Game of Thrones Recap: A Reunion

This week’s Game of Thrones gave fans something that the books have long been avoiding.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that the Stark children ever actually knew each other. They’ve spent years apart at this point, which has translated to over five seasons of individual adventures and frustrating missed connections with each other. The new episode, “Book of the Stranger,” finally ended that trend.

Each episode of Game of Thrones offers several storylines, and rarely are they all firing on all cylinders. That’s the case here as well, though “The Book of the Stranger” makes its case for the strongest episode of the season yet. Even though Jon Snow dropped the mic at the end of the previous episode, he’s still at Castle Black. Seeing him wrap up affairs takes away some of the power of his decision to leave, but his mind is made up. Until Sansa arrives.

This time, nothing gets in the way. Jon doesn’t leave at the last-minute, and there are no other contrived events to make sure that two Stark siblings don’t meet each other. What we are given is an emotional reunion that feels genuine and earned. These characters have been through hell, and even though Sansa and Jon were never close — Sansa refers to her past behavior as “horrible” — they might as be all they have left in the world.

Sansa wants Jon to take back Winterfell from the Bolton’s, a prospect that he’s not fully behind until he receives a letter fill with gruesome, Ramsay-style threats. We’re gearing up for a rumble in the North ; Jon and the Wildlings vs. Bolton and whatever Northern houses will follow. This is a decision that, at one time, Jon would have struggled with. Now that he has shrugged off his Night’s Watch responsibilities, he is free to play sides.

At this point, it feels like his only function is to constantly prove that there are worse people than Joeffery.

Brienne also drops the bomb that she killed Stannis to Davos. Her matter-of-fact way of telling it leaves both Davos and Melisandre satisfyingly speechless. It’s easy to feel bad for Davos, but, come on, Stannis had it coming.

The weak link in the episode doesn’t come from Deanerys this time (more on that later,) but from Ramsay. Ramsay has become a silly, cartoonish villain. At this point, it feels like his only function is to constantly prove that there are worse people than Joeffery. Osha was brought back for two episodes, given several short lines, just to be killed by Ramsay. For what purpose? Shock value?

Ramsay’s character had more definition when there was friction with his father, Roose. Now that Roose is dead, Ramsay has no bounds, and it has made his scenes predictable and boring.

We do get to see Theon return home to the Iron Islands, where is certainly not welcome. His sister is angry at him for not coming with her when she and her man attempted to rescue him, and she has no patience or understanding for what he went through. She think it’s a joke that Theon would want to participate in the King’s Moot, but that’s not why he’s here. He wants to support her as Queen. That plot doesn’t move forward more than that, but it does set up the second half of the season.

It would appear this season that Jamie has ceased all character development

Margery also has a reunion with Loras after meeting with the High Sparrow, and that doesn’t go quite as planned. It turns out that Loras doesn’t care about “winning,” he just wants to make it all stop. We haven’t seen Loras in a long time, and his current state doesn’t give hope about his future. At the same time, Cersei, Jamie, and Lady Olenna formulate a plan to storm the take Margery back by force. It’s actually surprising that it has taken so long to come to that decision.

It would appear this season that Jamie has ceased all character development and is now arm-candy for Cersei. That’s disappointing and will hopefully be rectified in the future.

Littlefinger returns this episode to continue to manipulate Robin Arryn. Give a boy a new hawk and he’ll do pretty much anything you say. Littlefinger uses this power to point Robin in Sansa’s direction, though his true intentions are, as always, unclear. More plotting, more scheming.