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.
What a season it's been! This episode was potentially some of the best television to ever grace TV's and I'll be re-watching for sure, but for now, lets talk.
First, we gotta hit Cersei, because she was a massive part of this episode. I had been wondering what the possible outcomes would be for her trial, whether she'd be tried and executed, tried and the Mountain would just murder the Septons and Sparrows, whether she would weasel her way free of the charges somehow or what. What I did not expect was for her to wait until the trial, 'til all her rivals were gathered under one holy roof and then incinerate the lot of them in a raging wildfire explosion!
The sequence they did here was incredible. The music was gorgeously done, the performances intense and compelling, the shots slow, methodical and then ramping up their pacing until you saw what was really going on. Lancel, standing at the mouth of that tunnel evoked season 2 when Tyrion did the same. The only difference is that now, it's not storage any more. It's a trap.
When the wildfire went up, I think the show must have freed up about half its casting budget! We lose the High Sparrow, the Faith, Lancel, Kevan, Margaery, Mace, Loras... Pycelle (though not in the Sept) and, sadly, Tommen.
The few scenes of Tommen, I felt, were so good. I thought that they visually represented what this kid's rule must have felt like: high above it all, fine things around you, all the trappings of power, anything you could reasonably desire at your beck and call, yet you're utterly alone, and held there by those who are not concerned with your own well-being as much as their own (though Cersei does care for Tommen). All he's pushed for, all he's fought for, the marriage he had to a wife he'd genuinely grown to love, the support of the people which he'd honestly tried to repair, the city he'd tried to build back up from the nightmare his brother created... everything was rent asunder by those around him holding the actual power. His only escape, after all was lost, was to cast himself down from his high tower, as there was simply nowhere else to go. I do feel badly for him.
Cersei, though... you know what they say about a cornered animal. Up until now, she's been kept in check by many things, namely worry for her children's well-being. That's gone now. The part of the prophecy she's dreaded has come to pass and now she just has to worry about herself. In that vein, she has removed her opposition wholesale. Seeing her climb the steps to the Iron Throne was one of the most unbelievable, chilling, memorable images I've seen on the show, if only because I never thought she'd sit there. If it's always darkest before the dawn, but damn... it's going to be pitch black.
On a side note, her scene with septa Unella was horrifying and satisfying in equal measure. That is scary as hell.
Speaking of Cersei and her massive solo act, Jamie returns and finds her there, right smack in the middle of her coronation. I was lying in bed Sunday night and it struck me that he killed Aerys to prevent him from doing this *exact* thing. He now stands in the throneroom, seeing that his sister, the one person he truly loved in all the world, the person he would have murdered babies for, is just as evil, vile, dangerous and insane as Aerys. He sees it plain as day and I think Jamie is going to have some major internal struggles and will, in the end, kill her too.
I loved the scene with Jon, Davos and Melisandre. With everything that's happened, everything that she's done, everything Davos has lost, the chickens finally come home to roost. Davos calls her to account and her words of defense aren't enough. What's amazing is that Liam Cunningham and Carice Van Houten are super buddy-buddy in real life (and on Twitter) yet they sold this scene so well it blew my mind. Davos' heartbroken fury shook the screen and he voiced the hearts of the entire audience when he grieved for Shireen. Heartbreaking and wonderfully done.
Sansa's scene with Littlefinger was interesting and unsettling, but what was most intriguing to me is that I think it may be the first time we've seen Baelish as the weaker player. Sansa seems to tower over him and as he stands vulnerable in front of her, as if a young Catelyn only to be rebuffed again, I almost feel bad for him, except that he still can't understand why his expert wheeling and dealing didn't win her heart (never mind he gave her to a rapist and a monster as part of his plan).
That having been said, it's hard to say what will come of this. Littlefinger is clearly pissed and the results of the gathering seemed to garner a reaction from him that was none-too-pleased indeed.
Seeing the banner men of house Stark swear loyalty and admit they were wrong was great. Lady Mormont is a beast in her own right and it gave me chills to see Jon hailed The King In The North, after all this time. After hearing about his brother, after thinking he would be forgotten and wearing the black for the rest of his days, it's got to be crazy for him to think "Wow... how did I wind up here?"
As far as Arya goes, much as it was great seeing Walder Frey get his (not that it was great seeing a young girl smiling while she slits an old man's throat, watching him bleed out), I thought the scene was jarring. I didn't know what to make of the Frey Pie. Was she insinuating that she actually killed *all* of them? If not, how did they wind up dying? Did Arya get help? How did she make it back? Did she come back on the ship she originally paid for? Knowing those sea captains, it's always been "You're aboard at the right time or we go without you." Arya was recovering for a good while, I thought. What did you guys think of this bit and the Frey Pie shift from the books to the show?
Seeing Old Town was amazing. They made that place look gorgeous and the interior of the library was incredible. How many of you noticed the light fixtures that looked like the astrolabe (I think that's what it's called) in the opening credits. It's almost as if the opening sequence map could be an in-world model at the Citadel. That's gotta be heaven for Sam.
When I was listening to The Boiled Leather Audio Hour episode that was most recently released, they mention that the only thing that could be done with Sam's plot line would be for Euron to attack Old Town, but I had another thought. What if Sam is there to unearth more information about the White Walkers? It's theoretically the largest information storehouse in the world, so you'd think it would be possible that there are tomes there that may have been long forgotten. I'm thinking Sam is going to learn something big there, not just get attacked.
Dario is getting left behind! I felt a little bad for the guy but honestly, to me, he's been feeling more and more secondary to this whole thing and it appears that Dany may have grown out of him. Tyrion's conversation with Dany was excellent though. She had one line in there that seemed especially poignant; it was when she actually questioned the fact that she was leaving a man she knew loved her to go to war and conquer. She was leaving a place where peace was being achieved, where she had someone who cared about her, and was consciously giving it up. That level of self-awareness does bode well, I think.
We find out what Varys was up to and it's a solid play. He's pulling in what seem to be all the parties that are left for Dany's cause. Seeing Olenna, Tyrion, Varys, Dany, Missandei and even Ellaria Sand all on the same side is pretty incredible. There are some things worth wondering, though:
What does Tyrion do when he learns what the Dornish did to Myrcella?
Will Jamie learn of Tyrion's alliance with Dany and throw his lot in with them, given the direction Cersei has gone in?
What will be the circumstances under which Jon meets Dany? (I'm guessing Mel spreads the word and Dany heads north)
Will Dany wind up being a good queen if/when she does assume the Throne or will she wind up going villain?
There is certainly a massive amount going on with this group and how it all plays out will be interesting to say the least.
I've heard it said that at this point, most of the pieces are now in place and I'm inclined to agree. There are still a few free-agents in the wind, but at this point I think the table is essentially set. These next two seasons are going to be crazy, for sure.
I just want to thank you all for reading. This season was a cool project and I hope to keep writing here regularly. I would like to see as much conversation as I can, as the interaction with the community is the best part of this fandom.
For the final time, I want to say please go check out The Boiled Leather Audio Hour and the gentlemen responsible for it: Sean T. Collins and Stefan Sasse. They're one of the most excellent voices in the fandom and their perspective is ever invaluable. I want to thank them for inspiring me to undertake this project and stick with it.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Impressions: Gamr of Thrones - Season 6 Finale - The Winds of Winter
Spoiler Alert: There's all kinds spoilers below, don't you dare keep reading.
Final Warning.
---
OH MY GOD! The Battle of the Bastards was stunning but this episode took things somewhere... different.
