Return of the Hound

We'll get to talk about the episode, but first I have to mention the appearance of Ian McShane! An amaaaaazing actor who is called in to serve in the Game of Thrones armada of million characters for one episode as Brother Ray. I can't believe they brought him in for such a small role. This guy could easily have carried a much bigger role with his awesomeness. Instead he is brought in as a catalyst to reintroduce Sandor Clegane, The Hound. Another brought-back-from-the-dead character in this resurrection themed season.

After we all considered The Hound to be dead after Arya Stark leaves him bleeding by the roadside, he is back and he is helping Brother Ray to build a Sept. It appears the fearsome Hound is a changed man. He is helpful, although keeps to himself and doesn't mingle with the other believers; he is trying his best to change his ways and let go of his violent past. The Hound has turned puppy.

In King's Landing we find some things have changed now that the Faith and the High Sparrow have joined forces with the Crown. Olenna Tyrell is having dinner with Margaery Tyrell while closely watched by the stern "shame" sister, Unella. Margaery is now supposed to be a "born again faithful" and is to fully represent the new union of faith and crown to all, including her grandma who is trying desperately to understand why her granddaughter is behaving as though she is a brainwashed buffoon (grandma raised you better than that!). As suggested earlier, Margaery is a very good actress and is totally faking her new found piety. In case some viewers were concerned that she has actually bought into the whole High Sparrow bullshit, we are re-affirmed that she is actually still very much her old, smart and calculating self when she gives her grandma a piece of paper with a drawing of a rose, The Tyrell house sigil, seasoned with some good advice - "go home grandma!". Good advice indeed. Grandma Tyrell who almost stormed the Sept with her soldiers last episode may find herself high on the Sparrow's "walk of shame" list if she stays at King's Landing.

Following that meeting, Olenna Tyrell doesn't waste a moment and starts packing for Highgarden. In comes Cersei Lannister who was on Olenna's good side last episode when both of them had a common goal - to save Margaery from the Walk of Atonement. Now, it's a whole different ball game. Olenna blames Cersei for all the mess going on at King's Landing and tells Cersei that she is responsible for ruining both their houses (she is like Mercutio in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - "a plague o' both your houses") and gloatingly admits that her only comfort in this whole mess is that Cersei is screwed far worse than the rest of them. Cersei finds that the walls of King's Landing are closing in tight around her. Her trial is coming up soon and she has no supporters; no one but her special frankenmonster The Mountain to do her bidding. It will be interesting to see Cersei go full bat-shit crazy mode.

Jaime Lannister has been banished from King's Landing and is now sent to solve a "housing dispute" in Riverrun (Jaime is like the most expensive errand boy). He is supposed to end the siege on Riverrun and convince Brynden "The BlackFish" Tully to surrender the castle to Walder Frey. The Freys have a prisoder - Ser Edmure Tully - the lawful ruler of Riverrun in their custody. They threaten to execute him in hopes that The Blackfish will surrender the castle to save his life. But you don't mess with Blackfish. He is like "kill him, don't kill him, I don't care". He sits in his castle and is completely surrounded by the Freys when in comes Jaime and dick slaps them all because they are all amateurs at siege management. He tries to parlay with The Blackfish himself but Jaime's reputation as Kingslayer (people should really get over this, he did everyone a favor guys!) makes all his promises seem void. Brynden is all about honor and he sees Jaime as the ultimate betrayer and therefore, doesn't care to agree to his terms. Jaime is forced to retreat back to camp and come up with a better approach. It seems most of the times when Jaime interacts with people outside his family circle he gets constantly trodden on for being a douche while his decision to slay Aerys "The Mad King" Targaryen is probably the most decent thing he ever done. Karma - this is what you get for boning your sister. 

Meanwhile, up north, Sansa Stark, Jon Snow and Davos Seaworth are all busy busy busy trying to recruit an army to retake Winterfell from the hand of Ramsey Bolton. They first need to convince the Wildlings to join their cause. The Wildlings have absolutely no interest in taking part in the North's political upheavals. Why should they join a battle that is in no way related to them? They are also far more democratic than the houses of the north, so they are much harder to rally around a common cause. But with the help of Tormund Giantsbane Snow and Sansa manage to get the Wilding support. Tormund is basically calling them a bunch of cowards if they refuse to support a guy who literally died for them. Good move Tormund.

Next, the team goes to Bear Island (where Jorrah Mormont is from) to try and convince them to join arms against Ramsey. They meet with the Lady Mormont who is the most mature 10-year-old ever. After being left in charge since both her parents are away she has to rule the island and is not very happy at the prospect of sending all her forces to fight for another Stark campaign (seeing as the last one ended with the Red Wedding). But here Davos comes to the rescue and smooth talks his way with the little Lady by pointing out that there are worse things than the Boltons to rally against soon. The Lady consents to send all her forces - a fearsome number of 62 (lol) fighters to retake Winterfell. Was the trip to the island really worth it?  

Yara and Theon Greyjoy are on the run from their uncle Euron who is intent on having their heads on a sea spike. The go to brothel, which is the last place where Theon wants to be. Yara tries to get her brother to be a less broken shell of a man, a shadow of his former self, worthless pile of sadness by making him drink some ale. Their plan is to go to Meereen and make a pact with the Dragon Queen (Daenerys) to help them retake Pyke if they give her the fleet of ships they nicked from their uncle in return. Good, solid plan. But nothing too exciting there.

