User Reviews

As this episode opens Stannis's camp is attacked by a small force lead by Ramsey Bolton; important stocks and vital horses are destroyed and the attackers departed before anybody knows what is happening. This leads Stannis to order Davos Seaworth back to Castle Black to get further supplies; with him away Stannis does what Melisandre has demanded and makes a shocking sacrifice. Further north Jon and the Wildlings get to Castle Black and are relieved when the gate is opened. At the other end of Westeros Jaime Lannister meets Doran Martell and negotiates to take Myrcella back to King's Landing.

Across the Narrow Sea in Essos Arya sets off to assassinate the 'thin man'; as she nears him she is distracted by the arrival of a boat carrying Mace Tyrell and more importantly Meryn Trant. She neglects her mission and follows Trant to a local brothel; she doesn't act against him but learns that he will be back the next day. In Meereen it is time for the Games where combatants fight to the death in the fighting pits. One of those fighting is Jorah Mormont who is determined to show his loyalty to Daenerys. As the fight ends The Sons of the Harpy attack spectators and move to kill Daenerys; she and a small group are surrounded in the middle of the pit when salvation comes in the form of one of her dragons.

So far each 'episode nine' has either featured the surprising death of major characters or a battle that takes up the entire episode; this episode doesn't fit that pattern but it is still one of the most gripping as it frequently looks as though major characters are in real danger. This isn't to say that no recurring characters die; the death of Shireen Baratheon was one of the most surprising and disturbing deaths to date even though she was a relatively minor character. Arya's scenes were also fairly tense even though it never felt as though she would come to real harm. The highlight of the episode was of course the action in Meereen; this was exciting. This is especially true once the Sons of the Harpy attack… even though I suspect many viewers will have expected a dragon to come to Daenerys's rescue it is still great when it appears. Overall a gripping episode that left me looking forward to the series finale.

The Dance of Dragons is not only another classic episode, but it felt more emotional and compelling and it made me feel a bit sad. Mostly because of the choice Stannis made when he choose to sacrifice Shireen Baratheon, a sweet and innocent girl. I've heard that it polarized critics and fans of the books. Some liked it for it's strong character development while others hated it for betraying Stannis' character after the past few seasons. Anyway, everything else is so compelling.

The characters are still believable, the story/script is well-written this time around, the action is great especially the end of the movie where Daenerys flies on her dragon which takes your breath away and the music score from Ramin Djawadi suited really well. The pacing is great and doesn't drag, the directing is great, the scenery/set/costumes are still gorgeous to look at, and the performances are still great. So, overall, another classic episode that is emotional and compelling. :)

The show's run of ninth episodes have been consistently excellent, either relying on a shocking and emotional character death or an elongated battle sequence. The Dance of Dragons, whose title is a play on the latest novel in George R.R. Martin's source material series, takes the two conventional episode nine structures and mashes them together, not unlike the ways in which Aegon and Rhaenyra Targaryen fought in the titular Dance of Dragons, set decades before the show's time frame. This historic battle provides the framework for the episodes two most notable scenes; Shireen's sacrifice and Dany's reopening of the fighting pits, both of which I'll get to later. There's bound to be controversy surrounding the former, a narrative twist I would like to immediately defend, but if the Game of Thrones following has any justice left, no-one will attack the events of the episode's closing sequence. Because that was just awesome.

The Dance of Dragons hits its stride after we leave the Wall and Braavos and Dorne, as the episode's final half hour lies solely with Stannis and Dany. This episode saw Stannis suffer an attack from Ramsay and his men overnight, leading to him succumbing to Melisandre's cruel plan to sacrifice his daughter Shireen to the Lord of Light. This is unquestionably a horrific ordeal to watch, and director David Nutter's notion of filming the faces of those watching rather than the victim suffering isn't a far cry away from the framing of Sansa's rape back in episode six. It's already been proclaimed that this was entirely out of character, for Stannis to sacrifice and burn his own daughter at the stake, but I fail to believe this. Stannis was, after all, introduced as a man so insistent on taking the throne that he murdered his own (innocent) brother in cold blood, and willingly sent hundreds of men to their death after the wildfire explosion in Blackwater Bay. Every time Stannis has been backed into a corner, he has relied on and taken Melisandre's advice, and it is entirely justified that he would do so again, now that he's in his most difficult corner yet.

