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Tonight ends what has been an epic season of Game of Thrones, and I mean that in the truest sense of the word. Last week's episode titled, "Battle of the Bastards" may have been the best hour of television in recent memory. It was non-stop from start to finish, and it clearly shows that the producers went all out for this episode and spared no expense.
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With tonight's episode entitled "The Winds of Winter," we can pretty much deduce that the Army of the Dead and the Night King will be making an appearance as they head to The Wall. However, there's some other very interesting plotlines that will likely be explored with the living as well.
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What is going to happen at the trials of Cersei and Ser Loras? Do we see Arya on a boat to Westeros? Does Lady Stoneheart show up, or did The Hound literally piss on that theory? Will Littlefinger double cross the Starks, the Lannisters, or both, as he tries to make himself Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North? Does Bran head back to the Tower of Joy?
Baldmove.com has an excellent weekly podcast that you can download and it provides insightful commentary along with spoiler theories for future episodes. If you're a GOT fan, I highly recommend it. But, this post isn't about what may happen tonight, it's a recap of the best and worst things about Game of Thrones Season 6, so without further ado, let's get to it.
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EPISODE 1: THE RED WOMAN
We all pretty much knew that Melisandre was older than she looked but holy hell. Ladies, forget Rodan and Fields, if you want to stop the affects of aging, go buy this necklace wherever it is. The Red Woman ends Episode 1 by taking off her makeup, and showing the audience, that The Lord of Light's greatest accomplishment isn't bringing people back from the dead, it's making a woman centuries of years old look like Carice Van Houten.
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Meanwhile, in King's Landing, Maggie The Frog's prophecy claims another of Cersei's children, as Jamie returns with Myrcella and her golden shroud. "Gold shall be their crowns, and gold their shrouds." Grab a bat, you're on deck Tommen!
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In Dorne, Ellaria and the Sand Snakes are tired of waiting around for revenge. They murder Doran Martell and his son Trystane in what appears to be a popular coup d'etat for being weak and not avenging the death of their family members at the hands of the Lannisters, but then we don't hear anything about them for the rest of the season. This story line looks like it was completely unnecessary and didn't carry a whole lot of weight. If the Sand Snakes are hanging out in King's Landing, they better get to work on going after the Lannisters before The High Sparrow beats them to it.
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Arya, now blinded and reduced to begging on the streets of Braavos, gets a rough beating from The Waif, who then tells her I'll see you tomorrow for another beating, so get ready.
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Lastly, Sansa and Theon are saved from the Boltons as Brienne and Podrick ride up and kill the men sent by Ramsay to find his fleeing bride. While Brienne can finally make good on her promise of protecting Sansa, the bigger story here is Roose Bolton informing his legitimated son Ramsay, that if he doesn't find Sansa and bring her back to Winterfell, he will disinherit him, which means Ramsay would never be Lord of Winterfell.
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EPISODE 2: HOME
Well, we had to wait 2 whole episodes to basically confirm what 95% of GOT fans already knew, that Jon Snow wasn't going to remain dead. He's brought back to life after being assassinated by several members of The Night's Watch by Melisandre, just as the episode ends.
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The closing scene is very fitting as the members of The Night's Watch still loyal to their fallen brother, Ser Davos, and Melisandre all leave the room with only Ghost, an apropo name for Jon's direwolf, remaining. He picks his head up just before Jon is brought back to life, gasping for air.
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At Winterfell, Ramsay makes the decision, that he's not going to wait around for Sansa to be brought back to him, especially after hearing about how he now has a baby brother. Ramsay murders his father, Roose, in similar fashion to how Roose murdered Robb Stark at the Red Wedding, a close quarters knife to the torso. The new Lord of Winterfell solidifies his power, ending any threat to his claim as Warden of the North, by feeding his stepmother and brother to his hounds.
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In King's Landing, a local citizen boasts about exposing to himself to Cersei Lannister, and is rewarded by having his brains exposed against the wall by The Mountain. Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister looks to end the reign of The High Sparrow, but is outplayed, and the Faith Militant show their hand at their true goal, which is to overthrow an empire.
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Tyrion, in charge of Mereen while Daeny is under the control of the Dothraki, goes to set her 2 remaining dragons free, in an enthralling scene, that reeks of maybe this wasn't the best idea. He manages to free the dragons after gaining their trust, and the audience is put on notice, that dragons are much smarter than you might think.
