Game of Thrones returned for its fifth season with “The Wars to Come,” which was a familiar refrain heard throughout the episode. The episode was written by the team of David Benioff and DB Weiss and was directed by Michael Slovis, whose other credits include Breaking Bad, Elementary, and Chicago Fire. No doubt his experience dealing with filming fire came in handy in this episode in particular! Slovis is also well known as a cinematographer and the episode is beautifully shot as we move through a number of the different kingdoms as the episode begins to set up the season to come.
The episode begins with a flashback to a young Cersei (Nell Williams) having her future told by Maggy (Jodhi May), a witch. The opening sequence feels like a fairy-tale, with the girls trekking through the woods to the witch who allows the usual three questions. But of course, there is always the underlying violence of Game of Thrones at hand. It’s clear that from a young age, Cersei relied on her father’s name to protect her and get her whatever she wanted, including the compliance of those who knew to be afraid of him. Even at this young age, however, Cersei is also self-reliant, emphasizing “you don’t need to be afraid of my father” – implying that she is the one to be feared.
The witch doesn’t fear her, but agrees to tell her future anyway. Much of what Maggy tells her, we know to be true. She won’t marry the Prince, but will marry the King – Robert Baratheon. We also know that her three children are the result of her incestuous relationship with Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), and Baratheon’s children – all 20 of them – were the product of his infidelities. However, Maggy also tells her that her three children will wear gold crowns, but also have gold shrouds, implying an early death. We’ve already seen Joffry meet such an end. Even more interesting is the answer to the second question of whether she would be Queen. Maggy tells her she will be Queen for a time, but that a younger and more beautiful Queen will cast her down and take all that she holds dear. Now, that could be Margaery (Natalie Dormer), but it could also be Daenarys (Emilia Clarke).
In the present, Cersei is once again Queen – or at least Regent now that Tywin (Charles Dance) is dead. She demonstrates her power by making all the nobles who’ve come for the funeral wait for first her arrival and then while she has a private moment with her father and Jaime. Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) killing Tywin is likely the one thing that will actually tear these two apart. Cersei tells Jaime, “Tyrion may be a monster but at least he killed our father on purpose. You killed him by mistake.” She also twists the knife by reminding him that he was the one Tywin loved the most. Jaime is clearly filled with guilt as he stands guard over his father’s body. And those stones with the blue eyes will never not be creepy as hell!
Jaime warns Cersei that Tywin’s death will make them look weak and that everyone will be coming to take away everything that he built, that he’d left for them. He’s not wrong, and it’s clear that there are a number of people in King’s Landing that we haven’t seen in some time. It’s an interesting parallel to Daenerys’ current situation as well. Things are de-stabilizing in many different areas, preparing for the wars to come.
Lorus (Finn Jones) attempts to console Cersei, saying all the right platitudes, but she barely acknowledges him. He’s not stupid, and he knows she’s never going to marry him now that Tywin isn’t around to force her to. He tells Margaery as much when she walks in on him and his lover, Olyvar (Will Tudor). She urges him to be a bit more discreet, but he insists it doesn’t matter. Everyone knows what he is, and Cersei will never marry him, leaving her in King’s Landing with Margaery. Her only answer is “Perhaps.” Does she have something up her sleeve? Is this part of the future that the witch saw?
Kevan Lannister (Ian Gelder – who I had the pleasure of seeing in Titus Andronicus at the Globe in London last summer) has returned with his son Lancel (Eugene Simon). Kevan apologizes to Cersei for Lancel who has joined the religious cult called Sparrows. He also points out that the cult would never have been so bold to come to King’s Landing before Tywin died. Lancel has definitely changed since we last saw him and is not the incompetent coward who almost died at the battle of Black Water.
Lancel approaches Cersei when she is alone and reminds her of their tryst – why would she balk at sleeping with her much younger cousin after sleeping with her brother for years? But we learn unequivocally (at least all the clues are there) that she put him up to putting something in Robert’s wine and it was that that contributed to his death by the boar. It’s another nice reminder of just how ruthless Cersei can be. Lancel asks her forgiveness for leading her into the darkness – which is laughable. It was clearly her leading him. He also offers her the promise of peace and forgiveness through the “light of the seven.” Cersei wants no part of his religion or gods, however.
