Halfway through the fifth season of "Game of Thrones," the show's writers turned in their best offering this year to date.
I haven't been a huge fan of all the plot deviations from the books in this season, but if they add action and summarize overly complex plotlines I'm OK with such changes.
"Kill the Boy" opened with a dragon roasting a man alive, and ended with genuine cliffhanger -- neither of which scenes, to my memory, were in the books. But the plot changes made for good, exciting TV. (Let's face it: on Sunday nights, nobody's got the energy for plotlines that require extensive research to understand.)
Meereen
The show began with Barristan the Bold laying dead after an attack by The Sons of the Harpy.
As punishment, Daenerys rounded up the heads of Meereen's 12 great families and took them down to the dragon pit – hoping to scare information out of them about the insurgent group. Her guards forced the captives to walk closer and closer to her dragons. Then: A fiery dragon feast ensued (!).
With one man dead, Dany sent the rest of the captives back to their cells. She, of course, didn't want to overfeed her dragons, she said. (But of course.)
This was Daenerys at her most sadistic. By episode's end, however, the kinder, gentler version of Daenerys was back.
Far from roasting more captives for dragon snacks, she told one, Hizdahr, not only that she agreed with his idea to reopen the Gladiator-style fighting pits, but she also planned to marry him.
In an earlier season, this move could have been interpreted as a young girl's naivety. But from a wiser and hardened Daenerys, it feels more like cold, political calculation. (Oh, and the fighting pits, it's safe to assume, should make for awesome TV.)
Castle Black
Jon Snow, leader of the Night's Watch, made the decision to try to convert all wildlings north of The Wall to the side of men, knowing the dangers the White Walkers pose.
He freed the captured Tormund, saying: "Your people need a leader, and they need to get south of the wall before it's too late."
Meanwhile, as Jon planned to travel north, Stannis was planning to travel south: to retake Winterfell from the Boltons. (Ramsay Bolton is the new Joffrey, by the way; So, I wish Stannis Godspeed in his murderous endeavors.)
Winterfell
We were reminded, as if we needed reminding, about how sick and sadistic Ramsay Bolton is. He'd been torturing Theon Greyjoy and turned him into the weakened and monstrous Reek. He'd been making Theon sleep with the dogs in a cage.
Sansa may be my least favorite Stark. But nobody deserves to have to marry this psycho.
Valyria
Jorah Mormont and his captive Tyrion traveled through Valyria by boat. It's the once-great city from where the Targaryens hail. It was destroyed in "The Doom," a euphemism for what was likely a giant volcanic explosion.
As the traveled, they saw one of Dany's dragons. The creature's flight distracted them from a different danger: an attack from "stone men," who are apparently just people inflicted with a disease called "Greyscale."
The men almost killed Tyrion, but he was saved from drowning by Mormont. Tyrion wasn't infected with the disease. But as the episode ended, we learned that Mormont was (Gulp!).
Solid episode: fun and exciting. It unfortunately didn't have any appearances from my favorite character Arya, but I appreciate how it didn't get bogged down in too many plotlines.
Grade: A-