Game of Thrones, Season 6, Episode 3: Oathbreaker
Damn, this episode of Game of Thrones, though! We don't get to see our buddies in Dorne or the Iron Islands, and instead take a tour of the normal cast again. Also, we get to see Sam! Who I kind of forgot existed. His scenes are still as mind-numbingly boring and I don't care. He's on a boat going to the Citadel or whatever, but there's your generic 'what am I going to do with this lovesick wildling woman' problem that I honestly still don't care about. Nah, I've got so much to talk about in this review other than freaking Samwell Tarly. I'm sorry, Sam, you're a nice bloke but I don't really give a rat's ass about your story here. Not when there's so much going on in this episode.
One of the biggest event that happened in this episode, of course, is Brandon Stark going in these weird flashbacks back to that nebulous period of time prior to the show's start, where all sorts of conspiracy theories about the vague flashbacks and biased tidbits of information we are given about all the mysteries in the past -- namely, the Tower of Joy. Mentioned as early as the first book, the Tower of Joy is the subject of many a speculation, and finally, we get to see the scene! Except, not really. All kinds of conspiracy theories, mostly relating to the possible fact that Jon Snow was in fact not Ned Stark's bastard child but the secret lovechild of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, who possibly, maybe, died in childbirth in the Tower of Joy and made Ned swore to keep it a secret. Or something. There are a lot of subtle hints in the first book that could possibly hint at this big plot twist -- and the author have gone to state that the secret to Jon Snow's parentage could be found as early as the first book.
Except, y'know, it's still a fan theory, and while far more dedicated fans than I have searched across hundreds of pages over the multiple books, it's still very vague and very open to interpretation. So how cool is it, finally, to see the Tower of Joy once more? The fact that the Three-Eyed Raven brought Bran here to see this event take place means that, yes, there is some truly important thing going on in the Tower of Joy. Something monumental. Something that would shatter the fanbase.
Except that cockblocking Three-Eyed Raven just pulled Bran out of that flashback! What the hell! My reaction was exactly the same with Bran's. Bring me back! But nah, the Three-Eyed Raven gives some random mystical mumbo jumbo about telling Bran that he needs to know everything before he leaves but he won't let Bran continue on that particular flashback because damn.
In any case, though, for all of you show-only viewers who don't understand a word of the last three paragraphs, just take my word that this flashback is going to be important whether this theory holds true or not. All we see in this episode is the confrontation between Ned Stark, Howland Reed and a bunch of Stark allies against three two members of the Kingsguard that are holding the Tower of Joy, inside which Lyanna Stark (allegedly abducted by force by crown prince Rhaegar, but accounts vary on whether this is an elopement or a kidnapping). It's a pretty damn awesome scene, with Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, dual-wielding swords and making it look awesome as he literally cuts through Ned's entire party bar him and Reed.
And there's a nice moment of 'winners are the ones who write the history' as Bran, who insists that his father slew Arthur Dayne, witnesses as Arthur Dayne completely overpowers Ned before being stabbed in the back by Howland Reed. No shame to Dayne, though -- for his short career in Game of Thrones he was pretty damn honourable, got a couple of great lines, visibly had mutual respect with Ned Stark, and got executed by Ned himself if nothing else. Plus dual-wielding swords are cool.
Oh, and Bran's big destiny is not to replace the Three-Eyed Raven and be a child of the forest or a tree or whatever, so yay for that. I've never really been a big fan of that particular fandom theory.
In the present day, though... while the previous two episodes showed new rulers taking over (Ramsay, the Sand Snakes, the High Sparrow of sorts) or making plans to take over (Euron Greyjoy), this episode shows a lot of leaders and rulers losing their grip on their power.
Take King Tommen, the nominal king of Westeros at this moment. Tommen is starting to grow into a complex character after being in periphery for the majority of the past five seasons. He's Cersei's son, he's Margeary's husband, he's Joffrey's brother, he's Tywin's grandson... he's never really been given proper scenes to shine, always dragged in one direction and that, and quite ironically enough, his realization that Tywin is kinda manipulating him with his 'advice' might just cause him to be even more manipulated by the High Sparrow.
The High Sparrow is the most nicest-speaking piece of dickwad in all of Westeros, isn't he? He's so scary mostly because we can't really tell if what he believes is truly religious zealousy taken up to eleven, or just him hiding behind that veneer or religion, while taking advantage of a pushover king and manipulating a cult of easily-duped people under oppressive reigns of other dickwads. In any case, Tommen's gotten a bit of fire after his last conversation with Cersei, coming in with armed guards (smart move) and confronting the High Sparrow. Uncharacteristically for Game of Thrones no one gets stabbed or gutted in this scene, but good on Tommen for channeling a bit of his inner Joffrey to intimidate the High Sparrow... who quickly counters with some advice about redemption and how Cersei's redeeming qualities is as a mother, while still refusing to budge on his stance of allowing Cersei to at least mourn Myrcella's death. Man, what a twat, this High Sparrow fella. Tommen isn't even asking for Margeary's release, or any kind of unreasonable request. He just wants his mother to be able to mourn his dead sister in peace.
