BWW Recap: Everyone is an 'Oathbreaker' on GAME OF THRONES

This week's episode of GAME OF THRONES aired on Mother's Day, perhaps as an ironic detail of seeding spread throughout the episode in the same vein that Tyrion killed Tywin in season 4 on Father's Day. The episode, entitled "Oathbreaker," had it's share of deaths and gore, but seemingly shed light on three of our characters whom can be considered "oathbreakers" of sorts. The title mostly refers to Jon Snow and his death possibly releasing him from his vows to the Night's Watch promising "[My watch] shall not end until my death," but it also holds some relevance with two of our other leading characters; Daenerys and Bran. Dany broke her "oath" as a Khaleesi after she turned East to Quarth and beyond instead of West, back to the Dosh Khaleen, and Bran's captivation by these visions, his want to go against everything the Three Eyed Raven is trying to teach him, to stay in this past life, begins to string in the notion of rebellion against structure and rule. However, despite the fact that we caught up with a lot of characters, had a lot of threads being spun for future episodes, this episode felt a little bit empty. Although a lot went on, the episode felt, overall, as if nothing actually happened, and part of that is at the probably fault of the framing device of some of these character's stories.

Before we talk about the episode, I think it is fair to bring in the "previously on" recap that happens just before the start, as it is actually being used to tell the story being framed within this one episode. Considering Westeros and beyond is quite a large and dense world, this isn't surprising as casual show watchers might not remember every small detail, but to use it to tell the story you are trying to tell this episode does verge on lazy. This season appears to be heavily focused on Jon Snow and his background, part of which is his parentage. There has been a long running theory (that most accept as canon at this point) of the answer to that question within the Thrones fandom for sometime, however even from a book reader's perspective, it is still just a theory for it's not been explicitly confirmed in the source material yet. However, this season it appears we will all get confirmation of who Jon Snow's parents really are and his importance and destiny in the rest of the story. It's become increasingly obvious, however, with these previously ons.

The theory (*LOOK AWAY IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPECULATION THAT MIGHT BE TRUE*) is called R+L=J. R being Rhaegar, and L being Lyanna. J of course if Jon. Thus, combined with a focus on Jon Snow, the inclusion of the Tower of Joy scene (in the book it's a fever dream Ned has) as anything but relevance to Jon seems nonsensical, so it's another notch of confirmation that this theory is true. Then, in the previously on, we focus on Sansa and Little Finger talking about Lyanna in the crypts of Winterfell, where Sansa brings up the rumored story that Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna and raped her. Again, if that's exactly what happened and it plays out that way on screen, then there's no need to see it. However, the discrepancy between stories and reality and the thematic relevance of Lyanna being Jon's mother hold extreme weight in terms of the narrative and also in terms of compelling television.

Speaking of Jon, we enter the episode right where we left off, in Castle Black. In one of the most anticipated storylines for this episode, we immediately followed the aftermath of Jon Snow's resurrection. Davos, who seems peculiarly calm for Jon being brought back to life, as he has never seen anything of the sort after all, runs to help Jon who awakens, shocked and traumatized (and nude! There you go Emilia Clark!), feeling the stab wounds in his stomach and struggling to catch his breath. Davos and Melisandre, who seems in awe of what R'hollor has done, attempt to calm him. Melisandre tells him that he was brought back for a reason and that if Stannis was not the "prince that was promised" then someone else must be, which was a not so subtle hint at Jon possibly being Azhor Ahai reborn. The parallel imagery with the resurrection of Chris this episode and last, as well the story parallels with Azhor Ahai, strongly seem to suggest that Jon will indeed be the "prince that was promised", or at the very least, the part of that prophesy that refers to Azhor Ahai.

Melisandre asks him what he saw after he died and he heartbreakingly replies, "nothing." This of course, is contrary to popular BELIEF that between the time of his death and his resurrection, Jon's soul will live on through his direwolf, Ghost. I think it's an interesting concept to deal with for these characters that deal in the mystical, but that fear of nothing and the idea that anyone he kills will be sent into that same nothing is not heavily dealt with, and for the most part, Jon seems okay. It could be too early to tell, but in the novels, all of the characters that were resurrected lose part of themselves along the way and find themselves almost single-mindedly striving towards one goal and one purpose. It's similar to the "unfinished business when you die" trope equalling ghosts. I hope Jon reveals himself to be quite different, perhaps more ruthless, following his resurrection for it makes the point in case that George R.R. Martin constantly makes about the consequences of trying to cheat death, being fueled by vengeance, and the damages of war and violence that are left behind.

