The Dance of Dragons

We’ve finally made it to the traditionally exciting second to last episode of the season. However, I think this season is setting a new precedent, as last week, this week, and (as book readers know) next week all had and will have elements of shock and excitement. For such a slow and ultimately lackluster beginning to the season, they’re really pulling out all the stops to make this season more memorable in its final hours. To me, though, the episode should’ve been called The Dance of Doubt. As we’ll see, doubt permeates almost every storyline this week.

Lady in Red

We open up on Stannis’ camp. On a surface level, this scene serves to prove Ramsay did what he promised he could do: he cripples Stannis’ troops’ morale and chances of victory in the coming battle for Winterfell. To me, though, the most important thing to focus on in this scene is Melisandre. Arguably, this episode as a whole is the most important for her character out of the entire series. Starting here, in the first few seconds, we see something we’ve never seen out of her before: doubt. It won’t be the last time we see it, either, as you’ll see later on in the episode.

What struck me most about this scene was her inaction. Way back, when Stannis’ returns after the failed siege at The Battle of Blackwater Bay, she pretty much bitches Stannis out saying had he ignored Davos’ concerns and brought her along, she could have combated the Wildfire and saved the lives of all the men, and in doing so, allowed Stannis to succeed in taking King’s Landing. Surely, if she was capable of quelling the destructive power of Wildfire, a few tents set aflame by regular ol’ fire should be no problem, right? Apparently not. Even more telling is her facial expression when she realizes what’s happening and steps out of her tent. She didn’t see this coming in the flames. She’s constantly been right up until this moment, and I think it spooked her a little to think if she couldn’t see, let alone stop this, what else is she missing? If she was wrong about this, what else has she been wrong about? The seed of doubt is being sown.

The next morning it’s made clear that the gears in Stannis’ head are already cranking about how to come back from the sabotage, as we and Davos are visually told by Stannis, his wife, and The Red Lady that Melisandre’s offer of power through king’s blood seems to no longer falling on deaf king’s ears.

A Thorne in Jon’s Side

After a little tension, Jon is allowed back through the wall with The Wildlings in tow. Two main things to take away from this scene are: One, the men are not happy. Two, more importantly, Olly isn’t happy. As I talked about last week, Olly is a ticking time bomb here. Even from a technical/screenplay standpoint, we already know something isn’t right. Ever since he downed Ygritte like it was nothing, he’s steadily been getting more screentime, steadily been getting more lines. It’s a clear indication he’s being groomed for something major so that it isn’t random to the viewer when that major something occurs. It’s not Night’s Watch Boy #3 doing something, it’s Olly. Coupled with the fact that nearly, if not all, his lines this season have been about his distaste for Jon’s decision concerning The Wildlings? Keep an eye out for this kid, everyone.

Also, Thorne is a prick to Jon here. Shocking. But it leaves him with the theme of the episode: doubt in his actions.

The Burning Heart

Immediately we’re given a foreshadow of events to come. We’ve seen Stannis’ sigil before, but given Melisandre’s recommendation to sacrifice Shireen, it takes on a whole new meaning. As the scene progresses, it’s made evident Stannis has his mind 90% made up to go through with it. He knows Davos would object, so he sends him away, back to The Wall. Davos has been playing this game long enough now, though. He knows something’s up, though I don’t think he knows exactly what. He knows it involves Melisandre, and from the opening we know Selyse is also involved. So, a very clever Davos could infer that Shireen is involved by extension or else Sylese would have no reason to be involved, which I think he does as he offers almost immediately to take Shireen back to The Wall with him.

The Onion and the Stag

This scene was a toss up for me. I interpreted it as either Davos simply saying goodbye to Shireen since he’d be leaving for a few days, or the more likely scenario that he knows something is going to happen while he’s gone and he wants to make sure he says all he needs to in case he’s unable to again. I don’t think he knows for certain she’ll be killed, but he does have a bad feeling. I mean, if he risked his life to help Gendry escape when he barely even knew him, I’m certain he’d go above and beyond for his dear Shireen. So, I don’t think he suspects anything as sinister as sacrifice. But as seen in the picture above, Davos’ face betrays his doubt. The doubt isn’t in Stannis, but in himself. Is he making the right decision to obey Stannis? He’s gone against him before, so I don’t think he wants to make the same mistake again, but is he letting his allegiance to Stannis affect his moral compass? If he thinks something bad is going to happen, shouldn’t he stay? Davos has always been the moral foil to Melisandre, but this episode they’re inner struggles are parallel: Through doubt in themselves, the worst happens.