Meanwhile in Meereen, Daenerys continues to struggle with ruling and has religious cult problems of her own. The first we see of Meereen the golden idol on the pyramid is being pulled down. Next we follow one of the unsullied - White Rat (Marcos James) into a brothel. He goes not for sex but just to be held and sung to – for comfort. Far from finding comfort, he finds betrayal and is murdered by one of the Sons of the Harpy. In order to flush out her enemies, she orders White Rat buried with honors. Another interesting result of White Rat’s murder in a brothel is that it spurs Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) to go to Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) to ask why an unsullied would go to a brothel. He tells her he has no idea, but she clearly wants some hope that Grey Worm could become more to her than just a friend.
Daario (Michiel Huisman) returns, and Daenerys is pleased that the freed men and the former slave-owners have agreed to sit on a council together in order to rule. Major matters would be brought to Daenerys. However, they want some concessions. When told that politics is a negotiation, Daenerys coolly responds that she is not a politician. She is vehemently against their proposal to reinstate the fighting pits, saying she does not “respect the tradition of human cock fighting.”
Daenerys and Daario are still lovers. I loved how artfully the scene between them in Daenerys’ bedroom is shot so as not to reveal too much of Daario! Daario explains to her that the fighting pits have made him the man he is today, but she remains unconvinced. He tells her that everyone else is too afraid of her to tell her the truth, but he will. He tells her that she’s made thousands of enemies and “as soon as they see weakness they’ll attack. Show your strength her now.” He goes on to remind her that she’s not the mother of the Unsullied, she’s the mother of dragons. A dragon Queen with no dragons is not a Queen.
Daenerys tells Daario that she hasn’t seen Drogon for some time and she hopes never to have another dead child laid at her feet. She admits that she can’t control the dragons anymore. She goes to visit Viserion and Rhaegal, but they aren’t happy to see her – which is understandable given that she locked them up. They don’t immediately come to her and when they do, they snap at her and breathe fire at her. She ends by running in terror from their cage. The dragons, like her subjects, are out of her control.
Daenerys may get help from an unexpected source, however. We see that Varys (Conleth Hill) has safely delivered Tyrion to a friend’s home. There is a beautiful sequence of shots from Tyrion’s view out of one of the holes in his crate. Our first view of him is as he tumbles, filthy, out of the crate. He is somewhat understandably pissed at Varys: “I still don’t see why I had to stay in this fucking crate once we set sail.” Varys is unrepentant, pointing out his own danger. After all, it may have been unpleasant for Tyrion to have to poke his shit out of the holes, but Varys had to come after him to clean it up.
Varys has given up a lot in order to help Tyrion. Being released from the crate really doesn’t seem to have helped Tyrion’s mood. He is clearly still affected by having killed Shae and Tywin. He tells Varys that he thinks he may no longer be a Lord. Varys confesses that he’s been involved with the Targaryen restoration. Varys thinks that Westeros needs to be saved from itself. Tyrion is more interested in drinking than the future.
When next we see Tyrion, he’s still drinking by at least clean. He greets Varys with, “Eunuch, the Spider, the Master of Whisperers.” Varys replies in kind: “Imp. Half Man.” He tells Tyrion there are faster ways to kill oneself, but Tyrion points out not for cowards. Tyrion wants to know why Varys saved him. Varys tells Tyrion that he did it for the Seven Kingdoms. He believes men of talent have a part to play in the coming war and he believes that Tyrion possess his father’s instincts for politics, but Tyrion also possess compassion. In fact, that compassion is manifested in the guilt that Tyrion feels over the murders he committed. And both Shae and Tywin had it coming.
Tyrion asks Varys what he wants, and Varys replies: “Prosperity. A land where the powerful don’t prey on the powerless.” He then describes the person who can do this: they “need someone stronger than Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) but gentler than Stannis (Stephen Dillane). A monarch who can intimidate the high lords and inspire the people. A ruler loved by millions with a powerful army and the right family name.” Varys thinks Daenerys fits the bill and invites Tyrion to come to Meereen to meet her. He gives Tyrion a choice: stay and drink himself to death or join him to travel to Meereen. Tyrion, in true Tyrion fashion, wants to do both – drink himself to death on the road to Meereen.
We get only a brief glimpses of Sensa (Sophie Turner), who has died her distinctive red hair black, and Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen). They leave Robin (Lino Facioli) with Royce (Rupert Vansittart) for training. Sensa asks where they are going, and Littlefinger answers, somewhat cryptically that they are going to a land so far away that even Cersei won’t be able to lay hands on her. It’s painfully ironic that their carriage passes Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) and Podrick (Daniel Portman) sitting beside the road.
