Review: Game of Thrones - Season 6, Episode 10 - The Winds of Winter

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.

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.

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. 

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!

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!

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!

Review: Game of Thrones - S06E05 - The Door

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.

Seven Hells, this episode put me through the ringer.  Lets jump right in.

This scene was immensely satisfying.  Sansa gets notice that her old pal Littlefinger is in town and wants to meet up.  Sansa, with her new uber-lady in tow, shows up looking to give him a talking-to.  I *loved* how she stuck it to him.  "If you didn't know, you're an idiot.  If you *did* know, you're my enemy."  Well said!  I don't think we've seen anyone make Littlefinger *this* uncomfortable in the history of the show.  Sure, he was physically accosted a few times (Ned, Cersei's guards, etc) but emotionally it's essentially a version of Catelyn tearing him down and making him face what a slimy s.o.b. he really is.  Well done, Sansa.  Well done.  Also, Brienne is fantastic and Sansa makes perfect use of her. Aiden Gillen does a great job subtly showing that she is scary as hell.

Arya is training with the Waif, gaining marked competancy, until her trainer turns it up to 11, matrixes out of the way of everything Arya throws at her and then solidly punches seven shades of ass-whoopery into her face.  She says "You'll never be one of us, Lady Stark."

You know, as an aside, you'd think that if you're trying to get someone to let go of who they are, directly bringing up who-they-are may be a little counter productive, no?

Jaquen pops in, mentions that the Waif has a point and tells her about the first Faceless Men.  They were slaves in Valyria before the Doom.  They also escaped and helped found the city of Braavos.  Arya then gets sent on another mission, with it being explicitly clear that this is her final shot.  Makes me wonder if she'll bungle it...

I thought that Arya asking who the first Faceless Man was an unexpectedly funny line, where I can imagine her saying, immediately after she asked "Yeah, yeah, I know, I heard it as soon as I said it.  I don't mean who specifically..."

Arya gets all dressed up and goes to see a play that her target is involved in.  Luckily, it's a story she's familiar with!  They satyrize the event's of Robert's death, all the way through Joffrey's ascent to the throne.  It's worth noting that she's fine with the mockery of the other characters, but once Ned comes on stage, she's offended. That being said, totally understandable.  Also the portrayal of Ned seems to be the only one that was patently incorrect.

After the performance there was some quota-filling nudity I perhaps could have done without and Arya gets a look backstage, seeing the players.  I was wondering at how she got back there, and why no one questioned her presence there.  What capacity is she pretending to be there in?  I just thought it could have been a bit better explained, perhaps showimg a shot or two of her sneaking back there instead of wasting time doing a close-up on some... well, nevermind.

Arya goes back to The House and talks with Jaquen.  She starts asking questions, as usual, and Jaquen asks her "Are you serious about serving?"  "Yeah."  "Servants don't ask questions."

This is where I think we start peeling away from the Faceless Men and the way they work.  Arya has a strong sense of right and wrong in her, at least in terms of who should die or not in a given scenario.  The Faceless Men, by definition, don't.  Everyone's gonna die, don't ask questions, just do as you're told; feelings or morality don't enter into it.  We can tell Arya is internally balking at this.

It's also interesting that this may be one of the longer strings of separate scenes we've seen that are all following the same character throughout. Four scenes!

Also, found a fun little easter egg (or maybe consistency goof).  The guy playing Robert has this spear with a huge curved blade. We see this in the establishing shot of him coming on stage. There is then a jump-cut to a medium shot of him and he has the *actual* spear Robert used!  It cuts away and he has the huge spear the rest of the time.  I think they threw that in on purpose, for fun.  Cool :)

Bran is in dreamland again and this was the first "HOLY $#!?" Moment this episode. We see the Children sacrificing someone at a weirwood tree growing in Westerosi Stonehenge.  The Child that Bran has spoken with many times is performing the ritual.  We have this grueling shot that doesn't break away of her pushing an obsidian blade 100%, slowly, into his chest.  It is intense to say the least.

To book readers, the weirwood sacrifices are not new.  We hear about the First Men, even the Starks themselves, carrying out blood sacrifices to the weirwoods.  It was a barbaric ancient custom.  We even have Bran flashbacks where we see one happening.  This one is different.

That blade goes in, and once it's in, the shot snaps to the man's face and we get one big WTF: his face goes pale and his eyes turn crystal, icy blue.  This may be the *first* actual White Walker.  Not a wight (the undead zombies) but a legit rider in blue and white.

