'Game of Thrones' Recap: A trip to 'The House of Black and White' begins the future for some

Season 5 of Game of Thrones represents a whole new shift in the stories of Westeros, Essos, and everything in between. Its first two episodes, especially “The Wars to Come”, reminded us of very recent or soon to be past. Quests and conflicts have reached their conclusion and this is what is left for all our characters. But “The House of Black and White” was more focused on planting the seeds for the future. When one thing ends another begins.

Perhaps there is no storyline in “The House of Black and White” that was more focused on the tarnished dreams of the past and the forever shrouded accomplishments of the future than Jon’s. After mercy killing the burning Mance in the previous episode, Jon is offered a proposal by Stannis to reward his bravery and gain his fealty -- bend the knee and become a Stark. For the bastard Jon Snow this was the first and only opportunity for his childhood dream of being recognized as a true Stark as opposed to the blemish his bastard status brought upon the family.

But that Jon is now gone. He left somewhere between Ygritte and the defense of The Wall. While he still has youthful idealism seemingly guiding him to not break his oath to the Night’s Watch it is clear Jon is forging his own name and decides not to let desires of the past to dictate his future. And so, after Sam nominates Jon and deftly defends Jon from the Meryn Trant/Alliser Thorne barbs, Jon is elected the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch (with a little help coming from the oldest watchman in Aerys Targaryen).

As with Jon, Arya’s story also began her next phase. After reaching Braavos she was dropped off at the massive structure that is The House of Black and White -- following the coin that Jaqen H’ghar gave her after the two escaped Harrenhall. She is initially rejected entry and waits for quite a while repeating the names of the people she still wants to exact revenge upon. After waiting what could be a few days or weeks she finally gives up, throwing the coin in the ocean, and wanders into Braavos.

Though her past motivations can’t be completely gone, it seems her releasing them was an important step as she was later allowed into the House of Black and White by the person who rejected her in the first place -- a disguised Jaqen H’ghar. What goes on in the House of Black and White is still unknown to both Arya and the audience but it seems that giving up your past identity -- Jaqen never refers to himself or Arya by name -- is an important initial step. Whether Arya has truly given up her plots of revenge is also a mystery but perhaps that is exactly what the House of Black and White will help her discover.

Quite literally Varys and Tyrion are trapped in a box made from their past. Tyrion wants out to take a walk but Varys knows that’s impossible because him being a dwarf is excuse his enough to kill him to receive Cersei’s bounty even if he wasn’t recognized to be Tyrion (as seen in with the hard cut to the next scene of Cersei looking over a dwarf’s head before rejecting it as her brother). All there is for Varys and Tyrion is the present, the carriage being pulled towards their future in Mereen on a long journey in which neither can go in public in fear of being recognized. Varys has the unenviable task of trying to bring Tyrion out of self-loathing and back into some version of the capable Hand of the King he was for Joffrey before Tywin. Their inability to have true power based on their appearance and name (in Varys’s case) does not mean they cannot influence true power.

This is exactly what Littlefinger’s goal is for Sansa, as well. As he trains her to open her eyes to her surroundings in hopes of giving her the cunning to lead, his influence over her and his ultimate climbing of the social strata are his attempts to gain power. Sansa owes her life to Littlefinger for extracting her from King’s Landing last season but she also realizes her future relies upon learning at Littlefinger’s foot, at least until there is nothing left for her to learn. This is why she rebuffs Brienne’s offer to “save” her. Sansa chooses her future rather than her past.

But this leaves Brienne and Pod in a serious limbo. For the first time Brienne will have to decide her own journey, there is no one left for her to swear allegiance to or tell her what to do -- though, as Littlefinger points out, she wasn’t great at doing the bidding of others. Now that she has been rebuked by both Stark girls and, for the most part, the warring between would-be-kings is on hiatus what is left for Brienne?

Where Brienne’s is on the precipice of the future Cersei and Jaime are chained by the past and with good reason as they cling to the little power they still have. Despite Cersei basically taking over as queen of the realm, citing that Tommen has sent her to meet and order her small council (her Uncle Kevan not enjoying her croneyism) it is clear that the Lannisters are more powerless than ever. Despite her finally being able to be a ruling queen -- for all intents and purposes -- her power over the realm is weaker than it ever had been when Joffrey sat atop the throne.

And where Cersei holds on to her present for as long as she can, Jamie is fully immersing himself in the past as he proposes to go rescue his daughter, Myrcella, from the perceived Dornish threat (arriving in the most awesome 3D snake message every conceived). He will call upon Bronn to help him achieve this extraction. And as Jamie tries to prove his worth to Cersei his mission has little effect on the future of Westeros, unless he screws it up.

Game of Thrones Season 5 is a reset of the pieces on the board. While it would be naive to believe that there won’t be more major battles in the future for the iron throne (Dany has to go to Westeros at some time, right?) Season 5 seems to be more focused on how to deal with the destruction of the immediate past. Ultimately the characters who are able to refocus or repurpose themselves seem to be the ones who will receive the most rewards.

Other Gamey Morsels

• This week marked the first time the audience got to see Dorne and meet its ruler, and brother to Oberyn, the wheelchair-bound Doran. Myrcella certainly seems happy flirting in the gardens and Doran certainly does not want to enact revenge for Oberyn’s death on her.
Gilly and Shireen’s interaction was great, especially getting some backstory on both of them. It would be great to see more of Shireen in the coming episodes.

• As for Stannis, he is still clearly stuck in the past/present. Before making Jon his offer Stannis had gotten a raven from the Mormounts (the previous Lord Commander being of their family) saying they would only answer a Stark. Stannis continues to get rejected by the families of Westeros to join his army in order to, ultimately, reclaim the iron throne via Winterfell. Stannis will have to change his tune quick if he wants to continue to be relevant once the old world has finally burned.

• Daenarys continues to sink deeper into the quagmire of Meereen. She can’t even win when she tries to hold a trial for a Son of Harpy. But hey, at least Drogon says hi.