Game of Throne "Home" (S6 - E02) [TV Review]

Well that was an epic episode. Second episode of the sixth season, and we're at last getting to events that occurred in... what, book three? Yeah... nice to know that was not forgotten.
Oh, yeah, and that big reveal that we all knew was coming...

Well now, this is something different. Not so much a flashback,
as a vision of the past. Fascinating... maybe just maybe we'll get
to see what really happened to Lyanna Stark.

Yeah.

SPOILER ALERT!

Well, Jon Snow might not have known nothing, but we certain have known for a long time that Jon Snow was going to return from the dead, and he did.

There that is done and over with. I'll not even bother to linger on that point, since we have known it for so long.

4.5 out of 5 stars

That scene was by far the least epic moment in the whole episode.

No no no. Lets talk about the fun stuff.

First Bran is able to use his green seeing powers to observe the past. This is cool. I'm hoping for some big reveals about Lyanna Stark and Ned in the past. Oh yeah, Hodor was named Wylis and could speak. Kinda nice to see.

This episode then continues with a strange theme - smashing skulls into walls and leaving smears. Big guys get very angry and little guys (comparatively) get their brains rendered into graffiti on the stones.

That was entertaining. I'll even admit it, I laughed. Dark humor. It can catch you at the strangest time.

The Mount that is Dead is less of a King's Guard and
more of a Queen Regent's Guard.

There's a pun here about 'coming home to Roose.'

We also revisit the stupidest decision made in the entire span of Game of Thrones or GRRM's books - A Song of Ice and Fire. Cersei's imbecilic idea to rearm the faith. Yes, because religious wars and crusaders have ever done anything good for anyone. In the entire real history of humanity a militarized religion has only resulted in new and special levels of bloodshed, cruelty, and violence. But no, Cersei went and allowed the faith to rearm itself, so now a bunch of fanatical beggars are terrorizing King's Landing. In fact in this episode the High Sparrow outright threatened to overthrown the kingdom. I'm not fan of the Lannisters, but they should have seen that an armed religious force would eventually lead to treason and insurrection. 

There's a tiny bit with Arya. In fact while it is cool... the whole Blind beggar bit seems to have gone by rather fast. Or so I thought.

How often do I have to say this:
SPOILER ALERT.

Now if that image is not creepy, note Ramsay's Face,
then I do not know what creepy is.

In Winterfell, Roose Bolton's new son is born. Has it been 9 months since he even married his Frey wife? We learn about the pregnancy around the time that Sansa is forced to wed Ramsay. Maybe she was pregnant before, but time has seemed to move rather swiftly. So looking back at Sansa - perhaps she has been a beggar for a while now.

Again Tyrion steals the show with his lines:
"If I lost my cock I'd drink all the time."
"That's what I do; I drink and I know things."
"Don't eat the help."

Then we get a scene of pure karma - Ramsay stabs Roose in the gut just like Roose stabbed Rob Stark. Now if only someone would kill the Late Walder Frey. This scene is rapidly followed by some serious off screen gore... but you know what? This was a Chekhov's gun moment. A season ago Sansa was led by the kennel master's daughter through the dog pens. These dog pens housed Theon (aka: Reek), but they housed more. They housed violent angry dogs that you just knew wanted to rip at human flesh. This season - that Checkov's gun was fired - those dogs did what we knew they were going to eventually do. Not a subtle scene.

Tyrion does Tyrion things - mainly drinking, thinking, and acting rashly. Tyrion has long been obsessed with dragons, and we get a bit of backstory on that. He then puts two and two together and gets the answer - unchain the dragons. Which he does. This seems rash. We'll see what comes of this. I've been a bit curt here, but the honest truth is that both Varys and Tyrion are great in this scene. Their expressions tell real depth, and the acting is top notch.

Short scene with Sansa learning about Arya from Brienne. Theon wants a horse to ride home to Pyke. That seems... weird.

Then suddenly we're back in Pyke for the first time since... shit... Theon was last there? Season 2 or so? No.. season 4 when Theon's favorite toy is sent to Balon from Ramsay. Well, at last we return to Pyke where upon Balon meets Euron (his brother) on a creaky bridge between two towers, where the storm rips at them. Now this scene occurred in book three... so this is like three seasons late. Remember those leaches that Stannis burned saying the names of King's he wanted dead? Rob, Joffrey, and Balon... well this is the last. In the books Stannis hears about all three deaths, in the show... not so much. However the show may be answering a question that many people have had. In the books a child of the forest told of a vision (she was talking to member's of the Brotherhood without Banners) that goes as thus: "I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulder perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings." This scene makes it out that Euron himself kills Balon, when in the books it is likely he hired a faceless man for a dragon's egg (or some other great treasure since the cost of the kill is equal to the target's life). Nice to finally finish up a bit of the third book which has been driving me nuts.


And of course we end with Melissandre being persuaded by Ser Davos Seaworth to try and raise Jon Snow. This is probably the least epic scene in the whole episode, because we knew it was coming. I actually felt a bit let down with how easy it was... I was actually hoping for something cooler... thus no five star rating.

Well, until next week. Here is this weeks list of the dead, with a special bonus!

Death Count for season six episode two, Home:
- Lord Roose Bolton
- Lady Walda Bolton (Frey)
- Baby Bolton
- Drunken Braggart in Kingslanding
- One or Two Brother's of the Night's Watch
- King Balon Greyjoy

And a special, Returned from the Dead count:
- Jon Snow


Previous Game of Thrones reviews:

Season 6:
- The Red Woman (Ep1)

Season 5:
- The Wars to Come (Ep1)
- The House of Black and White (Ep2)
- High Sparrow (Ep3)
- Sons of the Harpy (Ep4)
- Kill the Boy (Ep5)
- Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken (Ep6)
- The Gift (Ep7)
- Hardhome (Ep8)
- The Dance of Dragons (Ep9)
- Mother's Mercy (Ep10)

Season 4:
- Two Swords (Ep1)
- The Lion and the Rose (Ep2)
- Breaker of Chains (Ep3)
- Oathkeeper (Ep4)
- The First of His Name (Ep5)
- The Laws of Gods and Men (Ep6) 
- Mockingbird (Ep7)
- The Mountain and the Viper (Ep8)
- The Watchers on the Wall (Ep9)
- The Children (Ep10)