Bran flips, snaps out of it, questions the Child, and we get some crazy info.  They were under attack by men, so the Children *CREATED* the Others (White Walkers) as a super weapon / defense.  We're to understand that this, of course, went awry and they lost control of their Mr. Freeze army.

This goes against what I understood from the books.  Having read the main series as well as The World of Ice and Fire, I was under the impression that on Westeros, there existed the Children, the Giants and the Others *long* before the First Men made their way over.  I've always thought that they were like a force of nature that always resided in the farthest northern reaches of the world.  There is also evidence that they have somehow impacted the rest of the world too, in some way (given the presence of the 5 forts... go read The World of Ice and Fire, it's nuts).  My gut is telling me that this is a change for the show and that the White Walkers were essentially a sentient nuke that got out of control.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments, it would be very interesting to hear what you guys think.

Jump to the Iron Islands, Theon and Asha (ok... Yara...).  They have their super sophisticated election.  Yara steps forward when no one else says anything.  She makes her pitch.  She says that they've forgotten who they are and what they're best at.  She'll give them aquatic superiority again.  She won't let them be conquered or humiliated again.  Ok.

Some blaggard steps out and starts going on about how they've never had a queen and how a woman won't be right for the job, especially given that Baelon's *male* heir is there.  Nervously Theon steps out.

Here, I honstly half thought Theon would have this rush of ambition, calling back to his old-self, but he then speaks up for Asha.  It's a solid speach and he kept his word to his sister.  Good man.

Just when things are going well, Euron, the prodigal (though unrepentant) uncle shows up for the second time ever.  In front of everyone he cops to chucking Baelon off a bridge and makes his claim.  All thought of Yara goes out the window and Euron gets the vote.  He's not giving them the sea, he's giving them the world, and he's going to go impress the hell out of the dragon queen with his ships and... overwhelming nautical superiority.

What kinda held me up was how a priest of the Drowned God, who knew Baelon to be a god-fearing man (whatever else he may have been) didn't have Euron seized and executed for regicide and fratricide.  I can believe that not lots of folks were fond of Baelon, but no one said a *thing*.  They were just like "Cool, at least he owned up to it, lets hear him out."  Just came off as odd and possibly a concession for story expediency.  Euron is then drowned, with the hope that if he survives, the Drowned God has deemed him worthy.  Needless to say, he doesn't just die.  The ceremony is unlike that in the books and I'm not sure how I feel about it but I think it works in the context of the show.  He comes out of it and goes "Where's Asha and Theon?"

They went and stole the whole damn Iron Fleet.  Euron, cool as a cucumber, just goes "No biggie, you guys can just build me another one, so.... yeah... get to work."  We'll see if they can pull this off in a relatively believable way.  Speaking of believability, how many people were following Yara?  That was a TON of ships!  Ah well, maybe they have tow cables...

Jump to Dany, Jorah and Dario.  Dany is back in Dragon Queen form.  She got her hair did, got a nice outfit and she's ready to rock.  She has a hilltop meeting above her newly acquired khalasar.

I honestly loved this scene.  Dany gets straight talk from Jorah and she is finally over the stuff from the past.  Tyrion gets credit from Jorah and Jorah is finally fully honest with Daenerys.  He says he loves her and I smiled.  Dany takes this and for once, doesn't reject him.  She acknowledges she needs him and what she means to her.  Then Jorah shows us the extent of the Greyscale.

He's in a bad way and Dany is appropriately horrified.  How bad is it? Dunno.  Is there a cure?  Dunno.  Jorah exiles himself but that gets shot down and Dany tries a new command on for size.  She sends Jorah away but tells him to come back (poor guy just can't guess what he's supposed to do lol).  She sends Jorah to find a cure, then to return.  This raises a huge question: *is* there a cure?!  If this has a book analog, it could have some major ramifications.  If there isn't one, Jorah is gonna die alone.  It'll be interesting to see what happens.

In Meereen, we find out that the plan they set in motion is working.  They realize, though, that Dany needs a serious PR campaign, so they enlist the help of the Red Priests of R'hllor.  In comes a red priestess very much like Mel.  They get to talking and Varys looks shaken and emotional for possibly the first time ever.  We learn he has some serious negative bias towards magic and that his castration was part of a magic ritual (so one could understand his position).  Tyrion, in hilarious form, scrambles to maintain the decorum of the meeting.  In the end, she tells Varys that so long as he's on her side, he's got nothing to fear.  He doesn't look too comforted...

