Game of Thrones Finale S5E10 : Mother’s Mercy | Spoiler Coated Review

And it ends. In blood and more blood. Children killing full grown knights and commanders. Grown ups poisoning children. Women serving justice, paraded naked in the city. Lost battle fought just for the sake of it. Multiple lead roles killed in short amount of time and unlike any other season finale, this one has more action and f**king faster story line.

Stannis’ sacrifice (murder) works. Snows melt away and makes the path to Winterfell little easy. But that’s not the only price he has to pay for it. Half his army abandons him and his beloved (nutcase) wife Selyse commits suicide.

Its like D&D literally finishing up here. And then comes the worst shock, Melisandre abandons him too. But we are talking about Stannis here, he burned his daughter alive if you think all THIS would stop him the you are gravely mistaken. He walks his entire army (or whats left of it) onto Winterfell.

Jon recalls the horror that took place at Hardhome. Tells Sam about how the Night’s King (if that’s who he was) and his powers. Together they come to the conclusion that Dragon glass isn’t the only thing that can kill White Walkers. Valyrian Steel (Dragon steel) is also as effective a weapon as any.

Sam, out of the blue, asks Jon to send him to Oldtown along with Gilly and baby Sam. He also confesses about losing his virginity. With Maester Aemon dead and Jon’s only friend gone, which begs the question where is Ghost? Haven’t seen him in a while.

After all the troubles on the road Stannis finally reaches Winterfell. Poor old Sansa, she’s got the worst luck in the world. Just when she finally decides to escape, nobody’s there to help her. I thought she would kill Ramsay with that corkscrew, but I give the girl too much damn credit.

Stannis is received by the same warm welcome he extended the wildlings. Tired, Surprised, surrounded by armored mounted knights, he still does not give up his duty. Gotta hand it to the Bolton’s and D&D that is one helluva army. Stannis’ forces are well… slaughtered like pigs. And just when we think it’s all over, the most useless person in the show turns up. Brienne of fcuking Tarth.

And after all the unnecessary hassle we don’t even actually get to see her chop Stannis’ head off. That’s right Stannis is NOT dead in the books yet. So don’t lose hope. (Also book Stannis is way much cooler than this one.)

Finally, Reek grows a pair and does his duty as well. Splatters lovely Myranda on the castle floor on one side and then Sansa on the other. I’m just kidding, they land in the snow. (Probably.)

It’s one twisted man after another. Meryn fukcing Trant. Beating little girls before raping them. What the … Holy mother of Faces. That was so cool. Our little wolf is turning into quite an assassin. Arya takes a step back from becoming no one and reveals her identity to the dying knight.

Jaqen H’ghar is not happy about it. He says,

“That life was not yours to take… Only death can repay a life!”

But thank the gods they only blind her. What? That’s more than what we can expect from these psycho’s. We don’t completely understand the scene. How she was poisoned? Or how she saw her own face on the dead person. Was it an effect of the poison? Hallucination perhaps.

What this experience reminded us was Arya’s multiple relationships with her companion’s, how quickly she forges new bonds. She’s a lone wolf who does what is needed to survive, and now she has to change those habits and become a chameleon.

In Dorne we see farewell for the princess. Trystane and Myrcella  are returning to Kings Landing with Jaime. And Bronn, ofcourse. Jaime tries, poorly, to tell Mrycella about Cersei and him but let’s face it she’s a teenager.

They tend to know such things. Hell, she probably knows about Brienne too. What we as fans must know is that D&D despise father-daughter relationships. Take Stannis for example! Since the memory is burning in our thoughts.Pun Intended.

Just when you think there’s a happily ever after moment on the horizon,

*knock knock.
Who’s there?
Death!*

Ellaria’s kiss of death takes Myrcella. Well at least we got something satisfying out of the so called “Dornish plot”. Tommen is the last surviving child of Cersei. Who knows what poison kills Him?

All this bickering about Daenerys, why not show MORE of Arya instead? Hell even Ramsay going nuts would be entertaining than this. Tyrion is left to rule the city “as interim CEO of Meereen” with Grey Worm and his unsullied and Missandei while Jorah and Daario (the desperate lovers) go off to find our Dragon rider. Seconds of long awkward silence, why are you wasting good time? Ughhhh. Varys return was unexpected and welcome.

His conversations with Tyrion are a delight to the ears, right from the second season. An amazing politician with the master of whisperers to rule a city on the verge of Civil War.

Out far north, Daenerys is lost. And with a lazy ass dragon no less. *mooom let me sleep* Now this is what a dragon should be like. Not that awesome and domestic, but a little wild and fierce. Preview said, Dany meets some strangers. I was like OK, a few people. I didn’t expect the entire Khalasar. And you’ve been saying there are no new characters, just look at the sheer number of extras. Overwhelming is a small word. And I don’t even mean the horses.

