Game of Thrones: The Gift. Life after Sansa’s Wedding Night.

Everyone was in an uproar after last week’s episode that showed Sansa’s wedding night so thankfully no one else gets married this week, but we do get to hear Dany plan her own up coming nuptials.  That should be a fun time too right?

So this season we’ve had a lot of misdirection with the episode names (Kill the Boy, Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken, etc) and this one has a few meanings as well. On one hand we have Jorah taking his gift to his queen, we have Dany giving the gift of the fighting pits to her people, and lastly in the books Jon offered “The Gift” or an area of land between the wall and Winterfell to the Wildlings who wanted to come over and down. They would have to answer to Winterfell and the Seven Kingdoms, but they wouldn’t have to worry about White Walkers. So although all the Watchlings out there probably assume this title is talking about Jorah giving over Tyrion, it’s totally derived from that 5 minutes you see Jon and try to remember what he’s doing right now.

The Wall

Speaking of Jon we see him saying his goodbyes so he can go off and try to talk the rest of the Wildlings into either settling in the Gift or populating the abandoned castles along the wall to try to fight against the White Walkers. The Wildlings aren’t all crazy about this idea and neither are the men of the Night’s Watch. It’s very important you remember that they are super unimpressed by that and think Jon a traitor for what he’s doing. It plays a big role in things to come.

We also see Maester Aemon playing with Gilly’s baby and confusingly talking about his baby brother Egg (who later became King). You can tell Sam in worried about Aemon and it looks to be his last days. This is yet another departure from the books. In the books Jon send Maester Aemon and Sam off to the Citadel with their stories of White Walkers (and for Sam to become a maester to replace Aemon) and switches Gilly’s baby with Mance Rayder’s kid. Gilly takes this other baby off to safety with Sam and Aemon and Sam plans on telling his parents that her baby is his bastard. Gilly is heartbroken to leave her child, but eventually bonds with the other baby and the eventually bonds with Sam numerous times as well. Aemon does die in the books, but he does so on the journey while in Braavos (where Arya kills one of the men from the Night’s Watch for abandoning Sam). Sam thinks he died because the Wall and the cold were keeping him alive.

So instead of taking an epic journey Aemon just dies (in the books he is super upset that he died before reaching Dany. He heard about her during the journey and he wants to tell her things about her family– I think he wants to tell her how to control her dragons). Sam and Gilly just have sex (in the most realistic sex scene yet in the series) and Ghost for some reason isn’t with Jon (but he saves Sam’s life which is awesome).

Sansa

Sansa had a rough week to say the least. Last week we saw her wedding night raping and evidently the fun hasn’t stopped for her. She’s being kept a prisoner with no contact with anyone besides Theon. In an act of desperation she gets Theon’s help signalling that old woman that offered her help before. The thing she doesn’t know is that Theon is 100% scared of Ramsey and instead of going and lighting a candle like Sansa asked he went straight to the Bastard and told on her. Which didn’t go quite so well for the old lady.

Sansa and Ramsey walk around the castle discussing their future– or really just discussing Ramsey’s future as the Lord of Winterfell. I have to admire Sansa’s guts at pointing out the obvious, but she’s crazy. You don’t call Ramsey Snow Bolton a bastard to his face. She’s given him something to think about though even if she’ll definitely pay for it later. (She did manage to grab a weapon for later on this walk about– but will she be able to use it?)

Ramsey: Call me Bastard one more time!

Seriously though– I’m pretty sure she just guaranteed a pregnant woman’s death. Do you think the Frey’s will be cool with it when it’s one of their own?

Sansa: Yeah, about him. . .I didn’t like him either.

After viewing Ramsey’s work on the old lady help I think Sansa is finally realizing what kind of person she married. As much as I cannot stand Sansa in the books and wish that she’d been killed off in place of any of the other Starks, I have to say she’s much more in control of herself on the show than in the books. In the books she’s just concerned with what is happening to her and where her next lemoncake is coming from. Of course she’s also not married to Ramsey so she has that going for her.

Stannis

Stannis is stuck in the snow trying to march on Winterfell and losing people by the day. Either deserting or dying from lack of heat and food. He’s losing before he’s even started and he can’t go back to the Wall because he will just be stuck there. Defeated. Melisandre states that she knows how to take Winterfell and that all they need to do is sacrifice someone with King’s blood. Which just happens to be his daughter who she wants to burn alive. Yeah totes sounds like good idea. I love Stannis for not only rejecting this idea but sending the Red Woman away after she suggests it. It truly is a despicable plan (and not at all in the books).

In the books she’s wanting to burn Mance’s baby which is why Jon sends the baby away from the wall. Melisandre really is a horrible person, but she might play a role in helping Jon with all those people that think he’s a traitor now so I don’t wish her dead. Yet.

Jorah

Jorah and Tyrion manage to get sold together (after some quick action on Tyrion’s part) and are headed to the fighting pit of Mereen (you know the pits that Dany just opened back up under the condition that no slaves would be used. . .yeah about that).

