Episode 335 – The Broken Man
He’s back. But oh the satisfaction. Action in the middle country is brewing, while old threats and new friends begin to burn hotter than ever.
Discussion Topics
A broken man
Arya Stoneheart
The attack
Greyjoys out East
The Davos factor
Door to Door Starking
Lions and Roses
Owns of the Episode
SANDOR!
My favorite episode so far this season….. good dialog, good characters, good story…. I just wish I could read Cercei’s mind when she was talking to Lady Olenna. Cercei is always playing the game and planning something.
so, you guys think that 1) the show would give up Maise williams for an actress who hasn’t been on the show in 4 years? and 2) that Arya’s behavior was just normal and that after 17 episodes at the house of black and white, she learned nothing, not one damn thing?
i don’t know what’s going on with Arya and i loathe the theory that jaquen got himself stabbed for arya. but something is def going on.
maybe the LSH story will go to Arya, with Arya’s freaking face I mean, or maybe there are more faceless men then we know (mummers) or something all together different. but taking catelyn’s face? ugh. on what planet would production allow this?
Izatty,
If anything it would be cooler if she took Ned’s face.
I do believe there is some twist because she knew she was in danger and hid out in the dark at the end of the last episode. Just happy-go-lucky prancing around in broad daylight is not something she would do.
The Arya LSH theory is HORRIBLE. 1. How does the house of B and W even have Catlyn’s face? 2. Why would Arya use her face? Who is she hiding from? And who is she scaring by posing as a 50 year old women’s corpse? If the house of B and W has every dead characters face then why not take Robb’s? The King in the North, the fierce Young Wolf coming back from the dead the kill of those who betrayed him……. a bit more scary than a mother of 5 who is old enough to collect Social Security, back from the dead to punish those who betrayed her son…… boooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why bring back
Plus, I know timing is inconsistent with this show, but it feels like with the attack that the Brotherhood committed on McShane and co., that the Brotherhood is already too altered from their original group, and too late for Arya to cross the narrow sea, etc. Unless they have her be Stoneheart without the rest of the Brotherhood,
but that doesn’t match up, and it hasn’t matched up with these past two episodes.
In the King’s Landing story, do you think the High Sparrow’s comments about getting in bed with Tommen is setting the table for…
It was a sept they were building. It was revealed after the show in commentary on HBO Now.
My prediction for the rest of the season:
Sir Imp hand Strong,
Yeah I don’t get why the Owns folks like the Arya as LS theory. It makes no sense to me, less than the Arya/Waif are the same people idea. I tend to apply Occam’s Razor to GoT theories and go with the simplest explanation: Arya was stabbed and will likely get help from Lady Crane. I just can’t get over how deliberately she was walking around, as if the whole thing was a set up.
Again, loved this episode. I’m glad I’m not the only one that thought I might have been watching the wrong show during the opening! I was totally thinking of Hobbiton with that scenery and music!!
Speaking of music… Can I throw out a technical comment for the recordings? Love you guys and the background music but sometimes the music can be a tad, just a tad, too loud over the talking. Occasionally I just find it hard to hear you guys with the music playing at current recorded levels. Maybe it’s just me I don’t know (I hate sounding nit picky) but I just wanted to point it out.
You guys are awesome though. Long live The Hound!!
I don’t buy the Arya is LSH theory either. I also don’t think Arya was the person stabbed, IMO it’s going to be Jaquen. A few things stood out, where did Arya get 2 bags of coins? where is needle? I think that scene was a test for the waif to see if she would kill Arya quickly. Going forward it’s possible that Arya is in a way someone and no one. She is allowed to go back to westeros as a Stark but carries out assassinations as a faceless man, because no one will suspect a young lady of a noble house.
Nick Hartley does not sow!
Oh Yeah
Starts with happy idylic village
Ends with everyone slaughtered
Couldn’t have expected anything less as far as GoT is concerned….
Think Ramsay said it besr “If u think this has a happy ending you haven’t been paying attention”
Already left my owns on FB but what really want to know is why use the death us coming line with one house and not the other? Explaining why the free folk are south of the wall may have been at least relivent if not convincing.
Secondly does any one see Cerise burning them all? I mean the throne room has to get burnt down sometime soon for Dany to find it in ruins.
Won’t she gave to do something pretty dire so our Jamie can turn about and join his armies to those in the north for the wars to come?
As for Arya it was her and her money bags saved her life.
Simon,
There have been visions of the Throne room with snow falling on it.(or maybe it was ashes?).
I still hope Jamie sends Bron and some of his army north to help Sansa and keep his oath to Catelyn.
This was my favorite episode of Owns because it didn’t have that NPR, Vocal Fry Millenial at the helm. Please get rid of him because he is just awful and gives me the douche chills.
You asked why Hound did not hear the slaughter at the camp it called acoustic shadows. Its a phenomena noted During the Civil war, many times it was noted that battle could be heard miles away but could not be heard a short distance away. Look it up it there are several accounts of it. One in the ken burns Civil war.
