Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 9

Game of Thrones

Episode Title: “The Dance of Dragons”

Channel: HBO

Director: David Nutter

Writers: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Runtime: 55 min

Rated: TV-MA

Original Air Date: June 7, 2015

After last week's superb episode I had high hopes going in to the ninth episode of this season. The ninth episode is typically where the really big stuff happens in a season of Game of Thrones, and if the thrill that was “Hardhome” was too be any indication, “The Dance of Dragons” was going to be a huge episode. Maybe I had placed expectations that were too high on this episode, or maybe it just failed to live up following “Hardhome.” Either way it just wasn't quite what I was looking for.

Let's begin with Jon's return to Castle Black. After the battle with the White Walkers, Jon had managed to bring a few thousand wildlings to the Wall. The audience was teased for a moment with the idea that First Ranger Thorne would refuse to open the gates, leaving the Lord Commander and his guests to rot on the northern side of the Wall. The tense moment passed and the wildlings were allowed to pass through the gate. There were a lot of hateful glares directed Jon's way, but the passage of the wildlings was allowed to occur without violence. This would be the sole appearance of Jon Snow in the episode, highlighting once again a problem I've had with this season. If a character's time in an episode is limited to a handful of minutes and then not to be seen again in the episode; I would prefer they held off on that character's appearance until there was more to see. There was no need for this scene in “The Dance of Dragons,” Jon's arrival at Castle Black and the consequences of his choices could have waited until next week.

Arya set out to complete her first assignment for the Many-Faced God, but was distracted with Lord Tyrell's group arrived in Braavos. She recognized Ser Meryn Trant immediately and abandoned her assassination of the Thin Man in favor of following Trant around town. The writers saw fit to remind us how bad a guy Trant is with a very uncomfortable scene in a brothel. He rejected a couple of the brothel's women before settling on a young girl. Part of the fun of the previous seasons of Game of Thrones has been the ambiguity surrounding the good or evil nature of its characters. Sure some characters acted in such ways as to cause the audience to dislike them, but beneath the schemes and plots you could see how the character(s) in question could consider themselves the good guy. The unquestionably bad guys have previously seemed evil organically, The Mountain was just a murderous behemoth, Armory Lorch was a sadistic sword for hire; neither of them required reminder scenes reinforcing the level of disdain the audience should have for them. Between Bolton, and now Trant, it seems the audience is being bludgeoned about the head with the writers' desire for us to dislike those characters. I don't know if it's a lack of confidence in their own writing, or in the audience, but it has been too blatant for my tastes. Anyway, Arya reported back to Jaqen that the Thin Man wasn't hungry when she passed by, and that she'd try again the next day. It seems obvious that he would know she's lying, so his motivation for allowing things to play out may be interesting.

Dorne wasn't as bad as it has been this week. Doran Martell argeed to allow Myrcella to return with Jaime to King's Landing, on the condition that Trystane Martell would still be allowed to marry her, and that he would take Oberyn's seat on the King's Small Council. Jaime agreed to the terms, and even managed to get Bronn freed from his cell. Ellaria seems to have dropped the grudge she held against the Lannisters, but her surrender seemed too easy. I expect her to renege on her new sworn fealty to Doran at the next possible moment. I don't believe that her tears when Doran forgave her were due to his kindness, most likely she realized that he had become an obstacle in her way.

Stannis' encampment was attacked in the night, with most of their food stores being destroyed. This made a desperate situation worse. Faced with no options that would allow him victory Stannis made a decision I was sure he would never made. I knew things were going to take a turn for the worst when he sent Davos back to Castle Black to beg for supplies. With the only voice of reason among his confidants removed Stannis gave in to his desire for victory. He had a quiet chat with Shireen, during which she professed her willingness to help in any way she could, and then sentenced her to die on a pyre in sacrifice to the Lord of Light. After so much time had been spent making Stannis a more likable character this season it was surprising he decided his own daughter was an acceptable loss on his way to the throne. All of the goodwill Stannis had accrued from the audience died in the fire with Shireen. Here's to hoping that her cries for help and her pained screams haunt his sleep. While she begged for mercy it was Selyse, Stannis' wife and devout follower of the Lord of Light, who was shaken enough to try to help. By that time it was too late.

Finally, in Meereen, Dany was attending the festive reopening of the fighting pits by viewing the spectacle of men killing each other. Daario verbally sparred with the Queen's soon to be husband in what I though was a good character moment for Daario. Jorah made his appearance and after some hairy moments managed to win his fight. During his fight you could see Dany's stance towards him waver every time he was in danger. Upon his victory she seemed relieved, until Jorah took up a fallen spear and threw it in her direction. It wasn't intended for her though, as it struck an approaching Son of the Harpy. Soon there were dozens of Sons making their way towards the Queen, with a small band of defenders struggling to keep them at bay. Tyrion gave a good showing for himself, killing one of the assailants and saving Missandei in the process in the process. Once again the Unsullied were made to look like the Stormtroopers of Westeros as they proved rather ineffectual in protecting the Queen. When all seemed lost Drogon, aka deus ex dragon, entered the battle. After man spears through Drogon's hide, and even more Sons of the Harpy burnt extra crispy, Dany clambered upon his back and took to the skies.

Conclusion: “The Dance of Dragons” faced a tough task this week, and fell short. If not for how good “Hardhome” was I think my reaction to this episode would have been different. None of that is to say this was a bad episode, it just failed to up the ante the way the ninth episodes of seasons had before.

Rating: 8.5/10

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 8

Game of Thrones

Episode Title: “Hardhome”

Channel: HBO

Director: Miguel Sapochnik

Writers: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Runtime: 55 min

Rated: TV-MA

Original Air Date: May 31, 2015

Let's get the smaller things out of the way first. Sansa confronted Theon over his loyalty to Ramsay. It wasn't the best scene of the episode, but it did allow Sansa to discover that Bran and Rickon are still alive. I'm not sure what the point of revealing this fact to Sansa was; it felt more like a reminder to the audience that Bran is still out there. I understand the motivation behind the reveal in that regard, since Bran has not appeared in this season. What is Sansa supposed to do with this information though? I suppose she can draw on it to find strength, or something some other nebulous thing, but it felt a little clumsily handled and transparent. Also in Winterfell, the Boltons were discussing how best to handle the impending threat of Stannis' army. The elder Bolton was content with staying behind their walls and waiting the assault out, Ramsay on the other hand advocated a raid of some sort on the advancing army. He claimed he'd need only twenty men to hurt Stannis, hopefully setting up the character's downfall in the upcoming episode; episode nine when all of the big stuff happens.

Ceresi is still locked away in a dungeon by the Faith. Apparently they're withholding water from her until she confesses her crimes. When she refused she was beaten. Qyburn showed up and gave her an update on recent events in King's Landing. Her uncle Kevan has returned from Casterly Rock and is serving as the Hand to King Tommen. Tommen has locked himself away in his chambers and refuses to eat or see anyone. Qyburn also revealed that the work he has been doing is progressing well, teasing the audience with whatever was under the sheet we saw in his laboratory. If nothing has changed in that regard from the books readers of the series will know what's in store. I feel like it's a reveal that could go either way. If it's not handled well it could come off as cheesy, otherwise it could serve as a chilling remind of what Ceresi will do to maintain her power. After Qyburn's visit the woman that has been interrogating Ceresi returned with another bucket of water and a ladle. Ceresi continued making threats to the woman, who proceeded to dump the water on the dirty floor of Ceresi's cell. The sight of Ceresi greedily slurping water from the dirty stone felt like she was finally reaping what shes sown, although it was pitiful enough that one could almost feel sorry for her.

