Game Of Thrones
Episode 5.8 “Hardhome”
Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
Written by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss
Starring Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Natalie Dormer, Sophie Turner, Dean-Charles Chapman, Jonathan Pryce
HBO
Air date: Sunday, May 31, 2015, 9pm

Spoilers ahead for Season 5 of Game Of Thrones, and a recap of Episodes 5.7 and 5.8.

In last week’s Game Of Thrones, Episode 5.7 “The Gift,” sweet, elderly Maester Aemon — the last Targaryen aside from Daenerys (that we know of yet!!!) — dies a peaceful death of natural causes (a rarity in this show); newlywed Sansa Stark was repeatedly abused by her new husband Ramsay Bolton with no escape in sight; Stannis continued his march to Winterfell to take it over from the Boltons, even though his hired guns are deserting and they’re running out of provisions; Queen of Thorns Olenna Tyrell met with the High Sparrow in an effort to get her imprisoned grandchildren released to no avail, but her recently returned ally Littlefinger had a plan for revenge on Cersei; and Cersei, who had armed the High Sparrow and his followers as the Faith Militant so she could get rid of the Tyrells, found herself arrested by them and thrown into a cell. At Castle Black, Sam loses his virginity to Gilly, while Jon Snow takes off with Tormund to convince the other Wildlings to ally with the men of Westeros against the coming White Walkers. In Meereen, Jorah Mormont returned to battle in the fighting pits, which ended in his triumph and Daenerys’s first meeting with Tyrion Lannister!

Game Of Thrones
Episode 5.7 “The Gift”
Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
Written by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss
Starring Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Natalie Dormer, Sophie Turner, Dean-Charles Chapman, Jonathan Pryce
HBO
Air date: Sunday, May 24, 2015, 9pm

Spoilers ahead for Season 5 of Game Of Thrones…

Last week’s Game Of Thrones, Episode 5.6 “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” we saw our second wedding in a row on the show where no one died! Unfortunately, it saw Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) being married off to sadist Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), the newly legitimized heir to Roose Bolton, the current Warden of the North, who is lording over Sansa’s home of Winterfell. It’s a strategic union for Sansa, the eldest — and as far as anyone knows — the only remaining Stark. But, her new husband was not surprisingly far from gentle with his virgin bride on their wedding night, not to mention that he forced his lackey “Reek” (the badly broken down Theon Greyjoy) to watch as he brutally consummated his marriage. (The whole scene has led to a lot of controversy with Game Of Thrones fans.)

Game Of Thrones
Episode 5.6 “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”
Directed by Jeremy Podeswa
Written by Bryan Cogman
Starring Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Natalie Dormer, Sophie Turner, Dean-Charles Chapman, Jonathan Pryce
HBO
Air date: Sunday, May 17, 2015, 9pm

Spoilers ahead for Season 5 of Game Of Thrones…

Last week’s Game Of Thrones, Episode 5.5 “Kill The Boy,” dealt with Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and the tough choices he has to make now that he is Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, including turning down Stannis’s tempting offer to legitimized him and aligning with the Wildlings against the White Walkers. We also learned about sadist Ramsey Bolton’s illegitimate conception and his father’s current plans to face Stannis in battle once the latter attacks Winterfell. On the other side of the world, Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) took his captive Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) passed the haunted, ruined city of old Valyria, the ancestral home of the Targaryens, where they not only see the dragon Drogon flying overhead, but also come face-to-face with the Stone Men, the results of which won’t be good for Jorah. Meanwhile, in Meereen, ruler Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) dished out more harsh justice after an attack on her men by the Sons of the Harpy ended in the severe injury of Unsullied leader Grey Worm and the death of her trusted protector Ser Barristan Selmy.

Game Of Thrones
Episode 5.4 “Sons of the Harpy”
Directed by Mark Mylod
Written by Dave Hill
Starring Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Natalie Dormer, Sophie Turner, Dean-Charles Chapman, Jonathan Pryce
HBO
Air date: Sunday, May 4, 2015, 9pm

Spoilers ahead for Season 5 of Game Of Thrones…

Last week’s Game Of Thrones, Episode 5.3 “High Sparrow”, was an exciting installment in the fifth season of the HBO series. We saw Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) marry her third King, the boy Tommen Baratheon (Dean-Charles Chapman), who is so enamored with this new bride that he fell right into her trap for him to try to get his wicked mother, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), out of town. Meanwhile, Cersei teamed up with the newly introduced “High Sparrow” (Jonathan Pryce), whose religious zealot followers made an example out of the sinning High Septon. The dowager queen also sent a curt message to Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) to basically get his ass back to Kings Landing, but Lord Baelish has other plans, such as marrying Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) off to Roose Bolton’s recently legitimized bastard, Ramsey the sadist. Thankfully, Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) and Podrick (Daniel Portman) are following close behind. Sansa’s younger sister, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), was still in Braavos at the House Of Black and White where she’s growing tired of sweeping the floor, awaiting her “faceless man” training to begin. Over at the Wall, Jon Snow made his first big move as the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, after turning down Stannis Baratheon’s extremely tempting offer to be made Jon Stark, ruler of Winterfell, while in Volantis, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) got snatched from a whorehouse by none other than Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), who plans to bring the imp back to his “queen,” Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), who is ruling in Meereen opposed by the murderous Sons of the Harpy.