Game of Thrones: Season 6 Episode 3 “Oathbreaker”

By Zane Bixby

Overall Grade: B+

After a great episode last week and that killer (bring back to lifer?) cliffhanger, it was hard for me to predict what side of the coin this week’s episode would take. While not a bad episode it certainly left plenty to be desired and in truth it set up what will be a lot of the story points I’m sure we will be seeing this season on the show. But unfortunately when you do an episode primarily focused on set up it’s probably not going to be a perfect episode. It’s hard to discuss in length the effectiveness of an episode when much of it is set up but I will do my best to do just that. As always I’m going to run this down based on plot line and how successful they are.

Jon Snow and The Night’s Watch:

This makes 3 weeks in a row that the Night’s Watch has been at the top of my list. And with the quality of these scenes it’s easy to see why. Davos is ever the entertaining character providing a “No Bullshit” approach to Jon’s reincarnation. Jon Snow is back to life and some of his friends are already cautious to check his eyes and make sure he hasn’t just returned as a White Walker. But no, for what we can see the Lord of Light has just returned him to the show and as Melisandre said, he may just be the Prince that was Promised. It will be interesting to see where this route is taken and it heavily ties in to Bran’s visions of the past. At least if we are to believe the R+L=J theory (I could write about this but at this point I’m sure 90% of Game of Thrones viewers are aware of the basics of this theory.)

Tormund doesn’t have much to do here but he provides Jon with a quick shoulder to lean on as the wildlings and Night’s Watchmen view his return to the land of the living. I’m sure for the rest of the season we will see Tormund working with Jon Snow as the wildlings are very much with Jon at this point.

Now it’s the final stinger of the episode, once again given to Jon Snow, that gives the episode it’s title. Oathbreaker. Jon Snow was dead, and thus by his oath to the Watch he is technically free, and thus we get that final line “My watch has ended.” Jon Snow is free of the Night’s Watch and while we don’t know what his plan of action is it’s a great spot to leave on for us to begin Theory-Crafting.

Also side note, Olly is dead and I am okay with that.

Bran and the Tower of Joy

This is something book readers have been waiting for for years. The Tower of Joy, where Ned Stark found Lyanna Stark dying in a pool of blood. With naught but a simple request he watched her die. That request? “Promise me Ned.” We never learned what that promise was but this is where the R+L=J theory gains its significance. And it’s possible that the theory was proven correct this week. For those with good ears you may have heard the sound of a baby crying as Ned looked up at the tower after surviving the fight.

It was Ned’s fight that was the highlight of this episode in my opinion, okay fine second highlight after seeing Olly getting hung for being a betrayer. The actor they chose to play young Ned looks pretty similar to Sean Bean that it’s actually a very acceptable casting choice and the fight was well choreographed. It’s the end of the fight that really leaves an impression though. Bran learning that his father may not have been entirely truthful about how the fight happened is an interesting concept for him to learn when he believed his father held nothing higher than the truth. It’s this concept that will fuel the rest of the decision Ned will have to make at the Tower of Joy as he will have to put his honor on the back burner to keep a promise that will make him lie to everyone he holds dear to himself.

Bran acts as the audience here, he’s just as eager to see what Ned is going to see as the rest of us, but the Three Eyed Raven acts as the cockblocker here and we get cut off as Ned begins to head up the tower. While Bran has never been the most compelling character of the series, acting as our link to the past may be the most significant part of the season and at this point only time will tell.

Arya:

Arya was finally given some time! This is something I had been waiting for because Arya has always been one of my favorite characters. So while we do see her, still blind and being beat up, we also see her learning. Getting used to her other senses and slowly proving she has what it takes to be nobody. It’s hard to talk in depth about this because it’s still not a lot of material to talk about but it provides plenty to enjoy. Arya is a badass in her own right, not quite as much as the superbly trained Brienne of Tarth but she is much younger and on her way. To do that though she has to release who she was and become nobody.

When she is asked about her list, something she had held so dear to her because it was her connection to her now dead family. And it’s even mentioned by her in her screen time, for all Arya Stark knows all of her family is dead. So having her let go of the list was a very well-directed move and showed to us that Arya is truly ready to become nobody.

