Game of Thrones Recap: The Door – Episode 605

Violet recaps Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 5, titled The Door, where we learn the origin of Hodor’s name, Arya is given a second chance to join the Faceless Men, Jon Snow and Sansa plot how to retake Winterfell, and the Ironborn select their new leader. Meanwhile, Daenerys gives Jorah a new mission, and Tyrion recruits a new ally. Following the recap, both Josh and Violet share their thoughts about the episode.

• His thoughts on Game of Thrones, Episode 605 of Game of Thrones: The Door
• Her thoughts on Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 5: The Door

Game of Thrones Recap, Season 6 Episode 5: The Door

Castle Black

Sansa receives a message and goes to meet with Littlefinger in Mole’s Town. She brings Brienne with her. He tells her that the Knights of the Vale have come to her aid and are encamped at Moat Cailin. She asks if he knew about Ramsay, and tells him about how Ramsay abused her. Littlefinger claims that he didn’t know. Sansa angrily tells Littlefinger that she can still feel what Ramsay did to her. Littlefinger apologizes, but Sansa tells him she doesn’t need him anymore. She tells him to go back to Moat Cailin, that she and her brother will take back the North on their own, and she never wants to see him again. Before he goes, Littlefinger tells Sansa that her great uncle, Brendan the Blackfish, has gathered what remains of the Tully forces and retaken Riverrun. He advises her to consider seeking him out, and that the time may come when she needs an army that’s loyal to her. Sansa says that she has an army, but Littlefinger points out that it’s her brother’s army — half brother.

Jon Snow, Davos, Sansa, Brienne, Edd, Tormund, and Melisandre meet to discuss how to take Winterfell. Sansa is confident that Northerners are loyal and will support the Stark name. In the planning, she reveals that her uncle has reformed the Tully army and retaken Riverrun. However, when Jon asks how she knows this, she lies and says that Ramsay received a raven before she escaped Winterfell.

Later, Sansa tells Brienne to go to Riverrun to speak to her uncle, as she is afraid that Ramsay may intercept a raven. However, Brienne doesn’t want to leave Sansa unprotected. But Sansa says her brother will keep her safe, and that she trusts him. But Brienne wonders why Sansa lied to him when he asks how she learned about Riverrun.

Before they head out to convince the various houses to join them, Sansa presents Jon Snow with a cloak that she made for him that resembles the one their father used to wear. She has also made a new dress for herself. Jon leaves Edd in charge.

Braavos

Arya continues her stick fighting training with the Waif — who knocks Arya down, tells her that she’s not ready, and should go home before it’s too late. But Arya gets back up and fights back. The Waif throws her own stick aside, while allowing Arya to keep fighting with her stick. However, the Waif is able to overcome Arya anyway, and punches her, knocking her to the ground. She tells Arya, “You’ll never be one of us — Lady Stark” and walks away.

Jaqen H’ghar walks in just then, and tells Arya that she has a point — that none of the first Faceless Men were born to lords and ladies, they began as slaves. He brings her down into the chamber with the many faces. He then hands Arya a vial of poison, for her to use on an actress called Lady Crane. Jaqen tells Arya that she’s been given a second chance, but warns her there will not be a third.

Arya goes out to the theater to watch Lady Crane perform. She watches a comedic play that recounts the story of King Robert’s death, Joffrey’s ascension to the throne, Ned Stark’s beheading, and Sansa’s betrothal to Tyrion. Arya seems a bit dismayed by this portrayal. After the play, Arya sneaks backstage and spies on Lady Crane.

Back at the House of Black and White, Arya tells Jaqen H’ghar her plan: she will poison the rum, as Lady Crane is the only one who drinks it. Arya also asks if she can use one of the faces, but he tells her that she is not ready. Arya comments that Lady Crane is a good actress and seems like a decent person, but Jaqen tells her that the price was paid, and they must carry it out. Arya confirms that she has decided that she wants to serve the Many Faced god, and Jaqen tells her that a servant does not ask questions.

North of the Wall

The Three-Eyed Raven takes Bran into another vision. They see the Children of the Forest whispering, then Leaf stabs a guy in the chest who is tied to a tree. His eyes become ice blue. Bran awakens from the vision and sees Leaf, then yells at her in anger that it was she who created the White Walkers. Leaf explains that they needed to defend themselves from men.

Later, when everyone else is asleep, Bran sneaks over to the tree branch and goes into a vision alone. In the vision, there is snow everywhere, and he sees the snow covered tree where the man was turned into a White Walker. Then when he turns around, he sees the White Walker army, which seems to be frozen in time. He walks through the army, but then behind the army are the White Walker leaders, riding on horses. Suddenly, the Night’s King turns his head toward Bran. Then the White Walker army wakes up. The Night’s King grabs Bran’s arm, and Bran screams, awakening from the vision.

His screams awaken everyone else, and he tells them that the Night’s King saw him. The Three-Eyed Raven knows that he touched Bran, and tells Bran that the Night’s King knows he’s here, having left his mark on Bran, and that they must all leave. Bran apologizes. The Three-Eyed Raven tells Bran that the time has come for Bran to become him. Bran asks if he is ready, and the Three-Eyed Raven says no.

While the Three-Eyed Raven brings Bran into another vision, Meera realizes that something is wrong. She rushes outside and sees that the White Walker army is upon them. Leaf tells Meera to get Bran and run, as the army descends upon them. Meanwhile, the Children of the Forest throw fire bombs to try to keep the army at bay. But the Night’s King and the other leaders are able to pass through the fire barrier, while the other White Walkers go around it and try to find another way in.

In the vision, the Three-Eyed Raven and Bran watch as young Ned Stark hugs his little brother, Benjen Stark. Then their father gives Ned some words of advice as he heads off for the Vale.