Tommen is dead. Pycelle was gutted. The Tyrells and the Faith have *literally* gone up in flames along with the Great Sept of Baelor when Cersei and Qyburn had the previously mentioned massive cache of wildfire blew the WHOLE THING SKY HIGH! Shame Septa gets handed over to The Zombie Mountain to terrifying effect. Arya is back and we get Frey Pie! 0.0 We learn Jon's parentage! He's elected King in the Freakin North! Dany is leaving Dario behind and shipping out! CERSEI SITS ON THE DAMN IRON THRONE AND IS CROWNED AS RULER IN HER OWN DAMN RIGHT!
This episode was a non-stop epic end to a season that has been incredible. I'll discuss more in depth but good lord... Game of Thrones, you have conquered television.
Final Warning.
---
OH MY GOD! The Battle of the Bastards was stunning but this episode took things somewhere... different.
Tommen is dead. Pycelle was gutted. The Tyrells and the Faith have *literally* gone up in flames along with the Great Sept of Baelor when Cersei and Qyburn had the previously mentioned massive cache of wildfire blew the WHOLE THING SKY HIGH! Shame Septa gets handed over to The Zombie Mountain to terrifying effect. Arya is back and we get Frey Pie! 0.0 We learn Jon's parentage! He's elected King in the Freakin North! Dany is leaving Dario behind and shipping out! CERSEI SITS ON THE DAMN IRON THRONE AND IS CROWNED AS RULER IN HER OWN DAMN RIGHT!
This episode was a non-stop epic end to a season that has been incredible. I'll discuss more in depth but good lord... Game of Thrones, you have conquered television.
Monday, June 20, 2016
Review: Game of Thrones - S06 E09 - The Battle of the Bastards
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.
Ok, I don't know if I've reacted as much as I did during this episode to any movie or TV show ever. The Walking Dead, Orange is the New Black, Daredevil, Captain America: Civil War, etc etc; none of them held a candle to what we witnessed tonight.
There's a reason the idea of the "Epic 9's" came out of this show and tonight topped everything else it's thrown at us. What we got this Father's Day Sunday evening was nothing short of the most intense, bombastic, visceral, gut-wrenching, whoop-inducing, awe-inspiring thing that's been done on TV *ever*.
Tonight boiled down to arguably the largest two plot-lines (at least in terms of geographical scale / impact). We've got the Siege of Meereen and The Battle for Winterfell (more colloquially known as "BASTARD BOWL 2016").
In Meereen we pick up with Dany having some serious words with Tyrion and them essentially coming to terms with what is going to need to happen. It's time to play hardball. Right on cue, the great pyramid gets rocked, doors and windows get blown in and they decide they better go meet with those slavers again.
And meet with them they do. For a brief moment it looks like they may be negotiating the surrender of Meereen and then the thing we've been waiting for for so long finally happens:
Drogon, sun-blottingly massive, soars in, lands on top of the huge tower next to them and casts this incredible shadow over everyone. In this moment, you have to imagine that the slavers must have soiled themselves. He is *gigantic* and damned terrifying.
Taking off, we get Rhaegal and Vyserion in on the attack and the three dragons soar to battle, united for the first time. When they set to the fleet and Dany calls "Dracarys!" it was freakin' chill inducing. The ensuing chaos and havoc was incredible; the sheer spectacle magnificent.
Back with Tyrion, the slavers get an understanding of their true situation and happily hand over the one guy who is lowborn among them. With a cheer from us, Grey Worm cuts down the other two. Tyrion sends this last poor chump on his way to spread the word: Do Not Eff With The Dragon Lady.
Also, worth mentioning, is the talk with Theon and Yara. In all honesty, I really liked this bit. Dany is appropriately intrigued by them showing up (which seemed fast but there has been some time jumping recently) and she hears them out. Tyrion handles them well and seems to act as a decent BS filter before they really talk to Dany herself. There was some great back and forth and it's interesting seeing Theon slowly pulling himself together. He really does seem to be a changed man.
The dialog between Dany and Asha was my favorite, though. It was all summed up when Dany says that the piracy, reaving, murdering, raping, etc will stop. Yara says "But... that's our way of life..." to which Dany says "Not anymore." With that, they struck an accord I honestly felt good about. It may just be a new dawn for the Iron Islands.
Then, after that killer appetizer, we get to the main event: Jon Snow and the gang against Ramsay Bolton and the entire coalesced scum of the North in a winner-take-all throw-down for the capital of the North and our surrogate home in Game of Thrones: Winterfell.
This entire sequence was just insane. I felt like this may have done a better job than anything else I've ever seen at illustrating how scary, claustrophobic, messy, brutal and just downright crazy war can really be. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.
Right off we're greeted with the smiling face of Ramsay Bolton and the not-so-happy face of Jon (and their respective teams). Jon proposes an idea we both love and hate: single combat. We love it because we know Jon would wreck Ramsay and stop the whole thing from happening, but hate it because it means no epic battle. Ah well, you win some you lose some... sometimes both... simultaneously...
The strategy meeting is next and they did a great job of really getting you to see how dire the situation is. They're outnumbered 3-to-1, more or less, and Ramsay's guys (loathsome as they may be) are no slouches. Our heroes being victorious depends utterly on controlling the situation. We'll see how that works out...
The dialog in the scene is so good, and I thought Tormund was a standout here. Honestly the guy could be related to Drax the Destroyer. "They can't flank us." "What?" "You know, like a pincer maneuver." "What?" "They won't be able to hit us from the sides at the same time." "Good." Not a man to mince words, Tormund.
His scene walking with Davos was great too. Walking and talking, they actually find common ground: common men who got close to kings that failed. Oh, and Tormund's reaction when Davos said Stannis had demons in him was absolutely hysterical.
In the tent, we get this great conversation between Jon and Sansa and we really see Sansa bring her now-years of experience to bear. "Jon, you're planning rationally and Ramsay is expecting that. This psycho is actually really smart, really cunning and brilliant when it comes to manipulating people. Don't do what he wants you to do." Easy advice, but how's that pan out when the rubber meets the road?
Davos, on his walk, goes through the camp and stumbles on the remains of Shireen's pyre. With mounting horror he finds the little stag he carved her and it is one of the saddest things ever. Not only was she just a kid but, odd as it might be, one of his best friends. This will blow up next episode, it looks like.
I think the other scene that was worth mentioning was Melisandre explaining to Jon the resurrection process, that it's not up to her and it's not up to him. If you're supposed to come back, you'll be coming back. Jon doesn't want it, but too bad.
This is interesting because it gives us a brief idea that Jon may actually die here. It'd be weird, sure, but it could happen.
Dawn breaks and we're off to the races.
Ramsay trots out and tagging along behind him is Rickon Stark. Being the Ramsay we know so well, he presents Rickon with a seemingly simple task (which we have a really bad feeling about). This entire plan is to draw out Jon and play on his rage. It is manipulation at its finest (and lets not forget, he's only known Jon a day). Rickon makes a beeline to Jon and dies right when Ramsay means him to. Right when Jon is drawn out.
This is the trigger. Jon clearly says "eff it" and flies full-tilt at the Bolton line and we wind up at one of the most epic shots of the show. Jon rises off the ground, slow motion, to stare and the entire Bolton cavalry charging at him, ready to take them all on himself.
From this point forward, it's essentially pure, unabated adrenaline and grungy cinematography. Moments like the horse charge, Wun Wun standing at the front of the line, the overhead shot of the Bolton forces hemming in our heroes, and many others, they were all incredible.
