a nice little cool down we got from last week's epic "Hold the Door" episode. While I did

enjoy it I did feel that certain scenes went on a little too long and that the ending was

slightly unnecessary. The one thing I started this notice about this season and I'm sure

some of you will agree with me is that these episodes are way too short for a normal Thrones

season. Way too short. This episode clocked in at about 50 minutes minus the intro and

outro songs and I find this to be a major problem especially considering a lot of the

scenes we've gotten recently could've had more substance to them. This wouldn't be a

major problem if the show's premiere and finale were over an hour and thirty minutes but so

far that doesn't seem like it'll be the case.

But this episode, as I said, had its moments and did surprise me in terms of progress for

some story lines and some people have commented on how this is the first episode without anybody

dying, minus flashbacks and plays of course. Comment section back me up on this if its

true. Now with all that out of the way lets get on to it.

First lets start with Bran, Meera and the return of uncle Benjen. Yes hes finally back

and ready to kick ass with his flail that can catch on fire which I thought was really

cool. I don't know about you guys but I'm always happy when we get to see these awesome

medieval weapons that we haven't seen yet on the show and I love when they're used in

cool and interesting ways.

Bran's scenes this time around were short and a little spazzy with the visions but also

pretty good. Spazzy because they moved by so fast and you'd literally have to re-wind

multiple times or have a nice quick finger to pause at the right time to catch some sort

of glimpse a key pivotal moments in the Thrones lore. Some people were complaining about the

it not fitting with the tune of the scene but I did enjoy it. In the ever so often Hollywood

fashion all hope is lost when Meera is running away from the cave and then Benjen comes and

saves them and you automatically knew it was Benjen because who else could it be. Now this

is where the controversy begins: It's been public for a while now that Coldhands, the

mysterious figure beyond the wall that helps Bran's party in the books is not Benjen. How

do we know? well because George Martin's editor asked him about in and he said no. Here is

the picture now. Some people speculate that George was just lying to his editor to get

her to stop asking him questions and others believe that Coldhands and Benjen are two

completely different people but the show didn't want to try and introduce new characters beyond

the wall so they said fuck it and merged the two.

My belief is that Coldhands, in the books, is Benjen but George is doing one of those

things where hes saying that the Benjen we knew is long gone and that this person is

someone else entirely different but has the appearance of Benjen. Like...it's the Benjen

we know but because hes been dead I guess hes just a changed person so George is referring

to him being someone else. Like what happened with Arya. The Arya Stark we knew is gone

but in her place is "No One". Yeah I think hes doing something like that but to the review:

Benjen comes in and saves them just in time, of course and we find out that the Raven isn't

exactly a person but a title. When he told Bran it was time for him to become "me" I

guess he meant his job. Its time for Bran to become what he was all this time. It seems

the mantle of the Three Eyed Raven has been passed down to Bran and with it a lot of knowledge.

We also learn that in order to stop someone from turning into a wight you'd need to infuse

them with obsidian, much like the ritual to make the Walkers in the first place but something

has been bugging me for quite a while...why did Benjen lead a ranging party to find the

Walkers? and why did the Children of the Forrest save just him and where was he throughout

the entire events in season 4 when Bran was heading to the cave?

I hope these questions are answered but overall I did enjoy the Bran scenes this time around

and I really did like the return of Benjen and something tells me that when he starts

to lead Bran back to the Wall he he may not follow them through it, which is a shame because

having an undead Stark on their team is every Bolton's worst nightmare.

Moving on to Sam and Gilly and oh look....I have said that without throwing up in my mouth.

No no this time Sam & Gilly actually don't suck and I really did enjoy it mainly because

of his family. That shot of Horn Hill when they're coming in on the horses was beautiful,

I love how it kinda looks like the Parthenon in Greece but what really stole the scenes

for me was James Faulkner as Randyl Tarly. Faulkner as Randyl is turning out to be one

of the best casting choices the show has made in quite a while. He joins the ranks of Charles

Dance as Tywin and Sean Bean as Ned Stark in this regard. Its almost like he was born

to play that role. The silent treatment at dinner, the cold stare and the brutal remarks.

Anybody whose had a shitty father figure in their life knows how that feels and I'm sure

that hit home for a lot of you guys watching. Men and women. While a lot of you guys said

that it could've been cut down? I'd disagree and would say that every scene with them was

necessary and I wasn't bored by it. I did like seeing Gilly in something other than

dish rags and Sam's family seemed quite nice.

I will say it was kind of shitty foreshadowing for them to write in Randyl's lines towards

the of dinner: "Sam you're a fat bitch. By the way that sword over there? its valyrian

steel and no longer yours so fuck you and get out". It was a little obvious that Sam

would've taken it and I can't wait to see his face when he sees that it's gone. But

At this point, however, I can't see where Sam & Gilly are going to next considering

he'll be on the run from his father but I'm actually excited to see how that'll play out.

Hopefully he starts his training in OldTown by the end of this season.

But like I said, I did enjoy Sam & Gilly this episode and I hope they continue to be interesting

and meet new characters along the way that allow Sam's character to shine.

