Well, this is not at all how I thought things would go. The
Battle of the Bastards was a messy, gory cluster$@%& that really couldn’t
have gone much worse. Virtually all of the Stark forces were slaughtered before
the Vale arrived to help and Rickon was murdered in front of Jon. The scenes
were dramatic and, in some cases, hard to watch. Ramsay Snow’s continued smirk
was even harder to watch sometimes. The way his character was handled from his
arrival in season 3 has been interesting: they’ve essentially pushed us to the
edge, seeing how far you can make a character so incredibly unlikable before it
becomes too much. And it’s safe to say this guy trumps Joffrey for worst human
being on the show.
And now he’s gone. The beauty of his demise was that he was
chased back to Winterfell and, when cornered, attempted to simply shoot Jon
Snow point blank. This episode was a smorgasbord when it came to depicting why
Ramsay is human garbage: he’s willing to sacrifice his own men by firing on
them to hit enemy forces; he refused a single combat resolution to the fight in
order to save their forces; he killed Rickon after some psychological torture;
and then went running back to his castle. Jon Snow doing a number on his face
was lovely, but the ultimate trigger pull going to Sansa was the best part.
Ramsay’s death was incredibly poetic. Sansa, never once
laying a hand on him, managed to make a completely satisfying end to this
monster of a human being. As he tries to get back inside Sansa’s head,
asserting that she cannot kill him, she calmly informs him his words, his
memory, and his name will be wiped from the pages of history before releasing
his own dogs, whom he starved for a week, on him as he assures her they won’t
attack their master.
And then one eats his face.
And Sansa walks away vindicated. To be honest, I wasn’t sure
they were going to let Sansa have the final victory in this scene. The show got
some serious (and deserved) criticism for portraying Sansa’s rape by Ramsay
from Theon’s perspective and how being him forced to watch was somehow more
important than the act itself. I was fairly certain they were going to let Jon
get the final say in Ramsay’s plot. But Jon backed away and Sansa was free to
deal with Ramsay in the way she saw fit.
And while we’re on the topic of powerful women, Dany very
calmly retook control of her city (with some needed guidance from Tyrion). When
Yara and Theon came to parlay, not only did Dany recognize Yara as the
commander and conduct their alliance, but there was for sure some flirting
going on there. Yara is among GoT’s
few female queer characters, and the only one to be portrayed so explicitly as
such. So, hopefully we don’t turn this into something objectifying and portray
a real power play by two female rulers.
Recap:
The episode opens in Meereen with an unhappy Dany conferring
with Tyrion. She intends to burn the other two cities in retribution but Tyrion
warns her father once wanted something similar for King’s Landing. She backs
down and he suggests a parley with the masters. They meet and Dany informs them
she intends to collect their surrender before flying off on Drogon, rallying
her two remaining dragons, and burning a portion of the master’s fleet.
Greyworm informs the masters one of them will be killed as punishment for the
siege; two offer up the third. Greyworm kills the two who spoke up, allowing
the third to live and pass on warnings back in his city about what happened and
Daenerys’ mercy.
Later, the Iron Fleet arrives in Meereen, and Theon and Yara
meet with Dany and Tyrion. After some back and forth (RIFE with the
aforementioned flirting), Yara agrees to back Dany for the Iron Throne with the
aid of her ships and Dany promises to back her claim to the Salt Throne at
Pyke.
At Winterfell, Jon and Sansa parley with Ramsay the day
before the battle. Jon suggests a single combat trial to end it before it
begins but Ramsay, knowing he’d lose, refuses. They part ways for the night and
Sansa warns Jon not to play into Ramsay’s games. They argue strategy before
Sansa leaves. The next morning, Jon and his forces take the field opposite the
Boltons. Ramsay frees Rickon and tells him to run to Jon and begins firing
arrows at him. Seconds before Jon can get to his brother, Ramsay shoots Rickon
through the heart, killing him. Jon, Tormund, and the others rush at the Bolton
forces in fury.
The battle is gruesome and quickly falls apart for the Stark
forces. Ultimately, Sansa arrives with the forces of the Vale who turn the tide
and decimate the Bolton forces. Jon and the remaining men chase Ramsay back to
the castle where Wun Wun knocks open the gate, allowing the forces to flood in.
Ramsay attempts to shoot Jon before he’s overpowered and taken prisoner. Later,
Jon is collecting Rickon’s body and Sansa goes to see Ramsay who has been
locked up in the kennel. He tells Sansa she won’t kill him, but she quickly
sends his own ravenous dogs on him after informing him she will erase his
memory from history.
Secondary Material:
Meereen is saved in essentially the way most people
predicted it would be after the end of Dance. The Iron Fleet arrived, also as predicted,
though with Yara taking Victarion’s place as Dany’s suitor. Hopefully now we
can finally put Slaver’s Bay to the rudder and get the heck back to Westeros.
But, we’ll see.
Other than that there’s not much to be said here besides
acknowledging that next week’s episode is titled “The Winds of Winter” which is
the title of the book being adapted this season. Fun.
Theories:
We’re closing out the season with the King’s Landing
storyline, which has been pretty meh. The one interesting thing here is
Qyburn’s “rumor” that many suspect may be the caches of wildfire. We’ve been
reminded twice now of Aerys’ “burn them all” rants so it’s possible Cersei, who
was willing to do it before, might cash in on the wildfire and just end the
tomfoolery in the capital. And Jaime can’t come to her aid, and after his
encounter with Brienne, may not want to.
We need to pull the trigger on this R+L=J stuff that we’ve
been hinted through Bran’s strange memory walks. It will likely be a last
minute reveal, if it’s revealed at all this season. Hopefully this season
closes out with Dany having concrete plans to get across the sea now that she’s
got the ships, the dragons, and the army. And the Stark hold over the North may
not be so solid; it’s likely Jon (a bastard) and Sansa (a girl) will face
opposition from other houses, especially given they won Winterfell with
wildling forces.
Ultimately this was an emotional rollercoaster that ended up
incredibly satisfying in a lot of ways. It may be remembered as the best
episode of the show to date, overcoming the “Rains of Castamere” for that
mantle. Check back here next week for one final recap!
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