Game of Thrones, Season 6, Episode 7: The Broken Man
It's still a solid episode, don't get me wrong... there's just a lack of anything much that happened in this episode. Not even the big spoilery thing that happened at the beginning of the episode (so, um, spoiler alert before you read the next few paragraphs) really managed to elicit more than a brief 'oh my god, what the hell?' moment. Characters are moved around, sure, and some progression is made on all fronts, great lines of dialogue are spoken, but really... it works better as part of a larger installment than it is as a standalone episode.
The big thing that happened, of course, are the scenes that bookended this episode, revealing that amidst all the deaths and resurrections happening all throughout Westeros, there is a character who I honestly did not expect to return -- the Hound, the badassest fucker in the entire series. It's definitely a very welcome and unexpected return for the Hound... but ultimately he didn't do much this episode. We get the explanation that he was healed by a introdump-y agnostic Septon, who went unnamed in the episode (and is apparently a composite character from two different dudes in the books), and there's a slow-paced little story as the Hound just hangs out with a bunch of pacifists building a church... before a bunch of dudes claiming to be from the Brotherhood Without Banners comes around, and apparently slaughtered the entire community, including the poor Septon, launching the Hound on a one-man vengeance party.
And as much as it is inherently entertaining to see a badass person like the Hound basically be Westeros's version of the Punisher (to counter Arya's Daredevil?) it really felt odd to have so many things going on... and then to have this little storyline divorced from everything else that has happened. The fact that we haven't seen the Brotherhood Without Banners since like season three or something really makes it hard for show-only viewers to really care about them beyond being just another villain for the Hound to take down. And for book-readers... well, they're probably peeved that the Brotherhood -- whose whole deal was that they don't pillage from the poor, unlike the rich armies -- is reduced to what's basically a collection racket that slaughters entire communities if rejected.
The other big event that happened in this episode is Arya, trying to find a ship back home... but honestly, for an assassin who should really have known better, it's hard not to go 'Arya, you idiot' when she just walks around town flaunting gold and not reacting with suspicion when a random old woman comes about. That particular scene went along for a bit too long, I thought, and ultimately didn't have much payoff. Arya randomly dying like that after spending a season and a half being involved in this assassin cult without accomplishing anything notable would be the ultimate waste of time, so I really don't think she's going to die here. Eh. I dunno. Just finding it really hard to be invested in Arya's story most of the time, least of all now.
What else really happened in this episode? Margeary's scenes take up a huge chunk of the episode, but it ultimately ended with the revelation that Margeary's super-religious act that seems to fool the High Sparrow and Septa Unella (a.k.a. 'thing that would not speak') and even the Queen of Thorns herself is... well, an act. It's good! Smart Margeary is best Margeary. There's a bit where she's apparently not sleeping with Tommen (and the High Sparrow knows this because...?) and we get a misogynistic (but technically practical, considering how lack of heirs end up in the Westerosi setting) reply from the Sparrow.
It's always fun to see Olenna Tyrell, but, again, the scenes ended up being way too slow-paced and the payoff could really be seen from miles away. Olenna buggers off to Highgarden, but when Cersei asks for an alliance... Olenna pretty rightfully tells Cersei to fuck off because this whole High Sparrow business was the brainchild of her petty schemes to put the Tyrell siblings in prison. Olenna delivers a pretty damning 'fuck you' speech, noting how absolutely nobody in King's Landing is Cersei's ally. Well, she's got Qyburn and the Mountain, at least. Yeah, everyone's definitely rooting for the Tyrells in this one. Maybe Cersei will snap and be the one responsible for detonating all that wildfire in Bran's weird flashback thing?
Jaime leads an army to Riverrun with Bronn (hey Bronn!). Jaime does get a pretty awesome moment telling the shitty Frey kids that they are shit, but ultimately, the scene is more of an introduction to Blackfish Tully -- who we haven't seen since the Red Wedding. The two exchange words, and despite Jaime's clearly superior numbers, the Blackfish has enough hatred in him not to give up the siege. Blackfish is a bit of a dick for allowing the Freys to kill Edmure (even if the Freys are too much pussies to go through with their threat) but, like he pointed out, the Freys were going to do it sooner or later. Some great dialogue, especially courtesy of Bronn, but again, it's another slow-paced scene in a string of slow-paced scenes.
Yara and Theon's scene is honestly unnecessary. It establishes that they've crossed the seas, that Yara's a lesbian... and Yara basically tells Theon to man up, drink beer and stop moping with his PTSD, because there ain't no therapists in Westeros. It sounds dickish in a vacuum, but considering how the Ironborns' culture are, and how Yara is very clearly non-malicious and it definitely comes from a good heart. Yeah. Definitely rooting for these two to join Daenerys's court.
The rest of the episode has a very, very long montage of Jon Snow asking for allies, all Gondor-style, but it takes so much time. Thanks to Tormund and the awesome giant Wun Wun the wildlings join up, but it took a longer discussion to talk to the girl-ruler Lyanna Mormont, and Lord Glover straight-up refused to help. There's definitely some real repercussions of Robb Stark choosing romance over the sensible choice of just marrying the Frey daughter that he's betrothed to, and in a non-romantic setting, well, this cost Jon and Sansa a lot of allies. Sansa's shown to be a lot more independent, which is nice... now if only she stops suspecting Davos. Not her fault since she traveled with Brienne who doesn't have a favourable impression of Davos, but still. She ends up writing a letter to... Littlefinger, I guess? Eh. Again, it's just mostly going through the motions and I can't help but wonder that it couldn't have all been done in a scene of Jon just receiving ravens, or a quick montage of the houses refusing to give aid.
Despite being slow, though, it's definitely still an enjoyable episode. Can't really fault the show for having some slower chapters... I just hope we get a fair bit of payoffs in the next one.
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