In the books Tyrion actually saves Jorah here. Jorah is in a somewhat in a catatonic state at this point and Tyrion is being sold with another dwarf  Penny. (Be super glad they cut the whole Penny and her dog and pig show out of the series). He says that Jorah plays the bear in the act and all good acts must have a bear. They also don’t get sold into the fighting pits, but Tyrion ends up there later on and gets saved at the last minute by Dany (it’s more complicated then that, but pretty much that’s what happens).

We see Dany getting some lovin’ time with her man Daario who she claims she cannot marry because she has to marry the Master from Mereen for political purposes. Let me say though that Daario has the right idea about killing all the masters and showing people what’s up. If she did marry Daario they would make a pretty BA team. She has become too careful (and gotten a rather odd wig too).

Now we have come to a meeting between Jorah and his queen. In a scene copied from Gladiator they are all fighting in front of the queen and Jorah realizes it and runs out to fight too. I’m pretty sure Russell Crowe was in the group of fighters, but Jorah manages to kill them all. Dany is shocked and appalled by this sight and obviously is having second doubts about opening the fighting pits again (as she should). Jorah reveals himself to her at the end and before she can have him removed he tells her he has a gift for her. On cue Tyrion runs out and announces he is the gift. When asked he proclaims himself Tyrion Lannister. Oh you know just the son  of the man that ordered the slaughter of your family. She seems to take it like you’d expect.

Queen of Thorns

The Queen of Thorns and the High Sparrow have words together. He seems to genuinely like her and spars verbally with her for a while. She can’t figure him out though and doesn’t exactly win this exchange. This of course frustrates her and she is obviously trying to figure out a way to bring down the High Sparrow.

She meets with Petyr who tempts her with a deal to take down the Lannisters. He’s playing all sides to make sure that he has an agreement with the winning party. . .no matter who that is.

Cersei

Well, well, well. She’s still oblivious as to what is going on with the church and thinks everything is going her way. After Tommen threatens to go talk to the High Sparrow to get his wife freed Cersei steps in tells Tommen that she’ll go on his behalf to try to get her freedom.

She does visit the High Sparrow and Margeary as well. She’s super smug about what’s going on with Margeary and obviously thinks that everything is going her way. Well that is until she starts talking to the High Sparrow. He tells her about how Lancel came to them broken and slowly unburdened himself to the church. He told them about the horrible things that he did with Cersei and that gives them grounds to arrest her as well. Yeah she tries the same reasoning that Margeary did and it gets her just as far.

In the books Cersei’s plan to get rid of Tommen’s bride is much more complicated and it looks like she has framed Margeary successfully until the men she had swear that they had sex with Margeary were tortured until they admitted they were lying. I do hope they keep the punishment the same in the show as in the books though. Let’s just say that it’s very very satisfying. Plus boobs.

Dorne

Back in Dorne Myrcella doesn’t want to leave because she loves her betrothed and wants to marry him. Jamie doesn’t quite know how to handle her. Bronn mocks and taunts the Sand Snakes in their cell which is amusing until one of them feels the need to make sure we see some breasts this episode. It’s totally unnecessary and ridiculous. All of you people that were up in arms last week about Sansa should be kicking up a fuss about the show’s use of naked women to keep viewer’s interest. I don’t need to see someone naked every five minutes to keep my attention. Bronn of course was poisoned by his cut and after boobs were seen he receives the antidote. Because boobs. I don’t know this whole scene is confusing. But there are boobs so I guess we’re not supposed to question it.

On the bright side– no rapes this week!  Plus Cersei is getting a taste of her own medicine so it’s almost a cheerful episode even if we did lose a main character.

Supernatural: Brother’s Keeper. When we learned the Mark is [SPOILER] and other life lessons.

I’ve had theories as to how they were going to fix Dean all season long, but I have to say this episode dealt me surprise after surprise.

We start out this episode with a ranting Sam giving all the reasons they should do whatever they can to save Dean, but with Cas warning about the consequences about doing that. I know they will figure something out (they always do), but I’m going to agree a little with Cas here. Sam and Dean don’t always make the wisest decisions about each other.

First Life Lesson of the Night

Next we see Dean most assuredly not alright.

Nope you’re not good at all Dean. If any of you wake up like this in the mornings– you are also very far from good. [Insert “The More you Know” Rainbow].

Dean’s day just keeps getting better too. He starts off by calling a murdered girl a whore (which he totally missed the opportunity to make a comment about the Whore of Babylon) and the rounds it out by trying to run off the hunter that called him in on the case in the first place. His charm gets even better in a minute. When he goes to interview the dead girls parents he not only makes them so mad that the dad punches him repeatedly in the face, he also pulls a gun on the dad AND the son. Hunter of the Year right here. He did find out the location of the vampire nest though so there’s that.

Rowena doesn’t fall for bluffs

Evidently Crowley can’t find another witch for them (why has that not been asked yet?) so they are stuck with Rowena. She strong arms them into promising her freedom and the Codex in exchange for performing the spell. I’m sure this is going to go perfectly.

