Game of Thrones – “Battle of the Bastards” – Season 6, episode 9 Review/Recap

Sunday night sure was a doozy — a double dose of ‘events’ – the final game of the NBA Finals (Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers) and a much anticipated episode of HBO’s “Game of Thrones”. It doesn’t matter in which order you watched, just as long as you caught both, right? If there was any parallel to be drawn, it’d be that things appeared hopeless given the odds for both the Cleveland Cavaliers (who were earlier down 3-1 in the series) and Jon Snow’s army being dwarfed (sorry Tyrion) by an army twice the size (Bolton’s army).
 

Puff the Magic Dragons

Before we scooted off to the ‘Battle for Winterfell’, we need to know how things in Mereen are ‘fairing’. After all, the Slave Masters are last seen attacking the city. As Tyrion tries to catch Daenarys up to speed on the events as of late (while, you know, the city continues being attacked), they devise a plan – basically Daenarys gets on her dragon, Drogon, while the other two dragons escape from their cell and help burn all the Slave Masters’ ships.

Later, we come to see that the Greyjoy sibilings (Yara and Theon) try to make an alliance with Daenarys (with Tyrions consult and initial reservation due to his past experiences with Theon). The Mother of Dragons agrees to the alliance so long as they support her as ruler of the seven kingdoms and the Greyjoys still get to keep the Iron Islands but they must also stop rape and pillaging – which Yara reluctantly agrees to.

Will this mean that they’ll all begin heading way to King’s Landing finally? Don’t count on it. There’s still two more seasons and that Euron Greyjoy guy must still be dealt with. Plus, you need to remember that it is likely that Cersei may use wildfire to burn King’s Landing to the ground as Tyrion was keen in mentioning to Daenarys. Maybe there won’t be a city to claim once all that Faith of the Seven hubbub is dealt with.
 

Bastard v Bastard: The Dawn of Injustice

The inevitable battle finally gets its due. With small numbers but loyal men, Snow finds that he has no other options in fighting the Boltons. Even though Sansa tried to explain that Ramsay Bolton is a conniving, heartless human being and that Rickon is as good as dead, we still get a little pre-war emotional game to play to Jon Snow’s do gooder intentions. Brought out to initially believe he’s been freed, Ramsay toys with Rickon to run to Jon Snow as he uses his bow and arrow to shoot at him but intentionally misses until Snow is brought out of the pack to rescue his brother. Then Ramsay kills Rickon. This essentially starts the battle and boy was it glorious to watch. The idea of ‘epic’ war scene is turned on its head when we get a more gruesome, realistic take on a war when everyone is wielding sharp objects. Heck, there were so many times Snow could’ve been killed but he kept getting lucky. There was even a point where dead bodies were continuing to pile upon him and he was close to suffocating to death. As all of this was happening, the cowardly Ramsay gawked in the distance with confidence. Once Bolton’s army surrounded Snow’s, it looked like things were done and over with until (unsurprisingly) Sansa and Little Finger arrive with the Knights of the Vale to assist. I know that this last minute rescue is for ‘theatrics’ but come on. Why would Sansa not reveal any of her correspondence to her brother? It may have even helped save other’s lives if they knew they had more men to work with. I hope they hit on that later. Anyways, so Ramsay runs back to the castle only to find it immediately stormed upon by the wilding giant (Wun Wun), who is eventually killed with an arrow to the eye (thanks a lot Ramsay). Although Ramsay could’ve been killed by numerous other men, Snow decides to fight him on his own and eventually ends up on top of him where he continues to pummel him in the face. Snow stops when he sees Sansa distraught and eventually we have a nice little ‘payback’ scene where Ramsay is tied up and put into the same room as his ravenous dogs (whom he hasn’t fed in seven days) and is made dinner for the night. Sansa does remind him before he is killed that any mention of the name ‘Bolton’ will disappear from existence and he will mean nothing. It’s a good redemption for Sansa, who was once held captive by Ramsay and continually raped as he obligatory wife. However, I do see the writers of the show making Sansa realize that she’s later pregnant from all of this. After all, it was Ramsay’s intention to bring forth an heir.

I should touch upon the Davos’ developing subplot. Before the battle, we see him going for a walk to clear his head and in doing so he finds a souvenir that he gave to Stannis’ daughter before she was burned alive. This souvenir helps deduce that Malisandre is responsible for all of it. I’m not sure why it took the presence of a souvenir to remember that the witch lady could be responsible for killing someone he held dear. I had forgotten that Davos wasn’t present when Stannis’ daughter was publicly slain.

Oh, and you can also add the idea of the Mormont army being an army of strong men that ride on bears as a buildup that meant nothing when it came down to the Battle for Winterfell. They were nowhere to be seen.

