Game of Thrones: Season 6 Episode 7 “The Broken Man”

By Zane Bixby

Overall Grade: A-

Sometimes an episode is just good. It doesn’t have to have a stand out moment like in “The Door” or “Book of the Stranger” has had so far this season. When the story lines all serve the greater purpose of advancing each of their plots instead of being in a weird catatonic place that we have to check in with the characters but nothing is really added to the story. And for this it’s probably a good thing that we skipped Meeran and Daenerys this week because their arcs are now contingent on what is happening in the rest of the world. That’s not to say every story line this week is perfect. There were a few that required a bit of disbelief to take at face value
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I’m liking doing this worst to first so that’s how I am keeping it.

Arya:

I’m really starting to become disappointed in the Arya story line this season. While it has had some decent beats that keep you interested enough in seeing where it’s going, much of the story line requires Arya to backslide as a character when we know she is much smarter than that. We know that Arya has received a certain level of training from the House of Black and White. We also know that Jaqen specifically TOLD her that one way or another a face would be added to the hall. So when Arya showed Lady Crane mercy last week, one would think that she would instantly go into hiding as she tries to run from Braavos. Arya is by no means a dumb character, but she is written that way this week. Instead of playing the game cautiously we instead see her vocally negotiate with a ship’s captain and then move on to gaze wistfully out at the Titan of Braavos. One would think that since she KNOWS that the faceless men can be anyone and anywhere she should literally trust no one. And yet she does, causing the Waif to get the drop on her and nearly gut her.

Given that the title of next week’s episode is “No One” it’s safe to assume that the conflict between Arya and the Waif will play out next week, but based on the previews I’m a little concerned because we see Arya running around and jumping like she’s in Assassin’s Creed, and this is something that should be difficult to near impossible after just being stabbed repeatedly in the gut. Side Note: Isn’t it interesting that they had Arya stabbed in nearly the same place as Jon? Those Starks must have bullseyes on their stomachs.

The Greyjoys

We don’t get much of a scene with the Yara and Theon here this week. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Other than being able to explore Yara’s undefined sexuality and Theon’s massive case of PTSD we aren’t given much to work with. That’s okay though, we didn’t need that much of them this week. They made a stopover in what I am assuming is Volantis, they never do quite say but it seems to be the place to stop when people are heading for Meeran, and plan their next move. Yara seems to have the same idea as her uncle, bring a fleet to Daenerys and hope to make a pact. Now unless the show magics up Euron’s thousand ship fleet (something that should take months if not years to build if we were being realistic here) the two Greyjoys that we have here will be Dany’s best hope of bringing her army to Westeros. The only worry I have is that one of the two “good” Greyjoys is going to become dragon food, and my money is on it being Theon with how miserable he has been.


Jon and Sansa:

Time is a funny thing in Game of Thrones. Many assume that every scene we are seeing is happening concurrently but the scenes with Jon and Sansa prove otherwise this week. Every scene we see them in a different part of the North, trying to win the favor of the smaller houses. And many of the scenes with them this week worked on some level. Each scene we got just existed to show house how deeply the scars of war have taken a toll on the North. The actress they got to play Lyanna Mormont does an excellent job of portraying just how hard it is to be thrust into a role you weren’t expecting, and thanks to Davos (someone who knows a thing or two about that) they win the loyalty of House Mormont, and all 62 of their men. It really pushes the fact that they are assembling a rag tag group of fighters and the subsequent refusal of help by the Glovers pushes Sansa toward what we are left to assume is a letter to Littlefinger. It’s interesting that the show never specifically tells us that it’s to Littlefinger she’s writing but it’s the safest assumption we can make. Much of this is going to be coming to a head soon and hopefully we can see Jon or even Sansa sink a blade into Ramsey’s smug smiling face.

It’s also interesting just how many times the show is pointing out to us that Jon is not a Stark. We know show, it’s not clever to repeat it 10 times every episode just to try and surprise us when he is legitimized at some point this season. If he doesn’t get legitimized this season I will be ridiculously shocked.

King’s Landing:

For the first time in weeks the King’s Landing story line is starting to shape up and give us something resembling a plot. After last week’s rather confusing display with Margaery, we are finally given a hint of her true motives. Many people after last week began to assume that Margaery was playing a much bigger game than a lot of people in King’s Landing. The Faith doesn’t seem to trust her completely and that’s probably the safest move anyone in King’s Landing can make in this situation. So it requires Margaery to play the game safely, very cleverly sneaking her grandmother a note that is nothing but a drawn rose to indicate her true allegiance. It’s a cleverly designed scene that explains to us with almost no words why Margaery couldn’t explain herself to her family.