While Qyburn has obtained control over Varys's network of little birds with bribes of candy (in the show, apparently Varys doesn't make use of creepy kids with their tongues cut out but rather just, y'know, a bunch of normal kids), Cersei and Jaime aren't having a nice time at all. They have the zombie Mountain, of course, but one big soldier isn't quite enough to storm the Faith Militant and crush the High Sparrow's head. Also they kinda just went ahead and confirmed that, yes, that is the Mountain and doesn't try to hide his identity behind that Robert Strong bit.
Cersei, Jaime and the Mountain kinda gatecrash the Small Council meeting, but none of the Small Council members are really keen to help out Cersei after her annexing power from every single one of them back in early season five. Kevan Lannister is back (presumably Tommen actually called him off-screen), and he's still not taking any shits from Cersei. Also back with her is the coolest old woman in the world, Lady Olenna Tyrell, who, while still quite ready to do something about the Faith Militant to get her granddaughter back, is still not taking any shits from Cersei either, reminding her that, nope, she ain't the queen anymore. The way Olenna and Kevan systematically cuts down Cersei's feeble attempts to regain power is hilarious, and as with all Small Council scenes, it's a treat to watch. "We can't make you leave, but you can't make us stay" indeed.
It's nice to see Grand Maester Pycelle return again, really an underutilized character in these later seasons. His quick transition from ranting about the zombie Mountain to shitting his pants to returning into a doddering senile idiot... well, Cersei's certainly no Tywin or Tyrion, since she doesn't really seem to notice that bit.
Anyway, King's Landing ends up with Cersei and Jaime sitting in an empty room, their only allies being the insane Qyburn and the brainless Mountain. The loyalties of the Small Council lie with Tommen, who is a bit of a pushover from all sides, as well as Kevan and Olenna, both uninterested with the twins' selfish vendetta. Also they both kind of hate Cersei Lannister quite justifiably.
While Tyrion is participating in an attempt to get Grey Worm and Missandei to engage in conversation -- apparently a far harder task than talking to the dragons last week -- Varys is being quite busy. He interrogates that one Harpy woman that seduced that one Unsullied soldier way back in season four or five or whatever, and doesn't torture or make threats against her son, no. Varys makes it clear that he knows the Harpy's weakness, but he doesn't threaten the child. I'm not sure if it's because of some personal code of honour or blatant lies, but he does give a far better option. Give him information, and in return, Varys will make her 'happy' by means of passage out of all this mess to, well, elsewhere. Away from the assassins of the Harpy fanatics, and definitely a far better option than having her head chopped off.
The big revelation that it's the wise masters of Astapor, Yunkai and the other cities that Daenerys had subjugated in seasons two through four isn't a big surprise, honestly. So these other slave-drivers are sponsoring the Harpies. Now the question is, really, what will Varys and Tyrion do about it?
Daenerys, meanwhile, is brought before the widows of Vaes Dothrak. We get a far, far more majestic portrayal of Vaes Dothrak with far more extras and giant horse statues than we ever got with the Dothraki before, and Daenerys is stripped of her power and her blue clothes, re-dressed in Dothraki widow garb. Her attempts to flex her authority muscles are crushed as the old ladies there are former Khal wives as well, and their Khals, too, once promised that they would rule the world just as Khal Drogo did. Now the big conflict, really, is that Daenerys Targaryen did not surrender herself to Vaes Dothrak immediately after Khal Drogo's death as Dothraki Khaleesis are wont to, so there's going to be a trial to see if she'll die or be forced to live in that Dothraki nunnery with other old ladies. Or something.
Again, though, she has a fucking dragon. Once Drogon gets off his little tantrum and bothers to come back... I mean, you could count on Sir Friendzone and Sir Loverboy to come rescue her, but I prefer Drogon, because, y'know, he's a motherfucking dragon.
For Arya Stark... Or, rather, "a girl", she continues to be depersonalized. We get to see a bit of a montage as she gets brought back to the coven of the Faceless Men, and is further abused and trained, being asked personal questions about her. Or rather, about Arya Stark, her previous identity. We're not quite sure how much of it is just Arya playing along for the sake of her life, or if she truly has been brainwashed. Her deadpan expression through all this is quite ambiguous. But we get the Waif questioning her about "Arya Stark's list", which she mentions is quite short. Arya has apparently crossed the Hound off her list, both wanting him dead and not wanting him dead at the same time. Will the Hound return? I freaking hope so, certainly. Dude's got a great 'death' scene but he's too cool to leave dead, dammit!