Arya's journey to become a Faceless Man has progressed. She has come a long way since the days she couldn't sneak a single lie past Jaquen. She has been spending her time cultivating a character to play while she's out in the city, that of a peddler of mollusks. She changed the path she normally walked at Jaquen's request and met a man named only the Thin Man. When she reported back to Jaquen he explained to her that the Thin Man was to be her first assignment; someone who deserves to face judgment at the hands of the Many Faced God. After making only miniscule jumps forward in her story this season the last two episodes have made me care what's going on with her again.

There was a brief check in with Sam and Gilly at Castle Black. This was another segment of the episode that felt unnecessary. Sam and Gilly briefly discussed how safe they may be in Castle Black before Jon's steward walked in. Their conversation gave Sam a few minutes to assure the audience that Jon knows what he's doing, we just have to trust him. The quick scenes with characters who are doing next to nothing otherwise that have been so prevalent this season are interrupting the flow of the episodes they appear in. Nearly every one of them have been for the audience's benefit and not the story's.

Tyrion and Dany finally had their sit down moment. Tyrion successfully convinced her to spare Jorah's life, but didn't save him from banishment. Once Tyrion and Daenerys got into a one on one setting things really picked up. He tried to convince her of the futility of her return to Westeros, claiming that no one would side with her. She retorted by explaining that she didn't want the support of the ruling families in Westeros, she wants to completely break the system of governance and remake it in a way that's more fair to the common folk. It'll be interesting to see if Tyrion can convince her that her goals are unrealistic, or if he'll come around to her way of thinking. Tyrion seems too pragmatic a man to think that the leading families of his homeland would be so easily overthrown.

Nearly the entire last half of the episode deal with Jon's mission to Hardhome to convince has many of the free folk has possible to travel south and seek refuge on the southern side of the Wall. He and Tormund arrived to a chilly reception, but managed to convince some of the clan elders to come with them. They began loading noncombatants on to boats to take back to the waiting ships. Before the evacuation could be completed the earth began to shake and clouds of ice and snow began pouring down the surrounding mountainsides. I was sure that this was where we'd leave the story for this week, leaving the threat to make its actual appearance in next week's episode. You know, the episode that we've grown so accustomed to looking at for all of the action.

Alas, I was pleasantly surprised. What followed was an all out attack by the forces of the White Walkers, reanimated corpses that move much faster than the last time we saw them. I'm going to assume that their new found speed stems from the Walkers' power growing. Jon, the men of the Night's Watch that accompanied him on the journey, and the fighters of the wildlings fought desperately to allow as many people to flee as possible. After attempting to reacquire the pouch of dragonglass he'd brought to the meeting Jon met one of the Walkers in single combat. He won the fight and managed to escape on the last boat leaving Hardhome. He and the apparent leader of the White Walkers engaged in a staring battle, during which the Walker raised all of the dead that had been left behind. With the numbers of the dead army increased following the battle things look bleak for those south of the Wall.

Conclusion: The writers surprised us with an epic battle in the eighth episode of the season. The story lines that received the bulk of the time were all served well by “Hardhome.” Although they weren't as distracting as they have been, the one off scenes following characters doing very little at the time were still present, and still obviously there only to remind the audience of things they might've forgotten. I chuckled a bit when the animated skeletons of the dead army reminded me of the stop-motion skeletons in Army of Darkness.

Rating: 9/10

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 7

Game of Thrones

Episode Title: “The Gift”

Channel: HBO

Director: Miguel Sapochnik

Writers: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Runtime: 55 min

Rated: TV-MA

Original Air Date: May 24, 2015

This season of Game of Thrones is still moving more slowly than I would like. There are just too many story lines for every one of them to get a large amount of time. The plot is inching forward in incremental steps because of it. With that said things are finally coming to a head in most of the arcs, and the situations don't look good for anyone.

Jon headed out with the wildlings to find the rest of the free folk and bring them to safety south of the wall. Maester Aemon shuffled loose his mortal coil and now Sam has found himself short on friends and surrounded by people that don't like him much, due to his loyalty to Jon. Aside from veiled threats for First Ranger Thorne his first bit of trouble comes in the form of two brothers of the Night's Watch trying to force themselves on Gilly. The physical confrontation goes as poorly as you'd expect and the surprise reappearance of Ghost is the only thing that saves Sam and Gilly. When they're alone later on, with Gilly tending to his injuries, they have a moment. Now Sam is an oath breaker as well and we'll be left to find out if he's guilt ridden due to his honor or if his affection for Gilly will push him to do things he was previously incapable of.

Sansa tried to enlist Theon's aid in summoning help from her remaining friends in the North. Theon is still too afraid of Ramsay to act against him overtly and reported the request to Ramsay. Ramsay tracked down the old woman with whom Sansa had spoken before and flayed her. With the prospect of outside help seeming rather unlikely we might finally see Sansa take control of the situation herself. She did manage to sneak some sort of weapon while Ramsay was gloating. I'm really hoping that she'll take matters into her own hands before Stannis' army arrives. Speaking of Stannis, the weather has made his march on Winterfell nearly impossible at this point. Davos reported the loses they're suffering due to the inclement weather, causing Stannis to look to Melisandre for help. After some beating around the bush her solution was to sacrifice his daughter to fuel another killing spell. This was the first time we've really seen Stannis angry at Melinsandre, as this was a line he seems unwilling to cross. Over the last few weeks a fair amount of effort has gone into making Stannis a more likable character, but I fear that the moment we saw between he and his daughter was there to establish how major a sacrifice she would be to his cause. When push comes to shove what will be more important to him?

In Meereen, Jorah and Tyrion have finally reached their destination. Jorah saw Dany partaking of the 'entertainment' in the fighting pit and read her disdain for the killing on her face. He proceeded to take several men out of the fight without killing them and revealed himself to her. I feared that with loses she's been suffering she'd forgive and forget, but she immediately wanted him dragged away. Only Tyrion's quick appearance kept that from happening. How she reacts to having such a powerful captive from the Seven Kingdoms is anyone's guess, but at least now she's willing to hear them out.

Through most of the episode it seems like Ceresi's plans in King's Landing are going smoothly. Olenna is doing all she can to get her grandchildren out of their current predicament, but her conversation with the High Sparrow yielded no reason to be optimistic. Her meeting with Littlefinger was much more successful, as he promised her some information that would help her cause. Ceresi paid a visit to Margaery to gloat for a moment and then went to speak to the leader of the Faith. Her meeting with the High Sparrow started off promising, for her, with the holy man describing the next steps of the Faith's justice system. It took a turn though when he started talking about some of her own crimes. Lancel appeared to let us know exactly what was being discussed and then Ceresi was dragged away to a cell of her own. It's good to see the plan she was so proud of starting to blow up in her face.

