Game of Thrones Episode 5.05: “Kill The Boy”

[chavalah.livejournal.com]

From the off, I rather liked this number, written by Bryan Cogman. I called it “the most poetic, possibly ever, for the show” in my preliminary thoughts last year. There’s a lot of romance here. There’s romance as it’s largely applied today, by way of two characters continuing to act on their feels for one another. Then there’s “romance” as it’s understood historically, particularly at the end with Tyrion lamenting the fallen glory of the past, before, as the showrunners put it, something “explodes” out of the past and into the present. On a less majestic scale, I think that happened in the village overlooking Winterfell, too, when Brienne and the inn keeper talk about the Starks being gone, but “not all of them.” I can’t watch that scene without tearing up, for reasons I’ll ramble about under the cut.

The episode is named in honor of Jon, and a line uttered to him in both the show and the books. The actions he takes to fulfill that command are somewhat different in both platforms, but the intent—to become a strong ruler—remains the same. Maybe Daenerys deserves her version of “kill the girl” as well; she also makes some different, and life-changing, decisions.

And is it just me, or do episodes not featuring King’s Landing feel a little…incomplete? Granted, there are a lot of other players in this game, but there is only one Iron Throne. :P Oh well.

( Episode Summary and Spoilers )