A nice scene is shot in Braavos where Arya Stark is strutting about town asking all kind of ship owners to take her to Westeros in return for a hefty bag of stolen coin. She is over confident to the point of making me want to slap her for her recklessness. Then, the inevitable happens and the Waif from The House of Black and White appears dressed like the wicked stepmother from Snow White and stabs her repeatedly. Arya is seriously injured and falls off the bridge to escape certain death only to wander around town with nowhere to turn to, while bleeding profusely. Great job Arya...after all that ninja training you could not foresee that the group of assassins you pissed off, may try to assassinate you? Not a very good tactician, like the rest of her family. You can call a girl "no one" a thousand times, but you can't beat out the Stark in her...

Brother Ray gives an inspirational speech on how everyone deserves a second chance to be better and just when The Hound is almost about to buy into that and rejoin the faithful in a Kumbaya song, a bunch of riders from The Brotherhood Without Banners approach and threaten the peaceful hippie dudes that they should give them food. When the peaceful dudes decline saying they barely have enough for their own needs, the Hound understands that they may be in some trouble with some bad people. Because if there's one thing the Hound knows is violent creeps. It takes one, right? So he goes off to chop wood in an emo mood when Ray comes over to tell him that he is just paranoid and that violence is not the answer and all kind of other hippie stuff, and the Hound retorts by saying that being dead doesn't solve violence either. He made a point there. A point Ray and the other do gooders missed. And suddenly there are screams and The Hound is back at the Sept construction site only to find all the villagers are slain and Ray (the awe inspiring Ian McShane) dead and hanging form the church's unfinished rafters. Such a waste of talent. I was actually sad...Kill off Ian McShane after just ONE episode? Give him a hippie role that serves as a catalyst for the Hound to get his act together and grab an axe and walk off angrily off screen? Shame. Shane. McShane.

So overall, the episode was full of plot development again. I hope next week's will be better. There were some rare moments of great TV, but this feels like a filler episode more than anything else.

I'll give it a 6.5.  

Blood of My Blood - Review

No big shockers here, just plot progression, but still worth to mention a few surprising moments in episode 6 of Game of Thrones:

Poor Meera drags Bran Stark in a sled to flee the wights and the Night King who previously stormed their cave in the last episode. Bran is heavy and Meera is tired and the wights are closing in. Out of nowhere comes Benjen "Cold Hands" Stark to the rescue. After the customary slicing and dicing of the undead, they exchange pleasantries and he tells Bran and Meera how he was rescued by the voodoo magic of the Children of the Forest from becoming a wight himself.

Samwell Tarly and Gilly arrive at Horn Hill, Sam's home. The plan is for Gilly to stay there while Sam goes ahead to Old Town to become a Maester, as per Jon Snow's orders. Does Snow even remember is old pal Sam or why he sent him there? Not a single mention of Sam coming from Jon Snow this season...yeah, I know he has been dead for the first two episodes, but still, where's the camaraderie? I thought they were best buds. Tarly's mission is such an offshoot of the whole Long Night end battle, it seems so unimportant now. But his return to Horn Hill is cringe worthy only for the fact that is daddy turns out to be a giant turd. Probably the only dude who is benefiting from joining the Night Watch in the first place, Sam has to sit through the most awkward family dinner this season so far, while his dad hurls insult after insult at the poor Sam. Daddy Tarly doesn't appreciate his son's weight, his bookishness and his choice of bride ("you bring a wildling to the table, boy?"). I bet this is kinda the experience of bringing your African American girlfriend to your KKK dad.

Sam's mother and sister are ineffective in this obviously patriarchal, macho household, Gilly is basically the only one trying to stand up for poor Sam telling his dad that he actually killed a walker. Dad is a disbeliever. Sam has second thoughts about leaving Gilly and her baby at Horn Hill (you don't say...) and decides to take off with Gilly, baby and his daddy's Valyrian steel family heirloom sword. You go Sam!

Meanwhile, grandma Olenna Tyrell and Cersei Lannister's plan to save Margaery from the walk of shame administered by the Faith Militant is turned over its head. Instead, Margaery and king Tommen the first (and the last...huehuehue) declare the Faith and the Crown to be the two pillars of society on which the Seven Kingdoms stand. No walk of atonement for Margaery since she has been reborn and brought the High Sparrow a juicy, wide-eyed king to manipulate. Jaime Lannister and the Tyrell forces stand down, helpless, in the face of this unexpected turn of events. They cannot attack the fanatics now that Tommen declared his fealty to the faith. Margaery does a particularly good job of faking piety and repentance. She appears to be almost genuine. It must be a challenge for the actress to portray such a good actress herself. The Sparrow's influence grows which in turn means that Cersei's influence over the kingdom's affairs and her son diminishes. Cersei is in a pickle now that she is still looking forward to her public trial before the Faith for her "misdemeanors".

A blast from the past - Walder Frey - makes an appearance and he is sulky and salty as ever. Surrounded by mounds of his dunce-looking kids, he complains about his sons' inability to capture Riverrun, which is currently being held by none other than Brynden "The Blackfish" Tully, Catelyn Stark's uncle. After the famous Red Wedding, The Blackfish with the remnants of Tully faithfuls have occupied Riverrun and although the Crown has given Reiverrun to the Freys as a gift for squashing Robb Stark's rebellion, The Blackfish is not going to give in without a fight. I'd rather see Walder Frey unhappy than see him happy any day. Last time he was happy bad things happened. I wish him long years of sulkiness to come.