The scenes in Dorne are still the weakest of the season so far. Aside from filling this episodes nudity quotient there's just not enough going on their to make me care. Myrcella doesn't want to leave and Jaime is powerless to make her. Bronn did have a bit of a bonding moment with the Sand Snakes, which could be interesting, but something really needs to happen in Dorne soon. For a setting that could have provided a real change of pace from the locales we've become accustomed to it's been lackluster so far.

Conclusion: “The Gift” represented another tiny step forward in this season's arc. There seems to be too many things going on for their to by much development from week to week. With that said the big positives coming out of the episode were Ceresi finally reaping what's she sowed and Tyrion coming face to face with Danaerys.

Rating: 8.25/10

The Flash: Season 1, Episode 23

The Flash

Episode Title: “Fast Enough”

Channel: CW

Director: Dermott Downs

Writers: Gabrielle Stanton and Andrew Kreisberg

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 43 min

Rated: TV-PG

Original Air Date: May 19, 2015

Go no further if you haven't watched The Flash's season finale, you have been warned.

First, a word on the entire season. The Flash's first season has been one of the most consistently good premiere seasons of any of the shows I've watched. Often it was more than good, with truly great moments sprinkled throughout the season. Sure, there were the occasional things to quibble over, but it's hard to imagine a better way to bring the Flash to the screen. With that said it's time to get into the season finale, “Fast Enough.”

One of the first things that struck me concerning this episode is the bucking of the trend when it comes to final showdowns between the hero and his nemesis. Eobard Thawne was captured last week, and was in no position to pose a physical threat when the episode opened. With Thawne neutralized the show was given more time to focus on the personal and emotional ramifications of Barry's plight. Given the opportunity to travel back in time and prevent his mother's murder Barry was presented with, what seemed at first, a dream scenario. If he successfully saved his mother he'd be able to live his life with his real parents. Nora would avoid her fate and his father, Henry, would actually have his freedom. What on the surface seemed like an easy decision was made much more difficult when Barry realized all of the consequences.

There was little time spent beating around the bush. Barry gathered his closest friends and family and laid out the options. The scenes leading to his decision were the most emotionally powerful we've seen so far in the series. Grant Gustin's chemistry was on full display with both of his onscreen fathers. Jesse L. Martin's scenes were heart wrenching. He realized that if Barry was successful the son he had raised as his own would cease to be, worse than that; the times they had spent together would be forever lost in the new time line. Despite his obvious sorrow at the possibility he encouraged Barry to save his mother and have the childhood he deserved. Barry's biological father, Henry, had an entirely different take on the situation. Overcome by pride in seeing what his son has become he counseled Barry to leave things as they are, believing that everything happens for a reason. John Wesley Shipp shined in his portrayal of a proud father, unwilling to change the worst night of his life if it meant changing the man his son had become.

Another great pseudo-father/son moment took place between Cisco and Thawne. Cisco told his former mentor about the memories he's retained from Barry's first jaunt through time. Thawne explained to Cisco that this was a sign that he was affected by the accelerator catastrophe and that he was some sort of metahuman too. It looks like we're not too far away from seeing Cisco Ramon's alter ego, Vibe. In this and every other scene he was in, Tom Cavanagh, continued his stellar work as a villain who has genuine love and affection for those he's been manipulating. Cavanagh deserves more recognition than he's likely to receive for his performance this season.

Victor Garber's character, Dr. Martin Stein, also made an appearance. With Wells no longer around to guide everyone through the scientific aspects of what they're attempting he filled in admirably. Aside from explaining the technological aspects of their plan he also shared a good moment with Eddie. Eddie was, understandably, feeling as if he had no place in the proceeding. After a pep talk from Stein he realized that because in the future he's an unknown he has the opportunity to make anything he wants of himself. He reconnected with Iris and it looked as though they were going to try to make it work, no matter what future Eobard had shown them.

If there was a weak spot in “Fast Enough” it was the way in which Caitlin's character was handled. The first irritating moment came when the possibility of a black hole was being discussed. She needed someone to tell her what a singularity was. It's hard to believe that someone has science savvy as Caitlin would be ignorant of that information. The line should definitely have been given to one of the less scientifically minded people in the room at the time. She really didn't have much to do this week, but with Stein's presence in the episode they also brought along Ronnie Raymond. He has changed his mind about staying with Caitlin in Central City and re-proposed to her. With all of the things going on around them they decided that this would be a good day for a wedding. I suppose the writers believed there was a need for something happy to happen in an episode that had been so tearful, but it felt unnecessary.

Barry and Eobard made a deal, Eobard would tell Barry how to travel back to the night of his mother's murder and Eobard would be allowed to return to his time. Of course there were going to be complications with the plan, the most dire of which was the possibility that the worm hole Barry was going to open would become a black hole and swallow the world. Barry made the decision to go back despite the danger, though he'd have less than two minutes to accomplish his goal before the worm hole destabilized into a black hole. He successfully made the trip, seeing some interesting possible time lines, notable among them one in which Caitlin becomes Killer Frost, on his way back. It looked like everything was going to plan until the moment came to intervene. Somehow the future Flash knew his past (Present? Time travel gets so confusing) self was in the next room and warned him away.

The look of pain on Gustin's face has he listened to his mother's murder in the next room conveyed perfectly to the audience that toll that decision took on him. After the deed was done he did go into the room to say goodbye to his mother, at least giving himself some closure. Back in STAR Labs, Eobard was preparing to go back to his time. Before he left a helmet came back through the worm hole and landed at his feet. It looks like we'll be seeing another Flash in the near future, one Jay Garrick, who is the first man to use the Flash moniker in the comics. The appearance of the helmet was enough to panic Eobard, who was mere feet from realizing his goal when Barry came bursting back through the portal. While the team struggled to shutdown the worm hole Eobard and Barry fought it out. Eobard got the upper hand, and in true comic villain fashion took time to gloat and threaten Barry's friends and family. A gun shot rang out, Eddie had made his decision regarding his future and shot himself in the chest. Because he's an ancestor of Eobard Thawne this caused Eobard to be erased from time. It was a great moment for Eddie, he became the hero he always wanted to be and made the impact on history that Eobard had told him he wouldn't make.

Unfortunately for team Flash things quickly got worse. The worm hole reopened and became a singularity. It was centered over STAR Labs and quickly devouring everything nearby. Barry decided to do what he could to stop the destruction of the city, possibly the world, by diving into the swirling accretion disc and using his speed to sap it of its power. Then the screen went black, fans left with a cliffhanger that seems much too removed from being resolved. Season two can't get here fast enough.

Conclusion: A stellar ending to a great first season. “Fast Enough” benefited from being able to forgo the villain showdown one would expect from the finale of a superhero show. Nearly all of the performances were their respective actors' best of the season, making it very hard to pick out a single standout. The lack of something important for Caitlin to do could be viewed as the episode's sole weakness.