However the best moment of this location comes between Olenna Tyrell and Cersei. The Queen of Thorns has always been one of my favorite characters and if tonight is the last time we see her then it’s an extremely satisfying exit. “You’ve lost, Cersei – it’s the only joy I can find in all this misery” is by far one of the best quotes said to Cersei in the last few seasons. And it’s damn near true. Cersei was the cause of her own demise as she tried to brush away the competition and tried to hold onto any remnant of power she had left. But at this point she has lost everything, Jaime is off sieging Riverrun and Margaery has complete control over Tommen, she has no one except the Mountain and with the Trial by Combat imminent that may change too.

Riverrun:

The opening of this story line had me a bit worried. The Freys have never been what anyone would call likeable characters, and unlike Ramsey, they aren’t incredibly smart characters either. It was pretty safe to assume they wouldn’t follow through with killing Edmure, it’s why the Blackfish gambled with his life, or at least that’s the first assumption we get to make. But we need to back up a bit before we get into this deeper.

Jaime and Bronn, now leading the massive Lannister army (a nice counterpoint to the minuscule forces that Jon has now at his back) approach Riverrun completely uninterrupted which serves to better flaunt the Freys complete lack of competence. While Tyrion and Bronn were an amazing pairing in the earlier seasons, the complete “bro” vibe between Bronn and Jaime is actually more enjoyable to watch. They have a natural banter and chemistry that is just great to watch, whether that is due in part to the writing or the actors natural comfort with each other it’s hard to say but it’s good either way. And having missed Bronn greatly his reintroduction was great, I probably laughed harder at him telling Jaime to shut up when he started the Lannister’s informal motto.

Jaime once again gets to display his massive balls, metaphorically speaking, when he takes command from the incompetent Freys and calls for a parlay with the Blackfish. Him standing right at the edge of the bridge as he waits for the Blackfish to come out was a well shot scene that tried to illustrate his frame of mind beforehand. But it was the conversation with the Blackfish where Jaime is pretty much emasculated where the scene truly shined. Each player is playing the game as they believe it should be and it looks the like siege will go on for a while, that is of course unless Brienne changes that. We will have to wait until next week to see how that plays out.

Sandor Clegane:

CLEGANEBOWL IS ON GET HYPE! Whoops sorry, I got a little bit ahead of myself. This week we got a very rare scene for Game of Thrones. A cold open before the title card. And in every aspect this cold open works. We are given a location that we know nothing about, with characters we know nothing about to draw in our curiosity. Why are we here? What is the point of this place? Well that is answered very clearly as out steps Sandor Clegane, or as many knew him throughout the Seven Kingdoms, the Hound. There’s a reason I have this titled as Sandor Clegane instead of his informal nickname. Unlike other characters we visit in the weeks episode who seem to revel in the nickname that history has given them, “Blackfish” and “Kingslayer” being very much put on point during the Riverrun story line, Sandor actually seems to be trying to shed that aspect of his life.

After the last time we saw him, whether you were a book reader or a show watcher only, the questionable circumstances of his ‘death’ fueled many fan theories. Prior to his death on the show, book readers had always speculated that the convenient vagueness of his death left many to assume he hadn’t actually died. And the pastor finally laid those questions to rest, having found Sandor nearly dead and nursing him back to health. And so Sandor has stayed with him helping to build….. well whatever it was they were building it was never made quite clear. His arc tonight though was very well put together. Giving a bookend feel to the beginning and end of the episode that is spurring him forward into what may end with him being the champion of the faith in this upcoming Trial by Combat against his reanimated brother.

What I am interested in is seeing how the show tells this and it’s why Cleganebowl is still a dream. While he was working with characters that embody the teachings of the High Sparrow and the Faith he doesn’t really have any connection with the Faith himself. Having him return to the build site to find his new….. friends(?) dead, again his relation to them was never made the clearest but they meant something to him (at least the pastor who saved his life did), was a scene that didn’t compel much emotion from the viewers but the strife of it all clearly did something to Sandor as we see him grab his axe. The upcoming murder spree is sure to be entertaining as many would assume Sandor still seeks revenge on the Brotherhood without Banners for taking him captive in an earlier season. Either way I’m glad he’s back and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

About Last Week…..

While last week’s episode was definitely not the greatest display by the show, the more I have thought about it the more some of the scenes worked a bit better than I had initially thought. Arya’s dialogue did have a lot of secondary meaning behind all of it, whether it was calling herself Mercy before sparring Lady Crane or if it was in that last line before saving her. “I have to go…. My father is waiting for me” has so many underlying tones to Arya’s desire to get back to Westeros to avenge her father’s death. It probably won’t happen this season but I really hope all the remaining Starks regroup together sometime soon.

• I can only see so many posts online trying to explain why Daenerys’ scene was actually good. But it just wasn’t, it was a waste of time while they tried to give her another empowering speech. Having her skipped this week emphasized how obvious it was that we DON’T have to see her every single week.
• Been a couple weeks without seeing Ramsey now, gotta wonder what that dick is up to.
• After seeing the Freys this week I take back what I said about expecting them to kill Lord Frey last week. Clearly neither of them are smart enough to accomplish something like that.

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!