As part of Tommen's new found zealotry, he is "advised" (more like gently coerced) into letting Jaime Lannister go from the King's Guard and send him to the Riverlands to deal with the siege on Riverrun. Jaime's absence is tantamount to throwing Cersei to the dogs basically. She counted on her brother/lover's support in her upcoming trial, but the Sparrow is cutting all the branches she is perched on to see to her downfall. Cersei tells Jaime that him being let go from the Kings' Guard is for the best and that he can lead and army and all sorts of lovey-dovey incest goes on. It feels like Cersei is more of a pawn than she had ever been before. When Tommen was anointed unexpectedly as king, she probably thought she had the reins of the Seven Kingdoms with her more innocent, less-sadistic kid in charge, but lo' and behold comes the Sparrow to thwart these plans as well.

Meanwhile in Braavos, Arya "No One" Stark  is now a regular theater attendee. She watches again and again the play about the throne wars and Joffrey's death and Cersei's lament for her child by Lady Crane, the actress she is supposed to assassinate. The actress does such a good job of portraying emotions, Arya actually feels bad about having to kill her. She gets close to her target and instead of letting her drink her poisoned drink like she initially intended to do, spills the beans and tells the actress that the younger, less talented actress wants her dead. Meaning, she just blew her last chance to be part of the Faceless Men "No One" squad and is now on their hit list. As much as Arya tries to renounce her name and identity, she can't give up her idea of morals. It just doesn't feel right to assassinate a good actress to let a less worthy actress take her place. Definitely a moral lesson we should all learn. It's all about the Craft.

And finally, Daenerys Targaryen is slowly riding back to Meereen with her huge khalasar and Daario Naharis. She then decides to change a mode of transportation to something a bit faster, cooler and dragonier. As a mommy of cutesy dragons she senses with her sixth mommy sense that Drogon is nearby, leaves the khalasar to bask in the pleasant desert sun in midday to reconnect with her favorite child, who is all grown up now. She comes back and delivers yet another inspiring speech about taking her khalasar all the way to Westeros to conquer the Seven Kingdoms. The dragon produces the main effect here, as the CGI on that beast is awesome. The speech is also cool.

Overall, meh episode. Plot progression and not much else. Not a lot of interesting camera angles, shots cinematic effects apart from Danny's dragon. He is knows also as The Winged Shadow and it is beautifully shown why when he comes down with his massive wings and Danny on his back.            
I'd give this episode a 7.1. 

Summer Moved On - Winter is Coming

This is the halftime folks! The fifth episode of Game of Thrones is here and it is an eventful one...

If there is a word which can describe this episode accurately, it would be META. The show has taken it up a notch in terms of complicating the narrative structure here and although I will go over the main plot events of this episode, let's first talk about Braavos and the scenes from Beyond the Wall.

In Braavos, Arya Stark is soon to graduate from stick-fighting school with the Waif and is sent on an assassination mission by Jaqen H'ghar. To scout her intended target, a theater actress, she attends a play. In the play, the events from season one we all know and lament are being ridiculed for the enjoyment of the Braavosi public. Her father, Ned Stark, is portrayed as a blundering, power hungry idiot who tries to seize the throne, the death of Robert Baratheon (played by Richard E. Grant, by the way) by a boar is made grotesque by fart pillows and her sister's wedding to Tyrion Lannister is showing the actress portraying Sansa Stark as a bare-breasted prey of Tyrion's lechery. Everything is twisted and made fun of, and frequently between the shots of the actors doing yet another wild scene, there is a short close up of Arya's face, where one can see she is not amused. All that training to become no one, a faceless, nameless assassin cannot put to rest her connection to her own past. Her reaction to the misrepresentation is undeniable. Arya Stark is still very much Arya Stark.

I don't want to give the creators of GoT too much credit...but I have to bring it up - this scene is reminiscent of "The Mousetrap", the play within a play in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet wants to cause his murderous step father to confess to murdering the king, Hamlet's father, and therefore he asks a troop of actors to stage a play before him that shows the king's brother poisoning the king. The play brings out a strong reaction from Hamlet's step dad which provides him with sufficient proof for the murder. The idea that a bunch of actors, a stage and artificial settings and well-delivered lines can cause a genuine emotional response, is the first instance of META in this episode. In the same way the play within a play in Hamlet implies something about the entire play, the play Arya sees says something about the entire Game of Thrones TV show. That although there is a ridiculous amount of boobs and over the top, convoluted plots, the emotional response the audience has is genuine.

Later, Arya goes backstage and then...a wild penis appears. A close up shot of a dude looking at warts on his penis. Yes, they went there. The show's creators are responding in their own way to the criticism made so many times about the profuseness of female nudity on the show and the complete absence of male nude shots. So there you have it, a random penis. And then another actor guy is talking to the "actress" who plays bare-chested Sansa about her less than convincing line delivery to which she responds that she has "only two lines" and he replies by saying the immortal "there are no small parts, only small actors". Hey there "Brothel Attendant #4" and "Unsullied #12" and "Member of the King's Guard #3", this one is dedicated to you. In the short span of this scene the show's audience was exposed to three gestures of metafiction. And if they actually thought of Hamlet, hats off to them. Just this one scene makes this episode great.

And now the scenes with Bran Stark from beyond the wall - he is still with The Three-Eyed Raven being shown flashbacks when a really good reveal comes up. He sees the Children of the Forest - the original inhabitants of Westeros, create the first and most fearsome White Walker - The Night King. They are actually the ones who are responsible for the zombie apocalypse which is about to befall the world of GoT. So, I have very little sympathy for them when they are getting massacred by those same creations at the end of the episode. Their reasoning for creating an army of the undead - men. A bunch of dudes coming over in ancient times to conquer Westeros. You had magic fire! Why make zombies too? Couldn't win with magic blue fire grenades? Then you should happily skip along to your own extinction. It was a fun reveal there.

