Sons of the Harpy

This is a show where fighting is perhaps the most important element of any character, and those who aren't fighters, have to think like fighters while getting others to do their violence for them. See Tyrion Lannister, Littlefinger, and Cersei Lannister, all of whom appear in this episode making decisions of various quality. Cersei, as usual, does the bulk of the plotting. After meeting with the High Sparrow, she decides that Westeros needs its religious military back once again, thus the Sparrows find themselves rearmed after hundreds of years with no Faith Militant. Never mind the fact that they were disarmed for a reason, now Westeros has armed religious fanatics smashing tables (and beer barrels, cue tears) in the streets of King's Landing while Cersei smirks and sics her new-found dogs on the Tyrell family, despite the fact that Mace Tyrell has basically been supporting the crown's lavish spending and the Iron Bank is calling in part of its significant loan to the Seven Kingdoms. As Daenerys has discovered, just because you're in charge doesn't mean you're in control, and that's one of the most spectacular fight scenes in the show's run thus far. In the streets of Meereen, the Unsullied and Second Sons patrol for danger, hunting down the Sons of the Harpy. The visuals have more impact than the writing from Dave Hill, but that's probably by design. The discussion scenes, particularly Bronn/Jaime, Tyrion/Jorah, and most surprisingly Stannis and Shireen, tap into the emotions quite deftly. The Baratheon men are known for their big hearts... well, all but Stannis, but watch him awkwardly embrace his grayscale-faced daughter and tell me he's not as big-hearted as the Brienne-saving Renly or the Ned-loving Robert. It's a lovely moment, and it shows a newly human side to Stannis The Mannis (knocked out of the park by Stephen Dillane). Absolutely wonderful; it's nice to see there's still a human king of Westeros involved in the war between sycophants and psychopaths. Is that glimpse of humanity something positive for Stannis, or a sign of weakness that's going to bring him down when push comes to shove? He is a formidable opponent militarily, and he's the rightful king of Westeros, in so much as anyone's the rightful king of anything. Hopefully he'll be able to use his clever daughter to his advantage, just not in a creepy Sansa/Littlefinger way.

The storylines flow effortlessly forward and we get some nice foreshadowing - and some inconspicuous insight into an important backstory.

Sons of the Harpy is another solid that delivered what it promised. The performances are still great, the sets and costumes are still lavish, the music score is still beautiful, the directing remains a bit atmospheric, the editing is still nice, the characters and relationships still shine, and the script is still well-written. My only quibbles is that the pacing felt even more slower and the plot progression hasn't been advanced even further. Despite those flaws, however, it's still a good episode and I hope everything would turn out fine in the next few episodes. So, overall, not great, but still solid. :)

We have Sansa at the Boltons ready to marry that psychotic for the good of the future. We have Tyrion heading for the Dragon Queen. His captor carrying his own baggage. Dany lets her emotions get the best of her, being corrupted, for the time being, by her own ego. John has gone to get reinforcements from the Wildings to attack the Boltons. Things are all gray at the moment with everything in the offing. Most of the characters are faced with the problem of how to rule in a world so divided. Should they put it all out there and conquer, knowing that this keeps the undercurrents alive. One factor that is going to be a big time issue is the threat of the dragons which are at times pretty unpredictable. Also, with Sansa, is her marriage going to be honored in any way. The traditions dictate things but blood usually prevails anyway.

The atack of Harpies is the pillar of this episode . For costumes, choreography, memories about simmilar episodes from history. The relation of young Tommen with Faith Militant is the second powerful point. Not the last, the confrontation between Jon Snow and Melisander. A film about the preservation of power. Simple, clear, inspired.