Game of Thrones 5-10 "Mother's Mercy"

   This episode left us with a few cliffhangers that "A Dance With Dragons" also left us with, so any predictions I make here, especially concerning Jon Snow, are really about what I think or hope we will see in "Winds of Winter" when it comes out.

OK, then, lets just get on with it and talk about Jon Snow and why I think he's only mostly dead. The next time we see Jon, I think, it will be through Ghost's POV, but, will he warg in to Ghost permanently, or come back? I'm betting on coming back; and this is why:

   When I finished the chapter in "A Dance With Dragons" dealing with the mutiny at the wall I put down the book and refused to read it for another week or two. I was pissed at GRRM and had it with "A Song of Ice and Fire" and wasn't going to read it anymore. I finally DID finish it. So, I had a good long time to think of Jon's situation and how he could possibly survive it before this episode aired.
   Firstly, Jon is even more than a central character, the whole series pretty much hinges on both him and Daenerys. He is the ice to her fire.
   My friend, Rommy introduced me to what is probably the most reasonable theory as to Jon's parentage, and it involves him having both Stark and Targaryan blood. GRRM, will need to reveal Jon's parentage sooner or later.
Rommy's blog: http://kestrilsrhythmsandgroove.blogspot.com/

   In the book, Jon gets word via raven that Stannis has failed and died at Winterfell. Jon then starts talking about marching an army of Wildlings down to take the castle himself. Why would the Lord Commander announce that he would be literally abandoning his post? It sounded like he was tryng to get killed. Jon is too smart for that.

Yes, yes, he IS too smart for that.

   Jon learned from Sam how to look at his Night's Watch vows legalistically, and even Stannis once compared Jon's negotiating skills to "an old woman haggling with a fish".  Jon is one of the more clever characters, right there behind Tyrion and Littlefinger. Jon would know that if he technically dies at the wall, then his watch is technically is over. So, a dead-and-back-again Jon could actually claim the name Stark and march his Freefolk army south. But, how?
   This brings us to Lady Soneheart. Lady Stoneheart is a character in the books, but, not the show. She is Catelyn Stark after being resurrected by Beric Dondarrion (another follower of R'ollor), and she now commands a band of anti-Lannister partisans in the Riverlands called The Brotherhood Without Banners. The last time we saw Lady Stonheart, she was killing Brienne of Tarth for the crime of carrying a sword hilted with Lannister gold. (The Sansa-Ramsey-Brienne storyline is not a thing in the books). We have not seen Melesandre use resurrection, but we can safely assume that it's not outside her skill set.
   Melesandre (in the show) returns to Castle black dejected. She had pinned all her hopes on Stannis. She did things a person with a conscience would never consider in the hope of turning him into the savior to beat back the darkness to come. Stannis failed. It wasn't in him to be what she wanted him to be. She will be looking for another Azor Ahai, and, if we are right about Jon being a Targaryan prince, then...kings's blood!

Speaking of resurrecting the dead, what do you think of Franken-mountain?

Meanwhile, in Bravvos, a girl has a lesson to learn. Instead of wanting to be nobody, a girl still wants to be Arya Stark. Now a girl must learn to see without seeing.

What will happen with Daenerys now? Will the injured Drogon regain his strength in time to swoop down and save her from the horselords?

Will the death of Myrcella cause a Lannister-Martell war?

And, finally, regarding Cersei. Even for those of us wanting to see her get her just reward for the wretched things she has done, this was a hard thing to watch or read. What she went through was an atrocity and truly made us reel back in horror. But, the public sexual shaming of Cersei Lannister is a lesson in what happens when we give power to religious fanatics. If it made you angry, that's a good thing.
This one scene is enough to turn Lena Heady into one of my most admired actors. Her portrayal of a very proud woman bearing a stoic face to the world as her soul is being broken was unforgettable.