Wayward Pines
Season 2 Episode 1: “Behind Enemy Lines”
Directed by David Petrarca
Written by Mark Friedman
Created by Chad Hodge
Starring Jason Patric, Djimon Hounsou, Terrence Howard, Carla Gugino, Tom Stevens, Nimrat Kaur, Hope Davis, Charlie Tahan
FOX
Air Date: Wednesday, May 25th, 2016, 9:00pm

Last May, M. Night Shyamalan helped bring Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines series to the small screen as a ten-episode event. The sci-fi action drama featured a true all star cast including Matt Dillon, Carla Gugino, Juliette Lewis, Terrence Howard, Toby Jones and Oscar winner Melissa Leo. Dillon starred as Ethan Burke, a Seattle secret service agent who wakes from a car crash in the woods outside a quiet Idaho town. Soon we see the town is more of a totalitarian dictatorship with censorship, 24/7 surveillance, and the public “reckoning” of any dissidents. Why is it like this? Burke is finally told the truth by the town doctor, who is actually the town’s founder, David Pilcher (Jones). Able to predict humankind would wipe itself out, and a new terrifying wave of evolution would sweep over us, Pilcher recruited many and kidnapped thousands of others to undergo cryogenic freezing, to be woken up at a later date as the last vestige of humanity. This is Wayward Pines. When everyone was let in on the scheme, it caused a rebellion and soon the walls were breaking down and the “abbies” (mutated former humans) were on the loose. Season one ends with Burke sacrificing himself to destroy the abbies and save his family and the remaining members of the town. Unfortunately the town was left in the hands of the “First Generation”; those born and raised in Wayward Pines, who continue Pilcher’s legacy.

Spoilers ahead…

Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 5 – The Ghost of Harrenhal
Directed by: David Petrarca
Written by: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright

Now things are getting interesting.

“The Ghost of Harrenhal” is an arbitrarily important episode of Game of Thrones for several reasons. First, this fifth episode of Season 2 marks the halfway point in the season. Second, and more importantly, this is the episode (much like last week’s) continues some much needed plot advancement in a truly compelling manner by presenting each of our major players with a unique strategic advantage or ally.

Game of Thrones
Season Two, Episode 4 – Garden of Bones
Directed by: David Petrarca
Written by: Vanessa Taylor
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Carice van Houten, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright

Before I sat down to watch “Garden of Bones,” I knew that Game of Thrones really needed to kick into gear with this episode. As great as the past episodes have been, I’m tried of plot building and I’m more than ready to see some of the various plots come together with real consequence.

I was not disappointed.

With a title like “Garden of Bones,” I wasn’t expecting to see very much in terms of happiness, but this week’s episode ratcheted up the intensity of the conflict, while finally moving the plot forward in many ways.

A handful of talents have been lined up to direct upcoming episodes of HBO’s Game of Thrones, which is currently in production on its second season.

One of said talents is popular UK director Neil Marshall, who’s made such ultra–violent fare such as The Descent, Doomsday, and the more recent Centurion. And speaking of Centurion, the movie””which starred Michael Fassbender as a part of a small group of Roman soldiers who escape an attack on their legion but have to survive behind enemy lines””could prove to be useful experience for Marshall when it comes to taking on his episode of Game of Thrones.

At the moment, it’s unclear what the episode Marshall will direct is going to be about.