Not this time. Oh, the Battle of the Bastards was quite good... but...
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| Ser Loras Tyrell, broken before the High Sparrow. He does not even defend himself at his 'trial.' |
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| Cersei spends the episode slowly dressing more and more like a super villain. It looks nice, but it telegraphs. |
You remember the little list of characters I want to see die? Today was glorious! So many names taken off the list that I'm going to need to populate it with some more.
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| 5 out of 5 stars. It made me very happy! |
So what if I just do this by location? Yeah that will work out best.
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| Jamie disrespects Lord Walder Frey verbally. Yes! |
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| When I saw the open window and the smoke, I began to chant 'Jump.' I've never pushed a TV character over the edge before... |
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| There is a theory (that I give no credence to) that the actual villain of the series is going to be Daenerys. I do not see this. |
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| Sam at his happiest. Sure he's had sex will Gilly, and loves her, and she's become really hot, but these are books. ALL of the Books! |
SPOILER WARNING!
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| So how much influence did Sansa wield to ensure this outcome? I'm fairly certain that she was behind this new King in the North. |
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| A Feast of Family. |
Why are your reading any reviews if you have not watched the episode yourself? Seriously?
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| Well, this scene finally confirmed all of the R+L=J theories. But sadly that actually made it less impressive. We already knew. |
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| I'm on a Mother-of-F*cking-Dragons Boat! |
Ok. Lets begin in King's Landing.
The 'trial' of Loras Tyrel is about to begin and the whole sept is filled save for Cersei and Tommen. Tommen is stopped from going by The Mountain Who Guards (they actually even just call him Ser Gregor) in the episode.
Meanwhile Grand Maester Pycelle has just finished having fun with a whore when he is summoned by a small child. One of the Spider's birds (who if we remember are working for Qyburn) stops the Grand Maester.
Loras renounces his name, his title, everything in penance. He vows to serve the Seven. For the show that is more or less the death of House Tyrell... well it would have been...
Cersei never shows up at the Sept and the High Sparrow sends Lancel to fetch her. Outside the sept, Lancel notices a small child snooping about and follows him.
Are you ready for it? Because we are about to see a shit tonne of death real fast.
First Grand Maester Pycelle is murdered by a large number of Qyburns little birds (creepy children with knives). They stab him over and over again... and the whole scene is just down right creepy because honestly - young children are creepy sadistic little monsters in real life - and they are doubly so in a blood filled TV show. Death One.
Lancel follows the child down winding tiny paths... until he enters a long corridor filled with casks. Lots and lots of casks... that have a slight green glow. The child darts out of the dark and stabs him in the kidney / spine / back. Lancel notices a small glow at the far end of the corridor.
In the Sept Margaery Tyrell begins to get nervous as Cersei has yet to arrive. She knows that this is wrong, she knows that everyone needs to leave. However the High Sparrow in all his exposed arrogance refuses to let anyone leave until both trials are over. (I oft find those who profess to humble themselves so deeply are actually the most arrogant of people.)
Lancel reaches the glow at the end of the corridor... it is a candle in a pool of wildfire. The candle has burned very low, and as he looks on, the flames touch the substance and the world is consumed in green fire.
The explosion vaporizes the High Sparrow and completely destroys the Great Sept of Balor and a significant chunk of King's Landing. Cersie smiles at the sight... she has won. But she has also lost, for Tommen in a separate room sees the smoke rising from the Sept and takes off his crown. He steps up onto a window ledge and leans forward, falling to his death. That is the last of Cersei's children.
Cersei also begins to torture Septon Unella - the woman who tortured her when she was in the dungeon under the sept. Then Cersei brings in Ser Gregor... and he stands over her while she screams. What the hell did he do to her? Now Cersei did remind the Septon that the last thing she would ever see before she died was Cersei's face... so maybe he blinded her? But that makes little sense, now Cersei blinding her... well...
Anyways Cersei is now Queen, and she will be until a more beautiful one arrives.
And that more beautiful Queen is on a damn boat heading for Westeros.
Okay. I wrote that in story format because I just really wanted to revisit, what to me, might have been some of the most satisfying and awesome events to occur in King's Landing... ever. My list got a lot shorter. House Tyrell also got a lot smaller, and Lannister lost Kevan as well (that was a change from the books).
We see white Raven's flying north.
We spend a bit of time in the Twins where Jamie stops over on his way back to King's Landing after taking Riverrun. Bronn gets some tail, Jamie insults Lord Walder Frey. Good times.
But what was even better was knowing, for some reason, that the serving wench who kept starring at Jamie was out of place. She feeds Lord Frey some pie... pie filled with Black Walder and Lothar Frey, two of his sons. Then she removes her face, reveals that she is Arya Stark, and slits the old traitors throat.
I do not fully know why, but I knew that the serving wench was up to nothing good for the Freys. Another name down!
