SPOILERS for the past four seasons of Game of Thrones
SPOILERS for last night’s premiere episode
Game of Thrones Season 5 premiered last night. I found Season 4 to be deeply satisfying, so while I was super-excited about the premiere, there weren’t many “OMG, I have to see how this situation turned out” moments. I knew Tyrion was okay after he killed his father. I knew Dany was still trying to figure out how to be a good queen and that her dragon-babies would not like to be chained up. I knew Melisandre would take an interest in Jon Snow. But there were some surprises and shocks, I guess. Let’s do some highlights.
Brienne of Tarth. I’m worried about Brienne, you guys. Ayra didn’t want her help (completely reasonable) and Brienne is aimless, her oath to Catelyn Stark unfulfilled. But I like that we got a so-close-and-so-far moment where Sansa is literally just yards away. Damn you, GoT!
Sansa Stark. Dark Sansa, or Alayne Stone (that’s her AKA amongst the people of the Vale) is here. We don’t have the weak, victimized Sansa any longer. With Littlefinger’s help, Dark Sansa is coming into her own as a leader, manipulator and strategist. Or something. I have to admit, I like the chemistry between Sansa and Littlefinger. He enjoys her so much. And the scene where Robyn is learning swordplay? Hilarious.
Dany. I love that GoT writers and producers know we want to see the dragons in the first episode just to know that they’re still there. They’ve gotten bigger in the past “months” of the show too. And they are not happy with Dany at all. And where is Drogon? He’s checking out the world, yo. As for Dany with her lover, Daario…. I like that actor a lot. And he’s got a cute butt and great shoulders and arms. I don’t even give a crap about what he says and how he’s trying to manipulate Dany. I just want more Daario shirtless.
Tyrion. Tyrion is so depressed, you guys. I like his beard but I hope the whole season isn’t Tyrion being depressed and drunk. I want him to be witty and cynical!
Cersei/Jamie. I figured out in a few seconds that the little blonde girl in the opening was a young Cersei, but who was the brunette girl? Was it Lyanna Stark? Anyway, I loved the witch’s riddle and I loved that Charles Dance came by to do one last scene as Tywin. I loved that Cersei is still pissed at Jamie. I loved that we got a glimpse of things to come with the Sparrow movement. I can’t wait for Jonathan Pryce/High Sparrow to come to Kings Landing!!
Jon Snow/Mance Rayder. I wasn’t expecting that. I wasn’t expecting Mance to die in the FIRST EPISODE of the premiere. I thought it was going to be a whole season of Jon and Mance chatting to each other in that dank prison cell. Death by fire? I guess I would expect that from Melisandre and Stannis, but it really was an awful way to go and I loved that Jon Snow had enough and put Mance out of his misery. Ciaran Hinds gave a post-death-scene interview to Entertainment Weekly – go here to read. R.I.P. MANCE!!
Photos courtesy of WENN.
1) Dany annoys me. I might be the only person who watches GoT (don’t read the books) who can’t stand Dany! I think she’s a terrible leader – oops, pardon me – queen. Very stubborn and arrogant. Could that have to do with her age? Maybe. She still annoys me. Also, those dragons were terrifying! I feel kind of bad for them, all chained up like that 🙁
2) Why was everyone’s hair black?! Sansa’s beautiful red hair – gone. The Red Witch or Lady or whatever and her hair – black. What’s up with that??
Actually, out of my GoT network, I know maybe one or two people who like Dany. I am among the haters. She lost me when she chained up the dragons.
I don’t dislike Dany. I think she’s boring and she’s becoming predictable.
I thought the same about the red hair!
And the dragons..sads.
Sansa dies her hair because she is in hiding. She’s accused of murdering Joffrey.
Dany annoys me too. I just cannot get down with Emilia Clarke’s acting. I don’t think Dany is the savior of Westeros that the show is making her out to be. I want the dragons, all 3, to leave her.
Sansa dyed her hair last season before she revealed who she really was to Vale Lords, I am guessing they remembered that bit of continuity. I think whatever filming thing they used for the wall made Melisandre’s hair darker.
I just cannot feel Kit Harington’s acting either. The constipated/confused look has got to stop.
Overall it was a slow episode, the kind they have to have to set things up. The best parts for me were Cersei and Stannis. RIP Mance. Wish the show did more with you.
