White Watchers GoT Recap: 6.2 “Home”

This is a recap of Game of Thrones season 6 episode 2, “Home.”

********Show and Book SPOILERS below**********

The second episode of season six featured the big reveal we’d all been waiting for since the season five finale last year. The question: how were they going to bring back Jon Snow? The reveal in itself was not unexpected, although many fans—including me—thought we would have to wait much longer to see him revived.

Here were the three prevailing fan theories on Jon Snow’s return:

1) The Red Woman will resurrect Jon Snow a la Beric Dondarrion, Red God style
2) Jon Snow warged into his wolf Ghost at the last minute like a true Stark and is already living through him
3) Due to his Targaryen blood, Jon Snow will be reborn in fire as Azor Ahai, the Prince that Was Promised by the Red God

Obviously the first won out in this episode, although technically the other two could still happen sometime in the future. Jon may start to develop his warging capabilities, and he may also still be reborn in fire as Azor Ahai. His resurrection doesn’t necessarily rule those out.

Now the question is will Jon stay at Castle Black or will he ride down to Winterfell now that his duty to the Night’s Watch has been discharged by his death? Although his oath to serve until death may be completed, he probably feels a strong sense of duty to the men who stood by him as well as to the wildlings. He also knows that the most important threat is the White Walkers, and he’s the only one that seems to be doing anything about it. So he may elect to stay on at Castle Black. But on the other hand, he was ready to desert the Night’s Watch back in season one to fight for Robb, and the only thing that stopped him was his oath. The only way I could see him riding down to Winterfell would be if he found out Sansa was there (although that wouldn’t work out quite right now that Sansa is on her way to him.) More likely, Sansa will convince him to take revenge on Ramsay and save the North. I’m sure he also feels a strong duty to her. Although, we don’t know yet how much this experience has changed Jon. He could have a totally difference perspective now. Book lore tells us that the resurrected person will be changed more the longer they were dead, as well as the more times they’ve been resurrected. That should tell us that he’ll be more like himself than most of the resurrected people we’ve seen, although I’m sure there will be some changes at least. So who knows what he’ll do.

Alternatively, Jon may go looking for Bran and/or Rickon. Or, he may ride south to find new recruits for the Night’s Watch and to spread the word about the White Walkers. However, Melisandre did say that she had dreamed of him at Winterfell, so if he leaves Castle Black he will likely end up there.

I personally really hope to see Jon and Sansa together. They were probably eachothers least favorite siblings, and I’d love to see that change now that they are all they have. Plus it’s always fun to see characters mix with parts of the world we know but they don’t. Sansa and Brienne would both be in a totally new environment up at the Wall. If Brienne makes it all the way up north, I hope we get to see her fight some White Walkers. In the book her sword is Valyrian Steel, and I think the show is the same. If it is, that could make for some really awesome stuff. If they end up going to Castle Black, it’s pretty far from where those characters are in the book. If Brienne is ever going to get to her book storyline in the Riverlands, it probably won’t happen for a long while.

Castle Black has sort of taken over as the main setting at this point. For me, all of the most interesting stuff revolves around it. I loved seeing Melisandre there, weak and pleading with her God. This has been a very interesting and humanizing change, and I hope that we don’t lose all of that development now that the Red God brought Jon back to life. I also loved Davos’s related change, coming to the Red Woman for help and admitting that she holds power—and entertaining the idea that it can be used for good. Of course, he doesn’t know that it’s directly her fault Shereen is dead. If he did, I doubt he would even look at her. Also a related question: why does he care about Jon so much?

And then there’s the wildlings. Although the wildlings did come to the rescue, Thorne still isn’t dead. My guess is that Jon will kill him, which will be even more satisfying.

Of course, other stuff not involving Jon Snow happened in this episode as well. Topping the list (at least for me) is the return to Pike. Here we got a glimpse of Euron Greyjoy, who looks great, and also crazy. We actually saw him kill his brother Balon (father to Theon and Asha/Yara) on screen. In the books, it’s sort of implied that Balon was killed by one of Melisandre’s shadows (if you remember, he was one of the names she called when doing the kingsblood ritual that supposedly killed the other three of the five kings) although I guess it’s left pretty open to suggestion that he could have been killed by Euron or someone else, and the official story is that he was unfortunately knocked over by the wind. Either way, he’s dead, which brings us to the Kingsmoot (or Queensmoot). It’s an interesting show-development that Theon is on his way to the Iron Islands right now. Based on the books and the sizable distance, he probably won’t make it in time for the moot, if he makes it there at all.