I think the main ones that stuck with me were of Jon and the bodies. There's a point in the battle when the camera has cut back and we see a sweeping shot of the battlefield and it is bodies. Not bodies laying on the ground; no, the ground is a ten-foot-deep pile of bodies that everyone is walking, fighting and dying on top of, growing it ever higher.
Before long, the tide turns and our heroes change direction, start running. Jon is caught in the rush. Fighters slam into one another, knocking each other around, spinning, jarring. I remember my mom looked over at me briefly during this part and said "I'm confused." I said "You're supposed to be." That's just it. It's a mass of terrified humanity propelled by death, either fleeing from it, or pursuing it. Jon goes down under the tide.
It's here that the episode ascended to a new height. Jon tries to move, to get back up. It's muddy, he's smashed down. No one knows he's there. No one can know he's there. The feet thunder past. He's pressed down further and further, the muck sucking him down as his own men scramble for safety, crushing their leader to death. Jon is literally drowning in a tide of humanity.
The men run, climbing up and over the mountains of bodies. Split guts, severed limbs, screaming faces; we realize Jon isn't the only one. The hills are built of the living dying, men crying out, bleeding into the grime and Jon is being suffocated in it.
He struggles, reaches and climbs for all he's worth and breaks free, springing up from the depths as surely as a swimmer too long under water. He breaks the surface and in the midst of the horror, sees the sun.
It was a gorgeously done scene, pure and simple.
As the battle moves forward, things almost seem lost, and we hear a horn blast. All heads turn and we see a blue banner bearing the Moon and Falcon of the Vale snapping with the charge. Littlefinger and Sansa look over the battle as the Knights of the Vale charge in to obliterate the remaining Bolton forces. Looks like Sansa knew what was most likely to come and had this one in her pocket; utilizing the element of surprise to massive effect.
Finally, once it was settled, the carnage at a standstill, Jon sees Ramsay. He, Wun Wun and Tormund take off after him. Wun Wun, in epic fashion, crushes the Winterfell gate and taking everything they threw at him. Only when he takes a last arrow in the eye from Ramsay himself does the juggernaut fall.
I am the last of the Giants....
Ramsay takes his last opportunity for single combat, but Jon beast-modes through, charges Ramsay down and beats him and doesn't stop until he sees Sansa.
We finally see the Flayed Man fall. Once again the Dire Wolf flies in Winterfell.
We finally find Ramsay strapped into a chair and realize that he's in the kennels. Some poetic justice is gonna go down. Sansa tells Ramsay something that finally seems to get to him: he's going to disappear. No one is going to remember him. No one is going to care. No known legacy of his will remain to the world. All that remains for him is to be devoured by the hounds he's starved.
It's cathartic, in a way. It's incredibly satisfying to see Ramsay Bolton ended for good. It's also pretty scary to see Sansa genuinely smile after taking someone out in such gruesome fashion.
That seems to be the theme here; that even as the tide turns towards our heroes favor, it carries them to darker places. Dany, Tyrion, Jon, Sansa, all are no longer so averse to vengeance, giving in to their darker natures so long as they're in service to a righteous cause. How do we feel about that?
Thanks again for reading. This was one for the ages and composing so many of my thoughts so quickly after such an massive episode was an incredible task. I hope you enjoyed it and that you join me next time for our season finale!
As always, go check out the gentlemen from Boiled Leather, Sean T. Collins and Steffan Sasse with their reviews over at Rolling Stone and The Nerdstream Era.
Ok, I don't know if I've reacted as much as I did during this episode to any movie or TV show ever. The Walking Dead, Orange is the New Black, Daredevil, Captain America: Civil War, etc etc; none of them held a candle to what we witnessed tonight.
There's a reason the idea of the "Epic 9's" came out of this show and tonight topped everything else it's thrown at us. What we got this Father's Day Sunday evening was nothing short of the most intense, bombastic, visceral, gut-wrenching, whoop-inducing, awe-inspiring thing that's been done on TV *ever*.
Tonight boiled down to arguably the largest two plot-lines (at least in terms of geographical scale / impact). We've got the Siege of Meereen and The Battle for Winterfell (more colloquially known as "BASTARD BOWL 2016").
In Meereen we pick up with Dany having some serious words with Tyrion and them essentially coming to terms with what is going to need to happen. It's time to play hardball. Right on cue, the great pyramid gets rocked, doors and windows get blown in and they decide they better go meet with those slavers again.
And meet with them they do. For a brief moment it looks like they may be negotiating the surrender of Meereen and then the thing we've been waiting for for so long finally happens:
Drogon, sun-blottingly massive, soars in, lands on top of the huge tower next to them and casts this incredible shadow over everyone. In this moment, you have to imagine that the slavers must have soiled themselves. He is *gigantic* and damned terrifying.
Taking off, we get Rhaegal and Vyserion in on the attack and the three dragons soar to battle, united for the first time. When they set to the fleet and Dany calls "Dracarys!" it was freakin' chill inducing. The ensuing chaos and havoc was incredible; the sheer spectacle magnificent.
Back with Tyrion, the slavers get an understanding of their true situation and happily hand over the one guy who is lowborn among them. With a cheer from us, Grey Worm cuts down the other two. Tyrion sends this last poor chump on his way to spread the word: Do Not Eff With The Dragon Lady.
Also, worth mentioning, is the talk with Theon and Yara. In all honesty, I really liked this bit. Dany is appropriately intrigued by them showing up (which seemed fast but there has been some time jumping recently) and she hears them out. Tyrion handles them well and seems to act as a decent BS filter before they really talk to Dany herself. There was some great back and forth and it's interesting seeing Theon slowly pulling himself together. He really does seem to be a changed man.
The dialog between Dany and Asha was my favorite, though. It was all summed up when Dany says that the piracy, reaving, murdering, raping, etc will stop. Yara says "But... that's our way of life..." to which Dany says "Not anymore." With that, they struck an accord I honestly felt good about. It may just be a new dawn for the Iron Islands.
Then, after that killer appetizer, we get to the main event: Jon Snow and the gang against Ramsay Bolton and the entire coalesced scum of the North in a winner-take-all throw-down for the capital of the North and our surrogate home in Game of Thrones: Winterfell.
This entire sequence was just insane. I felt like this may have done a better job than anything else I've ever seen at illustrating how scary, claustrophobic, messy, brutal and just downright crazy war can really be. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.
Right off we're greeted with the smiling face of Ramsay Bolton and the not-so-happy face of Jon (and their respective teams). Jon proposes an idea we both love and hate: single combat. We love it because we know Jon would wreck Ramsay and stop the whole thing from happening, but hate it because it means no epic battle. Ah well, you win some you lose some... sometimes both... simultaneously...
The strategy meeting is next and they did a great job of really getting you to see how dire the situation is. They're outnumbered 3-to-1, more or less, and Ramsay's guys (loathsome as they may be) are no slouches. Our heroes being victorious depends utterly on controlling the situation. We'll see how that works out...
The dialog in the scene is so good, and I thought Tormund was a standout here. Honestly the guy could be related to Drax the Destroyer. "They can't flank us." "What?" "You know, like a pincer maneuver." "What?" "They won't be able to hit us from the sides at the same time." "Good." Not a man to mince words, Tormund.
His scene walking with Davos was great too. Walking and talking, they actually find common ground: common men who got close to kings that failed. Oh, and Tormund's reaction when Davos said Stannis had demons in him was absolutely hysterical.