She reads the spell out loud telling Sam and Cas the three ingredients she’ll need to do the spell. It turns out that Dr. Seuss invented the language it was written in and that they need the forbidden fruit, the golden calf and the thing Rowena loves. A little bit of a challenging shopping list.

She looks pretty fantastic for someone chained up in a nasty dungeon-y place.

She once again establishes that she’s the worst mother ever and doesn’t love Crowley, but Cas does read her mind and finds out that she did love a boy named Oscar. After Sam gets a phone call from the Hunter that Dean was a douche to he gets Cas to go get the ingredients for the spell while he goes to find Dean.

Dean is Passing the Point of No Return

Dean makes it to the cabin where the vampires are holed up and kills one immediately then walks in to find Red Shirt Hunter Dude trapped with a knife to his throat. First off Dean is scary in this scene with his lack of desire to try to save a fellow hunter. Secondly I feel like any other hunter would have escaped that vampire while he was waiving that knife all around. So I don’t agree with the fact that Dean proceeds to mock the vampire into killing the guy, but I do think that someone with better instincts would have gotten out of the way so Dean could have chopped the bad guy’s head off. Dean cuts the hostage loose before leaving her with multiple dead bodies, but I was surprised that he didn’t check to make sure she hadn’t been turned before leaving. I half expected him to chop her head off just to be safe.

Dean may have left calmly, but everything he just did hit him hard once he got back to the hotel room as was evidenced by his temper tantrum.

If anyone can sexily destroy a seedy hotel room though it’s this guy.

 The Bro Love is Strong with Crowley

So Sam just tried to kill Crowley with the help of his POS mother yet all Castiel has to do to get him to help Dean is ask nicely. That’s it and all of a sudden Crowley is back with the fruit from the tree and a piece of the Golden Calf. These boys are too close to let a little attempted murder to bother them.

I, along with everyone else, love Castiel’s literal take on everything.

Now we know things are bad

Sam finds Dean’s hotel room, but he’s gone and he left a note with the keys to the Impala saying simply, “She’s all yours.” You know that Dean is gone when he gives away the Impala. You can see how much it freaks out Sam as well to see this casual note along with the trashed hotel room.

We cut to Dean summoning something that looks dangerous and turns out to be Death. Death is one of my favorite characters. He plays by his own rules. He helped the boys beat Lucifer, but he’s not really on their side.Dean asks Death to kill him and when he refuses he asks Death to remove it (I might would have asked those things in the opposite order). Death tells Dean that he can take the Mark away if he agrees to pass it on to someone else. Why you ask? Because of course the Mark isn’t just a curse, it’s also a key to a prison that holds back “The Darkness.” That not only sounds ominous, but also sounds like the writers are running out of names for their bad guys.

Dean agrees to Death’s other deal then and calls Sam so he’ll come and meet him for one final goodbye.

Crowley is still a sad lonely little boy

Crowley is still on the hunt for something that Rowena loves, but we find out that the diner owner he was talking to last week was actually the one person that Rowena loves. So by bringing him to her to murder he’s really just happy he’s found a way to hurt her. She lied to Castiel about Oscar and pretended like he was long dead when she knew he was immortal and hanging around somewhere. So her freedom must not have meant that much too her– until she was almost made to look weak in front of her son.

Poor Crowley.

Now Rowena has everything she needs to make the spell work and Sam doesn’t know that they are performing the spell as he’s meeting Dean.

Sam and Dean still like to fight

Sam shows up and right off the bat argues with Dean over his decision. He thinks that Dean is going to go off to space with Death and leave him all alone. However, Dean’s next statement surprised and shocked me.

The thought of Dean killing Sam is so alien to me I can’t wrap my head around it and I mostly watched the rest of the episode with my mouth open unsure of how this was going to work. Also here’s an image of Dean chilling in Space like Death wanted him to:

Dean’s thought process is that Sam won’t let Dean live wherever Death has planned so Sam has to die so that Dean can live forever alone in peace. Ummm no Dean. I get what you’re saying, but no. Sam begs with him, argues with him, and then finishes it off with a fist fight. . .as brothers do.

I love so many things about this. Sam got into a fight with crazy Dean knowing that when it went too far that he could cry Uncle and get him to stop. They also have a thorough discussion of good and evil. This is something that I feel like the writers have been dancing around for a while. The boys were obviously good when this show started, but after it all are they still good? Should they be one of the monsters hunters hunt?

Sam finally agrees to let Dean kill him though. Before he completely surrenders he gives him pictures of their family as reminders of what good and love really are. It’s at this moment we see something break in Dean, but I’m still not sure how Dean can get out of killing Sam. Something I’ve worried about since he originally took the Mark.

He reaches up to bring Death’s blade down onto Sam and keeps swinging around, stabbing Death in the chest with it. Death’s blade was established as the only thing that could kill Death way back when during the Apocalypse. So now Dean has killed Death for some reason (well to save Sam, but he’s the one that called Death in the first place) and he doesn’t quite seem to know what to do next.

RIP Death. You will be missed.