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Speaking of reeks, Theon heads home to the Iron Islands, leaving Sansa in the capable hands of Brienne, to find his sister, Yara. Yara pleads with her father to end the war against the mainland, but he dismisses her and then proceeds to walk across the ricketiest bridge since The Temple of Doom.
To digress for a second here, who thought these bridges were a great means of transportation between the castles on the Iron Islands? Are there no architects at Pyke? "Lord Greyjoy we live on a rocky coast with no natural food growing and severe weather, how should we get from castle to castle?" "Build a rickety wooden suspension bridge that clearly won't be safe even in pristine weather conditions, that should do it." "Done, my Lord."
As expected, Balon Greyjoy's reign comes to a quick end, as he's thrown over the bridge by his younger brother Euron, who proclaims himself The Drowned God and means to take the Salt Throne for himself.
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Lastly, Bran flashes back to scenes of Winterfell, and we see a young Ned, Benjen, and Lyanna Stark, along with a young Hodor, whose real name is Wylis, which as a kid of the What You Talking About? 80's is just phenomenal. The real star of the scene though is Lyanna, who rides in on her white horse, and immediately you can tell, yep, here's the girl who caused Robert's Rebellion. That's her, right there, showing off, wooing Rhaegar Targaryen away from his wife. The Three Eyed Raven ends the scene pulling Bran back out of the vision before he can learn much more, warning him he'll "drown" if he spends too much time in the past.
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EPISODE 3: OATHBREAKER
Finally, The Tower of Joy! Likely, anyone who watches Game of Thrones has heard the R + L = J theory, and the Tower of Joy scene from episode 3 seems to hint at, if not flat out hit you over the head with, that possibility, as Ned Stark, in search for his sister Lyanna, finds out she is in the Tower of Joy in Dorne, being protected by the last remaining King's Guard sworn to protect the already deceased Rhaegar Targaryen. The viewer discovers that Ned Stark looked for Ser Arthur Dayne at The Battle of The Trident, where Robert Baratheon kills Rhaegar, but that Ser Arthur Dayne, had been ordered to protect the Tower of Joy? The logical conclusion is that it was because Lyanna was pregnant with a child fathered by Rhaegar, which would be potentially, the last remaining Targaryen.
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The dialogue and choreographed fight scene here is extremely well done. We find out that Ned wasn't exactly truthful with how the death of Ser Arthur Dayne went down to his family, as he was only defeated after Howlan Reed stabbed Dayne in the neck from behind, mortally wounding him, before Ned delves the death blow and then travels to find his sister. As he ascends the steps, Bran calls out to him, and Ned turns his head, which gives the viewer a taste, that Bran may be able to alter the past, and the scene ends. But, good news, SPOILER ALERT, there may be a conclusion to The Tower of Joy scene in tonight's episode.
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In Vaes Dothrak, Daeny meets with the head of the Dosh Khaleen, a elder of the faux matriarchal Dothraki, who acts as an adviser to the Khals. She is informed that the Khals are planning which city to raid next, and whether or not Daeny will be allowed to remain with the other widows of the dead Khals or suffer a much worse fate.
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At Winterfell, The Umbers have a gift for the new Lord Bolton, and present Rickon Stark, along with the head of his direwolf, Shaggydog, in an apparent betrayal of the Starks, but they refuse to bend the knee to Ramsay. Ramsay looks at his new gift as a smile creeps across his face, and he welcomes home Lord Stark.
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At Castle Black, a revived Jon Snow copes with the fact that he's now been brought back to life, and we find out really when you're dead, it's just empty blackness, which makes Melisandre really question her career path. Jon sentences his conspirators to death by hanging, whereby Ser Alliser states what he did he did for The Watch and he lost his battle, which though treacherous, can at least be rationalized. Olly meanwhile, is defiant and says nothing as a scowl lingers on his face, and you know what? Fine Olly, that's how you want to go out? Done. Cut the rope. Jon executes them by cutting the rope and they struggle kicking to find the ground until they die. Jon, then casts aside his Night's Watch cloak and says "My watch has ended."
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EPISODE 4: BOOK OF THE STRANGER
This episode entitled Book of the Stranger, is largely about a chapter in the Bible of the Faith of the Seven, but it really should have been titled, "Don't Let Daeny Near The Fire." Jorah and Daario break into Vaes Dothrak trying to rescue Daeny, but she has another plan. After Daeny is insulted by the Khals during their great meeting, she shows again that she's fire proof and that a wooden structure and raging inferno isn't exactly a great pairing for a habitable dwelling. The Khals are all burned alive and Daeny becomes the new leader of the Dothraki.
