Series Issues: Game of Thrones spills Blood of my Blood

Spoilers might be sitting at your table.

This week’s Blood of my Blood tried to put a certain emphasis on families, but let’s face it. This season has been twists galore, with one reveal after another. It’s those precious twists that are really making this season the best one to watch. Themes be damned, we’re just looking for another crazy reveal. We’ve become like Bran, yearning for another peek around the corner.

And speaking of Bran, he seems to be stuck in a bad trip of past visions, including the Mad King on his throne and his own fall from the tower back in Season One. When he finally stops channel-surfing he’s got just a moment to tell Meera that the undead army is afoot before they are pounced upon. Enter Coldhands, the strange character clad in back wielding fiery weapons that can kill undead enemies. It’s Bran’s own uncle, Benjen Stark, who almost was turned into a White Walker but was saved by the Children of the Forest with Dragonglass… Is it too much too soon? Was George R. R. Martin planning to reveal this one four books from now? The books really need to catch up.

The return of Samuel Tarly to his home went as well as you can imagine. His mother and sister were warm. His brother only talked about sports- hunting, specifically. His father was cruel, judgemental and racist. Gilly stood up for him, but Sam just cowered. For a moment I really thought he was leaving her there. Good Sam changes his mind, grabs Gilly and the kid and… And he steals the family’s sword: Heartsbane. Made of Valyrian steel. One of the rare (actually, there’s a few of them now) weapons that can kill a White Walker.

Back in King’s Landing, the Tyrells show up at the doors of the Great Sept of Baelor, along with Jaime Lannister. Unfortunately, they’re beaten by an alliance between the High Sparrow and King Tommen himself. At least Margaery was spared the walk of shame. However Jaime loses the title of Lord Commander and is ordered to lead an army to take back Riverrun from the Blackfish. It’s a quick way to reconcile the developments in the books, which already have him there. Everything that is certain is not so in Westeros. For instance, Cersei is certain the Mountain would be her winning piece for her trial as she plans to chose trial by combat. Your overconfidence is your weakness.

And finally, Arya’s plans to kill actress Lady Crane suffer a major reversal when she accidentally befriends her. Her change of heart causes her to prevent her mark from drinking from the cup that she poisoned. Unfortunately, the Waif has seen it and is quick to report it to Jaqen H’gar (or the man that looks like him). Knowing she can’t return to the House of White and Black, Arya goes back to the hiding place of her sword, Needle. She’ll need that. The Waif is coming for her neck.

Highs/Lows/Reveals:

• Yes, Daenerys has Drogon back. However, for all she spoke about taking back what’s hers in yet another rousing speech, it felt a bit flat. Daario made a much sharper point when he pointed out that she’s more of a conqueror than a ruler. Can she really bring a foreign army to Westeros and just take everything by force? Or should she consider staying in Essos and just grasp control of that side of the Narrow Sea?
• I’m torn by Arya’s decision to throwaway her training as a Faceless Man. On one side, she can be Arya again. On the other hand, was there more to teach? Shouldn’t she had started mastering face changes too? I have this scene vividly imagined where the Waif is about to kill her and Nymeria (her direwolf, vanished but not dead) saves her in the last moment. Can Arya find her wolf again?
• We also got a reveal where we see Walder Frey berating his sons for losing Riverrun. The big twist is that they still have Edmure Tully alive as a hostage. Well… Kind of a twist. He wasn’t a particularly featured character when we last saw him either. Since we’re reminiscing about the Red Wedding, could someone kill Walder Frey please?
• Also, Tommen is now a complete puppet of the High Sparrow. I don’t buy it from Margaery though. She’s buying her time until the situation swings again, but good on her for keep herself alive. Also, she did avoid the walk of shame. Unfortunately, she threw Tommen in with the High Sparrow so that’s questionable, I guess?
• There’s already been talk about Benjen Stark being alive, so everyone was half right. Ok, more than a few already thought he was Coldhands. Again, another reveal but are we rushing things? Yes. And good that we do, if we were to go by the speed of GRRM we’d still have Jorah and Tyrion in chains. A series can only last so long.
• Other than a rabbit killed by Coldhands, no blood was spilled. And technically it was collected in a cup, so none even.

That will do for now.