The Door (Game of Thrones)
| "The Door" | |
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| Game of Thrones episode | |
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Bran Stark encounters the Night King in a vision.
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| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 5 |
| Directed by | Jack Bender |
| Written by | David Benioff D. B. Weiss |
| Featured music | Ramin Djawadi |
| Cinematography by | Jonathan Freeman |
| Editing by | Crispin Green |
| Original air date | May 22, 2016 |
| Running time | 57 minutes |
| Guest actors | |
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"The Door" is the fifth episode of the sixth season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 55th overall. The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Jack Bender.[1] It aired on May 22, 2016.[2]
Beyond the Wall, Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) learns the origin of the White Walkers, and ventures out in a vision where he is caught by the Night King (Vladimir Furdik) allowing the White Walker army to enter the tree and forcing Bran to escape with the help of Meera (Ellie Kendrick) and Hodor (Kristian Nairn). At Castle Black, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) plans to unite the north against the Boltons, and in the Iron Islands, Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) is elected in the Kingsmoot with Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan) subsequently stealing his entire fleet. Across the Narrow Sea, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) decides to enlist the Red Priestess Kinvara (Ania Bukstein) in Meereen, and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) commands Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) to heal himself of his greyscale.
"The Door" received universal praise from critics, who found the episode to be emotional with effective action sequences involving the White Walkers and Hodor's sacrifice, in addition to providing "important answers on the show's mythos." The adaptation of the Kingsmoot as well as Daenerys's farewell to Jorah were also listed as high points of the episode. In the United States, the episode achieved a viewership of 7.89 million in its initial broadcast.
Contents
Plot
At the Wall
Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) confront Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) in Mole's Town, and question him about his decision to marry Sansa to Ramsay Bolton. He explains that he was ignorant of Ramsay's cruelty and begs for Sansa to forgive him while offering her the support of the Vale in her attempt to retake Winterfell. Sansa declines his help and orders him to return to the Vale. As he leaves, he reveals that her great-uncle, Brynden "Blackfish" Tully (Clive Russell), has gathered the remainder of the Tully forces and retaken Riverrun.
Jon (Kit Harington), Davos (Liam Cunningham) and Sansa examine their odds of retaking Winterfell from the combined forces of the Boltons, Umbers and Karstarks. Jon points out that the other Northern houses, such as House Manderly of White Harbor and House Mormont of Bear Island, have not declared for the Boltons yet, and Sansa suggests that the Tullys will fight for the Starks as well, though she lies to Jon that she knows this from a raven sent to Winterfell while she was the Boltons' prisoner. As they prepare to leave Castle Black, Sansa orders Brienne to travel to the Riverlands and recruit Brynden. Jon, Davos, Sansa, Brienne, Melisandre (Carice van Houten), Tormund (Kristofer Hivju), and Podrick Payne (Daniel Portman) depart Castle Black.
In Vaes Dothrak
Jorah (Iain Glen) reveals his greyscale affliction to Daenerys (Emilia Clarke). He admits his love for her and begins to leave, but Daenerys emotionally orders him to find a cure and return to her so that he can be by her side when she conquers Westeros. Daenerys, Daario (Michiel Huisman) and the Dothraki depart Vaes Dothrak.
On the Iron Islands
At the Kingsmoot, Yara (Gemma Whelan) makes her claim to the Salt Throne. Doubt is placed on her as the Iron Islands have never had a queen and the last remaining male heir, Theon (Alfie Allen), has returned, but Theon silences the doubters by backing her claim. As the crowd begins to sway in Yara's favor, Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) arrives and stakes his claim. When Yara accuses him of killing Balon, Euron freely admits to the murder, while denouncing him as having led the Ironborn to ruin. Euron promises to conquer Westeros by marrying Daenerys Targaryen and offering her the Iron Fleet, and is chosen as king. After his coronation by drowning and resuscitation, Euron decides to kill Theon and Yara, but discovers that they and their remaining loyalists have commandeered the best ships of the Iron Fleet and fled. Undaunted, Euron orders the entire populace of the Iron Islands to begin construction on a new fleet.
