How many Broken Men can we count in episode seven of season
six? Jon, Sandor, Theon, Jamie, and probably more. The episode should have been
called The Broken Men instead of man, though I know this was nod to Sandor
Clegane’s return. I’m not sure how we will play into the overall conclusion of
the show, but he is a fan favorite from both the books and show, and it is good
to see him back, even if it cheapens the show a tiny bit. Jon needed to be
brought back because his story isn’t finished, Sandor’s was done, but I guess
he can go and kill his zombie brother.
The other parts of the episode were all parley’s and maneuvers.
Everything was well executed and added to the setup to the conclusion of the
season, but it would have been nice to see more actual advancements in the
stories. The main story which disappointed was Arya’s. She spent over a year
training to be an Assassin and knows how the people operate. They can be anyone
at any time, and they warned her she would be a target if she failed in her
task. What does she do? She walks around Bravos without a care in the world,
like no one can touch her. This made no sense to me with how the character has
grown over the past three seasons. She is an extremely cautious person. Why
would she let her guard down now? She should have been expecting a fight, and I
thought she was with how the last episode ended. Her story has advanced at a snail’s
pace, and it should have concluded tonight with her killing The Waif and
heading back to Westeros.
No major action took place back in the seven kingdoms this
episode either. The best parts were with Jon and Sansa and them building their army.
We got a great scene with Jon and the Wildings. Jon did well in every encounter
in the episode pleading his case well at each house he went too. Davos saved
the day at House Mormont, but they didn’t gain much from their support. Maybe
the 62 soldiers from Bear Island will become like the 300 Spartans to Westeros.
In the end Sansa is forced to ask for help from The Vale and Littlefinger. She
knew she might and is why she ultimately held back on telling Jon about him to
begin with. She wanted to see how much support they could gain from the
Northern houses first, before she was forced to rely on Littlefinger. She knew
if she told everyone about The Vale’s support at first they would welcome it,
but she doesn’t want Littlefinger’s help if it can be avoided. She is also
counting on Brienne to gain the support of her Uncle in Riverrun.
The scenes at Riverrun with Jamie are some of the best of
the episode. He puts the Frey’s in their place, to then be promptly put in place
by Brynden Tully. They don’t really have any chance of taking the castle
without great loss of life, and Jamie knows it. He’s in a bad position, because
Brynden has nothing to lose by holding out. Jamie must secure the castle in
order to return back to King’s Landing. Which is where even more political maneuvers
are happening.
I was beginning to think Margery had bought into the faith
with how she was acting at the start of the episode. We quickly learn she is
still loyal to House Tyrell with the picture she slips to her Grandmother. Oleanna
then plans to leave the city before the High Sparrow can capture her, which
leads to a great interaction between her and Cersei. Oleanna leaves nothing
out, and lays the entire blame for the current situation at Cersei feet. She is
right to do so, because Cersei did cause the entire mess and now expects the
Tyrell’s to help clean it up. I’m not sure where this is all heading, but
hopefully it ends with the High Sparrow’s head on a pike. There were good
interactions in King’s Landing, but still little actual movement towards the
conclusion of the storyline. We are finally going to see some action next week
since we get the scene from one of the initial trailers of the season.
The only other minor scene from tonight was with Yara and
Theon. It was well done and showed how Yara was going to be loyal to Theon, but
gave him a kick on the ass to either live his life or end it. They explain they
are going to head to Meereen to try and join forces with Danny and take back
the Iron Islands. I thought they may try to unite more people to their cause
before heading to Meereen, but they are going to straight for the gold. We will
see if it pays off. We know Danny needs the ships.
Overall the episode had great interactions and good setup,
but it didn’t advance many storylines towards a conclusion, and introduced one
more in Sandor Clegane. This has still been one of my favorite Game of Thrones
Season’s, but hopefully the last three episodes cement it as the best.
Hopefully they course correct with Arya’s storyline next week, and we finally
see her take out The Waif and head back to Westeros.
What did you think of tonight’s episode? Did you like the
interactions and the reintroduction of Sandor Clegane? Did Arya’s storyline fit
with her character? Comment and let me know.
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