Diggity Doc

There's three ladies/girls in the North who either scare me or intrigue me, while there's a few more female characters around the map who also featured heavily for a variety of reasons. Hence, I'm only going to discuss the ladies (laaaay-deeez!!!!!).

At Castle Black, the lovely daughter of Stannis had a nice moment with her father, which you thought needed to happen. Despite having Greyscale take over one side of her face, her father still loves her despite her mother's rather sad dislike for her. Now, Stannis could have been serving up some lip-service, no silly, not lie the spine-tinglingy-awkward lip-service between Littlefinger and Sansa, but ya know, telling his daughter she's the Princess and that he loves her oh so much etc.

As long as my GoT memory can stretch, we've seen, what's her name, Shireen (Greyscale daughter girl) in some capacity. However, whenever this scene came on, I would kind of zone out as it didn't feel overly important, oh how dumb I was. Now, with Shireen setting up shop in Castle Black with her father, until the go take over the North, I've come full circle and Shireen just feels like she's got something to offer.

Crazy fire witch lady; Melisandre, who tried to take Jon Snow to funky town also wields some sort of power. It's unclear, besides her penchant for fire how she'll come to really impact the going ons in the North, but for mine, her scene with Snow was equally about her as it was about him. She looked friggin' sexy, but she also looked extremely powerful, sometimes those two things go hand in hand, hmm.

The last lady of the North was Sansa who bid farewell to her uncle/awkward lover/owner and must now simply hope for the best. A lot of these other characters, the females especially, have taken matters into their own hands while Sansa she's at the mercy of others. Should Stannis fail to take Winterfell, she just has to put up with Ramsay and the disgusting Bolton clan, on the surface she doesn't have much choice. Someone give her a 'Plotting 101' manual.

The author of 'Plotting 101' is Cersei Lannister and who knows what the fuck she's up to. Ah, wait she's running the show! We said a collective 'later bo' to Mace Tyrell and then saw this crazy group of religious .... nutters?? bring the ruckus and capture Margaery's brother, which then in turn made Margaery quite upset. Cersei 1 Margaery 0.

I did make a note of that power vacuum in King's Landing, it appears the Cersei is currently filling that out.

Non-female-sidenote; that guerilla religious army is odd. But let's take the time to remember that one of the only constants throughout history with regards to religion, has been violence.

Oh, but the High Sparrow is such a nice lad. I love him, but his minions, not so much.

Lastly, Daenarys. While not so much her, but how she's going to deal with another cheeky guerilla army who did the business against the Unsullied and her personal old man army. The Sons Of The Harpy are clearly dangerous, which when combined with equal parts Ninja and street knowledge makes them very dangerous. This is a test for Dany, her city is pissing on the pillars of foundation that hold her power aloft and she hasn't shown much ability recently to satisfy the needs of everyone, or at least come close.

Woopsie daisy, there's also the snake ladies. They've agreed to also bring the ruckus, I'm scared.

Wildcard

Yeah, now that’s more like it. Best episode of the season so far. It took a few weeks to get this big machine rolling again but now that it’s on the road it’s really cranking up the pace. Stuff just kept happening. Like the best mid-season episodes of this show, every scene seemed to slowly build up to something powerful then it’d cut away to do the same thing in another part of the land.

Now for the action… SER BARRISTAN, NO!!! I had that eerie GoT feeling that he was in for some bad karma, since not only did he pop up in an old Littlefinger tale but he also got to tell a ridiculously happy, nostalgic story of his own to Dany. No-one gets it that easy on this show. Buuuut, he’s probably not dead. At least not yet, or else it wouldn’t have made any narrative sense for Grey Worm to kill the last dude before he could slit the wise warrior’s throat. Good job, too many people die with their secrets buried in this damn world (looking at you, Ned Stark) and Ser Barristan has plenty of those, as the last remaining voice of reason from a simpler time.

A valuable lesson in arms this week: a spear is better than a dagger. Even ambushed in an alleyway, most of the Unsullied were able to put up a better fight than the Sons of the Harpy did. All those guys had on their side were numbers, golden masks, the element of surprise and the seemingly complete assistance of the local prostitute’s alliance. Who are pro-slavery, so it seems. Hmm.

Dany probably should have compromised while she had the chance, her steadfast denial of the sport of combat is starting to sound like the concussion police in rugby and league. If a dude’s willing to risk being disembowelled at work and have his final vision on this mortal coil be the squelching uncoiling of his innards into the dirt, then fair play to him. Now, performance enhancing drugs… there’s a different story.

What else have we got? Tyrion’s in a decent place considering he’s been kidnapped, but I can’t help but wonder what Varys is up to. Poor fella, alone in a foreign land. He’s bound to have a buddy somewhere who’ll help him out.

Cersei’s starting to play her aces. Apparently Kings Landing is a religious state now, and while the Head Sparrow lad seems legit (if not entirely trustworthy), the rest of them are violent and dangerous. Lancel Lannister first and foremost, how about the sin of boning your cousin for two seasons, buddy? At least you got the chance to repent. Book Brag – Cersei’s still got one or two moves left. Margaery’s got a couple too, though.

Poor Jon and Jaime, both pining over lost loves. At least Jaime’s is still alive, not that Jon isn’t getting offers. Melisandre using those feminine wiles for whatever purpose she can. Credit to Snowy for staying true, to his vows and to his dead love. Another Book Brag – are they just cutting out the baby thing on the wall? Seems like that storyline was kinda important, maybe they’re just delaying it. Also, was that a smudge on Jon’s parentage? Get on it, conspiracy theorists.

Damn it was good to see Bronn again too.

Is it just me or is the Sansa/Littlefinger union not as creepy as it once seemed? Like, compared to Ramsay Bolton she could certainly do worse than a powerful Lord who completely adores her. The awkward kisses on the lips are still tough to bare though, especially in the crypts. Maybe keep it strictly paternal for a while there, Carcetti. You’ve got a campaign to run, son, no scandals.

Hey Keisha. Nice accent. Not bad with a spear either.

GoT Leaderboard:

Jon Snow – Can you feel her ‘heart’, Jonny? Can ya? (Last Week = 1)
Cersei Lannister – Margaery calls, Cersei raises. (NR)
Stannis Baratheon –Who’d have thought the most heart-warming moment of the season so far would come from Stannis? He may be a cold-blooded admiral but he’s a kind and generous father. (3)
Tyrion Lannister – Yeah, you’ll be fine buddy. You know it and we know it. (5)
Bronn – The bloke’s still got it. Plus it looks like teaching might be a further career path if he so desires, albeit in a Whiplash kinda way. No flashy death for him though, he’s looking for a boring exit. Keeps slaying like that and he’ll get it too. (NR)
Sansa Stark – Neither of the options are ideal, but either way she should stand to get her home back. Betcha there’s plenty of underground support for a reclaimed Stark regime. (NR)
High Sparrow – There’s nobody more dangerous on Thrones than a person whose motivations are unknown. Littlefinger and Varys have made careers of it. (9)
King Tommen – Already getting iced by wifey, but at least he’s starting to stand up for himself. (4)
Jaime Lannister – That left hand’s getting better. Turns out the right one’s got some use still too. (NR)
Ser Barristan Selmy – Pull through, matey! Come on! You can do it! (NR)