Game of Thrones S6E5 The Door Recap/Review (Spoilers!): Hodor

Game of Thrones The Door had a powerful ending. The risk they took by introducing a time traveling element which can affect the overall story is a big leap for Game of Thrones to take. When introducing how changing an event alters timelines it throws paradoxical scenarios into the story. How can this event happen if the person doesn’t do this one thing in the future? Does this mean the future is set in stone for the Game of Thrones world? What if Bran wants to try and alter events which have already happened? The show stepped through a large door when they had Bran affect the past for a future event. It was a bold choice, and it will be interesting to see how it affects the show moving forward.

The rest of the episode while not as powerful or as alerting as the ending was extremely well done. Sophie Turner has been fantastic this season, and continues to impress. It may be her character just requires this commanding of a performance now, but she has played it masterfully. Sansa’s interaction with Littlefinger to start the show was brilliant. She let Littlefinger know she is no longer a pawn he can move in his game. Sansa has now become a player on the board, and a powerful one. She will still need the Knights of the Vale to overtake Ramsey in the end, and Baelish will be able to provide them for her. She can never fully trust him again, but he will still find a way to manipulate himself back into her good graces. He is slimy, but I don’t think he truly realized how monstrous Ramsey can be. He still probably would have married her off, but he might have found some way to protect her.

Arya has had no one to protect her since the end of the first season. She has had help from numerous sources, but has also had to learn, grow, and adapt in order to survive. We see her still struggling to beat the girl trainer, yet she is given another assassin assignment. She questions why she must kill the woman targeted, stating she seems to be a good person. The Many Faced God does not care for good or evil people. A price was paid, and a woman must die. Will Arya do the act? She must if she wants to survive, but I have a feeling she will find a way to turn the situation into the best possible outcome. She won’t fail in her task, but she will find a way to alter her task. Arya still is Arya Stark, based on the reaction she had to the play. She still cares about killing the ones who have hurt her. It was a great piece of storytelling for the show to use the play to demonstrate how she truly feels. She still wants revenge, but is biding her time until she can break away.

The Iron Islands storyline broke in the episode. The connection was made with how they will play into the overall story. They will become a Dothraki boat taxi service to Westeros. The book storyline is very different from the show, but it in the end it will garner the same result. The Ironborne will take the Dothraki hordes over the sea to invade Westeros with Danny at the head of the army with her three dragons. Yara will be the one to convince Daenerys to form an alliance, not Uncle Euron. Dany isn’t really fond of people who think they can bed and wed her to their cause. Daenerys may eventually marry for political reasons, but it won’t be to Euron. An alliance with Yara for the show makes perfect sense with how strong the female characters are and how they lead others. With Euron becoming King of the Iron Islands, Yara and Theon fled, sailing away to start a war with their Uncle. I don’t think they will go straight to find Daenerys. They will try and battle their Uncle, and then form and alliance with House Targaryen.

Danny had great scene tonight with Jorah. It was powerful and touching for her to command him to find a cure for the greyscale. She has finally accepted him again, and realizes how much he loves her. She realizes how much she needs and wants his friendship. Jorah cannot let his Queen down, and I fully expect him to find a cure and travel across the sea with Danny to retake Westeros. Daenerys may find things troubled in Meereen when she gets back. A tenuous peace has formed in the city, but Tyrion wisely knows that the peace must be accredited to Daenerys, or why have her as a leader?  Tyrion is playing a dangerous game on many fronts, and adding another element in the form of the Red Preistes may not be the smartest thing he has ever done. One thing I didn’t buy in the episode is the interaction between Varys and the Priestess. His character has obvious hatred to their kind, but Varys wouldn’t openly show it. He would find a way to keep them in check, and know everything about them, not openly confront her and disagree with Tyrion. It was out of character and was one of the very minor missteps in the episode.

There was only one other major mistake this episode made. The killing of yet another Direwolf in the climax of the episode. The animals play pivotal roles in the books, and have been relegated to minor ones in the show who can be killed off for no reasons. There was no reason to kill Summer in the episode along with Hodor. He could have ran out with them. His last stand wasn’t needed. He didn’t buy them any more time, the last Child of the Forrest did this with her sacrifice. The death of Summer should be a major event, and it was overshadowed by the ending. Overall it is a minor complaint for the episode as a whole.  

The revelation that the Children of the Forrest created the White Walkers to kill men and Hodor’s death, overshadowed any missteps. It makes sense for the Children of the Forrest to have created the White Walkers, but they lost control of their creation. They feel responsible and now want to help right the wrong, by assisting Bran become something special. Bran must assume the mantle the man in the tree has, because of his mistake. Bran killed them all with his defiance. He caused Hodor to become Hodor by entering his mind in the past instead of the present. It was an extremely sad and powerful moment watching the boy lose his mind, but also save Bran in the present. Everyone has rightly made fun of the phrase Hodor, but its new meaning has made it powerful. I’ll never think of the phrase Hold the Door, without now thinking of Hodor.

This was truly an amazing episode and a fantastic midpoint to the season. Without trying to think too much about the time travel logic introduced, it ended on an emotional and powerful note. The rest of the season is setup for a fantastic final five episodes. What did you think of tonight’s episode? Did Bran affecting events in the past bother you, or are you on bored with how the story is progressing? Comment and let me know.