‘The Door’ is the fifth episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones.
Beware of spoilers! Reading is at your own risk.
Tyrion seeks a strange ally. Bran learns a great deal. Brienne goes on a mission. Arya is given a chance to prove herself. (TVMA)
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Sansa confronts Littlefinger in Mole’s Town – HBO
Sansa receives a letter from Littlefinger. He wants to talk with her in Mole’s Town, the town where Gilly had to stay during the fourth season. Of course, Littlefinger wants to keep his meeting secretly – in a brothel -. Sansa did get a very dark storyline last season, one which formed her personality into a strong and independent character. She doesn’t want Littefinger around her anymore.
She has learnt from her mistakes, even if Littlefinger seems (really) concerned with her. For the first time in Game of Thrones, Littlefinger doesn’t know how to react and his plan doesn’t go as planned. I don’t think he’s letting her go so easily. It was a stupid decision of Sansa to send Petyr away. He actually ‘possesses’ the Army of the Vale, which can make a big difference in the war against Ramsay Bolton. When Littlefinger leaves the brothel, he informs Sansa about the current affairs at Riverrun. He lets her know that the Blackfish has retaken Rivverrun from Walder Frey.
Arya’s training still continues. The Waif tries to bring Arya down, but she fails each time. Whatever she tries, Arya proves herself to be worthy. According to the Waif, Arya Stark will never become a Faceless Man. Perhaps the Waif is right after all? Jaqen has another mission for Arya. But before he explains that, he tells Arya all about the first Faceless Men. After that, he gives Arya a small bottle with poison. He orders her to assassinate Lady Crane, who performs in a theatre company in Braavos. Jaqen warns Arya that this is her last chance.
The acting troupe performs the death of Robert Baratheon. Arya grins when she sees how Joffrey Baratheon is portrayed. But when she sees that they’re also making fun of Ned Stark, she suddenly stops laughing. Ned is portrayed as a naïve, somewhat dim-witted man. Tyrion is portrayed as a vulgar dwarf; Sansa as a stupid, naïve girl. Arya is reminded of the horrors that have happened to her father.
She’s anything but ‘No one’ in this scene. After the performance, the actors change clothes. Arya discovers the identity of Lady Crane and the fact that she likes to drink rum. She tells Jaqen that Crane is a skilled actress and that she doesn’t understand why she needs to be assassinated. Jaqen makes Arya clear that a Faceless Man doesn’t ask questions, but only does what is asked from him. This will be a difficult choice for Arya …!
We briefly return to the main events of season 1. – HBO
Bran Stark witnesses another vision. Here we go back many centuries in time. We see how the Children of the Forest are plotting together. Leaf, who’s also present in the lair of the Three-Eyed Raven, pierces the chest of a captive with dragon glass. The man screams in agony. Soon, he turns into a White Walker.
The origin of the Night King is hereby explained and Bran confronts Leaf with the consequences of her ‘experiment’. Leaf tells him that she had to do this in order to protect her people and the weirwood trees. Why the White Walkers turned against their creators, ‘the Children of the Forest’, isn’t really clear. I hope we find out this season…
We travel to Pyke, where the Kingsmoot take place. It seems like Yara is the winning party right here. Theon Greyjoy vouches for his sister. How lovely. But then Euron Greyjoy walks in and fun is over. Without any trace of shame, he admits his involvement in his brother’s death.
He thinks it was time to get rid of Balon Greyjoy and to replace him with a capable leader. He puts forward a plausible plan: he wants to marry Daenerys Targaryen in return for ships and his big …. He’s able to get the Ironborn by his side and wins the Kingsmoot. During the baptizement, Theon and Yara flee away with the majority of the fleets. Their destiny is clear to us: Essos, to convince Daenerys of their cause before Euron does so. Euron is angry with his cousins and orders his men to build a thousand fleets. He promises them ‘the world’.
A new king in Westeros: King Euron Greyjoy of the Iron Islands – HBO
Daenerys speaks with Jorah Mormont about the future of his position. Jorah points out that he doesn’t have a future anymore. He shows Dany how far his greyscale has evolved and concludes that it’s the wisest decision to leave her side. Daenerys is very emotional and demands Jorah to find a cure, no matter the cost. Jorah starts to believe again and starts a mission to find a cure for his greyscale. Daenerys wants him by her side when she conquers the Seven Kingdoms.
In Meereen, Tyrion and Varys are still finding a way to bring back peace in the city. It strikes them that there haven’t been any recent attacks of the Sons of the Harpy since the Masters agreed to end the practice of slavery in seven years, instead of right now. Tyrion yet has another plan. He has invited the High Priestess of the Red Priests to Meereen. We’re seeing Melisandre’s big boss!
Tyrion wants Kinvara to use her red priests to convince the people of Meereen of Daenerys’s fate. Varys doesn’t like Kinvara at all and confronts her with the many mistakes from Melisandre’s part. Kinvara admits that people make mistake, but that they need to serve the Lord of Light at all cost. She seems to know Varys’s precious parts were tossed into the fire and that a voice spoke from the flames. Varys is horrified and Kinvara leaves both with a big smile on her face. What a creepy woman!
