The Hound, after we never actually saw him die, returns in a
cold open and lives to fight another day. He takes up with a group of nice Unitarians
building a sept. The Hound wonders why he hasn’t been punished but he’s gotten
plenty of pain in his life, from his burned face to the beat-down by Brienne.
By the end of the episode, the Unitarians are dead at the hands of followers of
the Lord of Light and the Hound’s purpose is clear: Revenge. And I’m thinking
the Clegane brothers will clash again.
The one who left the Hound for dead faces death rather than
cheats it. Just as it seems she will triumph and get back to Westeros, Arya
takes a knife to the abdomen from a disguised Waif (and really should have been
more cautious when a stranger approached her). The wound is survivable and I
sincerely hope the season ends with Arya wiping the smirk off the Waif’s face.
The second broken man of the episode, Theon, finally seems
to have a breakthrough, thanks to some real talk from Yara. This is a welcome
development. Theon is definitely right that she could be more sensitive to his
mutilation but her speech was a much-needed bucket of cold water in the face for
her brother.
This week’s episode spent a lot of time with houses we
haven’t seen in awhile or that I can’t remember seeing before, like the Tullys,
Freys, Mormonts (except for Jorah) and Glovers. Sansa, Jon and Davos go on
their tour of Westeros to marshal forces to retake the North. The trio find
that the North indeed remembers but they remember the betrayals as well as the
alliances so getting people to fight is about as complicated as World War I.
“We fight with the army we have,” says Jon, in a Donald Rumsfeld-esque
pronouncement.
The ever-smart Davos finally wins over young Lady Mormont by
telling her that “the dead are coming” and none of the infighting among the
houses will matter once the White Walkers attack. This sounds like a sea change
for the show as more and more become aware of the advancing zombie army.
The Freys sound like the totally stupid white trash of
Westeros. They always seem kind of sleazy and easily confused. It was a really
dumb plan to take Edmure hostage against Blackfish. It was amusing to see Jamie
set everybody straight on proper military tactics.
In an unsurprising development, Margaery was faking her
devotion to the faith. It was clear she was lying as soon as she pretended the
Shame Nun was her BFF. It was an interesting comment by her saying that her
care for the poor was all just an act and she really had contempt for them. If
someone does concrete good for the poor, does it really matter to the poor if the
benefactor’s heart was in it? They’re still getting something to eat.
Margaery slips Olenna a drawing of House Tyrell’s rose and
warns her grandmother to hightail it back to Highgarden. As usual, Olenna was
highly entertaining in her smackdown of Cersei, calling the queen regent one of
the worst people she’s ever met. Cersei seemed, if not genuinely chastened, at
least annoyed that she’s lost a valuable ally. If these two are smart, they’ll
work together.
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