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In King's Landing Margery meets with The High Sparrow, where he tells her how he used to be a successful shoe cobbler, until after a drunken orgy one night, he saw how shameful of a life he was leading and left barefoot. While the story is incredibly poignant, it differs from the story he told Cersei earlier in his climb to power. This difference illustrates that his motives are likely less than noble. The Sparrow does allows her to see her brother, Ser Loras however. Margery hopes to use her brother to break The High Sparrow, but soon discovers, Ser Loras is already broken, and The High Sparrow used Ser Loras to break her.
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The High Council though devises their own plan to end the power of The Faith Militant, by having the Tyrell army march on King's Landing, and Kevan, the Hand of the King, agrees to stand down, and the Tyrell army will rescuse Margery and Loras and take them back from The Faith Militant.
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In Mereen, Tyrion, The Henry Clay of Game of Thrones, negotiates a deal with the Masters, whereby he will give them 7 years to abolish slavery, and they reluctantly agree, for now. No one is happy with the deal, outside of Tyrion, and he explains to Missandei and Grey Worm, that it's really their best option at this point.
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In Pyke, Theon arrives at home, and promises he'll support his sister Yara in her claim for The Salt Throne, at the Kingsmoot, which is essentially the laziest form of democracy known to man. You speak for 2 minutes, and then the Iron Islanders gathered around the speech vote, and then you're Lord of the Iron Islands for life.
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In the Vale, Littlefinger returns, to greet Lord of the Eyrie Robin Arryn, who is hands down the worst archer in the Seven Kingdoms, but that kid loves some falcons. Littlefinger after toying with throwing Yohn Royce through the moon door, convinces Robin to keep him for his military prowess in the wars to come.
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Lastly, at Castle Black, Jon is finally reunited with Sansa, and Sansa tries to convince Jon to march on Winterfell. The best part about this portion of the episode though is Brienne just casually telling Davos and Melisandre, "Yea you know your king? I executed him. Oh, and he told about your blood magic before I cut his head off. Don't mess with me." The reading of an inflammatory letter from Ramsay Bolton meant to lure Jon to Winterfell complicates matters even further, as Jon knows he's short on men and time.
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EPISODE 5: THE DOOR
Whew. Jeez. This episode was about as depressing as that Sarah McLaughlin dog video. This is why there are parental controls on the television. Bran goes off on his own traveling in time, without permission or supervision by the Three Eyed Raven, and he's touched by the Night King which allows the Walkers the ability to enter the cave and subsequently, the Children of the Forest, the Three Eyed Raven, his direwolf Summer, and Hodor are all killed saving Bran and Meera. Thanks a lot Bran. We find out at the end of the episode that Wylis got the name Hodor, because Bran wargs into him and basically makes him lose his mind so that he seizes and can only say the name Hodor a variation of the phrase Hold The Door, that Meera yells to him while trying to escape with Bran.
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Also, thanks Children of the Forest for basically creating a nuclear weapon, the Night King and Walkers without knowing the consequences of it, that in turn eventually ends up getting you killed. In this episode, we are told the Night King was created by having Dragonglass shoved into his chest as a means to defeat the First Men who at the time were at war with the Children of the Forest.
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In Vaes Dorthak, Jorah explains his greyscale and leaves Daeny telling her he'll kill himself before he turns into a stoneman, and Daeny orders him to find a cure and return to her. Bye Jorah, see ya in Season 7.
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In Pyke, Yara gives her Kingsmoot speech, backed by Theon, and then Euron gives his speech, which is essentially, I'm going to go meet with Daeny, marry her, give her something she'll enjoy other than my ships, and then we'll make the Iron Islands Great Again! Euron is then overwhelming elected, and he's given the most difficult fraternity initiation ever, where he's basically drowned, and then somehow comes back to life. He has the cheapest crown in Westeros placed upon his head, rallies his men, by asking where Yara and Theon are and then saying, "Let's go murder them." Euron is upset to learn they've escaped with his best ships, and he orders the building of 1000 ships to follow his niece and nephew. First off, where the hell are they going to find wood for 1000 ships on the Iron Islands? Secondly, do you know how long that takes even if you had available wood? The only wood they show on the island are those awful rickety bridges and the driftwood crown sitting on Euron's head.