And the episode ended with quite a scene...probably the best action scene so far in Season 6 - the White Walkers and their Winter Kings appearing at the Three-Eyed Raven's doorstep, cause Bran decided to go mind surfing unattended. Bran crawls over to the tree roots and is transported to a bleak terrain with a looooot of zombies and the Night King grabs his arm. Bran wakes up, but it is too late. The freaky dude knows where he is hiding and he is coming for Bran. They are preparing to run, but first The Three-Eyed Raven is taking Bran to see a scene in Winterfell and there's Hodor, healthy and young standing at the training yard. While Bran is watching what seems at first to be a pointless flashback flick, the walkers reach their hiding place and a battle ensues. The Children of the Forest throw grenades and Meera Reed is desperately trying to wake Bran up so he can warg into Hodor to help fight the battle against the swarm of zombies. But Bran is annoyingly useless. Eventually, her voice manages to reach Bran within the flashback and Bran wargs into Hodor while the Night's King kills The Three-Eyed Raven. Then the most heart breaking moment happens - Summer, Bran's dire wolf sacrifices herself to save Meera, Hodor and Bran. Only Ghost remains of all the Stark dire wolves. This leads to the next mind blowing moment - 

With Bran in Hodor's mind, Hodor manages to help them escape through a tunnel and a child of the forest sacrifices herself, Kamikaze style, to aid their escape, but just when they are about to leave the tunnel and close the door behind them, Meera Reed shouts at Hodor to "hold the door" and Hodor in Bran's vision is having a seizure and starts screaming senselessly "hold the door! Hold Door! HODOR!" while present Hodor is torn apart by zombies while trying to hold the door at the end of the tunnel closed.
 Mind. Blown.

Simply awesome. Now let's get technical -

The scene at Braavos is what we call "broad metafiction" - it comments on acting and actors within a fictional world by creating a "world within a world" with the fake play. The scene at the end is "narrow metafiction". Hodor's condition is a result of Bran's warging into past Hodor which breaks the time-space continuum of the story. Although GoT introduced a lot of fantastical creatures into its fictional world, the possibility of influencing past events from the present is quite the move. And in the middle of all those fireworks is Hodor's inevitable destiny to hold the door. Quite tragic really.

Both these scenes are a comment on the past and how the past of this show whether it is Arya's family history or Bran's messing up Hodor has very real implications for these characters' present.

Another instance in this episode when the past is brought up is the first scene which shows Sansa Stark confronting Petyr Little Finger Baelish for giving her away as a bride to Ramsey Bolton. While Baelish is trying to make the "let bygones be bygones" argument, Sansa is insisting on bringing up the monstrous way Ramsey treated her and blaming it on Little Finger's cruelty or ignorance. Her pain cannot be put to rest so easily, she implies. Even though it happened in the past, the pain is very real for Sansa in the present and she is not in a forgiving mood. On the other hand, Sansa is still showing herself to be under Little Finger's influence when she takes his advice on reaching her uncle, The Brynden BlackFish Tully in Riverrun to organize a rebellion against Ramsey with his help. How can she trust Little Finger didn't lie to her? She also lies to Jon Snow later on and says she overheard this information from Ramsey, not disclosing the fact of her little rendezvous with Baelish at all. Sneaky Sansa! So, Brienne of Tarth is sent on a mission yet again to find the Blackfish and recruit him to Sansa's cause. I hope that won't cut the budding romance with her and Tormund Giantsbane. The way he looks at her is priceless!

And here's some news from Pyke where Yara Greyjoy and bro Theon are doing their best to make Yara's case to rule the Iron Islands in the Kingsmoot. The main objection to her claim is that she is a woman and no woman ever ruled the Ironborn in the past. They are a sulky people anyway who live on a salty rock in the middle of nowhere...but Yara tries and fails due to the appearance of Euron Greyjoy, her uncle and the dude who pushed her father to the abyss a few episodes ago. He doesn't even deny that he did that. He admits to killing him which immediately wins over a few of those salty heathens. Then he points out that Yara is a woman - an astute observation - and reminds everyone that Theon learned a few fancy words while being away at Winterfell ("gallivanting". Long word. Many syllables). So Yara and Theon fail and immediately decide to GTFO before Euron comes to kill them. He actually wants to do just that after being crowned by drowning (their religion is fascinating! How did they even survive with that Drowned God crap for so long?) but Yara and Theon are already sailing away with some of the best ships of the Iron Fleet. So Euron's reaction is to order the men to cut down any tree they see and build more ships. No trees grow on those rocks you call island, dummy! Too much sea water got into his brain. Euron's bright idea, by the way is to mention that there's this queen oversees with dragons and a rightful hate towards all the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms (Danny) and he intends to marry her and give her the mighty iron fleet. I don't think even drowning yourself will help you with Daenerys. She and her dragons will eat this dude alive.

