In the epic tradition of Game of Thrones battles,”Battle of the Bastards” more than lives up to its hype, but in a atypical way for this show. It bucks the series’ own subversions in favor of an all-out catharsis, a catharsis made all the more sweet by the painfully twisted journey that took us (and Jon, Sansa, Dany, Tyrion etc.) through hell. When so many tropes are zagged, it’s momentous when one is played straight. Such is the case here. Even better, it makes us question our own convictions by sparing no detail, whether it is the nastiness of medieval battling or the comeuppance for a major villain
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.
- Westeros
- Beyond-the-Wall: Bran, Meera and Uncle Benjen
- The North: Jon, Sansa, Tormund, Davos, Melisandre, Ramsay
- The Vale: Littlefinger
- The Iron Islands: Euron Greyjoy
- The Riverlands: Jaime, the Tullys/Freys, Brienne, the Hound
- King’s Landing: Cersei, the Tyrells, the Sparrows
- The Reach: Sam & Gilly
- Dorne: The Martells
- Essos: Jorah, Varys
- Braavos: Arya
- Volantis: Yara & Theon Greyjoy
- Meereen: Dany, Tyrion and Daario (plus episode 10 preview)
