The Small Fries

Sunday was the ninth episode of Game of Thrones. Those who watch the show know that this episode is one that marks a pivotal point in the season, meaning there is a huge plot twist or someone dies. The first season’s ninth episode gave us the tragic end to Ned Stark's life. Season two, we saw the Battle of Blackwater. The following season was the game changing Red Wedding, and last season the long awaited battle at The Wall. This season, though it fell short of the high expectations set by its predecessors, was full of quite a few jaw dropping moments.

SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP ON GAME OF THRONES!

We last saw Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and his band of Wildlings taking to the seas in order to escape the White Walkers and their Army of the Dead. Well now they've finally made their way back to Castle Black and to several unhappy members of The Night's Watch. "You've got a good heart, Jon Snow," Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale) said, "but it’ll get us all killed." Thanks, Alliser. Jon was already feeling like a failure from the attack. Way to go, making him feel like he's failed at Lord Commander. However, thanks to Sam (John Bradley-West), Jon sees that he's saved these people from a very bitter death.

Moving to the complete opposite end of Westeros; Dorne. Doran (Alexander Siddig), current ruler of Dorne, has summoned Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to meet with him, Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma), Prince Trystane (Toby Sebastian), and Princess Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free). Doran decides to let Jamie go back to King’s Landing with Princess Myrcella. However, her engagement to Prince Trystane was to stand, and he is to accompany them to King’s Landing and take Oberyn’s place on King Tommen’s small council. Bronn (Jerome Flynn) is released; Ellaria asks for a second chance from Doran; Everything appears to be running smoothly. Knowing what we do about the events taking place in King’s Landing, what will happen when the party reaches their destination?

Across the Narrow Sea is where we find Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) serving the Many-Faced God. She was given a task in the last episode to kill the “Thin Man,” but this gets put on the backburner when a man from her past arrives in Braavos. Meryn Trant (Ian Beattie) is escorting Lord Tyrell (Roger Ashton-Griffiths) to the Iron Bank. Ser Meryn is on Arya’s long list of people she wishes to kill one day. She follows him throughout the city and into a brothel where she sees him about to take advantage of a very young girl that works there. Giving the viewers and Arya just another reason to despise this evil character. We can only assume that Arya has something in mind for this man, and “The Thin Man” lives for another day.

I know it seems we are jumping all over the Game of Thrones world, but that’s because these next two storylines are best to kept for the end of the review. Let’s start with Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) . He is currently somewhere between Winterfell and Castle Black. Last week, Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) wanted to take twenty men and raid his camp, which turned into a successful one. They burned through their food and weapons, causing a time of hardship to fall on to Stannis’s camp. There was no saving them now. They didn’t have enough food and supplies to march back to Castle Black, and the snow was too deep to march on to Winterfell. Stannis sent Davos (Liam Cunningham) back to the Wall for supplies. Davos insisted on allowing Princess Shireen (Kerry Ingram) and Queen Selyse (Tara Fitzgerald) to accompany him. “A siege is no place for [them].” However, Stannis was stubborn. “My family stays with me.”

With Davos gone, there is no one to stop what will happen next. Stannis, whom we saw earlier in the season bonding with his daughter and being a great father, has won Worst Father of the Year Award. He has handed Shireen over to Melisandre (Carice van Houten) to sacrifice to the Lord of Light, basically burning her at the stake. Shireen’s bloodcurdling screams are too much Selyse, who attempts to save her daughter but is stopped by the guards. I hope your sacrifice was freaking worth it Stannis! It’s not completely out of character for him to pull a ruthless move like this, but you’d think he’d show SOME restraint against burning his only daughter alive. I was shocked at the thought of him following through with it, but then again, it is Stannis. He all but told Shireen he was going to sacrifice her when they had a moment discussing destiny. As much as I want him to storm Winterfell and take down the Boltons, he went about it the wrong way.

Finally, in the episode, we end in Meereen in the fighting arena. Daenerys is overseeing a large competition of fighters with Hizdahr zo Loraq (Joel Fry), Daario Naharis (Michiel Huisman), Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), and Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel). Much to Dany’s surprise, Ser Jorah (Iain Glen) is competing and wins by the skin of his teeth. While having a silent moment with her from the arena, he quickly picks up a spear and throws it at her, piercing a Son of the Harpy in the chest. This leads to a huge attack where hundreds, if not more, Sons of the Harpy attacking people in the arena, making their way to Daenerys. Jorah and Daario help get her to safety, Hizdahr is stabbed multiple times, and Tyrion saves Missandei. With the group of survivors trapped in the middle of the arena by several of the Sons, they have nowhere to turn and the battle appears to be lost. That is, until Drogon appears. That’s right, he has come to save his mother. Setting many of her attackers aflame and ripping through several others in a very Jurassic Park-esque way, he saves her. She climbs on to his back, and we finally see the Mother of Dragons take flight.

The episode definitely ended on higher note than the other famous ninth episodes. Shireen’s sacrifice is the darkest this season has gone, and with one episode left of the season and so much to wrap up. Things could get even darker. We still have to see what happens to Cersei, Sansa, and the Wildlings on top of what Daenerys will do next and the trip back to King’s Landing for Jamie. We also have the battle over Winterfell and the North between Stannis and the Boltons. So far this season has been lacking in action, as compared to the earlier seasons, but that doesn’t mean it has been any less intense or suspenseful. It has set up great story lines for our characters and is letting Karma do it’s job to the flat out evil character(s). Now to patiently wait for the finale to wrap everything up and leave us with a cliffhanger that will cause us to suffer for the next ten months.

Catch the season five finale June 14th at 9ET.

Miss season five, or seasons one through four? Catch up on HBOGo and tune in to HBO Sundays at 9ET.

--Kasey