Dorne It Ellaria, Grow Up

This entire scene was a verbal pissing contest, which Doran won hands down. Jaime shows real growth of character here, though. Since losing his hand, he’s really come to grips with being okay asking others for help. It’s humbled him immensely. Jaime in the beginning of the series on the whole wouldn’t care too much about Bronn’s fate, but his time with Brienne showed him the value of loyalty. So much so that he offers to take punishment in Bronn’s place, something an earlier Jaime would have never done.

Oh, Good. Sand Snakes. Said No One.

This picture really captures my face during Sand Snake scenes. They get enough hate online so I won’t get too much into why they suck, but I think the majority of viewers are of the same mind that, well, they do. But, as with most Sand Snake scenes, this one served little purpose. Bronn was freed. I mean, I guess that’s something.

Waiting on Pins and Needle

Doubt plays an important role here. Arya struggles with whether or not she can go through with killing The Thin Man. In doing so, she hesitates. Not for long, but long enough that had she remained focused on completing her mission, she may have entirely missed Ser Meryn Trant docking nearby. But since she doubted her ability to kill The Thin Man, it delayed her so that she was in just the right place at the right time to stray. The Thin Man calling after her off-screen acts as almost an internal dialogue. He keeps calling “Girl! Girl!”: a voice reminding her not to be Arya, but to be just a girl; another girl. But Arya is still too present. Just the sight of Meryn Trant makes her forget who she’s trying to be, and Arya takes over again.

So oblivious to her mission is she, that Arya still with her oysters, clams, and cockels tails Meryn Trant’s party away from the docks and into the financial district where she sticks out like a longshoreman on Wall Street. No sooner does she do this that Trant’s eyes lock straight on to her. This keeps happening the longer she sticks around the Iron Bank. He seemingly always finds her in the crowd. Here’s where the two schools of thought diverge. One possibility is that he recognizes her. I don’t think this is the case, since it’s been 4 some odd years since he last saw her, she looks different in body and clothes, and I don’t think looking for Arya Stark is at the forefront of his mind when in Braavos. The second possibility, which I find more likely given the events in the next scene, is that Trant is totally peeping her for future sexual encounters. She catches his eye and that’s why he always seems to find her; a predator eyeing his prey.

Age is Just a Number

Hello, I’m Chris Hansen. This week on To Catch a Predator, a Kingsguard a long way from home in Braavos. Viewer’s discretion is advised.

Ser Meryn, is it? Why don’t you take a seat. I see you brought condoms, a happy meal, and some three horns of ale with you today. Now, why would you bring those particular items to a 13 year old girl’s house? You didn’t know she was 13? I see. Well, we have the transcript of your raven communications right here and you say “I’ll get u wetter than the halls of House Reyne”? and that you’ll “**** [her] right in the Trant” then “Merynate [her] in baby gravy until [she] looks like a White Walker lol”?

But seriously, ew. It’s made very clear where Ser Meryn’s sexual predilections lie. He gets to scope out Arya first hand, too, after she follows him into the brothel. Trant also orders the mistress to have a “fresh” girl the next night, which leads me to believe they’re setting up a Kill Bill-style, O-Ren assassination of Boss Matsumoto scene with Arya disguised as the honeypot.

When Jaqen questions Arya back at The House of Black and White, it’s pretty clear he knows she straying which makes me think one of the characters in the previous scenes was Jaqen with a different face. The Lannister soldier that interrupts her spying in the brothel comes to mind.