Side note for this, we get a mention of the Hound here and his apparent death. In the books it was never made very clear that he was dead, Arya had left him for dead, that much is true. But people have survived from worse in this show. And his survival is a huge part of another fan theory the Cleganebowl.

Winterfell:

The interesting part of Winterfell isn’t so much the characters, all of who seem to be making up our League of Extraordinary Dicks, but the implications we are given because of the plot. Last we saw Rickon and Osha they were separating from Bran to find safe haven with the Umbers, a house that was supposedly loyal to the Starks. So when Ramsey was told that Lord Umber was there to speak with him it was easy to see where this arc would be taking us. Umber’s gift of one of the living heirs to Winterfell was a great tactic to earn the trust of Ramsey, along with the head of Shaggydog (Rickon’s Dire Wolf), and thus if this news reaches out to Jon we can be sure that the war for Winterfell will be quick to follow. The conflict in the North is quickly heating up and it’s probably the part of the show I am most eager to see how it plays out.

King's Landing:

Now this part is where I’m kind of split on how I feel about the story. While the prospect of Tommen’s attitude and soul is being fought over by the High Sparrow and Cersei is interesting, Tommen is for all intents and purposes a good kid thrown into a tough situation, it’s hard to really empathize with any of the characters. Cersei is still a power hungry bitch, her apparent attempt to maintain her Queen title and force herself onto the Small Council shows that much, and the High Sparrow is forever playing that “I am naught but the god’s pawn” card.

The worst part about this is that Tommen doesn’t once ask about his wife while speaking with the High Sparrow. Now while this could have easily been an oversight by the writers, something I find hard to believe because they had Margaery’s grandmother reference her in the same set of scenes. And yes it’s possible Tommen was focused on righting his own wrongs of not letting his mother attend her daughter’s funeral but I felt it was an odd piece to leave out. Luckily the preview for next week does make reference to Margaery’s future in the show.

What truly bugs me is that they are still calling Gregor Clegane by his name, a clear deviation from the books where it wasn’t made obvious (although it was heavily implied) that this hulking brute was the Mountain. Now this could just be a case of the show runners trimming the fat and trying to avoid any confusion from the viewers on who this monster is but it also feels like a weird option to take. Regardless of this, we are teased at the prospect of Cersei demanding a Trial by Combat from the Faith Militant and the reincarnated Mountain with act as her champion for this. And that is where the Cleganebowl may become canon as it leaves behind it’s fan theory status. However, with no hint of the Grave Digger from the books in sight we may not see it come to fruition.

Meeran:

I will always enjoy watching Varys play puppet-master. The actor is excellent at portraying the sly, but calm and collected, aspect of who Varys is. But Meeran lacks a certain something to really make it a compelling part of the episode this week. In truth it had a hard scene to follow from last week when Tyrion faced down the Dragons and survived but that doesn’t allow it any excuse. Whereas the Night’s Watch had a tough scene to follow and it succeeded Meeran, while it didn’t fail, also didn’t succeed. And in truth the impact left by this plot was miniscule at best. The only true meat we get is that Varys now knows who is funding the rebellion in Meeran, something most of us could guess (the other masters from the other cities in Slaver’s Bay.)

The plot arc for this should get better as time goes on but this week it just didn’t hit home for me.

Daenerys:

I hate to say this, but in truth Dany had the weakest story line this week. While she is a great character in her own right there wasn’t much that could be done to improve the arc in this episode. Unless it was just to have Drogon fly down and roast the entirety of the Khalasar to save her from being delivered to what should be her final home as a Khal’s Widow. The problem with this part of the episode comes from the repetition of it. We know who Dany is, we know that she will try to leverage her vast array of titles to get out of the situation she is in, but we also know that the Dothraki have very little care for anything outside of themselves. So having her once again try to leverage her titles is exhausting and adds nothing to the arc except us as the audience getting impatient. By the preview for next week we know Jorah will be mounting the rescue attempt but the slog to get there in many ways weighs down the episode.

I’m sure Dany won’t stay down for long in terms of story but while they are just rehashing the same conflict it is extremely hard to become invested in the outcome.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @ZaneBixby, I try to tweet during the show but often get to distracted or caught up in what’s happening. I also tweet about gaming news and complain about League of Legends eSports!