Up in our favorite northern root cave, Bran is sick of being on a leash, so while Grandpa and the kids are down for their early-afternoon nap, he decides to take the dream-machine for a joyride.

He goes back to the tree of the sacrifice and it is now bare, the stones and ground are now shrouded in white, and we can imagine why.

But we don't have to imagine long because the scene spins around and we see the legions of the icy dead.  Behind them, the commanding officers, the White Walkers, surveying the horde with looks of hard purpose.

Bran wades through the corpses, seeing them in grizzly detail, until he arrives at the White Walkers.  He looks at them, turns around and to his horror, the army has done an about-face without him noticing.  He looks into the eyes of the Night's King, certain in his non-presence.  Turns out he's not as non-present as he may have thought.  The Night's King not only sees him, but *grabs* him.  Bran lurches awake, terror and dread covering him.  Bloodraven tells him they're now in deep crap and Bran knows this because he looks at his arm and there's essentially light frostbite on his arm in the discernable shape of fingers.  Time to learn to be Bloodraven, whether you're ready or not.  You screwed up and now, the devil and all the legions of Hell are coming right for you.

Jon and the rest of our Castle Black friends mull over the situation and how to get enough support to hit Winterfell.  Davos has doubts, being the practical man he is, but Sansa vouches for the staunch reliability of the true Northmen.  Davos tries to get real with her, but she sticks to her guns.  It's really cool to see Sansa becoming a power player and being involved in a council.  She really seems cut out for it.  They're going to go rally the North, other houses, small tribes, you name it.  The North Freakin' Remembers.

In the meeting, Sansa also mentions the fact that The Blackfish has raised an army at Riverrun.  How did she know this? Because littlefinger told her.  But not wanting to say that, she says it was info she gleaned earlier when she was still with him.  When Brienne asks her why she lied, she doesn't have an answer.

As they're heading out, Sansa gifts Jon a new Stark cloak, just like Ned's, complete with embossed direwolf.  To her credit, Sansa makes some damn nice clothes.  That direwolf embroidery on her dress is *awesome*.  Props to the costume department!

Farewells are said and it made me sad to see Jon say goodbye to Edd just like he and Robb said goodbye when they left Winterfell the first time.  As they saddle up, we have one of the best moments in the show: Tormund looks over at Brienne and makes his first real move and gives Brienne the biggest shaggy grin he's got.  Brienne looks away super fast with an expression that is just priceless.  A brother of the watch asks Edd, since he's Lord Commander now, if he wants them to close the gate.  "I'm not the- wait a minute...  Oh, yeah... Yeah, close the gate."  Oh Edd, you've never let us down.

Now our final scene and damn what a scene.

Meera preps to leave with Hodor's help.  They have some happy back and forth, talks of being home, good food, warmth and leaving trouble behind.  Meera feels somthing isn't right and rushes outside.  There she finds the Children looking out into the frozen wastes.  The army of Death is at their door.  The Night's King demonstrates his power, sending streaking cracks through the earth into their cave.  Meera runs for Bran, trying to shake him awake, Hodor rocking back and forth in distress.

Bran is back in flashback-town and Bloodraven is getting him prepped.  He is seeing his grandfather, Lord Rickard Stark, sending Brandon off to Riverrun, giving him some final life lessons before leaving home.

Meera and Hodor rush to gather their things and to get Bran on the sled.  Bran, all the while is unconscious and outside the White Walkers advance under a hail of Children tree-grenades.  The White Walkers step to the blazing fire ring and even the flames cower as they move forward (this was mega badass).  The wights swarm the hill.

The undead start falling through into the cavern, Meera and the Children fight and try to wake Bran at the same time.  They need Hodor.  He needs to wake up.  They're going to die.

Bran, standing in Winterfell's courtyard hears Meera's despairing cries echo around him, fear, confusion and sadness written on his face.  Bloodraven entreats him to listen to his friend.  He looks at young Willas, happily scrubbing down a saddle on that nice, sunny day.

Hodor's eyes (in the "present") snap white and clarify.  He rises.  At this moment, the long-bearded White Walker looms into the cave and impales an attacking Child on the end of his frozen sword.  Hodor get moving with Bran and Meera lands a perfect spear throw, obsidian spearhead shattering the Walker.

