Game of Thrones - Season 5, Episode 7 - "The Gift"

HBO, Episode 7, "The Gift"

Paul: Now that's how you end an episode. While not exactly a great hour of television, "The Gift" continued to advance the plot as the fifth season comes to a close, by pairing up the characters in a given location and slowing down the pace a bit to let them breathe and interact with one another. The various combinations in King's Landing supplied the politics and exposition, as the High Sparrow added another Queen to his collection, while the dungeons of Dorne seemed much more hospitable (and with better acoustics) than its counterparts at the Capitol. Samwell Tarly and Gilly again found themselves in a volatile situation that was meant to show how isolated our heroes at Castle Black are without Lord Commander Snow, but instead ended with Sam "the Slayer" forsaking his vows with Gilly, finally. If only Stannis Baratheon had similar success with Melissandre.

So which was your favorite character pairing in this episode, Chris? Also, with the (kind of random) passing of Maester Aemon Targaryen, which minor character's death has affected you the most, in the five seasons?

Chris: Great questions. First, my favorite character pairing, or at least moment, was probably the High Sparrow sparring with the Queen of Thorns, although I found it a bit uncomfortable to see Lady Olenna without a card to pull. I know there's nothing really that she can do, but I still felt it difficult to watch. Almost as difficult as seeing Natalie Dormer in that cell.

As for the Maester Aemon, this was one of the deviations that I struggled with compared to the books. I thought the Maester's death was underserved as far as its importance to the plot. It seemed to be used as a way to show that Samwell is very alone at the current moment at Castle Black. I always attributed much more importance to Maester Aemon's death in the books. I'm not sure where Sam goes from here either. Things are looking bleak with he and Gilly at Castle Black, but I'm not sure how he goes anywhere else without the shame and dishonor as befits a deserter, yet another character losing any assemblage of hope.

Paul: The High Sparrow and Queen of Thorns encounter is the correct answer. There are too many interesting combinations at the Capitol that I almost don't blame the episode's writers (show-runners Benioff and Weiss) for trying to burn through them all this week. I could, however, have used more time to set up the separate queen traps, as I didn't exactly buy the sudden heel turn from Jonathan Pryce. I half-expected Lady Olenna to offer Cersei to the High Sparrow as a turn of politics because, as you said perfectly, watching a prick-less Queen of Thorns was an unnerving development, to say the least.

As far as minor characters that have left us, I'm still pining for the various fan theories that reveal Syrio Forel (Arya's water dancer from season 1) as alive and well, and chilling in Braavos. His was my first experience with the concept of death in the Game of Thrones universe before reading the books, and the first time I said, "he can't really be dead, right?" (Cut to Old Nan admonishing me with a "oh, my sweet summer child...") I'll be vague but... there's a chance we see the death of a major character to close this season that could shake everything up (and piss a lot of people off), and make the death of Maester Aemon an afterthought.

We've always complained about the limited time the show-runners have in which to tell their stories every season and the almost archaic decision to cap the seasons at ten episodes per. Am I wrong in feeling that the time constraints feel more pronounced and obvious here in the halfway point of the season as the plot and conflicts start to intensify, at least compared to the first few hours? If so, which storylines do you feel have been betrayed by the back-and-forth storytelling and which would you cut to save time to devote to others?

I completely forgot Brienne (and Podrick) were involved, and it kills me to say this but the Sand Snakes have been so poorly written and introduced that I'd almost rather treat the Martells like the Greyjoys this season. If you don't agree with the time issue, then which stories have you felt the writers have excelled in telling through season 5?

Chris: I do agree, and this is hardly an uncommon opinion, but the whole of Dorne has just seemed completely unnecessary.

Doran has been under served and for what? So that Bronn and whichever-Sand-Snake-that was can have phone sex that only costs $4.95 per minute (oh, and quite possibly your life).

The entirety of Dorne has to this point seemed like an excuse to shoot in another location (were the Showrunners sick of going to Iceland?).  And on top of that, this seemingly pointless location and story line pulled two of the best characters (maybe most rootable as well?) into its vortex of tangents.

I always understood the need to cut the Iron Islands’ storyline, but seeing that the resources went to Dorne instead, I have to ask, why?

I suppose time will tell, but as you said, they're running out.

Paul: Sadly, I'll reluctantly agree to your overall point as to Dorne's uselessness thus far. Can you blame their wanting to shoot in a more Mediterranean location, especially with winter actually approaching? I remain optimistic that Alexander Siddiq still has a monologue and powerful expository scene left yet as Doran Martell, that will better explain his family's importance to the actual story and their ambitions once they hear about the chaos in King's Landing. I did find the jail scene at least tolerable compared to other Sand Snakes scenes, due mostly to Jerome Flynn's singing and the appearance of another classic Westerosi Top-40 pop hit in "The Dornishman's Wife".

Speaking of the Iron Islands, have you read the most recent casting leaks for season 6? (SLIGHT SPOILERS) Has the awkward debut of the Sand Snakes soured your confidence at all in Benioff and Weiss's potential handling of the Greyjoy clan next season?

Chris: No, it hasn't yet, mostly because I found the Sand Snakes difficult to differentiate in the books as well. There isn't as much depth to those characters as there would be for the segment of the Greyjoy clan that seems most likely according to that report. But enough about the poor parts of the adaptation, Tyrion Lannister, finally, at long last, has arrived in Meereen at the feet of Daenerys Targaryen.

This is a plot advancement that Martin could never pull together in the books (yet). It's a great moment, but I found myself wondering why. The assumption is that Tyrion is so 'good at ruling' (whatever that means), that his mere appearance will help Dany to realize that it's time for her to go conquer the seven kingdoms, but as he showed up, I had to wonder, what does this really mean? Why is Dany going to listen to Tyrion again? Just because he betrayed and murdered his father? Hasn't she dealt with enough betrayal at this point?

I'm curious to see where this goes as we're now officially off the script.