Rating: 9/10

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 6

Game of Thrones

Episode Title: “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”

Channel: HBO

Director: Jeremy Podeswa

Writer: Bryan Cogman

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Runtime: 55 min

Rated: TV-MA

Original Air Date: May 17, 2015

I'm going to get the big, uncomfortable thing out of the way to start things off. This week the audience got to see Sansa back home and preparing for her wedding. There was one moment while Myranda, Ramsay's former mistress, was doing her best to intimidate Sansa. Sansa was not to be deterred, and dismissed the woman in a fashion that seemed to say she was coming into her own. Theon escorted her to the godswood for her marriage ceremony and with little pomp or flare she and Ramsay were married. I knew things were going to be rough for Sansa in this situation, every other time she's been in a dire situation she's had someone there to act as a safety net. That is not the case in Winterfell at present. Ramsay ordered her to undress, forced Theon to watch, and then raped her. It was a tough scene to watch and one has to wonder if Littlefinger had any idea how bad things would become for Sansa when she became married to Ramsay. Theon's reaction had me believing more a moment that he might risk stopping things, but ultimately he was unwilling to intervene. All we can hope for now is that the indignity Sansa has suffered will be avenged, preferably by her own hand.

Arya is continuing her training to become a Faceless Man. Things aren't going smoothly for her, she can't let go of who she is/was and it makes the lies she tries to tell Jaquen as part of her training transparent. The best part about the scene in which she tries multiple times to sneak a lie past Jaquen, getting walloped by a switch the punishment for a discernible lie, was when she was forced to admit that she didn't hate the Hound. She'd been telling herself she did for so long the that her lack of hatred came as a surprise, even to herself. We then saw her first successful lie, as she ushered a sick little girl into the next life by having her drink from the fountain at the temple's center. This was enough to convince Jaquen that she was ready for the next step of the process. He revealed to her a chamber beneath the temple that houses thousands and thousands of faces, unveiling the secret of what happens to the dead after they're washed. To close out Arya's scenes, Jaquen tells her that she might not be ready to be nobody; but it is time for her to become someone else. After the slow progress that Arya's story has been making so far in season five it's good to see it finally going somewhere.

In King's Landing there's a lot of intrigue. Littlefinger was stopped on his way to a meeting with Ceresi by the Sparrows, but they let him pass. His meeting with Ceresi featured him telling her about Sansa's presence at Winterfell, and then volunteering to take an army northward to flush out the traitorous Boltons. Littlefinger's ability to play both sides against each other, ensuring that no matter the outcome of a battle at Winterfell, has left him in what seems like a good position. The same cannot be said of House Tyrell. First, the Queen of Thorns has returned to King's Landing. The verbal sparring between Olenna Tyrell and Ceresi was one of the better moments to occur in King's Landing this season. The audience also so the Faith's inquiry into Loras Tyrell and his, according to them, blasphemous behavior. The High Sparrow questioned by Loras and Margaery, who both lied in order to keep Loras from having a trial. Then the Sparrows ushered one of Loras' lovers into the chamber. The man was Loras' squire, with whom Loras had also been intimate with. The damning evidence was his knowledge of a birth mark on Loras' thigh. While the audience knows the truth this seemed a little to easy a way to prove his supposed crimes. As a squire wouldn't the witness have helped Loras dress and whatnot, it seems easy to argue that through the course of normal squiring that is knowledge that would have been easy to come by. Either way, the Sparrows hauled of Loras so that he might face a trial. Then, in a twist, they seized Margaery as well for bearing false witness. Tommen sat idly by and let his wife be escorted from the room, much to Ceresi's pleasure.

Jaime and Bronn eventually made their way to the Water Gardens and attempted to free Myrcella. Complications arose when Myrcella didn't wish to leave, and the Sand Snakes showed up. I'm all for some action to break up the intrigue, but this fight sequence was sorely lacking. The editing was strange and the action itself was awkward. Perhaps the oddest moment in the fight choreography was when Areo put his axe to Jaime's throat. I had expected the man safeguarding the ruler of Dorne to be quicker and more dangerous, his movement was so ponderous that his claim that were Jaime whole it would be quite a fight couldn't be taken seriously. Also, it is difficult to care about the Sand Snakes grievances. They're all forgettable, which is disappointing considering how much Oberyn Martell added to season four. Let's see there's the one with the whips, the one with the knives, and the one with the spear. Dorne has been a missed opportunity this season. Instead of offering a new setting, one with grand new things to see, we've been relegated to watching every Dornish scene take place in the same tiny section of the grounds.

The unlikeliest of of traveling companions, Jorah and Tyrion, had some quality time this week. They discussed their pasts and seemed to at least build a grudging respect for each other. Unfortunately for them they were accosted by slavers. Some quick thinking and humor on Tyrion's part kept them both alive for the time being. They've still been captured and now Jorah is bound for the newly reopened fighting pits. No matter who is in charge of Tyrion's travel arrangements it is inevitable that he'll end up before Daenerys.

Conclusion: Some of the story lines that had up to this point been boring are starting to come around. Arya's story in particular finally seems to have some direction. While I suppose Sansa's fate on her wedding night isn't a surprise given what we know about Ramsay it was still hard to watch. Ceresi might have maneuvered the Tyrells into a comprising situation, but it seems she's forgetting what the Faith's opinion on some of her past transgressions might entail.

Rating: 8/10

Arrow: Season 3, Episode 23

Arrow

Episode Title: “My Name is Oliver Queen”

Channel: CW

Director: John Behring

Writers: Marc Guggenheim and Jake Coburn

Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 42 min

Rated: TV-14

Original Air Date: May 13, 2015

It's no secret that season three of Arrow has fallen short of the promise the show presented the audience in season two. Much of the season felt aimless, with the main villain appearing halfway through the season following a mostly pointless investigation into the murder of Sara. Although there were flashes of the quality we had become accustomed to it didn't feel like the show had the same fire. Now we're wrapping up the season with an episode that served to remind everyone of all the good and the bad we've seen so far.

I'm going to start off with the flashbacks. They have been lackluster all season, with nearly every one of them revolving around the capture of one fluid filled tube or another. After last week, with Akio dead and the ruin of the Yamashiros' marriage coming to light, it was hard to imagine what the point of this week's flashbacks would be. Oliver, Maseo, and Tatsu skirmished with General Shrieve's men and captured the general. They then left to have Akio's body cremated and Tatsu distributed the ashes in three urns to each of them. Oliver returned to Shrieve and tortured him, fully embracing the darkness that Amanda Waller had seen in him. He left Shrieve on death's door, and Maseo put the general out of his misery. Then, during the good bye sequence, Maseo fled his responsibilities as a husband. Tatsu decided to go to a monastery near her childhood home. Oliver made reference to keeping the darkness he had found in himself away from his family in Starling City, leaving us to believe that he intends to return to Lian Yu. There were no big reveals here, we already knew where these characters would end up. This season's flashbacks could have been condensed into half of the number of episodes they were featured in.

In present day, Oliver and Ra's were riding in an airplane towards Starling City. The plan began to experience malfunctions and Oliver revealed that it was all a sham to Ra's. Ollie then tossed a blade to Nyssa and they went on to take out the League men. Ra's was one step ahead of them though, grabbed the plane's only parachute and jumped out with the Alpha/Omega bioweapon. Luckily for Oliver and Nyssa, Oliver is apparently capable of emergency landing a cargo plane. They then set out to stop Ra's before he can release the weapon on the unsuspecting citizens of Starling City.

