This week on Game of Thrones

Following last week’s relatively uneventful, measured episode, Game of Thrones cranks the dial up to eleven with this one. Last time was the safety briefing; now we’ve hit the first drop on the rollercoaster.

We open in Winterfell of old, as Bran and the Three-eyed Raven watch the previous generation of Starks in their younger days. The scene serves as an excellent reintroduction to Bran, and an effective way to familiarise the audience with his growing abilities; without resorting to an exposition dump.

We finally catch a (non-stone) glimpse of Lyanna Stark; getting some idea of character. This serves to give us some context on the woman who launched a civil war, and puts her in the forefront of our minds in anticipation of next week; when we’ll be treated to perhaps one of the most important events in recent Westerosi history. Interestingly, there is also a glimpse of young Hodor, with his faculties intact. Given the tight pacing of this episode, it seems unlikely that this would be included without cause.

Then, in King’s Landing, it’s Myrcella’s funeral, but first we stop by the pub to pay our respects to the flasher from Cersei’s walk of shame last season. Alongside a very agitated Robert ‘totally not the mountain’ Strong. I mean, come on, his name is in the credits. This scene is actually pretty funny, and provides a nice respite from all the other seriousness in the episode. In fact, in general the writing has managed to pull off dry wit pretty well so far this season.

Jamie continues his journey towards not giving a fuck and almost straight up murders the High Sparrow (is it just me that he reminds of Bernie Sanders? It doesn’t help that his primary rival, Cersei, has a little trouble with faithful husbands) in the sept; stopped only by the appearance of a lot of the faithful. This scene also gives us a fantastic line in the form of the Sparrow’s codded warning to Jamie, “I fear a great many things…the father, the mother, the warrior”. Cersei’s original cold and vindictive persona also makes a bit of a resurgence, after the previous episode’s attempts to make her seem more sympathetic and likeable. The balance struck here is just right.

In present day Winterfell, whatever Roose Bolton’s machinations for Ramsey are move forward as his wife gives birth to a baby boy. For about two minutes, that is, when Ramsey decides to stab him to death. Poisoned by his enemies, such a sad way to go. This may be the biggest issue with the episode. Bolton Sr. feels completely wasted, and his arc a massive anti-climax. Maybe there was some miscommunication between writer and director, but the constant baiting of Ramsey on his part really felt like it was part of some grand scheme. What other possible reason could someone as supposedly shrewd as Bolton have for pushing Jr. that far? Total narrative blue balls. Oh, and then Ramsey has his dogs eat his step-mum and baby brother. I didn’t mind this too much, but his villainy is just reaching cartoonish levels now. Next week, I predict he’ll dress up like a ghost and try to scare away Mystery Inc. from the abandoned amusement park.

Back in Mereen, things continue to fall apart, so Tyrion decides to see if he can get the Dragons involved. The scene actually adds some interesting depth to the dragon’s characterisation, and makes them feel like more than just the one note killing machines we’ve seen up till now. Dinklage, in particular, is on top form here, as he does a great job of building tension considering he’s working with CGI.

Theon decides to part ways with Sansa and head home; promising to make good to the Starks. But which home? Will he head to the Iron Islands, or to Winterfell, to try and get even with Ramsey. Speaking of the Iron Islands, we’re finally reunited with Balon Greyjoy. And then he gets pushed off a bridge. Hey, at least he technically won the War of Five Kings. This also serves as an exposition heavy and storm saturated, albeit still fairly effective, introduction to his brother, Euron.

And finally, at Castle Black, Jon Snow wakes up. Some other cool shit happens too; the wildlings kick Thorne’s ass and we get to see the giant again. But really, Snow’s resurrection was deftly handled. I’m glad they didn’t drag it out too much, since it was fairly obvious he’d be back. Too much narrative focus has been on him until now for that. It’s also an exciting indicator for just how much is likely to happen this season. The hype train rolls onto the next episode, where it seems an even bigger revelation awaits.

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