Another huge development was the death of Roose Bolton. Yet another case of patricide, matricide, and fratricide/infanticide. I personally think that Ramsay made a mistake here, although it certainly was in-line with his character. There’s no way Ramsay can hold the North without Roose. Roose was a master planner, one of the smartest players in the Game of Thrones. Ramsay is an idiot. Of course, once he killed Roose it was obvious he would kill Walda and the baby. So now he has no one in front of him, and almost as few behind him. He has the Karstarks on his side, and had evidently been actively scheming with them prior to the murder, but probably isn’t going to be able to inspire confidence in many other allies—especially without Sansa. He’s likely to lose most of the ones Roose already had just based on who he is and what he does. If it comes out that he killed Walda, he may lose the Freys as allies, which is important because they hold the gate to the South. (And considering that Walda and the baby were killed by his dogs, it’s pretty obvious, right?) But who knows what Ramsay will do now. He’s the true wild card in this game.

And in King’s Landing, the Lannisters are struggling to get it together. Jaime adorably gave Tommen some good advice, and the boy finally apologized to his mother. Cercei was a bit cold, but she has certainly not given up. Jaime had a stand-off with the High Sparrow, which started out intense but ended in an impasse. Jaime probably should have just killed him then anyway though, because he’s only going to get more powerful. It’s getting obvious that something must be done about the Faith Militant, and I have a feeling that the Lannisters are going to lose the throne trying to do it.

Bran is still chilling with Meera and the children of the forest, and finally getting to see his family in the past. It looks like we will indeed see the Tower of Joy flashback through him, and it looks like it may be as soon as episode three.

In Braavos, Arya is still blind but has passed one of Jaquen Hagar’s tests and is now headed back to the House of Black and White, presumably for more tests.

In Mereen, Tyrion has unchained the Dragons. This sort of tracks with the books, with the main difference being that they haven’t killed anyone yet.

On a related note, I think it’s safe to say at this point that Quentin will not be making an appearance in the show.

The show also provided nothing from Dorne or Daenerys (or Jorah/Daario). Also no glimpse of Margaery or the Tyrells, Sam, Littlefinger, or any of the other periphery families.

Conclusion:

A lot of big stuff happened in this episode, and it’s only the second of the season! With all the new developments, it seems like nearly everything is up in the air. Where will it go from here? Something is definitely brewing, and it looks like the war is really just about to begin.

This episode was stronger than the last because it managed to wrap up the last of the things that needed to end and get everything perfectly poised for new beginnings. Almost every area on the map is now on the cusp of major change, and that makes for an exciting lead to this new season. We’ve gotten through a lot of the left-over stuff from the books just in these two episodes, and now we’re plunging into new and dangerous territory. Bring it on.

I’m super stoked that Jon is back, and I’m glad to finally see Yara/Asha as well (who I personally think is one of the more intriguing book characters that has been way understated thus far). Euron is exciting too, because who even knows where his story is going. Even though this season’s most-anticipated reveal has already happened, I’m not any less excited for the episodes to come.

I give this episode 4 out of 5 kings.

The filmmaking and acting were as strong and beautiful as ever, and the show did a great job of keeping the anticipation up throughout the episode. SO much stuff happened, but the episode still flew by, leaving me itching for the next episode.

White Watchers GoT recap: 6.1 “The Red Woman”

This is a recap of Game of Thrones season 6 episode 1, “The Red Woman.”

********Show and Book SPOILERS below**********

The Game of Thrones season opener answered few questions and left many. The big question of the night was of course, all about Jon Snow.

With a title like “The Red Woman,” I half expected Melisandre to resurrect Jon Snow as soon as she saw his body. Instead we just got the reveal that she is really really old, which is cool and all but Jon Snow! That age reveal does stand as proof that her brand of magic is legit, which could be leading up to something really big…

So there are three prevailing fan theories concerning Jon Snow, none of which were confirmed or denied during the course of this episode:

1) The Red Woman will resurrect Jon Snow a la Beric Dondarrion, Red God style  
2) Jon Snow warged into his wolf Ghost at the last minute like a true Stark and is already living through him
3) Due to his Targaryen blood, Jon Snow will be reborn in fire as Azor Ahai, the Prince that Was Promised by the Red God

I figure we will find out about the third one fairly soon because they’ll be burning his body any minute now. Either they will burn his body in the traditional Night’s Watch send-off, or they will just burn it anyway so it doesn’t turn into a wight and kill them all.

We did, however, get final confirmation that Jon Snow IS in fact dead. So are Myranda, Stannis, and Myrcella—thanks to Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, boo. I can’t say I really like this development—Dorne (and the Sand Snakes) are so much better in the books, IMO. Although, Myrcella had to die somehow I suppose. Cercei seems pretty numb at this point, which is kind of weird to me. Suddenly she is accepting the prophecy, the vehement refutation of which has consumed her entire adult life and driven all of her actions since she was a tiny child, according to the books. Glad they gave it a mention though. (We haven’t had a mention of this since season 5 episode one, which kind of left it hanging.) I did like Cercei’s monologue about Myrcella’s goodness. And props to Jaime for his comforting words, which I won’t repeat here. I’m really starting to feel bad for the Lannisters these days.

Well, I kind of feel bad for (almost) everyone.

Prince Doran had the honor of being the featured in-episode death, which kind of sucks for book fans but is probably alright for show fans, since he was doing absolutely nothing forever. The Sand Snakes seem to be happy, but what, they’re just going to rule Dorne now? Good luck.

