Game Of Thoughts – Home (6.2)

Hello and welcome to Game of Thoughts! This is a feature I’m testing out in which I do little, rambly recaps of the night’s episode. They WILL contain spoilers. They are nothing more than a recap and chance for GoT fans to have a bit of a natter and react as situations permit. They were inspired by the incredible, in-depth and insightful posts of Patrick Sponaugle, except his are intelligent and mine are just squeeing.  There will be spoilers, but I will put everything behind a cut so as not to ruin anyone’s good time. I will continue with movie reviews, but just once a week or so. 

Let’s DO THIS!

First and foremost:

IT HAS HAPPENED!!! HE IS RISEN!!!

I was busy having three heart attacks at once and had to rewind the episode to see next week’s teaser. WHAT A GOTDAMN GOOD EPISODE!

And now to the thoughts, such as they are:

• Bran and The Three-Eyed Raven – What up Bran? Been a while! I loved watching Bran watching the others, he seemed so happy and carefree. We got some nice background, we saw Hodor before he started hodoring, we checked in with Meera. Some nice set-up is happening up there, although Bran seems kind of dumb for someone who can see into the past – Meera lost her brother and it’s no wonder she’s miserable. Better luck next week, Bran.
• Davos And The Boys in Black – Davos taking up Longclaw and apologizing for his crap fighting ability was so good, and then a GODDAMN GIANT CAME THROUGH THE GATE. What’s good, Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun? Glad you’re back! Seeing him beat and toss that dude like a bag of old tomato sauce shouldn’t have felt as good as it did. Edd once again had an awesome moment, and Tormund continues to give solid hair and eyebrow performances. “Wood for a fire…” NICE FAKE OUT, Tormund.
• Cersei and Ser Robert Strong – I liked that Cersei made the smart decision not to make Strong fight. That was smart. She not only recognized that she’d be throwing away her most powerful ally, I am thinking she guessed that Tommen would come to her, or that Jaime would dance to her tune and go tell Tommen to go see her. Either way, she’s got Tommen in her court again and she was overjoyed both as a mother and as a potentially vengeance-mad psycho tyrant. Again, we had a giant smashing a dude into a wall, which was a pleasant leitmotif. Hot Take: Cersei Lannister has re-entered The Game. 
• The High Sparrow – Ooooooo, that was a good scene. Jaime ambling around the bier, casually handling his dagger, laying down some logistical realities vis-a-vis assassination… and then all those sparrows come in. He realizes that yes, he could kill the High Sparrow, but the real outcome would be the sparrows getting to take credit for killing a basically ‘unkillable’ man, The Kingslayer, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. That would gain them loads of popularity points with the populace. The scene also sets up that the High Sparrow is willing to die not just for his faith, but also to prove a point.
• Tyrion and the Dragons – Now that was beautifully shot scene. I loved the buildup with the little council (Varys killed as always, and with barely two lines) and the moment that Missandei and Grey Worm share during the discussion of slavery. Here are two people who escaped it and know exactly what horrors it contains. It would have been nice to hear what they thought of people who are willing to return to enslavement, and I think we get that in the books, but the season is young, yet. And then we got that scene, that wonderful scene that we have been waiting for so long, where Tyrion gets not just to see the dragons, but to touch them, to free them and even– and this was the best– be acknowledged by them. Who wouldn’t want to look into the eyes of a being of myth and have it look back? Viserion (hard to tell in the darkness) understood Tyrion’s intent and had his ‘my turn!’ moment. Tyrion’s face during that scene – he goes beyond the fear and into that wondrous, boyish look. Some of the spring returns to his step, hopefully ending the dark knight of his soul and returning him to Battle of the Blackwater Tyrion.
• Roose Bolton Dies as He Lived; With SASS – I’ve always liked Roose Bolton a little, even though he was part of the Red Wedding. The actor who plays him nailed him perfectly and has a great voice. He will be missed. And while there were a lot of great moments in this episode, Ramsay setting his hunting dogs on Walda Frey-Bolton and her newborn WAS NOT one of them. I hated that, but it’s still GoT, after all. I felt so sorry for her… but Ramsay has just made a terrible mistake by killing a Frey, especially one that would have gained Walder the north through her marriage and offspring. Walder Frey might not remember her name, but you can bet he won’t be cool with her and her child being eaten by dogs. Ramsay is building a house, but the walls and foundation are of flammable shit and he really likes to play with matches. My money’s on him eating it this season. AND GOOD RIDDANCE.
• Arya – Going great! She’s really got hold of this idea of surrendering her identity, if not blind fighting. Saying your own name to get some time with Jaqen H’gar – Sigh…. it should be so easy.
• Sansa and Theon – NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I was so hoping for Sansa to command him to stay by her side, since she could totally do that. Also… ‘home’ for Theon wasn’t Pyke, it was Winterfell. We did immediately cut to the Iron Islands (‘Oh wait, Balon Greyjoy is still alive? How is he not–Oh. Well! That’s him all caught up, then’) Maybe Theon’s going to join up with Yara, or something. BUT… Sansa could do with an army, and Theon’s sister has one… And speaking of Sansa, I am ready for her to stand up again. Take charge, girl! She’s been broken and rebuilt more than my glasses. It’s time for some payoff to that journey.
• Back At the Wall – Davos’s pep talk is everything. To paraphrase: ‘Pff, I don’t care about gods, the magic is in you so stop feeling sorry for yourself and FIRE THAT SHIT UP.’ The resurrection scene was beautifully blocked and photographed – the firelight warmed everything in the room except Jon’s gray corpse. Ringing the room with men was a nice touch too – Melisandre isn’t just performing magic here, she’s trying to force belief with the eyes of many non-believers on her. The burden of proof lay with her, and doubly so as she has lost her faith. Showing her tired and frazzled was smart, and letting the tension play out so long was magnificent. I wonder if she’ll sort of fade away or die, OR if she’ll become more formidable in wielding her power, which will grow with her confidence. Either way, I cannot wait for reaction shots next week when Jon does his big reveal. I think all the shots of her clipping his hair was a goof on the whole #Hairwatch thing.
• The Big Moment – It couldn’t have been more perfect. After Melisandre’s failure, everyone left the room, either in defeat or disgust, and Davos went last of all. The tension drew out… and kept going… AND THEN. Ghost looking deflated with sleep and coming to life was a perfect touch, it couldn’t have been any more perfect.

I feel like we’re entering a phase of GoT in which people are finally making the right goddamn decisions. Obviously we’re only on episode 2 and there’s still plenty of room for people to fornicate themselves, but watching these people fornicate themselves up for 5 seasons was almost as difficult as watching real people I know fornicate up. And now it looks like people are FINALLY learning and applying that knowledge to the very important business of NOT fornicating up again. And it’s just… just so wonderful.

Please tune in next week! And later this week, I’ll finally be posting the Frances Ha review that I’ve been talking about for a month.

Have a great Monday!

Author: jennnanigans

Orlando-area writerly person. View all posts by jennnanigans