Back at Nanda Parbat we learn the fate of team Arrow. It wasn't some sort of knock out gas in the tube that the team was exposed to. It was the actual virus, luckily Merlyn had someone synthesize a vaccine. He administered it to the team through skin contact. That does leave the question though, how did the team know to fall unconscious to keep the ruse alive? Does the vaccine make the Alpha/Omega a relatively harmless sleeping gas? Whatever the explanation the team is still stuck in the dungeon. Until the Flash shows up to take out all the guards and release the team from captivity. This served to highlight one of the complications in a shared universe. The Flash has time for a quick jail break, but doesn't have the time to help Oliver end the threat to a major metropolis? It probably would have been better if the Flash had been left out of the episode altogether, at least then those type of question would have remained in the viewers' subconscious. As it was presented you couldn't help but wonder why Barry couldn't take a half hour to save the day.

The team got back to Starling City with no problems. (Where is Nanda Parbat anyway? You have to take a plane from there to Starling City, but if team Arrow took their plane how long did Ra's wait to put his plan into motion?) Merlyn started giving everyone on the team orders that they reluctantly followed and then Oliver showed up. Felicity, after some initial anger, seemed ready to forgive Oliver for the deception he had put them all through. Diggle was not as agreeable. He agreed to help only to save innocent civilians, his relationship with Oliver is very much a question mark now. After come computer based voodoo Felicity managed to track down the four places Ra's was preparing to release the virus. There was a tiny side-excursion by Oliver to a man named Damian Darhk, who is Ra's nemesis and a threat to the Demon Head's right to rule the League of Assassins. This bit was only filler, and a way to keep that name in the forefront of the audience's minds, presumably because Darhk will be a major player in season four. Another side-arc revolved around Laurel's attempt to get her father to help them track down the virus. Lance is drinking again, but that really could have waited until next season before coming to light

The team goes out to stop the bioweapon's release and discovers that Ra's plan was to infect four of his men and then have them spill their own blood to release the contagion. One of the walking virus bombs managed to complete his task after being shot by Thea, who is now gallivanting about in Roy's old costume. The birth of Speedy! A League member approached Oliver and invited him to watch Starling City at Ra's' side. Just like that it was time for the final showdown. This particular fight lacked the sense of dread that their previous encounter and been steeped in. While they were fighting Lance appeared at a post manned by some of the police force, who were being ordered to take out Ra's and Oliver. Before they could carry out their orders, Oliver beat Ra's, and in a poignant moment recited the same prayer Ra's has used upon vanquishing a foe.

Ray Palmer was busy during all of this, trying to figure out a way to stop the Alpha/Omega. While he and Felicity were brainstorming ideas they received a call from Captain Lance, sharing with them the amount of danger Oliver was in. Felicity implored Ray to don the ATOM suit and save Oliver, but he was having none of it; weighing Oliver's life against the thousands that could die if he didn't finish his work. When Oliver was shot he fell over the side of the Starling City Dam, but was saved from being splattered below by the ATOM. The television version of the ATOM's transformation into a discount Iron Man is now complete, after Oliver finds out that his savior is none other than Pepper Pots...I mean Felicity.

In the falling action a lot of story lines were set up for season four. Oliver and Felicity are going to run away together, with Oliver maintaining only his real identity. Before they left Oliver gave everyone a pep talk, telling them how certain he was that the rest of the team would manage well in his absence. He welcomed Thea into the fold and asked Diggle to keep fighting the good fight. Diggle is still not 100% on board, but if he continues his career as a vigilante Oliver suggested he find a way to obscure his identity. In the one big shocker of the finale Oliver is forced to pay the price for Malcolm Merlyn's help, that little bit of finger jewelry that serves as Ra's al Ghul's symbol of office is now in Merlyn's possession. This gives him control of the League, but Oliver reminded him that there were stipulations concerning how the League was to be run. I'm sure Merlyn will hold to his agreement for as short a time as possible. I hope that next season we see Merlyn OR Darhk as the villain, in my eyes both would be too much. The episode closed with Oliver and Felicity driving off to happier times, with Oliver admitting that he was finally happy. The ending was completely different from the finales of the previous two seasons, giving it a strange feel. It is as if the ending was thrown together in preparation for the show being canceled, finally giving Oliver a chance at a real life. Since there's not much of a show without Oliver Queen doing his thing it seems like a safe bet that something is going to ruin his happily ever after before the first commercial break of next season's premiere.

Conclusion: A happy ending to the season was not what I was expecting. On the whole “My Name is Oliver Queen” encapsulated much of what didn't work in season three. Although it had its positive moments, large chunks of the story simply fell flat. The evolution of Thea into masked crime fighter and Merlyn's new position were the best things to come out of the episode.

Rating: 6.5/10

The Flash: Season 1, Episode 22

The Flash

Episode Title: “Rogue Air”

Channel: CW

Director: Doug Aarniokoski

Writers: Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 43 min

Rated: TV-PG

Original Air Date: May 12, 2015

There was an unbelievable number of things going on in “Rogue Air.” The final stages of Eobard Thawne's plan are begin set into motion and he's comfortable enough to monologue to Eddie for a bit on loss, and what one would do to get back the things he's lost. Cisco discovered that there was a power source in Wells' wheelchair that was generating an insane amount of power, enough to energize the entire city. He theorized that Eobard was somehow using it to power himself, how that would work wasn't touched on and the idea seemed a bit too convenient a way to explain Eobard's superior speed. The team realized that Eobard was still in STAR Labs somewhere, but when they went to the pipeline to investigation he escaped and freed Shawna Baez, aka Peek-a-Boo. She briefly wreaked havoc and was threatening to kill Caitlin when Iris knocked her out. She was placed back in her cell, and Joe heard yelling coming from inside the particle accelerator. They rescued Eddie from Eobard's hiding place, Iris finding the engagement ring in the process.

After discussing with Eddie his time in captivity the team discovered that Eobard was powering up the accelerator for some nefarious purpose. With no way to stop it Barry decided they needed to move the metahumans out of their makeshift prison in order to save their lives. Barry decided that Lian Yu, the home of ARGUS's prison for exceptional inmates, and Oliver Queen's dumping ground for the worst of the worst, is the best place for the metahumans. Calls for help to Oliver, Robbie, and Dr. Stein (both halves of Firestorm) go unanswered, but through Diggle he's able to set everything up. Joe was not a fan of moving the criminals from one unlawful prison to another, but was convinced to try to help. His plea for help from Central City's D.A. fell on deaf ears, with her reiterating what that kind of imprisonment is in the eyes of the law. It is an interesting moral argument, but felt a bit misplaced in this particular episode. The moral questions surrounding the pipeline seem like something to tackle during the middle of season two, not something you distract from the upcoming season finale by mentioning them.

Barry, seemingly out of options, resorted to the lesser of known evils to get the job done. He met with Captain Cold to secure his help in the transportation. After some haggling Barry agreed to erase all evidence of Leonard Snart's existence and Snart agreed to help Barry. He brought his sister along, and the scenes between her and Cisco served as the infrequent comic relief in the episode. Luckily they left Heatwave at home, he must not play well with others, which was good. Dominic Purcell plays the character too cornily to fit into a situation as serious as the end of this season. Cisco figured out a way to rig the power supply he found on Wells' wheelchair to subdue their metahuman captives' powers while they were in transit. Leaving one to wonder why exactly Barry needed Snart's help. The transport goes smoothly until they arrive at the airport. ARGUS's plane was late, and suddenly the dampening field Cisco had rigged was failing. The metahumans escaped, Snart admitted to sabotaging the device, and now four of the Flash's dangerous foes are free.