As he’s trying to figure out what their next move should be Rowena finishes the spell and successfully manages to remove the Mark from Dean’s arm. The only down side to this development is that Rowena is now free and appears to have taken control of Castiel and sent him to kill Crowley.

Taking a cue from the Sopranos it cuts to black before we know if Cas goes through with it or not.

Oh yeah that too

Oh yeah “The Darkness” thing that Death was going on about now seems to be free and not wasting any time taking over the world. Ooops. I’m sure it’ll be all OK right? At least Death is dead so no one can die until a new Death takes over. . .

Game of Thrones: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. Another Wedding!

Weddings are such fun times in Westeros and Sansa’s wedding is included in that. First we will cover all the other plot movements though and then come back to Sansa.

Arya

Arya is still working on becoming A Faceless Man even though she still doesn’t quite know what that means. She’s cleaning dead bodies though and trying to figure out what they do with the bodies after. She’s also still learning how to lie. This lying game takes up a few chapters of the books and she has trouble with it. I think because she is so proud of who she is and what she’s done that she has issues denying that fact. She also gets a little child abuse going on, but that’s nothing compared to what she’s been through.

The thing they are leaving out though is that in the books her eyesight was taken from her briefly while she learned this lesson and she didn’t gain her eyesight back until she figured out who was hitting her. Which she found out by warging into a cat and looking through it’s eyes. I feel like her connection to her wolf and this ability aren’t being shown enough in the show and I feel like that’s an important character point. Arya is strong and part of her strength comes from her nightly hunts with her wolf. Nymeria rules the Riverlands and in part so does Arya.

Arya finally passes the test though, with a Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade type moment, and is taken to where they take the bodies. She gets to see a super creepy room with a ton of dead people’s faces and is told that she will get to be someone else. This part sounds nasty in the books and I assume it will be nasty in the show too.

Tyrion and Jorah

They are having a nice little hike across the world. Jorah is trying to hide his greyscale (which will surely kill him– and in the books it’s recommended that that part of your body is cut off– of course in the books he doesn’t get it, but Lord Connington does). Tyrion is doing an amazing job of getting on Jorah’s last nerve and manages to criticize Dany in a very logical fashion.

But my favorite part was when he accidentally told Mormont that his dad was not only dead, but had been murdered horrifically.

BTW your Dad is totes dead– it’s super sad. I’m glad you got to hear it from me.

Tyrion did manage to save his life and Jorah’s though and direct them in the way they were trying to go– the only down side? Now they are slaves. Yeah. . .

Petyr 

After obviously teleporting to King’s Landing he runs into Lancel on his way in and finds out some of the new lay of the land. Petyr then goes and plays Cersei to get exactly what he had wanted all along. If he gets his way he’s now set up to have Sansa and Winterfell. I can not stand Petyr, but I respect his cunning both in the books and on the show. He expertly works the people around him in such a way that they think they are using him.

Everyone in Dorne

OK so everyone is mad still in Dorne that Oberyn is dead and Jaime is still trying to rescue Myrcella and the Sand Snakes are trying to kill her. So of course they all end up in the same place at the same time. This is very mixed up from the books, but so far I’m OK with it. That is as long as the Sand Snakes are imprisoned right now as well as Jaime and Co. I thought it showed great diplomacy and control that they were locked away until they were begging to do as the Prince of Dorne wished. There were a lot of good one liners in this sequence, but other than that I’m tired of this plot line as it sits.

Hey Dad. . . I mean Uncle Jaime.

Random side note: The Dornish people are what I imagined the Calormen looked like and dressed like in the Narnia Series. I keep expecting them to worship Tash. Or try to marry Queen Susan. Who kinda looks like Myrcella now that I mention it. . . .

The Highgarden Group

Margaery’s grandmother has swooped in to rescue Loras and it doesn’t go as expected. She has a nice exchange with Cersei in which she issues more insults than she receives and threatens to remove her assistance to the crown if Loras isn’t released. Cersei doesn’t take this seriously or deal with it well. She still thinks she’s in control of this situation.

Totally what she was writing.

Now that Grandma is in it’s time for Loras’ trial which doesn’t end well for the Queen or for Loras. Both of them swear under oath that Loras totes loves the ladies and then Loras’ latest boyfriend shows up and says that not only has he had sex with Loras, but Margaery walked in on them once.

His response to the accusations about him and Renly.

They are all then arrested and taken away. Margaery shouting for Tommen’s help the whole time and Tommen looking like a scared little boy while Cersei looks like a cat that just caught a mouse. I still can’t believe that Cersei doesn’t see this as troubling for Tommen’s authority.

Sansa

Now we’re finally to the bride to be. She gets a nice hot bath by psycho girlfriend and then escorted to the wedding by Theon. I have to say I lost a little respect for Sansa when she didn’t offer Theon any help whatsoever. No matter what he did (or she thinks he did) he hasn’t deserved any of the stuff Ramsey has done to him.

