Game of Thrones has so many characters and A-, B-, and C-plots that it could easily spend the entirety of season five telling us what everyone’s up to after season four. “The House of Black and White” is another introductory catch-up episode, but to its credit it zips along with a better sense of urgency than did last week’s “The Wars to Come.”
Arya finally arrives in Braavos, and good lord does Braavos look amazing. Game of Thrones does a predictably great job of showing the audience where all of HBO’s money goes; Braavos is bustling and alive, and even though this is the first time we’ve been here since Stannis and Davos’s aborted loan application last season, the city feels lived-in and like a natural extension of the Westeros we already know. Arya gets dropped off at the House of the Black and White, home of the Faceless Men, including Jaqen H’ghar, whose existence the “previously on” decided to remind us of despite the fact that all GoT viewers have been thinking about since season two is HOW DO I CHANGE MY FACE. Anyway, since nothing comes easy on Game of Thrones, Arya is turned away at the door. She spends all night in front of the House’s stark edifice, reciting her ever-shrinking list.
I think the ballsiest move that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are making this season is to aggressively ignore the books. It’s at this point that Game of Thrones becomes less an adaptation and more of an interpretation, which I’m okay with, because it provides the chance to reinvigorate stories that go nowhere in the books (even if it does mean that we don’t get to meet Theon’s awesome uncles). The best example of this is in Brienne and Podrick’s chance encounter with Sansa and Littlefinger. Brienne lays out her usual spiel, and Littlefinger counters with the usual Brienne dis track: you failed Renly, you failed Catelyn, why the hell would Sansa go with you? Brienne and Podrick narrowly escape Littlefinger’s knights – Gwendoline Christie remains one of the most imposing physical presences on this show; watching her fight, even astride a horse, is never less than thrilling – but decide to press on anyway. I have some trouble with this. After being rebuffed by Sansa and Arya, Brienne’s mission, like Podrick says, is pretty much complete. Where does her story go from here? It’d be a shame to waste Christie, and Brienne’s decision to not give up shows that the show doesn’t plan on doing so, but short of kidnapping, I don’t know what could happen. But that’s kind of exciting – I don’t know what could happen. This is the first season that smug book readers like myself can’t lord our knowledge over people who just watch the show.
Cersei, for her part, is mad, but Cersei is always mad about something. Dorne has sent her a threatening message, one that portends the imminent arrival of the fan favorite Sand Snakes. But she’s having none of it, so off Jaime goes to Dorne to bring back Myrcella (Cersei is right to be concerned; Ellaria Sand wants to send Myrcella back to King’s Landing “finger by finger”). Jaime brings Bronn along for the ride, which, hell yeah, more buddy comedy! Jaime was stagnating in King’s Landing anyway.
I’m not going to try to recount all the events of “The House of Black and White.” It was a busy, fast-paced episode, and Michael Slovis’ direction was more assured than it was last week. Jon gets elected Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch – after a touching, eloquent speech by Sam – and in doing so turns down Stannis’ offer to legitimize him. Stannis will take umbrage at this, as he does at everything. Arya is finally accepted into the House by none other than Jaqen H’ghar, who I’m really glad we’ll be seeing more of. Since Bran is sitting this season out, we’ll have to rely on Arya’s storyline to maintain GoT‘s weirdness quotient, which it absolutely should, provided that Benioff and Weiss don’t stray too far from the source material (it’s a double-edged sword, okay?).
A Few Thoughts
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Kevan Lannister doesn’t even give a portion of a fuck. It’s always nice to see someone stand up to Cersei
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I didn’t even talk about Dany! Her Meereen plot is finally gaining some traction, as she’s losing the love of the people. I’m still in awe at what a great job Emilia Clarke does with the languages on this show
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Tyrion needs to settle down, that box looks comfy as hell
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Line of the night: Hannah Murray’s hilarious, hurt, tragic delivery of “I know S”
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Brienne chopped through that guy’s sword. Goddamn I can’t wait to see Gwendoline Christie in Star Wars
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I admire this show for keeping Meryn Trant on Arya’s list, even though a lot of viewers – myself included sometimes – won’t remember who that is
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Anybody else get super creeped out when Qyburn wanted to keep that head? That guy is the Dr. Krieger of Game of Thrones
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