Here I want to specifically mention Summer.  There are so few of the pups left and this was his final stand.  Having saved Bran's life before, Summer does it one last heartbreaking time, buying them precious moments, standing against the onrushing horde, as heroic as a wolf could ever hope to be.  You will be remembered, Summer and as brave as any warrior.

Running pell-mell down the tunnel, the tide of death thunders down on our heroes.  At the same time, Night's King enters and walks to Bloodraven, cradled within the entwining roots.  "The time has come,"  Bran's mentor says.  "Leave me."  His lip trembles, the blade rises as the face of death looks at the helpless old man.  Bran sees his mentor explode, rent in half by an invisible slash, turning him to black ethereal debris floating off on the wind.

Streaking down the tunnel, the undead blanket every surface, moving with incredible speed.  The one Child left takes out her last tree grenade and sacrifices herself to buy them mere seconds.

They reach the door at the end of the tunnel.  It's jammed.  "THE DOOR!" Meera screams.  Hodor bellows and slams himself against it, forcing it grinding open against snow and frozen hinges.

They slip outside, rusted weapons and cold, dead hands grasping after them.  Waves of them smash against the ancient wooden door as Hodor uses everything he has, one of the biggest men there are, to hold that door closed.

"Hold the door..." echoes through Bran's mind, and so, into the mind of young Willas, standing in the Winterfell courtyard.  Bran watches as Willas snaps, his eyes go white.  Impact thunders against Hodor's back, as Willas, his younger self, experiences the panic, pain and terror of what his future self is doing.  Linked through Bran's ability, the pain and fear are shared and overwhelms poor Willas' mind.  He drops to the ground, having a seizure, Old Nan rushes to him.

"HOLD THE DOOR!" he screams, endlessly, as if it's the only thing fueling his resolve.  His destiny, his fate, are met in that moment, as Hodor, one of the most unexpected tragic heroes of our time, stands against all the tides of darkness, watching the backs of the friends he loves retreat into the black, feezing storm.  The door starts splintering, hands come through, and Hodor, possibly the strongest stableboy there's been, a true, dedicated friend and paragon of loyalty without an evil bone in his body, perished at the clawing hands of an onslaught of evil.

I want to give a special shout-out to Kristian Nairn, who plays Hodor (and also the fellow that was his young self).  You were amazing and a perfect Hodor.  There is not a fan that won't miss you and the show was richer for having you in it.  Thank you for all your hard work and bringing such a beloved character to life for us.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13 KJV

#holdthedoor

Once again, thanks for reading and please post in the comments below.  It has been one hell of an episode and an unexpectedly emotionally trying one.  Let's grieve, speculate, theorize and discuss together.

As always, please check out the always awesome Boiled Leather guys: Sean T. Collins over at Rolling Stone and Stefan Sasse over at The Nerdstrem Era.

In Defense of Ser Alliser Thorne

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for any previous episodes and published book content. If you are not caught up, this is your warning.

So this is bound to be a bit controversial, but what the heck; I like me a good conversation.  I was talking with Jessica (the Lady of the House) and we wound up on opposing sides.  So, like a good husband and fan, I'm taking it to the interwebs (lol).

Now, I hate Alliser Thorne (yes, there is no T in his name; it's pronounced Al-ihs-er) as much as the next guy, but GoT Season 6, Episode 3 got me thinking.

At the close of Season 5, Jon is lured out and assassinated by Thorne, Othell Yarwyck, Bowen Marsh (and Olly).  Assuming one only watches the show, there's no way to know Jon is coming back (there are reasons to think he could, but no way to know).  That is infinitely true for the characters participating in the assassination.  They think a dead Jon is a perma-dead Jon.

Looking back at Thorne and his career in the Watch, this is a guy who really did live for the Watch.  He took his oath seriously and, even if he was a major asshole, he did it to better the Watch.  He didn't put on kid gloves and everything he did was to make the other men colder, harder and stronger.

Every time he was given an order by a ranking officer, he followed it, even insofar as stepping aside when his buddy Janos Slynt was being hauled to the block.  There had been multiple times where Thorne could have rebelled, could have flown in the face of Jon, or even Mormont, and didn't because generally it seems like he respects authority.  He may not *like* the person in charge, but he follows orders.

Thorne is a man serving in a time when the Night's Watch is at the lowest it's ever been (save, perhaps, during the Night's King's reign?).  They have a massive shortage of truly capable men and with Mance Rayder massing the Wildlings north of The Wall and the disappearance of their First (and best) Ranger, Benjen Stark, they are in a particularly bad way.

