GAME OF THRONES Season 5 Episode 3
Episode Title: “High Sparrow”
Writers: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss
Director: Mark Mylod
Previously on Game of Thrones:
Episode 5.02: “The House of Black and White”
There are full spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones Season 5, episode 3! You’ve been warned!
As much as I’d like to see Jon Snow (Kit Harington) become Jon Stark, I’ve warmed up to the idea of Jon as the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. The new dynamic has been very entertaining and it was fun watching Ser Alliser (Owen Teale) squirm as he expected payback from Jon for years of abuse.
But it was Lord Janos Slynt (Dominic Carter) whose head ended up on the block after repeatedly disobeying and insulting Jon’s command. Carter has been really underrated in a roll that was designed to be hated. Slynt’s time on the show has also been a great gift to Carter, but that’s over now. With one of the more graphic scenes in the show’s history, Jon beheaded Slynt.
Slynt had to die here, because he was the perfect choice to solidify Jon’s control of the Night’s Watch. Ser Alliser was too potentially useful to Jon, but I’m very curious to see how he behaves under Jon’s authority. Here, Alliser steps aside and allows his “friend” to be executed. However, Alliser only did so when it was clear that he had no alternative.
Despite Jon’s refusal to take King Stannis (Stephen Dillane) up on his offer to be legitimized as a Stark, Davos (Liam Cunningham) held out the possibility of the Night’s Watch helping Stannis take back Winterfell through a broad interpretation of the Night’s Watch oath. I think that Sam (John Bradley) would approve of that.
One of the more hilarious aspects of the episode was the casual distrust between Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) and Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (Aidan Gillen). There’s a new alliance between two of the more villainous characters on the show, but they are both sharp enough to expect betrayal from each other. Littlefinger’s plans have seemingly already begun as he convinced Sansa (Sophie Turner) to accept a marriage pact with Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) under the pretense of avenging her family in the long run.
If Sansa backslides into a helpless victim it will be disappointing. But there are hints that other Northerners will flock to her cause if she moves against the Boltons. The biggest question mark is Reek (Alfie Allen), who goes out of his way to keep Sansa from recognizing him as Theon. Reek already rejected his sister’s attempt to save him, so it seems less likely that Sansa could reach him.
Across the sea in Braavos, some of the more tedious scenes in the episode dealt with Arya (Maisie Williams) and her frustrations in the House of Black and White. Jaqen H’ghar (Tom Wlaschiha) appears to be more interested in slowly wearing down Arya’s identity before any actual training begins. Williams was at her strongest when she was by herself and disposing of Arya’s worldly possessions. Everything went into the sea except her beloved sword, Needle. But if the Faceless Men were able to retrieve her coin from the sea before, it’s quite possible that someone saw her hide Needle in the rocks.
This episode also made a strong argument against flashbacks as Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) and Podrick (Daniel Portman) finally disclosed their origin stories to each other. I would say that both were long overdue. The fifth season premiere of Game of Thrones opened with a flashback, and that was a narrative device that True Blood ran into the ground. But there’s more power to these revelations in the telling rather than simply eating up valuable screen time to reach the same conclusion. Christie and Portman were both excellent and the new thaw between Brienne and Pod was very welcome to see. Too bad that normally means that one of them will die horribly.
I was less enamored with the wedding night of King Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Queen Margaery (Natalie Dormer). Tommen has been so infrequently used that he barely registers here as anything more than Margaery’s pawn against Cersei (Lena Headey). At the very least, Margaery appears to be more than a match for Cersei’s desperate attempts to hold on to power. The undercurrent of hostility between Cersei and Margaery in their brief scene together is probably just a taste of what’s to come.
As for Cersei’s exiled brother, Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), this week’s episode appeared to gain forward momentum in his reluctant mission to meet Daenerys Targaryen. Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) returned and kidnapped Tyrion at a brothel while telling him that he intends to bring her to the queen. One interpretation of Jorah’s words could indicate that he meant Cersei, since bringing Tyrion to her would probably allow Jorah to return home a free and very wealthy man.
But there’s only one queen for Jorah, and that’s always been Daenerys. Given their last meeting, the mother of dragons may not be so happy to receive her former advisor and the brother of the Queen mother. However, the episode demonstrated that Daenerys’ legend is growing even in cities that she doesn’t control. Tyrion also discovered that he can’t quite go back to his womanizing ways. Murdering the love of his life appears to have ruined him… for now.
“High Sparrow” fell short of being a great episode, but it was still an entertaining set up for the early part of the season.