In the tent, we get this great conversation between Jon and Sansa and we really see Sansa bring her now-years of experience to bear. "Jon, you're planning rationally and Ramsay is expecting that. This psycho is actually really smart, really cunning and brilliant when it comes to manipulating people. Don't do what he wants you to do." Easy advice, but how's that pan out when the rubber meets the road?
Davos, on his walk, goes through the camp and stumbles on the remains of Shireen's pyre. With mounting horror he finds the little stag he carved her and it is one of the saddest things ever. Not only was she just a kid but, odd as it might be, one of his best friends. This will blow up next episode, it looks like.
I think the other scene that was worth mentioning was Melisandre explaining to Jon the resurrection process, that it's not up to her and it's not up to him. If you're supposed to come back, you'll be coming back. Jon doesn't want it, but too bad.
This is interesting because it gives us a brief idea that Jon may actually die here. It'd be weird, sure, but it could happen.
Dawn breaks and we're off to the races.
Ramsay trots out and tagging along behind him is Rickon Stark. Being the Ramsay we know so well, he presents Rickon with a seemingly simple task (which we have a really bad feeling about). This entire plan is to draw out Jon and play on his rage. It is manipulation at its finest (and lets not forget, he's only known Jon a day). Rickon makes a beeline to Jon and dies right when Ramsay means him to. Right when Jon is drawn out.
This is the trigger. Jon clearly says "eff it" and flies full-tilt at the Bolton line and we wind up at one of the most epic shots of the show. Jon rises off the ground, slow motion, to stare and the entire Bolton cavalry charging at him, ready to take them all on himself.
From this point forward, it's essentially pure, unabated adrenaline and grungy cinematography. Moments like the horse charge, Wun Wun standing at the front of the line, the overhead shot of the Bolton forces hemming in our heroes, and many others, they were all incredible.
I think the main ones that stuck with me were of Jon and the bodies. There's a point in the battle when the camera has cut back and we see a sweeping shot of the battlefield and it is bodies. Not bodies laying on the ground; no, the ground is a ten-foot-deep pile of bodies that everyone is walking, fighting and dying on top of, growing it ever higher.
Before long, the tide turns and our heroes change direction, start running. Jon is caught in the rush. Fighters slam into one another, knocking each other around, spinning, jarring. I remember my mom looked over at me briefly during this part and said "I'm confused." I said "You're supposed to be." That's just it. It's a mass of terrified humanity propelled by death, either fleeing from it, or pursuing it. Jon goes down under the tide.
It's here that the episode ascended to a new height. Jon tries to move, to get back up. It's muddy, he's smashed down. No one knows he's there. No one can know he's there. The feet thunder past. He's pressed down further and further, the muck sucking him down as his own men scramble for safety, crushing their leader to death. Jon is literally drowning in a tide of humanity.
The men run, climbing up and over the mountains of bodies. Split guts, severed limbs, screaming faces; we realize Jon isn't the only one. The hills are built of the living dying, men crying out, bleeding into the grime and Jon is being suffocated in it.
He struggles, reaches and climbs for all he's worth and breaks free, springing up from the depths as surely as a swimmer too long under water. He breaks the surface and in the midst of the horror, sees the sun.
It was a gorgeously done scene, pure and simple.
As the battle moves forward, things almost seem lost, and we hear a horn blast. All heads turn and we see a blue banner bearing the Moon and Falcon of the Vale snapping with the charge. Littlefinger and Sansa look over the battle as the Knights of the Vale charge in to obliterate the remaining Bolton forces. Looks like Sansa knew what was most likely to come and had this one in her pocket; utilizing the element of surprise to massive effect.
Finally, once it was settled, the carnage at a standstill, Jon sees Ramsay. He, Wun Wun and Tormund take off after him. Wun Wun, in epic fashion, crushes the Winterfell gate and taking everything they threw at him. Only when he takes a last arrow in the eye from Ramsay himself does the juggernaut fall.
I am the last of the Giants....
Ramsay takes his last opportunity for single combat, but Jon beast-modes through, charges Ramsay down and beats him and doesn't stop until he sees Sansa.
We finally see the Flayed Man fall. Once again the Dire Wolf flies in Winterfell.
We finally find Ramsay strapped into a chair and realize that he's in the kennels. Some poetic justice is gonna go down. Sansa tells Ramsay something that finally seems to get to him: he's going to disappear. No one is going to remember him. No one is going to care. No known legacy of his will remain to the world. All that remains for him is to be devoured by the hounds he's starved.
It's cathartic, in a way. It's incredibly satisfying to see Ramsay Bolton ended for good. It's also pretty scary to see Sansa genuinely smile after taking someone out in such gruesome fashion.
That seems to be the theme here; that even as the tide turns towards our heroes favor, it carries them to darker places. Dany, Tyrion, Jon, Sansa, all are no longer so averse to vengeance, giving in to their darker natures so long as they're in service to a righteous cause. How do we feel about that?
Thanks again for reading. This was one for the ages and composing so many of my thoughts so quickly after such an massive episode was an incredible task. I hope you enjoyed it and that you join me next time for our season finale!
As always, go check out the gentlemen from Boiled Leather, Sean T. Collins and Steffan Sasse with their reviews over at Rolling Stone and The Nerdstream Era.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Review: Game of Thrones - S06E08 - No One
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.
This episode was odd, intriguing and perhaps even somewhat unexpected. The developments were also very thought provoking.
One of the things that really stuck out to me were the scenes that followed Cersei. It's odd because, in spite of how much hate she can inspire (and don't get me wrong, she is awful), I still feel for her. With the wonderful actress' portrayal of her at the beginning of the episode, you really see a caricature of her grief and pain. You see it from this weird, super-external place. It's like the reverse of Deadpool's breaking the 4th wall inside a 4th wall break...
The scene where Lancel and the Faith come to summon Cersei to meet with the High Sparrow is brilliant and the resulting action is perfect. When she refuses, they're ready to knuckle up but as entrenched as they are in their faith, they can't wrap their brains around what the Mountain really is (the almost literal elephant in the room). We're so used to seeing their confidence displayed with stoicism and menace that seeing someone actually swing something was pretty crazy. The moment the mace hits that gold breastplate and sticks, the behemoth literally not moving an inch was awesome. They give us just a beat for our brains and the brain of the poor dude who just hit him to do the same thing:
go "oh ****...."
When Cersei chooses violence, damned if she don't get what she wants. The way the Mountain tore that guy's head clean off was NUTS! What the Faith is going to do to combat him is going to have to be crazy. Also, never has he seemed more scary. I think they finally nailed getting his face under the helm nice and dark with only vague, features like dark, red eyes staring out; he is a true terror and possibly the best bodyguard... ever.
Skip forward to the little meeting in the throne room and we get some game-changing info: trial by combat is dead.
Um.... Wut?
This has been a point worth mentioning for some time in the Ice and Fire universe (or Westeros, at least). Trial by combat is said to be a manifestation of the will of the gods. Whichever side is victorious "must" be the righteous side because the gods "wouldn't allow" the righteous to lose. Of course, this doesn't stop the defense and the prosecution both selecting the most otherwise unbeatable champion they can. This is, I believe, because both sides understand the institution to be exactly what it is: a "trial" only in name and the only way they can move the trial away from getting others to believe in the innocence of a side (or lack thereof), and move it toward something actually in their control. This is why Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane is, essentially, a big fat "I WIN" card.
This situation is intriguing because we have multiple things rising from this development. First and foremost, we have a positive, more civilized change for the country as a whole. Trial-By-Combat is correctly labeled as barbaric and a society governed by thoughtfulness is a better one.