@Tifzlan;
Sansa’s hair is black because she’s pretending to be Petyr’s niece. The red hair makes it more obvious that she’s Sansa aand Cersei believes Sansa is complicit in Joffrey’s murder.
I think Melisandre’s hair is still red but it did look almost black in this episode. They’re either using a darker wig for the actress or the blue-ish filter they use on Castle Black scenes might make it appear less red than when she’s on Dragonstone.
@Kaiser;
According to HBO casting material (I don’t want to give book spoilers), Cersei’s childhood friend is named Melara Heatherspoon…so no-one significant like Lyanna Stark.
Okay, all of this makes sense now – thanks for cluing me in everyone! Truthfully – and i have no shame in admitting this – i can’t keep up with the billions of people and storylines that exist in GoT so i tend to forget what has happened/who is who.
Yes, and her friend’s future was that death was near, coming that night, and then she “mysteriously” drowned in a well or something to that effect. Wish they had added that in
I really don’t want to sound like one of those snotty “oh, I’ve read the books” types, but she’s a bit less grating in the novels (at least IMHO). In them she’s a good number of years younger, which does explain a bit of her behavior and arrogance and so on. As for the dragons, they sort of had to be restrained because they were eating people, sheep, etc etc. I don’t personally like it, but her options there were limited.
Can you tell I’m actually a Dany fan? LOL. I do hope that her character develops more, but we’ll see!
This show has AMAZING actors but the one’s they chose for the most important roles (Danny and Jon) are just mediocre. What a huge fail.
TBH, I had to force myself to not skip her chapters in the books. She bores me senseless, and choosing Emilia for the role was the only casting mistake the producers or directors made IMO. I can tolerate Kit.
I’ve also read the books and in them I looked forward to Dany chapters. On the show, not so much. I think on the show she’s just the same in every scene – tries to act tough, makes a stupid decision, whines about things, repeat. Also – it’s just BORING. This part of the book was boring too. Sitting around Maureen, boning her piece, and trying to act all Queenly. Step it up!
I feel so sorry for those dragons. I think she totally miscalculated by locking them up. It isn’t as though they can burn her up: fire can’t harm her.
She needs to get a backbone and build up a ‘relationship’ again with her dragons. I blame the guy who wrote the books by the way. People who’ve raised wild things tend to find that those wild things don’t forget them and sometimes are even still glad to see them: there is more than one video I’ve seen of a lion and a pack of wolves greeting their respective humans after not seeing them for awhile.
She’s not immune to fire, actually. Common misconception. Targs historically have a higher tolerance for fire/heat than other people but they are definitely 100% vulnerable to being killed by fire, especially by dragonfire. Several Targs have actually died because of fire. A bunch of them died in the fire at Summerhall including Aegon V, one Targ died when he tried to drink Wildfire, and Dany’s father himself wanted to burn alive in King’s Landing (albeit because he believed he’d emerge from the flames as a dragon).
What happened with the funeral pyre was a one-off, blood magic event. If it hadn’t been for the blood magic she’d have burned alive.
GRRM has clarified that Dany’s not immune to fire. The show makes it look a bit that way by showing her liking hot water and touching scalding stone without being burned, but it’s not the case.
Sansa has dyed her hair so she can pretend to NOT be the red-headed girl that everyone in Westeros is looking for to get the reward from Cersei for conspiracy to murder Joffrey.
Dark Sansa? You mean her hair right? Because honestly, I think she needs to do a lot more than changing her hair color and looking sulen for me to believe she’s past being a victim and crying about it.
I really can’t wait for Tyrion to meet Dany and I do worry about her lover. Let’s hope he doesn’t screw her over.
Sansa is not a victim, she’s a survivor.
I’m here for Dark Sansa this season. Her and Littlefinger are complex and creepy and I’m loving it.
Me too! Unpopular opinion here, but I LOVE Sansa’s storyline. She’s a far more complex character than people give her credit for. Not necessarily likeable, though.
She’s a survivor of the events she herself set in motion. I do not have simpathy for her.
I agree about her being a survivor. As a side note, I find it really gross when people call abuse victims “weak.”
@Diana B, Sansa made the deal to save Ned in good faith, and she was so young she hadn’t reached puberty. She was a child. The person who put it all in play is Little Finger, assisted by the Lannisters, and even Varys. I hope Sansa figures out that LF is responsible for her father’s death, and the subsequent war that killed her mother and brother, and separated the entire family.
