and utilize his Greenseer powers this whole time. The Three-Eyed Raven is also a Greenseer and is able to see visions from anytime in the past and has tasked himself with showing Bran these same powers.
We are brought to a flashback of the Winterfell courtyard where a young Eddard and Benjen are sparring in the yard. Lyanna rides in on her horse and we get the first physical glimpse at what she might have looked like (since we have only seen the statue of her in the past). After observing his father and uncle and aunt in the vision, Bran is able to understand how his family interacted with one another. A young Hodor even makes an appearance, who is referred to as Willis (Walder in the books) and it is peculiar that Hodor can speak real sentences, meaning that the event which caused him to only be able to say "Hodor" must have occurred after this flashback.
The fun doesn't go on for long, however, as Bran is soon instructed to come back to his physical self, which he is at first reluctant to do.
"You finally show me something I care about, and then you drag me away" Bran states to his master. The Three-Eyed Raven, who is extremely wise and much much older than he appears, replies "it is beautiful beneath the sea, but if you stay too long, you will drown."
This message is very crucial to understanding the powers of the Greenseer. It is meant to help Bran understand that yes, being in the visions is great (Bran can walk and can escape the boring of the dark cave and see whoever it is he wants to see) but he must understand that he cannot linger in the visions too long. This is very similar to what is explained to Bran in the books when he continues to Warg into Summer; even though he can eat and run and hunt as the wolf, none of those actions help to satisfy the hunger or needs of his physical self. This will be something that Bran will continue to struggle with as the season progresses, which is finding the balance between his visions and his reality.
We are then transported to Castle Black, where Alliser Thorne and the Night's Watch brothers loyal to him have returned to the door leading to the Lord Commander's chambers, where Davos and a few brothers are holding the body of Jon Snow. Thorne states that the time has come for them to open the door, and Davos makes his last stand by stating the best line in the season so far; "I have never been much of a fighter; apologies for what you're about to see." Davos then unsheathes Longclaw and the other brothers do the same.
Thorne hears this and instructs one of the brothers who are loyal to him to bring down the door with a hammer. The brother smashes the door and just as he creates a hole, we hear a large bang at the main gate, which soon crashes down at the force behind it. Edd and the giant Wun Wun leads a group of fierce wildlings at the brothers, who hold their ground but do not attack. One of the brothers shoots an arrow at the giant and is soon smashed to pieces, a sight which encourages the Night's Watch mutineers to lay down their weapons.
Thorne and the others are then taken to ice cells, and Tormund is escorted into the chambers to see the body of Snow. The look on his face is surely one of mixed emotions, but it is all we will see of the Wall for now.
We are then brought to King's Landing where Cersei is attempting to leave her tower to go attend Myrcella's funeral. She is accompanied by the zombie Mountain, who looks exceptionally terrifying when confronting the group of Lannister guards who were instructed by Tommen to not let Cersei leave the tower. Tommen and Jaime are in the Great Sept talking by Myrcella's body, and Jaime is telling Tommen that he should go and see his mother.
Tommen soon leaves as the High Sparrow approaches, and things get pretty intense. In no time, Jaime makes a reach for his dagger, and the High Sparrow asks him "you would spill blood in this holy place?" Jaime replies with "What difference does it make, the gods have spilled more blood than the rest of us combined," which shows how desperate and faithless Jaime has grown as the seasons have progressed. Two of his children have been killed along with his father, his sister/lover has gone pretty crazy, and probably most of all, he has lost his sword hand and has never been the same, so what does he really have to lose?
Oddly enough, Jaime decides not to pursue any violence in the Great Sept of Baelor, and we shoot to a quick scene with Tommen finally visiting Cersei. Tommen apologizes to his mother for never coming to see her and for "being weak", in which case he asks her to "help him be strong" and they enter a long heartfelt embrace.
We shoot all the way across the world to Mereen, where after some boring conversation, Tyrion ventures down to the cellars to unchain Viserion and Rhaegal. I was very surprised that the dragons did not decide to turn our favorite dwarf into a meat kebab, but he is able to safely remove their shackles and leaves them free to roam around the bowels of the great pyramid.
In Braavos, Arya is still getting stick-whooped by the other faceless acolyte day after day. After a bit of slapping, Arya begins lashing out against her in frustration, but her blow is eventually caught by Jaqan H'gar who appears out of thin air. He tells her "A girl is not a beggar anymore" and the two walk off. This is presumably the beginning of the next part in her training, which also occurs in the books and leads to her waking up with her eyesight again. I personally think that we have seen enough of her getting her ass beat. For the sake of moving along with the story in the show, I think she will soon receive her eyesight back to begin the next portion of her training.
We move to Winterfell where Ramsay and Roose are contemplating next moves after losing Reek and Sansa. Ramsay suggests marching on the Wall to kill Jon Snow (lol) and Roose soon shoots that idea down saying that it will "unite the entire North against us". A maester enters the room to announce that Lady Walda has given birth to a boy, and the look on Ramsay's face is fucking priceless.
