Review: Game of Thrones - S06E05 - The Door

Spoiler Alert: These reviews contain spoilers for the titled episode. They may also contain spoilers for any previous episodes and published book content. If you are not caught up, this is your warning.

Seven Hells, this episode put me through the ringer.  Lets jump right in.

This scene was immensely satisfying.  Sansa gets notice that her old pal Littlefinger is in town and wants to meet up.  Sansa, with her new uber-lady in tow, shows up looking to give him a talking-to.  I *loved* how she stuck it to him.  "If you didn't know, you're an idiot.  If you *did* know, you're my enemy."  Well said!  I don't think we've seen anyone make Littlefinger *this* uncomfortable in the history of the show.  Sure, he was physically accosted a few times (Ned, Cersei's guards, etc) but emotionally it's essentially a version of Catelyn tearing him down and making him face what a slimy s.o.b. he really is.  Well done, Sansa.  Well done.  Also, Brienne is fantastic and Sansa makes perfect use of her. Aiden Gillen does a great job subtly showing that she is scary as hell.

Arya is training with the Waif, gaining marked competancy, until her trainer turns it up to 11, matrixes out of the way of everything Arya throws at her and then solidly punches seven shades of ass-whoopery into her face.  She says "You'll never be one of us, Lady Stark."

You know, as an aside, you'd think that if you're trying to get someone to let go of who they are, directly bringing up who-they-are may be a little counter productive, no?

Jaquen pops in, mentions that the Waif has a point and tells her about the first Faceless Men.  They were slaves in Valyria before the Doom.  They also escaped and helped found the city of Braavos.  Arya then gets sent on another mission, with it being explicitly clear that this is her final shot.  Makes me wonder if she'll bungle it...

I thought that Arya asking who the first Faceless Man was an unexpectedly funny line, where I can imagine her saying, immediately after she asked "Yeah, yeah, I know, I heard it as soon as I said it.  I don't mean who specifically..."

Arya gets all dressed up and goes to see a play that her target is involved in.  Luckily, it's a story she's familiar with!  They satyrize the event's of Robert's death, all the way through Joffrey's ascent to the throne.  It's worth noting that she's fine with the mockery of the other characters, but once Ned comes on stage, she's offended. That being said, totally understandable.  Also the portrayal of Ned seems to be the only one that was patently incorrect.

After the performance there was some quota-filling nudity I perhaps could have done without and Arya gets a look backstage, seeing the players.  I was wondering at how she got back there, and why no one questioned her presence there.  What capacity is she pretending to be there in?  I just thought it could have been a bit better explained, perhaps showimg a shot or two of her sneaking back there instead of wasting time doing a close-up on some... well, nevermind.

Arya goes back to The House and talks with Jaquen.  She starts asking questions, as usual, and Jaquen asks her "Are you serious about serving?"  "Yeah."  "Servants don't ask questions."

This is where I think we start peeling away from the Faceless Men and the way they work.  Arya has a strong sense of right and wrong in her, at least in terms of who should die or not in a given scenario.  The Faceless Men, by definition, don't.  Everyone's gonna die, don't ask questions, just do as you're told; feelings or morality don't enter into it.  We can tell Arya is internally balking at this.

It's also interesting that this may be one of the longer strings of separate scenes we've seen that are all following the same character throughout. Four scenes!

Also, found a fun little easter egg (or maybe consistency goof).  The guy playing Robert has this spear with a huge curved blade. We see this in the establishing shot of him coming on stage. There is then a jump-cut to a medium shot of him and he has the *actual* spear Robert used!  It cuts away and he has the huge spear the rest of the time.  I think they threw that in on purpose, for fun.  Cool :)

Bran is in dreamland again and this was the first "HOLY $#!?" Moment this episode. We see the Children sacrificing someone at a weirwood tree growing in Westerosi Stonehenge.  The Child that Bran has spoken with many times is performing the ritual.  We have this grueling shot that doesn't break away of her pushing an obsidian blade 100%, slowly, into his chest.  It is intense to say the least.

