Game of Thrones SN6 E5 – ‘The Door’

 

Valar morghulis my Lords and Ladies of Westeros and Essos. My name is Jessica, and the Game of Thrones episode I shall be recapping is episode 5 of season 6 — ‘The Door.’ Let’s begin!

---

The Wall

Sansa receives a letter from Littlefinger (Lord Baelish) asking to meet her at Mole’s Town. She, accompanied by Brienne, goes there and confronts Littlefinger on how he left her with the monster Ramsay. Littlefinger claims he didn’t know that Ramsay was cruel, then begins to plead with Sansa to forgive him and spare his life. He explains how he had brought the Knights of the Vale to protect her, and reveals upon leaving that Brynden Tully (Sansa’s uncle), has recaptured Riverrun. After returning to Castle Black, Sansa along with Jon, Davos, Mellisandre, Brienne, Tormund and Edd plan how they will retake Winterfell. They come to the conclusion that it will take the support of all the small Northern Houses and the Tullys of Riverrun to defeat the united force of Boltons, Umbers and Karstarks. Before setting out on the quest with Jon, Davos, and Mellisandre, Sansa orders Brienne to travel to Riverrun to enlist Brynden’s help.

Vaes Dothrak

Before departing Vaes Dothrak to begin their journey to only-the seven-gods-knows-where, Jorah reveals his greyscale to Daenerys. He tells her that he loves her, and always will, then begins to depart but Daenerys orders him to stop. She then orders him to find a cure, wherever in the world it may be—find it, and then return to her. Daario and Daenerys then lead the Dothraki away.

Iron Islands

The title of King is up for grabs, so a Kingsmoot is under way. Yara makes her claim for the Salt Throne, promising an Iron Fleet for her people. Theon backs up her claim, silencing all the doubtful in the crowd. Suddenly Euron Greyjoy emerges from the crowd, and confesses to killing Balon Greyjoy for being a horrible king. He claims that if made King, he shall build an Iron Fleet, which he will use to seduce Daenerys Targaryen into marrying him. With that final note, the ironmen declare Euron the future king. While Euron undergoes the ritual, Yara and Theon commandeer ships and leave. Euron drowns during the ritual and we all hold are breath waiting to see if he’s alive when they lay him on the beach. He doesn’t breathe. He breathes. King Euron Greyjoy it is.

Braavos

Arya continues her training with the Waif, who keeps taunting her that she’ll never be one of them truly. Jaqen H’ghar gives Arya a history lesson about the Faceless Men, then announces that he is giving her another assignment, but if she fails she will not be given a third. Arya scouts her target, an actress who performs a play about the Lords and Ladies of Westeros. Much to Arya’s displeasure, the play mocks the events that happened —even poking fun at her father, Ned, and sister, Sansa. Upon returning to the House of Black and White, Arya asks too many questions to Jaqen, who reminds her that it is not the place of those who serve to question the Many Faced God.

Meereen

Varys and Tyrion need someone who will act as a role model and supporter of Daenerys while she is away. They end up choosing the red priestess Kinvara, who tells them that she believes Daenerys to be the chosen one of the Lord of Light. Varys questions her, saying that Mellisandre also foretold the same thing about Stannis Baratheon, but now he’s dead. Kinvara instantly shuts down the conversation by recounting the day Varys was castrated. She declares her loyal support to Daenerys and her confidence that Daenerys is the chosen one, before departing.