But.
As this is Westeros, and the show we're watching is Game of Thrones, ain't no way this is just all to the good and that's it. There's a fly in the ointment, as they say. That fly, in this instance, is the High Septon / Sparrow, who is incredibly clever and playing the game very well. Removal of Trial-By-Combat is good for society. It is likely that, should the gods be watching, they would view it favorably. It looks great for the small-folk. It also works out nicely for him, because as plainly evidenced by the overzealous Pez-Dispensering of one of his Faith lackeys, you're not beating The Mountain. In Mother Westeros, Mountain beats you.
Instead of removing bias altogether (which is what a good trial should do), it removes any biases that are in his opponent's favor. The trial will now be Cersei and Margaery will each stand trial in front of seven septons (you can probably guess who one will certainly be). I think it's rather plain that the Faith is not unbiased and if this is how it's going to wind up, I don't see how Cersei or Margaery are getting out of this, legally speaking. Now, how they'd stop The Mountain from just hulk-smashing the entire bench and walking out is beyond me, but this absolutely spins things a very interesting way.
Also, R.I.P. CleganeBowl :(
Riverrun is a sticky wicket, huh? And how about The Black Fish? What a 100% jerk. I mean, sure, there are admirable qualities in being a stalwart, hardened battle commander, but when you've got other people's lives; families whose safety you're responsible for, saying you'll happily fight it out isn't noble, it's asinine at the very least. His disregard for Edmure's life doesn't win him points either. His send-off was mildly sad, but also I think he's a character who actually did a great job of illustrating what things can look like for someone whose time has passed and they really have nothing left.
Jamie's dialogue with Edmure was downright fantastic, and pulled a lot from the books. The line about the baby and the catapult (while horrifying) was so well delivered and Edmure's face when he heard it was nothing but what you'd expect to see on the face of a father. Jamie played that perfectly and it got him just what he wanted: a quick, clean victory.
Jamie's time with Brienne was bittersweet. I can't help but feel that they may never see one another again. When Brienne was rowing away, and the camera popped back to Jamie and I reached out toward the screen, just as Jamie stretched out his golden stumpcover and all I could think was...
".... I wiilll remmeemmmberrr youuuuu... Willl youu reememmmberrrr meeeeee????"
All they needed in there was a really sad, cute puppy sitting on Brienne's lap. Or maybe that's Pod?
Varys goes off on his mission and I wanted to sing the song again. It was totally a parting of bros. After that, Tyrion exchanging jokes with Missandei and Grey Worm was great and I honestly, a bit delayed, really laughed hard at Tyrion's joke. Contrast that lighthearted moment with the encroaching siege and stuff got real. Just as it looked as if the Great Pyramid was getting blasted- Boom; Dany's back! (and all without blowing any real dragon budget.... so good on them for that...)
Finally, I think that takes us to Arya.
Turns out that the theories were wrong and that really was Arya. She really did get viciously stabbed, dropped into a canal, crawled out and staggered through town. That kid has one hell of a lot of constitution and I'm still shocked that those couple puncture stabs didn't take her out. Although, it takes a bit more than a Waif and a few little stabs to break through plot armor....
I think the best thing about her story this week is that I got clued into something that totally passed me by (but did not pass by my wife and her bestie, I must say). I always thought the options were that Arya becomes an assassin or she gets run out or something to that effect. I thought that they were trying to prove she wasn't up to the task.
I fully believe I was 100% wrong. The observation Jess and Ranai made was this: Jaquen's goal wasn't any of that stuff, it was to prove that Arya wasn't no one. He sees in her potential, destiny, something more. He was putting her through all the trials to help her see that no matter how hard she tried, she wasn't no one, she was Arya Stark. She's a girl who's crossed the world. She's a girl who has been hurt, scarred, lost her family, learned from some of the deadliest people in the world and gone from a privileged youth (generally speaking) to about as self-sufficient as someone can be.
As Arya walked away after stating her name for the first time in... something like two seasons? ... I felt something like happiness for her. Maybe not happiness, but maybe closer to pride. It's like she derailed herself, and was so blinded by the fact that she thought the House of Black and White was where she belonged that she couldn't see where she should be. It's time for her to go home and I think we're all stoked to see that.
Also, good riddance to the Waif. That was a hardcore way to do it.
Next week, we have what may be the most massive battle that's ever been filmed for television. Just the half minute trailer looked absolutely insane. I can't wait for the Snow to fall on the damn Boltons. Ramsay's time has ****ing COME!
Here's your reminder, go check out the Boiled Leather guys, Sean T. Collins and Steffan Sasse with their reviews over at Rolling Stone and The Nerdstream Era. These guys are always awesome and some of the best work out there. Do yourselves a favor and read 'em!
This episode was odd, intriguing and perhaps even somewhat unexpected. The developments were also very thought provoking.
One of the things that really stuck out to me were the scenes that followed Cersei. It's odd because, in spite of how much hate she can inspire (and don't get me wrong, she is awful), I still feel for her. With the wonderful actress' portrayal of her at the beginning of the episode, you really see a caricature of her grief and pain. You see it from this weird, super-external place. It's like the reverse of Deadpool's breaking the 4th wall inside a 4th wall break...
The scene where Lancel and the Faith come to summon Cersei to meet with the High Sparrow is brilliant and the resulting action is perfect. When she refuses, they're ready to knuckle up but as entrenched as they are in their faith, they can't wrap their brains around what the Mountain really is (the almost literal elephant in the room). We're so used to seeing their confidence displayed with stoicism and menace that seeing someone actually swing something was pretty crazy. The moment the mace hits that gold breastplate and sticks, the behemoth literally not moving an inch was awesome. They give us just a beat for our brains and the brain of the poor dude who just hit him to do the same thing:
go "oh ****...."
When Cersei chooses violence, damned if she don't get what she wants. The way the Mountain tore that guy's head clean off was NUTS! What the Faith is going to do to combat him is going to have to be crazy. Also, never has he seemed more scary. I think they finally nailed getting his face under the helm nice and dark with only vague, features like dark, red eyes staring out; he is a true terror and possibly the best bodyguard... ever.
Skip forward to the little meeting in the throne room and we get some game-changing info: trial by combat is dead.
Um.... Wut?
This has been a point worth mentioning for some time in the Ice and Fire universe (or Westeros, at least). Trial by combat is said to be a manifestation of the will of the gods. Whichever side is victorious "must" be the righteous side because the gods "wouldn't allow" the righteous to lose. Of course, this doesn't stop the defense and the prosecution both selecting the most otherwise unbeatable champion they can. This is, I believe, because both sides understand the institution to be exactly what it is: a "trial" only in name and the only way they can move the trial away from getting others to believe in the innocence of a side (or lack thereof), and move it toward something actually in their control. This is why Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane is, essentially, a big fat "I WIN" card.
This situation is intriguing because we have multiple things rising from this development. First and foremost, we have a positive, more civilized change for the country as a whole. Trial-By-Combat is correctly labeled as barbaric and a society governed by thoughtfulness is a better one.
But.
As this is Westeros, and the show we're watching is Game of Thrones, ain't no way this is just all to the good and that's it. There's a fly in the ointment, as they say. That fly, in this instance, is the High Septon / Sparrow, who is incredibly clever and playing the game very well. Removal of Trial-By-Combat is good for society. It is likely that, should the gods be watching, they would view it favorably. It looks great for the small-folk. It also works out nicely for him, because as plainly evidenced by the overzealous Pez-Dispensering of one of his Faith lackeys, you're not beating The Mountain. In Mother Westeros, Mountain beats you.