Kinvara is welcomed in Meereen – HBO
Bran is bored in the Three-Eyed Raven’s lair. Everyone’s at sleep, so he seizes the moment to experience a vision on his own. Suddenly, he finds himself in a very snowy landscape. Behind him stands the Army of the Undead. Bran walks through them, knowing that they cannot see him. He comes across four White Walkers, amidst them is the Night King. It looks like the Night King can see Bran.
He stares at him in a terrifying way. The Night King walks toward Bran and touches his arm. Bran screams and wakes himself up. The Three-Eyed Raven realizes what damage Bran has done and advises Bran and co. to leave the cave asap. Bran wears the Night King’s mark now. He’ll find him, no matter what. But before Bran leaves, the Three-Eyed Raven want to transfer all of his visions to Bran.
In Castle Black, Team Stark is planning their strategy to get back Winterfell. Jon Snow thinks they’re better off with beginning small and to build their army step-by-step. Sansa has a better plan: they have to convince the Blackfish to join their army. Davos is quite sure that if they have the Tullys along their side, they have a good chance at winning against the Boltons.
Sansa talks with Brienne in private. She wants her to go to Riverrun in her stead. Brienne needs to convince the Blackfish. At first, Brienne doesn’t want to travel to Riverrun. She still doesn’t trust Davos and Melisandre. Sansa explains to Brienne that she can count on Jon’s support and that he will always protect her. Jon Snow says goodbye to Edd. Edd enjoys his new position as the Lord Commander while Jon, Sansa, Brienne, Podrick, Tormund, Melisandre and Davos travel south. And between brackets: that stare Tormund gave Brienne, was too awesome!
Meanwhile, Meera is packing her stuff. Together with Hodor she’s dreaming about all the tasty things they can eat when they’ll leave the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven. When she realizes that it’s getting colder drastically, she runs to the entrance of the cave. There she witnesses the Army of the Undead, led by the White Walkers. The Night King touches the ground and breaks the enchantment of the Children.
Soon, they march toward the cave while the Children throw fireballs at them. Meera runs to Bran in order to get him safe. She begs him to warg into Hodor, otherwise they won’t make it. Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven are still in a vision. Bran sees how Ned Stark says goodbye to his father, Rickard Stark, and his brother Benjen. Ned leaves Winterfell and heads to the Vale. The Army of the Undead are starting to infiltrate the cave and Meera and the Children are the only ones to protect them.
Bran’s finally able to warg into Hodor. One of the White Walkers walks into the cave as well and kills a Child of the Forest. Meera is able to kill the White Walker with a spear made of dragon glass. She’s the first woman to do so! Hodor, Bran, Meera and Leaf hurry to the exit of the Cave, while Summer is devoured by wights whilst protecting Bran. Those shrieks, though…
The Night King joins the party and murders the Three-Eyed Raven with his sword of ice. The Three-Eyed Raven tells Bran to go on without him now and disappears like black dust in Bran’s vision. More and more wights infiltrate the cave. Leaf realizes that the only way to let Bran and Meera survive is the offer herself. She uses her last fire ball to blow up the cave and wins a good amount of time.
Meera, Bran and Hodor make it to the exit, but Meera needs Hodor to hold the door. Bran is still in his vision at the courtyard of Winterfell and sees himself warging into a young Hodor. The young Hodor stumbles and can only utter once sentence: ‘Hold the Door’. Bran realizes that he’s the one who broke Hodor’s mind. His whole life was dedicated to this very moment. Bran looks at the damage he has done, while Hodor tries to hold the door no matter what. He’ll succeed to save his friends. Young Hodor keeps repeating to hold the door until only one contracted part of the sentence remains: ‘Hodor’. It became one of the most intense scenes in Thrones.
What have you done, Bran? – HBO
CONCLUSION
‘The Door’ was an emotional rollercoaster. We’re halfway through the season and I can already conclude that the sixth season has surprised me in a positive way. The two most recent episodes were filled with very strong storylines. ‘The Door’ introduced us to some new cast members. The part of Lady Crane is played by Essie Davis, one of my favorite actresses. She’s doing a great job here! Throughout the episode, we did get a lot of answers on the questions that kept us busy for years: ‘Who are the White Walkers and how were they created? Why says Hodor ‘Hodor‘?
The special effects in The Door were astonishing and one of the very best in Game of Thrones. The scenes where Bran walked through the Army of the Death and the White Walkers attacking the cave were awesome! Arya’s storyline is starting to get more interesting. The theatre company makes up for some funny scenes. Daenerys gave us a very emotional scene. I honestly shed a tear when Jorah said goodbye to his Khaleesi. (But oh boy, that was nothing against those last ten minutes.) The scenes at the Wall didn’t disappoint. Jon FINALLY leaves the Wall.
I look forward to his scenes in the second half of the season. Bran’s scenes were very good this episode. His storyline has become one of the most entertaining this season. The Kingsmoot was good and the soundtrack is absolutely worth mentioning. Euron Greyjoy on the other hand didn’t impress me. He appeared like a cheap villain to me.
‘The Door’ is absolutely one of the biggest Game of Thrones-episodes to date. The attack of the White Walkers on the Cave of the Three-Eyed Raven and Hodor’s tragical fate will never be forgotten.. The episode was filled with strong storylines and the build-up is better than ever.. I want more…!!!!
SCORE
Source: https://yelmermotmans.wordpress.com
Storyline: 9,6/10
Acting: 9/10
Action and build-up: 9,4/10
Cinematography: 9,6/10
Compostion: 9,1/10
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