Cave of the Three-Eyed Raven

Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven watch a vision of the creation of the first White Walker. The Children of The Forest created them when they were at war with the First Men. After some time passes and everyone in the cave is sleeping, Bran decides to watch a vision by himself. He walks past an army of wights, and comes across the Night’s King who touches Bran, marking him. Bran wakes up and the Three-Eyed Raven warns everyone that they must leave because the Night’s King can now enter the cave due to the mark. The army of wights arrive with the White Walkers and the Children of The Forest try to hold them back to buy everyone else some time. The Three-Eyed Raven shows Bran one last vision: the day Eddard left for the Vale of Arryn. The wights and White Walkers begin invading the cave, and Meera cries out to Bran that they need Hodor’s help. Bran wargs into Hodor to carry him out of the cave while Summer sacrifices herself to protect them. The Children of The Forest all end up dying as they fight off the wights and the White Walkers. The Night’s King himself enters the cave and kills the Three-Eyed Raven. With only Hodor, Bran and Meera left, the trio arrive at a door that Hodor barely manages to open and shut in time before the wights arrive. Meera with no other option takes Bran away, yelling at Hodor to “hold the door” so that the wights cannot follow them. She repeatedly yells it at him to hold the door, whilst Hodor in Bran’s vision has a seizure. In the vision, Hodor starts saying “hold the door” whilst having the seizure, until he is left slurring “hodor.” Meera and Bran fade into the distance, as Hodor is killed by the wights.

---

I’m not even going to bother pretending that I didn’t become teary-eyed at the ending of that episode. Do you think young Hodor knew he was going to die? Was there a need for Summer to die? That’s two direwolves in one season by the way. Anything else you liked/disliked? Like, share and comment below, or tweet me @sohodoll. And as Hodor once said, “Hold the door.”

The CW’S Big Crossover: Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl

It’s time for the biggest crossover in CW history! Since Supergirl was moved from the CBS network to The CW, The CW now has four superhero shows. Arrow on Wednesdays, The Flash on Tuesdays, Legends of Tomorrow on Thursdays, and now Supergirl to be aired on Mondays.

Mark Pedowitz, President of The CW

During The CW’s upfront presentation on May 19th, CW president Mark Pedowitz officially disclosed that next season an epic four-show crossover is set to take place. “Next season, Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and now Supergirl will join forces in our annual crossover event, our biggest ever.” A round of applause please, for the words that will make our universe explode come that episode.

We already know that this is definitely an attainable possibility, having seen annual crossovers, starting with Arrow and The Flash. Both shows later crossed over with select members of Legends of Tomorrow ahead of its premier, and most recently The Flash crossed over with Supergirl.

Until Fall, I’ll leave you with this juicy, action-pumped trailer of the CW heroes.

What are your hopes for the upcoming season crossover? Did you like anything in particular during previous crossovers? Comment, share or like below. And as always, “Run Barry, run!”

Game Of Thrones SN6 E4 – ‘Book of the Stranger’

Valar morghulis my friends. My name is Jessica and I’ll be recapping your episodes of Game of Thrones from now on, as our previous writer has been swooped away by a dragon. Just to give you a short background on myself: I’m a huge Game of Thrones fanatic, to the point that I founded my university’s own Game of Thrones Club. I’ve also read the A Song of Fire and Ice series from cover to cover, and am not so patiently awaiting the ending book(s).

The episode I shall be recapping is episode 4 of season 6 — “Book of the Stranger.” Rather than going character by character, I’ll be going place by place.

---

The Wall

Jon decides that he wants to head South, which Edd dislikes after what previously happened at Hardhome. Jon and Edd are interrupted as Sansa, Podrick, and Brienne enter Castle Black. Jon and Sansa share a heart-warming hug , and then recount their journeys since the day they both left Winterfell. Sansa wants  Jon to help her take back Winterfell, their only true home, but after all the fighting at The Wall Jon says he can’t. Sansa declares that if he won’t help her, she will do it herself, as there will always be Houses in the north loyal to House Stark. Concurrently, Brienne finds Ser Davos and Melisandre and tells them that after Stannis admitted to using dark magic to assassinate his brother Renly, Brienne killed Stannis. Later on in the day the group enjoys a hot meal, while Tormund and Brienne share some #Torienne eye ogling moments. A letter arrives from Ramsay Bolton, now Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. The letter boasts about how Ramsay has Rickon Stark in a dungeon and Shaggydog’s skin on the floor. He demands that Sansa be returned or else he and the Bolton army shall ride North to slaughter all the wildlings. He also threatens some other gruesome things towards Jon, Sansa and Rickon in classic Ramsay Bolton fashion. Jon finally agrees with Sansa, they must take back Winterfell, hooray! Hopefully, through a combination of wildlings and Northern Houses they will take Ramsay Bolton down and save Rickon.