In Braavos
Arya (Maisie Williams) continues to spar with the Waif (Faye Marsay). Jaqen H'ghar (Tom Wlaschiha) tells Arya about the history of the Faceless Men, who originated as slaves in Valyria and killed their masters before finding a new home in the Narrow Sea, where they founded Braavos. He then offers her another assignment, warning her that she will not be given a third chance and suggesting that she will be killed if she fails. Arya observes her target, an actress named Lady Crane (Essie Davis) who is playing Cersei Lannister in a play recounting the death of Robert Baratheon and the execution of Eddard Stark. Arya is noticeably discomforted by the play's portrayal of Ned as a dimwitted and power-hungry traitor, and begins to have misgivings after witnessing Lady Crane and her husband making a toast to their children backstage. Back at the House of Black and White, Arya questions Jaqen about the nature of her target, deducing that a rival actress playing Sansa Stark has taken out the contract, but Jaqen scolds her, reminding her that servants do not ask questions.
In Meereen
Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Varys (Conleth Hill) note that an uneasy but stable peace has fallen over Meereen since they forged their pact with the Masters. In order to preserve the peace and public support for Daenerys, Tyrion summons the red priestess Kinvara (Ania Bukstein), who says that she believes that Daenerys is the chosen one of the Lord of Light and declares that her priests will spread her message. Varys, dubious of the supernatural, interjects and points out that Melisandre also believed that Stannis was the chosen one before his defeats at Black Waters and Winterfell, but Kinvara silences him by recounting how he was castrated. She pledges her support, as she is confident that Daenerys is the chosen one.
Beyond the Wall
Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and the Three-Eyed Raven (Max Von Sydow) observe a vision of the Children of The Forest creating the Night King by impaling a captured soldier with a dragonglass dagger. Back in the cave, Bran confronts Leaf (Kae Alexander) about creating the White Walkers. She explains that she had no choice, as they were at war with the First Men.
Bran decides to observe a vision without the Three-Eyed Raven. Rather than transport himself to the past, Bran remains in the present, and witnesses a massive army of wights led by the Night King (Vladimir Furdik), who touches him whilst in the vision. Bran awakens to find an icy scar on his wrist where the Night King touched him, and the Three-Eyed Raven warns that he must leave, as the Night King has marked him and is now able to enter the cave.
Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven enter a vision to transfer the Three-Eyed Raven's knowledge to Bran. As Meera Reed (Ellie Kendrick) prepares to leave, she notices her breath becomes visible as the air suddenly gets cold, and investigates outside. She finds the army of wights, commanded by the White Walkers. Meera runs inside to rescue Bran, killing a White Walker in the process, while the Children of the Forest attempt to hold back the wights as the cave is overrun. Bran, in the vision, witnesses his father Eddard leaving for the Vale of Arryn, as a young Hodor (Sam Coleman) looks on. Bran hears Meera's cries from within the vision and the Three-Eyed Raven advises him to listen to her. Bran splits his consciousness by both remaining in the vision and simultaneously warging into Hodor in the present, whilst Summer is killed defending him from the wights. The Night King enters the cave and kills the Three-Eyed Raven, causing him to disappear from the vision. As Bran, Meera and Hodor make their escape, Leaf sacrifices herself to hold back the wights. The group comes to a sealed door that Hodor barely manages to open. On the other side, Meera repeatedly orders Hodor to "hold the door" shut against the wights while they flee. While Meera escapes carrying Bran, Hodor is presumably killed by the wights. In the vision, Bran becomes overwhelmed by the split consciousness and unintentionally wargs into the young Hodor too simultaneously (then named Wylis), forging a connection between the past and present, and causing him to suffer a seizure. With Bran's consciousness inside his head, Wylis hears the echoes of Meera's orders, and begins to slur the words "hold the door" over and over again until "Hodor" is all that he can say.
Production
Writing
"The Door" was written by the series' creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Some elements in the episode are based on the forthcoming sixth novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter, which author George R. R. Martin had hoped to have completed before the sixth season began airing. Arya's scenes are based on the preview chapter "Mercy".[3] It also adapts the chapter "The Drowned Man" from A Feast for Crows containing the kingsmoot.
