Violet provides a recap of Season 5 Episode 9, titled The Dance of Dragons, where it’s time for the Great Games! Meanwhile, Jon Snow returns with the Wildlings, Stannis makes a big decision, Arya sees a familiar face, and Jaime comes to an agreement with Prince Doran. Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts about the episode.
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Episode Recap of Game of Thrones, Season 5 Episode 9: The Dance of Dragons
The Road to Winterfell
Stannis’s camp is attacked and burned by Ramsay’s 20 men. Davos tries to convince Stannis to return with the troops to Castle Black, but instead he sends Davos back to Castle Black to demand supplies in exchange for Stannis giving the Night’s Watch all the men it needs once he takes the throne. Davos requests to take Selyse and Shireen, but Stannis says his family stays with him. Davos says goodbye to Shireen and gives her a wooden stag as a present to thank her for teaching him to read.
Stannis visits Shireen as she reads The Dance of Dragons, the story about the Targaryens’ fight for the Iron Throne. She asks if there’s any way she can help him, and he says there is.
Later, Stannis’s guards march Shireen to be burned at the stake by Melisandre, while the army watches. Stannis and Selyse also watch, and Selyse reassures Stannis that this is a good thing. However, as Selyse hears her daughter’s pleas for help, she loses her resolve and runs to Shireen’s aid. However, the guards hold her back, and Shireen burns.
Castle Black
Jon Snow returns to the Wall with the Wildlings. There’s a tense moment where it seems Ser Alliser might keep them locked out, but he eventually opens the gates. Jon tells Sam that the mission was a failure, but Sam points out that he saved many people. The other members of the Night’s Watch seem to resent what Jon Snow has done.
Dorne
Jaime meets with Prince Doran and informs him about the threatening message received of Princess Myrcella’s necklace in the jaws of a viper. Prince Doran realizes it was Ellaria Sand who did it. He agrees to return Myrcella to King’s Landing if Trystane goes with her, the engagement stands, and Trystane takes Oberyn’s place in King Tommen’s Small Council. Jaime agrees. Ellaria is unhappy, but Prince Doran threatens her. Prince Doran lets Trystane decide Bronn’s punishment for punching him. Trystan decides to show mercy and let Bronn go free – on one condition. We soon find out that condition is Bronn getting a surprise punch in the face from one of the Dornish guards.
Later, Prince Dorne tells Ellaria that she can swear her allegiance to him, or die. Crying, she kisses his ring as her daughters watch. He warns her that he believes in second chances, but not third.
Ellaria visits Jaime and lets on that she knows about Jaime and Cersei, and knows that Myrcella is his daughter.
Braavos
While out selling oysters, clams and cockles, Arya abandons her mission when she sees Meryn Trant arrive at the docks with Mace Tyrell, who is meeting with a representative from the Iron Bank. She follows them around all day, and eventually ends up following Meryn Trant and a couple of other knights into a brothel, where she spies while women are paraded in front of him. However, all of the women are too old. It turns out Meryn prefers young girls, as in children. The knights who have accompanied Meryn find Arya and bring her into the room to buy oysters from her. Meryn sees Arya and it appears he might recognize her. However, Arya gets kicked out by the proprietor.
That night, Arya returns to the House of Black and White and tells Jaqen that the thin man wasn’t hungry today, and that she’d complete her mission tomorrow.
Meereen
It’s time for the Great Games, and the citizens of Meereen gather in the arena to watch, along with Daenerys and her companions. As the fighting continues, Dany is horrified to see that Jorah is part of the next match. However, she signals for it to start anyway. Jorah doesn’t seem to be doing very well, and Tyrion tells Dany that she can end it. However, Hizdahr says that she cannot. But then, Jorah recovers, and seems to win the match. He then takes a spear and hurls it in Dany’s direction – killing a member of the Sons of the Harpy that has snuck up behind her.
A large number of Sons of the Harpy have appeared, and begin attacking. Chaos erupts as the audience flees. Hizdahr is killed by one of the Sons of the Harpy. Daario, Jorah, and Tyrion help protect Daenerys and Missandei, and surround her with a few members of the Unsullied as they try to run away. However, they are surrounded in the center of the arena and outnumbered by the Sons of the Harpy. The situation looks hopeless, and Dany and Missandei join hands as those around them attempt to fight off the Sons of the Harpy.
But then Drogon flies in and breathes fire at the Sons of the Harpy, who throw spears at him. Dany approaches Drogon and pulls a spear out of him. They share a moment of looking at each other. Then she climbs onto his back and tells him to fly, which he does, as the others stare up at them flying away.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 5 Episode 9 of Game of Thrones: The Dance of Dragons
Historically, Episode 9 of Game of Thrones each season tends to be “the” episode of the season, where all the crazy, exciting things happen. So after last week’s epic episode, I was left wondering where could they possibly go from there that would be even more epic for Episode 9? The answer: they couldn’t. I was honestly kind of bored with most of the episode.