Speaking of Daenerys Stormborn, this time there's a scene with her (clothed) looking at the Dothraki in the valley and probably considering that it would have been a brighter idea to team up with an army that doesn't fear the sea to achieve her goal of conquering Westeros. But, here comes Jorah "Lord Friendzone" Mormont and confesses his love for her and the fact that he is dying of Greyscale and will soon turn to stone and lose his mind. To which Daenerys says that she commands he to go out and find a cure to his Greyscale. Friendzoning him in the worst possible way. I really am sorry for Jorah. His obsession with Daenerys who is clearly not interested in him romantically is so very very sad. And when he tells her he is dying she just sends him out to the wilderness to "find a cure"??? To an incurable disease??? Even Daario Naharis just stands there with a pitying look on his face as though thinking "dude, just no. Just stop." Poor Jorah. Again, the fate of Hodor at the end of the episode overshadows this friendzone moment.    

Hodor. Hodor. Hodor. 8.9. Hodor.  

Two Against the World - "Book of the Stranger" Review

It seems that this episode is full of siblings trying to regain power and control over what was lost or taken from them. Sansa Stark and Jon Snow, Theon and Yara Greyjoy, Margaery and Loras Tyrell. Let's not go over everything the Starks lost, since that encompasses most of Books 1-3 of the series and there's just isn't enough space, but Theon and Yara are also struggling to regain control over the Iron Islands (Theon is mostly trying to pick up the pieces of his broken self first though), and then there's Loras and Margaery who are cruelly tortured by the Sparrows sect and are trying to keep it together in the face of the fanatic sect which keeps them as prisoners. But let's go over each one of these "siblings in distress" plots by itself -

Episode four of Season 6 starts with a reunion of Sansa Stark and Jon Snow. Finally, we get a happy Stark moment; a small ray of hope in the otherwise bleak history of House Stark. Sansa immediately tries to persuade Jon Snow to join her in conquering their besieged Winterfell from the hands of Ramsay Bolton. Even more than the reunion I liked the "new Sansa" much better than her old whiny self. No more falling head over heals in some pseudo-medieval, ridiculous tween infatuation while ignoring everything important. Sansa wants a piece of the action. Maybe Petyr Baelish did not waste his good advice on a mindless Tween after all. Speaking of Baelish, he does make an appearance in this episode. It is unclear what his plans are, he keeps his cards so close to his chest one truly wonders whose side he is on (he is on his own side), but he manages to convince the weakling Robert "Sweetrobin" Arryn, Lysa Arryn's son with his Eyrie army, to come rescue his favorite cousin, Sansa. Good to have Baelish back in the game.

However, one thing is slightly troubling in this whole Sansa/Jon scenario  - their planning of a military advance on Winterfell bring to mind Catelyn Stark and Robb Stark - both had such good ideas when it came to strategy in battle yet their time was cut short at a most memorable wedding. If there's one thing this show taught me is not to rejoice too soon. It might be a coincidental echoing of Robb and Catelyn, so let's just hope that the Jon and Sansa duo will succeed better then their predecessors in their conquests.

Theon Greyjoy manages to get to Pyke. Congrats. Homecoming is successfully completed (sans private parts, though, Yikes!). His voyage on the ship which takes him back to his childhood home (from which he was taken prisoner by Ned Stark prior to season 1 events) is reminiscent of Odysseus' return at the end of the Odyssey. Odysseus arrives at his kingdom as a beggar to find his wife Penelope besieged by suitors and no one but the dog to recognize him. Theon arrives at Pyke, his home, completely devastated by Ramsey, he admits to his sister, Yara, that Ramsey broke him and his arrival is just in time for the Kingsmoot when Pyke's next ruler is to be chosen. Theon's reunion with Yara is less warm than that of Jon and Sansa (that's an understatement). Frankly, she is ready to bite his head off for showing up and messing with her plan to rule the Iron Islands and bringing back the painful memories of all the men she lost trying to get what's left of him back from Ramsey. Thoen persuades Yara he wants to help her win the throne and he is not going to interfere with her plans at all.

Margaery Tyrell is allowed to visit Loras after hearing another tale of "reject your worldly goods" from The High Sparrow. At first, it seems that Margaery is captivated by the story, in which the High Sparrow found his faith (after a night of drink and debauchery, of course), but then when she is taken to her brother she implores Loras Tyrell to remain strong and still very much clings to the hope of redeeming their family and family name. Loras is not as mentally sound as Margaery, but perhaps her strength will suffice for them both. Margaery's withstanding of the Sparrow's religious fanaticism acts of attrition puts her on an equal footing (and perhaps in a superior position) to that of Cersei Lannister in terms of her mental composure and tactical understanding. Cersei, her main rival and the reason she is at the Sparrow's prison in the first place, should watch out because once Margaery is back at the Red Keep, there's no knowing of what she may be capable of.

In the meantime, Margaery's and Loras' predicament brings about a ceasefire between two old rivals - Cersei Lannister and Olenna "the Baddass Grandma" Tyrell (Olenna poisoned Joffrey, Cersei's annoying son). Both agree that Margaery cannot be made to do a "walk of shame"; it will be destabilizing to the already weak monarchy in King's Landing. From a deeper perspective perhaps Cersei and Olenna are only different on the surface - both want what is best for their own family and are driven by their will to see their family do well. Cersei recognizes that they have this quality in common and decides to use Margaery's predicament to achieve a temporary ceasefire with the Tyrells in hopes of regaining control over King's Landing and kicking some zealots' ass.

Besides some sibling action (ewe, not the Cersei/Jaime kind), things were warming up in Essos...

