Game of Thrones - 'Homeward Bound'

"And what do we say to the God of Death?"
"Fancy a game of chess?"

Last week, I suggested that Game of Thrones was becoming more reliant on shock value, with the murder of Trystane Martell in particular coming as a particularly brutal reflection of his uncle's fate.

This week, we open with Bran viewing his family history with the aid of the Three-Eyed Raven, who is training him in the Greensight, warging and turning into Max von Sydow between seasons. In particular, we get to see for the first time his aunt Lysa, the delicate flower of Winterfell, who turns out to be a lot more Arya than Sansa, and the young Hodor, a much chattier giant named Willis. Bran seems to be having a grand time, but Meera Reed is getting antsy sitting around. One of the Children of the Forest tells her that when he leaves the tree, Bran will need her.

"My boy's got my back; right Ramsey?"

In King's Landing, Cersei's giant bodyguard punches the head off a dude who bad mouths her in a tavern (seriously, the guy must be roughed off his feet.) Tommen bars her from Myrcella's funeral for her own safety, but under Jamie's prompting he then goes to apologise, while Jamie tries to pick a fight with the Faith of the Seven.

Slightly further south, Ramsey continues to suggest executive solutions to the family's problems. Backed by Junior Kar-Stark, he wants to raid Castle Black and take out Jon Snow, while Roose insists that picking a fight with the Night's Watch would lead to a complete breakdown of order in the North. Then Lady Walder is delivered of a son, prompting Ramsey to murder his father and, because no one's explicitly murdered any babies since, like, Season 1 (not counting the Red Wedding with bonus foetus stabbing,) we are treated to a drawn out scene in which Ramsey feeds his stepmother and half-brother to his hounds.

I did the Blind Fury joke last week, right?

Sansa and her retinue plan to travel to Castle Black, while Theon breaks off to return to the Iron Islands. In the latter, Balon Greyjoy discusses the failings of the Ironborn as land troops with his daughter and then gets murdered by his long-lost brother. At the funeral, the priest slams Yara's assumption of inheritance. The way things are going in Westeros, I was genuinely shocked that she didn't just stab him.

Arya continues to blindly flail at the waif, before not Jaquen H'gar appears. He offers her comfort if she gives her name,but she insists she is no-one and is taken off the street.

"Is there something in my teeth?"

With Mereen increasingly isolated by the resurgent Masters of Slaver's Bay, Tyrion decides to have a heart to heart with the real power in the city. He goes to the pyramid and gets all dragon whisperer with the two remaining dragons, who certainly don't eat him; which is something. He unchains them and then retreats to contemplate his folly.

And at Castle Black, the whole mutiny/traitor situation gets more complicated as the Wildlings turn up to take back the keep for the legitimate Watch. With no one entirely not in breach of some part of their oath, Davos asks the Red Woman if she can bring Jon Snow back to life. She tells him that she can't; that she has only ever seen it done once.

Psych! Yeah, and it's not Khan either.

So, it feels as if, freed of the confines of George RR Martin's narrative, Game of Thrones isn't sure where to go or what to do, aside from maintaining its reputation as the show that 'goes there', however horrible and gratuitous 'there' might be. It continues to be beautifully shot and marvelously acted, but the content is definitely more sensational.