Please submit feedback here after Season 6 Episode 5 – ‘The Door’ has aired and we’ll do our best to include it in our midweek podcast recording.
Tyrion seeks a strange ally. Bran learns a great deal. Brienne goes on a mission. Arya is given a chance to prove herself.
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It should have been called (Hold) The Door
It should have been called (Hold) The Door
Overall:
I gave this a 90 out of 100. A lot of solid stuff. Most of the Storylines were strong for me. I loved the makeup for the Children, White Walkers and the Wights. Bran’s scenes in the North with the Night King and his minions were scary, thrilling, and tragically dark. There seems to be a few themes floating around this episode:
• Terrible things happen for a reason. (Varys, Hodor, Sansa, Jon, Theon)
• Everyone is what they are and where they are for a reason. (Varys, Hodor, Sansa, Jon, Theon)
• Knowledge is power. (Euron over Yara, Little Finger over Sansa, Kinvara over Varys, Bran)
Hodor’s end was beautifully tragic but confusing. Here’s my Theories about Hodor and Fate and Green Sight: http://www.thetvcritic.org/forums/other-tv-shows/show/361
Poor Summer Bran’s Dire wolf! Absolutely horrible. That leaves only Ghost and Nymeria alive. http://www.thetvcritic.org/forums/other-tv-shows/show/360
Jon and Sansa’s plan sounds like it’s going to take a while to get up enough troops to be able to get the Battle for Winterfell to occur. They need the Glovers, Mormonts, Cerwyns, Mazins, Hornwoods and they said a dozen others. It looks like Brienne and Podrick are bound for the Riverlands to try and get Blackfish to join up with their troops.
Best Lines: ‘The time has come…The time for what? For you to become me…But am I ready? No.’ and of course ‘Hold the Door’.
The Good:
• Ah yes love! Tormund’s mugs at Brienne were hysterical: http://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2016/05/23/02/brienne-tormund_1.JPG
• The origins of the Night’s King were painfully tragic driving home the point to me that two wrongs can create utter pure evil that will eventually destroy you. In this case, the First Men’s treatment of the Children and the Children’s creation of the Night’s King through that horrible sacrificial ceremony to create the White Walkers to obliterate man and ultimate their own selves.
• Hodor’s beginning and end summed up in the final minutes of montage was tragic and sad. The violence against him counters his life cycle of obedience and loyalty. How ironic the utterance of his name so many times in so many seasons ends up being a constant reminder of his duty and loyalty to protecting Bran?
• I was cheering as Sansa put Little Finger in his place. (‘Did you know about Ramsay? If you didn’t know, you’re an idiot. If you did know, you’re my enemy…I don’t believe you anymore. I don’t need you anymore.’) Why didn’t she have Brienne kill him??? Sansa! What are you doing?? I was screaming at the TV. I love how he underestimated her. Then again, she believes his wild comment about Black Fish rallying up Tully troops and retaken Riverrun, so he still has some type of hold on her. I really hope she isn’t making a tragic mistake. Come on Sansa!!
• I actually did well up when Jorah confessed his love for Dany and revealed his greyscale. I hope he finds a cure soon. It looks like it’s going up his arm now.
• The theatre scenes at Sheelba Square were a wonderful whiff of what I am envisioning as medieval farce.
• The Kingsmoot scenes were emotional, however I wasn’t convinced with Euron’s reasons over Yara’s. (See the Bad).
• Kinvara is trying to bring *obedience* to the free folks at Meereen by having them worship Dany otherwise nonbelievers get roasted by dragon fire. It doesn’t sound particularly appealing to Tyrion and Varys is convinced of her power using her knowledge of his own experiences against him. I don’t believe forcing conquered peoples to worship one person is any different than being slaves to hundreds of slave owners. Either way, isn’t it subjugation of the masses? If anything, it appears being a slave owner and conqueror go hand in hand right? Is there a hidden message about democracy by a governing body being the only way to truly escape slavery?
The Bad:
• They should have had montages of the Children being savagely killed by the First Men. I think that would have given the creation of the Night’s King scene more impact and the dialog more impact. Bran’s emotional reaction to the Child present who created the Night King helped to a degree and her response did too, however I needed more.
• Euron’s knowledge of Dany and the world wasn’t enough to convince me it was a good idea for him to lead the Iron Born. Does he honestly believe a conquering Queen with Dragons is going to be seduced by a man who grabs his crotch and has a bunch of sea vessels? She’ll just take what she needs from them. It certainly would be convenient way to get Dany over to Westeros and she has her own sailors she can use (if the Iron born soldiers were to meet their end.)
Unknown:
• Did Bran feel some sort of empathy for the Night’s King? I hope he didn’t and doesn’t now. The being is pure evil.
• Little Finger knows he needs the Stark name to secure the North for himself. What’s his move now? Sansa’s not going to believe anything he does. He has to have another angle with another Stark or perhaps he will side with Ramsay?
• Does Quaith hold the key to curing Ser Jorah’s greyscale?
• Will Arya follow through and poison Lady Crane?
• When the Sorcerer tossed Varys parts into the fire, who was the one that spoke in the flames? What did it say?
• Was the Three Eyed Raven able to give Bran *everything* before he was executed by the Night’s King?