Earlier in this season, Stannis and Shireen had a heartfelt moment in which Stannis told her the story of how he saved her from Greyscale, and proudly declared her as his daughter and someone whom he loves. Perhaps bis uneventful time the Wall softened viewers to Stannis, a man who, let's face it, has shown repeated signs of bordering on insanity. When placed in that context, it is Stannis and Shireen's nicer scene that feels more out of character than his sacrifice of her. The show rarely portrays Stannis in a positive light (there isn't much there to portray, after all), and for him to burn his own daughter at the stake feels entirely true to both his character and his motives, as difficult as it is to watch. And that it is, I'd place this only a fraction below the emotional weight of the infamous Red Wedding, this time two seasons ago. We knew what Stannis planned as soon as he sent Davos away, so for Shireen to unknowingly offer herself up for the sacrifice was a heartbreaking scene, followed only by her sudden realisation and ultimate demise. Screaming for her parents whilst she burns alive, Kerry Ingram (Shireen) gave the performance of the season in the show's most emotionally devastating sequence in years; a moment that will not be forgotten easily.

But it is followed by a sequence that, whilst far from the emotional weight of Shireen's death, is arguably the most intense fight the show has offered. And this is coming just one week after Hardhome, which, despite being the larger and more surprising fight, didn't have anywhere near as much at stake. After Jorah won his battle in the fighting pits, he throws a spear directly towards Dany, only for it to impale an incoming Son of the Harpy warrior. This immediately escalates into a full blown fight, with Dany and her company stranded in the middle of the arena, surrounded by attackers. As Dany takes Missandei's hand (the shot that stuck in my mind the most), she closes her eyes, and then we hear it. Dany and Drogon's relationship has been rocky for a while now, but it only seems right that he would come to save her in her most dire moment. Drogon fends off the attackers while taking a few spears himself, but when Dany approaches him he screeches at her. This was the moment that both Dany and the viewer understood the same thing; if she doesn't get him out of there, he will kill everyone, including the likes of Tyrion, Jorah, and Missandei. In what I can only describe as the most breathtaking moment of the entire show, Dany climbs atop of Drogon and leads him to the sky.

And, for some reason, I found this really emotionally affecting. Dany has been my favourite character in this show for quite some time now, and to see her and Drogon together in such a way hit me harder than I imagined it would. They fly off together, leaving her company (and the audience) stood in awe at what they've just seen. This has been a slow season for Game of Thrones, but it was needed after the bloodbath that was season four. Every ounce of character work and narrative setup has led to this episode, and it exceeded any expectation I had of it. Every now and then, a television episode comes along that is all entertaining, thrilling, emotional and shocking. The Dance of Dragons managed this seamlessly, delivering the best hour of television so far this year.

The most disturbing thing about this episode is Stannis burning her daughter alive for what he believes is the greater good, justifying himself with "If a man knows what he is and remains true to himself, the choice is not choice at all. He must fulfill his destiny and become who he is meant to be, however much he hate it." He believes he is the one true king and the one above the rest as a man with a great destiny upon him and with god backing him off. He will probably get disappointed after his god is a demon after all and all his plans are ruined. He will really regret doing the thing he did. At least the other players believe in themselves and not in some god that ask you to kill your daughter. And the mom regretted killing her own daughter at the last moment, she worried about her at the last correct moment. When all he did before was despising her.

Well, having just watched the episode I am still processing the things I saw. The episode certainly delivered scenes that evoked a lot of emotion - both sadness and elation to the degree few other shows can. Some will be mad as usual about the harshness of the storyline. *Spoilers follow for the episode so don't read if you haven't seen it*

The episode primarily consisted of Stannis' choice in the north and Dany's arc. It developed Arya's arc which is leading hopefully to her confrontation of someone on her infamous list. The Dorne players made peace - setting up for the future.

