Game Of Thrones Recap: S6E7 “The Broken Man”

“The Broken Man” is I think the first(?) Game of Thrones episode to open without the map credits. We’re plopped in the middle of Ian McShane as a Faith missionary leading a commune in the construction of a tower somewhere in the Riverlands. For a second, it’s like a different show, with a kind of unjaded joy so rarely seen, if ever, in this world. And into this world of sunshine and daises steps the broken man himself: one-eared Sandor “The Hound” Clegane! If you’re gonna preempt the iconic opening credits, bringing back a fan favorite is a good reason to do it.

Sandor has become a simple man thanks to McShane’s Elder Brother character (whom the creators name “Ray” in the Inside the Episode). His job is to relate the exposition and hey, if you’re gonna have a guy get one of your main characters from point A to point B and look classy doing it, get guys like McShane or Max von Sydow. Unfortunately, both roles have more than a little in common.

As Ray delivers a sermon about coming back from war to deliver good, aimed rather unsubtly at the Hound, cue the interrupt as three riders come up who appear to be Brotherhood Without Banners members. Ray’s pacifism is unyielding, even in the simple self-defense terms the Hound uses. For reasons unknown, the Hound ignores his own advice and hangs out chopping wood while Ray returns for supper, promising to save him some.

Sure enough, the Hound’s decision to hang out elsewhere while an obvious threat he warned about lurked turned out poorly as the commune is destroyed and its inhabitants slaughtered. Ray himself was hanged. His unwillingness to spread the disease of violence is fatal.  With his home destroyed and anger reawakened, the Hound picks up the ax and goes looking for violence.

For simplicity’s sake, these reviews will be formatted thus: by clicking Next, 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. I’ve linked to the various sections below if you prefer to skip around with the episode’s storylines. The storylines that were not touched on this episode are italicized.

The North: Jon, Sansa, Tormund, Davos, Melisandre

Jon, with the support of Tormund, convinces the Wildlings to push all in on the Bolton battle. And they mean, all in, as the entirety of their people are now the 5,000 behind the Wall. If they lose, the genocide is complete. As Tormund points out, Jon did die and come back to life over his decision to help the Wildlings. If that’s not a sign of loyalty, nothing is. Wun Wun, naturally, is the deciding vote. With clasped hands, the alliance is sealed.

The Northerners prove far harder to convince. At Bear Island, home of the Lady Lyanna Mormont, a 10 year-old whose mother died fighting for Robb Stark. Jon and Sansa petition her but his bastard status and her relationships with Tyrion and Ramsay undercut their credibility. Fortunately, tight diplomatic spots are where Davos Seaworth excels. He reminds her that her uncle Jeor Mormont chose Jon Snow as his successor and a divided North is doomed against the Night’s King and his army of the dead. While her adviser and maester are clearly skeptical, the sharp-eyed, clear-headed 10-year old commits their 62 men.

House Glover is less forgiving and definitely not enthused that the army will consist primarily of Wildlings. This is Sansa’s chance to play a part, reminding Lord Glover of his Stark allegiance. But after the scarring Greyjoy invasion and Robb’s failure as King in the North, Glover rebukes the bond and seems to permanently severed.

All in all, only three houses including the Mormonts join their rebellion. The small force encamps at the same place Stannis did prior to his defeat last season, which seems impossibly stupid for any number of reasons. But it does put Davos in the same place as Shireen’s murder. Melisandre, who is not seen in this episode, will have some ‘splaining to do.

The Riverlands: Jaime, the Tullys/Freys, Brienne

Speaking of return fan-favorites, Bronn is back and he’s as frickin’ hilarious as ever. Jerome Flynn’s flavor – and his ascent up the social ladder – is one of the most underrated parts of the show. They arrive at Riverrun with a Lannister army numbering 8,000 strong and see with dismay the haphazard “siege.” The Freys are busy threatening Edmure’s life in front of his uncle Brynden, by hanging, by throat-slitting, complete with taunts about murdering their dead relatives.

Befitting his gruff, no-nonsense nature, the Blackfish is having none of it and walks off telling them to do it. Black Walder and Lame Lothar are unable to carry out the threat. Jaime gives a Tyrion style smack to the elder brother, puts Bronn in command and arranges a parley with Blackfish.

Jaime arrives at the gate for the meeting. But unless Jaime wants to surrender either himself or his forces, Brynden Tully is not ready to concede anything for any reason. I kinda thought he’d be killed by betrayal in violation of parley here but Jaime has continued professing his newfound honor. We’ll see how long it sticks now that the Blackfish has eliminated the possibility of a peaceful surrender.

