Game of Thrones Review: The Dance of Dragons (Season 5 Episode 9)

There was a lot to cheer about when the black screen appeared at the end of this week’s episode of Game of Thrones, aptly titled “The Dance of Dragons”, but, as it’s the Game of Thrones standard, there was also a lot to cringe about.

I’ll start with the cringe-worthy, and leave the cheering for last.

It’s not like we haven’t lost characters on Game of Thrones. At this point, we all know that the only way to survive Sunday nights is to go into it without getting attached. As soon as you fall in love with a character, chances are that character will die (Usually in the 9^th episode of a season). So, we knew, in a way. We knew something was coming. We just didn’t expect this.

Shireen Baratheon’s death caps one of the most horrific scenes a show known for horrific scenes has ever mustered. Last week, when Melisandre pushed Stannis to sacrifice his daughter for the sake of winning the upcoming battle for Winterfell, I thought to myself, impossible. Stannis is not that man. Maybe a part of me also thought, well, the Boltons do have it coming.

No part of me liked the actual death that happened this week.

Shireen offers to do whatever it is her father needs. And, then, it gets bad. We see her walk to the pyre. We are witness to her realization. We hear he screams as she begs her father to save her. The army looks on, obviously disturbed. Selyse, the worst mother in the history of this show, nevertheless runs to save her daughter.

And a stoic Stannis stands to the side and lets it all happen.

It’s horrible, surprising, and in a terrible, disturbing way, one hundred percent effective.

This is what makes Game of Thrones an unmissable hour of television. They keep raising the bar. You never see them coming, or, when you do, like I did with this week’s shocker, you convince yourself they won’t go there.

But boy, do they go there.

The rest of the episode moves at a slow, if interesting pace until the very end. Arya’s road to No One is interrupted by Sir Meryn Trant, who, back in season one, killed Syrio Forel. The fact that Arya lets this distract her illustrates that her journey is still not complete. Jamie is still in Dorne, getting along quite well with Prince Doran, who seems like the character with the most common sense at the moment. Doran Martell is not as showy as Oberyn, but our impression of a very capable ruler is reaffirmed when he gets Ellaria and, as an extension, the Sand Snakes, I imagine, to pledge her loyalty to him and end the quest for revenge.

Tristane Martell and Myrcella Baratheon are still engaged, and coming to King’s Landing with Jamie, which is quite ironic if you consider what’s happening with Cersei right this moment. I don’t imagine they’ll get there in time, but it’ll be interesting to see where they’re going with the Jamie/Cersei dynamic, especially since Brienne is not around to knock some sense into him this time around.

The only other character we visit this episode before the epic end scene is John, and there isn’t much there, other than foreboding. As I said before, your favorites are never safe in this show, and Jon is by far my favorite. I’m getting the tequila ready for the season finale.

Finally, we can talk about Daenerys, whose storyline is now the most interesting in the show, thanks in no small part to Tyrion. I could have done with five straight episodes of them plotting, but that is not in the cards. What is in the cards, however, is something much, much better.

There’s a character arc here, one that’s been obscured by the pace of the TV show. It’s about Daenerys rediscovering herself after being forced to make morally ambiguous choices to maintain peace. Nothing takes Dany back to her origins quite like her dragons, and boy, we’d missed them.

Drogon has been away for a while, and yet, with Daenerys reunited with the most successful stalker in the history of the show, and a plot to kill her having left her, Missandei, Tyrion, lover boy Dario and the aforementioned Jorah, in the middle of the fighting pits getting ready to die, the triumphant return of the dragon we thought we’d lost and the whole Daenerys rides the dragon out of danger thing is the perfect ending to an otherwise decent episode.

Epic. That’s the word for it. It turned this from a good enough episode to an outstanding one. You don’t believe me? Go back and look at Tyrion’s face in the final scene. And then look at it again. That’s the effect Game of Thrones has on you.

As to what’s coming next week, all I can do is quote Syrio Forel, and hope that, somehow, someway, my favorite characters can take his words to heart:

There is only one God, and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: Not today.

What did you think of this episode of Game of Thrones? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.