Jon then walks through a group of Wildlings, and Tormund too seems to not be that shocked or surprised to see Jon up and about again. He even remains calm enough to make acjoke.

After that, excitingly enough, we move onto a story line we haven't touched this season at all so far, which is the misadventures of Sam and Gilly (this week on a boat traveling to Old Town). We do catch a glimpse of Gilly's never aging baby, but this time it appears to have gotten slightly older. It's still not old enough to match with the same timeline that insists Myrcella was in Dorne for years, but oh well. At least there was a change.

Sam is not doing so well on the boat, but Gilly is striving. She's delivering clever quips and comforting Sam. We then find out Sam is not bringing Gilly to the Citadel, for it doesn't allow women, but rather to his home and family at Horn Hill. One can only hope that Gilly does not land in the hands of the horrid man that is Randyll Tarly who threatened and berated his own son. Let's just say it wont be a joyful family reunion.

Immediately after our trip on the sea with Sam and Gilly, we are thrown right into the flashback that everyone was waiting for; the Tower of Joy. It's a moment that has been built up in many fans' heads since the very first book, and it's a moment that sadly, disappointed. We were given a wonderfully expositional, "That's my father," line from Bran again, just incase the audience couldn't figure it out, and then, from there, it was all rather messy. The "Tower of Joy" holds a lot of thematic relevance for the characters and the overall story and it takes place at the climax of Robert's Rebellion, following the all too famous "Battle at the Trident," where Robert smashed Prince Rhaegar Targaryen down with his warhammer. We are given a little bit of hint at this expositionally, but overall, I think the tiredness and the weariness of this war and the death didn't feel present. The dialogue itself, most of it lifted and changed around from Ned's fever dream of this scene in book one, felt rather stilted. Partially because where it was changed ended up lessening the lore and the weight of what this scene is and why it's characters are doing what they do.

The Kingsguard are meant to be honorable mean, vowing their life to their king until they die. It is a vow that is respected and honored. After Robert took over, however, the notion of a true and honorable Kingsguard is laughable. The fact that Jaime slew his own king is seen as deplorable and it's why everyone calls him "Kingslayer," behind his back. It's a slur, not a legacy. Thus, the men we see here are meant to be the best of the best. Arthur Dayne himself is legendary, as is his sword. Their book line, "The Kingsguard do not flee. Then or now," would have greatly colored the story and would help to make this fight not so black and white, of the good guys versus the bad guys. Even the 'Mad King' Aerys Targaryen's Kingsguard are meant to appear honorable and knightly. Arthur Dayne's "Now it begins," is then meant to rev you up, exacting the integrity and the weight that comes with someone declaring that they will put their LIFE ON THE LINE for their duty to their prince.

In the novel, Martin writes "No," Ned said with sadness in his voice, "Now it ends." Speaking of the frailty and the desperation in this situation of men who are haggard and tired after all of this fighting and bloodshed is important and says a lot about who Ned is and what makes him the person we saw in season 1. He's sad to shed more blood, but he knows it's what must be done for these men will not forsake their vows, and it must be don e for all he wants is to see his sister Lyanna again, safe. It's for her sake that the whole war begun, after all.

The framing of Ned Stark in this scene felt very odd. Bran remarks that his dad had told him this story countless of times, yet just last episode he said he never really spoke of Lyanna. It does not seem in the wheelhouse of the honorable Ned Stark to brag about slewing Arthur Dayne, the Sword of Morning. In books, he even remarks how he could not have done it without the aid of Howland Reed. It was rather exciting to see Howland Reed though, even for a moment! But, when Ned is backed into a corner fighting Dayne, Reed jumps up behind the Sword of Morning and stabs him in the throat. Bran is affronted for one, he thought his father a better fighter than Dayne and two, that Reed just stabbed him in the back. In a show that is sometimes convoluted with toxic masculinity, this seems a stab in that direction as well, for Bran was so disappointed in his father's weakness and we are meant to be as well. We're meant to look at this scene with sadness, as perhaps our hero is not as great as we thought he was. He told Bran of all these brilliant and legendary stories, only for Bran to now find out that he lied and didn't kill Dayne in the "honorable," way. However, if Ned Stark was anything, he was honorable and that is what got him killed. Ned's placement in the story is meant to show us that people like him cannot continue to exist in this kind of world when they start to play the "game of thrones," and in attempting to break down that framing, it makes the narrative lose some of it's weight.