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In Braavos, Arya learns that the Faceless Men started out as slaves, and we see a play about the history of Westeros, whereby Arya learns her target is a popular actress called Lady Crane. She questions Jaquen about the target, but Jaquen reminds her that she's a contract assassin who does not ask questions, and if she fails this mission, there will not be another chance.
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Finally, in Mereen, we see that Varys isn't a big fan of religion, until a new Red Priestess Kinvara details information that Varys thinks no one could possibly know about him. Kinvara tells him she thinks Daeny is the chose one of the Lord of Light, to which Vary quips that Melissandre thought Stannis was the chosen one, and he mocks her religion. The Red Priestess then recounts to Varys how he was castrated and what he heard coming from the fire. Varys looks visibly stunned, which rarely if ever happens, and Kinvara warns him that as long as he is loyal to Daeny he has nothing to fear.
EPISODE 6: BLOOD OF MY BLOOD
North of the Wall, Meera slowly tries to escape by dragging Bran on a sled, when they are saved by a dark rider, who kills the Walkers with his burning mace. He's revealed to be Uncle Benjen Stark, and we find out he's not really dead or alive, as the Children of the Forest Saved him from death by the White Walkers by pushing Dragonglass into his chest.
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More importantly though, are the visions Bran has of the entire history of Westeros, including scenes from The Tower of Joy, wildfire being hidden in King's Landing, and the Mad King's downfall. The scenes appear to not only teach Bran about the history, but foreshadow the future of Westeros.
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Sam and Gilly arrive at Horn Hill, the Tarly's seat, and...Man is that place nice. Sam, we knew your family was wealthy, but damn. How rich are the Tyrells if the Tarlys aren't the main family in The Reach? Sam tells Gilly the story they are going to tell to his family, and she proceeds to completely go rogue at an extremely uncomfortable dinner. She defends Sam, who clearly isn't brave enough to stand up to his father, whereupon Lord Tarly discovers she's a Wildling. Still, he offers to allow Gilly and the child to stay at Horn Hill, but tells Sam, this will be his last night at his ancestral home. The scene closes with Sam and Gilly sneaking off in the night, and Sam stealing his father's Valyrian steel sword, which is centuries old.
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In Braavos, Arya initially attempts to carry out her contract killing of Lady Crane, by poisoning her rum, but at the last minute she knocks the drink out of Lady Crane's hand and tells her that the actress playing Sansa wants her dead. The Waif is seen in the background smiling, as she looks forward to adding Arya's face to the Hall of Faceless Men. Arya is shown hiding her sword Needle in a dark room as she tries to avoid retribution from the Faceless Men.
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In King's Landing Margery gets ready for her Walk of Atonement, when the Tyrell army begins to enter the city and pulverize The Faith Militant. The High Sparrow presents Margery to the people, which leads Ser Jaime Lannister to....
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DAMN! I didn't even know you could do that on a horse. Color me impressed, because this was actually Nikolaj Coster-Waldau riding a horse up these steps. Even though The High Sparrow completely outplays him, bravo for the effort. The High Sparrow then announces, there will be no Walk of Atonement, and instead Margery has atoned for her sins by bringing in Tommen to the Faith of the Seven and causing an allegiance with the Faith and the Crown, much to the shock of the Lannisters and the Tyrells. Jaime is then removed from the King's Guard and ordered to march to Riverrun, where the Freys have lost their castle to the Blackfish.
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Finally, on their march toward Mereen, Daeny leaves her Dothraki Horde for a few minutes and is seen riding on her dragon Drogon, in the ultimate, Irish Goodbye. See y'all in Mereen!
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EPISODE 7: THE BROKEN MAN
The Broken Man starts out simply enough with the return of The Hound, who is clearly a broken man, both physically and spiritually, having barely survived his battle with Brienne of Tarth. Ser Sandor Clegane was found by Brother Ray, a former killer and soldier himself, who has since given himself to the Faith of the Seven. The Brother and his followers are busy building a church in The Riverlands, when they are approached by rogue members of the Brotherhood Without Banners, who subsequently return while The Hound is chopping wood to raid and kill all the parishioners. The episode ends with Sandor taking up his ax, and heaven help those 3 guys on horseback, because they're doomed.
