Jon has difficulty convincing the Wildlings to join his cause, Sansa promises revenge for Reek’s betrayal, and Dany and Tyrion have a sitdown. Get a sneak peek of tonight’s Game of Thrones “Hardhome”, airing at 9:00pm ET|PT on HBO.
In last week’s Game of Thrones episode, “The Gift“:
Castle Black: Jon (Kit Harington) and Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) saddled up and rode north of the Wall to gather the remaining Wildlings. Yet, most of the Night Watch still believed the plan to be reckless and treacherous. Samwell (John Bradley) stayed behind and he and Gilly (Hannah Murray) took care of Maester Aemon (Peter Vaughan) who was on his deathbed. In his last hours, Maester Aemon reflected on his youth, recalling how his younger brother Egg (Aegon) was a sweet baby, like Gilly’s son. He also warned Sam and Gilly to flee south ASAP. Maester Aemon died and Samwell gave the eulogy the next day, citing his wisdom and kindness.
Now that Jon and Maester Aemon were gone, Sam didn’t have many friends at Castle Black. When two of the Night’s Watch attacked Gilly, Sam tried to help her, but was beat up very badly, until Ghost came and frightened the two of them away. Sam was hurt and a little embarrassed, but Gilly cleaned him up and then provided some sexual healing. (*OOLALA*)
Winterfell: Reek (Alfie Allen) brought Sansa (Sophie Turner) food in her room. It was clear that she’d been locked there and forced to suffer Ramsay’s (Iwan Rheon) attentions at night. Sansa was hurting and appealed Theon to help her light a candle in the window of the broken tower. She tried to encourage him to remember who he was before Ramsay’s torture. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Reek went straight to Ramsay and reported Sansa’s plan. Outside, Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) watched for the signal that wouldn’t come.
Later on, Ramsay took Sansa on a walk. He talked about the impending fight with Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) and how he expected to be Warden of the North one day. Sansa was quick to remind Ramsay that his position as heir was tenuous, especially since he was a bastard. But Ramsay was still confident, after all, bastards could accomplish a lot…hadn’t Jon Snow, now Lord Commander of the Knight’s Watch? (This was the first Sansa was hearing of this). Then Ramsay then showed Sansa how he’d skinned her lady’s maid alive (the older lady who brought Sansa the message from Brienne). She wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Outside Winterfell, Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) tried to convince Stannis to turn back to Castle Black. The horses were dying, they were running out of food, and they couldn’t march in the storm. But for Stannis, winter was coming and time was of the essence. They would march forward. Stannis was also upset with the Red Witch (Carice van Houten) since her prophecies weren’t coming true. But she reiterated that she was sure that he would take Winterfell. To ensure victory, Melisandre wanted to use Shireen’s (Kerry Ingram) blood for an incantation, but Stannis refused to involve his daughter.
Dorne: Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Bronn (Jerome Flynn), and the Sand Snakes were still being held in prison. Jamie spoke to Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free) and tried to explain that Cersei (Lena Headey) was worried and wanted her to come home. But Myrcella had no intention of leaving Dorne…she loved Trystane and would marry him.
Bronn faced off with Tyene Sand (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers), first disagreeing about whether she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Tyene then revealed that she’d poisoned her daggers, so when she cut Bronn, he was infected and would soon die. She would give him the antidote to “The Long Farewell” if he admitted Tyene was the most beautiful woman in the world. Bronn did so immediately and then chugged the antidote. (Tyene 1, Bronn 0).
Meereen: Dany (Emilia Clarke) and still seeing Daario (Michiel Huisman), even though she’s engaged to Hizdahr zo Loraq (Joel Fry). Daario seemed jealous, even though Dany assured him that her marriage was a purely political arrangement. He then tried to offer her counsel…Dany should marry him, then gather all the masters of Meereen and slaughter them. But Dany wasn’t free to do what she liked and she wasn’t a butcher.
Jorah (Iain Glen) and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) had made it to Slaver’s Bay and were eventually sold by Malko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) to the owner of one of the fighting pits (although Tyrion had to prove his worth by beating up one of Malko’s men).
Later Dany attended a demonstration at the same pit where Jorah and Tyrion were sold to. When Jorah realized Dany was there and about to leave (she didn’t like watching the violence), he came out and successfully beat all the other fighters. When Jorah took off his helmet and revealed himself, Dany demanded he be removed from her sight. But Jorah begged, he brought a gift! Just then, Tyrion showed himself…and our two faves came face-to-face:
Dany: “Who are you?”
Tyrion: “I am the gift. It’s a pleasure to meet you, your Grace. My name is Tyrion Lannister.”
King’s Landing: Lady Olenna (Diana Rigg) tried to reason with High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) about freeing Loras and Margaery. She offered him gold and even threatened to stop sending food to the capital, but High Sparrow only wanted to serve the gods and execute justice. Loras and Margaery would be punished for breaking the sacred laws, like anyone else would be. “You are the few, we are the many.”
Elsewhere, Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) was very upset that his Queen was in prison. He even threatened to start a war (though it wasn’t very believable). Cersei comforted Tommen and promised to speak to High Sparrow and help free Margaery.
Lady Olenna went to see Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen) and his now destroyed brothel and reminded him that they had killed Joffrey together. So if the Tyrells went down, she would take Little Finger with them. But Petyr had a simple solution: “I have a gift for you…a handsome young man”.
Cersei did visit Margaery (Natalie Dormer) and essentially gloated…she was thrilled to see her would-be competition brought so low. Before Cersei returned home, High Sparrow asked to see her. They talked about Loras and Margaery’s trial…the Tyrells’ finery would be stripped away. But High Sparrow intended to strip away Cersei’s finery too. Lancel (Eugene Simon) had confessed all of Cersei’s sins…incest, adultery, even more! Cersei was taken and imprisoned, though she fought the entire way. (Sweet, sweet karma!)
In tonight’s episode “Hardhome” written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and directed by Miguel Sapochnik:
Arya (Maisie Williams) makes progress in her training. Sansa confronts an old friend. Cersei struggles. Jon travels. (via HBO)
In this week’s Entertainment Spoiler Room, we get some news about Jon’s travels and the upcoming Dany/Tyrion conversation:
“Jon Snow and Tormund run into trouble after they reach the outpost of Hardhome, and the result is arguably the show’s most ambitious battle scene—and certainly the most special effects intensive—that we’ve seen yet. According to GoT aficionado James Hibberd, it took nearly a month of shooting for a roughly 20 minute sequence, which is pretty insane for a TV series. Bonus: We’ll also have Tyrion and Dany’s first big sitdown chat, and it’s everything fans have hoped for.”
The preview for “Hardhome” (below) confirms that Jon and Tormund will have difficulty convincing the Wildlings to join them. And even if Dany is willing to hear Tyrion out, she might not be planning on forgiving Jorah (*CRIES*):
You know, I have NO doubt that Sansa will make Reek’s life even more difficult…he will come to regret betraying her. I still think that Brienne should just swoop in and take Sansa, whether or not she lights the candle. Perhaps when Ramsay leaves to face Stannis in battle? What do you think?
Take a look at these images from the new Game of Thrones and remember to tune into HBO at 9:00pm ET|PT for “Hardhome”. Come live tweet with me as we watch.