I guess there was that moment at Castle Black with Jon Snow and Alliser Thorne staring at each other, and we’re left wondering if there’s any chance that Alliser won’t let him and the Wildlings in. But then that passes, and he lets them in, and we find out Alliser may not be such a bad guy after all. Or at least I felt that way when he told Jon that he had a good heart. But that’s all that happens there. Maybe the season finale will have something more exciting happen. Another White Walker attack? Would they do that again so soon, or wait till next season?
Then there’s Arya in Braavos, supposed to be carrying out a mission for Jaqen, but she gets distracted when she sees Meryn Trant, who was on her kill list. So of course, even though she’s trying to be Faceless, she can’t forget that part of her life. We also find out that Meryn Trant is a pedophile, which isn’t surprising. My question is, did he actually recognize Arya when they exchanged that glance? Or was he just excited by seeing a girl of the age that he wanted?
The whole Dorne storyline continues to not interest me in the slightest, which was the same way I felt about it in the books, at least to the point where I got. Hopefully that gets more interesting soon, though it looks like they’re heading back to King’s Landing soon, with not only Myrcella, but Trystane as well.
Then there’s Stannis and his camp. We could all see it coming that Shireen was going to die, the way they’ve been paying more attention to her all season, and highlight the relationship between her and Stannis, which was never a focus before. So it wasn’t surprising that she did get burned at the stake.
Not until the Great Games did I really become interested in the episode. When the Sons of the Harpy started coming out of the woodwork, it was like, finally, now we’re talking. But even before that, when Daenerys realized that Jorah was fighting in the Great Games, her face… ahhh it was great! If you ever doubted Dany’s feelings for Jorah, you could see them written all over her face at that horrific moment, and again when it looked like Jorah was a goner, and in the way she agonized about the fact that she couldn’t put a stop to this. (I ship Jorah and Dany, in case you didn’t guess by now.) Then he saved her by throwing the spear at the Sons of the Harpy guy, and she took his hand when he was trying to protect her… Just, yay. Although, I am curious if him touching her would pass the greyscale disease to her… Maybe not though, because she wasn’t in contact with the affected area. But we’ll see. But yeah, so then Drogon flies in and saves the day (why were there only like a dozen Unsullied there, by the way? Didn’t she buy thousands??), and she flies off on him, so that was pretty cool.
Not featured in this episode, but don’t forget about the Winterfell and King’s Landing storylines going on, which could make for an action packed season finale. Sometimes the Game of Thrones season finales are kind of “meh,” so I’m hoping that things come to a head in this one and that we get an exciting send off for Season 5!
Josh’s Thoughts: Game of Thrones, Season 5 Episode 9: The Dance of Dragons
Man, this was another great episode of Game of Thrones. There was a lot going on yet again. I was really hoping Stannis would come to his senses with his daughter. I mean, in reality that would be seen as something an insane man would do, and he would be locked up forever. But the scenes from next week seem to be hinting that the sacrifice might actually work. That is kind of scary to think about. Apparently if you need something bad enough in Game of Thrones, sacrifice a child and that will solve your problems.
At least in Dorne, the leaders there seem to have a more firm grasp on reality. The Dornish leader seems to still realize that people are people. He clearly is playing the power struggle game, but at least he is doing it trying to keep people alive rather than going the route of kill everyone to get to the top. I have a lot of respect for the Prince Doran. He even has decided to let his son go to King’s Landing. That is probably a mistake given how terrible that place is, but still–he is trying to do what is best for everyone. Of course, since this is Game of Thrones, he is probably the next guy to die.
Arya, meanwhile, seems to be falling off her new mission now that her God of Many Faces leader is putting her on. I have a feeling he is on to her too, but I am not quite sure how it will all play out. But hopefully Arya gets her revenge. She deserves some vengeance now and again.
But finally, the big finale of the episode–Jorah’s battle in the arena. I really liked that scene, and even though Jorah needs to come clean about his Greyscale, I still really like his character. He did get lucky in the fight, but still the way he chucked that spear up and took out the Son of the Harpy was awesome. That whole scene was done really well. It was a bit predictable–I knew Drogon would save the day–but still, it felt really epic all the way around. I am hoping for a big finale tonight!
Game of Thrones, Season 5 Episode 10: Mother’s Mercy
Scenes from the season finale of Game of Thrones, titled Mother’s Mercy:
It sucks because I’ve actually never seen Game of Thrones. I’ve been meaning to check it out, but I never get around to it. Reading this post make me want to that much more.