Game of Thrones - 'Book of the Stranger'

"Oh, woe is me! To arrive so soon after my half-brother has left and... Wait?
He's still here?"

It's an episode for reunions, as the protracted business of packing delays Jon Snow at Castle Black long enough for Sansa to make the journey from Winterfell, and the somewhat dubious nature of time and space in Westeros means that at almost exactly the same time, Theon Greyjoy arrives home in the Iron Islands, where the Kingsmoot has yet to meet and choose a new king. Understandably, the two meetings are not exactly similar.

Sansa and Jon hug out whatever issues they may have had as kids, and then plan to depart together, accompanied - will they or no - by Melisandre, who appears to have decided that he is the Kwisatz Haderach.. Briene tries and fails to pick a fight with Melisandre and Davos, and Tormund Giantsbane gives Briene the glad eye, which would be much more adorable if it didn't come right on the heels of poor Osha meeting Ramsay Bolton's murdering shithead quota for the week.

This pisses me right off, by the way. Osha was one of the show's stronger female characters, and to bring her back after two seasons in the wilderness only to be killed out of hand... This feels like another instance of the show's sensationalism overriding the original ethos of harsh brutality, and smacks of the writers actually not knowing what to do with the character.

"No hugs then?"

Theon's reception is not as good as Sansa's, although much better than Osha's, as Yara is pretty much convinced that he's there to steal the throne from her. Plus the last time they met he betrayed her, denounced his name and got a bunch of her men killed. It's harsh, but ultimately fair.

Back in King's Landing, the High Sparrow preaches at Margaery and then allows her to visit her brother in custody. There are references to the Book of the Stranger, a religious text about sin, death and all that, which is where the episode title comes from. The Small Council slowly begins to come around to Cersei's position that something must be done about this whole 'imprisoning queens' thing that someone suggested the faith militant could get away with.

"All your base are belong to me."

Tyrion upsets Messande and Grey Worm by giving the Masters of Slavers Bay seven years to dismantle their operations in exchange for not supporting the Sons of the Harpy, but explains that in the absence of viable dragons they don't have much alternative. At Vaes Dothrak, Daario and Jorah compare dicks and diseases - overall, a one all draw - then sneak in to rescue Danaerys, but she opts to once more remind the world that this lady's not for burning. She listens to the Khals sound off and issue more rape threats for a while, then straight up tells them that she's in charge now before bringing the house down in flames and walking out naked, but unburned.

'Book of the Stranger' suffers once more from the increasingly ponderous pace of a show with more subplots than minutes in its runtime, and a tendency to opt for horrible character death as an alternative to actual progression. When it gets going - as in Danaerys' barnstorming return to form - it's still excellent, just increasingly tough to move between those moments.