[Re-Watch Project 6x05] The Door - Discussion

Another great episode.

A better one for Braavos as we're reminded of who Arya is. And so is she. She could never just kill people without asking questions, without having a reason.

We get a huge reveal from Bran, seeing how and by who the WW were created. And another one when being touched in the vision leads the WW army to their cave. It leads to such an emotional scene, it's terrifying and intense, at the same time it's a huge W T F and one of the saddest things we've seen on the show.

Euron walking in just as Theon is having a cheerleader moment with Yara I like his drowning though.

I like the scene with Dany and her boys, it's so sad and I hope Jorah finds a cure and returns to her. Even if it is only to die sacrificing himself for her benefit later on, that's how I always imagined him dying.

I still dislike Sansa's decision to keep some things to herself while at the same time encouraging Jon to war. Stuff like that can easily come back to bite you and I'm glad they both survived the season. There's a history of Starks making dumb decisions and dying because of them so we dodged a bullet there.

Confession time: I have not watched the ending of The Door since it aired last year. It really shook me up and was probably the saddest thing I've ever seen in the show (and the story overall) and I thought Shireen's sacrifice was the saddest up to this point! I mean, it really just leaves you in awe of Hodor, spending his entire life knowing what happens to him at that point. There's that brief moment where he's not warged by Bran anymore and it's really Hodor doing it on his own and holding the door because he knows he has to do it, and at that moment it hits you ... it's just Willas, this normal kid, experiencing that because the wires got crossed for that split second where time bent sideways on the past and present. It was profound and it just blew my mind.

The memes and jokes didn't come quickly on this one. I think even the jerkiest human beings out there had to pause for a bit and give Hodor the respect he deserved. I remember people lashing out and hating Bran for this one, but honestly I think it all had to play out like it did and the Three Eyed Raven even knew it. I think he didn't expect it to happen so quickly and wasn't prepared, but he definitely knew how it was going to go down and that it was the end for him too. Bran isn't ready yet and I think we're going to see some of that in Season 7 too once he gets to the wall and then onward to Winterfell. He's still trying to figure out that massive "upload" of information he got and I don't expect he's going to be all that happy even with the reunion we know is coming for the Starks. He's still this kid caught up in the nightmare of knowing everything that's gone on and will go on... how can you even look at day to day life the same after that??

                                      


But aside from Hodor's sad sad ending, this episode had a lot of great moments. I really liked Arya's first interactions with the performing theater and how uncomfortable that play made her realizing how the rest of the world sees this story of how her Father was betrayed and executed. Funny how Littlefinger isn't even mentioned when he was the actual puppetmaster in that whole mess. At least he has to face the music with Sansa. That awkwardly long pause while Sansa demands he answer her "What did he do to me?" ... was brilliantly done. Sansa had the power to kill Littlefinger on the spot with Brienne but doesn't. This shows (to me) she's smarter now and that Littlefinger is more use to her alive than dead. She's learned from him and while many think he's still influencing her, I think she's just learned to play his game better and we're going to see more of it in Season 7!

In re-watching, I liked the Kingsmoot and Euron a whole lot more than the firs time. Maybe I've just warmed up to this different style of Euron but it was pretty good the second time around. I look forward to seeing what he does in Sesaon 7 though I don't expect he's going to win over any Queen with his big cock.

Jorah's sad farewell to Dany was particularly well done and beautifully filmed in golden lighting that just made her look so ethereal and alive yet still vulnerable and a woman with emotions after just coming out of the fire like a Goddess. I loved this contradiction. Daenerys is still just this petite little woman with a big heart who is losing someone she cares a lot about. Jorah your Queen commanded you to heal yourself, so you better obey her orders and return to us in Season 7 all healed up (greyscale scars can be sexy too)!


                                       

Brilliant choice of words, perfectly said! She IS an executioner, not an assassin. Thank you!


I had the same reaction - if fact after watching this episode I "swore off" GOT, just couldn't get over the sadness.  Not just Hodor, but Summer, too. And Leaf - it wasn't until this re-watch that I realized it was Leaf herself who had created the first WW. When Bran came 'back' after that vision, he did turn to her and say, "It was you!", but last year I thought he meant 'you' as in 'you children of the forest'. This watch, when I made that connection that it was Leaf herself, I realized how very important it truly was that she made the sacrifice she did so that the others could get away. So now that's even sadder, too.


I'm right there with you, dje . If anything happens to Ghost, I'm not sure I'll ever get over it. And I'm SO hoping for an Arya/Nymeria reunion in S7!

Then there's the huge question in this episode -- what was said by the voice that called out from the flames when Vary's 'parts' were thrown in the fire and what is the name of the one who spoke????? And why did the Red Priestess say to Varys, "If you're her true friend, you have nothing to fear from me"? It made me wonder whose friend would Varys be if not Dany's, since there is no fake Aegon in the show.

I also wonder why Sansa lied to Jon about how she found out the Blackfish had retaken Riverrun and that she had met with LF.  I understand she's learned something by LF's methods and that she's growing into her own powerful person, and all that, but ... it still made me very uneasy.

Meera's spear must have been Valyrian steel since it shattered one of the WWs.  I thought it was one of the NK's lieutenants that she destroyed? I think it was. Too hard to go back and rewind to that exact point in HBO-Go, and so far I think HBO On Demand only has Season 1.  But - another thing occurred to me this episode that I hadn't noticed before -- the face of the man that Leaf stabbed with the dragon glass to turn into a WW - isn't that supposed to be the NK himself?  I thought I saw facial similarities, but I could have been imagining it.

I did like Brienne's comment to Sansa about Jon, that he seemed trustworthy, "a bit brooding, perhaps".

Great episode. They just keep getting better and better.

It was not the Night King, just one of the many Craster's sons who all sort of look the same with long white hair and crude looking faces. And Meera's spear was dragonglass which we already know works on the White Walkers as that's how Sam killed one too. Apparently in the show version both dragon glass and Valyrian steel work. I think the key with Valyrian steel is it doesn't shatter like normal steel when a White Walker 'freezes' it so it's far more valuable for warriors who need to fight toe-to-toe. The dragon glass seems like it will be much more useful to archers and spearmen to fight from a distance with, though it doesn't seem to kill the wights, only fire or dismemberment for them.

There were definitely some strange clues in this episode that we have yet to unravel about the Night King (who he was before and what his motives are now) and the 'Gods' at war here between whatever dark magic spoke (The Great Other?) when Varys heard a voice in the flames vs. R'hllor who is supposedly a 'Good' God but seems pretty weird to me if he wants his priests to burn everyone alive! That's fanaticism though, and even Christianity has that one in common from the darker times of our own world. Gods are benevolent or malevolent depending on how the humans who worship them interpet it. We'll hopefully find out a lot more in Season 7!

Meera's spear tip was dragonglass