Review: Game of Thrones - S06E06 - Blood of My Blood

Spoiler Alert: These reviews contain spoilers for the titled episode. They may also contain spoilers for any previous episodes and published book content. If you are not caught up, this is your warning.

Man, so many cool moments this week and a few that literally had my mouth just hanging open (just ask my wife)!  Going to eschew the full episode breakdown and instead just give my thoughts on things that stuck out to me.

I'll start with Bran and things in his neck of the rather-expansive woods.

Meera is a *beast*!  It was awesome seeing her pound through the snow, hauling Bran with everything she's got.  It was also really compelling seeing her vulnerable.  I really felt, looking at her, that she was reaching her breaking point.  So often she was the super capable, strong, stable one and seeing more depth, showing fear, hopelessness, despair and just the feeling of being lost was incredibly well done.  The awesome cinematography really highlighted this too, with the reeling, whirling shots.

Bran's visions were so cool.  WE SEE AERYS!  When he flashed up, dark on the Iron Throne, bellowing "Burn them all!" I literally went slack-jawed.  It was a moment that I had been convinced that we would only be told about, and that we didn't *need* to see, but was SO cool to see, perhaps *because* of that.

Also, we get something that I think most folks thought was either a) not going to happen and b) settled by outside sources.  I am, of course, talking about the one, the only, our long lost Benjen Stark.

For book readers, this is exceptionally interesting because not only have we not had word one about Benjen's fate, but there *was* also other news.  A few months back, a fan read the manuscript for A Dance With Dragons that Martin had donated to the Cushing Library and went through all of its 1600 pages.  In it was found that the editor asked, in the margins, if Coldhands was Benjen, and said that she thought it was.  Martin had written an emphatic, underlined "NO" under this.  Just like that, the theory was dead.

Enter the show.  We see the wights closing in on Bran and Meera and a looming black figure shows up (on a horse, not an elk, unfortunately...) but wielding some awesome weaponry. He sets the zombies ablaze and, once everything had died down (no pun intended) you get a look at him.  The INSTANT I saw his eyes, I knew it was Benjen.  It made me think.

It's either one of two things: 1)  Benjen really is Coldhands and what was noted in the manuscript margins was incorrect (possibly dated and changed since its submission?) or 2) this is a solid deviation from the books.  If it is 1, (which I doubt) I wonder what made Martin change his mind?  If it is 2 (most likely), it's interesting to see such a fundamental, opposite-direction difference from show to book. It's almost like watching fan-fiction.  "But what if Benjen WAS Coldhands?  Wouldn't that still be awesome?!"  That's fascinating to me.

Having said that, it's cool to have him back and this late in the game, I wonder what role he'll play.  The character looks great: dead but not ghoulish, human but not warm.  Yay, Benjen is back! :D

The King's Landing developments were awesome and raised some questions for me too.

First, I'll say I'm really liking Tommen.  You can tell that for once, there is a king who is trying.  Whether he is *good* at it, he genuinely wants the best for others. Is he easily influenced by those around him? Sure. At least he isn't a monster. On top of that, he's learning and seeing that growth is cool.

Now to the real intriguing part - Margaery Tyrell.  Is she really brainwashed or is she playing a *really* long game?  It's hard to tell how much time has passed since we last saw her and when we left her she was looking into her brother's eyes as he said he just wanted it all to end.  Did that convince her to change her "we gotta fight" tune?  When she speaks with Tommen, she seemed perfectly earnest and no one was there listening.

When Jamie and the Tyrell host show up, the Faith pulls the rug out from under everyone and shows that the King himself has been converted by his apparently repentent wife.  Not only this but even the kingsguard are now emblazoned with the seven pointed star of the Faith (which, to be fair, looks awesome).  This freaks out *everyone* among the nobility / military that's shown up. The Queen of Thornes herself looks positively pissed, with not a single wry remark to throw.  She simply says, to a dumbfounded Mace Tyrell, "He's won."