• Rob took Lord Karstark’s head. Does Sansa really think they will turn sides to the Starks?
• Why did Sansa lie to Jon about the information about Blackfish? She doesn’t trust Baelish and she should be letting Jon know about that right?
• Did Blackfish actually retake Riverrun or is that a trap set for Sansa by Little Finger? What happened to the Freys? What will happen to Brienne and Podrick if it is a trap?
I think that Hodor wins this weeks Game of Thrones.
A few more questions:
A few more questions:
* Are the Children of the Forest all dead now?
* If all the Children are extinct does that have an affect on the magic of the Wall?
* Can the Night’s King use Bran to get over the Wall now? Is his mark on Bran like a GPS tracking marker that the Army of the Undead can follow? So if Bran and Meera go South of the Wall through the secret passage will the Night’s King simply follow with his minions in the rest of Westeros?
Bad (Cont’d):
• Origins of the Faceless Men. It was revealed that the Faceless men and Braavos were created from former slaves in the mines of Valyria. I nearly forgot about this reveal in the episode. I suppose it would have more impact of message with more visuals. Why didn’t they show us a closeup of the faces of the first faceless men? I would have loved a montage of the first faceless men from the past or at least some footage of how they learn the magic to become faceless men. Only a minor annoyance though.
Unknown:
• Kinvara says ‘Daenerys Stormborn is the one who was promised.’ Mel believes Jon is the one that was promised and as Varys pointed out before that it was Stannis and she was wrong about that. Which one of them is it; Jon or Dany? Which priestess is right; Mel or Kinvara? What if both of them are right? What if both of them are wrong and the chosen promise is a lie?
• Dany wanted to ‘break the wheel’ in Westeros which leads me to believe that she either wants to break the class system that leads to the Game of Thrones. What’s unclear is if that is achieved by everyone being equal (classless) serving one ruler or could it mean by everyone being represented by a ruling democracy with no class system. How close is Dany’s wishes to what Kinvara is suggesting or how she looks at things?
Is Hodor a Wight now?
Is Hodor a Wight now?
Keep running
It’s rare to have one episode of a series that changes the meaning and understanding of the entire story to date. The Door does that, realigning our understanding completely. We now know this world has at least three people changing the past and the present (an old man in a tree, a paraplegic teenager, and possibly someone using fire messaging).
And in the White Walkers we have an allegory of superweapons and a nuclear winter.
This episode refers strongly to the use of power and over-reaching: Euron’s grandstanding and threats; Littlefinger’s underestimation of Ramsay and Sansa’s ability to survive intact; Sansa’s assumptions and potentially repeating Catelyn’s mistakes; Arya assumptions about her ability and her place; Varys and Tyrion inviting something powerful and dangerous into Danerys’ court; and the world changing revelations and mistakes at the tree.
Poor Wyllas losing decades of his life to a mental half existence as Hodor. Just as Jorah is losing his life to a physical and eventual mental half existence. The difference is that Jorah understands what is happening and has some choice.
100 out of 100. An amazing episode. My winner of the game was Meera for being so capable in a crisis.
PS
PS I like that the characters are showing knowledge of other parts of the world.
And what’s with marking people on the left forearms? Jorah by the stonemen in hot Valeria and Bran by the White Walker at the icy last tree
We're stumped!
Katrina, you stumped us in our last podcast! In your comments you said “We now know this world has at least three people changing the past and the present (an old man in a tree, a paraplegic teenager, and possibly someone using fire messaging).” Who is the third person using fire messaging? We’re intrigued!
I wonder where Yara and Theon are off to?
I wonder where Yara and Theon are off to?
They have already reaved out Westeros perhaps they will beat their Uncle to the punch and set off for Dany in Essos?
Euron leaked out his plans and they have all his ships!
It’s going to take him a while to build a 1000 boats.
They would be a good way to Essos before they got going!
Blow Back
Oh how the emotional pendulum swings on this show.
The theme of unintended consequences continues in a big way this episode by the Children of the Forest and Bran lethal results.
So how many mobius strips has Bran caused?
Of course Jack Bender directed the time loop episode.
It’s been a roller coaster for the first half of this season not sure how much more I can take. Hold the door guys!
Great episode
Hi guys. Some quick thoughts on the episode.
1. I love that Sansa turned Littlefinger away. He is someone that absolutely cannot be trusted. It is better to have him in front of her as an enemy rather than behind her as an “ally”. Besides, Robyn did have affection for Sansa. Perhaps there is a way that she can sway Robyn away from Littlefinger, which would result in the knights of the Vale gladly dispatching him.
(Theory: Sansa is pregnant with a Bolton. She says “I feel what he did to me everyday”)
2. Sansa sending Brienne to the Riverlands is a horrible idea. She has to remain at her side. It took Sansa so long to find someone who would gladly die for her as a protector. That is not someone you should send away. How does Brienne plan on reaching the Riverlands? Don’t you have to go through The Twins? Will Sansa Stark’s sworn protector be granted passage from Walder Frey? Doubtful.
3. Poor Hodor. This was such an emotional moment. What are the moral consequences of this for Bran? He did worg into Hodor to sacrifice him in order to save himself. That is going to be tough to get over. I’m going to miss Hodor.
Keep up the good work and remember…
HOLD THE DOOR!