Jon Snow is alive!
Sorry, I’m just still getting over that little fact, even a week later. The show wastes no time starting right where’s Jon’s gasping breath left off last week for an episode that turns out to be quite transitory to the season’s larger arc compared to the Season 5 finale clean-up of the first two episodes. But let’s follow the show’s lead and get right to breaking down the rest of season 6, episode 3 “Oathbreaker.”
For simplicity’s sake, these reviews will be formatted thus: we start in the furthest north and go south – covering the Wall, the North, King’s Landing and the rest of the Seven Kingdoms – and then east, to the Free Cities of Essos and finally, the Dothraki Sea and Slaver’s Bay.
Beyond-the-Wall: Bran, Meera, Hodor and the Three-Eyed Raven
I love how the show drops us into these Bran & Raven flashbacks. It isn’t for a few seconds before we see their backs and realize we’re in the past. Bran sees his father Ned, young and played by Sebastian Croft instead of Sean Bean, accompanied by Northern knights including Howland Reed, his wayward companion Meera’s father. They confront Kingsguard knights in Targaryen armor. In the background is a Dornish castle – the Tower of Joy. Ned is looking for his sister Lyanna post-Battle of the Trident where Robert killed Rhaegar after Jaime betrayed the Mad King, ending the war.
Badass action ensues, with the Arthur “Sword of the Morning” Dayne and his partner carving through the seven knights until its only Dayne and Ned. I love how even though we know the end result the ensuing battle, it has suspense and tension. It even has Bran questioning the ending of this legendary duel. Surely Ned will win. Though we know he does, the show still has a trick up its sleeve, as its revealed a mortally-wounded Reed stabbed Dayne in the back, allowing “honorable” Ned to kill him. Bran sees his father’s pedestal broken and his angst echoes through time, seeming to draw young Ned’s attention as he climbs the castle steps to investigate his sister’s screams at the top.
But, frustratingly, the Three-Eyed Raven steps in again, jettisoning him back to the dark root cave. Bran is as pissed as we are, and we get another Raven spiel suspiciously similar to the first, better Raven spiel. Digressing, looking at the upcoming episode synopses, it is likely this flashback thread won’t resolve until episode 5 “The Door,” where, I quote, “Bran learns a great deal” (thanks for the detail, HBO).
The Wall: Jon, Tormund, Davos and Melisandre
Davos’ face is as freaked out as mine would be staring at re-living, re-breathing Jon Snow. He gets up, looks at Davos and touches his wounds. Melisandre enters. “What do you remember?” He remembers his death, Olly with the finishing blow. “Nothing. There was nothing at all.” She recognizes Jon is the Prince That Was Promised instead of Stannis. Davos sends her away and gives the despondent post-death Jon a pep talk, who laments his failure to see his betrayal coming. This is a good time to appreciate the quiet normalcy Liam Cunningham and his Onion Knight provides the series. Who else could handle this scene with the kind of blue-collar, meat-and-potatoes nature of Davos? He’s Ned without the blinding idiocy.
Jon gingerly emerges into the Castle Black courtyard. He appears in pain and honestly I’m a little disappointed there isn’t a little more body horror like, say, a Lady Stoneheart. This feels a little cheap so far. The crowd feels different, parting like the Red Sea. Tormund is AWESOME because of course he is. “What kind of God would have a pecker that small?” Win. Jon hugs Edd. Everyone appears to be doing well, considering.
Later, with nooses around their necks, the mutineer leaders Bowen Marsh, Othell Yarwyck, Alliser Thorne give their last words to Jon. Along with them is Olly, Jon’s former squire who delivered the fatal blow, but Jon can’t bring himself to look at him before he cuts the rope and hangs the traitors before the gathering of Night’s Watch and Wildlings. The show characteristically spares no detail on the engorged faces of the dead men but at least here the point the show is making seems clear: Jon is so over this shit.
With their deaths, Jon realizes he has nothing tethering him to Castle Black any longer. His execution of his murderers will be his last act as Lord Commander. He tried to make this place work for everybody and got murdered for it. He passes his command to “Dolorous” Eddison Tollett and departs with eyes staring. He’s been to the other side and there was nothing. He fulfilled his oath. Now his watch has ended.
The North: Ramsay
Ramsay and his new ally Harald Karstark meet with Smalljon Umber, son of season 1 character Greatjon, who Robb Stark earned the respect of by having his direwolf bite two of his fingers off. Weird guy. His son seems even weirder, like Ramsay weird, as he instantly understands Ramsay’s new lordship is entirely due to his murderous ways. He doesn’t have much of a problem with it though because he’s got bigger problems, like Jon Snow and the Wildlings now living south of the Wall.
Ramsay demands fealty in return for help destroying them both but Smalljon rightly points out Roose violated fealty first so what’s the point of it now? Fortunately, he believes in the power of gifts, delivering Osha and Rickon Stark – missing since the season 3 finale – as promise of loyalty. To prove their identities, they provide the head of the youngest Stark’s direwolf. There goes another hanging book plot thread!