Sansa now walks into this marriage with her eyes wide open as to what she is marrying. This is a departure from the books in that Ramsey married a fake Arya in the books and many people know that she isn’t really Arya. Ramsey does really horrible things to her and makes Theon help. So was I surprised that in the show Theon was made to watch? No not really. But I hate that Sansa after all of her character development allowed Ramsey to abuse her like that. The real Arya would have opened his guts for him and then killed Roose as well. There is a theory that Sansa will always be less than because of her lack of a wolf. It is thought that with the death of Lady that Sansa lost her compass and that’s why she’s so much weaker than everyone else.

I did love show Sansa for this:

It gives me hope that Sansa has finally realized that Tyrion wasn’t that bad and if it hadn’t been for Joffery it might have been a happy marriage. Yes he’s a dwarf and by that time he was not awesome looking, but he was better than any other option she’s been given yet.

Ramsey is by far the worst. If ever I wished that she was back in the Vale pretending to be Alayne Stone it’s now. Because no one deserves this.

So am I upset that Ramsey raped his wife? No. Am I upset that  Sansa is his wife? Yes.

Supernatural: The Prisoner. Dean’s Quick Surrender to The Mark.

For weeks now we’ve heard all about how Dean was out of control and needed to be cured and I’ve been saying that he seems totally normal. Even better than normal. Now I’m going to say that I see what all the fuss was about. Dean is full on crazy right now.

They start by trying to make us feel sorry for one of the Stynes and it kinda works. So there’s one dude out of this huge family of psychos that isn’t all bad yet and there really isn’t much he could do to get away at this point in his life. Your whole family is still a bunch of monsters though. I’m sorry you get picked on by a young Daryl Dixon and all, but cutting his arm off seems extreme.

Over in Sam and Dean world Dean is understandably upset with Sam for going behind his back and involving Cas and Charlie. I’d say he could have eventually gotten over it if Charlie hadn’t been killed last week, but she did so. . .

Thanks Han Solo.

Dean makes an impassioned speech about how he’s going to rip apart the Stynes and everything they love. I’m gonna go ahead and say that I believed him. So Dean goes off on his mission of death after tracking down where the Stynes live and manages to get arrested (on made up charges because the Stynes were waiting on him). Now he’s in custody and it looks like he’s going to be handed over to the Stynes to be used as spare parts.

Sam is off with Rowena trying to get her to read the spell for the cure with the handy dandy decoder ring that Charlie emailed him right before her death. She doesn’t want to assist until Sam follows through with his agreement to kill Crowley. That’ll go smooth right? I think we should do what Cas wants to do.

This. This is what we should do. Can’t we find another witch? Like the one that’s a hamster right now?

Back to Sam and Dean– Dean is super upset because these cops hit the Impala while they were arresting him and making Dean more upset right now is mostly a bad idea. I’m going to take a moment and address the Freddie Mercury fake ID though. It’s like the SPN writers are trying to whip up a frenzy with the Destiel shippers by throwing in a fake ID with the name of a very famous bisexual. I don’t buy into Dean being gay or bi though. I know that many of you do, but I feel like if they incorporated that into the cannon now it would be just for all the Destiel fans. I don’t think that’s how the show should work. If something the fans want works into the plot organically that’s one thing, but Dean has always been depicted as a womanizer.

Back to this episode though, Dean shows off his ability to figure his way out of any situation. Which is important again in a moment.

So much confidence. I love evil Dean.

After a quick beat down of the Sheriff he finds out where to find the Stynes and gets warned off trying by the guy that’s getting beat down.

Sam on the other hand isn’t haven’t as good of a day. He traps Crowley with a devil’s trap bullet and then places the hex bag from Rowena into Crowley’s pocket that is supposed to kill him. But here’s the thing. Crowley hasn’t been himself lately making it easy to forget that he’s the King of Hell and super scary in his own right. It appears to me that all the hex bag managed to do was remove the timidity from Crowley. Which isn’t great news for Sam.

I like Crowley better when their working relationship is rocky so it’s looking good for that right now.

Dean has made it to the Styne manor and quickly dispatches the outside guards and promptly walks into a trap. Strapped to their operating table he warns them that he will turn into a demon if they kill him, but when that doesn’t work he takes matters into his own hands.

Welcome back scary, crazy Dean. I’ve missed you.

There is a lot of gore in this episode between the Styne’s, Dean’s attack here, and then the fights at the end, but I think the fact that they don’t show Dean fighting his way to safety, but just show him covered in blood afterwards is way scarier. We don’t know what he specifically did, but we know it was bad.

Sam calls Rowena to tell her her hex bag didn’t work and we see her somewhat shaken and scared. I don’t think she knows what her son is capable of. But I have a feeling she’s about to. Cas finds the destruction at the Styne’s and tells Sam that Dean is on his way to the bunker. So they both head that way to see what is going on.

Dean was told right before he killed Papa Psycho that his home and family is about to be destroyed which sent him back to the bunker. This is the showdown that Dean has been after. Dean is now face to face with Charlie’s killer and relishes getting to tell him that he’s killed all of his family before shooting him right between the eyes.

Young Styne that is trying to not be crazy begs for his life and tries to tell Dean he doesn’t have to kill him. Dean responded the only way he could in this mind set though. Do I think he should have murdered Baby Styne? No, but I get why he did. Now there’s no one left to come after him. No loose ends.

