Recap/Review

Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 9 “Battle of the Bastards” video roundup

Posted on by Bex

We made it! Episode 9! Hooray! Anecdotally, the bar I watch the show at regularly erupted in cheering and yells and this time it wasn’t just me. Were our video people as excited about this episode as us plebeians? Let’s see! So many thumbnails in which Jon is adorable despite his imprisoned mane.

Ozzy Man, lay it on us:

Cenk, Brett, Ben without glasses, which is confusing, and resident nerd Jon

Sandrine and Americ on episode 9. They also have a discussion video up with some rando named Kenny? Never heard of him.

Afterbuzz in which the female host stole my Monday morning hangover glasses look

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And Gay of Thrones, of course!

Also:

History of Westeros show-only review

Collider

SF Nerd: sidenote, I’m not really digging SF’s political coverage but my favorite iteration of SF was way back with the Original Three so I’ll just be over here…

Smokescreen solo review. I should probably note that he does speculation videos for upcoming episodes if that is your thing…

Dem Thrones

One more episode, one last week: if an episode is called the same thing as an upcoming book, what is to be expected? See you on the other side!

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Bex

80 Comments

  3. If they had just cut down a tree and given it to Wun Wun as a weapon he would have made short work of those Bolton soldiers!

  8. Grayven Reyne,

    Yes and wikipedia says that is one of only two television episodes in history to get a 10 on the website and it’s also the most voted episode of a television series on IMDb.
    So happy 😀

  9. Rhaenys Stark,

    I am beyond happy to see the episode getting the appreciation it deserves.

    It is easly one of the best TV episodes, not only from GOT, but from TV history.

    I have little doubt it will win the Emmy

  14. Mihnea,

    I am sure it will win for Directing and all the technical categories. Hopefully Kit gets nominated for this episode and wins. Then I can die happy.

  15. John,

    Agreed! That was the first thing that popped into my head. Why wouldn’t Wun Wun have something to battle with? Maybe wouldn’t feel that way if we hadn’t seen Wun Wun swatting wights at Hardhome with a tree pole.

    Sucks he died. I get it. And I’m okay with him dying. But it doesn’t make sense he wouldn’t have had something.

  16. Pissed myself laughing with Ozzyman’s video! All his reviews are hilarious, but this one took the biscuit! “Fair Dinkum” as the Ozzies say – He ought to get an Emmy for this one – It was a cracker 😀 😀 😀

    Gay of Thrones was OK, but these reviews that ramble on for ages I don’t both to watch. Some as long as the episode itself – Fuck that 😮

    As usual, still no sign of Alt Shift X . I posted the last couple of his You-Tube links to this thread and will do so with E09 if no one else has done so.

  18. Rhaenys Stark,

    I enjoyed Felina a lot more then ozymandias as well, it’s my favorite episode of Breaking bad. Face off, salud, and ozymandias aren’t far behind it ^^

  19. Rhaenys Stark,

    All those are a given, in my opinion.
    Kit also has a huge chance.

    For writing it will be harder, but it always is. I am confident though, that it will win.

  21. Corbyn Stark:
    “Someone on FreeFolk Reddit did an estimate of soldiers standing before the Vale arrived. Jon still had over 1,300. Ramsay only had 300. That’s not all his forces (Umber was bringing more). But it means something like over 80% of his men fighting in the melee were killed. With less than half of Jon’s killed.” – Random IMDb user.

    I wish this were true, cos it shows The Mormonts probably lived up to their reputation.

    I rewatched it today (for the fifth time!) and although I can’t estimate the numbers, it was clear Jon’s army had cleaned up the first wave pretty well – with the help of Ramsay’s friendly fire. I’m willing to bet the pile of bodies were mostly Bolton troops and then, er, pretty much all the horses. They were also doing a decent job of dealing with Smalljon Umber’s rude back door party crashers. It was the crush and the spears of the advancing phalanx that was killing them. So yeah, I agree. They were fighting out of their skins, all of them. If each of the Mormonts equalled 10 normal men, then so did the Wildlings, and Jon, Tormund and Wun Wun must have been worth a hundred. Fookin’ legends, all of them.

    Two other things I noticed: When Jon is out in the field, just as he charges, his eyes flick to the incoming arrows. He knows he’s made a mistake but also realises he has to go forward. He wasn’t trying to rush the forces on his own. He was out in no mans land. For what it’s worth I really think his only error was to try to save Rickon. And with respect to Sansa: I know some people thought that she was cold when Rickon’s body was being brought in, but I think she was enraged. That was what made her ask Jon where Bolton was.

    In other news, Ozzy is still the best, and Jonathan is a close second. I know he loves Jon’s man bun, but my god. Jonathan’s mane is glorious.

  24. Dee Stark,

    ‘Ozymandias’ from Breaking Bad (S05E14), it doesn’t have that many votes but is a great episode as well… But GoT is better 😛

  26. iridium,

    I agree she was definitely enraged. All she wanted now was to hurt Ramsay. She had already mourned once for her brother, that’s why she didn’t seem devastated but was, according to many, “emotionless”. But let’s not start the Sansa debate again…

  27. Dee Stark,

    Hahaha it is indeed way better. BB has some exceptional episodes, especially in its last season but was overall quite boring. A bit overrated for me.

