Game of Thrones New Episode Review: 'The House of Black and White' Brings Arya to Braavos

The second episode of Season 5 of HBO's Game of Thrones aired Sunday night, and "The House of Black and White" actually did not feature all that much of the titular location. We never even saw inside the building!

And while the episode did slow down a bit from the premiere, it still spent plenty of time with the rest of the characters and had a few "wow" moments, so let's review what happened.

Our first look at Arya Stark in Season 5 showed her arrival at the House of Black and White, only to be turned away by a man wearing a Danny Glover mask. So Arya did what she does best. She sat outside fiddling with the coin Jaqen gave her while she recited the list of people she was going to kill approximately 1,827 times. She mercilessly slaughtered pigeons in the streets of Braavos. She threatened street urchins.

Eventually, Danny Glover returned to lead Arya back to the House of Black and White, where he revealed himself to be Jaqen wearing a different face. He led Arya inside the house, where it seems that she will be trained to be more of an unstoppable killing machine than she is now. This is going to be great.

Meanwhile, in King's Landing, Cersei decided to pull some strings and basically insert herself as the Hand of the King. Because if Cersei can't have power directly, then by golly she's going to place herself in the right spot and wield influence from behind the scenes. She started to stack the Small Council the way she saw fit until her uncle stormed off and said he would only take orders from the actual king. Whenever Cersei makes moves like this, it's bad news, and a disaster is likely coming inside King's Landing.

Cersei also carved out some time to chew out her brother/love Jamie about the fact that his niece/daughter was living in Dorne. Jamie, probably because he has nothing else to do, decided to embark on a journey to retrieve her. But he's not going alone, as he recruited Bronn, who had helped train him to fight with a sword in his left hand, to join him on his quest with the promise of a new wife and castle.

First of all, I want Jamie's jacket. That thing was so cool. It was somehow a vintage leather jacket that Dean Winchester from Supernatural would wear, except it wasn't vintage in Westeros. Where can I buy this thing?

Secondly, this Jamie and Bronn team-up is going to be fantastic. Jamie Lannister's role for the majority of this show has been as one half of a buddy cop duo, whether he's with Brienne of Tarth or Tyrion or Bronn. Yes, please.

Speaking of awesome duos, Varys and Tyrion were on their way to Meereen, which at this show's pace means they should arrive sometime in Season 7. Tyrion griped some more about being stuffed inside a box, while Varys told him to be patient because his skills will be useful when they reach Daenerys. The longer this show deprives us of scenes between Emilia Clarke and Peter Dinklage, the sweeter the payoff will be. Having said that, get to Meereen now!

Also, that cut from the inside of Tyrion's carriage to the severed dwarf head on Cersei's table was hilariously dark.

While we're on the subject of Meereen, Dany continues to struggle as a ruler, a problem that has plagued her for multiple seasons. She's freed the people, which has upset the Sons of the Harpys. One of the citizens, in turn, decided to take matters into his own hands and publicly execute him while he awaited trial. Dany, in turn, executed the citizen, which caused the entire population of Meereen to hiss at her and throw rocks. It was a mess of a mess, and Dany's grip on her throne continues to loosen.

The return of her lost dragon, Drogon, didn't help either, as he stared his mother down briefly before he decided he had better things to do and flew away again. The Mother of Dragons just can't catch a break!

In Dorne, the Red Viper's wife fumed at his brother about his lack of desire to avenge Oberyn's death. The crippled ruler smartly pointed out that killing Cersei's daughter would effectively be a declaration of war against the Lannisters, something Dorne would be wise to avoid. It seems that the Sand Snakes will have a problem with this lack of action.

Brienne happened across Sansa and Littlefinger, and yet another Stark daughter refused her service. Brienne responded by stabbing a man through the throat and pursuing the two alongside Pod. This will not end well.

Finally, Stannis made Jon Snow the sweet offer to make him a legitimate Stark and Lord of Winterfell, an offer Jon was prepared to rebuff. Instead, the choice came out of his hands, as Sam nominated him as Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, an election which Jon won by the slimmest of margins thanks to Aemon. It sounds like a perfect fit for Jon, but he has plenty of enemies inside Castle Black.

"The House of Black and White" was a solid episode of Game of Thrones that kept the pieces moving. It definitely slowed the pace from the premiere, but not every episode can be the best.

What did you think of "The House of Black and White"? Let us know in the comments section.