Ok, now all bets are off. The creators of Game Of Thrones have proved that they’re not afraid of making a statement or two, and they do so once more in ‘The Door’ , one of the show’s most affecting – and one of its best – episodes in a while.
Largely, this is down to Bran Stark’s scenes, which after being absent for the entirety of Season 5, have emerged as this season’s highlights. Not necessarily because of Bran himself – ultimately he’s a cipher more for interesting story developments, not that that this is a bad thing when it means that we finally start to get explanations for some of the show’s mysteries.
Generally we’re not shy about spoilers, but in this case we’ll make an exception: you’ll know what we’re talking about when you see it.
One question that does get posed though is the ramifications this season poses for the books. Sure, the two entities are going off in entirely different directions now, but when you hear tidbits like George RR Martin revealing the origins behind Hodor’s name (which is disclosed in utterly devastating fashion here), it does make you wonder to what extent things are going to get spoiled for readers.
Also, stop killing the pets! Considering that fans are still attempting to come up with theories as to how Shaggydog is somehow still alive (despite ostensibly now being a rug on Ramsay’s floor), their hopes must have been dashed by the extremely unambiguous demise of Summer. At least he went down fighting.
Elsewhere, the chess pieces continue to move into place – albeit with perhaps an accidental amount of foreshadowing, as every semi-important character departs the Wall (presumably away from an icy death at the hands of the White Walkers), Theon and Yara leg it from their murderous uncle, and Arya’s road to assassin-hood continues.
Plus, we get the novelty of seeing Varys get rattled – although bearing in mind that the last time we saw this happen was the execution of Ned Stark, the introduction of Red Priestess Kinvara might not be a good thing. And let’s not forget a scene-stealing turn from Kevin Eldon.
So in other words, Game Of Thrones is officially back on track. Fear for your favourite characters.