King’s Landing: Cersei & Jaime, the Tyrells, the Sparrows
Power has been decentralized for a while in King’s Landing with Jaime gone and Cersei imprisoned. This episode brings a return to the good old-fashioned backrooms politicking that set the fantasy drama out in Season 1. This episode gives peeks behind the curtain of secretive spymasters Varys (more below) and Qyburn, who inherited his network of “birds” aka homeless children.
Jaime, Cersei and FrankenMountain visit him, the four combining for their power base, such as it is. With the brains of Qyburn and the brawn of FrankenMountain, they plot to take back control of the Seven Kingdoms.
Step one is a bit a lame admittedly, as it entails interrupting a Small Council meeting of Kevan Lannister, Olenna Tyrell, her son Mace and Grand Maester Pycelle. The three walk in, demanding their inclusion and demanding something be done about Myrcella’s murder and the coup in Dorne (#DorneSucks). But Uncle Kevan is having none of them, leaving the siblings and their mutant bodyguard behind, shut out of power.
Meanwhile, in the Great Sept of Baelor, King Tommen has a power play of his own against a praying High Sparrow, backed by his Kingsguard. It gets rather heated until the High Sparrow gets the opening he requires to use his supreme power of persuasion and manipulation gets the boy king back under control. Seriously, Jonathan Pryce is awesome, the rare late show addition that works, unlike (say it with me) Dorne.
Braavos: Arya
In Braavos, Arya is back in the House of Black and White but not much else has changed as the Waif continues to torment her with stick abuse and No One teachings. It makes it sweeter when progress is made and Arya starts blin ninja’ing. Perplexingly, it’s that this point that Jaqen appears and rewards her with sight. So, back to normal?
The Narrow Sea: Sam & Gilly
The voyage south is going swimmingly. Gilly and Little Sam are fine, Sam typically is not. He tells her she can’t stay at Oldtown while he trains with the maesters so he intends for her to be at his family home of Horn Hill. It’s all sweet blah blah blah when are they gonna burn a child? This is Game of Thrones!
The Dothraki Sea: Daenerys, Jorah & Daario
Dany arrives at Vaes Dothrak, a place not seen on the show since Season 1. She is taken to the dosh khaleen, the widowed khaleesis. She is recognized as Khal Drogo’s widow and the lead lady ask her why she did not return to them, per tradition. She gives the usual litany of titles as her response. Hard to argue with the Mother of Dragons one.
Apparently there needs to be an “election” about what Dany’s punishment is for abandoning tradition. This is suspiciously similar to the Greyjoy/Kingsmoot plotline and we all know it will inevitably lead to Dany aback Drogon with thousands of Dothraki screamers falling upon Westeros. Because if it doesn’t, we riot.
Meereen: Tyrion & Varys
Like with Qyburn, we get to see a little bit how Varys works when he meets with a female Son of the Harpy who recurred last year, named Valla. We get a little insight into how Varys works, how he “makes people happy,” as he puts it. He works his magic on her, using her son and the chance for a new life to entreat instead of threaten her (Ok, maybe light threatening occurred).
Tyrion sits with Grey Worm and Missandei. It’s a painful scene for us and them and I wondered why the writers are so adamant to end the show in the next two years if they don’t mind writing placeholder scenes like this. Because I’d love to watch the Tryion/Grey Worm/Missandei Three’s Company-esque spinoff.
Varys shows up with his answer: the Sons of the Harpy are funded by the slave Masters of Yunkai and Astapor, as suspected. Not sure why this wasn’t the operating theory anyway, but hey, confirmation! With enemies within and without their walls, Tyrion hatches a plan, which we aren’t privy to and has Varys send a message to the Masters.
MISSING THIS WEEK:
Still no Littlefinger, though as the backgroundiest of the main cast, this is understandable. Littlefinger is commonly gone for long stretches. I suspect he’s occupied laughing his ass off that, with Stannis dead, the Boltons are self-destructing, clearing the way for him, in addition to his title as Lord Protector of the Vale, to assume the Warden of the North role and then . . . the Iron Throne?
There was also a lack of Greyjoys after the short return to the Iron Islands last week that finally found Balon Greyjoy biting it at the hands of his long-lost brother Euron, played by Danish actor Pilou Asbaek (in a twist, he replaced Oberyn Martell himself Pedro Pascal in the role of Pontius Pilate in the upcoming Ben-Hur remake). It swiftly and concisely set up the Kingsmoot story arc that will resolve in (my guess) the fifth episode so the back half of the season can transition to the Greyjoy invasion and the turbulence in the Riverlands.
Also #DorneSucks.
NEXT WEEK:
Here’s the synopsis and preview for episode four “Book of the Stranger.”
Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) strikes a deal. Jorah (Iain Glen) and Daario (Michiel Huisman) undertake a difficult task. Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Cersei (Lena Headey) try to improve their situation. Written by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss; directed by Dan Sackheim.
