This, the first episode of the firth series opens with two young girls walking through the woods to a small shack where they find a woman; one of the girls demands that the woman tell her what will happen in her future. She is told that she will marry the king and have three children who will wear golden crowns and golden shrouds. It then becomes apparent that the girl was Cersei Lannister and she was recalling past events. With her powerful father dead she is certain that the family's enemies are just waiting for the right time to move against them.
Across the Narrow Sea Tyrion and Varys have reached Pentos; Varys still believes that Tyrion will have an important role ensuring that the right person ends up on the Iron Throne but Tyrion is just keen to be drunk. In Meereen things aren't going according to plan for Daenerys; one of the unsullied has been murdered while visiting a brothel and she is being petitioned to reopen the fighting pits where combatants would fight to the death; something she finds intrinsically offensive. If that weren't enough her dragons are growing even bigger and don't appear to be controllable.
At Castle Black Stannis asks Jon to persuade Mance Rayder to bend his knee and join his forces; Jon is convinced that Mance would rather die than bend his knee. Elsewhere Sansa and Lord Baelish are heading to somewhere far from the capital and Brienne is trying to get Pod to stop travelling with her.
While this wasn't as exciting as the previous episode it is still pretty solid; inevitably some time is spent reminding us what has been happening to some, but by no means all, the major characters. It also hints at many things to come; notably introducing a group known as the 'Sons of the Harpy'; a group opposed to Daenerys's rule, another religious group in King's Landing and having Stannis tell us of his plans to liberate the north then the rest of Westeros. This was all fairly interesting even though there wasn't much in the way of action. That isn't to say there was no action; the final scene showing Mance's execution was impressive as was the sight of the dragons, which have grown considerable since we last saw them. As expected the cast do a fine job; Peter Dinklage and Conleth Hill impressed in there scene together as Tyrion and Varys and Ciarán Hinds does a fine job depicting Mance Rayder as he prepares for his unpleasant death he is a character who will be missed. Overall this episode got the fifth season off to a decent start; I look forward to seeing the rest of the season.
Across the Narrow Sea Tyrion and Varys have reached Pentos; Varys still believes that Tyrion will have an important role ensuring that the right person ends up on the Iron Throne but Tyrion is just keen to be drunk. In Meereen things aren't going according to plan for Daenerys; one of the unsullied has been murdered while visiting a brothel and she is being petitioned to reopen the fighting pits where combatants would fight to the death; something she finds intrinsically offensive. If that weren't enough her dragons are growing even bigger and don't appear to be controllable.
At Castle Black Stannis asks Jon to persuade Mance Rayder to bend his knee and join his forces; Jon is convinced that Mance would rather die than bend his knee. Elsewhere Sansa and Lord Baelish are heading to somewhere far from the capital and Brienne is trying to get Pod to stop travelling with her.
While this wasn't as exciting as the previous episode it is still pretty solid; inevitably some time is spent reminding us what has been happening to some, but by no means all, the major characters. It also hints at many things to come; notably introducing a group known as the 'Sons of the Harpy'; a group opposed to Daenerys's rule, another religious group in King's Landing and having Stannis tell us of his plans to liberate the north then the rest of Westeros. This was all fairly interesting even though there wasn't much in the way of action. That isn't to say there was no action; the final scene showing Mance's execution was impressive as was the sight of the dragons, which have grown considerable since we last saw them. As expected the cast do a fine job; Peter Dinklage and Conleth Hill impressed in there scene together as Tyrion and Varys and Ciarán Hinds does a fine job depicting Mance Rayder as he prepares for his unpleasant death he is a character who will be missed. Overall this episode got the fifth season off to a decent start; I look forward to seeing the rest of the season.