Moving forward, he witnesses a few decisions that are decidedly ill advised.  Mormont takes the main body of the men at Castle Black and goes on a ranging beyond The Wall, to find Benjen and also see if they can't learn more about what's up with the Wildlings.  When they come back, many are dead.  Also, Jon is gone and Qorin Halfhand (one of the most renowned Rangers ever) is dead at the hands of Jon Snow, who went off and joined the damn Wildlings.  He broke his vow many times over, killing a commanding officer, joining the enemy, and taking a Wildling girl too.  Thorne doesn't know, or have much reason to believe the particulars of the actual story; for all he knows Jon is just full of crap and trying to get them to not kill him.

Jon, as a leader, has many great qualities including martial prowess, strong loyalty of some few of the men, a noble upbringing and affiliation with a great house.  All these things also earned him the image of being a privileged lordling who doesn't know what it is to be like everyone else.  Thorne absolutely exacerbates this out of his own personal bad attitude.

Once Jon is taken under the Old Bear's wing (paw?) I believe it only makes this image worse for some. Jon keeps rising and, after Mormont is killed, they elect a new Lord Commander.  Thorne and Jon are dead-tied and only Maester Aemon's vote swings it.  We have to remember that Thorne was *literally* ONE vote shy of the biggest seat at the table.

After all this, Jon takes many actions which most of the Watch view as unorthodox at best and something like heretical at worst.  He works with the Wildlings, allows them through The Wall to settle south of it on the land gifted to The Watch for farming in perpetuity.  He gives room and board to Stannis and his men, acting in some ways that appear very much like "taking part" even though his vows say they should not. He even enacts a mission to Hardhome, using many resources out of their already short supply, to rescue Wildlings, all to stop a fairy-tale story only some of the men truly believe anyway.  Jon sees the Free Folk as people and there's the problem.

The crux of my argument is how the men of The Watch see their purpose and how they view themselves.  We know that in ages past, The Wall was built to stand against The Others (the White Walkers) but they've been gone for centuries and have receded out of living memory.  In that time, The Watch forgot about their original purpose and began thinking they existed to protect the realms of men from the fur-clad barbarians, not grumpkins and snarks.

To me, Thorne views his duty (and that of the rest of the Watch as well) as stopping the Wildlings; protecting the women and children of the Seven Kingdoms from the savages.  The more he followed orders, the more he failed in his duty. The more he went along with Jon's plans, the worse things got for the Watch. They were dying.  In the end, I believe that Thorne's sense of duty to the Watch overtook his sense of propriety and his view of the chain of command.

I believe that, in his heart, Thorne was being utterly true to his vows.  I think he didn't like Jon, but showed he was capable of supporting him or at least just following along if it's what was needed.  I don't think his personal feelings entered into it in any driving capacity.  I think orchestrating Jon's death was his last ditch, drastic measure to try to save the Watch from someone seemingly hell bent on dismantling everything they've ever fought for.  I think Thorne legitimately thought he was doing the right thing and making the hard call that no one else could.

If it was personal, he could have just done it himself but he even got the other top-ranked men of the Watch to agree that it must be done "for the Watch".

The problem is that the Night's Watch has lost sight of its true purpose and Jon failed, as a leader, to adequately communicate what it really is. He failed to recognize that spending time building allies amongst your "brothers" was invaluable instead of just dictating to them and expecting them to fall in line.  It was almost the same thing that did in Ned: refusal to play the game.

My ending thought is that we assume that since Jon hangs Thorne and the rest in his official capacity as Lord Commander, that he does so because Thorne broke his vows.  Given the above stated circumstances, Thorne's record and what Jon represented to those who couldn't fully understand the end goal, I don't think Jon should have executed him.  I think that Thorne truthfully was honoring his vows and protecting the Watch the best way he knew how.

Think about it like this: Jamie Lannister saved a city full of people by putting his sword through the back of Aerys Targaryen.  He actually *did* break his vows and the worst he got was a semi-cool-but-dishonorable nickname. He even got to keep his job and even wound up becoming Lord Freaking Commander of the Kingsguard (granted, this is due in no small part to varying degrees of nepotism, but still...)!

I think Thorne stuck to his vows and thought he was protecting them all.  You can only honor your vows as you understand them and on those grounds, he should still be alive.  Kill him for having killed *you*, sure (not many get that sort of opportunity). That's revenge and a primal thing that's at least understandable if not *right*, but at the end of the day, I simply say this:

Ser Alliser Thorne was not an oathbreaker.