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In King's Landing, The High Sparrow, basically asks Margery, "So what's this I hear about you and Tommen not sleeping together anymore?" Then he puts his hand on her leg in about the creepiest manner possible. The High Sparrow reminds Margery that her main duty is to produce an heir, and that she should also try and bring her grandmother into the faith.
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Margery meets with Lady Olenna and tells her to return to Highgarden, and then slips her a piece of paper that has a rose drawn on it, the symbol of House Tyrell, to let her grandmother know she has not forgotten her roots, and has plans of her own. Olenna smiles, and agrees to return to Highgarden.
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But, not before she absolutely stone cold slams Cersei on her way out the door. Cersei approaches The Queen of Thorns, and Lady Olenna starts out by saying, "I wonder if you're the worst person I've ever met." She really doesn't need to say anything else after that, you got your point across. Still though, she blamed Cersei for this entire mess and says she lacked the completely ability to see how arming a radical sect of religious fanatics could spin out of control. She then tells Cersei, if she was wise, she'd leave King's Landing as well, but Cersei chooses to stay because of Tommen.
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In the North, Jon and Sansa go looking for support from houses formerly loyal to House Stark. They head to House Mormont on Bear Island, and Oh My God, can we just have this girl run the Seven Kingdoms for the next century? If she had 3 damn dragons this show would have been over 3 years ago. "Oh, the dragons can fly now? Let's go boys, we'll figure things out on the way!" She gives Sansa and Jon 62 of her men explaining they are not a large house, but the ferocity of their men more than make up for their size. They don't have nearly enough luck with the other houses, and Sansa is forced to write a letter to ask for more men and support, we presume to Littlefinger and the Knights of the Vale.
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In Braavos, Arya is strolling around like she owns the place, and while this may have been a trap to lure The Waif, it's a pretty god awful trap. She is attacked by The Waif on a bridge that overlooks the Titan of Braavos and The Waif stabs her multiple times in the torso, and then for good measure twists the knife in. Arya manages to break free and plunges into the river below. If this was actually a trap, you're only still alive, by sure luck, and I don't mean the luck like oh hey I left my wallet at the house, but I found a $20 bill in my pocket. I mean if The Waif isn't a completely incompetent assassin and slits your throat like she should have, you're dead. If that water is halfway toxic, you're dead. If The Waif hits your intestines or your kidney, you're dead. Worst plan and storyline this season. Worse than Dorne, and that's saying something. Part of me really hoped Arya died for being stupid.
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Lastly, we head back to the Riverlands, where the Freys are almost as incompetent as The Waif. When Walder Frey dies, these guys are done for. They can't dig siege trenches; they don't know how to establish a perimeter around their base camp; and they don't know that when you make a threat, you better be prepared to carry it out. They fail every single one of these tests miserably, and the Blackfish knows it. Jaime Lannister arrives as backup for The Freys pursuant to the agreement made before The Red Wedding and immediately takes command of the forces. He attempts to negotiate with The Blackfish, who rebuffs any talks of surrender, by explaining Riverrun is his home and he has enough supplies to last a 2 year long siege which is likely much longer than Ser Jaime has. The attention to detail in this scene was unreal. I've been waiting for a while to see Riverrun and the armor that The Tullys have with the scales that look like that of a fish, and even Jaime's armor with the lions on the shoulder pads looked awesome. Jaime eventually leaves unfulfilled, and has to devise another plan to take Riverrun.
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EPISODE 8: NO ONE
Back to Braavos and Arya, as she meanders through the streets looking for help. She's finally brought in by Lady Crane who tends to her wounds, telling her she banished the girl who put a contract out on her, only after destroying her face. She gives Arya milk of the poppy, which is the Game of Thrones version of morphine/opium to help her sleep and heal. Arya at first is hesitant, since you know, she goes to the house of the lady who still has a contract on her head, in addition to the fact she's also being sought for death by trained assassins. I'm not exactly sure how contract killings work, but I'm pretty sure when you pay someone to kill someone else, the contract isn't null and void if the assassins fail the first time. This seems like a business where you get multiple chances at specific performance.