Sansa gets kind of a raw deal from fans, particularly in comparisons to Arya. People seem to forget the upbringing the character had: extremely sheltered and surrounded by a loving family. She wasn’t taught war and tactics like the brothers, she was raised to be amiable, domestic and marry a prince charming… instead she got Joffrey and a hard and fast lesson on the duplicity and cruelty of life at kings landing. Considering how naive she was it’s a miracle she survived.
IMO her storyline is quite a poignant portrait of how women have been used and abused throughout history by men in power: denied an education then reviled for their ignorance, and married off to the highest bidder. It’s also why I have modicum of sympathy for Cersei, because as horrid as she is, she constantly fights and connives to have control of her own destiny and not be used as a pawn and toy as Sansa was.
I read an interview clip with Kit Harrington and he said there’s a lot of Jon Snow this season. I’m not thrilled about that. I was hoping for Brianne to go back to Kings Landing and shagg the sh!t out of Jamie Lannister. I would watch that over and over.
My understanding from the books is that Sansa is known for her red hair, and dying it black is all a part of being undercover. Remember Cersei blames her for Joffrey’s death.
Ahh ok that makes sense.
Me and Mimif were complainy last night, yeah we LOVE the show but it moved at a pace that was glacial at best… My notes as follow:
* Daenerys Narrative is DRAGGING – Time would be best spent advancing this narrative and fixing her wig than trying to make this whole Grey Worm/Missandei Thing that wasnt in the books happen
*I wish we would have seen when Cersei finds Tywin
* Jon Snow’s Narrative only kinda sucks as is cause in the book you hear his inner thoughts
*I was FURIOUS at the intro not giving me Braavos and Dorne, They are making us wait unnecessarily for the good shit ( also Of note Winterfell is not burning but with the Dreadfort Flying)
* a Whole season of Dorne and Braavos Arya’s Big Adventure
* IDEK why bother with Sansa Passing Brienne .. It serves NOTHING and Brienne encounters are good in and of themselves as they are
I too regret that they didn’t include the scene when Cersei learns of Tywin’s death – SPOILER, but not really, she was one of the last to know and it enraged her
How did Cersei learn about Tywin’s death in the book?
She learned of it after everyone practically did and Shae was there as well which was both unbecoming and also a thing he had done before (install a whore in his chambers wearing her mom’s jewels)
also everyone knew where he was found and people would practically openly joke about “does a Lannister poo Gold?”
I could not agree more about Daenerys. Im pretty much over her for the moment- someone needs to light a fire under her ass and get her back on track to Westeros (hopefully Varys and Tyroin?), because her story line is going nowhere of interest.
Book readers- Does something happen with Danny to get her on her way, or are we bumping up against the end of the written books for her story line?
Dany was my favorite at the beginning but I agree her storyline has been a snooze fest while she has been in mereen. I read the books and it does pick up a bit towards the end of the 5th book!
@TX, without giving away too much, in the books, she spends a lot of time doing nothing and mooning over Dhario, while somebody is murdering her people, until stuff happens to her rather abruptly at the end of the last book. If the season’s trailers are any indication, they are going to skip over a lot of nothing to get to stuff happening. They’re also changing Tyrion’s journey a bit.
Are they trying to split the 5th book over 2 seasons so GRRM can catch up? Cuz dude is not gonna catch up. I wish HBO would just get on with it because shit needs to happen before this turns into a Walking Dead situation.
Also, can’t stand Meliblandre and her fakey fake everything. She makes Dany look entertaining in comparison.
^YO Mimif was it me or Melisandre went Hard on fillers in the Hiatus??!!! Sweet God!!!
Right? Her lips too, jesus. Conversely, I thought Cersei was looking a little less ‘toxy, which is good considering her grief.
HBO isn’t waiting for George. The writers met with him, pitched their idea of what the ending should be, he agreed that was where he was going with some variations, and they all agreed the series would follow its own path to the agreed upon ending
WAIT ALSO No shade but I HATE the whole Daario Naharis recast situation, I HATE they didn’t even bother to have this dude clean shaven and in a Long weave to at least give us the same styling??!!?!
Thank you. I was hoping someone would mention this! It took me several minutes to even catch on that this new dude was meant to be Daario. Not good.