After the episode aired, in the "Inside the Episode" featurette released by HBO for "The Door", David Benioff and D. B. Weiss revealed that the closing scene involving Hodor's name origin and subsequent death was an idea that was presented to them directly from George R. R. Martin. Benioff stated, "We had this meeting with George Martin where we're trying to get as much information as possible out of him, and probably the most shocking revelation he had for us was when he told us the origin of Hodor and how that name came about. I just remember Dan and I looking at each other when he said that and just being like, 'Holy shit.'"[4] Weiss continued, "It was just one of the saddest and most affecting things. Even sitting in a hotel room having someone tell you this was going to happen in the abstract in some way and that 'hold the door' was the origin of the name Hodor, we just thought that was a really, really heart-breaking idea."[4]
In regards to the White Walker's origin, David Benioff stated "No one's innocent really in this world, and there was just something really beautifully right about the idea that the great nemesis of mankind were created to protect the Children of the Forest from mankind."[5] D. B. Weiss noted, "The Night King, who's sort of the embodiment of absolute evil, what you're watching is the creation of that absolute evil, so the absolute evil isn't absolute after all."[5] Benioff also alluded to the many references and foreshadowing throughout the series that preceded the reveal of the Children creating the White Walkers, saying, "There are certain symbols and patterns that recur throughout the show. The first time we saw that was one of the very first scenes in the pilot, when Will the ranger sees the Wildling body parts in an odd pattern displayed by the White Walkers. We see it again north of the Wall with the dead horses displayed in a spiral pattern, and then you see it again here and see where these patterns come from, that they're ancient symbols of the Children of the Forest used in their rituals, and the Children of the Forest created the White Walkers."[5]
Ellie Kendrick, who portrays Meera Reed, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the writing of the episode following its airing, and revealed that she was surprised by the scene, saying "When I was reading the episode, I completely forgot that I was a character in the show. I was reading it with such excitement, because this is a real story unfolding, with so many mysteries and quantum leaps and Inception-style traveling between the past and the present. I found it very exciting. So the first time I read it, I was just reading it for enjoyment, really, because it was so well-written and exciting. Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I was really keen to get started working on it, because it's such an epic sequence."[6]
Casting
"The Door" marks the final appearance of Kristian Nairn as Hodor, a role Nairn has played since the series pilot. Nairn, who was cast to play Hodor from previously knowing Game of Thrones' casting director from an audition he did for the film Hot Fuzz,[7] admitted in an interview that he was at first unaware of his impending death in the show.[8] He stated, "First I heard from friends, people who had read the script, some other cast members. I think I said laughingly, "So did I survive?" They just gave me a look, and I was like, "Whaat?" Then I had the call from David and Dan, the fateful call everyone gets when your number's up. Then I read the script – which I loved. I loved the scene. I can't think of a better way to go, really. He doesn't give up. He never lets go of that door. For all costs, he's going to stop them from getting to Bran."[8] Reflecting on playing the role, Nairn also went on to note, "People always joke, "Oh you've got the easiest role, you don't have any lines to learn." Anyone who knows anything about acting has been like, "You actually have one of the hardest roles." Because you have to articulate so much without words."[8]
In the Braavos scene, several actors were cast to portray actors participating in a play titled "The Bloody Hand" that re-created the history of the beginning of the series, from an altered point of view. One of the actors that was cast included Richard E. Grant, who portrayed the leader of the theatre troupe, Izembaro. Kevin Eldon, who played the role of Eddard Stark, was also cast, and Essie Davis as the lead actress Lady Crane, among others.[9]