I will say that this scene began to make me upset to my stomach. This is definitely the most violent we’ve seen Dean which is saying a whole lot.  How far will he go? Well we get to see almost immediately. Cas shows up right after Dean shoots the boy and begins to berate Dean for his actions. Dean fights back pointing out that Cas has been acting behind his back and acting against his wishes. Cas finally explains it in a way that makes sense to me. Dean had seemed pretty well adjusted up to this point and Sam and Cas were just looking ahead.

My biggest question is is the Mark of Cain making Dean stronger or is Cas becoming weaker as an angel? When Dean was a demon Cas was able to grab him and take him to be tied up. Now Dean easily takes out Cas.

I wasn’t scared that Sam was going to kill Crowley or that Crowley was going to kill Sam, but I did worry that Dean was going to kill Cas. I in no way want Cas to die, but it really would have driven the point home that Dean was off his rocker. Plus even though Charlie just died, this would have been a Bobby level death.

But I’m glad it didn’t happen.

Next week it looks like Death is back (and he’s one of my favorites) and I’m curious as to his solution to the Mark. I just know one thing though:

Supernatural: Dark Dynasty. Why {Spoiler} Had to Die.

So things are looking iffy for the boys at the beginning of this episode. Sam is lying to Dean, Dean is tying to not kill everyone and some creepy doctor is scooping a chick’s eyeballs out. Rowena is manipulating Sam and can’t figure out how to use the Codex. Nobody is doing well.

We are also introduced to a new family that has spent a very long time evidently controlling the world and profiting off of it. The boys can’t find anything on them after they look back to the 1800’s and Dean thinks he’s found a connection to a case in Omaha. So now Sam has to work a case with Dean, involving the very people that are after the book he’s trying to hide. So many lies and deceptions– I’m sure this is going to be great.

Sam brings Charlie into this citing that Dean is getting worse and gets her to help Rowena break the code and figure out how to break the curse. He’s also brought in Cas to babysit them all. They are such a happy little family. Or something.

Sam gives a moving speech that makes it sound like he has a reason for lying so much to Dean. Yep– still hasn’t convinced me. But never the less they are working together for a common cause.

Sam now has to go off and work this case with Dean and they get a lucky break with some crazy high def security footage. Sam also gets plenty of awkward lies he gets to tell while trying to hide Cas’ phone calls. Dean becomes more and more suspicious of what is going on with Sam and Castiel and Charlie get more and more fed up with Rowena. Rowena finally pushes Charlie to try to get out and have some time to think alone. Even though both Sam and Castiel tell her not to leave, she runs out while Cas is distracted with Rowena.

I know people love her, but I hope Sam decides to kill her instead of Crowley.

Sam brings up the elephant in the room between him and Dean. Well, maybe not the only elephant, but one of them. Once again I will express my opinion that Dean actually seems to be doing great. Better I think then when he returned from Hell.

How is this different than normal?

Then– like everyone predicted– Castiel is a horrible liar to Dean and he becomes even more convinced that something is up. This is followed up by a bad lie from Sam to top it off.

So smooth Cas.

Dean goes out on a pizza run and gets cornered by two of the Stein boys which as we all knew ended poorly for them. Dean kills one of them and captures the other (the one that was popping out eyeballs earlier) and I have to say my one regret for this episode is that Dean didn’t torture this dude. He just spilled the beans mostly and then ripped his own arm off. I might would be more worried about Dean if we’d seen him tap into the things he learned in Hell combined with his Mark issue. However he just threatened the dude a little and then let him escape.

I’d have like to have seen it Dean.

This family reminds me of the dude they killed a while ago that was taking people’s body parts to stay immortal. I guess they’ve figured out how to do it without looking like a patchwork quilt. I was disappointed on how he pronounced Frankenstein though.

If you have not watched Young Frankenstein stop what you are doing and go watch it now.

Little Frankenstein did spill the beans that the book is impossible to destroy and that clued Dean into what Sam had been hiding.

Castiel lets Sam know that Charlie has run off and then Charlie calls Sam for help. Both boys warn Charlie to hand over all her stuff to psycho dude so he doesn’t kill her and she uploads all her info and states she can’t do that. Charlie knows what that book will do and will do anything to keep it out of their hands. The writers do throw out a tease to all you Destiel shippers out there– sooo close. . .

Cas loves you too. . .I know you were dying to have him say it.

Let me just say that my cable decided to cut out RIGHT after Charlie confronts dude in the bathroom so I didn’t know what happened. Then it came back on for the previews for next week showing the funeral. Thanks Dish Network.

The boys enter the crappy hotel room and see the blood leading into the bathroom. Not a good sign at any time, but Charlie is tough so I still held out hope (or I would have if Dish hadn’t ruined it for me) that she’d stabbed the dude in the throat. However we see Sam look like he’s going to be sick and we see Dean not handling it well either.

I’m not sure why Sam is so sick looking though. I’m pretty sure he’s done worse to others. I know he knew and loved Charlie, but I feel like anger should have been the better emotion here.