Also, Jaqen H'gahr who may or may not be the Jaqen from season three ends up telling Arya to drink from that poison pool. She does, because she is 'no one', and is rewarded with her eyesight again. And she just managed to unlock Daredevil senses and block the Waif, too! Now whether Arya Stark can break free of this insane cult, or if the Faceless Men have a particularly insane 'training from hell' regimen... or whatever the fuck their deal is... well.
In Winterfell we don't see the little party with Sansa, Theon, Brienne and Pod at all, but rather focus on Ramsay Bolton's ascension into a ruler. Which is quite less fun for him than feeding mothers and babies to dogs. While the Karstark representative was quite the yes-man for Ramsay, he is beset with Smalljon Umber, son to Greatjon Umber, the dude whose arm was eaten by Robb's direwolf and ends up being his right-hand man. The Umbers have since been relegated to the bare minimum role in season two, so much that Greatjon Umber wasn't even present in the Red Wedding and died off-screen here.
Smalljon Umber, whose favourite word is 'cunt', stands up against Ramsay in the most satisfying way ever. He refuses to kiss Ramsay's hand or bend the knee, telling him to fuck off, insulting the Karstark fellow by calling him a pedophile, and straight-up tells Ramsay that he killed his father and there's no use pretending otherwise. Smalljon Umber's a, well, cunt, but he's awesome! But he enters an alliance of convenience with Ramsay because he hates the Starks, and he doesn't want Jon Snow to lead an army of wildlings down because his territories are the closest to the Wall. Now Ramsay doesn't take shit from anyone, and while Smalljon's alliance does mean that he has control of two of the biggest families of the North... the fact that Smalljon can so blatantly refuse to kowtow to Ramsay is probably signs of his rule fraying.
Alas, Ramsay Bolton is presented with two captives. No, not Sansa and Theon... but rather, Osha and Rickon Stark, who has been out of focus since forever. Also, the head of poor Shaggydog, who died off-screen. Man, lotsa off-screen deaths in this one. Ramsay finally gets his hands on two likable characters again, and we all know what he does to likable characters. Hopefully Rickon ends up faring better than Theon did and survives with his genitals intact, and Osha ends up faring better than Sansa did and survives without getting raped. Because, well, Ramsay likes his women 'wild', apparently. Man, poor Osha and poor Rickon. And this does mean that, well, Ramsay has a Stark under his control once more.
Who the fuck expected Rickon Stark to be relevant to the plot in this way? Awesome job, storywriters!
Oh, and framing the episode is Jon Snow rising up from the dead. The opening scene is a bit more optimistic and haunting, with Dolorous Edd, Tormund Giantsbane, Ser Davos Seaworth and Melisandre all having their own points of view about Jon coming back to life. Davos is just desperate for an answer, Edd is confused but happy that it is Jon, Melisandre rants about some big destiny in store... and Tormund makes a dick joke. Never change, Tormund.
The final scene shows the execution of the ringleaders of Jon's death. And like what he always did, Jon Snow wields the sword that executes the condemned. Bowen Marsh and Yarwyck never did a lot in the show, but Jon gets a final scene with Alliser Thorne. How much of Thorne's rebellion is out of a sense of misguided duty, and how much because of his resentment to Jon Snow? I could argue either way for hours, and Thorne is, I think, one of the nicely complex minor characters of this show. Thorne is unapologetic and has balls enough to tell Jon that he still thinks it's the right thing to do, and is the only one out of the four to have his head raised high in anticipation of his death by hanging. Thorne does tell Jon that, well, he won't ever stop fighting, which probably participated in Jon's decision later.
Oh, and there's that little twat of a kid, Ollie. Unlike Thorne, no one feels sorry for this cunt. A kid he may be, but his death is one of the rare times in Game of Thrones where I'm glad the show does not spare children from deaths.
And then Jon takes off his Night Watch's Commander cloak and hands it off to Edd, telling him to wear it or burn it or whatever, because Jon Snow doesn't give two shits about the Night's Watch anymore and heads off. I mean, yeah, the oath does say 'to the death', and technically Jon did die. Now how much of it is Jon running away from all the destiny and all the insane responsibilities hanging upon him, having to broker peace between wildlings and night brothers, fighting the White Walkers, dealing with all the insane politics of the world while his family die left and right? And, the bigger question... what will Jon Snow do now?
All great cliffhangers, really -- Jon, Ned, Ramsay, Cersei, Tommen, Varys, Tyrion -- all the 'what will they do now's are piling up, and it will be interesting to see all these conflicts unfold. It's definitely an eventful episode. Really excited for next week, though that is honestly quite a given.
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