Is it wrong I'm geeking-out over Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen finally meeting face-to-face?
For five seasons, Daenerys has been on another continent from the other main characters on "Game of Thrones": the Lannisters, Starks and Baratheons. Now, the two most popular characters on the show are finally sharing a scene – albeit a short one.
Sold into slavery, Tyrion and Jorah Mormont are sent to fight in Meereen's fighting pits, where, luck should have it, Daenerys – the queen of Slaver's Bay (and arguably rightful queen of Westeros) – is taking in her first gladiator fight.
It's gruesome stuff, with the crowd literally watching people getting murdered in front of them. Dany is so grossed out she wants to leave.
Mormont – whom Dany banished for treachery – realizes that the queen is watching and decides to go all Maximus on the competition. He wrecks dudes left and right, but upon winning, gets no love from Daenerys.
He then tells her he brought her a gift – and it's Tyrion! This is probably the first time a Lannister and Targaryen have been together since Dany's father, the Mad King, was burning people alive in the presence of Tyrion's dad, Tywin.
At this point in this storyline, the show has progressed beyond the books, so I have no idea how this is going to end up, but I can't wait to find out.
King's Landing
The other fascinating storyline on "The Gift" is what's going down in the capitol of Westeros. The weird religious cult, the Sparrows, has arrested both Margaery and Loras Tyrell, because Loras is gay.
This has King Tommen frustrated.
"I am the king. The queen is in prison and there is nothing I can do!" he says, trying not to sound like a child.
His mother, Cersei, goes to the jail to, basically, rub it in that Margaery is locked up. But, once one gets a taste for mass arrests it's hard to stop, and the Sparrows incarcerate Cersei too based on charges that she's an adulterer.
I hate the freakshow Sparrows, but I almost never mind something bad happening to Cersei, who is just a terrible human.
Winterfell
Ramsay Bolton has replaced Joffrey as the most despicable character on the show. What do they have in common? Poor Sansa Stark had to marry them both. After being raped repeatedly by Ramsay, Sansa tries to get help, but Theon Greyjoy betrays her – and Ramsay tortures and murders the old woman who sought to help Sansa leave Winterfell.
Meanwhile, Stannis and his army are riding south from Castle Black to capture Winterfell. They are slowed by an intense snow storm, and Melisandre advises Stannis to cruelly kill his own daughter, so she can use her blood for a good-luck spell. Stannis promptly kicks her out of his tent.
Nobody likes Stannis, but he's no sadist like Ramsay. Let's hope he isn't persuaded into child murder.
At Castle Black, two men try to rape Gilly (there's a lot of rapes on this show lately) and they brutally beat Sam when he tries to intervene.
But then Ghost appears and saves them! God, I love the Direwolves. We haven't seen them in so long.
It was a good episode. I still have some fundamental problems with all the changes from the books, but I've accepted them. We are now at the point where the show is beginning to venture into passages from the books that have yet to be released or possibly even written.
Pretty soon, book readers will be joining more casual fans in having no idea what's going to happen next.
Grade: B+