I'm thinking though, that this may still be Margaery playing the game on a much higher level.  We know she's always been shrewd and excellent at playing a role expected of her. We also know she is well aware of the stakes.  So, option one, walk through the streets barefoot and in rags, viewed as an equal (or lower) by the entire city.  That's an image killer, so a no-go.  Option two, Jamie, the kingsguard and the Tyrell forces storm the Sept, take her and Loras by force and lay waste to the Faith.  Do that and you have rivers of blood in the streets, riots and most likely civil war.  That's unproductive for the current power structure which is shaky at best as it is.

Option The Third: Align youself with "the enemy".  Give them a seat at the table and make them feel heard, valued and taken into account.  You do this, and the masses are placated, the Faith is happy, and the realm is united in a way it hasn't been in some time.  You also remain, even if you are standing in rags, far above the masses, still regal, untouchable, benevolent, humble and even wise; a queen they *want*.  I think she may be on to something here.

Also want to mention the interplay between Mace and Jamie was hilarious.

This week we also got to see Arya finally make the call.  With her hiding needle upon her arrival, it was clear that she wouldn't be letting go of herself altogether but I was starting to wonder what her middle ground would be.  She seemed genuinely interested in what the House had to offer and seemed to be learning / passing the tests.  I figured that with the kind of insight the faceless men have, that they would have outright given her the boot instead of giving chance after chance to what they saw to be a lost cause.  All that to say, yeah, she's still Arya but I wonder if part of her really is No One now...

Her finally choosing where she stands, though, is gratifying, and we finally get to see her make the *right* choice, instead of just the vengeful one.  Her moment with the lead actress was wonderful and her defiant reentry into the dressing room was fantastic.

It hurt to see Jaquen give the Waif the A'Ok to close the book on Arya when he played such a large role in saving her in Harrenhal (assuming it really is the same guy, I don't suppose we'll ever really know).  It's weird to think of him as her *friend* but at least mentor, right?  At any rate, we see the Waif head out with a little more glee or satisfaction than I imagine Jaquen might actually approve of.  Do you guys really think she's been hiding it that well?  Or maybe Jaquen is just letting it slide?  It'll be satisfying to see Arya really let loose on the Waif, though.

Dany's bit this week was just coolness all around.  She's talking with Dario and they reach the conclusion that they'll need roughly 1000 ships (give or take) to get to rescue (funny, I think I heard something recently about that many ships...).  She pauses, and rides off ahead of the horde.  Dario starts to worry but just then, we hear what we've been anticipating for a while now.

It seems like Drogon has been waiting for her inner-dragon to reawaken.  With her overcoming the Dothraki on her own and rekindling her focus to head to Westeros, I'm thinking Drogon (who clearly is linked with her, however willful he may be) is finally sensing that The Force is strong in her again.

She soars over the group, slams down on the now-massive beast and proclaims to the horselords that she is going to turn this whole thing upside down.  Three bloodriders?  Screw that, you're all my bloodriders!  She gets a screaming oath that they will giver her what Drogo promised her and darned if it wasn't believable.  It gave me chills.

I'm wondering a few things:
1) Where will the Greyjoys wind up in all this?  I don't think Euron knows what he's getting into...
2) How are the Rhaegal and Viserion going to react once the Alpha is around again?  Are they going to grow to match him once they've been out and about?
3) How will the other parts of Dany's following react when she marches up with the entire Dothraki nation at her back, when most of the places they come from often got raided by Dothraki?

Lastly, just gotta say Drogon is freakin amazing.  What a monster.  He's huge and now a legitimate war machine.  Azor Ahai and Lightbringer anyone?  Although... I still wouldn't mind an epic flaming sword.... someone call Beric.

This post goes out to my good buddy, Damian, who gave me some great advice that I really tried to follow here.  Thanks, man, it's greatly appreciated.

As always, check out the ever-excellent gentlemen from Boiled Leather: Sean T. Collins over at Rolling Stone and Stefan Sasse at The Nerdstream Era.

Thanks for reading and be sure to share and hit the comments!