Runestone 

Robin Arryn has grown since the last time we saw him in Season 5, unfortunately his archery skills have not. As we watch him practice, Littlefinger (a.k.a. Petyr Baelish) arrives with a pet falcon for Robin. The Lord of Runestone, Yohn Royce, begins asking Littlefinger how Sansa ended up married to Ramsay Bolton instead of getting to the Fingers for protection. Littlefinger replies that Bolton soldiers attacked them on their journey and kidnapped Sansa. He also implies that Yohn is guilty because he was the only other person to know where they were heading. Petyr manipulates Robin, who plays with the falcon, into considering executing Yohn unless Yohn swears his absolute loyalty —which he does. Littlefinger then tells Robin that Sansa escaped and is currently under protection at Castle Black, but she won’t be safe there unless she has help. Robin tells Yohn to command the knights of the Vale to protect his cousin. Anyone else feel a war brewing? Hopefully Ramsay Bolton is about to get sandwiched between an attack from the south and the north.

Meereen

Tyrion Lannister is quickly finding himself in hot water. He arranges a meeting with the slave masters of Astapor, Volantis and Yunkai, against Missandei and Grey Worm’s wishes, to discuss a deal. Tyrion proposes that all the cities, excluding Meereen, will have seven years to end slavery allowing them an easier transition opposed to abolishing it in a day. They will be compensated for losses, and the masters must stop their support of the Sons of the Harpy. Tyrion then leaves the masters with time to deliberate his offer, however he is met by former slaves of Meereen who disprove on any negotiation with the masters. The former slaves ask Grey Worm and Missandei their opinion, and they reluctantly side with Tyrion on the matter. They continue to ask when their Queen will return, but Tyrion can only assure them “soon.” While Tyrion sees the issue from a Westerosi-scholarly perspective, Grey Worm and Missandei see the issue from their first-hand experience with the masters; thus in private they warn him that the masters will try to use him and the situation to their benefit.

King’s Landing

Margaery finally makes some progress with the High Sparrow and gets to see her brother, Loras. Margaery sees an immobile Loras on the prison floor (I actually thought he was dead), and tells him to be strong. Meanwhile Cersei is told by Tommen that Margaery’s walk of atonement will happen soon. Cersei meets with Kevan Lannister and Olenna Tyrell at the small council chamber to plot how they will overthrow the High Sparrow before Margaery’s walk.

Iron Islands

Theon arrives at the Iron Islands to hear the news that his father Balon Greyjoy has died. Upon being reunited with his sister Yara he explains that he will support Yara’s claim at the Kingsmoot.

Winterfell

Osha, who was Rickon’s protector after fleeing Winterfell, is brought before Ramsay. While she attempts to seduce him in order to reach a knife, Ramsay tells her that Theon mentioned her using the same tactic to escape Theon. Osha quickly tries to stab him, but Ramsay stabs her in the neck.

Vaes Dothrak

Daario discovers that Jorah has greyscale upon arriving at Vaes Dothrak. The duo infiltrate the city, and wait for an opportunity. Meanwhile Daenerys becomes friends with a young Dosh Khaleen. When they go outside they encounter Jorah and Daario. Rather than sneaking out of the city, Daenerys comes up with a different plan. That night, Daenerys awaits judgement before all the great khals inside the temple. She accuses the khals of not being the leaders the Dothraki need, telling them that she instead will lead them. She begins tipping braziers and the whole temple is consumed in flames, the khals cannot escape because the door was barred by the young Dosh Khaleen. Daenerys emerges from the fiery temple, unburnt and naked. The thousands of Dothraki outside bow down before her. (Total bad-assery as usual, “Fire cannot kill a dragon.”)

---

Well that’s a wrap! What are your thoughts on this episode? Anything you liked/disliked? Like, share, comment below or tweet me @sohodoll. And as always, “Winter is coming.”

A Look At ‘Me Before You’ By Jojo Moyes

If the book title Me Before You doesn’t ring a bell, well then just wait a month and you’ll be sure to see a few movie trailers air on TV.  Me Before You is a romantic novel first published on January 5th, 2012, written by U.K. author Jojo Moyes. This will be a short review, as the novel itself is short and I don’t want to get into too much detail as to spoil it for you.

