'Game of Thrones' Recap: Power Flowers
Warning: This recap contains character and storyline spoilers for this week’s episode of Game of Thrones.
Every season of Game of Thrones lasts about ten hours, and at least nine of those hours will consist of characters doing chores.
Sure, there’s the occasional beheading or dragon attack, but those are usually followed by scenes of characters mopping up blood or cleaning up after those dragons. That’s what sets this show apart from your typical fantasy escapades: the chores. But while that may sound like a harsh burn, the banalities of Westeros are actually crucial to the escapism; this world seems grounded, real, and lived-in. Which is saying something, considering its biggest plotline involves ice zombies.
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Fortunately, there’s more going on than just chores. There’s also education and prayer, especially in this week’s episode. “High Sparrow” continued the early season trend of moving characters around the chessboard and placed a special emphasis on preparation for upcoming conflicts. But it wasn’t as boring as that sounds!
For one thing, we spent zero time in Meereen, so that automatically made this a good episode, but for another, we got to revisit Winterfell! A little nostalgia goes a long way for longtime viewers, and “High Sparrow” capitalized on our fondness for Season 1 in surprising ways. Let’s talk about it!
We began with a bit of a thrill: the inside of the House of Black and White! As you probably guessed, it was dusty and mostly made of stone, but it had some pretty rad statues. One statue was crying real tears, and there were a few other statues that looked like Thwomp from Super Mario Bros. But instead of being super stoked to be inside, Arya was already complaining about having to sweep and clean like a common peasant. When was she going to be able to become a faceless assassin already?
As it turned out, one of the main things Arya had forgotten to do was completely forsake her life and identity. So next thing we knew, a random lady was whipping her with a stick and Arya was throwing her clothes in the ocean. But she couldn’t bring herself to dispose of her sword Needle, probably because her dead brother had given it to her, so she hid it in some rocks where local children were guaranteed to find it.
After that, she was finally granted access to the room where guards take the bodies of people who drink from the statue’s tears (or something?) and then fell down dead or comatose (or something?). Look, what I’m saying is, the practices of the House of Black and White are strange, and that’s just how it is. Arya was going to have to adjust.
Oh, then this happened.
It was another wedding day in King’s Landing! Margaery finally wed Joffrey’s little brother Tommen, and if you were wondering if they would have to hold off on consummation due to him being a literal child… nope!
How do I put this politely? Tommen got hella laid. But Margaery being Margaery, she occasionally took breaks from having sexual intercourse with a child to subtly undermine his relationship with Cersei. But don’t worry: In the scene immediately after, Cersei got to undermining Margaery with statements like “Is she intelligent? I can’t tell.”
I loved when they finally interacted later and Margaery got real obvious with her disdain by implying that Cersei is a daytime drunk and would probably be a grandmother soon. And Cersei just interrupted with “Anything you need…” and it sounded like a threat.
But the exchange clearly rattled Cersei, or maybe she was just totally over the cattiness? Either way, it was a rare moment when we felt bad for her, especially when Margaery’s friends openly laughed at Cersei behind her back. Would Cersei just lie down and take this kind of treatment? Probably not!
Ooh, check out Winterfell! Here’s Reek fka Theon surveying the place he used to call home and was only now finally getting rebuilt after he’d helped destroy it. Mixed emotions, basically. He was still a faithful servant to Ramsay Bolton fka Ramsay Snow, but if we’re being honest, I don’t think he was super happy about it.
Speaking of not being very happy: Sansa was informed by Littlefinger that she was probably going to have to wed Ramsay Bolton! Now you may know that Sansa is not super into being engaged to monsters, so this was a step in the wrong direction for her, probably.
On the other hand, Littlefinger reminded her that this was a straight-up power grab on their part, and if she ever wanted to get revenge on House Bolton (for their Red Wedding complicity), then this was the way to do it. So she just sort of stifled her reflex gags and more or less agreed to go along with it. This was a newer, gothier Sansa Stark, and she was NOT going to get Joffrey’d again.
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Because yeah. Gross. What was weird in this scene was that after Sansa curtsied for Ramsay and his father, a gaggle of ladies stared daggers at Sansa. I guess he’s a hot property now? What a world.
Meanwhile, there was this cute moment when an old woman showed Sansa to her room (which may or may not have been her old childhood bedroom) and assured her “The North remembers,” which is the catchphrase for those who believe the perpetrators of the Red Wedding will suffer for their crimes. So that was fun! Could a staff coup be in the making? It’s about time Winterfell was ruled by Starks again.
