Game of Thrones
“Mother’s Mercy”
(HBO)
B
There’s a bit of karma that comes with sacrificing your daughter to the god of light. “Mother’s Mercy” kicks off with Stannis a little more than disconnected from his men and Melisandre. In fact, half of Stannis’ men leave before they even attack Winterfell. Afterward, Stannis’ wife proceeds to hang herself out of guilt. Things just don’t seem to be going very well for Team Stannis. He’s a man at the end of his rope, and despite being well aware of that fact, he moves forward anyway, attacking Winterfell because at this point he simply doesn’t care. Frankly, neither do we. No one expected Stannis to prevail in any way, so when the battle finally comes, we’re just given an aerial shot of a larger army closing in on the desperate leader’s force. When we’re finally brought in for a closer look, Stannis just gives a reluctant look, ready to get the ordeal over with.
Once the battle concludes, Stannis sits against a tree injured as he is confronted by Brienne who has been observing from a distance. Brienne’s season ends with some long overdue vengeance against Stannis for his black specter that killed her king in the second season. Much like the battle, Brienne’s execution is simple and straightforward. At this point, both Stannis and the audience were ready to leave this story in the dust. Unfortunately, this was the only thing a very absent Brienne really got to do in this season: sit around and wait for things to happen. For the most part, nothing ever did. It would have almost been more exciting for her to not appear the whole season until this, the very end. Either way, justice was had, but Stannis’ fate was sealed by the last episode.
Cersei’s arc, however, did come to an appropriate close for this season. She had a rough run of it at the end: Her daughter is poisoned by the Sand Snakes (apparently a great past time) and she is forced to do, literally, the worst walk of shame ever by orders of the High Sparrow in order to absolve her sins. This scene succeeds because, in the end, Cersei makes it back to the capital covered in filth and blood. Still, she survives, and you know the queen is not broken. Though she was stripped of her power for a while, there is almost a guarantee that the consequences will be far more brutal for her captors. I’m not so sure the opening sequence of this season, which showed a young Cersei being told her fate from a witch, was really accurate considering how things played out. There was a suggestion of some deeper happenings, but a vulnerable and weakened Cersei seemed to suffice.
Finally, we get to Jon Snow. Oh, Jon. I’m so sorry, old friend. This whole season you have been wonderful, from you being the newly elected Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch to kicking White Walker ass in impossible scenarios. Now, after all that, after all your struggles with loyalty, rationale, and leadership, your demise is the consequence of betrayal, much like your father, Ned. Actually, it’s men like you who just don’t belong in this insane world.
The scene was heartbreaking, and definitely the saddest ending to a season of Game of Thrones yet. The series’ source material suggests that Jon might still be alive, but as far as the show goes, I’m venturing that this was the end of one of our favorite characters. It was the best seasons yet for Jon, and he will be missed.
Ultimately, Game of Thrones struggled this season. The Dorne arc was passable at best, keeping Bronn and Jaime from being too interesting. Some new characters were introduced, but they didn’t grow and evolve as naturally as new characters from previous seasons. Tyrion was great, but seemingly wasn’t granted much screen time. And, let’s just be honest, Peter Dinklage is the best. Not every character is going to be the star in every episode, but a lot of them seemed underused, giving the show a sort of sloppy imbalance throughout. The thrill isn’t gone from Game of Thrones; this season presented some amazing moments, but also plenty of desperate ones. It really made it feel like the writers had to take things into their own hands, considering their source material isn’t nearly as abundant as it once was. Here is to the show’s fifth season. I feel like the best thing you can do is toast to it for all it attempted to accomplish and, much like New Year’s Eve, wish for a better year next time.
