"Game of Thrones" recap: Arya returns in "The House of Black and White"
If you thought last week's "Game of Thrones" premiere had a distinct and severe lack of Arya Stark, you were in luck on Sunday night. Season 5's second episode reunited us with the youngest Stark daughter, who we last saw getting on a ship bound for Braavos at the end of season 4.
She wasn't the only Stark viewers encountered last night, and we also got our first look at this season's newest setting, Dorne. Read on for the most important moments from "The House of Black and White." (Warning: Spoilers ahead)
All about Arya
The episode opens on a determined (and, as she says, unafraid) Arya, and that ship, arriving in Braavos. The man who took her aboard brings her to a giant stone edifice with one black door and one white -- the House of Black and White -- and tells her that's where she'll find the man she's looking for. When she knocks, an old man in a hooded cloak answers.
"Hello," she says. "Valar morghulis." She gets a blank stare in reply. She tries showing him the iron coin next, and tells him Jaqen H'Ghar gave it to her. He stares at it, then back at her. "No one here by that name."
"Please," Arya pleads -- she crossed the Narrow Sea, she has nowhere else to go. "You have everywhere else to go," he replies, and despite her protests, slams the door shut. She sits down outside and stays there, holding the coin and reciting the names on her To-Kill list -- Cersei Lannister, Walder Frey, the Mountain, Meryn Trant -- even after it gets dark, begins to rain and then gets light again. Finally, she sighs, stands up and throws the coin into the water and walks away.
Later, while walking the streets of Braavos, Arya crosses paths with a group of men looking for trouble. Everyone draws their weapons, but then the men catch sight of that same hooded figure behind her and immediately run off. He leads Arya back to the House of Black and White, hands back the iron coin she'd thrown in the water and -- you probably guessed it -- reveals himself to be Jaqen H'Ghar. He opens the doors and invites her inside.
Sansa and Brienne cross paths
Brienne and Podrick take a break from their travels to get some food, and end up with a chance encounter -- because Sansa Stark, accompanied by Littlefinger and their guards, also happened to choose this same rest stop.
She dismisses Podrick's reservations that they've got too many men to take on alone and goes over to announce herself. Littlefinger points out that they've met before, when she was in the company of Renly Baratheon, but he lets Brienne through and she gives Sansa her sales pitch -- she promised her late mother she'd find and protect her.
Sansa is unmoved and Littlefinger is skeptical, forcing Brienne to admit her loyalty to Catelyn Stark was a relatively new arrangement that began after Renly's murder. He points out she was accused of that murder, and she says those claims came from men who didn't see what happened (what happened = being killed by a shadow with Stannis Baratheon's face). Littlefinger says she swore to protect Renly and failed, swore to protect Catelyn and failed -- why would he want someone like her protecting Sansa? He's her uncle now, by marriage, and she's an outsider.
Brienne appeals to Sansa directly, but she doesn't want anything to do with her. Littlefinger asks her to stay in a way that means it's not really a question, but she and Podrick escape on horseback -- giving a guard who catches up with them a friendly sword through the neck in the process. Sansa is wary of strangers, as she should be, Brienne reasons, but she saw which way they were riding and decides to follow. Even though both Stark girls refused her protection, she won't let go of her vow.
Jaime takes on a mission
Cersei gets a special delivery and shows it to her brother: a necklace with a Lannister lion on it, which belongs to their daughter, Myrcella. It's a threat, and Cersei knows it. "Our daughter's alone in Dorne surrounded by people who hate our family...I will burn their cities to the ground if they touch her!" she declares. Jaime tries to quiet her -- no one can know she's their daughter - and when Cersei says he's been no father to her anyway, and he points out that if he was, their children would be stoned in the streets.
Jaime tells her he'll go to Dorne and get their daughter back -- he won't take an army, but he won't go alone either. Seeing how weddings usually end badly in Westeros, we don't think Bronn will mind pushing his off.
Welcome to Dorne
Dorne has been mentioned on "Game of Thrones" before, but this is the first time viewers have actually gotten to see it. The first thing we see is Myrcella herself, is strolling through the water gardens with her betrothed. Then, we see Ellaria Sand (the late Prince Oberyn's lover, sporting shorter hair than she did last season) watching them -- and, to put it nicely, she is not pleased. She goes to Oberyn's older brother, Doran, and asks demands retribution for his death -- something she says the people of Dorne and the Sand Snakes (her daughters with Oberyn) all support.
She wants to send Myrcella back to Cersei "one finger at a time," but Doran tells her they don't murder innocent children here in Dorne, at least not while he's in charge. "And how long with that be?" she retorts, before storming off. This definitely isn't over.
More trouble in Meereen
Daario Naharis and Grey Worm, on a Sons of the Harpy-finding mission, break into a supposed hideout that appears empty, but Daario finds (via stabbing) one unlucky guy hidden behind a wall, with knives and one of those gold masks with him. The Harpies want to put the freed slaves back in chains, Mossador tells Daenerys, pleading that they should kill their captive. After being warned by Ser Davos about the kind of cruel justice her father, the Mad King, doled out during his reign, Dany decides the Son of the Harpy won't be executed without having a fair trial first.
But the Harpy won't get it, because Mossador takes matters into his own hands and murders the guy first. This leaves Dany in an even tougher spot, but she holds that the law is the law -- she has him taken away and, in front of a crowd of former slaves and former masters, decrees his punishment is death and has him beheaded. The moment it happens, the already tense crowd takes an ugly turn. The former slaves hiss at their queen, one throws a rock at the masters and, as Dany is rushed away by guards, a full-on uproar breaks out.
That night, she steps out on her balcony and gets an unexpected visitor -- Drogon, her third dragon that disappeared after killing that child. She reaches out to him and they almost touch, but at the last moment he flies off again, leaving her alone.
Jon Snow gets a new title
Jon meets with Stannis Baratheon, who isn't too pleased about his mercy killing of Mance Rayder last week. "Show too much kindness, people won't fear you. If they don't fear you, they won't follow you," Stannis tells him. Jon replies that the wildlings will never follow him anyway -- only one of their own.
Stannis also tells Jon he's having trouble getting the support of those in the North, since they're still loyal to the Starks. So, he makes an offer -- if Jon bends the knee to Stannis, he'll make him an official, honest-to-goodness Stark and Lord of Winterfell, no longer a bastard Snow. "It's the first thing I ever remember wanting," he tells Sam. But, even so, he's going to refuse it. Jon intends to keep the vows he made to the Night's Watch, and -- after a rousing speech from Sam and a tie-breaker vote cast by Maester Aemon -- is elected the group's new Lord Commander.
Other bits:
Sansa says she noticed Littlefinger was given a raven's scroll before they set off, and he tells her it contained good news -- his marriage proposal has been accepted. "I thought you still mourn the death of my beloved Aunt Lysa," she deadpans. He just smiles. Looks like someone's plotting something...
Cersei got some pushback from the members of the Small Council, who took issue with her taking on matters they felt should be handled by the king himself. "You are the Queen Mother," her uncle Kevan tells her, as he leaves to go back to Casterly Rock. "Nothing more."
Gotta love the Podrick-and-Brienne banter. Also, that nice moment between Gilly and Shireen as the latter gave the former a reading lesson.
Also gotta love: Another "GOT" buddy road trip, this time in the form of Varys and Tyrion's carriage ride to Meereen.
Speaking of Tyrion, Cersei has put a bounty out on her brother -- and doesn't seem too bothered when some other poor guy's head is brought to her instead. "I don't want to dissuade the other hunters," she says. "Mistakes will be made." (Also, Qyburn wants the spare head for his work. Yikes.)