The first main storyline was the betrayal of Shireen Baratheon by her parents to the witch Melisandre. Though I was hoping against hope that Stannis' love for his daughter would win over his desperation - this was not the case. Those who claim this is inconsistency in his character though have viewed him with rose colored glasses. Let us not forget he had his brother Renly killed the last time he was at a critical juncture and sadly enough, his familial love once again lost out to his "destiny" and ambition. Stannis is brave and tough as Blackwater exhibited but those who ever thought he was a "all round good guy" were deluding themselves. He killed his brother and now he killed his daughter. I was never Team Stannis but still wonder how his "destiny" plays out and will look forward to seeing what develops. His wife redeemed herself slightly in this instance but still had let her brother burn in the beginning of season 2 so hardly an innocent either. Melisandre is well Melisandre - lives are just pieces on her board. I am sad for Shireen and Stannis is going to lose the good people that believed in him. Certainly Davos is going to be heartbroken.

Now when Stannis clashes with the Boltons - I can only hope that Littlefinger wins (following his plan to swoop in at the end and defeat the weakened winnder) - lol saying a lot that Littlefinger is the one that I clearly root for in the battle of Winterfell!

Dany's arc was suspenseful and glorious. At first I worried that there was no way I would be able to watch it after the horrible thing that happened with Stannis but the interactions of her companions quickly captured my attention. I am glad to see Jorah redeem himself (though his time is limited by his disease) and the image of Drogon flying in and defending Dany was marvelous as was her mounting him for the first time. Tyrion and Dany's mercenary boytoy were both in excellent witty form. There are going to be repercussions for the Sons of the Harpy and it was good to see some of them burn by dragon fire. We will see what happens next episode.

In the end, the episode had both great sadness, suspense, and awe- inspiring imagery in the colliseum. As usual Thrones did not play it safe and many will as usual threaten "rage-quits" though at this stage honestly it sounds hollow - if you've been watching this long, you don't want your drama to take the safe route - you want it to push the boundaries and this is what GoT does. Sometimes you'll love it and sometimes you will be angry and heartbroken - don't pretend you don't know this by now.

I didn't think they'd be able to match the quality of last week's episode "Hardhome", but here we are! "The Dance of Dragons" is without a doubt one of the most suspenseful and shocking episodes we've had so far - for a multitude of reasons...

Firstly, I was surprised that Ramsay Bolton's "attack" on Stannis was over in under sixty seconds, and that we didn't actually see him or his twenty men, however it set up a decision for later on in the episode which I understand some took to disagreeing with.

Jon Snow lets the Wildings through Castle Black and Ollie shoots him a nasty look - what is he planning? I fear that all of Jon's hard work may quickly be undermined by this young boy and his hatred for those who butchered his family.

Arya's storyline is much more interesting in this episode as she's torn between her desire to become no-one and to please the Many-Faced-God, yet she's also oh-so-eager to cross some names off that wonderful little list of hers. I'm interested to see what her final decision will be: stick to her given task or go off and get her revenge.

And what of Stannis' storyline? Well, I can't say his decision surprised me. Stannis has victory and the Iron Throne on his mind, and he will stop at nothing to get what he sees his destiny to be - as this episode clearly evidences. He sacrifices his own daughter Shireen to the Lord of Light in order to aid his war efforts and take Winterfell from the Boltons. I have to ask: were some people honestly surprised by this? Have you been paying any attention at all? This is Game of Thrones - nobody is safe:

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."

Stannis murdered his own brother back in season two, sent thousands to their deaths in the Battle of Blackwater, forced his men to march on Winterfell despite the imminence of winter, and he even cut off the fingers of Davos! Surely nobody could possibly be surprised that he would sacrifice his own daughter? Especially since Melisandre repeatedly proves that her visions are true and the Lord of Light is powerful. Stannis is undoubtedly one of the most ruthless men in Westeros, so if you thought this was out of character for him, either start paying more attention or just stop watching altogether.

The Fighting Pits: Daenerys, Jorah the explorah, Tyrion, The Sons of the Harpy, and Drogon. What more could you want? The duel with Jorah was exhilarating to watch. I truly thought for a second that Daenerys would stop the fight and have Jorah saved. I also thought that if she didn't intervene Jorah would surely die. I was wrong on both accounts: Jorah wins and expertly (and startlingly, I might add) throws a spear and kills a Son of the Harpy getting too-close-for-comfort to Daenerys. At this point, the Sons of the Harpy reveal themselves and the horror unfolds; the panic sets in and the bloodshed begins.