I know that this conflict was set up to do two things. First to pose the moral questions asked by various characters during the season. Joe's insistence that Barry was too unlike Oliver Queen to use villains to his own ends, which seemed like an odd thing to say because I can't remember the Arrow doing anything like that. They did use Barry's desire to save the metahumans to highlight the way in which Barry is different, heroically, from Oliver; but it would have easier to show how Barry was different from Oliver by focusing on the possibility that Oliver might have just left them all to die. The second reason of course was to get some established villains back into the world and ready to cause trouble for season two, setting up the Flash's Rogues Gallery with Captain Cold at its head. I just wish that instead of dragging Snart along in a situation he wasn't needed hadn't been the way this was accomplished. Wells could have just released them all to distract Barry from whatever his motivation was in reactivating the particle accelerator.

Barry and company returned to STAR Labs to lick their wounds, with Joe provided a brief “I told you so,” moment. Then alarms began to go off as the accelerator reached operational status. Like clockwork Wells appeared outside ready to do battle. Barry went out to face him, but he wasn't alone. The Arrow and Firestorm showed up in the nick of time, prepared for the showdown. The battle between the two sides was brief, but action packed. The best part about this scene was that the man without powers, Oliver Queen, was most effective in the fight. With the help of some nanites provided by Ray Palmer, Oliver twice managed to incapacitate Eobard. The first time Eobard recovered after trading blows with the Arrow. The second time took all three of them; the Flash got him isolated, Firestorm roasted him, and once Eobard had hit the ground Oliver pumped him full of more nanites. The show ended with Barry standing over his vanquished foe.

These crossovers have a flaw. While Oliver is dealing with his trouble in Nanda Parbat he had time to jet over to Central City and bail Barry out? There must be a direct shuttle service between Central City, Starling City, and Nanda Parbat. Just slide your Metro card and you'll arrive at your destination in an hour or less, or your next ride is free! The crossovers are always exciting and I really enjoy seeing the other heroes guest starring, but some serious effort should be made to have these events feel more organic. The other issue I had with the ending is that it seems obvious that Eobard intended to be caught. He has activated the accelerator for some unknown purpose but has limited access to it while Barry is hunting him. His best chance of getting close to it will a occur when Team Flash tries to take him into custody. I'm really hoping for Cisco, the resident movie buff, to mention something to this affect early in next week's episode.

Conclusion: The moral questions raised in “Rogue Air” seemed out of place this close to the season finale. At this point I want more of a focus on Eobard and his endgame. Barry got burned by trusting Leonard Snart in a moment that he should have seen coming. Snart's presence was not necessary to the final plan, so he was there only to teach Barry a lesson. The superhero team-up was a lot of fun, even if it was a little short, but more effort needs to be made to make the guest appearances of other heroes feel more natural. The quick shout out to Green Lantern, the test pilot that went missing from Ferris Airfield, was a good way to remind the viewers that this is all part of a much larger picture, even if our chances of seeing Hal Jordan or another Lantern in action on the small screen are pretty low.

Rating: 7.5/10

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 5

Game of Thrones

Episode Title: “Kill the Boy”

Channel: HBO

Director: Jeremy Podeswa

Writer: Bryan Cogman

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Runtime: 55 min

Rated: TV-MA

Original Air Date: May 10, 2015

We're halfway into this season of Game of Thrones, and it's still a little hard to see where this season itself is going. “Kill the Boy” did dredge up the true threat in Westeros, the coming winter and the south bound White Walkers, which was nice. With so much intrigue and conflict between factions it is easy to forget that there is something much more dangerous lurking in the North.

Jon is settling into his role as Lord Commander. His first big decision, to bring the wildlings remaining in the North behind the safety of the Wall, did not go over well with his men. It was received by Tormund Giantsbane much the same way. Jon discussed the mission with him, called Tormund a coward, and calmly unshackled the wildling in what was a very good scene for Jon. That act seemed to earn an amount of grudging respect from the man he's expecting to lead the wildlings following Mance's death. Also at the Wall; Sam and Stannis had a brief scene in which Stannis encouraged Sam's research into the Walkers. It was good to see that Stannis at least has an eye on the larger threat coming their way. Stannis left Castle Black shortly after his talk with Sam, leading his army southward towards Winterfell. Sam and Maester Aemon had a conversation regarding Daenerys, with Aemon lamenting that she had a remaining family member so far removed from helping her. Jon walked in during the end of the conversation, leading me to believe that one of the most popular theories surrounding the Targaryens may be revealed soon. Of course, I could be seeing foreshadowing where there is none.

Brienne and Pod have reached a town near Winterfell, and Brienne is still trying to figure out the best way to rescue Sansa. She managed to get a message through to her by way of peasants who are still loyal to the Starks. Miranda, Ramsay Bolton's lover, is not a fan of Ramsay marrying Sansa. After a brief confrontation with Ramsay, and sex she's not in to, she arranges for Sansa to be reunited with Theon. Later at dinner, after Theon confessed to seeing Sansa, Ramsay decided that it would be Theon that gave her away at the wedding. The shock of seeing Theon in the state he's in now seems to have undone some of the composure Sansa had gained during her time with Littlefinger. She appears to have forgotten her goal of manipulating the situation and has retreated into herself, much as she did while under the thumb of Joffrey.

In Meereen, Dany mourned Ser Barristan. She then had her men gather up the leaders of all of the ruling Houses in the city and brought them to her dragon cave. She fed one of them to her dragons and the rest were spared. Grey Worm survived the attack he was the victim of last week, waking to find Missandei at his bedside. He told her that when he thought he was going to die the only thing he was afraid of was not seeing her again. This bizarre relationship angle is one of the weakest story elements that have been brought to the screen; the less time spent on it the better. Dany, running out of advisors, asked Missandei what her opinion on the situation in Meereen was, and she responded by telling her that she ignored the advice given to her too often. Dany then went to the dungeons and freed the man that's been asking for the fighting pits to be reopened. She decreed that they would resume operations, but only with free men, and that she would marry him to help placate the citizens of the city.

Jorah and Tyrion are still trying to reach Dany by boat. Jorah decided to plot a course through the ruins of Valyria because pirates are too superstitious to traverse the destroyed city. At one point Valyria was the most advanced kingdom in the world, but some cataclysm destroyed it, referred to only as the Doom. It didn't sound like a good idea at the time, but I suppose we are to assume that Jorah is so overcome with his desire to regain his position in Dany's council that he'll do anything. After a moment of poetry, which seemed like a bit of a bonding moment for the two, they witnessed Drogon flying overhead. While they were distracted they were attacked by stone men, victims of greyscale that have been exiled to Valyria. Apparently all it takes is a touch to contract the disease and they fought valiantly to escape their attackers. Tyrion went overboard, and the next thing we know he and Jorah are on the coast. Jorah rescued Tyrion and got him to safety, but was most concerned with whether or not he'd been touched. It was very much a zombie movie moment as both men denied contact before Jorah turned away from Tyrion and revealed to the audience that he had in fact been infected.

