Game of Thrones returned last night for most of us [although not for the heathens in House PirateBay, who are now almost half way through the bloody series].
I'm resisting joining the pirates. I love Game of Thrones season too much to wipe out almost 50% of the series in one sitting. Gonna try and stretch the show out as long as possible.
Just quickly on that. HBO probably need to stop giving out advanced episodes to members of the press now. They've shown that they can't be trusted, and while an advanced viewing might help them write their reviews in time for publication [the workshy gits], ultimately the health of the show is of greater importance.
Imagine if the Red Wedding episode had been leaked at the start of Season 3?
Horrendous stuff.
Right, on to the episode itself...
At the end of last week we looked at a preview of Season Five and one of the overriding themes emanating from the piece was that this is very much a new world, the parameters have changed, everything is different...
So different in fact that I didn't recognise a single character until about 15 minutes into the show.
'The Wars to Come' started with a scene showing two young girls entering a witch's house / chalet and asking for their futures to be read.
One girl, blonde, in Lannister red, displayed astonishing self confidence and belief, to the point of rudeness.
I don't care if the witch is pissed out of her face, lying in her own filth, getting some sort of kick out of sucking blood from the fingers of pre-pubescents...you're under her roof, learn some manners.
Bloody Myrcella. Except it wasn't, this was the young Cersei.
We then saw an Unsullied going to a brothel. Jesus, they've recast Grey Worm. Gone is his kind face, he's now older, a bit more stern looking and a meat-head.
Again, this was me jumping to conclusions, this was Mr White Rat, who was paying prostitutes to rub his head, hum nursery rhymes and tell him everything was going to be ok, in a sort of motherly manner.
Given that the Unsullied are separated from their real mothers at birth, castrated and then stripped of their humanity, seeing White Rat paying a prostitute not for casual sex or any debauched activity but merely to offer something akin to a mother's love was quite a tender moment.
Made all the more shocking by the bloke in the mask slitting White Rat's throat open a few seconds later.
The episode seemed to whiz by. We saw a disheveled Tyrion roll out of a crate in Pentos and engage Varys in some engrossing dialogue, particularly around the notion of joining forces with Daenerys; Dark Sansa and Baelish watched Robyn 'Ed Milliband jnr' Arryn getting whupped with a wooden sword before they carted off somewhere 'West', and Daenerys sent her Unsullied out onto the streets of Meereen to restore order following White Rat's death, while she debated as to whether she should open the fighting pits, grasping at her bed sheets to make sure the camera didn't pick up an atom of her nudity [Girl power!].
But the main part of the episode revolved around the events at The Wall.
In the Season Five preview, I was excited about the prospect of a Stannis, Jon Snow and Mance Rayder alliance after they were quite 'pally' with one another.
Well if there's one way to ruin an alliance it's by setting one of the other guys on fire.
So much for that idea.
The Mance burning was upsetting for many reasons. Firstly, I'm a sucker for working class, downtrodden, humble characters and Mance was pretty much the paragon of these.
Ok, we like the villains on Game of Thrones because it's not real, because it's art and we can appreciate the spectacle. But as much as I try to suppress it when watching the show, it's hard not to pity the characters with good souls when they meet a gruesome demise.
The guy's main reason for moving on the wall was not for money, or glory, or conquest, but to protect his people in the face of the threat from the White Walkers. In a world where most kings and queens are fighting for glory and thrones, Mance fighting for the preservation of his people is surely the noblest fight?
In the few scenes we had with Mance, he came across as a nice bloke didn't he? He could have killed Jon Snow on umpteen occasions but instead he took him under his wing, even after the fight on the wall, when Snow went to negotiate, Mance greeted Snow with a drink, toasting the life of Ygritte.
He was a good man.
Reminded me a bit of one of those old school characters you might see in a working man's club. Knows how to play dominoes, knows how to play all the card games. Never gets wrapped up in hysteria, just looks at the news on the television, nods and tuts knowingly, before taking a sip of Mild. Maybe a former coal miner with a sharp political mind. Now rendered to reading the Racing Post and catching the bus home.
He had that sort of vibe for me. A man of tradition and sound morals.
Stannis burning him alive because he wouldn't kneel is so unbelievably excessive.
I'd like to think that Stannis could have offered a deal behind the scenes whereby Mance kept his honour and his dignity and they made a pact for their mutual benefit.
Nobody likes being shown up in public, especially in front of a crowd. Mance was never going to kneel in the middle of the courtyard and kiss Stannis' shoes.
Even enemies can treat one another with respect.
In real history, Genghis Khan used to recruit his former enemies if they showed promise, and many of them became his greatest generals.
The first Persian emperor 'Cyrus', changed his mind when watching his enemy Croesus burn on the pyre, he doused the flames and made the Lydian king his most trusted adviser.
Perhaps Mance would have rather died that played 'general' or 'adviser' for Stannis. We'll never know.
Given that his only objective seemed to be to get his people to safety, I think he wouldn't have been so rigid in negotiations, if he'd just been treated with respect.
Perhaps a partnership could have been arranged similar to the one Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon shared in their war with the Mad King, before Robert claimed the throne and Ned was given the title of Warden of the North.
Alas no, the man Stannis, who was deemed the most just ruler, somebody with a sense of proportion, has seemingly been totally compromised by the Red Woman and her blood magic.
Let's hope he's not too far gone, and there's still a decent enough guy somewhere inside for Ser Davos to try and salvage.
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