It seemed hopeless for Daenerys and her allies, trapped in the middle of the pit, surrounded by far too many foes for them to take alone. And just when it was almost over, when she closed her eyes and held hands with Missandei, the electrifying screech of Drogon echoes and our hearts skip a beat. He comes to the rescue and sends the Sons of the Harpy running with flames at their feet.

And then we are rewarded with something I never thought we'd see - Daenerys riding Drogon. I never thought she'd ever be able to, or would, but she did. And boy was that perfect. She truly is the Mother of Dragons - although that being said, at this point it seems appropriate for her to free Viserion and Rhaegal (her other two dragons, currently chained up) after this very close call.

After what was a very gradual build-up for this season, I feel that it has paid off superbly considering last week's "Hardhome" and this week's episode. In addition, we didn't get any of King's Landing this week, which means we have that to look forward to next week in the season finale. And with all the tension building in King's Landing, this could make for the best season finale we've ever had in Game of Thrones.

As his efforts produced mixed results, Jon Snow tiredly returns to his castle, bringing hordes of equally weary survivors of White Walkers attack. Unbeknownst to him, The North has not seen the last of the fallen. In what may be the most vicious sacrifice in the show, and a strange contrast to Stannis' previously shown nature, he decides to trade his daughter for the promise of victory.

There have been many deaths in the show, most are quick yet excruciating, but not Shireen's. Hers is through and through heart-wrenching. Her scream for parent's rescue fuels the agony even more.

On the warmer side of the world, Jaime and Bronn unexpectedly get a more reasonable result on their political visit. Using actual politic maneuvering as well as a bit of luck, they manage to keep peace and their lives intact. There's lots of peculiar coalition between the two houses. It may just turn out well, after all there's bound to be one wedding where no one dies.

Arya continues to perform her espionage duty as undercover merchant. Fate gives her a different path when she sees a familiar face, she follows this path to a brothel, of all places. If one unfortunate fate for a little girl isn't enough, there's an overwhelming hint of her exposed to a man's unusual appetite. This is a very uneasy development, really hoping she makes it through one more episode, with every bit of her unbroken.

For the large skirmish on the snow before, this episode concludes with high octane battle on Daenerys' side. In a very entertaining gladiatorial game of death which then escalates into full blown riot, every character is involved in the intense survival. Honestly, the next scene could be the last of any character, the tension is genuine.

It culminates in a mix of excellent choreography and visual effect. The show soars with sheer production value and its larger than life personalities.

This glorious episode of Game of Thrones, gave us everything we have been anticipating concerning the Blonde Queen and her dragons.

However, even without the surprise visit from her favorite dragon at the end, the entire battle sequence was spectacular, and both sides of the battle actually still breathed air.....unlike the last episode, when I thought I was watching one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

The entire episode held your attention, was well written, well shot, perfectly directed, and displayed much of the potential this series is capable of.

If you love Thrones, you will absolutely love this episode:" The Dance of Dragons".

Well, i'm used to getting my favorite characters get stomped of unexpectedly but in The Dance of the Dragons, I was disgusted at what Stannis did to her daughter. Believe me, I wasn't disgusted when Lord Eddard Stark got his head cut off in Baelor or what happened at The Red Wedding and even the infamous rape of Sansa Stark. But what Melissendre and Stannis did to his daughter can't be forgiven. It's just bad storytelling!! I mean the way he warms to her daughter before sacrificing her publicly, it all disregards what he said to her daughter about saving her in her childhood from being sent to Valyria for having Greyscale. I am always prepared to expect the unexpected but as a fan and critique I was expecting more of Jon Snow and Danaerys in this episode and less of What's been happening around Winterfell. I was expecting Stannis to get killed by Ramsay in the last episode of the season. That would have been a better storytelling.

Well, the Dragons part isn't flawed. I expected more of Castle Black on Jon Snow's return. It is clear from here now that Stannis has sacrificed his only living heir, the Lord of Light may grant what he want, Winterfell. But I'm disappointed with that story. That Story would mean Ramsay Bolton get his much awaited death on the fans' side. I would rather have let Stannis get killed off and Ramsay stayed for Sansa or his half brother Lord Snow to finish that job. And also the Arya part was too lengthy. She didn't finish her assignment nor did she kill Meryn Trent, maybe next episode.