Dean proclaims that he will kill the person who did this and will destroy everything they’ve ever loved and I’m gonna say I believe him. He looks serious about this and it looks like the Mark is finally going to be let loose. Maybe now I’ll see what everyone has been scared of. I think (hope) there is a reason that Charlie had to die, but I do think the boys are really going to take this hard over all.

But now we have Charlie in Heaven with Bobby (and Ash and Jo and Ellen) and I really really would love to see them all get together and work this thing out from up there. Ash has figured out Heaven, Bobby now knows how to leave his Heaven and Charlie knows all the ins and outs of what is going on. I just think it would be awesome if this was fixed by Charlie and the only way she was able to fix it was because she died. That would make all this worth it. What do you think? Am I grasping as straws with that?

Game of Thrones: Sons of the Harpy. When Cersei Screws Herself for a Change.

Jaime and Bronn

Once again we are in uncharted territory. In the books Jaime is off being an interesting character  a peacemaker for his King and here we see him making moony eyes at Tarth and explaining that he’s doing all this for his “niece” and to avoid a war. Book Jaime would have also done everything he could to avoid war, but he didn’t do this. Bronn was off killing off his wife’s family so that she would inherit and although I loved that about him he makes a good sidekick for Jaime’s adventures.

Their stealth mission is all for nothing though because they are not only found out, but they also kill a bunch of people while doing so. I wonder if this is meant to replace the scene where Myrcella’s Kingsguard was killed and she lost an ear. I could see that, but I also have a feeling that there will be a lot of blood spilled before Jaime leaves Dorne and probably just as awesomely as it is in this episode.

and who would that be?

Cersei

Cersei is busy thinking she’s super smart. She sends off daddy Tyrell after refusing his loan of gold. He’s to negotiate with The Iron Bank to get a better rate for the money they have loaned The Seven Kingdoms. The Iron Bank is kinda like borrowing money from a loan shark– that offered reasonable rates. It’s all cool as long as you’re paying it back, but if you decide not too then they break your legs. Or kill you.

She’s obviously trying to separate the Tyrells for her next move. Reinstating the Faith Militant. She sees this as a totally awesome idea. They can punish people who sin and she won’t be expected to save them. She then sets up the Tyrells for their fall. She’s not really thinking this through though. A church that is that upset about gays and fornicators probably isn’t going to be cool with a girl that cheated on her husband with her brother. Incest is totes not cool either.

Her cousin that is also had an affair with is now sporting a cool scar (ouch) and arrests Loras for his indiscretions. Yep this is going to go great Cersei.

The new King and Queen

Margaery is incensed at the actions of the church and gets Tommen to confront his mother to have Loras released. In response Cersei sends Tommen to confront the church (which if she knew what she had really created she would know that’s a horrible idea) and he isn’t allowed to talk to the High Sparrow. Tommen then learns of what happens when your wife asks for something and you don’t deliver.

Stannis

Stannis’ weirdo wife talks to Stannis about how much she dislikes Jon Snow and how gross she finds her daughter. I don’t like the Red Woman, but I am glad she stood up for Shireen.

Shireen goes to see her father later and he speaks to her of his childhood and is much more personable than he ever was in the books. He talks about how he’s proud of her and how she contracted greyscale. I have to say he moved up a few pegs in my book from this speech. He’s still an ass, but a little bit less of one.

Jon Snow

Jon is faced with having to ask Roose Bolton for help even though Roose is the one responsible for Robb and Catelyn’s deaths and so many of Jon’s other friends. He does the honorable thing of course and signs the letter.

Then in comes Melisandre to make things super uncomfortable. She asks Jon to march south to Winterfell with Stannis to help with the siege there. He states again that he’s of the Night’s Watch now and not meant to take part in the wars of the realm. Even though a creeper is asking I’m sure he’d love to go rip Roose Bolton’s throat out. She then gets uncomfortably close and undresses herself. Jon seems to be falling for it– and I for one didn’t like how far he went along with it before stopping it. The big take away from that interaction though is the statement that she made that he could cast shadows. So she sees that there is something powerful inside of Jon Snow. It is somewhat a confirmation for all of us R+L=J shippers and maybe proof that she has begun to see him in her fires now.

Because he’s totally Lyanna’s kid

Sansa

She’s walking around the crypts lighting the candles talking to Petyr about her family and he offers the second R+L=J clue of the evening talking about how Rhaegar chose Lyanna at the tournament at Harrenhall. Sansa then responded with the party line that Lyanna was kidnapped and raped, but Sansa is an idiot so what does she know.

Petyr does reveal that he has somewhat of a plan to bring down Roose Bolton and warns Sansa to not trust any of them and to use Ramsey. I wonder if Petyr really is so clueless as to what kind of boy Ramsey Snow Bolton is. Roose is cunning and dangerous, but Ramsey is batsh*t crazy. Roose skins his victims in private while Ramsey does even worse things behind closed doors.

First of all–gross and secondly– pretty sure you’re already married Sansa.