Israeli actress Ania Bukstein was also introduced in the series as the High Priestess Kinvara, who is brought to Meereen to spread propaganda about Daenerys Targaryen's supposed success at eliminating the problem with the Sons of the Harpy. In an interview with Bukstein she said, "Yes, it's very exciting, but let's calm down. It's not like I'm the new Khaleesi. Game of Thrones came after a ton of hard work. I filmed a lot of audition tapes in front of a white wall at home. I've paid my dues for years."[10] Bukstein also stated that she had previously sent in an audition tape to the series when it was first casting its first season, saying, "A few years ago, when they had only begun to cast the first season of Game of Thrones, I sent an audition tape. I didn't really know for which role, and I mainly didn't know—and neither did the world—what a hit the series was about to become. But I remember that even then, the scenes that I got excited me, and I completely went with the style."[10]
The Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men appeared in this episode in a cameo as stage musicians for the stage play.[11]
Filming
"The Door" was directed by Jack Bender, a first time director for Game of Thrones.[1] Prior to directing for the series, he was one of the primary directors for the ABC television series Lost, directing 38 episodes, including the series finale.[12] Bender had been previously approached to direct for the series, but declined due to the extensive time commitment involved in shooting, which Bender noted in an interview as having to commit to "four-and-a-half to six months because of the enormity of the episodes."[13]
Shortly after the airing of "The Door", HBO released a featurette titled "Anatomy of a Scene" which went into greater detail about the creation of the final scene at the weirwood cave.[14] Bender was interviewed for the segment, and stated "I knew it was going to be a lot of stunts, a lot of CGI, how were we going to do it? My goal was to make it realistic, make it terrifying, and make Hodor's sacrifice incredibly moving."[14] Most of the exterior shots with the White Walkers and their army took place at Magheramorne, a small hamlet in County Antrim, Northern Ireland near where Castle Black is also filmed.[14][15] With input from David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, Bender, as well as visual effects supervisor Joe Bauer, also incorporated a transposing of scenes with Wights also crawling on the ceiling and the walls, which Bender hoped would result in the scene being even more "creepy."[14]
In the conclusion of the segment Bender stated, "The big climactic cave sequence was hugely complex, and although it's very scary that this really terrifying thing is happening to our characters, at the end of the day I think the emotion from what we are experiencing is hopefully going to be the shock that people will stay with," referring to Hodor's implied death.[14] In an interview from The New York Times with Kristian Nairn (Hodor), he described filming the scene, "It was a really heavy day — you’ve got these 100-mile-per-hour winds being blown into your face with false snow. I was really holding the door — there were like eight people pushing from the other side and I was really holding them back. It’s definitely Method acting. It was a very intense day but one of the nice things was they let Isaac wrap me. He got to come over and say "Mr. Nairn, that’s a wrap." It was very emotional. It’s always been a little group of us together and it felt like our little group was breaking up."[16] Ellie Kendrick (Meera Reed) spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the filming of her part of the sequence, saying "A lot of what's happening in that scene, in Meera's head, comes down to adrenaline. There's just no way she can stop and consider logically what's happening. If you have an army of the undead chasing after you, you're only going to be thinking one thing: "Run!" It was interesting, having the challenge of creating that adrenaline and fear and sadness of Hodor, but not being able to process it at all. Having to recreate that feeling of immediacy, in a stuffy studio at 4 p.m. on a Thursday when you've been filming the same scene for a couple of days, it was difficult. But it was an exciting challenge, to constantly inject the energy those characters must be feeling in that moment."[6]
Bottom: Added VFX in post-production, with altered eyes and an icy layer.