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Again, this storyline just shows how insanely lucky Arya is. Contract killers are out to murder you, and you decide to take a nap in the town in which they are looking for you, at the house of a lady they know you have an association with, for an undisclosed period of time. Arya wakes up in haze to find The Waif has murdered Lady Crane in brutal fashion, and then Arya jumps out the window and precedes to be chased by the T-1000 through the streets of Braavos. She eventually lures The Waif into a dark room, cuts the candle to make the room completely dark, and due to her training while she was blind, she kills The Waif and adds her face to the Hall of Faceless Men. She then tells Jaqen, peace out, I'm heading home to Winterfell and I'm not No One. Jaqen responds by smirking and let's her leave. Is it just me, or is this the worst Assassin's Creed Academy ever? You let the daughter of a Lord learn all your secrets, then murder one of your assassins, and then just leave to go out into the world? Arya has been marked for death multiple times by the Many Faced God of Death, and she's still alive. You know who's pretty low on the totem pole of deities in Game of Thrones? That guy. If you're going to have an ethos, at least marginally stick to it. Thank God this portion of the show is over and done with.
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In King's Landing, The Faith Militant attempt to take Cersei into custody. Lancel orders The Mountain to step aside or there will be violence. Cersei chooses violence, and Holy Shit is their violence. This unlucky member of The Faith Militant tries to take down The Mountain with a swing of his spike-ridden club, only to have his head ripped off. Lancel's reaction is priceless. "Did he really just do that? You know what, we'll come back later." Cersei then heads to the Throne Room, where Kevan Lannister tells her to go sit in the gallery, because you don't matter here anymore. Tommen then informs the court, that there will no longer be anymore Trials By Combat, and screw you Tommen! You just ruined Clegane Bowl for everyone this season. He then announces when the trials of Cersei and Ser Loras will be held and we see Cersei speaking with Qyburn about the rumor she asked him to investigate, whereby he tells her it is much more than they thought.
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In The Riverlands, The Hound comes upon a small party of the Brotherhood Without Banners at a campfire, who he then murders in a fit of rage in epic fashion. He then meets up with Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr, who are preparing to hang the three rogue men who raided the group of parishioners in the previous episode. They debate for a short time, and eventually the Brotherhood agrees to let The Hound kill two of the men, which he does, stealing the leader's boots after hanging him. The Brotherhood then tries to persuade The Hound to join them as they head north.
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Also, at Riverrun, Jaime sits down with Edmure Tully, and explains to him that Jaime doesn't care about anyone but Cersei, and he threatens to catapult Tully's infant child into Riverrun and kill every Tully on earth if it will get him back to Cersei. It's a powerful scene. Edmure reluctantly agrees to order his men to lay down their arms despite the Blackfish's orders, as he is the true Lord of Riverrun. The Tullys turn the castle over the Lannisters and Freys and The Blackfish is killed trying to resist capture. Additionally, Brienne and Podrick narrowly escape the takeover, as they board a boat at the last minute, Brienne waiving to Jaime as they leave.
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Finally, in Mereen, Varys leaves at an opportune time, and Tyrion, Grey Worm, and Missandrei are telling jokes over a drinking game, when the Masters' ships show up for their property. The Matsers begin attacking the city, just when Daeny shows up with Drogon and the scene ends.
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EPISODE 9: BATTLE OF THE BASTARDS
If you want know what the best episode of Game of Thrones is, look no further. This was a solid hour of adrenaline from start to finish. Miguel Sapochnik directed this episode along with Hardhome, and we need to have him direct every episode from here on out. This entire episode was beautifully shot from start to finish. There were numerous rumors that the production staff saved up money from other episodes to use on this one, and it looks like they went full throttle. The good news keeps on coming, because Miguel Sapochnik also directed tonight's episode.
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The episode starts off in Mereen, where Daeny shows up at a time when her city is being bombarded by cannon fire from the ships of the Masters. If Daeny is anything, she's a conqueror, and those dragons came out in full force in this episode. Tyrion asks what her plan is, and she basically says, "Look, I know what I'm doing." Tyrion reminds her of her father, The Mad King, and about being too heavy handed in matters of war, and the repercussions of such poor behavior thereafter. She meets with the Masters and then explains they are there to talk about their surrender, not her's, when Drogon shows up and Daeny climbs aborard him to take out the ships along with her other two dragons who break out from their enclosure.
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The Dothraki also show up at just the right moment to defeat the Sons of the Harpy, and the scenes cut back to Daeny and her dragons singling out one boat in particular that drew the shortest straw of the episode. Two of the Masters are killed and they leave a third one to tell what happens to those who cross The Mother of Dragons.
