'Game of Thrones' Season 5, Episode 9 - 'The Dance of Dragons' Recap

Winterfell

We start the week here, and it looks like Ramsay's plan with his "twenty good men" was to sneak into Stannis' camp and set fire to their food stores and siege weapons. That leaves Stannis' army in a tough spot, as they don't have the supplies to attack, nor enough food to retreat to Castle Black.

Stannis orders Ser Davos to ride back to Castle Black and ask for supplies, and refuses Davos' request to at least take Shireen back with him. Davos goes and says a heartfelt goodbye to Shireen, which does NOT bode well for Shireen's safety, considering that whole "sacrifice your daughter" thing Melisandre is on about.

Later, Stannis talks to Shireen about her book (she's reading "The Dance of Dragons" about two warring Targaryens), and she says she wants to help Stannis no matter what that means. Uh oh.

Shireen screams for her father as she's tied to a stake and burned alive. To her credit, Selyse has a change of heart at the last moment and tries to free Shireen, but she's held back by the guards.

Castle Black

Jon returns with a large group of wildlings in tow...and a giant too. Jon considers the mission a failure, but Sam tries to cheer him up...the glares from his men and snarky comments from Alliser Thorne aren't helping, either.

Dorne

Jaime sits down with Doran, Elia, Marcella and Marcella's fiancé Tristane to talk terms. Elia is predictably rude, but Doran and Jaime come to an understanding: Jaime can take Marcella home, but he'll take Tristane with them, and Tristane will take Oberyn's promised seat on the small council.

Bronn is also freed, under the condition that he take a rather hard elbow to the face.

Later, Elia appears to swear her allegiance to Doran. "I believe in second chances," he tells her. "I don't believe in third chances." Elia then approaches Jaime and gives him a speech about how he and Cersei could be together if only they lived in Dorne.

Braavos

Arya's mission to spy on the gambler is interrupted, as she spots Meryn Trant in the entourage for Mace Tyrell's banking trip. Arya follows Meryn in secret to the brothel, where he disgustingly asks for younger and younger prostitutes. Arya watches in horror, but cannot act.

Meereen

It's time for the Great Games, and Hizdahr coaches Daenerys through her first gladiator fight. She shows serious trepidation in clapping her hands to start the match, but Daario seems into it. Just as Daario finishes talking about how quick is better than strong, the quick fighter gets his head lopped clean off.

Tyrion and Hizdahr exchange words over the necessity of violence, with Dany weighing in as well, when suddenly they see Jorah in the ring with a group of opponents. Dany claps her hands.

Jorah has a rough go at the start, but ends up defeating his first opponent and moving on to a Braavosi fencer, who wounds him but fails to kill him. That leaves one last opponent: a big warrior from Meereen, who ends up with Jorash's sword through his chest. As Jorah stands in victory, he picks up his opponent's spear, and hurls it straight at Dany...

It flies past her and into an assassin from the Sons of the Harpy. From there, hundreds of Harpies rise up from the crowd, and Jorah and Daario fight to keep her safe. They quickly end up surrounded in the middle of the arena, just a handful of guards against dozens of Harpies.

Then, Deus Ex Dragon: Drogon seems to be over his rebellious phase, as he flies in at the last moment to save Dany and start tearing up some Harpies. Dany jumps onto Drogon's back and flies him up out of the arena, like a goddamn boss.

Almost lost in the action is an important moment, though: Jorah takes Dany's hand which, considering his Greyscale infection, was probably not a good idea. Poor Missandei ends up touching Dany's hand as well. Could this be Dany's downfall? Or will she be able to fight off the infection as Shireen did until her untimely death?