Now That We Know - S5E1 - THE WARS TO COME

Now that all of season 5 of Game of Thrones has finished assaulting our sense of decency, lets review all the episodes and see if knowing the entire picture makes the individual episodes any better or worse.

 "The Wars to Come" - *SPOILERS, BOOK AND SHOW*

OPENING: The opening credits and previously on last roughly half my life. Cersei flashback doesn't play a role in the rest of the season unless I'm missing something. Does clue us in to Myrcella's fate though. No need to cut your thumb that deep for a psychic reading either, just a prick will do.

KINGS LANDING: Jaime seems oddly ambitious about the family legacy he previously gave away. Does support his motivation for sneaking into Dorne, I guess. Relationship with Cersei is pretty much gone at this point. P90Lancel makes an appearance and pretty much announces that he's going to tell everyone about Cersei's crimes at some point. This makes Cersei's cavalier attitude with the Loras/Margarey/High Sparrow situation more baffling. Chekovs birthmark gets put on the shelf and the ham-fisted way its compared to Dorne foreshadows perfectly the nightmare that is the Dorne plot.

PENTOS: The Tyrion and Varys banter is a nice light touch in a dark season. Glad it came back at the end. Not sure why Illyrio Mopatis isn't in the episode. Did the actor die? I'm not googling it. Varys speech about how he supports Daenerys is longer than the amount of time Tyrion and Daenerys spent together in Mereen. I feel like this is the first of the power=cruelty speeches we get this year.

MEREEN: The CGI for tearing down that harpy looks expensive. I think we could've lost that scene and paid for a Strong Belwas, no? Stalwart Shield getting killed by a harpy are our first signs that the Sons of the Harpy are a killing machine (with popular support) and that the Unsullied are not near as good as advertised. I was originally annoyed by the Grey Worm/Missandei stuff but knowing that Grey Worm disappears after getting stabbed makes it more palatable. Boring speech on fighting pits. One of many. I didn't realize until now that Daario is the smartest person in Mereen. The dragons seem wild in this episode yet pretty under control when they get fed a noble later in the season. Maybe Quentyn has been doing some secret training.

THE WALL: Ah Snow, why did you train Olly so well? Its bizarre that it takes 10 episodes to get Sam and Gilly on the road. She's actually pleading not to be sent away after explaining that everyone hates her. Just odd. Melisandre has that smug look rocking and asks about Jons virginity. Maybe shes just nuts. I forgot Stannis was trying to get the wildlings to fight for him all the way in ep. 1. Without the Mance glamouring/Rattleshirt plot, the whole Mance plot is meaningless. I wonder how many people Stannis burns alive before Shireen? THE COUNT: 1. (Mance)

THE VALE: Sweetrobin fighting is the best part of the season. He would have died of seizures though. This Dark Sansa ploy is complete nonsense knowing how she ends up. Brienne makes it clear that she considers her debt to the Stark girls paid and wants no more to do with it. I believe she changes her mind but ultimately she does in fact give up that duty. Littlefinger doesn't give us much but his plan makes no sense.

 DOES ANY ONE SAY THE TITULAR LINE? Yes! Mance says it to Stannis right before he burns. "I wish you luck in the wars to come."

 ATROCITIES? One. Burning Mance. Although book readers know Cersei kills her friend in a well shortly after the flashback. Not on screen, so it doesn't count.

ANYONE SEE A GREYJOY? Nope.

 RESULT: About what I remember but it is surprising to see how many plot points dragged on the full 10 episodes. Also, the Tyrell/Littlefinger plots go unresolved.