'Game of Thrones' Recap: Winter Is HERE
Of all the ways entertainment can frighten us — jump-scares, shocking sounds, gore, Jessica Lange monologues — sometimes the the most effective scare is just silence. Sometimes it’s not asking “What’s that noise?” but rather, “Why isn’t there a noise?” If the primary appeal of horror lay in how it heightens our senses as we await certain catastrophe, then it’s the quiet before the storm that we should most appreciate. It’s in the stillness of that fog where our imaginations run wild with dark possibility, so no loud jump-scare will ever be as horrible as the dread leading up to it.
Silence was used to sublime effect in “Hardhome,” perhaps the finest episode of Game of Thrones so far. The episode both began and ended in silence: First Daenerys’s lengthy, loaded pause before speaking to Tyrion, and later, of course, the episode’s epic final survey of the White Walkers’ new frontline. But what about that terrifying moment when thousands of screaming Wildlings suddenly fell silent and still beyond the camp’s barrier wall? That upsetting silence will haunt me for much longer than the preceding screams will.
But perhaps the only thing more brilliantly employed than silence this season has been absence. Until “Hardhome” we had not seen one frame of White Walkers or their legion of wights, whereas previous seasons had peppered those encounters throughout. Considering these ice demons seem to be the primary, inevitable threat to all our remaining characters, they were disconcertingly absent from the proceedings lately, an absence that only grew more unsettling as the season wore on. So their sudden appearance in this episode proved both shocking and outright devastating, as their tactics and numbers bore a ferocity we could not have expected. Which is just a fancy way of saying that this episode was SCARY AS HELL. Seriously terrifying — and epic — in a way that not even The Walking Dead could pull off. Oh, and one more thing: It was completely awesome.
Let’s talk about this episode!
The first thing you should know is, this episode wasn’t ALL snowy zombie battles. The first half consisted of one superb confrontation after another, and it started with a real doozy: Daenery’s’ first ever conversation with Tyrion!
They had a lot of things to sort out, and their very A+ verbal sparring was split between a few scenes. Basically, after Tyrion convinced Dany that he was the real deal (which included bragging about having killed both of his parents) he won her over by reciting back to her her own legendary bio. Like any other human being alive, she appreciated the attention and flattery. But Tyrion’s first test of allegiances was to decide what to do with Ser Jorah, an admitted traitor. After kinda-sorta throwing Ser Jorah under the bus (“He’s in love with you”) Tyrion advised Dany to spare his life but also kick him to the curb. Harsh but fair.
Probably the most satisfying part of this conversation happened shortly after Daenerys asked Tyrion to advise her (which itself was very no-duh even while it was crowd-pleasing). But it was then that they began generally sketching out Dany’s bigger goals in life, and how they might lead to the series’ endgame. In short, she was tired of Meereen (another no-duh) and wanted to sit on the Iron Throne. I loved when she name-checked each major family house and called them metaphorical spokes in the wheel of power. But the wheel of power upon which the houses had been revolving didn’t need to be stopped, it needed to be broken! Chills.
As for Ser Jorah, he made a severe sadface after he got kicked out of the palace, but took one look at his worsening case of grayscale and decided to sell himself back into the fighting pits. He claimed it was to fight for his queen once more, but it appeared he was up to something. But what?
Prison was not a good look on Cersei, especially because she was spending so much of her time seething at the scary nun and getting beaten about the head with a wooden spoon. As we learned, Cersei had absolutely nobody fighting for her release; the uncle who’d up and quit the council a few episodes back had returned to run the realm and did not care to rescue Cersei; Tommen was pouting in his bedroom; and obviously the Tyrells had no further recourse.
So Cersei had made her bed and now she was going to have to slurp water off the ground in it.
Kinda hard to feel bad for Cersei, though. Always think twice before installing a silly mythological belief system as law. Moral of the story, everyone.
Arya’s improv classes down at the House of Black and White were going pretty well. She and Fake Jaqen (Faqen?) had devised an Improv 101 mission for her, and it involved impersonating Bjork while selling oysters to local jerks.
Apparently, a goon had been selling some kind of life insurance/gambling scheme to sailors and then had been refusing to pay when they died. Which meant that somebody wanted the dude dead, and Faqen guessed that perhaps Arya would like to murder him.
He guessed correctly.
Remember when we all got so excited that Arya was going to travel to Braavos to train to be an assassin? IT’S HAPPENING. And it is excellent.
Meanwhile: Check it out! Sansa got some good news finally! During her daily shaking-of-Reek-by-the-shoulders he confessed a lil’ tidbit that was of interest to her: He hadn’t actually murdered Bran and Rickon. Those crispy corpses had just been a couple of local randos. And even though Reek didn’t elaborate further, the news was just enough to brighten Sansa’s day.
Aw, it’s sincerely nice when you find out your family hasn’t been quite as murdered as you’d thought.
Stannis’s army was on the way, so Roose and his bastard Ramsay were plotting a defense. Ramsay seemed to think that he could simply sneak twenty dudes into their camp and, I don’t know, light their sleeping bags on fire? Sure, whatever, Ramsay.
Over at Castle Black, this servant kid was really mad that Jon Snow wanted to team up with the Wildlings against the White Walkers. But I think that was just to prove that Jon Snow was attempting to do something deeply unpopular on both sides. But it was important!