Takeaway: This episode focused more on women empowerment with Daenarys taking hold of Mereen (again), Daenarys’ obvious admiration for Yara and her desire to lead the Iron Islands and Sansa’s redemption and role at the Battle of Winterfell. Sansa is who she is because her idea of ‘dress up and being a queen’ was destroyed by Joffrey and Ramsay. She’s been through hell and back and that is apparent. In fact, she’s seemingly more level headed than her brother (maybe this is just because she knows the enemy so well). She’d been emotionally hardened, unlike her brother (well, cousin) Jon Snow. It will be interesting to see how their dynamic plays out now that Winterfell is now theirs once again. I do not see them leaving Winterfell for a while until they battle the White Walkers and Jon Snow realizing who his real parents are.
 

Grade: A

Game of Thrones – ‘Oathbreaker’ – episode 3 recap/review

Just as the title of this episode suggests, many of the characters have no other viable recourse other than to break their oaths for what they believe is the ‘greater good’. With that, this also casted a light into what is really important to these characters. Perhaps the biggest ‘oathbreaker’ in this episode would be one most would not really expect, especially fans of the books – the Umbers (I’ll get to that later).

So, Daenarys is being forced to live out her days amongst the other Dothraki widows as what is customary once a husband passes (and can no longer conquer the world – Westeros). You can tell that she believes she has a duty to all people, as Queen of the Dragons, and feels she must break the oath she made upon marrying Khal Drogo. Of course, there will be a council that has yet to ‘try’ Daenarys for the time she spent away as Queen. There’ll be political finagling, but we all know we’ll see Daenarys and her dragons reunite. It will be interesting to see how Valerys and Tyrion play out the Sons of the Harpy and whether Mereen is really worth liberating. I don’t see why Daenarys wastes her time when she needs to storm King’s Landing.

Arya Stark initially broke her oath when she killed one of those off her ‘hit list’ (end of season five) but has since found retribution after being blind and understanding that she is ‘no one’. Upon this, she is given her sight back. Things finally look on the up and up for Arya who has seemed to spend way too much time training under the House of Many Gods. It’ll be very interesting to find where her path leads.

Jon Snow has been resurrected, thanks (maybe) to Lady Malisandre. With only his last memories being betrayed and stabbed by other members of the Night’s Watch (because of his alliance with the Wildlings), he executes the men responsible. Immediately after, Snow declares that his ‘watch’ has ended and walks out (the execution and his Lord Commander coat being handed off was his ‘mic drop’).No one can really state that he has an oath. I mean, he was just killed (and then brought back). The question is, ‘what will Snow do next?’ Is he heading back to Winterfell?

The brother and sister/lover duo (Jamie and Cersei Lannister) continues to strategize their next move at seeking retribution. They didn’t do too much this episode but continue to alienate everyone else with the presence of the Frankenstein version of “The Mountain”.

Gilly is seen tending to a seasick Sam as they cross the sea to see Sam’s parents. This may not turn out well as Sam doesn’t exactly have high acclaim for his father upon describing his family to Gilly. Nonetheless, it looks like we are going to see more of Sam, his maestro training and his eventual reuniting with Snow.

Bran continues to see the past but this time it was a young Ned Stark facing a swordsman who was holding his sister captive in a small castle. When Bran urges to learn more about what occurred that day, the Three Eyed Raven prevents him from seeing more. We do not know the true implications of Bran’s relationship with the Three Eyed Raven. However, we do get more information as we go – like the idea that the Three Eyed Raven is basically attached to the roots and he has been waiting specifically for Bran to meet him.

Now, we are given the ‘biggest oathdreaker’, Smalljon Umber. The Umbers were loyal to the Starks, even during Robb Stark’s reign. Greatjon Umber questioned Robb Stark’s ability to lead and had his two fingers bitten off by his direwolf in season one (if you can remember that far back). Well, Smalljon Umber appeared to Ramsay Bolton looking to unite forces and even brought Rickon Stark and Osha (the wildling we last saw him with). In the books, Smalljon was loyal to Robb Stark up until his death. Here, he is seen as ‘the oathbreaker’. This is after his father, Greatjon, emphasized the importance of being loyal and adhering to the oath. When Ramsay Bolton requests that he kneel and pledge allegiance to his cause, Smalljon essentially spat in his face. He even mentions that his father died (but not how). Something happened to Smalljon that has him throwing any sense of ‘loyalty’ out the window. This catches Ramsay off guard but he seems to ignore this once Smalljon’s presents his ‘gifts’ – Osha and Rickon Stark along with the head of his direwolf, shaggydog. Remember, the last time we saw Osha and Rickon was when Bran said he had to go north of the Wall (with Hodor, Meera, and Jojen)Note: this was all the way back in season four. Bran told his brother and Osha to head to the Umbers for safety the last time he saw them. Of course, they were met with anything but.

There’s still a lot to look forward to: Jon Snow’s destination, Bran’s visions, Rickon’s backstory, the slow moving Lannister chess game, the identity of the leader of the Sons of the Harpy, how Daenarys will escape, and the fate of the Iron Islands.

So far, this season has been a lot of fun!
Grade: A