King’s Landing: Cersei, the Tyrells, the Sparrows

Margaery and the High Sparrow speak about the efficacy of their beliefs regarding the poor. He asks about Margaery’s sex life with Tommen. She explains (in a much nicer way) that his torment to drive away her desires drove them all away. He nonetheless creepily pushes her toward the worst sounding sex imaginable to give Tommen an heir. After, he implicitly threatens the Queen of Thorns with a smile.

Septa Unella accompanies the queen to visit her grandmother. She has to play the game even against the legendary Tyrell matriarch as the shifty septa watches. In her compelling way, she manages to communicate the need to leave the threats in the capital. Olenna seems to understand this, if not everything, a thought confirmed by a note passed from granddaughter to grandmother: the Tyrell rose. She smiles. Her beloved granddaughter hasn’t changed after all.

As she prepares to leave, Cersei arrives. She blames her but even Cersei’s admission of her mistakes doesn’t sway the old lady who’s only satisfaction at the mess her country and house is in is that Cersei was left powerless and surrounded by enemies because of it.

Braavos: Arya

An unusually confident Arya books passage to Westeros with a random sailor at the docks using (presumably) stolen money. Her hair styled like her late father, she looks like him as she strodes about her last night in Braavos . . . until an old crone stabs her a bunch in the gut and takes off her “face,”revealing the Waif. Arya gets a split-second she needs to escape over the bridge they’re on, tumbling into the water with only a blood puddle left floating in the water.

The tough little Stark is alive but she’s in her worst spot yet, bleeding to death, wandering the streets of Braavos surrounded by strangers and very alone.

Volantis: Yara & Theon Greyjoy

Yara and Theon have time-warped their fleet to Volantis since episode 5. Yara kinda insensitively takes her eunuch brother to a brothel. Turns out Yara is more like her bawdy crewmates than previously thought as she fondles and makes out with a female prostitute. Theon is still struggling to break out of his Reek shell. Yara tries to psych him up with ale and with promises of the future: they will get to Meereen, win Dany’s favor and retake the Iron Islands from their insane uncle.

P.S. “A few bad years?” was the height of pitch-black comedy to the point where even me who counts Ricky Gervais as funny felt awful laughing about it

MISSING THIS WEEK:

  • No Bran, Meera or kinda-sorta undead Uncle Benjen this week
  • No Ramsay, Littlefinger or update on Euron Trumpjoy’s merry ship-building in the Iron Islands
  • No Sam, Gilly or “Little Sam,” whom I affectionately refer to as “mutant incest-baby”
  • #DorneSucks
  • No Dany or Tyrion??? Wow, talk about another first(?)

NEXT WEEK(s):

In an unusual move, the show did not release a synopsis for the eighth episode prior to tonight, though its title “No One” implies an Arya-heavy hour. That title along with the titles for episodes nine and 10 were supposedly revealed last week. With official confirmation of “No One,” it’s seems safe to say episode nine and 10 will be “The Battle of Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter,” both super-loaded with meaning to the Thrones universe.

Moreover, while tonight’s episode only ran 51 minutes (a show average), the final three episodes of the season will run 59, 60 and 69 minutes respectively. The penultimate episode “The Battle of Bastards” features the climactic battle of the season, the largest in the show’s history, between Ramsay Bolton’s army at Winterfell and Jon Snow’s alliance of Wildlings, Northerners, and Stark loyalists. The finale is the longest Game of Thrones episode to date and carries the moniker of the as-yet unreleased sixth volume in author George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

It’s been my speculation for a year now that the sixth season would end with the Wall coming down. I think we saw a foreshadowing of it in the fifth episode “The Door” when the Night’s King attacked the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave, after “marking” Bran in a greenseer vision. The first thing he does on arrival is touch the ground, sending a crack to the cave that shakes it but seemingly does nothing else. An intimidation tactic? Or perhaps an allusion to the fact that, now his mark passed beyond a magical barrier, he can now use his ice powers on a target? What’s to stop that next target from being the Wall, bringing the army of the dead and the fabled winds of winter that herald the Long Night?

This begs another question: will Bran add this to his mountain of screw-ups? He carries the King’s mark now which I assume is like herpes; he’s not getting rid of it. Or will the King find another person to get his mark on the other side of the Wall and thus negate the magic that keeps his White Walkers out?

What do you think? Speculate away in the comments!

Sam Flynn

Sam Flynn

Sam is a writer and journalist whose passion for pop culture burns with the fire of a thousand suns and at least three LED lamps.