Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 9: Dance of Dragons
Let’s just start this one with the elephant in the room… and by the elephant in the room, I mean terrible father in the snow. I have been saying week after week how Stannis has been becoming one of my favorite characters this season. They have gone a long way to making him likable before making this happen. It was a deliberate set up meant to make us care before breaking our hearts once again. Proving yet again, that good people can’t survive in this world. Maybe that’s what was on his mind when he burned his only daughter to death. It wasn’t just a regular murder, it was burning her to death, possibly the worst way to go. I can only imagine the consequences of such an action.
I can’t say that I don’t get why Stannis did it (remember that time he murdered his little brother with a shadow baby and that other time he killed his wife’s brother?). He is a man obsessed with his legacy and goals who was backed into a corner his own ambition has put him in. He’s never been a bad man, he has always just been cold calculating and pragmatic before all else. He corrects grammar and refuses to lie in letters about the love between himself and his brother. He wasn’t particularly likable, but he was always consistent. This season they have been focusing a lot more on his humanity and showing how he makes allies and his love for his family. They introduced a deeper storyline between himself, Davos and Shireen just to make us care enough to cry.
We all knew what was coming when Stannis sent Davos away. After the whole “You are Princess Shireen of house Baratheon” speech about how much she mattered to him I thought things would turn out alright. That’s not how things work though. Ramsay Bolton, who seems to be the only person in Westeros capable of consistent success, ninja’d his way into a camp of THOUSANDS with twenty men and destroyed their supplies. He is definitely becoming a more and more annoying character and I imagine the payoff will be great when he dies, but he completely screwed Stannis.
I don’t know how he could’ve even managed to watch his child burn with that bearded poker face. Even Selyse, who I’m sure everyone had already labeled as a cold b*tch had a change of her black heart when she heard her daughter’s screams. The scene was a real tear jerker. It was so emotionally intense to hear a child begging for the father who betrayed her. Her only crime was believing in her father and encouraging him to do what she obviously didn’t know he would. This scene sets up such a huge amount of possibilities. His soldiers, who he was trying to save with this horrendous act, could barely watch. I wonder if they will still follow him. Certainly the very legacy he was trying to secure is now tarnished forever. By the way, where the hell is Gendry? Davos could’ve saved the little girl he loved so much if he didn’t help him escape. Why are royal advisors so bad at their jobs?
I know I’ve been on this particular topic for longer than a lot of my reviews even are in their entirety, so I’ll say this and move on: I don’t hate Stannis for this. As deplorable as this was, I think it’s consistent with who he is as a character. He has put his duty before family before and it’s clear at this point that he may be the only man in Westeros capable of making the hard decisions. There are some interesting parallels with the Mad King and even the Boltons, but I still place him at the top of the list of my picks for who should rule. He’s not a cruel or evil man, he simply does what he believes is best. His god told him to do something and he did it. I’ll just refer bible types to the story of Abraham and Isaac. Now does Stannis still seem so bad?
Arya has been thrown a curveball. I completely forgot about Cersei sending Mace Tyrell and Meryn Trant to Braavos. It was a good way to completely shatter Arya’s dedication to becoming a faceless man. She was very much intent on fulfilling her mission to reap justice on the insurance salesman, but this drastically changed things. I don’t think Jaqen believes her story of the thin man not being hungry, but I want to see where this is going. I’m sure she’ll use Meryn’s apparent hunger for young girls against him, or maybe she’ll continue being nobody as the Many-Faced God demands. Maybe she’ll just retire and sell Oysters.
Dorne is becoming a smaller and smaller part of each episode, but I’m confident that it’ll have huge consequences later. The funny part is that since it’s so political, it’s flying under the radar quite a bit when compared to the rest of the story. What many don’t seem to realize however, is that the decisions being made here are pretty impactful on the world as a whole. Jaime and Bronn are charming as always, but did anyone notice that Trystane has been promised a place on the small council? I can only imagine the havoc that will ensue when they get back to King’s Landing. It was a brilliant chess move from Prince Doran, who seems to be full of stratagems that only he understands. He is wise and crafty beyond measure, but I hope his threat to the Sand Snakes hold up. They are quite volatile. At least Ellaria seems to support Jaime and Cersei’s relationship.
After the intense battle that Jon Snow had to deal with last week, his scene was almost an afterthought here. He made it back safely with the Free Folk. Even though he got some very interesting viewpoints from Alliser Thorne and Sam (still don’t care for him), I still have a bit of a suspicion that his “brothers” are going to try to kill him. Maybe they’ll be smart enough to avoid being killed by the massive army he just brought through the gates by not doing so. Maybe they’ll get an army of white walkers up their a** to convince them to get with the program.
Finally to the best scene this week. It was hard to believe the possibility of momentum staying high after last week, but hey it happened. This is why I always give this show so much praise. They constantly build tension and they consistently deliver on it. This season got off to a very slow start, but they are definitely making up for it. The setups have been perfect and everything has felt so rewarding. My mother told me how excited she was to see Cersei drinking water off the floor last week. It’s just that kind of show.
That being said. HOLY SH*T! Jorah is continuing to be awesome and Mereen continued to prove that it doesn’t want Daerys. Of course the common folk are happy about the fighting pits, but it’s clear that they aren’t the ones in charge here. Maybe she should’ve followed Daario’s advice and killed all of the former masters. It would’ve been better than having the situation explode the way it did during Jorah’s epic and kind of unpredictable display. I didn’t see the spear chucking rescue coming at all and it was pretty unclear if he was going to survive.
The Sons of the Harpy are far more numerous than I expected, especially after Ser Barriston and Grey Worm killed so many of them. What’s interesting is the difference in clothes between the members of the rebellious group. It looked like former slaves might have been among their number. Fortunately, after hearing the awesome viewpoints from the spectators of the games (Daario being wrong about the winner of that fight was priceless), we got even more amazing action. Hizdahr didn’t make it (which I’m okay with), but Tyrion took a couple of enemies out. Maybe Dany should keep more of the Unsullied and Second Sons around for times like these.
Then just when things seemed as hopeless as they could get, Drogon. Yes! Just as the scene with Shireen’s death was one of the most brutal of the series, this one could be considered one of the most awesome. If the Hardhome attack hadn’t been last week, this could’ve easily been the best episode of the season. I can’t even do it justice. My recommendation is to just watch the episode. You won’t be disappointed. Daenerys’ largest child came to her rescue and I hope she sets Viseryon and Rhaegal free soon. She could be so much more imposing with all of her babies at her side. I have a feeling the finale next week is going to be amazeballs… Autocorrect doesn’t flag amazeballs by the way… who created that word and why is it officially part of the English Language? Describes this perfectly though.
Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
