For the first time during Game of Thrones’s five season run, “The Gift” as a whole felt like a world too spread out with stories so disparate that the show no longer feels cohesive. This isn’t to say that Game of Thrones has become any harder to follow than in previous seasons (it hasn’t) nor does it feel as though the world is too varied or vibrant. Instead “The Gift” showed just how disjointed Game of Thrones has become, despite some of our favorite characters finally coming together. Somewhere between Sam getting his face bashed in and Jorah’s Gladiator moment, “The Gift” felt like the show was about to burst at the seams – and not in a good way.
“The Gift” was episode that moved everything forward one space on the gameboard that are our characters’ plots. It actually did a fairly good job of that without being obvious as everything naturally progressed from previous episodes. The big to do from “The Gift” is in that very namesake in which Tyrion and Jorah finally unite with Daenarys in a lesser fighting pit on the outskirts of Meereen. While Daenarys is actively abhorring the senseless killing (don’t tell her that’s what wars for the throne are made of) Jorah makes his move into the ring, subduing all foes without bloodshed. His masked fighter has won her over until he Maximus’s and takes the mask off, which disgusts Daenarys more than any of the recent killing had. Luckily Tyrion comes in the knick of time to reveal himself to her.
This is what we’ve all been waiting for right? The always overlooked, politically clever Tyrion finally joining forces with Daenarys, who has been stuck in Meereen for far too long. Their introduction wasn’t momentus, nor should it have been, but I can’t help but shake the feeling that it’s going to be a while before Daenarys trusts him enough to even have a conversation with him. And while Tyrion’s presence may mean the end to her quagmire on Essos, it still seems incredibly far off before Daenarys makes her way to Westeros. She has spent far too long in Meereen to abandon it before it is stable. What’s most important is whether or not the two have any chemistry. If they don’t the slog that is Meereen could end up with its greatest casualty of all by making Tyrion boring.
And while you would assume Meereen and Daenarys will be strengthened by a Lannister’s presence, King’s Landing will most likely be weaker for their Lannister’s newfound absence. Cersei has never been able to see the forest for the trees and it finally looks like she finally will be punished because of it. Riding high after a visit to a wasting away Margaery in a cell, she goes to visit the High Sparrow to make sure the Tyrells will be punished accordingly. Unfortunately for her the High Sparrow has other plans, detaining her based on her immoral relations with Lancel (amongst other things).
This moment, however, lacked any real punch other than some surprise. The audience had known of Cersei’s planning and deeds for seasons now, so the fact the High Sparrow arrested her shouldn’t come as much of a shock, but it was the show’s failure in making the High Sparrow’s action feel more like a betrayal. Even though it is safe to assume that Cersei tipped the High Sparrow off to Loras and Margaery, we haven’t seen the two interact in quite sometime. Why Cersei believed she could control the High Sparrow makes little sense. There had never really been much rapport built up between the two but it seems as though Cersei should have kept her guard up once the High Sparrow was refusing the King’s audience. While it will be interesting to see what sort of comeuppance Cersei receives, the moment of her capture and the assumed High Sparrow betrayal was not as dramatic as it could have been.
To complete the Lannister trifecta, Jaime also happens to be detained in Dorne after his clumsy rescue attempt for Myrcella last week. Myrcella tells him off swiftly and devastatingly as she is madly in love with Tristane and also reminds Jaime of the fact that Dorne has been her home now for a few years. Jaime seemed generally hurt by the fact she had very little familial loyalty left. The more titillating (far too easy a pun) happenings in Dorne came from the other cell in which Bronn and the Sand Snakes were being held. And while this scene certainly showed a little more insight into one of the Sand Snakes it ultimately felt kind of useless, much like the rest of Dorne.
It’s always hard to introduce a completely new people halfway through a story, as Game of Thrones did last season with Oberyn, but so far the goings on in Dorne have seemed fairly worthless. Everything in Dorne lacks any sort of momentum because there is no general thrust for the story to go towards. Myrcella certainly does not seem in danger but she could be from the Sand Snakes. Or will Dorne’s major role be in deciding who they will form an alliance with? There have been quite a few scenes in Dorne thus far but thus far it has added little more than a new locale for the show to play with.
Where in the south one daughter wants nothing to do with her father, in the north there is one father who is not ready to give up his daughter. Stannis has hit a bit of a snag due to a winter storm flaring up as he marched towards Winterfell. And while Davos advises retreat, Melisandre wants to push on the best way she knows how – sacrificing someone with royal blood. This time it would be the lovable Shireen. There is still a lot of mystery behind what the royal blood actually allows Melisandre to do, though it supposed has had some effect in the deaths of Robb and Joffrey. Seeing Stannis stand up for Shireen was wonderful but will he be able to continue his resolve the worse things go for him in the north? At this point Stannis is a fairly sympathetic figure, despite his moral compass, but killing his daughter who he admittedly loves would be far too much.
At The Wall Jon and Tormund go off north to rally the wildlings. Jon leaves Alliser Thorne the seat of Lord Commander until he returns. Not a great move for anyone involved. Maester Aemon also dies, leaving Sam with too few a friend. But hey, at least he and Gilly finally showed their physical love for each other. The attack on Gilly, as well as Jon and Aemon’s departures means that everyday Sam and Gilly stay at Castle Black the less safe it gets for them.
Meanwhile, Sansa tries to take matters into her own hands by asking Theon for help by putting the candle in the highest tower in Winterfell. Unfortunately Theon’s re-education by Ramsay still proves too strong as he immediately rats her out to Ramsay. Needless to say, no matter how much Theon cries while he has to watch Sansa get raped he is still far off from being able to go against Ramsay’s wishes.
And perhaps that is what “The Gift” encapsulates. Even though Game of Thrones has gotten far enough in its plot where Tyrion finally meets Daenarys and Cersei is getting some comeuppance, everything still seems too far off. Whether it is Dorne’s importance in Westeros, Jon going to amass an army to fight the white walkers, or even Arya being allowed to see the catacombs of faces at the end of the previous episode, every character and plot line has now been thrown into flux. There is no resolution in sight despite our characters finally achieving what they seemingly had set out to achieve since day one. And while that may be life in a nutshell, it makes Game of Thrones feel on the precipice of being stretched far too thin.
Other Gamey Morsels
• The two best lines from the show were definitely Sam’s “Oh my” titter after Gilly mounted him and Olenna trying to reason with the High Sparrow about the punishment of her grandchildren because “Loras shags some perfumed ponce.” It doesn’t beat cockmerchants and dwarf cocks fetching high prices from last week’s episode but definitely some excellent moments.
• How much more can Sansa take? Littlefinger did tell her that, ultimately, it was in her power to make her own choices. But I don’t think anyone can watch Sansa stoically be abused by another crazy beau. At this point nothing would be more welcome than a Quentin Tarantino-esque ultra-violent revenge plot for Sansa.
• Brienne and Pod being Sansa’s “friends” was a nice way to keep tabs on the characters.
• How many "alliances" can Littlefinger have? Clearly he is out just for himself but which alliances mean anything to him? Also who is this handsome young man he offers to her? Is it Robyn? Was it meant to be Lancel turning on Cersei?
image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com