Instead of removing bias altogether (which is what a good trial should do), it removes any biases that are in his opponent's favor. The trial will now be Cersei and Margaery will each stand trial in front of seven septons (you can probably guess who one will certainly be). I think it's rather plain that the Faith is not unbiased and if this is how it's going to wind up, I don't see how Cersei or Margaery are getting out of this, legally speaking. Now, how they'd stop The Mountain from just hulk-smashing the entire bench and walking out is beyond me, but this absolutely spins things a very interesting way.
Also, R.I.P. CleganeBowl :(
Riverrun is a sticky wicket, huh? And how about The Black Fish? What a 100% jerk. I mean, sure, there are admirable qualities in being a stalwart, hardened battle commander, but when you've got other people's lives; families whose safety you're responsible for, saying you'll happily fight it out isn't noble, it's asinine at the very least. His disregard for Edmure's life doesn't win him points either. His send-off was mildly sad, but also I think he's a character who actually did a great job of illustrating what things can look like for someone whose time has passed and they really have nothing left.
Jamie's dialogue with Edmure was downright fantastic, and pulled a lot from the books. The line about the baby and the catapult (while horrifying) was so well delivered and Edmure's face when he heard it was nothing but what you'd expect to see on the face of a father. Jamie played that perfectly and it got him just what he wanted: a quick, clean victory.
Jamie's time with Brienne was bittersweet. I can't help but feel that they may never see one another again. When Brienne was rowing away, and the camera popped back to Jamie and I reached out toward the screen, just as Jamie stretched out his golden stumpcover and all I could think was...
".... I wiilll remmeemmmberrr youuuuu... Willl youu reememmmberrrr meeeeee????"
All they needed in there was a really sad, cute puppy sitting on Brienne's lap. Or maybe that's Pod?
Varys goes off on his mission and I wanted to sing the song again. It was totally a parting of bros. After that, Tyrion exchanging jokes with Missandei and Grey Worm was great and I honestly, a bit delayed, really laughed hard at Tyrion's joke. Contrast that lighthearted moment with the encroaching siege and stuff got real. Just as it looked as if the Great Pyramid was getting blasted- Boom; Dany's back! (and all without blowing any real dragon budget.... so good on them for that...)
Finally, I think that takes us to Arya.
Turns out that the theories were wrong and that really was Arya. She really did get viciously stabbed, dropped into a canal, crawled out and staggered through town. That kid has one hell of a lot of constitution and I'm still shocked that those couple puncture stabs didn't take her out. Although, it takes a bit more than a Waif and a few little stabs to break through plot armor....
I think the best thing about her story this week is that I got clued into something that totally passed me by (but did not pass by my wife and her bestie, I must say). I always thought the options were that Arya becomes an assassin or she gets run out or something to that effect. I thought that they were trying to prove she wasn't up to the task.
I fully believe I was 100% wrong. The observation Jess and Ranai made was this: Jaquen's goal wasn't any of that stuff, it was to prove that Arya wasn't no one. He sees in her potential, destiny, something more. He was putting her through all the trials to help her see that no matter how hard she tried, she wasn't no one, she was Arya Stark. She's a girl who's crossed the world. She's a girl who has been hurt, scarred, lost her family, learned from some of the deadliest people in the world and gone from a privileged youth (generally speaking) to about as self-sufficient as someone can be.
As Arya walked away after stating her name for the first time in... something like two seasons? ... I felt something like happiness for her. Maybe not happiness, but maybe closer to pride. It's like she derailed herself, and was so blinded by the fact that she thought the House of Black and White was where she belonged that she couldn't see where she should be. It's time for her to go home and I think we're all stoked to see that.
Also, good riddance to the Waif. That was a hardcore way to do it.
Next week, we have what may be the most massive battle that's ever been filmed for television. Just the half minute trailer looked absolutely insane. I can't wait for the Snow to fall on the damn Boltons. Ramsay's time has ****ing COME!
Here's your reminder, go check out the Boiled Leather guys, Sean T. Collins and Steffan Sasse with their reviews over at Rolling Stone and The Nerdstream Era. These guys are always awesome and some of the best work out there. Do yourselves a favor and read 'em!
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Review: Game of Thrones - S06E07 - The Broken Man
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.
So I finally got to sit down and check out our most recent episode, "The Broken Man", late Sunday evening. I watched it again Monday evening to really wrap my head around it. What an incredible piece of work (albeit different from what I was expecting from the adapted content, but I'll touch on that later). Let's talk about it.
We get a cold open! Immediately when I queued up the show on my DVR I was like "Wait... this is an actual scene and the credits haven't rolled yet... what?" Within this, I finally got to see who they got Ian McShane to play. While it wasn't Septon Meribald, it was his show analog and was awesome to watch. He really seems to be one of those actors that you forget about. He isn't big in the press, tends to play odd roles or is just off the beaten path a bit, but when he does take a role, he adds something excellent to it (see Al Swerengen from HBO's Deadwood).
With the show opening, we see that a small Sept is being built and it's a really happy little place! Everyone is helping, happy, doing their part. We also see teams bringing in timbers. We also see a piece of timber that would take four men being carried by one.
Part of me thought, for a moment, this was some kind of flashback to Ser Duncan The Tall, but it turns out that our dearly departed Hound ain't so dead after all. He turns that burned face around for us and the credits hit.
My jaw dropped, honestly. I fully support the theory that Sandor Clegane is alive in the books and that he's the Grave Digger on The Quiet Isle, but I thought the show was done with him. Seeing that burnt face made me cheer. I'm going to close the article talking about him and the events around him this episode, so hang tight on that one. For now, let's hit some other stuff.
How about Margaery Tyrell, huh? She and the High Sparrow are something else. I think it's more than clear now that they're both playing the game but it makes me wonder if either of them believes the other. Marg certainly is running her game, as evidenced by the simple rose drawing passed to Olenna, which seems to say "Don't worry, I've got a plan. Trust me, I'm still your grand daughter." Dianna Rigg's face when she looked at the paper was fantastic. Just the slightest facial expression change said "Ah, I understand and feel much better. Go get 'em."
Cersei's moment with Olenna was excellent. Seeing The Queen of Thorns just rip Cersei a new one in her trademark "old-folks-can-say-what-they-please" manner was just priceless. Cersei is realizing she's in an increasingly tight spot and it's looking like it's all she can do to keep her head above water.
What do you guys think Margaery's plan is? The High Sparrow doesn't seem afraid to die, he has the masses on his side, he's tied directly to the king now and the Faith is growing ever more prominent. She thinks many steps ahead, so I'm sure it'll be good, but I wonder if we're even supposed to guess yet. Interested to hear your thoughts.
Jon, Sansa and Davos are having a rough go of it up North, but the scene on Bear Island was awesome! The girl they got to play Lady Lyanna Mormont was freakin' brilliant. Kudos to GoT casting department!
Having said that, I love how, despite all the sworn loyalties and oaths and whatnot, we're seeing more and more houses rejecting those loyalties (or at least questioning loyalties) that have stood for centuries as unspoken rule. Lady Mormont poses this great question of "Why?!" and, though Davos presents a great answer, it's still an excellent question.