  28. I think they had to kill off Wun Wun so they didn’t give him a weapon. If he had a huge tree like Hardhome I think he would have easily broken those Bolton lines. They had to underpower him to get to his death. And a reduced CGI budget

  30. I love that Gay of Thrones mentioned how Jon’s war bun was intact through the whole battle lol.

    I really enjoyed Rawrist’s review. Waiting for AV Club’s analysis.

  33. iridium,

    Yeah Jon had no choice but go forward. Ramsay set his trap perfectly.

    I disagree about Rickon. Not trying to save him would have been character assassination for Jon. It’s an in-character mistake. He wouldn’t be Jon if he didn’t try to save him. And in the eyes of the North (including the houses following Jon), Jon risked his life to save Ned Stark’s last legitimate son and the rightful heir of Winterfell.

  34. Corbyn Stark,

    Do you have a link? I’d like to read the discussion.

    That’s a good number and performance from Jon’s army. They are legends! Ramsay was dumb enough to send his entire cavalry to kill Jon and didn’t leave anything in reserve. I think Jon had around 200 cavalry from the Northern houses right? It makes things even funnier because Ramsay killed more of his men than Jon’s.

  35. Flayed Potatoes,

    Yeah, I think you’ve misunderstood me there. It said it was a mistake; I didn’t say it wasn’t in character, nor did I condemn him for it. I’ve said multiple times in previous posts that his decision was entirely understandable. It was an error, because it was exactly what Ramsay wanted, but I am wholly sympathetic to him. You’re preaching to the converted, trust me!

  37. Beronn Stark:
    Ozzy Man’s review of this episode is just PURE gold ?

    Agreed. I was crying with laughter at his running commentary during the Battle of Bastards!! ??

  44. Does anyone still watch the comicbookgirl19 videos anymore? I used to like them preseason 5 but just couldn’t get through the first 2 this season. Have they gotten any sort of better? And by better I mean better than ‘I’m only doing this because I have some deal with Smile, don’t want to be here, and everything sucks’

  45. Flayed Potatoes:
    I think Jon had around 200 cavalry from the Northern houses right?

    Jon had about 400 Northerners, total. They really shouldn’t have had more than a few score cavalry, seeing as the Wildlings didn’t have horses.

  49. Connor,
    That schematic’s head count presumes that all the heads visible from above belong to living fighters. I had a strong impression that Jon was packed in with as many upright corpses as surviving infantry – the dead just had nowhere to fall. So the numbers are probably exaggerated.

  51. Corbyn Stark,

    I had a similar impression concerning the numbers and I can also say that, if Littlefinger failed to show up, Jon would have won anyway. The pivotal moment was already over: Jon re-emerged and Tormund managed to kill Smalljon Umber. Next the Wildlings would have climbed over the pile of bodies and hit the phalanx from the rear which would have meant the end of it.

  52. Echoes in a Well,

    Nope she’s still the same. I tried to watch the latest one but she became really annoying, criticising every small thing and bitching about every episode. I suggest to stay far away from it haha

  57. Dee Stark,

    BB is the only other show that i compare with GoT even though they’re vastly different obviously. Along with GoT these are the TV shows that we will never see anything like them imo.

  58. I keep trying to rewatch this episode but there is silliness in every scene. It was like a mediocre big budget Hollywood movie with great fights, special effects, and VFX. This episode could’ve been written by a decent fan fiction writer, it was so cheesy. What the hell happened D & D?????????? Sigh.

  59. Dee Stark,

    Even all the hype hasn’t spiked my Interest in breaking bad

    I felt exactly the same for a long time. Then I watched it. It really is great.

    Even if you know how it ends it’s still a revelation watching how the characters, particularly Walter White, end up where and how they end up.

  61. Lady J,

    Great. Another over the top fan theory that people can whine about when it doesn’t happen that way on the show. Can’t believe even Pop Sugar thought this was worth an article.

  64. iridium: I rewatched it today (for the fifth time!) and although I can’t estimate the numbers, it was clear Jon’s army had cleaned up the first wave pretty well – with the help of Ramsay’s friendly fire. I’m willing to bet the pile of bodies were mostly Bolton troops and then, er, pretty much all the horses. They were also doing a decent job of dealing with Smalljon Umber’s rude back door party crashers. It was the crush and the spears of the advancing phalanx that was killing them. So yeah, I agree. They were fighting out of their skins, all of them. If each of the Mormonts equalled 10 normal men, then so did the Wildlings, and Jon, Tormund and Wun Wun must have been worth a hundred. Fookin’ legends, all of them.

    Two other things I noticed: When Jon is out in the field, just as he charges, his eyes flick to the incoming arrows. He knows he’s made a mistake but also realises he has to go forward. He wasn’t trying to rush the forces on his own. He was out in no mans land. For what it’s worth I really think his only error was to try to save Rickon. And with respect to Sansa: I know some people thought that she was cold when Rickon’s body was being brought in, but I think she was enraged. That was what made her ask Jon where Bolton was.