This latest episode will doubtless cause polarization among GOT viewers. On the one hand, the final outcome of the story, or rather guessing which characters will and won't survive, has become ever more defined (one could read predictable), and like the previous episode 'Hardhome' was packed with drawn out, epic-ish action sequences (they came off as Ridley Scott rip off moments). However for those who count themselves fans of tension, suspense and clever plot lines, 'The Dance of Dragons' has fallen miserably short of the show's standard.

As pointed out in other negative reviews, there are some serious continuity issues in the way the story is unfolding. The wildling party were traveling by ship, not by foot. The ease of the raid on Stannis's camp cannot be explained away by "either the guards were asleep or complicit", the sacrifice comes out of nowhere, with no buildup or rationale whatsoever, and the events at the arena of Meereen are largely both laughable and cringe worthy at the same time. For instance; that no one notices that half the audience has smuggled weapons and clearly identifiable masks, that the sons of the harpy not once press their advantage despite clearly outnumbering their prey by a wide margin, and that on every possible occasion they simply forget to target the Queen... As if you'd chuck the spear at the dragon if you could instead pierce your unarmoured, unprotected mortal enemy as she's starstruck not more than a few meters away (or that you let her climb on top of the beast, of course she's going to fly away!).

Not to mention Sir Jorah's incredibly illogical survival (why dishonorably kill one rival only to let the other one get up and pick up his sword? Either he should of ruthlessly killed both of them there and then or let them finish each other off and take on the victor for the sake of grandstanding).

I have to make this clear, Its not that I disagree with the outcomes of this episode, but the manner in which GOT has set itself up for the last episode of the season simply comes off as rushed, and robbed the audience of some great moments; such as a debate among the nightwatch pertaining to admitting the wildlings within the wall, a medieval black ops moment in the form of a menacing and cunning character we all love to hate (Ramsay Bolton) laying waste to the Barrathon camp, Stannis explaining to his men why he need burn his daughter, Sir Jorah proving his mettle rather than getting lucky and a moment where Daenerys actually has to make a choice to overcome her fear of her dragons or abandon her friends and loved ones, rather than being stupidly star struck and then deciding to take a fanciful flight in the middle of a blood bath.

All in all, the episode choose thrills over sense, and even though I suspect the final installment of the season will attempt and may even succeed in explaining away some of the issues I and others have raised in objection, Im left with a bitter taste in the back of my throat. What's more the only acting to be celebrated in the entirety of the episode, is the absolute shock displayed by Stannis's daughter at her father's betrayal, in a moving, yet totally misplaced scene.

GOT rose through the rankings of shows because, it was not a conventional crowd pleaser, it didn't offer un-original moments based on CGI, but rather it made the hard decisions and planned it shocks and thrills. To use a metaphor as a final statement; over the last two episodes, it is as if we have watched a genuine master swordsman with honor and flair, suddenly become a drunken, purposeless pub brawler in a shiny new outfit, cheap silicon sparkles and all.

Stannis camping is attacked and he loses horses, weapons and provisions in a fire. Davos advises that they can neither move forward to Winterfell nor march back to Castle Black. Stannis asks him to go to Castle Black and request supplies, weapons and horses. Davo asks to take his wife and Shireen with him but Stannis says that his family stays with him. Jon Snow brings the Wildlings that survived to Castle Black despite the opinion of many of his men. Doran Martell has an amicable conversation with Jamie telling that he does not want war, and they agree arrangements for Myrcella and Prince Trystane in King's Landing. Ellaria is skeptic about their agreement. Arya is selling oysters in an assignment of Jaqen H'ghar and the stumbles with Meryn Trant. She decides to follow him in a brothel instead of finishing her task. Stannis takes the ultimate cruel decision to win the war. Daenerys and her husband open the fighting pit and they are surprised by the Sons of Harpy. However, she is saved by Jorah and Daario and rescued by one of her sons.