I’ve read elsewhere someone say that they thought Arya had already met with the actress and gotten suited up with a theater trick of an animal bladder full of blood. She’s acting as she stumbles through the street, making sure to be seen by many. I’ve read people question why no people seemed concerned about a young girl bleeding in the streets, but it’s for the same reason no one seemed to care when a young blind girl was getting beat up in the street with a big stick. People didn’t get involved or interfere in what wasn’t their business. It was a cold, cruel world. I suspect that Arya was setting up the Waif to fake her own death. Next week’s episode is called No One so we will learn whether Arya has outwitted the Waif or if the Faceless Man has tricked them both somehow. The Waif is in trouble either way and it makes no sense that the Faceless Man is oblivious to her ‘someone-like’ attitude towards Arya. Personally, I really want to see the Waif die a horrible death.
Had not heard of the ‘Arya becomes LSH’ theory until now and it just makes no sense at all. Even if they did have Catlyn’s face at the House of B&W (and there is no reason to think they do) why would Arya disguise herself as her mother in order to get revenge on the Freys? It would be much easier for her to get close to them as a girl they don’t know then announce she is Arya Stark right before she kills them as she did with Meryn Trant.
I also find the ‘Jaqen was disguised as Arya’ theory highly implausible. What was his plan? That if the waif killed him quickly then she would have passed his test? But wouldn’t he then be, you know, dead?? Doesn’t seem like a great way to conduct a test.
At this point, they are just trying to tie up loose ends and get everything moving towards the end game. I don’t think they are too concerned about straining some credulity. I worry for the resolution of the Arya “mystery”. A fake bladder and baiting is not feasible, unless Arya is so good now that she knew the Waif would not slit her throat or stab her heart, but rather try and make her suffer – quite a chance to take. A split personality and this whole thing playing in her mind (all fights, even the stabbing) is ridiculous. And her taking over the LSH role is just a drag and cop out. Any of them could happen, but I’m not counting on it even so.
There must, and will be, another explanation. I hope. I’d prefer Jaqen putting a glamour on the understudy without her knowing it, and hence her haughty attitude, her need to leave Bravos (kicked out of troupe), her money, and her complete shock at being stabbed. Heck, it’s as viable as any of the other whacky theories!!!
Semi Crackpot Idea/Theory:
Jon will die during the battle of the bastards, maybe killed by Ramsey, but nonetheless he will somehow die. Nevertheless the Starks will prevail, the remaining Umber and Karstark men are held as prisoners, and they will witness Melisandre resurrecting Jon again. This will officially pledge all the remaining northern men to Jon for good, as they will see him as some kind of magical being and/or god. But before Jon is resurrected, or at least in the time it takes Melisandre to get to the battlefield/winterfell, Bran will guide him thru a vision of the past, specifically his birth at the Tower of Joy and finally Jon will know his true parentage. If Littlefinger should witness Jon’s resurrection, as I think he will be at the battlefield on the Stark side, then it should be interesting to see how he would react to an actual resurrection.
Just my crackpot idea and hope.
I think it is being over thought.. she has stolen money over the course of week or so.. and evaded the Waif/Faceless Men.. but she can’t stay in a dark room for more than a day…..
…..Surely she needs to drink, eat?? If her plan was to book passage back to Westeros then she can’t do that in a dark room either.
I think the Waif was tracking her and caught up to her on the bridge while she was on her way back to her den, yeah a bit stupid, but she may of thought that Jaqen wouldn’t want her dead and would let her leave?? The no third chance could of meant chance of being an assassin.. not being killed.
Arya has such determination and sheer will to survive she’ll turn the situation to her advantage, and be healed somehow… either by the magic of the Faceless men after she sees off the Waif or by some other means.
Arya using Catelyn’s face is one of the dumbest/lamest theories I’ve ever heard! Shame on you guys! Shame!
LSH or bust.
Corbyn Stark,
Havent been paying attention huh? Sansa sent a raven out and we still have yet to see the scene with Littlefinger in the snowy woods from the season trailer, so Im like 95% sure the Vale will come to the rescue.
Lord of Coffee,
That is assuming he is someone. The whole point was there never was a Jaquen. It’s a role he plays, a face he wears. I think the show has done this concept a disservice by using the same actor. I know it made it easier to go “hey I remember him” but it dumbs down the idea that all of the members of the church of the many faced god aren’t anyone at all. My point is, the Arya stabbed could’ve been Jaquen. And then another faceless man wears the same face to punish the waif.
Nick Hartley does not sow!
thurg00d420,
not bad
Don’t forget the profound impact Arya leaving him to die may have had as well. I think that, along with the shame of being defeated (by a woman, no less) and being indebted to this man saving his life are the reasons for staying with the community.
It also serves a narrative purpose of setting up his change as well as revenge (getting back into the action).