Moving on to King's Landing which I thought could've been cut down a little and I wasn't

really invested in it this time around as much as I wanted to be. Seeing Margaery being

all religious is definitely weird but at the same time I know it's all an act to help get

her brother out of there. I like that we finally get to see the Tyrell army and their unique

armor, which every house already has, but they ended up doing nothing which disappointed

the hell out of me. Not only that but Tommen is turning out to be the new Olly because

holy shit kid...you fucking suck but I think there is a reason behind it this time which

I will get into in a minute.

What I mostly found fucked up in this episode was Jaime being let go of the Kingsguard by

Tommen because we all know how much it meant to him. In season 4 Jaime declines being the

Lord of Casterly Rock mainly because he wanted to do his best at his current position. He

wants to fill the white book of brothers with heroic deeds and accomplishments while he

was still a Kingsguard and it's sad to see that it can't happen anymore and I feel for

Jaime because he doesn't deserve this but I think hes just a casualty of a bigger plan.

As for the High Sparrow, he is shaping up to be a great character and player in the

King's Landing political arena but at the same time I feel like the show is executing

this a little late in the season. While I love Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow I

feel like his character is just being used to lengthen the King's Landing scenes with

speech after speech after speech. What I did like, however, is by sparing Margaery he sent

the biggest fuck you to Cersei by not letting her do the walk of atonement. He was also

able to get Tommen and the Kingsguard on his side but I think there is more to this and

follow me here...if done correctly? this'll be the biggest comeback we've ever seen from

Cersei. There was a scene several episodes back when Tommen and Cersei have a discussion

in private and we never get to see what the contents are about. My theory here is that

Cersei and Tommen are playing the High Sparrow by letting him think hes converted Tommen

and the Kingsguard over to the Faith and just then, in that moment, when his guard is down

and he thinks hes pulled one over on Cersei? she comes back at him in full force and annihilates

all of them. As for Jaime being let go of the Kingsguard? well that was needed so the

High Sparrow can feel like hes won. It should all be about making the enemy feel like they

have the upper hand and then swiftly pulling the rug from under them for a deadly strike.

Personally if I was on the show's writing team? that's what I would do. Make the audience

think that the tiring old troupe of Tommen being a weak, naive little push over was happening

again and in the end? we come to see that he isn't naive but he was playing the game.

The audience has come to expect Tommen to be such a wimp at this point so I hope the

show runners surprise us in the end by all this being Cersei's master plan and Tommen

is in on it and assisting her with it. And the reason I think this is Cersei's master

plan is mainly because...when Jaime was removed from Kingsguard and he was telling her how

the High Sparrow has his claws in Tommen? she kept a calm and collective head. She also

actively encouraged Jaime to go to the Riverlands and secure Riverrun for a certain reason which

I won't go into right now considering its very spoilery but Cersei just seemed way too

cool with all of this and I wouldn't be too surprised if she'll end up getting her revenge

and the episode playing out with the rains of castamere like it always does.

Now I forget who said this but I agree with the statement that...It's nice to see Masie

Williams actually do something on the show than repeat the same lines over and over again.

In Bravos Arya doesn't go through with the assassination of Lady Crane and I want to

call your attention to something that I didn't notice in my first view of the episode. When

Arya and Lady Crane were talking about how the Queen would've reacted completely different

I kept thinking "Arya knows Cersei so well" but I was wrong. When Arya was giving the

actress her thoughts on what would've really happened.... she wasn't talking about Cersei

she was talking about herself and that really hit home for me. She was talking about how

much she loved her father, and how she never got to say goodbye and how she wouldn't cry

but she'd want to kill all the people who did those things to her. That's the moment

when she realized she could never truely be "No One" and you could tell.

Soon after this the Waif notices that Arya doesn't go through with it and reports back

to Jaqen who orders Arya to be taken cared of. Now heres the thing:

Jaqen's not an idiot. Even though he follows the assassin's creed and way of life he also

knows Arya quite well considering he was the one conversing with her about the target and

sensed she had some reservation to killing Lady Crane. My theory here is that Jaqen sent

her on that mission knowing fully well that she wouldn't be able to go through with it

all to give Arya her final test. Survive the Waif who, in my opinion, has grown a little

too cocky for her own good. I think this is further backed by Jaqen saying "make sure

she doesn't suffer" when he knows fully well that the Waif doesn't like Arya and hasn't

from the very beginning.

My guess is that Arya will either kill the Waif and escape Bravos back to Westeros or

after she kills the Waif, Jaqen will come out of nowhere and congratulate on passing

the test. I can't see Arya being killed off by the Faceless Men so easily but then again

they're good at what they do so it's not impossible. For those of you a little frustrated that

Arya's time as an assassin was too brief and the pacing was a bit off? please check out

the books where they go into much detail about it and even offers some surprises on her character.

And no I'm not trying to be some kind of jerk trying to sell you something but I feel like

her time in the House of Black & White was a little too short for it to end as her being

a rogue this quickly. But regardless, I really did enjoy the Arya stuff this episode, I love

Maise Williams, she is an amazing actress and I'm really excited to see where this will

go and how their confrontation will play out.

And before we get to Dany lets check over with Walder Frey. Now It was a very short

scene but its main purpose is to set up the return of Blackfish Tully taking back Riverrun.

For those of you who don't remember Bryden Tully, also known as the Blackfish is the

uncle of Catelyn and Edmure Tully and hes been missing ever since the Red Wedding. In

the show it's been about a year since the Red Wedding took place but we, the audience,