She drops the ring so as to not give any indication of her being remarried (that would not sit well with the Dothraki) or just a plain old marker to leave behind if someone comes looking. A beautiful cliffhanger adapted as it is from the books. Just marvelous!

Oh Cersei, one beautiful scene after another. You think Sansa was tortured? That was just bad luck, now Cersei on the other hand. That’s beautiful. After god knows how long, her spirit finally breaks and she confesses her crimes to the high sparrow. He releases her but only after she’s faced the walk of shame/atonement. Queen Mother Cersei is stripped naked and paraded in front of the entire city of Kings Landing.

The lioness held’s her head high and does not give the people the satisfaction of seeing her broken. You thought Septa Unella did a good job with ‘Confess. Confess.’ Wait till you see her doing ‘Shame. Shame. Shame.’ The people of Kings Landing take out their anger of the naked and vulnerable queen. Lena Heady did not actually perform the scenes if you were wondering. She used body double and a lot CGI. But I must say, she has acted the sh*t out of that scene. We know who the Emmy is going to this year.

Bloody, resigned, filthy she finally makes it to the Red Keep with a little dignity still left. But that walk really takes a toll on her. Makes you wonder what’s going to happen to Ser Loras and Queen Margeary.

Qyburn is the last true friend Cersei has left in the capitol. And of course Ser Robert Strong, atleast that’s what his name is in the books. The Mountain that rides. Version 2.0. Now that Kevan Lannister is the Hand of the King who knows maybe all will go smoothly at least or a while.

Ser Davos undertakes a futile attempt to ask help from the Lord Commander to aid Stannis. Does he not get that Winter is Coming. Jon ain’t gonna give him shit. Neither the Watch nor the Wildlings. Words cut deeper than swords, my arse. Silence is the worst one. The Red Woman returns to the Wall (God knows why?)

Melisandre’s face is something of a warning. We have NEVER EVER seen her that lost and defeated. And Ser Davos’ pain after the news of Shireen. I expected him to act out, do something, but perhaps next season.

I told you that boy was one nasty little motherfu**er. First Ranger Ser Alliser Thorne, First Builder Yarwick and three others whose names we don’t know. Five times he was stabbed. All of them saying,

“For the Watch…”

And the last one was that Olly that little shit. The North remembers. And now his watch is ended.  998^th Lord Commander, the bastard of Winterfell is gone. And he ain’t coming back (at least as per Kit’s latest interview)

All in all the bloodiest scene in the entire series. And also somehow I think the shortest. So many plots were concluded and/or left hanging in such little time. So many lead characters were killed, of course it was Jon’s death that hit us really hard.

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Where does this leaves us with other characters. Lets summarize:

1. Jon Snow is, for all intents and purposes, DEAD. Read what you will, wish what you want it ain’t gonna change the facts.
2. Cersei is back at the Red Keep with new problems (Kevan Lannister as the Hand) and a mountaineering solution.
3. Daenerys stranded somewhere in the Dothraki Sea. Supposedly encountering Khal Jhaqo’s khalasar. This means she will NOT go back to Meeren anytime soon.
4. Our favourite duo of Tyrion and Varys is back. Together trying to solve the problems Daenerys left them back in Meeren.
5. Meanwhile Daario and Jorah have set off to find the Dragon Queen.
6. Sansa and Theon jumped off the, God knows how many hundred feet, wall into the snow. Killing them that way would be stupid. So rest assured they’re gonna be hunted down by our sadistic bastard.
7. The Blind girl. Misery loves company. If the other Starks are suffering why should she be any different.
8. Sam and Gilly are headed off to Oldtown. Who knows what new surprises they might encounter on their way there.
9. Brienne and Podrick.… nevermind.
10. Sand snakes and Ellaria effectively started a war between Lannisters and the Martells. We can only hope to see some action and not anymore of that ‘absolute ridiculousness they call acting’ from them.
11. Melissandre is at the wall. *HOPES* Ahem. We do not know what her next move is? Will she even be alive anymore? Nothing is stopping Ser Davos from killing her. And grief can lead a man to dark places.
12. Ramsay and Roose won’t be celebrating the victory anymore. Sansa is gone and so is their slim chance to hold the North.
13. Bran is in an awesome training program with the Bloodraven. He will be back next season with Meera Reed and our beloved Hodor.
14. As for Rickon, last seen in season three, seems like so far he is the most useless Stark ever. That is what makes him all the more interesting.
15. Who will free Viserion and Rhaegal?
16. Where is Littlefinger and what is he planning?
17. What about Benjen Stark? They did not confirm his death anyway.
18. Now with everyone dead, I guess Balon is the victor of War of the five kings. Too bad he won’t sit the Iron Throne anytime soon.
19. And finally, the heir of the Baratheon line. Gendry. Presumably still rowing.

Our Mondays will never be the same anymore. With a fervent and violent end Game of Thrones has bid us adieu. Until next season folks. #TheNorthRemembers and so does Campus Times Pune #IronfromIce

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