In last week', "The Door," we learned the sad past and present fate of Hodor, the gentle giant. We also learned about Euron Greyjoy's plan to bring glory back to Iron Islands - building the greatest fleet that will bring Daenerys Stormborn and her dragons back to Westeros.
[Spoilers Below]
All in all, it was a good, but not a great episode of Game of Thrones.
Watching Meera pull Bran on his sled through the fowl weather after fleeing the cave of the Tree, you had to wonder how they could escape the Night King's dead things. If they were caught, then Hodor's sacrifice was all for nothing.
Who would be out beyond the wall to protect them? As the walkers closed in on their freezing bodies, a masked man rides in - destroys the Walkers with fire, then scoops up Bran and Meera to safety.
As soon as the rider came into view, I knew it had to be Benjen, First Ranger of the Knight's Watch and Ned Stark's younger brother. He was believed to be dead, but his body was never found.
After making their escape, Bejen explained that after being stabbed by a White walker and being left for dead, the Children saved him by plunging a shard of dragonglass (obsidian) into his heart, counteracting their dark magic.
He tells Bran that he's the Three-Eyed Raven now and needs to be ready for the coming battle, when he faces off with the Night King.
We finally get to meet Randyll Tarly, Samwell's father, the man who sent him to the Wall because of his hatred for his first born son and it's not a pleasant encounter.
Even though a "My Fair Lady" type scenario has pretty much played itself out, Gilly is perfect for the role. Unfortunately, by trying to protect Sam's honor from his father's browbeating, she revealed that she was a wildling, which didn't go over well.
Sam realizes that Gilly and the baby can't stay there so he steals his father's five hundred year old Valyrian steel sword and flees with them towards the Citadel.
I'm not sure why this scene was included, unless either the sword or the Tarly's play a bigger role down the line. To tell you the truth, I'd rather have seen Sansa and Jon Snow together, while Tormund makes goo goo eyes at Brienne.
The lowdown bastard named Walder Frey, was as usual, pissed off, this time at his sons for losing Riverrun to the Blackfish and he demands, in no uncertain terms that they take it back.
I can't wait to see the Blackfish in action.
If you watched the previews from last week's episode, you saw that there was going to be a showdown in King's Landing between Jamie, the Tyrell's and the High Sparrow. But what we didn't see coming was King Tommen and Margaery's conversion to the Militant Faith.
Arya couldn't go through with the assassination of Lady Crane, played by the great Australian actress Essie Davis, has retrieved Needle and left the Many-Faced Gods. Waif, as usual, was not happy with her, the "girl is not ready" and is sent to make her pay.
I believe this differs with "A Dance with Dragons," but it's a good decision none the less, because it sets her on course to maybe rejoin her brothers and sister in Westeros.
I'd really like to see her hook with with the Hound again.
With King's Landing lined with armored troops and Jamie demanding the release of Loras and Margaery Tyrell, the High Sparrow played them all for fools. First he seemed to be mocking Jaime, but then backed off and cancelled Margaery's walk of atonement. This stunned the Kingslayer, but not as much as when the King and Queen joined hands in celebration of the merging of state and religion.
When a confused Mace Tyrell asked what was happening, Olenna (Diana Rigg) replied, "He's beaten us, that's what's happening."
It was a master stroke for the Sparrow and insured, at least for the time being, that the High Septon's "Faith of the Seven" was still in charge of King's Landing and in essence, the entire realm.
King Tommen, back on his throne, strips Jaime from the Kingsguard and orders him to lead an army to take back Riverrun from Blackfish Tully.
By the way, didn't Cersei seem way to calm with these new developments? I wondered if she was hitting the milk of the poppy, but it seems she has some kind of plan in mind.
Having the King pledge loyalty to the Seven, while very interesting, was the weakest plot point of season six so far simply because it wasn't pulled off well by the show runners. It seemed unbelievable that the High Septon had converted Tommen away from his mother's influence so quickly. He was just mourning his weakness to Cersei that allowed her to be humiliated by her own walk.
And, if I remember correctly, the queen was still spitting venom at the Faith, but tonight they made it seem like she had been the one to push Tommen towards the conversion.
All hail, Drogon!
For consecutive episodes Daenerys has made cameo appearances, but this cameo was awesome.
As she's leading the thousands of Dothrakis to Meereen, Dany finally hooks up with an absent Drogon, who must be at least as big as Balerion the Black Dread.
With her riding down on his massive back, and landing in front of her followers, she delivers a rousing speech to her massive army, asking and demanding their loyalty to cross the narrow sea in wooden horses and give her what Khal Drogo had promised - the Seven Kingdoms!
You can't go wrong with any scene involving dragons.
(Please forgive any mistakes I've made tonight. I don't usually have the time to re-watch the episode and I'm completely burnt out. Phil McKraken, do your thing.)