And sure enough, Jon Snow finally arrived at a Wildling stronghold called Hardhome and the people there were not stoked to see him.
I appreciated this moment when Skulldude here called Jon Snow a “pretty crow” and accused Angry McGingerbeard of having had hot fur-coat-on-fur-coat action with Jon Snow.
Then Angry McGingerbeard had no choice but to beat Skulldude to death.
If we’re being honest, the Wildlings actually seemed like a cool bunch overall. For one thing, they LOVE dropping the F-bomb, which apparently existed in ancient fantasy times. But also, they’re total weirdos. Funky facial scars, cool names, just lots of interesting things going on at Hardhome. Jon Snow called a meeting with the Wildling elders, and after a lot of yelling and strong metaphors and bickering, about half of the people in the room decided that yeah, maybe teaming up against the White Walkers was a good idea. This one dude held out, though:
But guess who was on Team Jon Snow?
The effing GIANT in the room. Or more specifically, Chekhov’s Giant. Because we knew that if there was going to be a giant in the room, he would be going OFF soon.
This lady was one of the Wildling leaders and she was instantly fantastic. Just a great character, seriously. One thing about the sequence to come was that we only really knew two of the characters, so in order for us to have more characters to become invested in, the show gave us this one, and she was played by an actress who will probably be a superstar someday.
We’re talking instantly sympathetic, from how she distrusted Jon Snow but then came around, to how she sent her daughters off to safety with no hesitation, and then how she stayed behind to help the others. A full, rich, and haunting character arc in ten minutes or less. Because uh-oh…
Not two minutes after that rude Wildling dude had declined to join Jon Snow’s team, he got his comeuppance IMMEDIATELY. Because the surrounding mountains began to rumble and flurry up and we knew that meant one thing:
The White Walkers and their undead wights had arrived! Which turned into a total and brutal onslaught that quickly claimed thousands of Wildlings and proceeded to batter down their last walls of defense. Plus the smell alone was probably horrible.
But mixed in with all the terrifying carnage were undeniable moments of awesomeness. I mean, come on, the giant was literally STEPPING ON skeleton men. There is no denying how amazing that was, so don’t even try.
One of the starkest and most nightmare-inducing images was when Jon Snow saw the White Walker leaders surveying the scene from above on horseback. Very Biblical Apocalyptic imagery.
It was also incredibly chilling when Jon Snow encountered a White Walker up close and personal. This creep was so cold he actually extinguished fires as he walked by them.
There’s some definite over-the-top magic going on with these monsters, like for example how his ice blade was shattering dudes’ swords and axes, but that just meant there were more opportunities for magic to be used against them as well.
Take, for example, this moment when Jon Snow discovered that his Valyrian Steel blade was just as effective against White Walkers as dragonglass:
Yep, take that you frozen p.o.s.!
This was a pretty disturbing, though. Undead children!
At this point the awesome Wildling chieftain lady took one look at these dead kids and became 2B2D (too bummed to deal). They eventually overtook her and tore her up, which, again, we had only just met her, but she was so effective at getting us invested in her journey that it actually felt devastating. Also, I loved that the show left it up to us to interpret what exactly disturbed her so much about seeing these dead kids. Did they remind her of her own children? Did they remind her that she had perhaps murdered children similar to them? Was it just such a huge cosmic mindf–k that she lost the will to fight? Could be any or all of those things! Anyway, I really liked her. Rest in peace, new but awesome character.
At this point it felt like this attack had been going on for about an hour, but it was far from over. Just as the remnants of the wights had been fought off by the remaining heroes, one million more tossed themselves down the mountainside like lemmings only to jump up again and attack. What an endless nightmare this was!
Eventually the main three dudes (and the giant) just got the heck out of there, pardon my French.
I loved that the giant either decided to swim out to the bigger boats or just decided to walk into the ocean forever. Either way works for the giant. We’ve all been there.
Because yeah. That’s when all the battlefield casualties “woke up.”
Again, we’d just been bombarded with thrills, chills, and spills, yet one of the most frightening moments involved silence: The arrival of the King White Walker, who quietly held up his arms and summoned all his new soldiers to their feet.
The White Walkers had just drafted thousands of new undead soldiers right before Jon Snow’s eyes!
The silent, eerie sight of an entire shoreline crowded with glowing blue-eyed creatures just staring back at Jon Snow was an instantly iconic moment for this show. Unsettling in the best way, this entire sequence proved to him (and us) just what kind of threat our heroes are up against, and how much higher the stakes this conflict will raise than the comparatively petty squabbling going on in King’s Landing.
For this reason “Hardhome” is the episode that finally, finally propels this epic saga toward its final conflict, ice versus fire. As Daenerys and Tyrion regroup and devise their larger schemes, Jon Snow will have to inspire just as much devotion as they will. We’re not naïve enough to believe the other big leaders will put aside conflict and help out (it’s hard to imagine Cersei using her cunning for the greater good), but that doesn’t mean we can’t dream. Just imagine a season of these mortal enemies banding together against a horde of nightmare creatures! Could the finale of this saga be even more amazing than we ever dreamed? Only an episode this wonderful could make us dare to consider the possibility. Brilliant, brilliant episode.
What was your favorite moment in “Hardhome”?
Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. at HBO.