Conclusion: Although the conflict around which this season will revolve is still rather nebulous, the bigger picture was the focus of a decent part of “Kill the Boy.” Jon Snow's arc remains the best thing about season five so far. Sansa's inability to keep a cool head after seeing Theon was disappointing, as I was looking forward to her being a better player of the game at this point. Dany's struggles in Meereen are dangerously close to resembling a certain Mad King to whom she's related. Her story this season still interrupts the rhythm of the rest of the show, causing me to hope that her scenes are short and sweet; allowing me to get back to the more interesting stuff.

Rating: 7.75/10

Arrow: Season 3, Episode 22

Arrow

Episode Title: “This Is Your Sword”

Channel: CW

Director: Wendy Stanzler

Writers: Ben Sokolowski and Brian Ford Sullivan

Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 42 min

Rated: TV-14

Original Air Date: May 6, 2015

“This Is Your Sword” is the next to last episode of this season of Arrow and it's too bad that it took so long to get to this point. The past few weeks have been some of the strongest episodes of the season, and this was no exception. It'll be pretty much impossible to talk about this week's Arrow without spoilers, so be warned.

Diggle, Laurel, and Felicity have gone back to crime fighting in Starling City, having accepted that Oliver is gone. The episode opened with Diggle giving chase to a random perp, who led him to an enclosed area with the rest of his gang waiting. Things look bad for a moment before Laurel makes an appearance with the Canary Cry. I really wish there was another way for them to convey that power on the screen; while it might work on the page it just looks ridiculous on television. Diggle lost it on the last guy and beat him to a pulp. Back at Diggle's, after an awkward attempt at a humorous moment regarding Laurel sneaking in the back to avoid questions from the neighbors, Diggle blew up in anger over Oliver's betrayal.

Back at Nanda Parbat Oliver and Ra's are seen discussing the next part of Oliver's ascension, his marriage to Nyssa and the destruction of Starling City. Oliver left to get some air, and met up with Malcolm for a clandestine meeting. Oliver dropped the facade and revealed that he's thought he'd have more time to bring the League down from the inside, but Ra's is forcing his hand. He and Malcolm hatch a plan to enlist the help of his former friends, and Malcolm departed just before Maseo showed up.

Felicity went to visit Ray again, and it's getting incrementally harder to like her character. She shows up to mope to him for a while, knowing that his feelings for her will keep him from sending her away. He had her sign a document, that is shown to be some sort of transfer of ownership papers. The audience is supposed to believe that the transfer is to Felicity, and while that seems probable I think a swerve might be in store; with Oliver regaining control of his company. Felicity received a text from Malcolm asking for a meeting and surprisingly she went.

The entire team showed up for the meeting with Malcolm, and of course he couldn't convince them of Oliver's plans, because Oliver had been too successful in convincing everyone of his turn. Malcolm breaks out his secret weapon, and it's Tatsu. I'm happy to see Tatsu joining the fray, but I was a little unclear on how her presence suddenly convinced the team to go back to Nanda Parbat. The script was really lacking in that regard, but the action is in Nanda Parbat, so if the team needs to get back there I guess any excuse, no matter how nebulous, is a good one. Tatsu also took a moment to share with Felicity how often Oliver spoke of her during his recovery.

Thea has gone off in search of Roy, who is working as a mechanic under the assumed name Jason. She managed to track him down with little effort and they had a quick reunion. They go back to his place and she presents him with his old vigilante costume, thinking that he could get back to what made him feel alive. She spent the night, but awoke in an empty bed. When she went to his place of employment she was told that he quit and took off, leaving a note for her. I don't know how sudden Colton Haynes decision to leave the show was, but I wish there had been a better way to handle his exit. His final words to Thea didn't really seem like a good way to end things, but he did leave his costume for her, so we'll be seeing Speedy in the near future.

The flashbacks this week were more of the same, A Quest for A Vial. Akio has fallen ill and Maseo and Oliver go to General Shrieve's hideout to get a cure. A cure that they have no proof of, they assume he'll have it anyway. After breaking in they briefly tortured Shrieve and he told them the cure was in a safe. They get it an bring him back to Akio to administer the cure. Akio is already dead and the cure was a rouse. He just wanted them to lead his men to their hiding place so he wouldn't have to hunt them down. It's important to remember that the vials didn't contain what we thought they did.

Another confrontation at Nanda Parbat! Merlyn, Diggle, Laurel, and Felicity team up with Tatsu, who is now in her costume as Katana, to storm the fortress. Felicity tried to hack into the airplane the League is going to use to spread the virus, but she is unsuccessful. Most of the action in this scene is pretty good, but the League of Assassins is more like a collection of Imperial Stormtroopers. At one point Laurel fights three of them at the same time. I'm all right with her taking down street criminals at this point, but there is no explanation for her ability to engage three of the supposed best killers in the world. When the airplane took off all appeared lost until Ray Palmer showed up and managed to bring the plane down. The highlight of this entire sequence was the duel between Tatsu and Maseo. The fight choreography and the final words between them were spot on, and easily one of the more emotional moments of the season. The League overcame its Stormtrooper-itis when reinforcements and Oliver showed up. The entire group was captured Malcolm tried in vain to reveal Oliver's duplicity, but it didn't seem like Ra's bought it. Ra's must have decided that it wasn't necessary to destroy Starling City, the friends of the former Oliver Queen would be good enough, and he broke the vial of Alpha/Omega in their holding cell. The marriage of Al Sah-Him to Nyssa was intercut with shots of Olivers friends apparently dying. I usually don't reference the previews for the next episode, and honestly the trickery out of General Shrieve should have been enough foreshadowing to convince the viewers that none of the rescue squad was in danger, but couldn't the previews be cut in such a way that the tension wasn't immediately sucked out of the end of the episode?

Conclusion: Despite the fact that some of the motivations were quite muddy, with the script doing no one any favors, “This Is Your Sword” finally got this season to where it should have been episodes ago. The action was high quality, and the Maseo/Tatsu drama was some of the best stuff of the season. We all suspected Oliver had bigger plans, now we just have to find out if those plans cost him the friends he's made along the way.

Rating: 8/10

The Flash: Season 1, Episode 21

The Flash

Episode Title: “Grodd Lives”

Channel: CW

Director: Dermott Downs

Writers: Grainne Godfree and Kai Yu Wu

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 43 min

Rated: TV-PG

Original Air Date: May 5, 2015

As the title indicates, the majority of this episode revolves around Gorilla Grodd. Grodd is the product of experimentation by General Eiling and Harrison Wells and their attempts to create a telepathic and telekinetic soldier. Well, Grodd holds a grudge. There have been a rash of gold robberies in Central City and when Joe and the Flash apprehend the culprit he's revealed to be none other than General Eiling. The last we saw of the general he had been taken by Grodd, after being delivered to the sewers by Wells. Grodd has broken his mind and is using him as a puppet, ostensibly on orders from Wells/Eobard.