The previous guy was WAY more charismatic and fun to watch. New dude better step it up, cuz right now he is bland milk.
Cat My BF was so besides himself that he makes the point to ALWAYS ask: WHO IS THIS GUY whenever his scenes come on
ITA. His character has no pizzazz at all. Not his fault, but without the color and flare GRRM gave him in the book, he’s just boring. His bare azz didn’t even do it for me.
actually, the thing with Brienne was really important, you just missed it. Remember right before, they were talking about how sansa has a brother (jon snow) at castle black which is only a few days ride away. That serves to show you that they are close to the north. It means that Sansa and littlefinger are headed NORTH!
So much man butt in the premiere.
If only it was Charlie’s…
Charles Dance? Yesssss.
Ha no way! Weren’t his dead pastie eyes creepy good tho?
Those eyes were scarier than the dragons.
Ha. I know. We should keep count.
So excited GOT is back. Melisandre still has red hair, it was the lighting. Sansa dyed her hair for disguise in the books and according to interviews to become her own person / move away from being Sansa Stark in the show universe. I enjoyed all the story lines last night except Dany is kind of boring. The only thing she has going for her are CGI dragons and naked Daario. I enjoy Sansa and Littlefinger interactions a lot more on the show than in the books. Aidan Gillen and Sophie Turner have surprisingly good chemistry. I like Brienne, but wish she was less nasty to Pod. Brienne wasn’t so rude in the books. She cared about Pod. 🙁
What they did to Brienne and Pod infuriates me. I don’t understand why they made her so nasty towards him, when she cared about him in the book.
I watched the first four leaked episodes and let’s just say, I hope I remember to start watching it again in 4 weeks. I think this will be a weak season.
And also, I don’t get Show Sansa. She’s supposed to be in hiding because Cersei blames her for Joffrey’s death. But now she’s going to traipse around the North as herself anyway?
You’re breaking my heart here, lila.
I still miss Drogo. That is all.
I still miss Ned Stark.
It was a decent start. I still find Dany’s post-Drogo life/storyline to be quite dull. I know that for her character development, he had to die but still. BRING BACK JASON MOMOA! I felt Peter Dinklage should have been recognized for his work last season and I can’t wait for Tyrion’s journey this season. Cersei needs to die. That is all.
Was the episode awesome? Maybe not.
But I’m not going to complain about any of it (well except for Dany, because I can’t stand her, but that has nothing to do with this episode).
A slow-paced, need to re-establish storylines GOT episode is still leagues ahead of most of what is on TV so, I was just happy to be back in that world.
Highlights for me were Varys & Tyrion and the mercy arrow that Snow gifted Mance with to close the episode.
What I want to know is why is a show that’s so rapey, so popular?
Rapey? They’ve toned it down from the books the Cersei/Jaime bit from last season was a mistake, never intended by anyone to be rape (although it did definitely look that way on screen), but I wouldn’t call the show “rapey”.
That scene between Cersei and Jaime was never meant to be “rapey.” In the book, they have wild, animal -like, even violent, but completely consensual, sex in front of Joffrey’s dead body, while Cersei has her period. I suppose because showing a character menstruating is something even HBO wouldn’t do, they heightened the wild, animal-like portion of the scene.
It was boring.
Ciaran Hinds is awesome. They can’t let all of that gravitas — go to waste! I’d be OK if they brought him back as Zombie-Mance Rayder….
Am I the only one who doesn’t like the actor who plays Daario? The entire time during their scenes I was thinking, “He is so bland and vanilla and a charisma vacuum (and inconsistent with his accent, but that aside). I have a hard time seeing how Dany would be not only drawn to him but then also listen to his advice.” I prefer the original casting for that role, as much as fans didn’t originally like Ed Skrein.
Edit: I see some similar sentiments upthread!
Ed Skrein was a lot closer to the book version of Daario then Michel Huisman is. Even though the show did not do Daario’s ridiculous get up with either actor, I felt Skrein had charisma and brought that dangerous-should you trust me? element to the character. Huisman is very attractive but I feel like he is playing a more cynical version of Cal, his character on Orphan Black.
I don’t know what happened to Ed Skrein that caused him to leave the show but I do feel he was better in the role.
Ciaran Hinds~what a hunk! I saw him for the 1st time in Rome, and have been fascinated by him ever since.