What I'm having a little trouble understanding is exemplified with what happens when they meet the Glovers (I kept waiting for Danny to show up, but maybe the casting budget was low...). The current Lord Glover listens to the pitch from the trio and winds up rejecting them, saying House Glover has done enough, bled enough and that House Stark is dead. The whole time I was thinking "but... Sansa Stark is RIGHT THERE and on top of that, they just said Rickon is being held prisoner by Ramsay!" Lord Glover said they wept to hear about Ned. Everyone in the North talks about Northern loyalty and how everyone loved Ned and that they would support him and his family all the time. I could understand if it was just Jon, but why is it such a hard sell when there is 100% Stark blood right there, and also reason to believe a true-born male heir is alive as well? This feels like a slightly contrived obstacle to me.
Now I need to rant. I was checking out the io9 review (you can read it here). Rob Bricken wrote this in his notes and I want to quote him because he nails it:
"We do get a brief check-in with Yara and Theon, who have taken their boats and pirates to a Westerosi equivalent of Hooters. I mean, I’m sure it’s yet another whorehouse, but like EVERY SINGLE WOMAN is just hanging out topless, and it seems to be primarily a place where people eat and drink. To be fair, the nudity does serve a purpose in that it all emphasizes how vastly uncomfortable and ashamed Theon is. It doesn’t help that even his sister keeps mocking him for having his penis cut off by a madman.
Yara also gives her brother a bit of a pep talk, which basically involves 1) forcing him to chug ale and 2) telling him if he going to keep moping about all those months of torture and being castrated, he should go ahead and kill himself. Theon manages to look her in the eye by the end, but it’s worth noting that this is pretty much Yara—and probably most of the Iron Islanders—at her most compassionate. They are a terrible people."
I am really hating that even the "most" redeemable of the Iron Islanders is seriously just another scumbag. Asha, in the books, is sexually liberated, sure, but she never seemed the type to go for a brothel (and I'm not sure where her being into other women came from, or why it was at all necessary...). She is also forward thinking and has some humanity to her. She actually seems like she grieves and feels for her brother.
Yara, on the other hand, essentially might as well be male. There is nothing distinguishing her here. She is supposed to represent a new way; a better way and she fails. The Ironborn are vile and absolutely the Dothraki of Westeros and I'm going to be severely disappointed if Dany throws her lot in with them. I seriously could go the rest of the series without seeing anything else having to do with them. They might as well get axed just like Dorne seems to be so some screentime can go to a storyline that deserves it.
*Deep Breath* Ooooook.
Arya. What-the-actual-eff?! Now I've gotten that out of my system, what did you guys think of all this? I know there are some theories out there but I pointedly tried to avoid them (though I did see one that was very intriguing). Initially, before she went for a swim, I do recall feeling like the scene was weird, but couldn't put my finger on why. Arya comes up to this sailor, dressed very nicely (and SUPER clean) and hands him two sacks of hard coin to get the hell out of there, ASAP. She then goes to the bridge and looks out at the Titan wistfully. This old crone comes up to her and you immediately know it's the Waif, but I thought Arya would catch her! Nope. Slash, stabby-stab, splash. She stays down and this really well done, no-cutaway shot of the water lingers juuuust too long to be uncomfortable and up comes this hazy cloud of blood.
Arya scrambles (VERY convincingly) out of the water, bleeding like a stuck pig. Her skin color as she staggers through the streets was incredible and it seriously looks like she's dying. The way they did her bleeding was also striking, like the drop hitting the cobbles. Now here's the theory that turned my head around:
What if it isn't Arya?
To my understanding, the theory goes that for some reason, "Jaquen", whether out of fondness or a sense of debt or duty, disguises himself as Arya and we're actually watching him this whole time. He knows where the Waif is going to be, so he goes there, gets himself stabbed to get her off the hook or buy her time or something. The really trippy thing is, if that's remotely true, we just watched an Arya scene without Arya actually being there! I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this because it didn't even occur to me that it might not really be her, but like I said, I did get a weird feeling about how she looked / acted...
Finally I return to Brother Ray and The Hound. I loved this little story. True Brother Ray wasn't Septon Meribald, but was great all the same. His message was fantastic. War is terrible and can make monsters out of us all. In war, we're given orders, told to do the work whether we like it or not. Life takes us places where we may or may not like ourselves afterwards. At the end of the day, though, it's never too late to change. It's never too late to be better, no matter what. If you want to be different, you can be.
This is all based off of a speech from a character named Septon Maribald in A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 4, A Feast For Crows. Septon Meribald's "Broken Men" monologue is one of the best things in the series and you can find it here (if you haven't read it, you must). I wish they had included it in the show, as it is wonderful and extremely poignant.
The Hound is a perfect target for this. He's been through hell in his life and what he constantly goes back to is "look at all the awful things I've done." He says to Brother Ray "If the Gods are real, why haven't I been punished?" to which Brother Ray replies "Who says you haven't?" He hears this and is stunned speechless.
It's a profound moment for a character so covered in anger, hatred and even fear. He's been through hell. He's been through a meat grinder of a life. Who's to say that he hasn't been being punished this whole time as was just too blind to see the better path?
It's also sad, because of course he comes back from his zealous wood chopping to find the group murdered, and by men from The Brotherhood no less. He grabs his axe and we are pretty sure he's done chopping wood.
I'm wondering what's in store for him. I think Sandor Clegane, in the books, is at peace. I think he's done and that his old life and The Hound are behind him. The Hound of the show, I think, now just wants vengeance for something that was good. Where this takes him, I know not. Whether this is the road to his death at the hands of the Brotherhood or to Clegane-Bowl, who can say? I pray there is peace for him in the end, though...
Thanks, as always for reading and please do write down in the comments. The most fun thing about being a part of this fandom is the conversations we get to have with each other. Any back-n-forth makes for a great time and it's always awesome to hear a fan's thoughts, no matter who. As Brother Ray would say, it's never too late for the first comment. :)
Last, but certainly not least, please check out the dynamic Boiled Leather duo, Sean T. Collins and Steffan Sasse with their reviews over at Rolling Stone and The Nerdstream Era. These guys are wellsprings of knowledge and insight and are well worth reading!
So I finally got to sit down and check out our most recent episode, "The Broken Man", late Sunday evening. I watched it again Monday evening to really wrap my head around it. What an incredible piece of work (albeit different from what I was expecting from the adapted content, but I'll touch on that later). Let's talk about it.
We get a cold open! Immediately when I queued up the show on my DVR I was like "Wait... this is an actual scene and the credits haven't rolled yet... what?" Within this, I finally got to see who they got Ian McShane to play. While it wasn't Septon Meribald, it was his show analog and was awesome to watch. He really seems to be one of those actors that you forget about. He isn't big in the press, tends to play odd roles or is just off the beaten path a bit, but when he does take a role, he adds something excellent to it (see Al Swerengen from HBO's Deadwood).
With the show opening, we see that a small Sept is being built and it's a really happy little place! Everyone is helping, happy, doing their part. We also see teams bringing in timbers. We also see a piece of timber that would take four men being carried by one.
Part of me thought, for a moment, this was some kind of flashback to Ser Duncan The Tall, but it turns out that our dearly departed Hound ain't so dead after all. He turns that burned face around for us and the credits hit.
My jaw dropped, honestly. I fully support the theory that Sandor Clegane is alive in the books and that he's the Grave Digger on The Quiet Isle, but I thought the show was done with him. Seeing that burnt face made me cheer. I'm going to close the article talking about him and the events around him this episode, so hang tight on that one. For now, let's hit some other stuff.