I was absolutely shocked at this next part. Ramsay approaches his father to hug and congratulate him, and after Roose states "you will always be my firstborn son", Ramsay replies with "thank you for saying that, it means a great deal to me", and BOOM! Roose receives a nice dagger in the heart, just as he did to Rob in season three. This part was unexpected for me but I think it was a very appropriate way to show how Ramsay is willing to do anything to rule as Lord of Winterfell. He even leads lady Walda and her newborn son into the kennels and unleashes the hounds on them in rather gruesome, but honestly very predictable way.
Just outside of Winterfell we catch up with Brienne, who is explaining to Sansa about when she ran into Arya on the road in season four. Sansa apologizes for not trusting Brienne the first time around, but Brienne understands that "it was a hard choice to make". Reek then explains to Sansa that he must leave to redeem himself, and when Sansa suggests heading to the Wall and taking the Black, Reek replies "I would have taken you all the way to the Wall and would have died to get you there," but he knows he must part ways with her and return "home".
Speaking of Theon's home on Pike, Yara (Asha in the books) and Balon Greyjoy are arguing about their next move after losing Deepwood Motte. Yara thinks her father is extremely foolish for wanting to plan a land invasion, and he leaves the meeting in frustration.
We are then taken to a scene that is almost spot-on with the book, where Balon begins to walk across the rope bridge as the rain pours down and the wind shakes it left and right. He gets about halfway across the bridge before he notices a figure standing in his way on the other side, and we are introduced to our first new major character this season, Euron Greyjoy (Crow's Eye in the books). Euron is the second-oldest brother behind Balon, and after pillaging his way around the world for the last few years, he has gone a bit crazy. Balon speaks to him and Euron refers to himself as "the drowned god" and also that he is "the storm" and when Balon attempts to cut him with his knife, Euron takes the slash to the face and pushes Balon off the bridge, killing him.
The funeral takes place and we get the first glimpse of another Greyjoy, Aeron, who is known as the "Damphair" which is a priest and servant of the Drowned god. He leads the funeral service and they release Balon's body to the sea, and Yara swears revenge upon the person who she discovers is responsible for her father's death.
We go back to the Wall for the final scene of the episode, and see Davos pleading with Melisandre and asking her about "magic that could bring him back" obviously referring to resurrecting Jon Snow. As we have seen before, Melisandre's faith in her Lord of Light is waning as time passes, and she tells Davos that she has seen it done before but has never tried it herself.
This is when Davos asks her the question that I thought we would be waiting a few more episodes for, can Melisandre attempt to bring back Jon Snow? Well, believe it or not, we're about to find out.
She begins by washing the blood off of Jon's body, and proceeds to trim his hair and beard and throw the hair into the flames. She then begins to recite her prayers and hymns, and it seems like things could actually happen. A few moments pass, and nothing happens, and Melisandre's expression gets less and less hopeful. One by one, Tormund, the other brothers, and even Davos begin to leave the room as they do not expect anything will happen.
Melisandre is the last person to leave the room, and it does seem like all hope is lost. Just as we think it is over, the shot pans to Ghost who has been sleeping beneath the table Jon is laying on the whole time. You can see Ghost breathing so you know he is not dead, but then we eventually see his eyes open and he sits up. The camera pans back to Jon, and in a shocking and heart-wrenching moment, Jon sits up frantically and begins gasping for air, and the scene cuts to the credits. Well, it looks like our favorite bastard is back.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Everyone who has been talking about this all year since last season can finally rejoice. Yes, Jon Snow is back, but that is all we know. We have seen resurrection done before but we don't know how much of "Jon" he will be like after coming back from the dead.
We didn't see a glimpse of Dany this episode so she is still in the same place as she was. Sansa will continue moving north and it appears that she will be doing so without Reek. Bran will continue his visions and on the teaser for next week it looks like we will be getting our Tower of Joy flashback.
Arya will most likely be getting her sight back or should be getting close to it, and I'm curious to see how the dragons will react when they realize they could pretty much leave their pyramid whenever they please. Roose Bolton is also dead, meaning that Ramsay is free to enact his plans for conquest in the north.
But on the side of the Greyjoys, with Balon dead, it looks like we will begin to see the Kingsmoot, meaning that we will probably soon meet Victarion as well and see how the remaining brothers of Balon make their move for the Salt Throne, as well as a rather ambitious Asha, I mean Yara (still confuses me).
I will rate this episode an honest 8/10. We knew Jon was coming back and I personally think it was safe to say that we knew pretty much how that would happen, we just didn't know when it would occur. This episode caught up with some pretty big points in the books and also created some new ones as well, which is only adding to suspense for the rest of the season. Overall it was a great episode, not great enough to match the likes of "Hardhome" (season 5 episode 8), but pretty darn sweet for only the second in the season.
Until next time.
Night gathers, and now my Watch begins.
-Tyler
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