"The Dance of Dragons" is another spectacular full of action episode of "Game of Thrones. Jon Snow has increased the number o enemies in Castle Black giving refugee to the Wildlings. The unpredictable alliance between Doran and Jamie and the reaction of Allaria seems to indicate that he will be betrayed by her. The segment with Arya is still annoying. Daenery's revenge against the Sons of Harpy will be certainly cruel. But the heartbreaking moment is the attitude of Stannis toward his daughter. Fortunately I have not read the book; otherwise I would possibly hate the "artistic freedom" of HBO, transforming the beloved father Stannis Baratheon into a monster. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "The Dance of the Dragons"

I know I will get a lot of hate because I said it was great, and many of these people will be book readers.

First off, the Game of Thrones producers and writers never write something that George Martin doesn't agree with. After all they are his books and his ideas and plot lines.

Secondly, George Martin himself said he intended to write more in ADWD when it was published, and the material in the book wasn't enough, so I'm guessing that we will start the sixth book with information that we already saw in the last few episodes in season 5. (I'm just guessing, don't eat me)

In my opinion the episode was great and a little heartbreaking. We see a side of Stannis that we may have seen before but never to this extreme. I still can not get over his daughter's screams and cries for help, and the tears in his "crazy" wife's eyes as she watches her daughter burn to death. This scene was so intense, it may not have been in the books, but I don't think that the writers would take such a huge step without informing George about it, so I guess Martin was fine with this idea. This episode kind of showed us that Stannis is really dependent on the Lord of Light or whatever that is. I was always on his side and thought he will actually win the throne, but he seems to be way too dependent on this Lord of his.

The most amazing scene out of all was the fighting pits. Jorah is one of the contestants and he wins(what a surprise.) Later, a rebellion, or you can call it a massacre occurs where they kill many of the people watching and they try to get to Dany. Dany and her unsullied become trapped and surrounded. Dany closes her eyes in a brief moment (I honestly thought she was getting ready to die) and out of nowhere comes our hero, Drogon! It was very interesting to watch Drogon actually involved in a fight. Dany then gets close to him and rides him for the very first time. It was very very fascinating to watch. I have really been waiting for this moment a long time. However, the dragon seemed a little bit weak when they started to attack him, for a moment I felt like he will pass out. I really hope they make the dragons stronger and bigger by next season.

Really good episode overall! Can't wait for the finale.

The death of Sheeren . As key of the fall of his father. As last proof of modest role of Meander as tool of god. And the way of Davos to the Wall .The heart of episode - the touching dialogue between Davos and the young daughter of his king. The fight between Sons of the Harpy and loyal people of queen in Meereen is intense and the help of Drogo propose not exactly a victory but reflects the vulnerability of the way of Daenerys.

THE DANCE OF DRAGONS should be a minor episode, following as it does the excellence of HARDHOME, but it ends up being very nearly as exciting thanks to the final scene. Until this point we get a pretty decent episode in which an overly drawn-out sub-plot featuring Arya's character is made up for by a shocking twist in the Stannis storyline, a gut-punch as powerful as THAT famous episode of THE WALKING DEAD in which Negan first showed up. It's hardly pleasant to sit through, but it does make sense in the scheme of things. In any case, the final arena set-piece is one of the best in the show's entire series, in which a dragon finally, properly lets rip for the first time and the lavish, gruesome action is much like a large scale Red Wedding. Tremendous stuff, and the odd second of dodgy CGI doesn't lessen the fun at all. Plus, Ser Jorah...what more can I say?

Well it's the 9th episode of Game of Thrones. That usually means either a shocking event with tons of consequences or some out of nowhere death. Where this episode definitely had one of the best scenes of the season in the final Harpy battle, I don't think it lived up to the expectations of a typical 9th episode of a season. That's not to say there weren't some great moments, but if I'm basing this off of how high my expectations were, then it was a bit of a letdown.

We began the episode with the Night's Watch and the wildlings making their way back to the wall and inside Castle Black. I was glad to see Alliser Thorne make the right move and open the gates instead of the clichéd back-stab that we may expect from his character. But what he said to Jon Snow is probably right, bringing all these wildlings to Castle Black may not be the smartest decision, especially with food supply significantly decreasing. Speaking of food supply, Stannis and his army took a hit as Ramsay's men burned a good chunk of their food. That sent Davos back to the castle to hopefully re-supply. With him leaving, he had to have one last scene with Shireen. Even though her death seemed inevitable with Melisandre's lust for another shadow baby, it was still devastating to see her be burned alive. They were definitely playing Stannis as a more lighthearted character this season so that when the time came, we would sympathize with him. I'm not sure he got my sympathy, but I still think Stannis may be the best option we have for the Iron Throne.