Review: Game of Thrones - S6E04 - The Book of the Stranger

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.

I've got to say, watching this show as someone who now has no firm knowledge of what's coming has been an absolute rush. The moments are raised to a whole new level and I've been loving every bit!

Based on some feedback I've gotten, I'm going to do the review a bit differently tonight and mainly keep it to opinions and let the comments and feedback lead where they will.

Right of the bat, we got Jon and Edd, with Jon essentially packing his things. Edd is asking pretty much what we're all thinking.

I really liked this bit between them. Edd is standing in for so many perspectives. It's so compelling to see him trying desperately to wrap his head around the idea that there is actually a person who has fulfilled his vow to the Night's Watch and is still alive to be able to go do other things. It *is* crazy. Hearing Jon throw "...and they killed me" and " I got murdered" in the past tense is so bizarre. We're literally seeing a man who *was dead* and now isn't and his friends also seem to be struggling with this. It is great.

The next moment made me smile and made my wife cry. FINALLY we get a Stark reunion! It's tear-filled, warm, tender and just wonderful. Just as Jon is about to go, Sansa shows up and Jon almost dies again. The familial love there, the raw happiness and relief to see someone you know you can trust was palpable and I think it was a huge release for all of us. To be honest, I half thought Jon would leave and Sansa would show up moments later, somehow having missed them. I'm so glad that didn't happen.

Davos and Mel have this conversation I thought was interesting that is followed up on when Brienne gets there. I hadn't realized that Davos didn't actually know what happened with the battle! Mel never actually told him. Here he learns for the first time in a concrete way (and so do we in Stannis' case, though we pretty much knew) that Stannis is 100% dead. His face when he asked about Shireen broke my heart.

Tyrion's work this week was really interesting and got to the realistic heart of what's happening in Essos. Dany has been going about things from a very idealistic angle but Tyrion, ever the pragmatist, takes a different tack here that seemingly no one but possibly Varys, is expecting.

Sitting with the representatives from the slave cities, he presents the Dragon Queen's terms. The slaver cities are part of a dying tradition, and it's clear that it will be going away. However, due to the nature of their economy and how the entire part of the world's life is built, ending slavery cold-turkey was perhaps not the most practical way to go about things. They have seven years to get their affairs in order and begin the shutdown process.

The others are aghast at this but Tyrion explains himself well, and makes very compelling arguments. Grey Worm and Missandei are not pleased with this but grudgingly trust Tyrion with a "This had better work..." attitude. Score another one for the Halfman.

Between the Lannister Clan, The Faith anf the Small Council, lots of little things are happening, most of which come down to Maegaery's current situation.

To that point, the imprisoned queen has the amazing scene with the High Sparrow, where he talks about how he came to the Faith. Honestly, I loved how true it rang. So often in life, I think we find ourselves wanting and striving for *more.* Doesn't matter what it is, just *more.* He mentions how he dumped hundreds, even thousands of hours into work just to get a taste of "better" life, a life he thought was worth all that effort, time and struggle. Once he got it, he didn't like the taste and instead sought out a righteous life; one of meaning, service and purpose. I thought it was a wonderful choice to have the now barefoot penitent be a cobbler in his past life. It was a truly touching story.

On the following scene, we get the other part of the "What's it all worth?" diptych. Margaery is finally able to see her brother, who seems to be channeling Reek. A shadow of his former glory, Loras Tyrell, pride of his house, huddles in the fetal position in squalor and rags. His sister comes to him, cradles him in her arms and tells him to be strong. Don't give them what they want, that they just have to fight and they can win. It's here that Loras says one of the most profound things I've heard from the show: he doesn't want to. He wants it to be over. He doesn't want to fight, he just wants it to end, for the pain to stop.

All through this series we've seen characters put through the ringer. Trial after trial and we believe "They just gotta keep fighting and they'll make it! They're our heroes (or protagonists at least)!" We (or at least I) often forget that they're people. That these are human characters who have limits and who reach breaking points that bring things into perspective.