Usually I’m not one for the romantic genre, but this novel came highly recommended by my fellow readers. While it is fictional, be warned ―it will pull at your heart-strings. Besides marking the book’s success with a movie, a sequel book entitled After You was released on September 29, 2015. Anyway, back to the beautiful book at hand, here’s the excerpt:

‘Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.’

Me Before You follows two characters, Louisa Clark and Will Traynor as their paths converge after, what I would call, a series of tragic events that have occurred over the years. Louisa and Will are complete opposites: Will is a high achieving, wealthy man, while Louisa is an unambitious, cheerful woman. Like most opposites that attract, their paths merge because of Will’s accident that has left him paralysed and reliant on a caretaker, Louisa. While Will doesn’t warm to Louisa at first, over time he opens up more to her, as she continues to be the ray of sunshine in his grey world.

[Spoiler alert!] What really pulled on my heart-strings wasn’t the idea that, simply put, Louisa fell in love with some guy with a death wish. It was that in the six short months they had together, they fell in love with each other for who they were. Will’s disability wasn’t some great flaw for Louisa —she respected him, she treated him with dignity, and she was inclusive towards him, the same way she would treat someone who had the ability to use their entire body. Most importantly, she respected Will’s final decision to end his life, no matter how painful it would be for her to bear it. Will likewise cared for Louisa, not just her well-being but the life she was leading. It’s really all the little things they do for each other in those six months spent together that add up. It’s truly a beautiful story.

A Look At ‘The Iron Fey’ Series By Julie Kagawa

I remember the first time I opened a book of The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. I was absolutely transfixed. The colourful painting of the world was so picturesque, so unique and beckoning—that I couldn’t help but read the entire book in one sitting. The first book of the series, The Iron King, was published in 2010 and since then four more books (along with three novellas) have been published, with another book currently in the making. So what is The Iron Fey series all about? Up to book four, The Iron Knight, the books and novellas can be summed up with this excerpt:

‘The Iron Fey saga follows half-human, half-faery Meghan Chase as she fights to claim her magical birthright.

Meghan’s journey begins in the mortal world, when her half-brother Ethan is kidnapped. The mission to rescue the innocent child draws Meghan into the Nevernever, the magical world where the never-before-seen Iron fey are raining destruction upon traditional faeries. Meghan’s quest is fraught with unimagined dangers, unpredictable powers and an utterly forbidden love.’

The rest of the books are a spin-off series called The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten. The spin-off series along with the novellas following book four take place in the same world, but we now follow a new protagonist: Meghan’s brother, Ethan. However, in this review I’ll be sticking to the original four books of The Iron Fey.

While the plot of The Iron Fey series can be summed up easily with an excerpt, what is the fantastical world really about? Think Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland meets William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A hint of other works can be glimpsed throughout as well, be it characters such as the Big Bad Wolf, or mythical creatures —who doesn’t like the odd dragon or chimera? The courts play a major role as well, they have long been pitted against each other, Summer fey against Winter fey, but they never thought they would soon have a common enemy. Personally, I found the series unpredictable. At one moment the characters would have room to breathe, but the next, a flurry of daggers and trickery would leave them running through the Wyld wood.

Now on to the forbidden romance. It is not another Twilight love story. Ash and Meghan’s love can only be described with the word ‘epic.’ When a person is willing to go to such extremes, such lengths, that they would even sacrifice their own life to protect another —that is nothing short of epic love. When Ash or Meghan were in grave peril they only thought of the safety of each other, not themselves, building on to the depth of their characters.

All in all, this series will forever be one of my favourites that I hope to reread again. Julie Kagawa does a superb job of building an imaginative world in which characters partake on magical quests, while battling unforeseen forces of love and trickery. Fair warning, for any of you who have experienced a book hangover, this series will definitely give you one. For those of you who don’t know what a book hangover is: it’s when you’ve finished reading such an amazing book, that when you return to the real world it feels incomplete. Yeah that’s a thing.

---

Rating: 7/10

Favourite Quote: “Oh, we’re playing nice now? Shall we have tea first? Brew up a nice pot of kiss-my-ass?”