To book readers, the weirwood sacrifices are not new.  We hear about the First Men, even the Starks themselves, carrying out blood sacrifices to the weirwoods.  It was a barbaric ancient custom.  We even have Bran flashbacks where we see one happening.  This one is different.

That blade goes in, and once it's in, the shot snaps to the man's face and we get one big WTF: his face goes pale and his eyes turn crystal, icy blue.  This may be the *first* actual White Walker.  Not a wight (the undead zombies) but a legit rider in blue and white.

Bran flips, snaps out of it, questions the Child, and we get some crazy info.  They were under attack by men, so the Children *CREATED* the Others (White Walkers) as a super weapon / defense.  We're to understand that this, of course, went awry and they lost control of their Mr. Freeze army.

This goes against what I understood from the books.  Having read the main series as well as The World of Ice and Fire, I was under the impression that on Westeros, there existed the Children, the Giants and the Others *long* before the First Men made their way over.  I've always thought that they were like a force of nature that always resided in the farthest northern reaches of the world.  There is also evidence that they have somehow impacted the rest of the world too, in some way (given the presence of the 5 forts... go read The World of Ice and Fire, it's nuts).  My gut is telling me that this is a change for the show and that the White Walkers were essentially a sentient nuke that got out of control.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments, it would be very interesting to hear what you guys think.

Jump to the Iron Islands, Theon and Asha (ok... Yara...).  They have their super sophisticated election.  Yara steps forward when no one else says anything.  She makes her pitch.  She says that they've forgotten who they are and what they're best at.  She'll give them aquatic superiority again.  She won't let them be conquered or humiliated again.  Ok.

Some blaggard steps out and starts going on about how they've never had a queen and how a woman won't be right for the job, especially given that Baelon's *male* heir is there.  Nervously Theon steps out.

Here, I honstly half thought Theon would have this rush of ambition, calling back to his old-self, but he then speaks up for Asha.  It's a solid speach and he kept his word to his sister.  Good man.

Just when things are going well, Euron, the prodigal (though unrepentant) uncle shows up for the second time ever.  In front of everyone he cops to chucking Baelon off a bridge and makes his claim.  All thought of Yara goes out the window and Euron gets the vote.  He's not giving them the sea, he's giving them the world, and he's going to go impress the hell out of the dragon queen with his ships and... overwhelming nautical superiority.

What kinda held me up was how a priest of the Drowned God, who knew Baelon to be a god-fearing man (whatever else he may have been) didn't have Euron seized and executed for regicide and fratricide.  I can believe that not lots of folks were fond of Baelon, but no one said a *thing*.  They were just like "Cool, at least he owned up to it, lets hear him out."  Just came off as odd and possibly a concession for story expediency.  Euron is then drowned, with the hope that if he survives, the Drowned God has deemed him worthy.  Needless to say, he doesn't just die.  The ceremony is unlike that in the books and I'm not sure how I feel about it but I think it works in the context of the show.  He comes out of it and goes "Where's Asha and Theon?"

They went and stole the whole damn Iron Fleet.  Euron, cool as a cucumber, just goes "No biggie, you guys can just build me another one, so.... yeah... get to work."  We'll see if they can pull this off in a relatively believable way.  Speaking of believability, how many people were following Yara?  That was a TON of ships!  Ah well, maybe they have tow cables...

Jump to Dany, Jorah and Dario.  Dany is back in Dragon Queen form.  She got her hair did, got a nice outfit and she's ready to rock.  She has a hilltop meeting above her newly acquired khalasar.

I honestly loved this scene.  Dany gets straight talk from Jorah and she is finally over the stuff from the past.  Tyrion gets credit from Jorah and Jorah is finally fully honest with Daenerys.  He says he loves her and I smiled.  Dany takes this and for once, doesn't reject him.  She acknowledges she needs him and what she means to her.  Then Jorah shows us the extent of the Greyscale.

