Game of Thrones – Season 5 Episode 7
“The Gift”
In Episode 7 of this season of Game of Thrones we find Sansa’s situation with the malevolent Ramsay much the same as last week. Reek now being her only chance of escape he turns her in to Ramsay instead. We can only wonder if Theon Greyjoy is still in there somewhere. At Castle Black, Jon Snow heads off to find the Wildlings while Sam and Gilly are left do care for a dying Maester Aemon. Sam finds himself in a position of having to defend Gilly, stnding up to the Crows and then losing his virginity will do a great deal for Sam in this harsh worls of fragile masculine pride. Somewhere between Castle Black and Winterfell we find Stannis’s army struggling against the elements, and he refuses to sacrifice his daughter to the Lord of Light… at least for now. This seems unlikely after Stannis can display great affection for Shereen. At the fighting pits we find Deanerys less than chuffed to see Mormont and she is introduced to Tyrian, the gift, who would potentially be an invaluable allay against the Lannisters. The episode ends in fantastic fashion when Cerci gets a taste of her own medicine as The High Septon turns against her. Her fate might depend on the actions of Tommen but I cant see him jumping to free his mother any time soon.
After the rape scene last week it’s been reported that a lot of viewers have been put off by the show. Personally I didnt find anything wrong with it as its simply a reflection of the time period the show is attempting to represent. The story threads are certainly building up to what will no doubt be an equally gruesome season finale. We find Sansa in a desperate situation who pleads to Reek asking him to stand up to Ramsay and become Theon Greyjoy. No joy was the outcome as we know. I think, or more hope that Reek will have a part to play in the downfall of Rasmay, and I think this is what most Game of Thrones viewers would like to see. However, generally the show doesn’t turn out as we’d like it to so I wouldn’t be surprised if nothing becomes of that. We get a slight glimpse of Brienne of Tarth at the end of this scene which suggests she is still keeping her eye on Sansa. I’m sure she will be involved in her fate at some point.
At Castle Black Jon sticks by his decision to go and enlist the help of the Wildlings despite the protests of a large section of the Nights Watch. I think every week he shows his strength as a leader and it seems like we can expect him to go on to bigger things than the Night Watch and become one of the bigger players in Westeros. I do think this part of the story has possibly been neglected slightly recently and I think this episode does highlight that. In Jon’s absence Sam stands up for Gilly as she is being harassed by a couple of Crows by taking a beating. He shows resilience by still fighting Gilly’s corner, who still seems to struggle in her new environment away from Crasters Keep, and living with a large group of men isnt doing a lot of good into integrating her into “normal” society. Fair enough Sam probably would’ve ended up dead if it wasn’t for Ghost showing up (who wasn’t with Jon for some reason) but that’s beside the point. This leads to the tamest sex scene the show has ever seen which will have no doubt done wonders for Sam’s confidence. I doubt that his brave defence of Gilly will be the last heroic act we see from Sam the Slayer.
Staying in the North and we find Davos and The Red Woman once again both giving Stannis different advice. Davos wants the army to go back to Castle Black and hold out until winter, as Ramsay points out earlier in the episode, the Northerners are used to fighting in the snow, Stannis’s army is not. The conflict between Davos and Millisandre is pulling Stannis in two different directions and the lat time this happened at Blackwater, he listened to Davos which in hindsight was a mistake. Stannis rules out the possibility of going back to Castle Black but as we have seen recently he has a lot of affection for his daughter so her sacrifice does seem unlikely, I think his actions will all depends on how hungry Stannis is for the Iron Throne.
We find a convenient situation in a low fighting pit where Deanerys turns up to see Mormont cracking some skulls. He kills several of the other slaves to reveal his face, only for hers to fall. We haven’t yet found out what will happen to Mormont but factoring in this particular situation with his Greyscale sickness, I doubt he’s got too long left alive. Tyrian on the other hand introduces himself to Deanerys and is “The Gift” the episodes title suggests. We still don’t know what her intentions are with Tyrian either but if she intends to take her army to Westeros to take on the Lannisters, she could have no better person with such a volume of inside knowledge of the Seven Kingdoms.
The last scene of this episode of Game of Thrones included a fantastic twist as The Faith Millitant have Cerci locked up. They don’t explicitly give the reason but I imagine her main crime will be incest. This will be popular with a lot of viewers as the group she helped come to power have now turned against her. We have to wonder now with his wife and Mother now locked in the dungeons if Tommen will finally show some balls as King and bring in the army to sort them out. However, he is known for his softness and The High Sparrow can sense an opportunity to do what he claims he feels is right and bring about some kind of class equality in Westeros. I don’t think this will turn out as he intends, even if he is able to dispose of Cerci and Margery, this could easily cause a massive war between the Lannisters and the Tyrells that the Failth Millitant, at the moment, just don’t have the resources to influence.
Overall
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8/10
Summary
Another solid episode of Game of Thrones as Stannis faces a dilema between his daughter and victory and Jon stays headstrong about his decision to ask for help from the Wildlings. I hope in the next couple of episodes this part of the story will make some progress.
We also have to feel really sorry for Sansa over the last few episodes in particular and this week is no different, I’m really looking forward to when or if Ramsay gets his comeuppance, as we know, the audience rarely gets what it wants in terms of who dies at what point.
Mormont doesn’t look to be in Deanery’s favour after thier meeting in the fighting pit, I cant imagine that his fate here is going to be a happy one. Tyrian is presented to Deanerys and will surely be an essential ally to her as The Game of Thrones reaches its final furlong for season 5.