Sunday, April 24, 2016

Game of Thrones S6E1 The Red Woman Review/Recap (Spoilers!): What’s in a Title?


Do you think the showrunners chose this title just to mess with fans of the show? The worst kept secret during the hiatus of Game of Thrones is Jon Snow’s death. Everyone on the show maintained Jon was in fact, dead which lead fans to say, yeah but he’s not going to stay dead. The theories have abounded about how Jon will come back from the grave, with the most popular being Melisandre bringing him back to life. The showrunners teased this with the title of the episode, but no resolution is given.
Very little actually happened in this episode. The board was setup for the season and the opening moves made for each storyline. I still think Jon will eventually be resurrected by Melisandre. We know she has some major magical powers, with how she truly looks. We also know other acolytes from the Red God have brought people back to life. I still think her prophecy will come true and we will see Jon fighting at Winterfell by the end of the season. We don’t have a major character at The Wall to relate and root for. Davos is a good character, but not someone who can carry a major storyline. Brienne is also bringing Sansa to the wall. I think two siblings of Ned Stark will finally be reunited.
I’m not sure where else Brienne would take Sansa. She knows Sansa should have at least one friend at The Wall who can offer protection. Maybe they will be in for a surprise when they get to The Wall finding Jon dead, but I don’t think that will be the case. It won’t be a happy reunion, but we will finally get two Stark children in the same place again. Who knows, maybe Jon won’t be in the show, and he will stay dead, but I just don’t see that being plausible with how the story has been setup to this point. It might just be my wishful thinking, but Jon is supposed to play a major part in the conclusion of this tale, along with Daenerys.
We last saw Daenerys getting captured by Dothraki. This was one of the departures from the books which seemed off to me. In the books we last see Daenerys attacking the Dothraki with Drogon, and them approaching her with him at her back. This was the ending of the season I wanted. With her then taking control of a Dothraki Horde this season. This is still where the story is headed, we are just getting more Dothraki time before Drogon swoops down to save Danny again. I would have preferred she take control from the start, but it looks like Daenerys will have to grow some more as a character before she unites the Dothraki to her cause.
To speculate I think Daenerys will take control of this Horde, and then unite all Dothraki. She then will sale across the sea to Westeros and concur the Seven Kingdoms, just in time to ride north to fight the White Walkers with her Dragons. This should be the overriding arch of the show with many other fun storylines thrown in with the characters we love. Daenerys will be able to unite Westeros easily because of how torn the country has become. She has the name, and will have the army and will only find broken houses in her way, like the Lannister’s.
Cersei will consume herself and the Lannister name. All she can now think about is revenge. Revenge on the High Sparrow and revenge on Dorne for killing Myrcella. She will usher in the destruction of King’s Landing and her house because she cannot look past what has happened to her. Jamie hopefully will wise up and join with someone else. He has in the books, and I hope he does in the show as well. His character transformation in the books is by far my favorite and it feels like he hasn’t grown as much in the show. He needs to be over Cersei, but that has not happened yet.
We got glimpses of other storylines. A brief bit with Tyrion, a small moment with Arya, and the Vipers taking over Dorn and then hour was over. I wanted more out of this episode, but it set the stage for the season nicely and I was entertained. I wanted the resolution of the Jon Snow’s death, but I assume we will get that in the next episode. I also would have liked to have finally seen Bran and what has happened to him. I am thinking we might have an entire hour devoted to him once he makes an appearance.
Overall I would have liked more advancement in the opening episode, but as long as the pieces begin to move quickly the season has a vast amount of promise. There are things that haven’t been covered from the books, but the main storylines are a complete mystery to everyone now. It will be a fun ride to see where the story takes us and eventually see how much Martin’s vision differs once he releases the next book.

What did you think of the season premiere? Did it leave you wanting more? Do you think the showrunners were having some fun at the fans expense with the title of the episode? Comment and let me know your thoughts. 

No comments:

Post a Comment