Tyrion Lannister is still trying to bring peace to Meereen. Why does he bother? Unclear. At the end of last season he didn't care about anything after having to kill his treacherous girlfriend Shae and dad Tywin Lannister and nearly drank himself half to death trying to drown those bad memories. Suddenly, he is interested in the well-being of the Meereenese? All his mental powers are suddenly invested in Daenerys' affairs? His story arch is making me sad since the most interesting facets of his character are not expressed at all for the past four episodes. And on top of that, the unblemished morality of Grey Worm and Missandei who are outraged when Tyrion is trying to negotiate with the Maesters of the other Slaver Bay cities by buying them off with prostitutes, is annoying. Perhaps this is meant to show how eventually Tyrion manages to convince them and gain their trust, but if that was the purpose of that scene, it could have been done with less repetitive dialogue, especially such dialogue which presents Missandei and Grey Worm as simplistic and politically unsophisticated to the point of embarrassment. Bring Tyrion back to Westeros! Straddle him to a dragon already and fly him over to the good side. Enough with this squabbling over in sandy pyramids no one cares about. Just let Drogon burn everything up and let the Meereenese solve their own slave issues.

And now, the finale - Daario Naharis and Jorah Mormont manage to reach Vaes Dothrak and enter the city (almost got caught, but almost doesn't count). In the meantime, Daenerys Targaryen is set to be brought before the Khals and judged on whether she continues on her journey to become a crone with the Dosh Khaleen or... rape... basically. She meets Daario and Jorah and with the help of a certain Dothraki widow she befriends, manages to get all the Khals locked up within a tent made of flammable reeds and a bunch of torches. Now, that would be a good time to mention that The Mother of Dragons is quite the pyromaniac (it helps that fire doesn't burn her). She offers the Khals one chance to accept her offer and join her quest to the Seven Kingdoms, they offer rape by Khalasar in return. Daenerys politely rejects their proposal by turning them to ash. The Dothraki are in awe and everyone bows down before her and her awesome naked form. The end of the episode is reminiscent of the scene where she walks out of the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo holding three dragons. I liked that her nudity was not presented as erotic in that scene, but rather as fierce. The show finds all kinds of original ways to weave in female nudity but this time the nude didn't feel superfluous or as means of distraction.

The overall episode structure did not bother me this time for some reason. Perhaps since it ended on such a high note with the Dothraki Khal pyre...I'd give this one a 7.7 if I have to rate it.

Superman Snow and Daredevil Arya

Just like episode one of this season, this episode starts and ends with a scene from the Wall.
After the dramatic eye-opening scene that ended the previous episode, the question on everyone's mind was "Is Jon Snow going to be himself when he is resurrected? Or are we in for some Zombie Snow action?" Apparently, Jon Snow's sulkiness is intact after visiting the afterlife, which he knows nothing about (even when dead he is in character) after he is resurrected. The Red Woman asks him what he saw after he died and he says - "nothing". This really quite summarizes the emotional impact this whole scene had for me.

And then right at the middle of this flat-line moment, the lousiest piece of dialogue I heard in this show. Ever. comes up. As though taken directly from Dallas or The Bold and the Beautiful:

Davos:
You were dead.
And now you're not.
That's completely fucking mad, seems to me.
I can only imagine how it seems to you.

Jon Snow:
I did what I thought was right.
And I got murdered for it.
And now I'm back.
Why?
I don't know.

Davos:
Maybe we'll never know.
What does it matter?

IS THIS REALLY THE BEST YOU COULD DO? For some reason I was expecting Jon Snow to burst into song or turn his face towards the camera, break the fourth wall, and exclaim "you guys!!! It was all thanks to my fans who have kept me in the running to becoming the next Westerosi Idol!" The emotional delivery there was a mess and I was a bit let down by the response to Jon's resurrection as well. Tormund Giantsbane and the other Wildlings and Crows looked as though being dead and coming back to life is an everyday event and so after the drama ending the previous episode this whole first scene was a bummer.

But let's move on to talk a bit about Davos Seaworth. Since when is he the Alfred Pennyworth to Jon Snow's Crowman? Davos started out as a much more complex character and now he is reduced to a two-dimensional father figure to Snow, urging him on to get back out there and make some more mistakes. It is frankly quite unclear why he is so emotionally invested in Jon Snow's success. Where is all the hatred and suspicion towards Melisandre? Where is the loyalty with a tad of bitterness and that whole messed up relationship he had with Stannis? I sure wish they make Davos more interesting again (as they should Alfred Pennyworth too! We all know who the real superhero is).

Next we have Samwell and Gilly making a debut this season with a puke-in-a-bucket moment. In terms of the timeline of the show it seemed a bit problematic - it seems as though Sam and Gilly have been stuck on that ship for ever! Everywhere else time has been moving three times as fast (Khaleesi will manage to end slavery by the time they get to OldTown), but I guess sending Sam via ship was Snow's idea and we have already established he doesn't know much about anything.

In the meantime we have Varys and Tyrion trying to figure out how bad of a political mess Meereen is, and apparently it is like Westeros on steroids. Nobody likes Daenerys messing up their slave trade and everyone are out to get her. Perhaps she will end up fleeing to Westeros on the back of a dragon after pissing off an entire continent. Unfortunately, she is currently about to stand a trial of sorts deciding whether she will be sent to pine away her days at Dothraki Widow Central at Vaes Dothrak (which is like an endless shopping mall only without the stores and the air conditioning). The scene with Varys trying to pry out information from Vala is probably the most subtle in this episode, but still in comparison to other Varys plots and intricacies seen in past seasons, quite weak overall. And yet again, in a show so consumed with delivering a violent scene every five minutes, the kindness Varys shows to Vala stands out as a single, benevolent moment. Perhaps he isn't self-interested after all? Nahhh...he totally still is.



