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.