Grodd was well done, the CGI the best one can expect from a show with such a limited budget. We got our first good look at him after he had kidnapped Joe. This episode had a definite horror movie vibe, and the tension was strong enough that when Grodd was forcing Joe to turn his gun on himself I believed that it might be the end of the line for Joe. Eventually the team figures out a way to stop the psychic barrage that Grodd is capable of and Barry set himself up to deliver another super sonic punch. Amazingly Grodd was fast enough to catch Barry and hurl him away. The device Barry was using to block Grodd's telepathy was damaged during the fight, only Iris talking to Barry was enough to get him to focus through the attack and stop the gorilla. Although the good guys won the day Grodd escaped and will hopefully wreak havoc in the future. Due to the tidbits revealed here and there, and now this episode, Grodd is one of the more developed secondary villains this season.

Speaking of Iris, don't let the help she gave Barry at the end of the episode fool you. She trapped Barry into lying to her again, it should have served as no surprise that with no new information he was going to continue the same lies. When she finally confronted him on it she resorted to that favorite line from our childhoods, she's not angry, only disappointed. Honestly her unwillingness to see the validity of their motivation for lying to her got old pretty quickly. It doesn't take much critical thinking to know that everyone's concerns for her safety were warranted. After some heated discussions with Barry and Joe she finally came around, and I'm glad for the end of that aspect of the story.

The rest of the episode revolved around Eobard and Eddie. It's fun to see Tom Cavanagh really embracing the villainous side of his character. The changes in the way he's playing the character since the big reveal are great. One of my favorite little things was seeing him jump down a number of steps on a ladder. After pretending to be paralyzed for a year he's reveling in his freedom. The way he antagonized Eddie was very effective. First telling him that he's one of the only Thawnes to never amount to anything, and then showing Eddie the newspaper from the future, revealing that Eddie will not be the one to marry Iris. I doubt it's enough to get Eddie to change sides, but the pleasure Eobard takes in torturing him just that little bit was evident. Eobard revealed the next step of his plan when he finished manufacturing what he called a key. He plugged it in to a wall and the camera zoomed out, showing the inside of a particle accelerator. I may have missed something, but it was unclear whether it was the accelerator at STAR Labs or a new construction. If it's a new one then it must be part of his plan for returning to his time, if it's the one in STAR Labs then it would seem that emptying the pipeline of its metahuman inhabitants is the next step in his scheme. Either way I can't wait for the next episode.

Conclusion: Aside from the Reverse Flash, Grodd may be the more well-developed villain on the show, and he's a ton of fun. With Iris finally on board with Barry's secret I have hopes that they'll allow her to move on and contribute more to the show than the obstacle she's been for a while. Wells/Eobard has become even more entertaining with his secret out of the bag, having become a true bad guy. I hope we don't see his demise at the end of the season, I feel like the show would suffer if the threat of Eobard's meddling was somehow snuffed out completely in the future.

Rating: 8.25/10

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 4

Game of Thrones

Episode Title: “Sons of the Harpy”

Channel: HBO

Director: Mark Mylod

Writer: Dave Hill

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Runtime: 55 min

Rated: TV-MA

Original Air Date: May 3, 2015

Spoiler Alert

Game of Thrones made up for this season's lack of violence thus far. After a meeting between Ceresi and the High Sparrow, during which she seemed to name him High Septon, she also authorized the recreation of the Faith Militant. The Faith Militant was disbanded when the Targaryen's assumed control of Westoros, they were the fighting branch of church. They immediately began trashing everything they saw as blasphemous and assaulting the people they saw as sinners. The most important of those detained by the Faith Militant was Ser Loras, the queen's brother. Margaery tried to convince Tommen to free her brother, but he was unwilling to begin a fight on the steps of the sept. Ceresi is now playing the game at a dirtier level than we've seen, and she's done a lot of dirty stuff over the course of the series.

It looks as though Sansa is going to go along with a wedding to Ramsay Bolton. The entirety of these scenes took place between Sansa and Littlefinger in the crypts of Winterfell. He's going to be leaving her there and returning to King's Landing, a plan that she's not fond of. They also discussed Lyanna, her aunt, and her relationship with Rhaegar Targaryen. The only information we've really gotten up to this point on that situation is that he kidnapped and raped her. A story about which Littlefinger obviously knows more than he's revealed.

Things at the Wall stayed interesting this week. In what was probably the best scene of the episode, Stannis recounted his Shireen's illness and recovery. The writers have done a good job taking a character towards whom the audience as been, at best, ambivalent. It was a touching moment for a character that hasn't had a lot going for him. Melisandre was the latest of Stannis' retinue to attempt to persuade Jon to go south to Winterfell and aid in the retaking of the North. With the failure of her tactics I feel pretty sure in concluding that there is nothing, short of Sansa's presence there becoming known, that will drive him into that particular conflict.

Jaime and Bronn had a decent amount of screen time this week, and while it wasn't highly consequential it was fun. The differences between the two characters give them an entertainment value when they're bantering that keeps things light. They managed to make it to Dorne, but were set upon by soldiers shortly after arriving. Bronn did the majority of the work, although Jaime did managed to kill one soldier; even if he did get lucky for even that to happen. Also in Dorne, Ellaria returned to the Sand Snakes, a fighting unit of Prince Oberyn's female bastards, and readied them for a fight. A significant portion of an upcoming episode needs to focus on Dorne. We were introduced to three of the Sand Snakes in this episode, but we know virtually nothing about them. If the writers want me to care about their claims and grievances than do more than give them four minutes of screen time please.

There was another check-in with Tyrion this week. Very little happened though; Tyrion deduced who is kidnapper was and found out where Jorah was taking him. He had a good chuckle when he learned that Jorah was taking him to the destination he already had in mind. I'm not sure the scenes with these two were really necessary, Jorah ambiguously mentioning that he was taking Tyrion to the queen didn't make anyone think of Ceresi. Show me these two when things actually happen.

Finally, the situation in Meereen is deteriorating quickly. Ser Barristan regaled Dany with a story, the subject of which was Rhaegar, her older brother. It was a dead giveaway that following that deeply personal and humorous story that Barristan's continued presence on the show was coming to an end. I'm not saying that situations like that always lead to a character's death, but much like a cop in the movies mentioning how close they are to retirement, moments like that never help their odds of survival. The Sons of the Harpy escalated the conflict in Meereen by going after Dany's soldiers in much larger numbers that they had previously. A squad of Unsullied, including Grey Worm, was ambushed in an alley and rather easily dispatched by the Sons of the Harpy. While it wasn't a horrible fight sequence it really made me question the prowess of the Unsullied. The majority of them went down with little fight, with only Grey Worm really holding his own. Barristan arrived on the scene and did his best to swing the odds back to the side of Dany's forces. It was for naught as he was finally beaten, Grey Worm arriving just too late to save him. The episode faded to black with both of the men bleeding onto the street, Barristan having seemingly expired.

Conclusion: I think I've finally gotten to the point where I don't compare every episode to the books in my head. Enough has finally been changed that I look at them as separate stories, which is a good thing. Even though this was a stronger week for the events in Meereen it's still tedious. The power plays at the capitol have risen to such a level that I'm actually enjoying those moments nearly as much as the events at the Wall. There were two mentions of Rhaegar this week, leaving me to wonder if there's going to be a big reveal concerning the nature of his relationship with Lyanna soon.

Rating: 8.25/10