The Sand Snakes

If you haven’t picked up on it they are all warriors. So in the books there are tons more of these women and they are all of Oberyn’s bastard daughters. They do try to rise up, but the Prince of Dorne crushes them and finally explains his true plans for revenge. It looks like they are taking a bloodier and different course. But who knows Jaime’s story and the Sand Snake’s story is just starting.

Jorah and Tyrion

Jorah is still trying to find his way and Tyrion is now trying to make the best of this situation. I do love that Tyrion throws it in Jorah’s face that he’s taking Tyrion to the same place that he was trying to go himself. I do think Tyrion would be good for Dany, but even in the books I doubted her ever trusting him. I do wonder if he ends up helping her with her dragon problem and winning her trust that way though. That’s just my theory.

Dany and Co.

Dany is still trying to figure out this ruling thing– evidently it’s still hard, but Barristan distracts her with a story about Rhaegar that once again show that he’s not this rapist warmonger that we were led to believe, but that he might truly be a super duper nice guy. Say a guy that would run off with a girl from the North and have a baby with her.I mean– sounds like that’s a possibility.

They then take another turn from the books and have the Sons of the Harpy attack the Unsullied to which Barristan runs to help and help he does. But with very sad results. Yes he kills way more people than you’d expect and appears to save Grey Worm’s life. However that only results in the loss of his own and Grey Worm seems to be dying as well. I’m assuming they are doing this to shake up this story line and if it makes Dany less boring I’m all for it even though I’m super sad that Ser Barristan had to die to achieve this.

So just in case I didn’t do a good job explaining it– I found this handy dandy explanation on Tumblr of all the Rhaegar and Lyanna theory confirmations:

Supernatural: Angel Heart. Wait– there are even worse Angels?

This week we took a break from the search for the cure and were introduced to an even bigger scum bag of an Angel then we have seen previously. Well except for Metatron. This was a good solid episode where the boys aren’t just out killing everything in sight. They actually had to work through a case, do research and help an innocent.

Here are a few questions I have though:

Why can’t Cas find Claire?

I’ve never understood all the ins and outs of the angels falling. Cas can now heal people and has his Grace back soooo what else does that grant him? Does getting your Grace back just mean now that you’re a healer and that’s it? When the Angels were looking for Sam and Dean during the apocalypse they could find them through prophets and dreams. Why can’t they use Cas to help locate Claire?  I can buy that Claire’s mom Amelia (they really love that name don’t they) is somehow hidden because Angels and magic and stuff. Also did the fall of Heaven affect this rouge douchbag angel at all?

Why is everyone freaking out about Dean?

Ummmm I don’t think Dean beat that dude up because of the Mark. I’m pretty sure he would have done all that Mark or no Mark. The guy was a piece of crap that hurt a little girl. I’m pretty sure that’s a good enough reason in Sam or Dean’s book. Everyone keeps bringing up how out of control Dean is getting, but really since he went crazy and killed all those people the last time they saved Claire I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary. Dean’s always been the one to shoot first and ask questions later.

I see nothing wrong with this.

I’m glad that Claire got to see the boys when they weren’t just killing people.

Yep Claire– pretty much everyone you meet in this world has a horrible back story too.

OK I know this isn’t a question about plot, but I’m glad that Claire got to see the boys and Cas in a different light. They aren’t always massacring huge groups of people or heavenly beings. Sam got to help Claire learn how to live out on her own and Dean helped her have a little fun in a scary and stressful time. The addition of Claire to Jody Mill’s household also makes me really hope there will be a spin off in that direction.

Is it just me or did Claire look proud when Dean told her Jimmy was a hero?

For all her hatred of Castiel I think she keeps coming back to him (even if she acts like she doesn’t want to) because she loved her father. So now she has confirmation that he really was the great man she remembers and not some jackass that left her and her mother for no reason. He did it to save not only her, but the world.

It was nice to see them show off their ability to survive– not just come in a slaughter.

Sam got knocked out– it looked bad for him, but we got to see him figure it out. He got out of a really bad situation and still helped save the day. And Dean figured out the guys needed help and instead of just rushing in to help he found out what he was facing and went in informed. Once again– I think Dean is doing great. Better now even than pre Mark of Cain.

Is there a reason Claire killed the angel and not Dean?

I know he’s trying to not hulk out, but would it have done something to the Mark if he’d killed an Angel? He’s killed them before– preMark, but I wondered if there was a reason Claire had the honors here. Or maybe it just gave her an opportunity to strike back against a group that tore apart her family. Metatron really wanted to make Dean kill him though so that leads me to believe that if Dean kills an Angel even if that angel is a total tool it will do something irreparable to Dean.

Is Amelia’s fake heaven that much different then her real one?

Did anyone else think it was super creepy that her fake heaven and her real heaven were so much alike? Is there something fundamentally messed up about Heaven too?  Or was that just her desires were finally real? I know one thing though– Misha killed it.

I’m sure that’s not the last we’ve seen of Claire or her stolen Angel Sword, and I will just be over here holding out hope for that Jody Mills spinoff.