How about Margaery Tyrell, huh? She and the High Sparrow are something else. I think it's more than clear now that they're both playing the game but it makes me wonder if either of them believes the other. Marg certainly is running her game, as evidenced by the simple rose drawing passed to Olenna, which seems to say "Don't worry, I've got a plan. Trust me, I'm still your grand daughter." Dianna Rigg's face when she looked at the paper was fantastic. Just the slightest facial expression change said "Ah, I understand and feel much better. Go get 'em."
Cersei's moment with Olenna was excellent. Seeing The Queen of Thorns just rip Cersei a new one in her trademark "old-folks-can-say-what-they-please" manner was just priceless. Cersei is realizing she's in an increasingly tight spot and it's looking like it's all she can do to keep her head above water.
What do you guys think Margaery's plan is? The High Sparrow doesn't seem afraid to die, he has the masses on his side, he's tied directly to the king now and the Faith is growing ever more prominent. She thinks many steps ahead, so I'm sure it'll be good, but I wonder if we're even supposed to guess yet. Interested to hear your thoughts.
Jon, Sansa and Davos are having a rough go of it up North, but the scene on Bear Island was awesome! The girl they got to play Lady Lyanna Mormont was freakin' brilliant. Kudos to GoT casting department!
Having said that, I love how, despite all the sworn loyalties and oaths and whatnot, we're seeing more and more houses rejecting those loyalties (or at least questioning loyalties) that have stood for centuries as unspoken rule. Lady Mormont poses this great question of "Why?!" and, though Davos presents a great answer, it's still an excellent question.
What I'm having a little trouble understanding is exemplified with what happens when they meet the Glovers (I kept waiting for Danny to show up, but maybe the casting budget was low...). The current Lord Glover listens to the pitch from the trio and winds up rejecting them, saying House Glover has done enough, bled enough and that House Stark is dead. The whole time I was thinking "but... Sansa Stark is RIGHT THERE and on top of that, they just said Rickon is being held prisoner by Ramsay!" Lord Glover said they wept to hear about Ned. Everyone in the North talks about Northern loyalty and how everyone loved Ned and that they would support him and his family all the time. I could understand if it was just Jon, but why is it such a hard sell when there is 100% Stark blood right there, and also reason to believe a true-born male heir is alive as well? This feels like a slightly contrived obstacle to me.
Now I need to rant. I was checking out the io9 review (you can read it here). Rob Bricken wrote this in his notes and I want to quote him because he nails it:
"We do get a brief check-in with Yara and Theon, who have taken their boats and pirates to a Westerosi equivalent of Hooters. I mean, I’m sure it’s yet another whorehouse, but like EVERY SINGLE WOMAN is just hanging out topless, and it seems to be primarily a place where people eat and drink. To be fair, the nudity does serve a purpose in that it all emphasizes how vastly uncomfortable and ashamed Theon is. It doesn’t help that even his sister keeps mocking him for having his penis cut off by a madman.
Yara also gives her brother a bit of a pep talk, which basically involves 1) forcing him to chug ale and 2) telling him if he going to keep moping about all those months of torture and being castrated, he should go ahead and kill himself. Theon manages to look her in the eye by the end, but it’s worth noting that this is pretty much Yara—and probably most of the Iron Islanders—at her most compassionate. They are a terrible people."
I am really hating that even the "most" redeemable of the Iron Islanders is seriously just another scumbag. Asha, in the books, is sexually liberated, sure, but she never seemed the type to go for a brothel (and I'm not sure where her being into other women came from, or why it was at all necessary...). She is also forward thinking and has some humanity to her. She actually seems like she grieves and feels for her brother.
Yara, on the other hand, essentially might as well be male. There is nothing distinguishing her here. She is supposed to represent a new way; a better way and she fails. The Ironborn are vile and absolutely the Dothraki of Westeros and I'm going to be severely disappointed if Dany throws her lot in with them. I seriously could go the rest of the series without seeing anything else having to do with them. They might as well get axed just like Dorne seems to be so some screentime can go to a storyline that deserves it.
*Deep Breath* Ooooook.
Arya. What-the-actual-eff?! Now I've gotten that out of my system, what did you guys think of all this? I know there are some theories out there but I pointedly tried to avoid them (though I did see one that was very intriguing). Initially, before she went for a swim, I do recall feeling like the scene was weird, but couldn't put my finger on why. Arya comes up to this sailor, dressed very nicely (and SUPER clean) and hands him two sacks of hard coin to get the hell out of there, ASAP. She then goes to the bridge and looks out at the Titan wistfully. This old crone comes up to her and you immediately know it's the Waif, but I thought Arya would catch her! Nope. Slash, stabby-stab, splash. She stays down and this really well done, no-cutaway shot of the water lingers juuuust too long to be uncomfortable and up comes this hazy cloud of blood.
Arya scrambles (VERY convincingly) out of the water, bleeding like a stuck pig. Her skin color as she staggers through the streets was incredible and it seriously looks like she's dying. The way they did her bleeding was also striking, like the drop hitting the cobbles. Now here's the theory that turned my head around:
What if it isn't Arya?
To my understanding, the theory goes that for some reason, "Jaquen", whether out of fondness or a sense of debt or duty, disguises himself as Arya and we're actually watching him this whole time. He knows where the Waif is going to be, so he goes there, gets himself stabbed to get her off the hook or buy her time or something. The really trippy thing is, if that's remotely true, we just watched an Arya scene without Arya actually being there! I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this because it didn't even occur to me that it might not really be her, but like I said, I did get a weird feeling about how she looked / acted...
Finally I return to Brother Ray and The Hound. I loved this little story. True Brother Ray wasn't Septon Meribald, but was great all the same. His message was fantastic. War is terrible and can make monsters out of us all. In war, we're given orders, told to do the work whether we like it or not. Life takes us places where we may or may not like ourselves afterwards. At the end of the day, though, it's never too late to change. It's never too late to be better, no matter what. If you want to be different, you can be.
This is all based off of a speech from a character named Septon Maribald in A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 4, A Feast For Crows. Septon Meribald's "Broken Men" monologue is one of the best things in the series and you can find it here (if you haven't read it, you must). I wish they had included it in the show, as it is wonderful and extremely poignant.
The Hound is a perfect target for this. He's been through hell in his life and what he constantly goes back to is "look at all the awful things I've done." He says to Brother Ray "If the Gods are real, why haven't I been punished?" to which Brother Ray replies "Who says you haven't?" He hears this and is stunned speechless.
It's a profound moment for a character so covered in anger, hatred and even fear. He's been through hell. He's been through a meat grinder of a life. Who's to say that he hasn't been being punished this whole time as was just too blind to see the better path?
It's also sad, because of course he comes back from his zealous wood chopping to find the group murdered, and by men from The Brotherhood no less. He grabs his axe and we are pretty sure he's done chopping wood.
I'm wondering what's in store for him. I think Sandor Clegane, in the books, is at peace. I think he's done and that his old life and The Hound are behind him. The Hound of the show, I think, now just wants vengeance for something that was good. Where this takes him, I know not. Whether this is the road to his death at the hands of the Brotherhood or to Clegane-Bowl, who can say? I pray there is peace for him in the end, though...
Thanks, as always for reading and please do write down in the comments. The most fun thing about being a part of this fandom is the conversations we get to have with each other. Any back-n-forth makes for a great time and it's always awesome to hear a fan's thoughts, no matter who. As Brother Ray would say, it's never too late for the first comment. :)
Last, but certainly not least, please check out the dynamic Boiled Leather duo, Sean T. Collins and Steffan Sasse with their reviews over at Rolling Stone and The Nerdstream Era. These guys are wellsprings of knowledge and insight and are well worth reading!
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