Next we have Arya at the final stages of her Daredevil ninja training. Not much has been happening with Arya ever since she arrived at Braavos (discounting her act of revenge for which she lost her eyesight, of course). Unfortunately, when focusing only on the physical aspect of her training there is something that goes amiss in terms of the potential psychological process this character goes through. One of those rare moments when reading an internal monologue passage from the books could illustrate something in a more meaningful way than a filmed battle montage can.

King's Landing is still as complex and as interesting as ever. A real Church Vs. Throne saga is evolving there when the High Sparrow manages cleverly to use Cersei's love for Tommen to make him see things from his own perspective - and that is that Cersei needs to further pay for her perceived sins against the faith. This is probably the cleverest dialogue in the entire episode. A moment which truly demonstrates both Tommen's weakness as king and as a character and the Sparrow's brilliance. Tommen is still an impressionable kid and Cersei shouldn't let such manipulative people like the High Sparrow near him. At this rate, Tommen will be ringing the bell when she will be walking naked down the main street next time. At the same location, the rift between the Small Council at King's Landing court and the Lannisters is deepening, which again tests Cersei's patience. The question is not whether she will snap horribly and mess things up even more, but when will that happen. My guess is one, two episodes from now.  

Bran Stark keeps getting closer and closer to confirming the famed internet myth of L + R = J. Yeah yeah, I won't elaborate on that now. However, there was an interesting moment when he sees his dad in his vision and realizes that Ned lied to him about the great battle with Ser Arthur Dayne. Yes Bran, daddy lied. I think it might actually help Bran grow up a bit. How long can he possibly keep living in the Three-Eyed Raven's cave surrounded by hallucination inducing tree roots? Both Bran and Arya are stuck in a never ending initiation narrative that falls a bit flat due to the chosen structure of the episodes of constantly shifting focus between the characters as to help the viewer keep in mind all those separate plots. Their coming of age narratives pale in comparison with the bombastic Daenerys and Jon Snow story arcs.    

The scene at Winterfell surely reminds us that sometimes making the viewers forget about a character altogether could actually be a good thing (writers showing some versatility). Rickon Stark captured and brought to Ramsey Bolton. How many Starks will this guy torture? His delight at seeing Rickon borders on an Austin Powers Dr. Evil mwahahaha moment, but it was still nice to see Rickon again, even if it was in such dire circumstances. RIP dire wolf, by the way.

Finally, the episode brings us back to Snow at the Wall. His final act as Lord Commander of the Night Watch is to execute his own killers - Ser Allister, Olly and two others - before taking off his cape and giving it to Dolorous Edd (as his name suggests, he should have been made Night Watch Chief in the first place), and exiting the scene like the fabulous diva he is. Sashay away.

What is Dead May Never Live?

Ever since Eddard Stark's untimely death in Season one, it was clear to fans of the series that this show wants to redefine certain key points in narrative storytelling. Gone are the days of readers being able to comfortably assume that the protagonist of their favorite fantasy tale will last until the tale is told. This kind of merciless storytelling has been one of the show's strongest elements and probably the reason why this is the most successful and watched TV show of all times. It is indeed quite an achievement considering the show's genre. Fantasy novels and shows have long enjoyed some success in close circles, but the interest the show received since its conception is truly unprecedented in fantasy TV history.

Since Eddard Stark and the infamous Red Wedding episode, numerous characters, even some fan favorites have been brutally taken out of the GoT universe, yet again serving to demonstrate the cruelty inherent in the society the writers of the show have envisioned.

And now, a glorious comeback for Jon Snow. The Commander of the Night Watch responsible for guarding the northern border of Westeros from those pesky wildlings north of the wall, killed by his own brothers in arms and brought back by the magic of the Red Priestess Melisande. Since the brutal stabbing of Jon Snow at the end of Season 5, fans have been speculating on the manner of his return. Many viewers speculated that the Red Priestess will be the one to bring him back from the dead. And maybe due to all the internet buzz this eventual resurrection received online, the actual scene in the episode had less of a shock value to it and more of a "I saw it coming a mile away" feeling.



An additional issue with this Lazarus ending which had a lot of Jesus resurrection vibe to it, is the significance of death in general in this show. While protagonists dying are always a blow for the show's audience, they serve as both a plot catalyst (without Robert Baratheon's and Ned Stark's deaths we wouldn't the War of the Five Kings) but also serve the tone for the entire show being set in a ruthless, cold and violent world. The rules of cause and effect especially in the high stake political game the characters are playing has a very real price to pay. If you lose, you don't only lose the game - you may lose your head, your family and cause a lot of misery for a whole lot of fictional characters. The deaths in the show serve to prove just how real the stakes of the game are and how finite and absolute the loses are. But now, with Jon Snow being resurrected the show took a step back from their merciless storytelling origins and swerved a 180 degrees back to traditional protagonist-centrist mode, which is a little bit disappointing for me.

As a reader of the book, I remember the scene when Jon Snow is killed (no Olly, but he was definitely a positive addition in the show) and how absolutely devastating it was. Not only do bad things seem to happen to good people who are trying to do the right thing, but they almost always do in GoT. So it is an unpopular opinion, but I would have preferred Jon Snow to remain dead.