All throughout this episode we see our characters presented with the question: Do we continue to fight? Jon feels it's all he's done, and he lost. Sansa feels they must, that it's their duty to take back their home. Tyrion thinks that they can outwit the enemy. The Queen of Thorns exhorts those in the room that they must fight because, inevitable as deaths will be, better anyone else than them. We saw Margaery's mind go to standing up to the Faith and any who would come against them but Loras just wants an end to it. Asha and Theon talk about fighting for the Iron Islands, and a new way of life for a people who've known only pointless conflict. Dario, walking along with Jorah, even looks at the possibility of a fight where there's no benefit: beating Jorah. Either way, he either is the jerk who killed an old man, or he's the clod who got beat by one.

Jon, in his second appearance of the episode receives a letter, ominously sealed with the now oh-so-familiar flayed man of Bolton. Unrolling it, he intones the demands of a madman:

"To the traitor and bastard, Jon Snow. You allowed thousands of Wildlings past the Wall. You've betrayed your own kind. You've betrayed the North. Winterfell is mine, bastard. Come and see. Your brother, Rickon, is in my dungeon. His direwolf's skin is on my floor. Come and see. I want my bride back. Send her to me, bastard, and I will not trouble you or your Wildling lovers. Keep her from me and I will ride north and slaughter every Wildling man, woman and babe living under your protection. You will watch as I skin them living. You will watch as my soldiers take turns raping your sister. You will watch as my dogs devour your wild little brother. Then, I will spring your eyes from your sockets and let my dogs do the rest. Come and see.

Ramsay Bolton - Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North"

Everything here is meant to provoke. Everything here is meant to drive Jon to action. Every series of sentences is a call to action. "Come and see." It's a Westerosi "Come at me, bro." Little does Ramsay understand, Jon is a man unlike few who are still living. He's a scion of House Stark. He's a true leader. He's battle tested. He's got something different than madness or rage, ambition or fear of loss. He's got legions of fighters who truly believe in him and Stark blood. When The Stark calls the banners of the North, a rallying call for all true Northmen, the many loyal will rise. House Stark isn't dead and Ramsay is going to see what happens when he runs into someone who's fighting for something that's worth fighting for. Family, home, and plain-'ol good.

Finally, we have Dany. She stands among the Dosh Kahleen, and listens to their advice and wisdom. All the while, you can tell she is just letting it wash over her. She steps out to use the little-Khaleesi's-room, one of the other younger member's of the Ex-Khaleesi Club. Walking from the hall, they run smack into Jorah and Dario (who, incidentally, found out how to get away with a Vaes Dothrak shanking...bludgeon the poor bastard beyond all recognition with a rock). Jorah and Dario say they need to get the Seven Hells out of there; Dany says she's not going yet; she's got a plan.

Dany, per the Dothraki law, stands before the Khalar Vezhven, basically the Khal Council. They vote on her fate and the discourse predictably dissolves into misogyny and barbaric behavior which we've come to expect. But this time, things go differently.

Dany says to them that none of them are qualified to lead. None of them have any aspirations of greatness. None of them are even close to good enough. This, of course, is not met with acceptance. Khal Moro (the most respectful of the bunch until now) rises with the rest, hurling the ugliest threats they can, asserting their dominance in this temple that is theirs. Dany looks at them with light flickering in her eyes.

As if she finally came back to herself, the dragon coming alive inside her, she puts her hand on the crackling brazier with nary-a-sizzle. Daenerys, the Unburnt. She shoves the whole thing over, spilling fire into the midst of the giant hut made of kindling. Daenerys, Mother of Dragons. She tips the other two braziers, engulfing the entire gathering in a raging inferno and the Khals look to her as she looks back, wreathed in flame, a dragon in its natural habitat. Screaming, trying to escape, they find the door barred and the Khalar Vezhven becomes a pyre that could be seen from space.

Outside, every Dothraki in Vaes Dothrak comes to see the biggest house fire on record. Through the caved in door of the hall, you only see a white-hot furnace. Gaping, wide eyed, all look on, stunned. From the fire walks a lone figure. The Khaleesi who would not be a Khaleesi, the exiled princess who knows she has a destiny and a mission to return to, a dragon queen who has to get back to her dragons and her people.

She walks out, clothes plainly torched but herself utterly unharmed; an image of power and someone who knows who she is. The entire khalasar bows and Jorah and Dario look on in awe as they see a reminder of just what they fight for.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you liked it. It was one of my favorite episodes and I can't wait for what comes next. Please hit up the comments, share your thoughts and tell your friends. Game of Thrones is more fun with friends!

Also be sure to check out the reviews our buddies from Boiled Leather are doing over at Rolling Stone and The Nerdstream Era!