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Game of Thrones: The House of Black and White, season five, episode two, review: 'dominated by Daenerys'
Game of Thrones has gone on holiday. If you were starting to get tired of events in King’s Landing, Meereen and The Wall, season five episode two was a welcome change of scene. Even if it felt as if the new season was still bedding in and getting its characters into the right places, what gorgeous places they were.
Despite this episode sticking to that early-series bad habit of trying to catch up with too many plots at once, focusing only a few minutes on each, the glorious Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) was at the centre of it all. It's hard to remember now the meek young virgin she was in season one, given how completely she has transformed into a scary, merciless queen - albeit one whose future as a ruler was now hanging in the balance.
As Daenerys directed an unpopular execution, Clarke continued her masterclass in pained but imperious expressions. Barely twitching a eyebrow, she conveyed a full emotional palette of personal conviction, sense of duty and quiet hesitation. But this execution might have been the first really unwise decision the character has made as queen.
For three seasons we've seen Daenerys wander the desert from conquest to conquest, but here she was forced to question whether she was really capable of ruling with an iron fist, managing the necessary balance of brutality and diplomacy it would take to bend Westeros to her will. I'm still rooting for her to take the iron throne, and these leadership crises could be the making of her - if she survives them.
Most excitingly, we saw a fleeting reprisal of Daenerys’s biggest (some would say best) dragon, Drogon, who has been AWOL for some time. Those dragons of hers, terrifying, ruthless and dazzlingly realised in no-expense-spared CGI, are probably the main reason that Game of Thrones feels more like a Hollywood blockbuster than it does a TV programme, and the more we see of them the better.
Back in the gloomy North, Kit Harington was still playing Jon Snow as a cocktail of brooding frowns and curly forelocks, greeting potential leadership opportunities with the polite reluctance of someone who has been offered an out-of-date biscuit with their tea. If only he could get his hands on a dragon.
Meanwhile, Arya (Maisie Williams) arrived in Braavos, which was looking a bit like a cross between Renaissance Venice and Star Wars’ Mos Eisley, and which turned out to house a strong contender for the most fun character in all of Game of Thrones. I was thrilled to see the return of "Jaqen H’ghar” (Tom Wlaschiha), Arya’s murderous fairy godfather from season two - especially because he was now residing in a spooky palace and frightening adolescent boys in the street, so despite his long absence he has only improved with age. Jaqen hurrah!
We also had a first glimpse of Dorne, a balmy Spanish-Moroccan world of landscaped pleasure gardens, pretty tiled walls and new characters plotting in shady alcoves was blissful relief from the shivering ice and rock of the North. Winter may be coming, but at least Dorne still looked like a safe place to get a tan.