Prosthetic designer Barrie Gower was also interviewed for the "Anatomy of a Scene" segment and noted "At any one time during the cave, we had so many characters which were going to be in prosthetics. We had the Night King, three White Walkers, six Children of the Forest including the hero, Leaf, and countless Wights."[14] Gower went on to describe the process involved with creating the Children, "The Children of the Forest are fully covered from head to toe, they're glued completely into these prosthetics all over their body."[14] Kae Alexander, the actress who played Leaf stated that it took between 9 to 10 hours to get the full body prosthetic ready for filming, a process which Bender described as challenging.[14]
In order to create the Night King, according to Barrie Gower in an interview with MTV, it is primarily practical prosthetic, but also incorporates some VFX to create a more icy look and feel, saying about the eyes, "The effects department alters the eyes in post-production. They give them that blue-glowy hue to them, which we can't really achieve with contact lenses."[17] In regards to the overall prosthetic, "they've added this sort of icy layer over the top of him to create this — it's something incredibly difficult to achieve practically, prosthetics are cast in a translucent rubber, which can only give you so much of that icy quality, so visual effects help augment it a little bit further to give it more dimension."[17] Prior to the sixth season, the Night King was portrayed by Richard Brake, with a head mold of Brake being created in order to accurately mold the prosthetic to his face.[17] In the sixth season he was portrayed by Vladimir Furdik.[18]
Pilou Asbæk, who was cast to play Euron Greyjoy, spoke with Vulture in an interview about the filming of the Kingsmoot saying "We spent two days on the Kingsmoot itself, and then two days on the montage. We shot it chronologically, which helped. The water was freezing cold. We shot the drowning many, many times. I remember looking down the shore, after I had been there for five or six hours, and I saw two smiling faces, in the form of Gemma Whelan and Alfie Allen. They were just smiling their asses off, because they weren't cold! They just had to run to the boat."[19] In regards to stunts, Asbæk continued, "I got a little bit of help, but not much. I think 95 percent of it was me. I like to do all of it when I can, because then I can feel it with the character."[19]
Iain Glen, who has portrayed Jorah Mormont since the beginning of the series, also spoke with Vulture about his participation in the episode, with his farewell to Daenerys Targaryen, noting "They've got a worried actor on their hands. For any actor on the show, most of the time we're just thinking, "Please keep me alive!" I've been very lucky to be a part of the show, right back to the pilot. If I go out in the madness of greyscale, then I'll have thought I've done very well. It's been a complete treat to be a part of the show. They're a lovely group of people. But the greyscale has definitely got this actor worried, I'll be honest about that." [20]
Reception
Ratings
"The Door" was viewed by 7.89 million American households on its initial viewing, which was slightly more than the previous week's rating of 7.82 million viewers for the episode "Book of the Stranger".[21] The episode also acquired a 4.0 rating in the 18–49 demographic, making it the highest rated show on cable television of the night.[21] In the United Kingdom, the episode was viewed by 2.326 million viewers, making it the highest-rated broadcast that week. It also received 0.076 million timeshift viewers.[22]
Critical reception
"The Door" received widespread critical praise from critics, with many citing the emotional revelation involving Hodor, the action scenes with the White Walkers, as well as the Kingsmoot and Daenerys Targaryen's farewell to Jorah Mormont as high points for the episode.[23] It has received a 100% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes from 41 reviews with an average score of 9.2/10, the highest average score of the season. The site's consensus reads "An exquisitely crafted episode, "The Door" culminates in a gut-wrenching revelation that makes the loss of a beloved character all the more poignant."[24] The episode holds a rating of 9.8/10 on IMDb, being one of the highest rated episodes on the website.[25]
Matt Fowler of IGN wrote in his review of the episode, ""The Door," directed by Lost's main director, Jack Bender, gave us one of the most emotional deaths on the show to date. Mostly because the scene itself was paired with a big origin-style reveal and a newly opened avenue of time travel mysticism. And it came at the end of a very effective action sequence involving zombies, White Walkers, and the Night King."[23] He gave the episode a 9 out of 10.[23] Todd VanderWerff of Vox noted, ""The Door", continues last week's trend of feeling as if it's offering up some major, important answers on the show's mythos. And many of those revelations impact some of the show's most major characters."[26] Jeremy Egner of The New York Times wrote in his review of the episode; "As with many epic sagas, the story and action in “Game of Thrones” are driven largely by characters moving toward and eventually becoming the people they are supposed to be. While we tend to focus on the big-ticket destinies, whether it’s Daenerys Targaryen emerging triumphantly from the flames last week or Jon Snow rising from the dead to fight again, the smaller figures have their own slots to fill."[27]
Leak
The episode was accidentally released 24 hours early by HBO Nordic. The episode was eventually taken down, but the pirated copy was released to torrent websites.[28] Reacting to the leak, the official HBO spokesperson said, "This past Sunday’s episode was made available early on the HBO Nordic platform temporarily due to a technical issue, at which time it seems to have been copied. Upon learning of the incident, we used the available means to limit further access to the episode."[29]
References
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- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
- "The Door" at HBO.com
- "The Door" at IMDbLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
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