"Game of Thrones' Season 5 premiere: Episode 41, "The Wars to Come" aired on Sunday, April 12, 2015. The American medieval drama television series is based on author George R.R. Martin's novel, "A Song of Ice and Fire.' It has all of the elements of a fairy tale with kings, queens, knights, and castles, with the exception of one element, a single central enemy. Their enemies are each other and they will use anything and anyone in a bloody attempt to gain the "Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms."
"Game of Thrones' revolves around seven kingdoms in the mystical lands of Westeros and Essos. Season five follows the repercussions of civil wars and power struggles between the royal families of Stark, Targaryen, Lannister, Baratheon, and others. It has fantasy elements such as dragons, harpies, Children of the Forest, Shadow creatures, mermaids, sphinxes, and more.
Ep. 41 begins with Queen Cersei Lannister's flashback to her childhood days when a witch foretells her somber future. Her lover Jaime Lannister, a knight frees their younger brother Tyrion Lannister from captivity. Tyrion had been falsely accused of killing Queen Cersei's son, King Joffrey. Their religious cousin Lancel Lannister returns. All the while, Daenerys Targaryen is on her way to re-claim her family's lost throne. She has fire-breathing dragons on her side and a growing army.
At the Wall, a 700 feet tall ice border that divides the Northern kingdom from the rest of the land, King Stannis Baratheon wants to enlist more soldiers in his army. King Baratheon is waging a war with Roose Bolton, the leader of the North. Baratheon wants to enlist the Wildlings in his army. Jon Snow, a former member of the Night's Watch (the Wall guards) planned on killing King Mance Rayder, the leader of the Free Folk. Snow and King Rayder are surrounded by King Stannis' army. King Rayder is burned to death when he does not surrender to King Stannis.
The cast of "Game of Thrones' season 5 are Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Peter Dinklage as Tyrion, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Eugene Simon as Lancel Lannister, Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon, Diana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell, Dean-Charles Chapman as Tommen Baratheon, Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei, Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis, Michael McElhatton as Roose Bolton, Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand, and Tom Wlaschiha as Jaqen H'ghar, Alexander Siddig as Doran Martell, Toby Sebastian as Trystane Martell, and Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss wrote the script and Michael Slovis directed Ep. 41.
Ep. 42 "The House of Black and White" airs on Sunday, April 19 at 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST on HBO. More information can be found on The Futon Critic website.