While Bran is in the vision, Meera tries to wake him up, to no avail, and has to fight off some White Walkers who are coming in through the soil where the tree roots are.

Meera again tries to wake Bran, and he hears her in the vision. She tells him to wake up,  that they’re all going to die and that they need Hodor. The Three-Eyed Raven tells him to listen to her. In the vision, Bran sees young Hodor (then known as Willis).

In the present, Bran wargs into Hodor, who drags Bran’s stretcher and he and Meera run while the Children of the Forest try to hold off the White Walker army. Meera is able to kill one of the White Walker leaders by spearing it in the neck. Summer, Bran’s direwolf, also tries to hold off the White Walker army, but they kill him.

The Night’s King and the remaining White Walker leaders approach the Three-Eyed Raven, who is still in the vision.

In the vision, the Three-Eyed Raven tells Bran that the time has come, and tells Bran to leave him. Meanwhile, in the present, the Night’s King stabs and kills the Three-Eyed Raven. In the vision, the Three-Eyed Raven dissolves into black swirls and disappears.

As Hodor and Meera run from the approaching White Walker army, Leaf tells them to go, and holds onto a firebomb. She stays behind so she can kill more White Walkers when it explodes. It buys them a little time, but, the White Walker army is numerous and keeps coming. They finally get to the door and exit, closing the door behind them. Meera tells Hodor to “hold the door” to block the White Walkers from getting out. He is able to keep them behind the door for awhile, while Meera runs away with Bran on the stretcher, though they soon begin to break through and claw their way out.

Meanwhile, Bran is still in the vision. He stares at Willis, whose eyes go white, and then collapses to the ground and seizes, shouting, “Hold the door!” over and over again. Eventually, the phrase turns into “Hodor.”

The Iron Islands

Inhabitants of the Iron Islands gather to select a new King. Yara steps forward and makes her speech that she is claiming the throne. At first, people are resistant about the fact that they’ve never had a Queen, and one man points out that Balon has a male heir. Theon steps up and tells everyone that Yara is their rightful ruler. The crowd begins to chant Yara’s name — until Euron Greyjoy steps forward to throw in his name for the throne. Yara says her first act as Queen will be to execute him for killing her father. Euron freely admits to it, and defends his actions. Theon points out that Euron was gone for years, while Yara was there. However, Euron makes claims about sailing the Iron Fleet over to Daenerys Targaryen, saying that together they will take the Seven Kingdoms. This seems to sway the crowd in his favor, as they chant his name.

But while Euron goes through the drowning ritual that appoints him as the new King, Yara and her supporters steal away with the Iron Fleet. After Euron comes to and is crowned King, his first order of action is to find his niece and nephew and murder them. However, they soon realize that Yara and Theon are gone, along with all their best ships. Euron commands his subjects to build him a thousand ships.

Above the Dothraki Village

On a cliff above the Dothraki village, Daenerys tells Jorah that she banished him – twice, but he came back – twice, and saved her life, so she can’t take him back, nor can she send him away. However, he tells her that she must send him away, and shows her that he has greyscale on his arm. She starts to tear up, and tells him how sorry that she is. He tells her that he loves her, that he’ll always love her, and tells her goodbye. But as he begins to walk away, Daenerys stops him. She commands him to find the cure and heal himself, then return to her. She tells him that when she takes the Seven Kingdoms, she’ll need him by her side.

Jorah rides away on a horse by himself, as he watches Daenerys and Daario begin their journey, with the Dothraki following behind them.

Meereen

Tyrion, Varys, Missandei, and Grey Worm meet and discuss the current state in Meereen. Though things seem peaceful, Tyrion thinks the people need to know that it was Daenerys who brought them peace, and that they need a liason who the people trust.

They meet with a High Priestess of the Lord of Light, who agrees to help. She says she will summon her priests to spread the word that Daenerys has been sent to lead her people against the darkness. However, Varys is skeptical, and points out that they said the same about Stannis. The woman says that even honest servants of the Lord make mistakes. She goes on to say that bad things happen for a reason, and seems to know things about Varys’s past. She asks him if he remembers what he heard the night his parts were tossed in the fire. She asks if he remembers what the voice said that called out from the flames, and if she should tell him the name of the voice who spoke. Varys looks distressed, and the woman tells him that they serve the same Queen, so if he is the Queen’s true friend, he has nothing to fear from her.

As for the Iron Islands, I am a little confused about what was going on there.  Apparently Euron had enough support to take the throne from Yara, but Yara still had enough support to steal all of the Iron Island’s naval ships?  I would have thought that Yara would be able to take out Euron given how many ships she had stolen, as that would take a large amount of man-power.  But speaking of Euron, I really hope Daenerys sees through this tool.  She has portrayed herself as smarter than that so far, so I am curious to see what happens if/when those two meet.

Finally, Arya seems to be playing ball with Jaqen now, actually willing to do his bidding. I wondered if she might still take out one of the other actors, as she seemed to not really care for the way her family was portrayed by the play.   I do wonder if something will go wrong with her plan, and Jaqen will think she purposely killed another person, and causing her to be at odds with Jaqen again.

Overall, this was not a bad episode.  Game of Thrones is always a slow paced show, which is one of my complaints, but we are getting pretty far into the season now, so I suspect we will be getting some pretty exciting scenes coming up.  Sansa and Jon taking out Ramsay hopefully soon…?

 

Scenes from Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 6: Blood of My Blood

Preview of Season 6 Episode 6 of Game of Thrones

What did you think of Season 6 Episode 5 of Game of Thrones, titled The Door? Let us know in the comments below!