In Meereen, Grey Worm is alive, but badly injured. Barristan is dead, and Daenerys is beside herself. She orders the leaders of all the families in the city be brought to her. A dozen or so men are brought into her dragon’s cave. The dragons lurk in the dark, and the Unsullied push the leaders forward. One of the leaders is pushed forward, and one of the dragons sets him alight. The other dragon joins in, and they each take and end and tear him apart like a wishbone. “Maybe all of you are innocent; maybe none of you are. Maybe I should let the dragons decide.” As she says this, she puts her hand on Hizdahr’s back. He doesn’t move, doesn’t even flinch. The guards take all the leaders away, Hizdahr included. Daenerys stays back to watch her children feed. After getting advice from Missandei, she visits Hizdahr in his cell. He drops to his knees and begs – he does not want to die. Daenerys thinks this shows courage and admits she was wrong. She agrees to reopen the fighting pits, but to free men only. Slavery will never return. And in order to show her devotion to the people of Meereen, she has proposed marriage to him. Hizdahr does not seem to mind. Elsewhere, Grey Worm wakes and admits he was afraid he would never see Missandei again. She kisses him.
We spend an unnecessary amount of time with the Night’s Watch this week. It’s a lot of talk and a lot of extra scenes that went nowhere. Jon wants Tormund to gather the Free Folk and bring there. He doesn’t want them to kneel for him; he wants them to fight with him. Tormund isn’t keen on the idea but he concedes – if Jon comes with him to assure the Free Folk they won’t be torched mid-sea. Jon agrees, and borrows some ships from Stannis. Most of Night’s Watch is against this idea, Olly included. Apropos of nothing, Stannis compliments Samwell’s father, and congratulates him on killing the white walker. Samwell admits he doesn’t know why the obsidian worked to kill it, and that is why he spends so much time in the library. Stannis approves of Samwell’s approach. Come morning, Stannis and his men march to battle. Selyse and Shireen go with him – he thinks they are safer at the battle site than with the Night’s Watch.
Brienne believes Sansa is in danger, even if she doesn’t realize it. An old man brings her some food, and she asks him about the Starks. The man is suspicious, but Brienne asks him to get a message to Lady Sansa. He does, by way of Sansa’s handmaid, who informs her that she still has friends, and if she needs help, she is to light a candle in the window of the broken tower. “You are not alone,” the woman promises. Which is helpful because Ramsay’s lover, Myranda, is jealous of Sansa. Ramsay had promised to marry her. He reminds her that he is a Bolton now but promises to have “plenty of time for her” after the wedding. She threatens to marry someone herself, which pisses off Ramsay. “You belong to me,” he informs her, then reminds her that jealousy bores him. “Remember what happens to people who bore me?” They kiss, and she bites his lip until he bleeds. This excites Ramsay, and he f**ks her like crazy.
Later, Myranda finds Sansa ogling the broken tower. Myranda starts talking to her about her dress and her mother, clearly trying to befriend Sansa in that “mean girls” way that only girls can. Sansa is rightly suspicious, but follows her to her father’s kennel and encourages her to go in. She is nervous, but she goes, and is surprised to find Theon/Reek sleeping amongst the angry dogs. He is ashamed, and she runs. As Reek dresses Ramsay for dinner, he confesses that Sansa saw him when she came to the kennel. He sobs and apologizes, and Ramsay commands him to his knees. Reek is certain he is in for it, but instead Ramsay forgives him. It is a tense moment that reminds me of some depraved horror film.
That night, Sansa and Ramsay have dinner with Roose and Walda. Reek is serving, and Sansa can hardly look at him. Ramsay assures her that he was punished for what he did, and he makes a big show of making Reek apologize to Sansa for killing her brothers. Then Ramsay announces that, since Reek is the nearest thing to living kin Sansa has left, he will give her away at their wedding. Everyone is uncomfortable – except Ramsay, of course. So Roose decides to share his own good news: Walda is pregnant, and the doctor thinks it is a boy. Ramsay is pissed and Sansa enjoys watching him squirm. After dinner, Ramsay insults Walda because of her weight. (“How can you tell she is pregnant? How did you manage to find it?”) He is worried because Ramsay is Roose’s son and heir “until a better alternative comes along.” The boy has no interest in his mother (“She had me, she died”) but Roose decides to tell him anyway. She was a peasant girl, married to another man, which infuriated Roose. He killed her husband and raped her beneath the tree where he hanged. She returned a year later with a baby she claimed was his. Roose whipped her to death and was about to throw Ramsay into the river when he looked – and saw himself in the baby. “The north is ours, yours and mine,” Roose assures him, and Ramsay seems sated.
Not much has changed between Jorah and Tyrion. Jorah still won’t speak to Tyrion; Tyrion will speak of nothing but wine. Things change when Tyrion realizes they are traveling through Valyria. Apparently, the Doom is safer than pirates. The ruins of Valyria are beautiful and eerie. The two are distracted when Drogon flies by; Tyrion is absolutely dumbstruck. This allows the men to be set upon by Stone Men, who jump down off of ruins into the boat and the river. Jorah fights the Stone Men viciously, while Tyrion, still bound, can do little besides avoiding them. He throws himself overboard to avoid the touch of one, but is instead pulled under water by another. A long moment of black, followed by Tyrion waking on the beach. Jorah saved him, and cuts his ties. The sun is setting; they will sleep. Come morning, they will try to find a fishing village and get another boat. Jorah heads off to find some wood to start a fire, but first checks his wrist (out of sight of Tyrion, of course). He has the greyscale.
With the exception of the exceedingly dull Night’s Watch scenes, this episode had all the makings of a great (if mish-moshed) horror film. The psychological horror that Ramsay delivers to Reek is scarier and more intense than any horror movie I know of (and I watch a lot of horror movies). Then, the Stone Men attack like zombies (the fast, strong kind). They come out of the mist, out of the ruins, from under the water, jump into the boat… it’s not a battle; it is an almost supernatural attack.
You can check out the promo for episode 5.06 in the player below. Titled “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” the episode is officially described as follows:
“Arya (Maisie Williams) trains. Jorah (Iain Glen) and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) run into slavers. Trystane (Toby Sebastian) and Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free) make plans. Jaime and Bronn reach their destination. The Sand Snakes attack.”
Written by Bryan Cogman and directed by Jeremy Podeswa, “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken” is set to air May 17. “Game of Thrones” airs Sunday at 9 P.M. EST on HBO.