He's in a bad way and Dany is appropriately horrified.  How bad is it? Dunno.  Is there a cure?  Dunno.  Jorah exiles himself but that gets shot down and Dany tries a new command on for size.  She sends Jorah away but tells him to come back (poor guy just can't guess what he's supposed to do lol).  She sends Jorah to find a cure, then to return.  This raises a huge question: *is* there a cure?!  If this has a book analog, it could have some major ramifications.  If there isn't one, Jorah is gonna die alone.  It'll be interesting to see what happens.

In Meereen, we find out that the plan they set in motion is working.  They realize, though, that Dany needs a serious PR campaign, so they enlist the help of the Red Priests of R'hllor.  In comes a red priestess very much like Mel.  They get to talking and Varys looks shaken and emotional for possibly the first time ever.  We learn he has some serious negative bias towards magic and that his castration was part of a magic ritual (so one could understand his position).  Tyrion, in hilarious form, scrambles to maintain the decorum of the meeting.  In the end, she tells Varys that so long as he's on her side, he's got nothing to fear.  He doesn't look too comforted...

Up in our favorite northern root cave, Bran is sick of being on a leash, so while Grandpa and the kids are down for their early-afternoon nap, he decides to take the dream-machine for a joyride.

He goes back to the tree of the sacrifice and it is now bare, the stones and ground are now shrouded in white, and we can imagine why.

But we don't have to imagine long because the scene spins around and we see the legions of the icy dead.  Behind them, the commanding officers, the White Walkers, surveying the horde with looks of hard purpose.

Bran wades through the corpses, seeing them in grizzly detail, until he arrives at the White Walkers.  He looks at them, turns around and to his horror, the army has done an about-face without him noticing.  He looks into the eyes of the Night's King, certain in his non-presence.  Turns out he's not as non-present as he may have thought.  The Night's King not only sees him, but *grabs* him.  Bran lurches awake, terror and dread covering him.  Bloodraven tells him they're now in deep crap and Bran knows this because he looks at his arm and there's essentially light frostbite on his arm in the discernable shape of fingers.  Time to learn to be Bloodraven, whether you're ready or not.  You screwed up and now, the devil and all the legions of Hell are coming right for you.

Jon and the rest of our Castle Black friends mull over the situation and how to get enough support to hit Winterfell.  Davos has doubts, being the practical man he is, but Sansa vouches for the staunch reliability of the true Northmen.  Davos tries to get real with her, but she sticks to her guns.  It's really cool to see Sansa becoming a power player and being involved in a council.  She really seems cut out for it.  They're going to go rally the North, other houses, small tribes, you name it.  The North Freakin' Remembers.

In the meeting, Sansa also mentions the fact that The Blackfish has raised an army at Riverrun.  How did she know this? Because littlefinger told her.  But not wanting to say that, she says it was info she gleaned earlier when she was still with him.  When Brienne asks her why she lied, she doesn't have an answer.

As they're heading out, Sansa gifts Jon a new Stark cloak, just like Ned's, complete with embossed direwolf.  To her credit, Sansa makes some damn nice clothes.  That direwolf embroidery on her dress is *awesome*.  Props to the costume department!

Farewells are said and it made me sad to see Jon say goodbye to Edd just like he and Robb said goodbye when they left Winterfell the first time.  As they saddle up, we have one of the best moments in the show: Tormund looks over at Brienne and makes his first real move and gives Brienne the biggest shaggy grin he's got.  Brienne looks away super fast with an expression that is just priceless.  A brother of the watch asks Edd, since he's Lord Commander now, if he wants them to close the gate.  "I'm not the- wait a minute...  Oh, yeah... Yeah, close the gate."  Oh Edd, you've never let us down.

Now our final scene and damn what a scene.

Meera preps to leave with Hodor's help.  They have some happy back and forth, talks of being home, good food, warmth and leaving trouble behind.  Meera feels somthing isn't right and rushes outside.  There she finds the Children looking out into the frozen wastes.  The army of Death is at their door.  The Night's King demonstrates his power, sending streaking cracks through the earth into their cave.  Meera runs for Bran, trying to shake him awake, Hodor rocking back and forth in distress.

