“High Sparrow” picks up where “The House of Black and White” left off, giving us a much better look at The Faceless Men. This episode indicates we’re nearing the second-half spike that we usually see in Game of Thrones as Jon, Tyrion and Sansa’s storylines all leap forward at a healthy pace.
J and I comment on the irony of episode titles in this series before discussing the deeply religious themes of this season so far. From the Sparrows to Arya’s new mentors, even a religion as seemingly uniform as The Seven seems to have a lot of interesting variation.
At The Wall, Jon’s predictably honorable tenure as Lord Commander has already impressed Stannis (Stephen Dillane) and may have placated Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale) for the time being. He’s stepped into his father’s shoes as a deeply respected and firm leader whose word is law, but also fair and just.
Meanwhile his sister, Sansa (Sophie Turner), has been promised to possibly the worst person left in Westeros since Joffrey’s (Jack Gleeson) demise. However, clues about insurrection from the loyal Northerners and Littlefinger’s (Aidan Gillen) persuasive comments about revenge may leave Sansa in just the right place to reclaim Winterfell in her family’s name.
Finally, we dive into Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) brief but incredibly packed time Volantis. After convincing Varys (Conleth Hill) to let him out into the open world, he spills his identity to anyone who will listen as he continues to grieve (and drink) over Shae (Sibel Kekilli). And of course who’s there to ruin his little party but Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), the eternally spurned ex-guard of Daenerys Targaryen.
Note that we didn’t discuss Reek this week, even though he does appear once or twice throughout Sansa’s storyline. He may also play into her ultimate rescue (assuming that’s coming), but it’s a bit too early to tell; his loyalty to Ramsay has held steady in the past.
~ Søren
Note that this podcast contains spoilers for Game of Thrones up through “High Sparrow.” As always, you can subscribe to Stark Contrast using iTunes. Alternatively, you can check out the episode online or download it here. Happy listening!
What did you think of the episode? Are you enjoying the pace of Game of Thrones so far? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to tune in next week where we’ll be discussing Episode 4, “Sons of the Harpy.”
This podcast uses a clip from the song “Bughici – Suite for Violin, 8 Ardeleneasca, moderato” by Advent Chamber Orchestra / CC BY 3.0.
