The Small Fries

This past Sunday was the game changing finale of HBO’s hit series, Game of Thrones. Over the last few episodes the showrunners have pulled out all the stops, and in “Mother’s Mercy” they kept at it, ending with the biggest jaw dropping moment since the Red Wedding. This, of course, led to many hilarious reaction videos that have taken over the internet these last few days. If you have not watched the season finale of Game of Thrones, I suggest you stop here.

SPOILER ALERT

I don’t even know where to begin to start, because so much happened on Sunday. From Arya going blind to Cersei’s Walk of Atonement to a Julius Caesar moment at the The Wall. We caught up with all of our major characters, save a few, and saw their current storylines reaching some sort of close.

BRAAVOS

Our favorite bad ass Stark girl has been in Braavos serving the Many-Faced God. However, last week we saw a man from her past arrive in the Free Cities. Everyone knew that this was going to change everything for Arya. Ser Meryn Trant was last seen in a brothel abusing young girls. Well, Arya has decided to take matters into her own hands when she murders him after pretending to be one of these girls. Returning to her sanctuary, Arya is taught a lesson since she took a life that was not hers to take. In the end, the last we see of her, she has become blind. I bet she didn’t see that one coming.

WINTERFELL

So much has happened at Winterfell since we last saw it. Stannis, after sacrificing his daughter to the Lord of Light, has decided to march onward to the fortress. Half of his men have deserted, Queen Selyse has killed herself, and Melisandre has left him and rode for Castle Black. Still determined to become King of the Seven Kingdoms, Stannis leads his men to a massacre. The Boltons kill all of Stannis’s men, leaving him to escape in the woods. Brienne of Tarth, however finds him dying against a tree. She has come to seek revenge against the man who killed Renly Baratheon. The camera cuts away just as she swings her sword at him, leaving us to wonder if he really is dead. Honestly, I’m going to save my prayers for resurrection for a different character that “dies” later on.

Meanwhile, Sansa is trying to make an escape while Ramsay is away in battle. However, Myranda Royce (Charlotte Hope) and Reek stop her, but no fear. Today is the day I have been waiting for. Theon breaks through and kills Myranda by throwing her off the side of the wall and helps Sansa escape by jumping off the guard tower into, hopefully, a soft pile of snow. I guess we will have to find out in Season 6 if they survived.

DORNE

Jaime Lannister, Bronn, Princess Myrcella, and Prince Trystane are all headed safely back to King’s Landing after bidding King Doran, Ellaria Sand, and the rest of the Sand Snakes farewell. This would be the point where someone would normally say, “And they all lived happily ever after.” But, this is Game of Thrones, and that NEVER happens. After Myrcella has a awkward yet slightly adorable father-daughter moment with her Uncle Father Jaime, she slowly dies from poison that was unknowingly given to her by Ellaria. WAY TO RUIN A SWEET MOMENT, ELLARIA! I can only imagine that things are not going to go over well with the remaining Lannisters. By the looks of it, Ellaria wanted a war with them, and I can almost correctly guess that’s what she is about to get.

MEEREEN

Last week, Daenarys managed to escape from the Sons of the Harpys with the help of her trusty dragon, Drogon, leaving behind everyone else to fend for themselves. Daario and Jorah have set off to search for their missing queen while Tyrion, Missandei, and Grey Worm are left to rule the crumbling Meereen. Varys has also been reunited with Tyrion. I cannot wait to see where their storyline goes in the next season.

Drogon has taken Dany to the middle of nowhere. As she tries to convince him to take her back to Meereen, he ignores her and shrugs off her attempts to motivate him. So, being the smart queen that she is, Daenarys leaves her only source of protection and goes for a walk, which leads to her being surrounded by a horde of Dothraki. We have now come full circle, Daenarys. You are back where you started.

KING’S LANDING

Cersei has been imprisoned for quite some time now, and we’ve had some glimpses into her time with the Sparrows, allowing us to watch our favorite most hated character suffer and get what she deserves. Finally, the Queen Mother breaks and agrees to confess to the High Sparrow, leading to a very powerful scene. She is forced to do a Walk of Shame and Atonement from the Sept all the way to the Red Keep, naked as the day she came into this world. The crowd is all but sympathetic to her as they pelt her with rotten food and trash along with making lewd comments and gestures. Once she makes it to the Keep, she breaks down and cries. Aw, poor Cersei, I wish I cared about your feelings. She is then picked up by the new and improved Ser Gregor Clegane, who has taken a vow of silence until all of their enemies have been expelled from the kingdoms. By the look on Cersei’s face at the end of this scene, she has a few people who just made the top of her list.

CASTLE BACKSTABBING (literally)

Okay, I am so over everything in this show, thanks to the backstabbers at Castle Black. After reluctantly sending Sam and Gilly to Oldtown so he may become a Maester, Jon is left with no allies. Not even Olly, that cute little boy Jon took under his wing. NOPE. Olly tells Jon that one of the Wildlings know where his Uncle Benjen, whom we haven’t seen since Season 1, is. Quickly he follows Olly outside to a grave marker that reads “traitor.” One by one, he is stabbed by his own brothers, including Alliser Thorne, claiming this was “for the Night’s Watch.” Even Olly takes a knife and stabs Jon right in the heart, thus stabbing me right in the feels. The episode ends with Jon in the snow, surrounded by his own blood.

That is how this season ends. How am I supposed to survive the next ten months with that being the last thing I saw of my favorite bastard Stark?! The only thing I can hope for is Melisandre does some of her Lord of Light Voodoo magic and brings him back. She will go from my “To Die” List to my “Favorite” List. There are several fan theories surrounding Jon Snow’s “death” that make a lot of sense. There are too many loose ends with his story, mainly the story about his parents. I will live in denial until season six, because Jon can’t be dead, therefore, isn’t dead.

This was a very intense season finale that kept me at the edge of my seat the entire time. I was honestly dying from anticipation the whole episode, because I knew that something big was going to happen. Little did I know it was the death of Jon Snow. *insert sobbing here* Now all I can do is catch up on the books and patiently wait until next April when season 6 starts. For most of the characters’ stories, the show has caught up with its source material, A Song of Ice and Fire. If you are curious about the differences and major changes that occurred this season, check out our special feature written by our guest writer, Jeff DeGraw!

Miss season 5? Catch up on HBOGo or HBONow!

Check back for information on Season 6!

--Kasey