The new season of opens on a scene that feels more Grimm than George R.R. Martin: Two young girls walk through a dark forest, the braver and blonder one urging them into a witch’s hut to have her f💖ortune told.
“You won’t like the answers,” warns the older woman, whose cackle fades us into the present, where Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) is heading to yet another funeral — ♔this time for her father, the late, not-so-lamented Tywin (Charles Danc🗹e), crossbowed in the gut by his son Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) in last season’s finale.
She finds her twin brother Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) beside the body, and here’s hoping this meetup is less cont๊roversial than their last funereal one.
For those just joining HBO’s drama, now in its fifth season, catching up on its labyrinthine storylines and scores of character names is extremely difficult. Even for “GoT” diehards, it can be hard to keep track of it all, which is why this season opener feels laꦓrgely like a big memℱory jog.
Yet despite flitting between seven settin👍gs, the episode is as dark and compelling as ever, hinting at a looming shift in power and perspective.
Despite flitting between seven settings, the Season 5 premiere is as ꦗdark and compelling as ever, hinting at a looming shift in power and perspective.
Fan favorite Tyrion is unceremoniously uncrated by Lord Varys (Conleth Hill), who’s had the murderous dwarf shipped to him in Pentos, a locale far-enough f🌸lung from King’s Landing that he’s unlikely to be found immediately. Tyrion’s eager to start drinking, but Varys has a pitch: Travel to Meereen, where it’s rumored there’s someone with the army and the mass popularity to overthrow the Lan💎nisters.
“Good luck finding him,” says Tyrion. “Who said anything about him?” Varys re🥂spond🐷s.
Speaking of Daenerys Targaryen, she’s still ru꧟ling the former slave city, where she’s being asked to re-open its fighting pits for free men to compete in. 🍌“I do not respect the tradition of human cockfighting,” she says, though her new consort, Daario Naharis (Michiel Huisman), thinks she should do it.
He says this while nude and pouring himself wine at h෴er bedside, which adds a certain boldness to his argument (and perhaps it’s a nod to viewer outcry for more equal-opportꦯunity nakedness on the show).
There’s more male nudity on display in King’s Landing, where Loras Tyrel♌l (Finn Jones), brother of Margꦯaery (Natalie Dormer), is caught in flagrante delicto by his sister, who seems entirely unfazed by his blond boyfriend. She hints that her mother-in-law Cersei — whom Loras was intended, by the late Tywin, to marry — might not be around for long.
In brief, Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) and Podrick (Daniel Portman) the squire hit the road, while Li♋ttlefinger (Aidan Gillen) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) embark on a ca൲rriage journey to somewhere.
But the real action in this episode l🌌ands at the Wall, where Jon Snow (Kit Harington) is trying to compel Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds) — a.k.a. t♔he imprisoned King Beyond the Wall — to join forces with Stannis (Stephen Dillane) rather than get burned at the stake.
We’re left still pondering the fates of Arya (Maisie Williams), Theon/Reek (Alf🀅ie Allen), Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright), an🐬d Hodor (Kristian Nairn).
But then, as Hodor would say … “Hodor.”