The One Pawed Lion and the Defanged Snake

Franklin Doran-o Roosevelt killed it this episode. He took exactly zero shit from anyone, and just told it how it is: If bitches ain’t loyal, bitches ’bout to get got. He totally crushed Ellaria’s tantrums so hopefully all this Sand Snake bullshit is done now. Which leads us to this weird scene. Ellaria 180’s to where she’s actually being nice to Jaime and saying how she understands his incestuous relationship with his sister, because that’s somehow similar in the public eye to a prince having a paramour? Weird. I’m chalking a lot of this up to D&D not writing the Dorne scenes, and the limited shooting schedule they had on location for the Dorne scenes led a lot of this plot to be rushed, this scene and resolution being no exception.

The Dance of Stags

Dramatic irony-wise, this was a tough scene for the audience, I think. We all knew what was up. They briefly cut the tension with one of Stannis’ classic “viewership mouthpiece” lines talking about how the title The Dance of Dragons didn’t make sense. Just pure fan service. But it’s almost like a last ditch attempt for the writers to get everyone on the Stannis hype train before they totally Amtrak it in the next scene.

After Shireen pleads that she wants to help her father and finally says “I am Princess Shireen of House Baratheon, and I’m your daughter.” It’s just a total twist-of-the-knife for everyone. Stannis has been tiptoeing around the issue all episode but once Shireen hugs him, you can see the gravity of it all hitting him. Then when he says “forgive me.” we all know he’s finally decided, and that this is going to be not at all pretty.

Fire is the Purest Form of Death–OH GOD WHY

Rarely does this show leave me speechless, but this scene got me. It’s pivotal for a few reasons. Let’s start with Stannis and Sylese.

Since we’ve known Selyse, she’s been a Lord of Light groupie. If there was a burning, you bet your sweet ass Selyse was front row making s’mores. Stannis, on the other hand, treated the religion as more of a means to an end. He didn’t really start to believe until the leeches. Here, in this scene though, the two shift. Stannis is now the one placing all his eggs in the R’hllor basket whereas Selyse has her eyes opened to how brutal it actually is. Nothing like your kid being on fucking fire to bring you back to reality.

Melisandre, too, has an important part in this scene. She’s acting like her usual aloof self but there’s one, almost imperceptible moment right before she lights the pyre that she has the same look she had in the opening scene: doubt. What if she’s wrong? What if she’s burning a young girl for no reason at all? What if everyone she’s burnt before was for nothing? But, as soon as it comes, it’s gone, and as Shireen begins to scream louder and more violently, Melisandre returns to her creepy, sexy self.

I Hope Something Happens Soon. This Plot Sure is Dragon, Know What I Meereen?

Despite the coliseum scene lasting 20 odd minutes, surprisingly not a lot happened until the last 5. Tyrion had some good lines. Daario swapped words with Daenarys’ beau-to-be. But you can’t talk about the beginning of this scene and not bring up muthafuckin’ Jorah Mormont. Dude is a stone cold gladiator. Apart from the deus-ex-stabbina that was the Meerenese spearman saving his ass from the Braavosi waterdancer, Jorah was on his game the whole time. Especially that fucking javelin throw to save Daenerys from her would be assassin.

Speaking of which, The Sons of the Harpy just decided to attack…everyone? I can understand the fear tactic of imbuing the population of Meereen with no confidence in Daenerys as a leader, but I’m fairly certain had they focused all their efforts on taking Dany out all at once, there wouldn’t be much of a show anymore.

But they don’t, and Drogon flies in to save the day and Daenerys escapes…leaving her entire council to die. One of the cooler parts is realizing that Drogon isn’t even nearly full grown yet. If he can fuck up that much shit as a teenager, he’s going to be one tough motherfucker as an adult. It’s even cooler that we’re getting to see the personalities of the dragons’ namesakes through their actions. Drogon, named for Drogo acts like Drogo would have in the same situation. I’m excited to see them explore that aspect of the dragons.

Conclusion

Was this the best episode 9? No. Was it the worst? Definitely not. I think with the combined endings of episodes 8, 9, and 10, season 5 is going to be one of the most memorable seasons, if not only because it began so poorly and is ending so strongly. Until next week, you stay classy, Westeros.