We then visited Dorne where Bronn was granted his freedom and Jaime agreed to let his niece (*daughter*) marry the Martell Kid if she came back to King's Landing. It seems as though this story is over for the season and besides a few very funny Bronn moments, I think it turned out to be a weak part of the episodes. Another storyline that had potential and has struggled this season has been Arya's. She is still working towards becoming 'no one' and the episode didn't do anything to really further that story. There was plenty of false anticipation as she came across Meryn Trant from way back when. Perhaps this will pay off next week but for now, those scenes just felt unnecessary.

We finally reached the 'WTF' episode 9 part when we came to the fighting pits in Meereen. I think Daenerys' character picked up momentum when Tyrion came into play but this week added another new dimension. The Sons of the Harpy are back and nearly ruined everything. It was cool to see Jorah fight in the pits for her, but in no way would I have been shocked to see him die. So seeing the Harpy show up was definitely a pleasant surprise. But I'm also not sure I felt the danger I should have for Dany considering I figured Drogon would show up. But it was still pretty awesome seeing their interaction together. Plus, Tyrion's reaction to Drogon was priceless. Being that the episode is called Dance of Dragons we needed to see at least one of them and it's about time Dany rides Drogon. So in all, I expected bigger things from this episode, but I wouldn't say it's a bad episode. It was just a letdown. But really if it wasn't a 9th episode of a season, I probably would have liked it a lot more. Here's hoping we get a bada** episode 10 with a few trials.

+Frickin Dragons

+Jorah proves himself

+Bronn is free

+Gates at the wall open without question

-Started slow with some potentially unnecessary plot lines

-Why is Meryn Trant a focus?

7.8/10

So far, I think this is the low point of the entire show. From the beginning:

1) Jon and the wildlings reappearing on the wrong side of the wall. Why did they get off the ships north of the wall? To march on foot in the snow, north of the wall, for half the length of the wall (with risk of being attacked again by white walkers? Really weird. The only explanation seems to be that they couldn't resist to the thrill of passing through the tunnel (preceeded by the disturbing doubt: would they open the gate?).

2) Stannis/Shireen. The drama construction is rushed and rough. A father who leads his daughter to the pyre just saying "forgive me" is not a dramatic neither a tragic scene. It's just ridiculous. Poor, poor writing, poor character's evolution, only for the sake of shocking the audience.

3) The Arya training is far less intriguing and exciting than Karate Kid. No complexity, no content, no challenge. Just boring. Just a curiosity: is the faceless god church perfectly legal in Braavos? It must be so, since it's definitely not hidden in the suburbs, it's a gigantic building, everyone knows where it is and that it's full of assassins, the assassins go back and forth without troubles. Is it a regular activity? Do they pay taxes to the city? Such a prominent presence in the daylight would ask at least for some better justification (after 8 episodes in Meereen, we still know nothing of Meereen, no interesting character, no plot whatsoever, just the boring presence of Jaqen). Season 1 of the show was definitely not in this sort of cartoonish style.

4) All the situation in Meereen's arena was unbearably unlikely. Dozens, hundreds of people get to enter the stadium with daggers, spears, swords, even a golden mask hidden in the pants for each one! Without being noticed by anyone, with the queen in person standing among them. No security at all (though they know perfectly well of the existence of a vast subversive sect aimed to kill the queen)? Come on! That's beyond any likelihood, simply childish. All the scene is so poorly set up. When the queen and her men are surrounded and outnumbered, no one even tries to cast an arrow or a javelin towards her. The harpies seem just to wait for Drogon to arrive and burn them all, like anyone else. When Drogon is there, all the spears against him, no one towards Dany, who should be the target of the attack. A very poor choreography.

In my opinion, the quality of the show is running downhill. Except for a couple of episodes (7 and 8), this fifth season is a complete letdown, but this in particular is actually the worst one.