Daenerys had to walk for hours while listening to Dothraki horsemen sexually threaten her before finally finding out that she will be taken to Vaes Dothrak to become one of the Dosh Khaleen, which is, looking at her reaction, basically her worst fear. (Although, can I say, thank The Gods they didn’t rape her again). Meanwhile in Mereen, her ships have been burned. That will make it tough when it’s time for her to set sail for Westeros.

Ser Jorah and Daario Naharis are in the middle of nowhere but manage to find the ring Daenerys left behind. I actually think it reasonable that they found the ring in the middle of that horse-hooved circle; what I find odd is that they made it to that place at all. What the heck is that place and how far away from Mereen is it? It looks a far cry from the desert-type land we’re used to. Oh yeah and Jorah is still dying from grayscale. Woops.

Ser Davos and Jon Snow’s friends are making hurried plans to try to save their lives, huddled in a cold room with a body that could potentially wight-out and kill them. Jon Snow’s murderers aren’t faring much better as they try to get all of Castle Black on their side.

The Red Woman goes to bed looking defeated, and also super old. Hope she can bounce back by next episode, because the Jon Snow gang needs her. Plus, she had a dream where she saw Jon Snow in Winterfell. Coincidence, or foreshadow?

Margaery is still in prison (she held out longer than Cercei?) Loras and the rest of the Tyrells are nowhere to be found.

Arya is getting beat every day, plus she’s blind now and begging in the streets; her beating was hard to watch but necessary for the book plot. (And ***SPOILER*** when is she going to start using her Wolf Sight?! It better be soon, because I’ve been waiting far too long to see a Stark warging.)

Ramsay lost his girlfriend and his wife, although I can’t say I feel sorry for him. He sent out a hunting party but considering what happened, he should have gone himself. Good riddance to Ramsay’s dogs; oh and his bloodhounds too. Good job Brienne!

Speaking of Brienne, what a hero! And Pod, too, is coming into his own. I kind of hated though that Brienne was sidelined at the end there so that Theon could have his grand moment of redemptive murder… again… GIVE ME MORE BRIENNE.

And that gang—Brienne, Podric, Sansa, and Theon—are about the only group for whom things seem to be going right. It’s about time they got a reprieve.

What we didn’t see in this episode:

Sam. He should be at Oldtown, which we have yet to lay eyes on. I would be surprised if the show cuts this out entirely because the book made it seem like Sam learns a lot of stuff there that could be big later on. But who knows anymore.

Bran. I know we’re all really excited to see with Bran’s omnipotent Green Sight, particularly the Tower of Joy flashback which some have speculated will be via Bran.  Going off the episode two trailer, we may be seeing Bran as soon as next week!

The Greyjoys. So much stuff has happened down in the Iron Islands and beyond so far in the books that is completely missing from the show. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just cut that out, except for the fact that some of these elusive Greyjoys have apparently been cast.

And other book storylines (Young Griff, Quentin, Lady Stoneheart) are similarly absent. I don’t think that we will be seeing Lady Stoneheart in the show; now that Brienne of Tarth has pledged herself to Sansa, there may be no need. Sansa can subsume her role and set Brienne on Lady Stoneheart’s vengeance warpath just as well. This development just generally seems to be in the way of that particular book thread. And since we haven’t seen any of the Riverlands in ages, even if we will get that storyline eventually, it seems to be pretty far off at this point.

On that note, I feel like they have set up so much stuff that it looks like they may have decided not to follow through on: warging, Red God resurrections, etc. Then there’s Baelish’s plans for Sansa, which seemed pretty elaborate in the book but which are in the wind now. Then there’s Prince Doran’s plans for Quentin and world domination, which were lightly hinted at early on after his introduction in the show but which now may never get off the ground. Will Quentin ever exist in the show? My guess is no, because it seems like the time for his arc has come and gone. Although… we saw Tyrion with the dragons in the trailer… What if… go with me here book readers… they gave Quentin’s arc to Tyrion?!?!?

Conclusion:

It’s Game of Thrones, so I liked it. There were some beautifully framed scenes and one big reveal to keep us captivated. It was essentially half conclusion and half set-up without much room for anything else, but that was probably necessary due to all the things that have changed and are changing. We saw a little bit of (almost) everybody, which means that the episode was spread thinner than I like it, although it managed to keep it together and finish strong. I think it was a solid season opener, but certainly not one of the best; I have a feeling it will end up being forgettable once we get to the good stuff this season hopefully has in store. I’m generally really interested in what’s going on up north and hardly excited at all for the stuff going down in the south. Highlight was Brienne and Pod coming out of nowhere to save Sansa. Lowlight was everything involving Ellaria and the Sand Snakes. I hate them.

I give this episode 2.5 out of 5 kings.

In conclusion, Jon Snow is still dead.

Can’t wait until next week when Tormund Giantsbane shows Alliser Thorne-in-our-sides just how big of a mistake he made.