Both the books and the show try to balance a fantastical world populated by white walkers, dragons and magic with War-Of-The-Roses style political intrigue. The assassination of Jon Snow by his fellow Night Watch comrades seems like it is inspired by political assassinations like that of Caesar, betrayed by his friends and stabbed as a traitor. But the manner of his resurrection is heavily reliant on the supernatural. Melisande, with the help of a few Valyrian chants and some water and hair burning, manages to perform a magical trick and pulls Jon Snow out of his deadly state. This seems like one of the very few times when the balance between the real and the supernatural was somehow disrupted in the show. Just like the scene when the black dragon Drogon arrives at the fighting pit of Meereen to take Daenerys away in the midst of a civil war. Just a bit too Ex-Machina for me.


Anyway...enough with the fan favorite crow of the north.

Another equally rattling Ramsey "deranged" Bolton scene has him kill pretty much all of his remaining relatives - his dad, Roose Bolton - and his step mom and half brother. It seems that GoT show runners are no longer relying on female bare breasts in brothels to keep their viewers enthralled, but have to have at least one ultra-violence scene in every episode. In the first episode of the season, Doran and Trystane Martell get brutalized by Ellia Martell and the Sand Snakes, and this episode it was the cruel execution of Ramsey's relatives that served this purpose. This rapid succession of violent murders which happen two episodes in a row really feel like bits of lazy storytelling. The deaths of the Boltons and the Martells are almost casually thrown in, without the proper build up necessary to give these events the gravitas they deserve. The killing of family relatives is done almost without a second thought. If Ramsey's massacre was meant to highlight his unhinged mental state, perhaps a few more scenes with him being chastised by his father, or having an interaction with someone other than his father about that would have served the purpose better than just have him randomly dispose of his family.

Here would be a proper time to discuss the overall structure of the first two episodes of the season. The episodes so far have been largely fragmented with short scenes appearing centered around a few characters, since some of the characters are now evenly scattered across all of the GoT continents. This gives each story line less of the attention it deserves and creates a rushed feeling that may get some viewers thinking about why we need a scene with blind Arya being beaten in Braavos for two episodes in a row, without there being any need to waste precious screen time on a scene that delivers no plot progression and little character progression. Another issue with this "a little bit of Braavos, a pinch of Meereen, VILE MURDER, and...a new place, Pike" structure creates is raising the level of audience indifference to new heights. If all is equally important to be included in this one episode and it has a few stale scenes, it means that nothing is important enough.
Although, this piece of criticism deserves a disclaimer - in the first episode, there was a circular structure to it, since it began and ended with a scene taking place at the Wall. So maybe not all is lost? Maybe we can hope for some more structurally consistent episodes next? One can only hope.

And the Iron Islands and King's Landing scenes. Lena Headey is probably the best actress on the show. Her acting skill make her Cersei come alive like even GRRM couldn't have in his writing. The character of Cersei in the books always seemed a little like a male perspective on scary strong females who are mentally imbalanced. A bit two-dimensional. And then comes Headey and gives emotional depth, basically breaths life into a haughty queen stereotype. Probably one of my favorite scenes of the episode, when she almost loses it when her son's, the King's, guards prevent her from going to the Sept for her daughter's funeral. Her contained rage was visible beneath the surface but she showed restraint. A very rare incident indeed for Cersei. Perhaps the whole imprisonment and the walk of shame experiences humbled her, although, I have noticed that in the show she still drinks her wine regularly. I hope that the show writers let her keep that drunken habit of hers to remind the audience that Cersei may be beaten but never broken and even though she is more subdued and restrained, her emotional instability is always lurking there, beneath the surface. Cersei would make the most nightmarish boss ever. She is formidable as she is emotionally driven and headstrong. A truly fleshed out character. So props for that!

On the Iron Islands, Theon's daddy and sister are arguing on how to continue their invasion after it has so blatantly failed on the mainland. Pirates are no good on land - that's Yara's point. But daddy Balon Greyjoy doesn't seem to agree with that...and then he is dead. Pushed from those awfully dangerous looking bridges dangling in the wind, just above the sea. What a surprise...that anyone of the Greyjoys actually survived infancy living on Pike. Now Yara should be queen, no? No! The Iron Islands folks will hold a Kingsmoot to decide who the next king is going to be and Yara's chances are slim because she is a woman. So in this sense, the Iron Islands are a complete mirror image of Dorn, but both of these sub plots are unfortunately alike in their failure to engage the viewers' attention on them. Perhaps some viewers are so keen on rooting for their favorite characters they have absolutely no place in their hearts and minds for some fresh blood (another reason why Jon Snow should have remained dead in my opinion). But hey, perhaps there could be something to make us care about Pike coming up in the future.

And finally, Tyrion manages to befriend Daenerys' dragons  (except for Drogon who is too busy terrorizing sheep). He frees them from their chains, perhaps echoing Daenerys freeing all those slaves in Slaver's Bay a season ago. Perhaps just fulfilling a boyhood fantasy of his to come close to these awesome creatures. Let's just say he is lucky they are on a hunger strike.

All in all, the episode was packed with action and drama. Some violence, a funeral, a resurrection and dragons. Even with all the narrative flaws in this episode, I'd have to rate it 6.8/10.

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Looking forward to next week!         

Just My Opinion

So, this blog is made public but mainly contains my personal observations on the latest episodes of HBO's Game of Thrones season 6.

I am both an avid reader of the books A Song of Fire and Ice and I have watched all episodes so far from the show.

***Spoilers are coming***

Please keep in mind that in case you somehow stumble upon this blog, that all posts here are full of book and show spoilers. Please stop reading now if you are not up to date with the latest episodes of the show or haven't read the books (and would want to read them in the future). You have been warned.