Either way, Littlefinger was definitely intent on forging an alliance with Bolton, at least for now. But something tells me this will not end well. These guys.
Still trailing them, however, were Brienne and Podrick. There was a lengthy scene here that wasn’t necessarily intended to move the plot forward, but was a great example of how this show can still be compelling with a simple speech. After Brienne sort of realized that she’d been a dick and should probably be helping Podrick become a knight, she recounted how she’d become so loyal to Renly Baratheon in the first place.
Basically, a long time ago she got Carrie’d! At a ball her father had thrown for her, all the boys pretended to be fighting over her until she realized they were all just kidding and made her feel like she was super heinous. But then Renly had stepped up and took her hand and protected her reputation that night, and she was forever grateful. Anyway, it was a really good story in context, and I mostly bring it up to say how terrific Gwendoline Christie is on this show. Just a really lovely performance. So good.
Up at Castle Black, Jon Snow was still getting used to being the leader of the dudes in fur coats. First, Stannis tried yet again to lure him away from his command — again, Jon Snow declined — and then Jon Snow had to deal with insubordination when one of his prior competitors for leadership openly scoffed at one of Jon Snow’s commands.
From there, Jon Snow had to decide how to handle this situation, and it ended up harkening back to the very first episode when Ned Stark had to deal with something similar.
And true to his father’s earlier judgment in the pilot, Jon Snow beheaded that MF-er! Mostly to make an example, but also to reaffirm to us that leadership really sucks sometimes. Much like when Dany had to order a really unpopular execution last week, Jon Snow had to do the same this week, despite the guy’s pleas for mercy. But unlike last week, this execution played a little bit better with the crowd, especially with this guy:
There’s nothing like a supportive nod from Stannis Baratheon to really bring you comfort in your decisions, you know?
Back at King’s Landing, the main priest dude hired tons of hookers to sexually impersonate the seven gods. Sacrilege! So then the Sparrows, a bunch of hot dudes in robes, busted in and dragged him into the street for some public humiliation.
He was clearly not stoked about it and later went to Cersei and demanded that the Sparrows be punished and/or executed, but she was not having it.
More intriguingly, she seemed to want to meet the leader of the Sparrows personally, so next thing we knew, she was walking the streets of skid row asking around for the High Sparrow.
And you guessed it: He’s played by Jonathan Pryce. Which probably means he’s going to be a big deal later. For now, he’s just a male Mother Theresa type, but I’m pretty sure Cersei will be installing him as a religious figure in the castle, right? As she said, people need both the crown and religion, so maybe now that she’s lost the crown to Margaery, she’s looking for an alternative way to rule? Could this be the beginning of Cersei’s journey into becoming Lady Pope? Fingers crossed!
Oh, this really quick scene was AMAZING: Remember when Cersei’s weird wizard dude asked for that severed dwarf head a few weeks ago? He seems to be building some kind of Frankenstein’s monster! All we saw of the thing was some rustling under a sheet, but oh man, this is amazing. CANNOT WAIT to see where this goes.
During their road trip, Tyrion and Varys took a quick stop in Volantis, where they saw a street preacher proselytize about the God of Light and also claim that the Mother of Dragons was an emissary of the God of Light. That’s the first I’ve heard of those two threads crossing over, which, again, is another intriguing turn for this show’s religious elements. Usually, fantasy religion is a snooze, but so far this show has kept it all pretty compelling.
For his part, Tyrion was excited to finally meet Daenerys, but first he wanted to hang out with some hookers. Unfortunately, not even this nice, seemingly smart hooker could awaken his libido. So it got pretty awkward. (Also, how much did you like the hooker dressed like Daenerys? They sure get weird in Volantis.)
The episode concluded with another clever crossover: Ser Jorah, drunk and a mess, decided to kidnap Tyrion and take him to Daenerys! That’s not only convenient for us — the faster Tyrion gets to meet Daenerys, the better — but it also seems like a good way for Ser Jorah to get back in with her good graces. It was kind of a bummer when he got the boot so unceremoniously. Anyway, good ending!
Though Game of Thrones doesn’t always guarantee its episodes’ plots are tied together thematically in any way, “High Sparrow” had a number of intriguing themes: mentorship, new religions, and, of course, chores.
But most importantly, it was about characters finding power within and rising up to claim that power in society. We all know a huge battle is coming, so it’s important to see these people become as strong as possible before that happens. Even if that means sweeping the ground for several days first. You gotta earn it before you can burn it!
Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