    In other news, Ozzy is still the best, and Jonathan is a close second. I know he loves Jon’s man bun, but my god. Jonathan’s mane is glorious.

    TOTALLY agree! Sansa was enraged, although it appeared that her emotions were deadened by the trauma she’d endured and the sheer exhaustion of the battle.

    I’ve just rewatched again and that last scene is just so powerful and evokes so many emotions. I don’t think
    I’ve ever felt more vindicated for a fictional character in my entire life. Pure perfection… I can only imagine what anyone who’s gone through a similar experience would make of this. Bravo to Miguel and Sophie, Bravo! ????

    On a lighter note -this was the first Oz roundup I’ve ever seen… Hilarious!!

  66. Beronn Stark:
    Ozzy Man’s review of this episode is just PURE gold

    Nobody does a better review than Ozzy Man. A quick, humorous look at the highlights, followed by thoughtful points and questions. He’s crass, over-the-top and probably not everyones taste but, even when critical, you can tell he loves the show. And I love that he isn’t afraid to be critical. Too many of the reviewers feel the need to side-step glaring questions, plot holes or theories. As if they say something a bit harsh, HBO is going to get butt hurt. If I could sit and watch an episode with any of them, it would be him.

  67. Lady J,

    There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a predictable outcome as long as it is done well. It was pretty much a given that Ramsay was not going to win this fight but it still was great to watch. Some out of left field fan theory that has no basis in events that have taken place on the show is NOT good storytelling just because it isn’t ‘predictable’.

  68. Lady J:
    Rickon died to set them up for this scene…

    http://www.popsugar.com.au/celebrity/Game-Thrones-Jon-Snow-Winterfell-Crypt-Theory-41460461

    I’m still holding onto my theory that the Night King is going to raise an army of Starks from the crypts. They bury them with swords, people! Except now it results in some serious Stark on Stark violence instead of dead Boltons. UnRickon kills Sansa. Jon can’t bring himself to fight unRickon so Tormund has to do it. UnSansa kills Littlefinger? Brienne takes care of unSansa. Basically it’s a mess.

  69. Totally Agree – was one of the most well executed episodes I’ve seen. The show is known for being UN-predictable, so it would be nice if something came out of left field on this one. And in the books (where most of this theory is based), it is good storytelling. I love the show, I love the books, that’s why I’m on this website to share ideas with like minded individuals.
    I just wanted to know if anyone else might have any thoughts on that particular theory – clearly not that popular.

  71. Ozzy Man is still the best. “Rented army of refugees”, “bear glare”, “horse pinball machine”, and I love how he needed a “recovery break”.

    kells: Nobody does a better review than Ozzy Man. A quick, humorous look at the highlights, followed by thoughtful points and questions.He’s crass, over-the-top and probably not everyones taste but, even when critical, you can tell he loves the show. And I love that he isn’t afraid to be critical.

    You’ve listed all the reasons why I love his reviews above all others. Thanks so much to WotW for bringing this guy to my attention.

    I like History of Westeros but 1) holy shit!, 2 hour review?? and 2) when a conversation peters out, there are too many awkward silences as they switch from that topic to the next.

    Firannion:
    Connor,
    That schematic’s head count presumes that all the heads visible from above belong to living fighters. I had a strong impression that Jon was packed in with as many upright corpses as surviving infantry – the dead just had nowhere to fall. So the numbers are probably exaggerated.

    Oh yeah, there were definitely dead fighters from both sides crammed in that mosh pit. When Jon emerged gasping for breath, there was a dead Bolton soldier and several dead wildlings close by.

    While I don’t think Jon’s surviving men totaled over 1000, I do think there were probably about 600-700 fighting men left. Not bad considering they started with 2,405 and were greatly outnumbered. Yay, wildlings, you weren’t completely decimated!!

  72. John,

    LOL the whole time I was thinking about how many wights he fucked up with the tree trunk at Hardhome. He could of demolished the Bolton soldiers when they had them surrounded. instead of swatting like a girl at the pikes.

  73. Lord of Coffee,

    Yeah but the whole season has lacked tension, and it’s not like I’m asking for innovative twists. Just don’t let it play out like how any fan fiction writer would write it i.e. the North men are bailed out by Baelish, and then Ramsey dying and Sansa getting revenge. No tension at all, our characters were never in danger because you always knew Baelish would save the day. ZzZzZzZz.

    But I get it, some of you guys just want your favorite characters to come out on top and don’t want anything to happen that will make you feel bad.

  78. Lady J,

    Yep, my two favourites! Ozzyman’s for his enthusiasm and hilarious (crude) comments and Alt Shift X for the way he uses a mosaic of images (like a flow chart) to explain what’s going on.
    Its not surprising he’s always the last to post his videos. Must take him ages to make them.

  79. G’day! You Ozzy Man fans will love this little ‘ripper! See the man himself in action making the S6E09 video… Its just as funny as the final video he produces… So sit back, ‘crack a tube’ (or a stubby!) and have a good laugh 😀

    “Behind the Scenes on an Ozzy Man Thrones Review”

  80. New Rockstars is about to drop their review video of BoB:

    Not up yet at the time of this link, should be soon!

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