At Look At ‘ The Mistborn Trilogy ‘ By Brandon Sanderson

If high fantasy books are your favourite genre then look no further than the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. The world of the Mistborn Trilogy is filled with magic (in the form of forces), creatures, castes, and gods. The books are (in order): The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. The original trilogy was published between 2006 and 2008, but since then four more books in the series have been published, with one currently in production. The synopsis:

‘Once, a hero arose to save the world. A young man with a mysterious heritage courageously challenged the darkness that strangled the land.
He failed.

For a thousand years since, the world has been a wasteland of ash and mist ruled by the immortal emperor known as the Lord Ruler. Every revolt has failed miserably. Yet somehow, hope survives. Hope that dares to dream of ending the empire and even the Lord Ruler himself. A new kind of uprising is being planned, one built around the ultimate caper, one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the determination of an unlikely heroine, a street urchin who must learn to master Allomancy, the power of a Mistborn.’

The third sentence of that had me completely hooked, I needed to read the books. If a hero already tried to save the world, and failed, then how would this heroic duo’s attempt  be any different? Not often do you come across a book series that dangles the possibility of a not so happy outcome for the main characters, and that is what intrigued me to the core.

Our two main protagonists are Vin and Kelsier. Vin is a young, thieving woman who started with practically nothing -no family, friends, home, or any sense of belonging. While her character seemed distant, distrustful, and quiet in the beginning, we watch her grow into an unlikely heroine thanks to the guidance of Kelsier, her new Mistborn abilities, and some TLC from new friends. Kelsier is also a Mistborn, but that is where the similarities end. Kelsier is a cocky mastermind, who remains optimistic about defeating the Lord Ruler and The Final Empire, despite numerous setbacks. There are many other characters that become main protagonists over time, but I’ll leave that for you to discover.

Our main antagonist is the Lord Ruler. He controls the Final Empire through the use of his unnatural power, which is why everyone believes him to be a god. The “skaa” who are basically the peasant class, work unpaid for the nobility who give them food tokens in return. The nobility trade amongst themselves and have fancy balls, all while paying taxes to the Lord Ruler. No one dares oppose the Lord Ruler, and he rarely makes public appearances, which only increases his deity reputation.

Onwards to the cool magic system! There are three magic disciplines in the Misborn world:  Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy. Allomancy is the ability to metabolize metals in order to “burn” them, and gain magical powers of enhanced physical or mental attributes. Since our protagonists Vin and Keliser are Mistborn, they can use Allomancy to burn any metals (each of the 16 metals pertains to a unique ability). Mistings on the other hand can only burn one metal specific to them. Feruchemy is like Allomancy, except instead of digesting the metals, a Feruchemist wears the metals to “tap” into them and use them. (If you’re planning on reading the books, don’t read the rest of this paragraph). While reading the books, I felt like Hemalurgy was the equivalent of forbidden dark magic from the Harry Potter series, and for a good reason too. A metal spike must be driven through a human body, into another person’s body in order for him/her to get power. Oh, and it has to remain there for the enhanced power to work. Yeah, gross I know.

There’s so many more interesting things in this series, be it the unique creatures or the Neo-like badassery of the fight scenes (and believe me there’s a lot of them). Sometimes they’re across rooftops, other times battlefields, either way you’ll get your full share of them. There’s even a sub-plot romance which isn’t forced, which makes us think more realistically about Cinderella’s rags-to-riches transition. So many secrets and new snippets of clues unfold page after page, I couldn’t put the books down. Sanderson did an amazing job at writing this masterpiece, and fooling the readers till the very end. Speaking of which, the ending left me feeling bitter-sweet. I was happy for the resolution, but I felt sad knowing that some characters were gone forever. I could ramble on and on about how epic this fantasy series is, but hopefully you’ll find some spare time to read it.

---

Rating: 8/10.

Favourite Quote: “Belief isn’t simply a thing for fair times and bright days…What is belief – what is faith – if you don’t continue in it after failure?…Anyone can believe in someone, or something that always succeeds…But failure…ah, now, that is hard to believe in, certainly and truly.”