After the fight is over, Ned heads up to the tower where presumably Lyanna is, as we heard a SCREAM earlier, and Bran wants to follow. He even yells out after his father and Ned seemingly hears him. Before he can continue up the stairs, frustrating viewers to no end, the Three Eyed Raven pulls him back out, telling him that he can't lose himself in these visions and that he still has much to learn. The Three Eyed Raven also apparently doesn't like his job, but he does it because he must, claiming that he's only been there so long because he was waiting for Bran and that Bran must learn before he can leave the tree. We get the hint, however, that Bran does not seem to fond of his tutelage and yearns for the worlds inside his visions. Bran will most likely be visiting that tower once more, perhaps against the guidance of the Three Eyed Raven.

Across the Narrow Sea, Dany is being lead (on foot! Why doesn't she have a horse?) by a Khalasar into Vaes Dothrak. There she is sent in before the Dosh Khaleen, who seemed quite young to be called a group of "old crones." They proceed to strip her rather roughly of her queenly garb and give her a matching outfit to theirs to wear, for she is a khaleesi, not a queen. Dany threatens these women with death, which seems rather severe and the "high priestess" scolds her for going off on her own into the world after Drogo died, rather than doing her duty and returning to Vaes Dothrak to join them. Because of her "oathbreaking," Dany must now face all of the Dothraki Khalasars as they decide her fate and whether or not she is still permitted to join the Dosh Khaleen. Seeing as the Dosh Khaleen seemed to have the final word on all things Dothraki and seem to be a governance system of sorts, it seems odd that Dany's fate rest in the hands of these Khals, especially looking at the disparity between the fact that the Khal's must judge her fate, for they are men. The Dosh Khaleen are meant to be so far up in the Dothraki hierarchy that even the fiercest Dothraki men live in fear of going against their rules, yet they cannot decide the fate of one widowed Khaleesi who would be joining their ranks?

Still across the Narrow Sea in Essos, but this time in Meereen, Varys meets with the sex worker who was responsible for the death of several Unsullied. She, oddly enough, appears to speak the Common Tongue and with a Westerosi accent. When Varys utters that he understands her perspective of a foreign ruler implementing foreign soldiers to man their streets, brought there to "destroy [their] city and [their] history," it's almost so meta, as the whole Meereenese plot on this show, especially this season, features a lot of white people talking down to brown people and trying to tell them how they should live and feel. However, we're meant to side with Varys here, and it's quite hard to as he says the rather unbelievable line about never hurting children.

Just a hop, skip and jump away in the council room, Tyrion is fiddling with his drink and thumbs while we get a rather long and pointless scene of him trying to "talk" to Missandei and Grey Worm, but he finds them unable to chitchat. It even goes so far as to have Tyrion suggest they play a drinking game. I don't know if we're meant to be charmed by Tyrion anymore, as I rather felt a lot like Missandei did in this scene, lost and frustrated. Varys then comes in to "save" Tyrion from this situation and tells them all that the funders of the Sons of the Harpy are the masters of Astapor, Yunkai and Volantis. The solution so far is to just "talk" with them, so lets see if it goes as well as it did for Tyrion when he dealt with the dragons.

Back in Kings Landing, Qyburn somehow acquired all of the young peasant children that made up Varys' "little birds" network. He charms them with some candy and now they are Cersei's to use. She of course, begins to immediately deal them out across Westeros to do her bidding and spy on her "enemies." Qyburn also oddly refers to the reanimated Mountain as "Ser Gregor," so I guess there is no attempt being made to hide what was done to him, nor the need for an alias like Robert Strong, which I feel like was uttered once last season, but I could be wrong!

The trio, Cersei, Jaime, and Franken-Gregor interrupt a Small Council meeting between Kevan (he is indeed Hand!), Maester Pycelle, Mace Tyrell, and Olenna Tyrell. They tell Cersei she is not permitted there. This seems weird considering Olenna is allowed to be there for some reason, through the magical and disappearing representation of a patriarchy that the show only applies when needed, but not if it prevents fan favorite sass-master Olenna Tyrell from being in a scene.

Cersei and Jaime take a stand, insisting that the Council focus on real issues such as Myrcella's poisoning and the kinslaying and rebellion going on in Dorne, one of their "seven kingdoms," which is actually a good point, but the council dismisses her, and the patriarchy returns (not for Olenna though cause she's the cool girl that hangs out will all the guys and is "different than other girls") and since Cersei and Jaime refuse to leave, the rest of the council refuses to "stay".

Tommen, all gung-ho on using his pent up rage and "masculinity," trudges into the sept and confronts the High Sparrow who is praying. He's followed by Kingsguard at least this time, but he loses his confidence when the High Sparrow begins to spout a lot of rubbish about how much Cersei loves him which seems to distract Tommen because by the end of the talk, he seems confused as to why he went there in the first place. (How fitting. The monologue about Cersei's mothering love being her godly gift and her one bit of virtue was aired during Mother's Day.)