Bran is back in flashback-town and Bloodraven is getting him prepped.  He is seeing his grandfather, Lord Rickard Stark, sending Brandon off to Riverrun, giving him some final life lessons before leaving home.

Meera and Hodor rush to gather their things and to get Bran on the sled.  Bran, all the while is unconscious and outside the White Walkers advance under a hail of Children tree-grenades.  The White Walkers step to the blazing fire ring and even the flames cower as they move forward (this was mega badass).  The wights swarm the hill.

The undead start falling through into the cavern, Meera and the Children fight and try to wake Bran at the same time.  They need Hodor.  He needs to wake up.  They're going to die.

Bran, standing in Winterfell's courtyard hears Meera's despairing cries echo around him, fear, confusion and sadness written on his face.  Bloodraven entreats him to listen to his friend.  He looks at young Willas, happily scrubbing down a saddle on that nice, sunny day.

Hodor's eyes (in the "present") snap white and clarify.  He rises.  At this moment, the long-bearded White Walker looms into the cave and impales an attacking Child on the end of his frozen sword.  Hodor get moving with Bran and Meera lands a perfect spear throw, obsidian spearhead shattering the Walker.

Here I want to specifically mention Summer.  There are so few of the pups left and this was his final stand.  Having saved Bran's life before, Summer does it one last heartbreaking time, buying them precious moments, standing against the onrushing horde, as heroic as a wolf could ever hope to be.  You will be remembered, Summer and as brave as any warrior.

Running pell-mell down the tunnel, the tide of death thunders down on our heroes.  At the same time, Night's King enters and walks to Bloodraven, cradled within the entwining roots.  "The time has come,"  Bran's mentor says.  "Leave me."  His lip trembles, the blade rises as the face of death looks at the helpless old man.  Bran sees his mentor explode, rent in half by an invisible slash, turning him to black ethereal debris floating off on the wind.

Streaking down the tunnel, the undead blanket every surface, moving with incredible speed.  The one Child left takes out her last tree grenade and sacrifices herself to buy them mere seconds.

They reach the door at the end of the tunnel.  It's jammed.  "THE DOOR!" Meera screams.  Hodor bellows and slams himself against it, forcing it grinding open against snow and frozen hinges.

They slip outside, rusted weapons and cold, dead hands grasping after them.  Waves of them smash against the ancient wooden door as Hodor uses everything he has, one of the biggest men there are, to hold that door closed.

"Hold the door..." echoes through Bran's mind, and so, into the mind of young Willas, standing in the Winterfell courtyard.  Bran watches as Willas snaps, his eyes go white.  Impact thunders against Hodor's back, as Willas, his younger self, experiences the panic, pain and terror of what his future self is doing.  Linked through Bran's ability, the pain and fear are shared and overwhelms poor Willas' mind.  He drops to the ground, having a seizure, Old Nan rushes to him.

"HOLD THE DOOR!" he screams, endlessly, as if it's the only thing fueling his resolve.  His destiny, his fate, are met in that moment, as Hodor, one of the most unexpected tragic heroes of our time, stands against all the tides of darkness, watching the backs of the friends he loves retreat into the black, feezing storm.  The door starts splintering, hands come through, and Hodor, possibly the strongest stableboy there's been, a true, dedicated friend and paragon of loyalty without an evil bone in his body, perished at the clawing hands of an onslaught of evil.

I want to give a special shout-out to Kristian Nairn, who plays Hodor (and also the fellow that was his young self).  You were amazing and a perfect Hodor.  There is not a fan that won't miss you and the show was richer for having you in it.  Thank you for all your hard work and bringing such a beloved character to life for us.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13 KJV

#holdthedoor

Once again, thanks for reading and please post in the comments below.  It has been one hell of an episode and an unexpectedly emotionally trying one.  Let's grieve, speculate, theorize and discuss together.

As always, please check out the always awesome Boiled Leather guys: Sean T. Collins over at Rolling Stone and Stefan Sasse over at The Nerdstrem Era.