Game of Throne "The Red Woman" (S6 - E01) [TV Review]

It is that time of year again. The time when we all know that "Winter is Coming."
(Why this is not part of HBO's fall line up I'll never understand. The marketing was already written.)
That's right, it is time again to play the game - the game where you win or you die - the Game of Thrones.

Witness to Waif abuse.

Before we go very far lets recap the end of Season 5. There are three very important episodes right at the end of the season. Hardhome, The Dance of Dragons, and Mother's Mercy. 

I'm going to his this very fast covering the big areas.

So yeah... if some crazy reason you are reading this but have not yet seen season 5... SPOILER ALERT.

Lets start with...
Kings Landing:
The Faith militant has two queens (Margaery and Cersei) in Jail, and a member of the King's Guard (Ser Loras Tyrell). Margaery and Loras are still in Jail at seasons end, but Cersei took the walk of shame back to the red keep where upon we meet the 'Mountain that is a King's Guard.'

The Wall:  
Jon Snow rescues some wildlings from the White Walker's at Hardhome, sends Sam south to the Citadel to become a Maester, and then gets murdered by his own brothers in the Night's Watch. Both Ser Davos Seaworth and the Red Woman are at Castle Black when Jon Snow is murdered.

The North:
Sansa is married to Ramsey Bolton, and raped by him.Theon (Reek) admits he did not kill Bran and Rickon. Stannis marches on Winterfell, sacrifices his own daughter to the Lord of Light, loses his wife to suicide, watches his army fall apart, and finally gets killed by Brienne of Tarth after he loses to the Bolton Forces. Theon helps Sansa escape.

Dorne:
Jamie and Bron failed to rescue Myrcella - who does not want to leave. Bron ends up in Jail. Jamie ends up playing diplomat with Doran Martell. Jamie, Bron and Myrcella leave on a boat, but Myrcella dies due to the poison Ellaria Sand used on her.

Bravos:
Arya kills Ser Meryn Trant, and is punished by the Many-Faced God as Jaqen kills himself (or was Jaqen, is there a Jaqen? No... there is only No One). Arya goes blind for using the power of faces while being someone and not No One. 

Meereen:
(Sigh) Daenerys is still troubled by the Sons of the Harpy. She reopens the fighting pits. Ser Jorah brings Tyrion to her and Tyrion debates if she is worthy of his council. The Sons of the Harpy attack at the big games in the grand fighting pit. Daenerys is saved when Drogon arrives and begins burning and killing the Sons of the Harpy. Unfortunately she flies off with Drogon and ends up far away in some green mountain valley where she is captured by a Khalasar. Varys shows up at Tyrion's side again. 

I've probably missed a few things but that's enough of a review. If you want more detail, you can read my previous reviews of watch it on DVD / DB.

Oh, that looks so cold...

Now onto this weeks episode: The Red Woman.

Again... SPOILER ALERT.
Oh, yeah... the star rating.

4 out of 5 stars

I don't see Bron. Where is Bron?

From here on out, everything is new. Well most everything. There is no 6th book... so what we see may not be reflected in the books. We have already gone far afield of many of the book story lines.

This scene just sucked. Love the dichotomy of Ellaria Sand
and the Sand Snakes. They demand justice* for the losses
they have suffered but are completely willing to betray
others to get their vengeance. They have no honor.
* They want vengeance, not justice.

Some of the story lines had rather slow beginnings this season. Sadly the story of Jon's death has progressed little. He's dead. Ser Davos and Dolorous Edd Tollet (and a few others) have moved Jon's body into his study (?) along with Ghost. Jon remains dead. Kit Harrington has a Mark Hamill level of difficulty acting in this episode.

Tyrion walks around Meereen and watches a Red Priest rile up some freedmen. Then a massive pillar of smoke fills the sky. The entire harbor and all the ships in it are on fire. Yea. Now Tyrion is stuck in Meereen. This city is just a giant hole, and as far as I am concerned will remain one until the entire city is destroyed. Plot goes to Meereen to die.

Theon and Sansa are on the run from the Bolton pursuers. They cross an icy river but are eventually set upon by riders and dogs. They are saved by Brienne and Pod. Meanwhile Ramsey has been put in his place by his father for losing Sansa.

Arya is blind and begging on the streets of Bravos. The waif challenges her to a fights and beats the crap out of Arya with a staff. Arya has much to learn, but she has been listening to people.

Margaery remains in the prison of the faith, but the High Sparrow comes to visit her. She appears to be breaking... not good.

Jamies arrives in Kingslanding with the body of Myrcella. Cersei tells him about the prophesy that says all of her children will die, and a few other things. Jamie vehemently disagrees with the prophesy, but I'm not certain he will be able to do anything about it.

Daenerys is brought before Khal Moro. She reveals that she is the widow of Khal Drogo so that he will not rape her. Unfortunately this means that now they are going to haul her off to Vaes Dothrak where she will live with the widows of other Khal's. Ser Jorah and Daario Naharis are on her trail and notice that she was taken by a 'horde.' Somehow they also manage to find the one tiny ring she left behind as a clue. (That has got to be a trope... but I'm not going to look it up. If I do, I'll get lost in TVTropes depths.)

BIG SPOILERS AHEAD.

And then there is what happens in Dorne. This is the biggest shocker of the show. A letter arrives for Doran Martell and he begins to read it. As soon as he reads the bit about Myrcella being dead, one of the Sand Snakes stabs Areo Hotah in the back, and Ellaria Sand stabs Doran in the heart. He asks about Tristan and Ellaria replies that "he is weak, like his father." Tristan is killed by the other two Sand Snakes, as they once again stab a person in the back. The Sand Snakes have no honor at all. I suspect this is all to set up a war between Lannister and Dorne. We shall see.

The last scene is the Red Woman. We see her staring into a fire. She looks lost. She thought she saw Jon Snow fighting at Winter Fell, but now he is dead. He world seems to be crumbling. She is about to shatter ours. She undresses for bed. We see her naked - first boobs of the episode. Then she takes off the massive glowing ruby at her neck. She ages - rapidly. She looks over 90. So we see 90yr old boobs. The second boobs of the episode. Our image of the red woman is shattered. (For some reason I saw this coming. Magic has a price - blood, life, power... something. And she has been using magic.) 

I was torn. I was thinking of giving it only 3.5 stars, but decided
that there was enough 'wow' moments to sway me to 4 stars.
But I'm still not certain. If I gave quarter portions, this would get 3.75.
But I don't, so 4 stars it is.

That is it for this week.
See you again next week.

Until then, if you want to you can go back and read all my prior GoT reviews. Oh, and here is this episodes death count!


Death Count for the first season 6 episode, The Red Woman:
- Doran Martell
- Areo Hotah
- Trystane Martell
- Bolton Trackers (and their dogs? What happened to those dogs?)

Previous Game of Thrones reviews:

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)