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The episode then cuts to the initial meeting between Ramsay and Jon. Ramsay offers to pardon Jon and his commanders if he surrender his army and bends the knee to him. Ramsay explains that Jon doesn't have the men or the horses to defeat the Boltons, and Good Lord look at that stare from Lady Mormont. She is not messing around with her 62 men. Jon offers to fight Ramsay in single combat, but Ramsay rejects the offer explaining that Jon may be able to beat him in contact, but he knows his army can beat Jon's. The talks break down, when Sansa interrupts Ramsay by telling him he's going to die tomorrow and rides off.
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Back at camp, as they go over the battle plan, Tormund clearly has no idea what a double envelopment is, despite the fact it's happened to him before, and Jon has to explain that means attack them from the sides. Jon in speaking with Sansa informs her they'll never have enough men, and he asks for Sansa's advice and she explains that she has none to give. However, she warns Jon not to play into his trap regarding Rickon. At the close of the scene Jon tells Melisandre, if he falls not to bring him back, and Davos finds the toy stag he gave to Shireen before he left for Castle Black.
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In Mereen, the Greyjoys arrive and make a pact with Daeny that may or may not include Yara and Daeny ending up together, but definitively includes the Greyjoys pledging their allegiance to Daeny. The Greyjoys get freedom for the Iron Islands, they just have to give up their entire way of life and their fleet to Daeny.
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In the North, Jon and his men know they are outnumbered, as they stare across the field at the Bolton army and Winterfell. Ramsay decides to play a game before the battle begins and trots out Rickon Stark, cutting him free and telling him to run to his brother. Rickon takes off running, but stupidly does not zig-zag and runs in a straight line. Ramsay grabs his bow and takes aim firing several times, and Jon jumps on his horse and rides toward Rickon. The third arrow narrowly misses him, and just before he gets to Jon he's hit in the chest with the final arrow and dies at Jon's feet.
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Jon then stupidly gets on his horse with no protection and charges at an entire army by himself. Davos and Tormund have no choice but to abandon their battle plans and trench lines and go after Jon. Seriously, for a moment here, I'm completely convinced Jon got the stupid Stark gene. Sansa told you hours ago, Rickon's dead, don't fall into Ramsay's trap and that's exactly what you did. Not only did you get out in the open field and abandon your men, you then caused your commanders to also stupidly send the entire army into open warfare with less numbers, rather than letting your enemy attack you and set up defensive positions.
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Jon dismounts from his horse, makes his final stand as the Bolton cavalry approaches, and just before they reach him, his army's horses meet the Bolton's forces. The battle ensues as Ramsay fires arrows into his own men, along with Jon's forces. There's not much you can say about the next 5 minutes, other than it's some of the most epic medieval battle scenes ever filmed.
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The Bolton's eventually encircle Jon's forces with their shields and push forward. Jon and his men appear to be doomed to be slowly slaughtered to death against a wall of the dead bodies piled up behind them. Jon is nearly crushed to death under the weight of the retreating men, in a scene that makes viewers utterly claustrophobic.
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He finally emerges from the bodies gasping for air, and makes eye contact with Davos as they hear horns from the Knights of the Vale who ride in at the final moments as Sansa and Littlefinger overlook the battle. The Knights of Vale absolutely decimate the envelopment set up by the Boltons, and Ramsay flees the battlefield with Jon, Wun Wun, and their men in pursuit to Winterfell.
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The remaining few Bolton soldiers and Ramsay hide behind the walls of Winterfell, which lasts about a minute before Wun Wun destroys the door and Jon forces enter behind him. Wun Wun, the last giant on earth, is finally killed by Ramsay, who then challenges Jon to one on one combat. Jon grabs a shield, but not just any shield. He grabs a shield of House Mormont, who with only 62 men, somehow managed to get one of their men inside Winterfell.
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Jon avoids Ramsay's arrows and knock him off his feet. He then nearly beats Ramsay to death with his bare hands, when he looks over at Sansa and realizes Ramsay isn't his to kill. The Bolton banner drops from the walls and is replaced with the Stark banner. Ramsay is tied to a chair in the cells and Sansa tells him that his name and house will disappear and she releases the starving hounds Ramsay has used to kill countless people, which devour him despite his pleas for them to remain loyal. Sansa walks away with a smile on her face.
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Well, that concludes the recap of Episodes 1-9 of Season 6 of Game of Thrones. The Season Finale is tonight and here's to hoping Tommen and The High Sparrow aren't around for Season 7. Cheers!
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