Meereen is a little less interesting. It is really just set up for next season. The best two things were Tyrion saying that for the first time in his life he actually believed in something, he believed in her. Daenerys confession that when she broke it off with Daario she felt nothing was actually pretty cool. That's a strong women, sure some people might say that she's a cold hearted bitch, but to me that reaction is perfectly in character. She always seemed too infatuated with him, almost as a release from the other horrible men she was around. It was never love, it was always lust. And Tyrion's face when he got the Hand of the Queen... that was priceless.
There is a short bit in Dorne involving Lady Olenna, Ellaria, and the Sand Snakes. Lady Olenna is always awesome, that lady has fire and take no guff. She tells each Sand Snake in turn to essentially 'shut up.' All she wants is revenge for the death of her House. That's when Varys appears... anyone else sensing a Dorne / Targaryen / Tyrell power team up to slaughter all the remaining Lannisters?
There is a tiny bit in Oldtown. Sam has finally arrived at the Citadel. Gilly is still quite hot after being cleaned up at Sam's home. Sam is led into the biggest library in Westeros (the world probably) and he looks just like a kid in a candy store with unlimited money. It will be interesting to see where the hell this leads.
Then in the North.
Davos confronts Lady Melissandre about the death of Princess Shireen. The Red Woman is banished from the north. Davos wanted her dead... but he accepts, after leveling a threat at her.
Then Sansa wins the day. She rebuffs Littlefinger right to his face, and I swear that she set in motion all of the events that lead up to the new King in the North. Yes, Jon Snow becomes King in the North largely due to two women. I swear that Sansa has learned a great deal from Littlefinger... and she has begun to play the game very well. The other woman was young Lady Lyanna Mormont who spoke passionately and fiercely about following a King in the North. She shames the other Lords into swearing their fealty - House Manderly, House Glover, House Cerwyn. So now the north has a bastard as a King...
Or does it?
Coldhands, Benjen Stark, leaves Bran and Meera at the wall. He cannot pass, the dead cannot cross the spells woven into its foundation. Bran does not immediately leave to cross the wall... instead he touches a weirwood and has a vision. He is the new Three Eyed Raven, he has to know. He has to know what happened in the Tower of Joy. He returns to the scene where the old Three Eye Raven last cut him off... he follows a young Ned Stark inside the tower...
Where the expected occurs.
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| The crowning of a super villain... |
In comparison the destruction of the Faith was just pure gold. The High Sparrow blown to compete bits was just glorious. The Faith and the Crown should have left Trial by Combat alone... but they thought to get ahead of Cersei (super villain) and she outplayed them. I never like rooting for House Lannister (except Tyrion of course) but in this case... Go Super Villain Lady! She also took out what she saw as her greatest rivals - House Tyrell. Cersei won, but she seems to have forgotten the prophesy. A more beautiful Queen will replace her.
There were plenty of other really good scenes... but I was walking on green wildfire rainbows for the rest of the episode.
Now lets take a quick look at my list of characters that need to die.
#4 Cercei Lannister
#5 Euron Greyjoy (for being boring compared to what he should be)
Something is very wrong. My list is down to only two names.
#4 Cercei Lannister
#5 Euron Greyjoy
Maybe next season someone will do something so hideously awful that I can add them to the list. I've been tempted to add the Sand Snakes and Ellara because they killed Doran Martell all the way back in like the first episode of the season... but we have not seen them enough for me to really want them on the list. But we shall see...
So here we are, come at last to the end of the Sixth Season of Game of Thrones. It has been a bloody ride that was often not as good as prior seasons, but still ended with a real bang! While much of the season was lackluster, this episode was a grand finale.
Oh, does House Stark need to change it's words? "Winter is Coming" rings kinda hollow during winter... maybe they should change it to "We told you so."
Death Count for season six episode ten, The Winds of Winter:
- Grand Maester Pycelle (stabbed by very creepy children)
- Brother Lancel (stabbed and was the first to die via the Wildfire)
- The High Sparrow (vaporized by wildfire)
- Queen Margaery (wildfire explosion)
- Lord Mace Tyrell (wildfire explosion)
- Lord Kevan Lannister (wildfire explosion)
- Loras Tyrell (wildfire explosion)
- A hundred or so people witnessing the trial (wildfire explosion) and more in the surrounding area
- Six other Septons (wildfire explosion)
- Brothers of the Faith Militant who would not let people flee the Sept (wildfire explosion)
- King Tommen Baratheon (suicide - jumped to his own death)
- Black Walder (killed by Arya, fed to Lord Walder Frey)
- Lothar Frey (killed by Arya, fed to Lord Walder Frey)
- Lord Walder Frey (throat slit by Arya)
If anyone has been keeping track... the heads of all the Great Houses of Westeros are now dead in the TV show. Lord Mace Tyrell was the last, and Lord Ned Stark was the first. Many of the lesser houses have also lost some heads...
Previous Game of Thrones reviews:
Season 6:
- The Red Woman (Ep1)
- Home (Ep2)
- Oathbreaker (Ep3) - No Review
- Book of the Stranger (Ep4)
- The Door (Ep5)
- Blood of My Blood (Ep6)
- The Broken Man (Ep7)
- No One (Ep8)
- Battle of the Bastards (Ep9)
- The Winds of Winter (Ep10) - This review.
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)
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