Two more weeks and season 5 of Game of Thrones is about to wrap up. Episode 8 suddenly became a very crucial episode that everyone is looking forward to watching.
Episode 8 titled "Hardhome" gives viewers, who have not read the book but have been faithfully following the HBO series, better insight into the fate of the seven kingdoms.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
If you by any chance have not yet seen the latest episode, this would be a good time to close this page ... unless you don't mind some SPOILERS!!!
Last week's episode left us on the edge of our seats, curious about what will happen to Cersei, yet at the same time, you have to admit that you felt a bit delighted as much as you were shocked that the high and mighty scheming queen's ploy had backfired on her.
This week, we find Cersei still on her high horse and unbending in her resolve to ask for mercy and take responsibility for her actions. "I made him. I rose him up from nothing. I will not kneel before some barefooted commoner and beg his forgiveness" is Cersie's reply when Qyburn suggests she confess to the charges against her to buy herself leniency.
You have to give her props for being tenacious even at the risk of death.
On the other side of the sea, we find Daenerys and Tyrion facing off and showing off their respective skills in diplomacy. One has to respect how Daenerys holds her ground while conversing with a brilliant talker like Tyrion.
Tyrion encapsulates the childhood and ancestry of both he and Daenerys when he says, "So, here we sit, two terrible
children of two terrible fathers."
Being smuggled via a wooden box seems to have broken Tyrion's defenses and allowed him to be open and vulnerable, which is evident when he explains why he agreed to travel the world to see the Mother of Dragons, "To see if you're the right kind of terrible ... The one who keeps her people form being even more terrible ... I'd given up on life until Varys convinced me you might be worth living for."
As for Sansa Stark's fate as Ramsey Bolton's captive wife, our hearts go out to her for miserable experiences thus far. In this episode, it is refreshing to see Sansa taking charge and confronting Reek/Theon for his actions and his cowardice.
Though Theon recounts his ordeal at the sadistic hands of Ramsey and how he had further lost his identity as Theon, we see Sansa's unmoved and unapologetic chastisement of Theon, thus pushing Theon to finally confess that the younger Stark boys are alive. The real question is: what will this hopeful information drive Sansa to do?
Another question is: where are Bran and Rickon Stark?
While Sansa is left to ponder on this new piece of information and while Ramsey plots to attack Stannis and prove himself to his father, Arya on the other side of the world is finally sent on her first assignment.
After weeks of training and coming to terms with giving up her identity as Arya Stark to become an assassin, Jaqen finally gives Arya her first assignment as Lana, a simple yet deadly oyster cart proprietor. It will be interesting to see next week how Arya fares as an assassin and if she truly has what it takes to be one of the Faceless Men of Braavos.
Finally, after all the drama occurring in the rest of the seven kingdoms, we find Jon Snow, along with his crew from the wall, making a compelling speech to the Wildling village of Hardhome, "We're not friends. We've never been friends. We won't become friends today. This isn't about friendship. This is about survival. This is about putting a 700-foot wall between you and what's out there ... these aren't normal times. The White Walkers don't care if a man's free folk or crow. We're all meat for their army."
Before any resolution could be made, the White Walkers attack the village and we find ourselves at the edge of our seats, holding our breath in this seemingly epic battle between the living and the undead. Jon comes close to joining his father Ned Stark in the grave but Longclaw, his Valyrian steel sword saves him and slays these undead beings.
The battle continues and as the last few minutes of episode 8 comes to a close, we are left with a gripping and bone-chilling scene of what awaits the rest of the kingdoms as winter is truly coming and the fate of all hangs in the balance.
Stay tuned to HBO on Sunday nights at 9pm to catch the latest episodes of Game of Thrones season 5.
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