Personal growth, dragon fire, and the New North. Game of Thrones Season Five Episode Five “Kill the Boy” review.

Jon Snow in the New North. I want to ruffle those curls. Photo from entertainthis.usatoday.com

GREY WORM, STAY ALIVE PLEASE- initial reaction to the opening scene. I know that feeling is shared. 

The Mother of Dragons lost one of her own, Ser Barriston Selmy. He was a beloved character who died a hero’s death. Daenerys’ rage at Selmy’s death and Grey Worm’s almost-death is palpable. Making the heads of powerful families enter the dragon’s lair was an amazing scene of fire, death, burning flesh, and barely controlled power. Who knows how much longer the dragons will stay tied up? Dany seems to be losing control of Meereen. 

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Viserion and Rhaegal do the dragon thing and kill two of the men who were heads of their respective families. This is a fantastic spot for some character progression and Dany bestows it upon us with telling  Hizdahr zo Loraq she will re-open the fighting pits. She also tells him she will marry him. Only Dany could go from killing someone with dragon fire one day to proposing the next. Well, it wasn’t much of a proposal. It was really more like a statement Hizdahr zo Loraq didn’t dare refuse for fear of burning alive. Nevertheless, the character progression is there and it’ll make for some interesting turns.

 “A good mother never gives up on her children.”

Thankfully, Grey Worm lives and gets all ashamed because he was afraid he would never see Missendei again. She kisses him. Get it, girl.

Up in the new North, things have changed and continue to change. However, a few things still remain the same. People tell Jon Snow he knows nothing, half of his Night’s Brothers don’t trust him, and people in the North remember Sansa Stark.

Jon asks Maester Aemon for advice. Great advice, you old Targaryen. “Kill the boy and let the man be born.” I feel like Jon’s going to reach a breaking point and kill one of his brothers in cold blood or something. The constant teasing and mistrust has to eat away at him like frostbite. Even though the integration of two people, the Night’s Watch and the Wildlings, is basically unheard of in history in this world, it’s surprising the men aren’t willing to open their minds when it’s clear they’re fighting a losing war. Still, it’s realistic in the books and the show.

Pod and Brienne are in the New North, talking about Sansa’s situation. She talks to one of the old servants who knew Ned and his father and asks to get a message to Sansa. This storyline is so intriguing to me because it doesn’t happen in the books so I have no idea what’s going to happen. I’m learning that’s not always a bad thing. I adored Sansa’s and Theon *ahem* Reek’s reunion and how Ramsey forced him to apologize for killing Sansa’s little brothers. George R. R. Martin gets 10/10 for writing awkward weddings, but 10 gold stars to the showrunners and the writer of the episode, Bryan Cogman, for writing the best awkward dinner. 9/10 would recommend. The tenth person attended the Red Wedding.

I think a huge character turn is coming for Sansa. So much s building up for her, there’s so much for her to get upset at, and I hope she kills someone or runs away or something. I wanted Sansa to demand an apology from the Boltons.

Ramsey screws a girl, Miranda, who is extremely jealous of Sansa. She has the most protruding hip bones ever. They have great butts, though. I’m really unsure of Miranda. She’s a completely green character and I’m not sure why she’s even in the show yet.

I think Miranda wants to tear Sansa’s skin off and wear it to her birthday. Sansa, dear, why would you go down a creepy tunnel because some weird girl told you to? She finds Theon Greyjoy (Reek). She gets a nice power walk going, but I wanted her to slap Miranda or something. In the books, Ramsey skins a few of his fingers, and no doubt the showrunners were alluding to that with the “get on your knees and give me your hand thing.”

Theon is clearly terrified. Those two are easily some of the best scene partners in this show. Fun fact: the actors who play Theon and Ramsey hang out a lot in real life.

I loved Ramsey’s face at the pregnancy. He looks absolutely murderous, which is possible coming from someone suffering from crippling only child syndrome.

My favorite line was Gilly with “Is this every book there is?” She’s adorable and a great opposite to Sam.

I loved that Stannis recognized Sam’s worth. It was a great, humanizing moment for Stannis and he proved he’s not like his brother, Robert, who only cared about strength and not knowledge.

Tyrion still tries to be an alcoholic and he’s still delightful.  Mormont takes him to Valyria and they recite poetry together, aww. This is a great historical moment. They’re traveling through a place destroyed by dragons as they head to a woman who can’t control her dragons. If history has taught us anything it’s that love-sick exiled knights will always repeat history.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it certain fiery death?!  Speak of dragons and they shall appear, amirite? (okay, I’m out of clichés for now.)

I enjoyed how the Stonemen were done. They were…stone-ish. And mean. It worked. What didn’t work is Jorah getting Grey Scale. He never got Grey Scale in the books and I don’t like that he did in the show and I read the books so I get to go “THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BOOKS, IT’S WRONG” but really anyone who can get past the nerd-superiority complex will realize it can work for the show. I don’t like how they cut Jon Connington and Aegon. They would have been a tantalizing challenge to Daenerys’ claim to the Iron Throne, being the only known Targaryen. I want more characters who have fire in their blood. It would make Dany less special, but the Targaryen’s are great characters.

I give this episode 8/10.