Although the Dothraki rank spoiling Game of Thrones as the sixth best thing in life, if you haven’t yet watched “Book of the Stranger,” the fourth episode of this season’s Game of Thrones, and don’t want the events of the episode to be spoiled for you, don’t read any further!
For the second week in a row, Arya’s Army dominated the rest of the teams, earning a whopping 190 points. Just to clarify, that’s more points than the current second-place team has for the entire season so far.
Most of these came from Daenerys, when she proved her nickname “The Unburnt” wasn’t just for show. She racked up 70 points for the demise of the Dothraki Khals, another 15 for nudity, 25 points for her pre-murder speech, and 60 points for status as she’s now in charge of the entire Dothraki nation. All in all, not a bad night’s work. But Sansa Stark earned earned 30 points — 10 for reaching the wall and 20 for back-to-back pep talks to motivate Jon Snow to take back Winterfell. And just to put a little icing on the cake, the High Sparrow spilled his origin story, good for five points. The Army wisely kept the imprisoned Loras Tyrell on the bench, so they didn’t suffer from his -10 points for broken spirit.
Our second place team, America’s Team, had another great showing this week, thanks largely to Ramsey Bolton’s butchering of Osha (40 points), his becoming Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North (25 points — although that technically happened two episodes ago), and then boldly challenging Jon Snow to a fight for Winterfell with a letter (10 points). Add five points for Tormund Giantsbane’s flirtatious leering at Brienne, and America’s Army ended the week with 80 points.
This week The Kings Landing Queens brought Lady Olenna off the bench and she didn’t disappoint, earning 15 points for another blistering burn directed at Cersei. Podrick Payne and Brienne of Tarth each brought in 10 points for reaching the wall and Brienne posted another 10 for her bold confrontation with Melisandre and Davos, ending the Queen’s week with 45 points.
And once again settling firmly into the bottom of the league is my own team, the cursed Harrenhal Halberdiers with a mere 33 points. The Halberdiers earned 28 points from Dario Naharis — 20 for his dispatching of two redshirt Dothraki and a eight more for some verbal sparring with Jorah Mormonth. Jorah also pulled in five points for some return banter, but was disappointingly ineffective in combat. In an effort to shore up my losing position, before this week’s contest I dropped the now-dead Olly and picked up free agent Euron Greyjoy. But he didn’t show at all this week, but the Kingsmoot is coming, so something will surely happen then. Whether it’s something in my favor remains in question.
In other League news, both Littlefinger (America’s Team) and Robin Arryn (Arya’s Army) finally made game-time appearances but didn’t amount to much of anything … yet.
Cumulative League Standings
- Arya’s Army … 405 points
- America’s Team … 180 points
- The Kings’ Landing Queens … 140 points
- Harrenhal Halberdiers … 83 points
With both Jon Snow and Daenerys on the team, it’s looking unlikely that anyone can catch Arya’s Army, but the King’s Landing Queens, with the potent pairing of Cersei and Jamie, along with Olenna Tyrell in the backfield, might be in a position to snatch the crown. But right now it’s a race for second — the big question is can America’s Team still post huge gains if they lose their big gun Ramsey Bolton? Tune in next week!
Check out Emily Yoshida’s episode recap with full points totals and the rationale behind them over at The Verge, and there’s still time to enjoy six episodes if you choose to start your own Game of Game of Thrones League, head over to Fantasizr.
