Game of Thrones "High Sparrow" (Season 5, Ep. 3) [TV Review]

Welcome to the third weekly review of Game of Thrones season five. Today's episode was "High Sparrow" introducing Jonathan Pryce to the cast. Next week we'll finally meet the Sand Snakes and maybe spend some more time in Dorn.

We begin this episode in the House of Black and White.

This episode has begun to move the story of this season forward more than the prior two episodes.

4.5 out of 5 stars

I firmly expected this episode to really move beyond the books... I mean the prior two episodes have, but this one I expected to go further.

And it did.

Queen at last, and again. Wasn't she married to Henry VIII?

I suppose I should warn you again, Spoilers. Some from the books, and some from the show. Be warned. 

We begin with Cersei being all pissed off that the crowds of King's Landing are cheering Margaery.

Meanwhile Arya is in the House of Black and White, sweeping. She is not happy sweeping, as one would expect of her character.

Qyburn is being all creepy. The mountain rumbled.

Then we jump right back into Kings Landing for the marriage of Tommen and Margaery. After sex, Margaery begins to manipulate Tommen into trying to get Cersei out of Kings Landing. (The amount of thinly veiled insults in this episode is just epic. Almost every line Cersei says about Margaery, and vice versa, is an insult... even when they are speaking face to face.)   

A eunuch and dwarf watch a red preistess...

Then at last comes the culmination of much of the new material. Everything with Littlefinger and Sansa begins to make sense. I had suspicions about what was occurring before the episode aired... fueled from chats with friends over games and in idle time. That marriage proposal that Littlefinger received was not for him... it was for Sansa, and it was to one of the most questionable characters in all of GoT (which is really saying something), Ramsay Bolton. Honestly Ramsay has gained a significant amount of personality on the screen, his book persona is very flat. The screen persona is bigger, is more than the books, even if the core psychopath is still the same. I want to know how the hell this is going to work with Theon's (Reek's) escape... and how will Brienne and Pod's journey end up? We did get a large dose of Brienne's back story in this episode.

At the Wall, Jon Snow declines Stannis's offer to become a Stark. Ser Davos Seaworth has a strong conversation with Jon, trying to persuade him that perhaps the best way to protect the lives of men is 'not to sit in a castle at the top of the world' or something very close to that. 

Back to Arya and the blind girl (the Waif), where Arya gets smacked repeatedly by the blind girl. The is something darkly Buddhist (only the nihilistic side of Buddhism, the side people who are not familiar with Buddhism [esp Chan / Zen] tend to obsess with - I could expound greatly on this, but not here) about the whole Many-Faced God religion. It is going to get very interesting for Arya, very soon... and I'm not talking about washing dead men.

Volantis. It reminds me of historic London Bridge.

Also In Esos, Tyrion and Varys arrive in Volantis. Volantis is a cool looking city with a massive bridge that resembles Historic London Bridge. It is also where Tyrion desperately demands to be let out of his box. He and Varys watch a Red Preistess, and become... uncomfortable. They visit a brothel, where for the first time ever, Tyrion finds he cannot perform, he has no desire to... and it shocks even him. Then he meets Jorah.

Oh, there are other very important moments in the episode. Jon Snow appoints positions, and deals with Janos Slynt. Janos Slynt the man who can easily murder a child, but hides in closets with women and children when there is fighting, and weeps openly when he sees his own end. And of course there is the disgracing of the High Septon. I'll admit the entire religion of the Seven confuses me. We do not know it's doctrines, we do not know if or how the High Septon has actually sinned... is it fornication, the dallying with whores, or something else - is it merely hypocrisy? If that is crime, then why does the High Sparrow even listen to politicians / royalty? We are given that the acts of the High Septon are a sin, but are they, or are they simply hypocrisy as stated? Are we to merely take the world of fanatics? That seems dubious, and dangerous... and thus by doing so, we at last see Cersei priming her downfall. However, the High Sparrow is Jonathan Pryce, and that is cool...    

I think I'm going to keep a tally of deaths per episode, this week there were four. Two onscreen and two off.

- Lord Cerwyn (off screen - we see the skinned corpse)
- Lady Cerwyn (off screen - we see the skinned corpse)
- Janos Slynt
- Unnamed Man in the House of Black and White

Until next week.

Priming the next episode... and pissing off the battlements.

Season 5:
- The Wars to Come (Ep1)
- The House of Black and White (Ep2)

Season 4:
- Two Swords (Ep1)
- The Lion and the Rose (Ep2)
- Breaker of Chains (Ep3)
- Oathkeeper (Ep4)
- The First of His Name (Ep5)
- The Laws of Gods and Men (Ep6) 
- Mockingbird (Ep7)
- The Mountain and the Viper (Ep8)
- The Watchers on the Wall (Ep9)
- The Children (Ep10)