The Broken Man

The good thing about being behind castle walls is that it helps keep the bad guys outside. When you have walls, you know who your real enemies are: they're the other guys trying to knock down said walls. It's not the same in the rest of Westeros. In King's Landing, oftentimes your biggest enemy is also your only ally. See also Cersei Lannister and Olenna Tyrell, who are brought together by outside forces despite their mutual hatred of one another. Sure, they're not getting along, but they have a common enemy in the High Sparrow. That confrontation is one of many great scenes from Bryan Cogman's pen this week. Olenna works no matter who she's put up against, but with Cersei she has a natural foil. Brynden is a great foil for Jaime (so is Bronn for that matter). However, the best moments of the episode involve none other than the returning Sandor Clegane and his many interactions with Septon Meribald (Ian McShane). The septon, like Clegane, is a soldier, and the two have a natural rapport. The Septon reformed himself; he thinks that Clegane can do the same, even when confronted by the Brotherhood Without Banners. Even at the cost of his own life, he holds true to his principals. However, the Hound has principals of his own, and they're mostly centered around revenge and killing people with an axe. That's a clever way to both make the squabbles of the great houses important, but also to make them completely unimportant all at the same time. They need to unite, because otherwise they'll die, and to unite, they need to put the north back under Stark control. If the Tyrells and Lannisters can't stop insulting one another, will they be able to hold back several hundred thousand wights? If the Greyjoys do forge an alliance with Daenerys Targaryen, will the rest of the Westerosi-who have fought with the Greyjoys multiple times-band together with them to force back the oncoming hordes, or will they turn on the only person in the world with dragons? There are a lot of interesting developments, but the only thing people are going to be talking about is the potential for a Cleganebowl. That's the thing people have been drooling over, the source of many memes, and used as a good excuse to get hype since the show began. It just might happen; but first, the Hound's got a Brotherhood to slaughter. The scene in which poor Sandor discovers that all the people he's been working alongside are dead is directed beautifully by Mark Mylod and performed well by Rory McCann. The staging is incredible, making the slaughter look that much worse, with the final shot of the hanged man being just a knife in the belly. By the time we see him turn away and pick up his weapon, it's clear that the peaceful Sandor Clegane is gone, and the Hound is back in full force.

Right from the beginning of the episode, you could tell this was going to be a special one and oh boy, did it deliver! This season really is amazing (thus far)and this episode is probably the second best, right behind "The Door".

It really tries new things and kind of breaks the fold when it comes to the structure of a Thrones episode as it really is focused on one character, who has returned after 2 years of being presumably dead, and his arc throughout the episode; trying to adjust to a life without murder, but then ultimately being sucked back into that world in a tragic ending. We get a surprise guest appearance from Ian McShane who, of course, gives a fantastic performance and really makes you care for his character in just mere minutes of screen time, making the unfortunate twist at the end of the episode all the more sadder.

Of course, there are other surprises and plot advances, which only bolster the episode, but I'd just like to mention the Riverrun plot line, which featured a great scene between Jaime and the Blackfish, and the return of the beloved Bronn. It's great to see Jaime becoming the man Tywin wanted him to be and getting his family and their house back together ever since his daughter died in his arms back in Season 5, which has clearly changed him, for better or worse.

Unfortunately, Tyrion is absent for a second episode in a row, which is fine because if there's no story to tell, then just checking up on him would purely be filler, but I always miss him and Varys's banter.

The only flaw with this episode is what it doesn't have, but it doesn't really need it either. Therefore: I'm going to give this episode a 9.7/10.

Season 6, episode 7. Jon and Sansa are gathering troops - trying to create their army to take back Winterfell. Jaime is now head of siege at Riverrun. Olenna Tyrell is planning on leaving King's Landing and Cersei wants her to stay. Theon and Yara have taken ships - leaving their home, Yara has plans to meet with The Dragon Queen Daenerys to form an alliance. Arya tries to leave but her plans were stopped. The Hound was saved by Brother Ray.

8/10

It's my first review, and I am writing it because this episode pleasantly surprised me.

It was surprising how little cheesiness was in this episode compared to others in this season. And the dialogue was so much better, with some of Blackfish's quotes taking the top. And the final scene was really WTF for me, it contained the raw realism that Game of Thrones is known for.

Overall, I haven't checked if they changed a director or screenwriter or something since the last change, but the approach is quite different and true to canon. It looks like someone who knows what GoT is about did it. Certainly not looking like a fan-fiction.

It's because of the quality standards of this kind of episodes, "Game of Thrones" deserves to be criticized when somehow it deviates itself to a Hollywoodesque pretension of becoming a money apparatus for the audiences. Because it indeed damages its quality when this nonsense gets stuck in the heads of the economic maestros. Not only is unnecessary but also detrimental.

This season has been generally like that with its ups and downs being the best of it plainly average because it gets banal when compared with other existent series made to be watched and thrown in the recycle bin.

But this episode stroke me with a exhalation of hope. Truly... (or is it just me hungering for old GOT's primordial quality?) It proved me that the artistic sense of representation, an excellent script, the great dramatizations of great actors leaded by great directors orchestrating great "musicians" surpasses by far the hysteric need of special effects or everything having to be "BIG". Of course special effects are welcome, but they shouldn't be at the top of the pyramid of priorities. They are extras.

Anyway, trash with that big. Big were the majestic dramatizations of Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos), Clive Russell (Brynden 'Blackfish' Tully), Diana Rigg (Olenna Tyrell) and most specially, the incredible Bella Ramsey (Lyanna Mormont). With honourable mentions to Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Rory McCann, Ian McShane (Brother Ray) and Tim McInnerny (Robett Glover).

And also BIG were the photography, the wardrobe, the landscapes, the characters developments, this episode.