Brienne, like Tyrion, has mostly given up at this point after having lost Arya. She tries to send Podrick away but even though he may not be able to articulate very well what a squire does he embodies it in practice. Podrick suggest that they head to Castle Black – where Brienne could find the leader she’s looking for. She laments that “I don’t want anyone following me. I’m not a leader. All I ever wanted was to fight for a Lord I believed in. the good lords are dead and the rest are monsters.” It’s quite possible she could find what she seeks in Jon Snow (Kit Harington).
Things at Castle Black are in turmoil. Jon is training the others while Samwell (John Bradley) watches. Jon is firm but kind, and this scene is a nice counterpoint to Robyn's training. Gilly (Hannah Murray) wants to know why Samwell isn’t training. She, like us, recognizes that he could use the practice! He says that he’s not a new recruit and has already killed a White Walker and a Fen – something no one else can claim to have done. They fill us in on the state of affairs at Castle Black. Ser Alliser (Owen Teale) is likely to take command, and if he does, it will be a bad thing for Gilly as he hates the Wildlings. Sam maintains that command could still go to Ser Denys Mallister (JJ Murphy), the commander of the Shadow Tower who is a good man. Unfortunately, this will never happen as Murphy died four days after filming his first scenes for the show. Weiss and Benioff have gone on record saying that they will not re-cast the role.
For the time being, Stannis is in control anyway. Malisandre (Carice van Houten) comes to bring Jon to Stannis on the top of the wall. As they ride up in the elevator they have a somewhat uncomfortable chat. Jon asks her if she’s cold and she replies, “Never. The Lord’s fire lives within me.” She then asks him if he’s a virgin. When he says no, she replies good. Jon immediately goes to his knee in front of Stannis. Stannis wants Jon to convince Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds) to swear fealty to him and agree to lead the Wildlings in his campaign against Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton). He tells Jon that he will pardon the Wildlings and give them land; he offers them their lives and their freedom. He gives Jon until sunset to convince Mance.
We’ve really had very little of Hinds, which has made me sad. He is simply magnificent in this episode. When Jon comes to him, Mance points out that their roles have been reversed: Jon was his prisoner when they first met. Mance knows why Jon is there, and he tells him he’ll never bend the knee. He’s really in an untenable position. The clans only followed him because they respected him. If he yields to Stannis he loses their respect – and thus their loyalty. He admits that he’s afraid and doesn’t want to die. He asks Jon how, expecting hanging or beheading. When Jon tells him he’ll burn, you cans see the terror. It’s very subtle – and just a magnificent performance from Hinds. You see just the one eye tick and it tells us that it is the one death he fears the most. He’s particularly concerned about the memory he will leave – he doesn’t want his people to remember him screaming in agony. Jon points out that if his people all die because they’re trapped on the wrong side of the wall when winter comes, there will be no one to remember him. Mance tells Jon, “If you can’t understand why I won’t enlist my people in a foreigner’s war, I can’t explain it.” He goes on to say, “Freedom to make my mistakes was all I ever wanted.”
The next we see Mance, he is being lead in front of Stannis, who gives him one more chance to bend the knee and swear fealty. “Westeros only has one king. Bend the knee, I promise you mercy.” At this point Mance looks to Jon in the crowd. Stannis goes on, “Kneel and live.” But Mance replies, “This was my home for many years. I wish you good fortune in the wars to come.” He’s then lead up onto the pyre and tied to the stake.
Melisandre takes over, stating, “we choose the light or we choose the darkness.” She really is the lit from within by fire so it’s fitting that she lights the pyre. Mance is clearly terrified but he doesn’t utter another word. It’s interesting to watch everyone’s reaction. We see Selyse (Tara Fitzgerald) watching and smiling, clearly enjoying the torture, while Shireen (Kerry Ingram) closes her eyes, unable to watch. Likewise, tender hearted Gilly buries her face in Sam’s chest.
Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) and the rest of the Wildings bear witness to their leader’s end. Tormund looks uncomfortable, perhaps sharing Mance’s fear of fire, perhaps worried that Mance will break before the end. Jon, however, takes matters into his own hands. Just before Mance can start screaming, Jon shoots him from the balcony, saving him the agony of death by fire and more importantly, saving his people’s respect for him. Jon and Mance lock eyes, just before he dies as he acknowledges what Jon has done for him.
It would seem the groundwork is laid for war on a number of fronts. King’s Landing would seem ripe for the picking. Daenerys may also be vulnerable right now, but she clearly has reinforcements coming. Is that where Littlefinger is headed too? Stannis is poised to attack Winterfell, but will he do it with the Wildlings? And what part will Jon Snow play in that? What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
