Game of Thrones: Let there be war, they said

Wow. Just wow. Three seasons ago, in the fourth episode, Daenerys Targaryen had what was considered her coolest and strongest moment of the show till that point (“Dracarys”). And now, yet another fourth episode gives her a similarly strong, if nor stronger, moment.

In a nutshell, Daenerys burns down the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen — built entirely of wood — and walks out of the inferno unscathed (you know, Blood of the Dragon), and awes the entire Dothraki horde, who kneel in front of the Mother of Dragons, terrified. She will no doubt lead them to war on Slavers’ Bay.  

More importantly, things are finally looking up for the Stark clan. After years of bleak outcomes and family members missing each other by a whisker, two Stark siblings finally unite and what an emotionally satisfying moment it was, too.

Two episodes ago, Brienne decides to take Sansa to Castle Black where her brother, Jon Snow, was the Lord Commander. We, as the audience, groaned collectively as, far from being the Lord Commander, Jon was at the moment a frozen corpse on a stone slab. Most fans assumed Sansa was in for a shock much like her little sister Arya who had reached the Frey Twins just as the Red Wedding was in full swing.

The long silence when Jon and Sansa finally meet each other, that tearful embrace: this was as good as it ever has gotten for House Stark since the early episodes of the first season.

This also shows just how much Sansa has grown. From a simpering, infatuated chit of a girl in Season One to pure steel now, Sansa keeps pushing a reluctant Jon to go to war with the murderous Ramsay Bolton, who now styles himself “Lord of Winterfell and the Warden of the North.”

But it took a letter from Ramsay to Jon, promising all sorts of atrocities, for him to make up his mind to go to war, presumably leading to the battle that was teased in the trailer.

Back in King’s Landing, Cersei and Jaime convince Lady Olenna Tyrell to bring forth her army from High Garden and “destroy” the Faith Militants and rescue Margaery and Loras. This season keeps getting better and better with each passing episode.