Now, back in Essos (don't get whiplash from all this traveling), we find ourselves in Braavos in the House of Black and White, where Arya is still blind and is still getting beaten to a pulp by the waif. This is all part of her training, however, as we get a sort of hero-making-montage which consists of detecting poisons, getting her ass kicked by the waif until the very last sequence, and reciting details about "Arya's" past in order to become "no one"? None of it really makes a whole lot of sense but we get some more discussion about the Hound and Arya's feelings toward him, for that seems to be the most important piece of information to the Waif, all of this building up until finally Arya blocks the Waif's attack and hits her back. For some reason, the Waif, who appeared to be her tutor, is mad and upset, to the point of tears, that her student is learning and getting better. I don't understand the forced contention between these two on the show and it's mostly apart of a bigger pattern where girls are always shown as catty rather than supportive or positive in relation to one another.

Proud of her work, Jaquen H'ghar is happy to give her a positive and brings her over to the water to drink, claiming that if she was "no one," she would not be afraid. Arya drinks and is rewarded with her eyesight once more and presumably another mission! Maisie Williams is doing absolutely flooring work on this show, her talent only grows as she gets older.

Back in Westeros (seriously sorry about the whiplash!), we are in Winterfell with Ramsay and his right hand Karstark, as they hold a meeting with an Umber who is supporting Ramsay because he thinks Roose was a "cunt," and he wants help because he doesn't want to fight the assumed Wildling attack that will "obviously" happen after Jon let them through the Wall. Umber refuses to bow to Ramsay to secure their alliance, but has another offering instead. It's the gift we all have been waiting for and all of our fears and predictions were correct. It's long-time missing Rickon Stark! (And Osha) Then, to confirm Rickon's identity, Umber presents Ramsay with he severed and pierced head of a deceased ShaggyDog, perhaps being one of the saddest deaths so far this season! Sad to see you go ShaggyDog. We're down to only three direwolves now!

Just a little further up North (phew, not a long trip) we reach Castle Black where Jon is delving out punishment for those who stabbed him to death, thus murdering their Lord Commander. On the hanging post are Olly, Alliser Thorne, and two random men. There were seemingly a lot more people who stabbed Jon than this, so how did he decide who would be hanged? Jon allows them to say final word and Thorne only sticks by what he has done. Olly wont even speak. Jon, sad at the though of killing Olly, perhaps disparaging over the idea that there is nothing after this life and Olly is but only a child, sorrowfully resigns to do his duty and hangs them. I found hanging to be a strange method of killing for Jon, as both a Northerner and a Stark, who was taught from a very young age that "the man who passes the sentence must swing the sword." It's a more indirect and brutal way of killing. It lingers.

I found the continual shots of the dead suffocated corpses necessary and frustrating for a show that claimed they didn't show Brienne cutting off Stannis' head last season because it was too "gratuitous", but is perfectly fine showing the corpse of a young child being hung. It seemed almost cowardly and overtly cruel of Jon to kill Olly in this way and not honorable enough to be reflective of his past self but not brutal and RELENTLESS enough to suggest a worrying shift in character from Jon's resurrection, and it's certainly not framed as being so.

Appearing haunted by what he's done, however, Jon decides his time as Lord Commander and as a man of THE WATCH is over. He gives charge of Castle Black to Dolorous Edd (is that his job to decide?) and leaves, proclaiming "my watch has ended." The line, which would have been a bit more impactful if they had built up Jon's inability to separate himself as a "Stark" from his position as a Lord Commander, fell rather flat. Still, it's a nice loophole when your pledge is till your death and you just so happen to die and come back to life, isn't it?

This episode, overall, wasn't good or bad but rather felt very stagnant. There were a lot of scenes and seemingly big moments (Arya gets her sight back, the Tower of Joy, Rickon is back, Dany arrives at Vaes Dothrak) but they all seemed to fall short of any actual movement or progression. Things that should have felt big felt either glossed over, underdeveloped, or careless, where as pointless scenes such as Tyrion trying to get Missandei and Grey Worm to play a drinking game seemed to get all the time and weight in the world.

Next week seems to be action packed and hopefully all of this set up gets payed off in some sort of climaxing action directly in the narrative of the standalone episode. A lot seems to be packaged into next week's preview so if anything, it will be a jammed tight hour!

Check out the preview for next week's episode below and be sure to share your thoughts and reactions to this weeks episode in the comments!

Photo Credit: HBO

To post a comment, you must register and login.