Unsullied Recap, Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 6: Blood of My Blood

94 Comments

1. Make love to Thrones not life <3

2. How can anybody think Dany is not the bad gal now? Her army will be Dothraki and Iron Born. And she is showing signs of going evil.

3. Of course. More Dany complaints Lol
   Its getting old people

4. The Bastard,

   How is she showing signs of going evil? This is actually the worst argument right now.

   Not sold yet. I will judge when she arrives in Westeros.

5. Oz – totally agree on the David Bradley – Walder Frey comment. I feel like he has been sitting there for 3 years hahaha!

6. I’m so bummed by a lot of people’s reaction to Danys scene. I loved it. Maybe it was oddly placed, I’ll give you that. but I love that her speech mirrored the speech that Drogo gave after the attempt on Danys life when he decided to take the horde across the sea. The flaming Dosh Khaleen tent got them to sit up and pay attention, but seeing living, tangible proof of her power (she isn’t strong of body like a typical khal so she needs to show her strength in alternative ways) is cementing their devotion to her even more.

   Bathe the haters in dragon fire, Dany.

7. Lyanna_Targaryen,

   Bahahah seriously.

   This. x 100000

8. Dee,

   Here I just take a ”wait and enjoy” approach.
   Just let the story go on, I’m 100% sure she won’t go mad or crazy. Will she rule? This I’m not that certain.
   But she won’t go mad.

9. Dee,

   Amazing acting, he was just great in that scene!

10. Great recap Oz! I agree with everything you mentioned including Dany’s last scene. Couldn’t agree more! Great job.
    I loved this episode for all the same reasons as you. We got to see the Mad King, a bloody birth?, and all the returning characters. Loved the scenes with Mr slap happy Frey. I can’t wait to see what goes down at riverrun! I felt completely awful for Sam, but when he walked back in the room and told Gilly they were leaving together I must say I had a grin from ear to ear. AND THEN, he took heartsbane! I honestly yelled “fuck ya Sam” at my tv. Loved it. I always knew from season 1 that Arya would do big things in this series. I’m glad her arc has progressed. The scenes with her and Lady Stork were very well done.

    But that feather helmet though.

    I honestly thought Mace had grown a pair with his motivational speech. Until the enevitable “what’s happening?” Oh there’s Mace!

    But the return of Benjen (Benjhands? Lol) was probably the most interesting for me. I’m intrigued to see how he will help Bran in his training. I hope he stays around a bit this time!

    Overall all, a very strong episode, except for the ending. I’ll be honest though. I was hoping for more outta KL but I’ll take the setup they gave us. Shit is gonna fly, or perhaps it’ll be wildfire?

    Cheers! Is it Sunday yet?

11. Mihnea,

    I just don’t get it? Because she says that she will kill her enemies? Isnt that what everyone says? She feels entitled to the throne just like half the population of Westeros. She has no idea what is happening in the North, and it’s not her to blame. She isn’t getting the news. She will be informed when she meets Kinvara. And she has Tyrion by her side. There are way more sweet Dany moments then there are her being “evil”.
    But I don’t see whats indicating her going mad. Burning the khals? Well they were going to kill her anyway. Plus the khals are horrible people. The conversations with the Dosh Khaleen foreshadowed that.

12. I really have liked the past 2 episodes. The season is starting to turn around for me. Good thing or Lyanna Targaryan might throw a shit fit because she can’t have people disagreeing with her!

    The stuff in Horn Hill was great.

    Finally, enjoyed the King’s Landing stuff. The showdown was epic and staged beautifully. Is it possible we finally had a situation in GoT where everyone wins? (well, except Cersei and Jaimie of course but only because they’re miserable).

    The Braavos stuff continued to be great. I’m sensing an in the dark fight between Waif and Arya coming next episode, with Arya using her blind training to her advantage and getting the W.

    Liked the Bran and Benjen stuff. Happy to see that actor back, he was great in his limited role in early season 1.

    The Dany stuff was better on rewatch, though a little forced and I have Dany epic speech fatigue.

    Nice to see Lord Walder and Edmure back.

13. The Bastard,

    If anything Dany’s speech showed signs of the opposite – she left out the raping and enslaving bits from Drogo’s original speech, and altered a key tradition by making all of them blood riders instead of a key few – demonstrating her goal of changing the (awful parts of) Dothraki culture bit by bit.

    I do think the execution and timing of that scene was somehow weird and it came off as unconvincing when compared to the climax 2 ep ago. It should have been the 2nd to last scene and then no one would be complaining.

14. I don’t get the complaints that Jon snow is becoming a secondary character in his own story. To be honest i just don’t see it, I never got this feeling at all watching season 6.

15. QueenofThrones,

    very minor complaint in my opinion.
    just because its the last scene or felt slightly out place (not really thought) its affecting what the scene represents

    whatevs

16. I get the feeling that they felt they needed to include the Dany scene at the end so that it had some kind of connection to the Mad King vision at the start of the episode.

    You know, foreshadowing and shit.

17. Congratulations to James Falkner for bringing Randyl Tarly to life, loved watching the Tarly storyline, Bloody brilliant material.

18. As always an interesting recap, Oz, though I didn’t mind the Dany scene.

    Anybody else think that stage Joffrey (despite the fact he is obviously wearing a wig) has a bit of a look of Jack Gleeson.

    With a dad like Randyll Tarly one wouldn’t need enemies.

19. That last scene got me pumped. Not the speech so much but the fact Dany was riding and controlling her dragon fur the first time. Big time development IMO.

20. Great write up and spot on with regards to Dany’s speech. it just flopped. Love Dany but was rolling my eyes through this one. Seriously, is halfway through a boring ass ride in the desert the right time for a pump up speech?

21. QueenofThrones,

    I definetly agree with the first point! However considering what we saw so far from the Khals and warriors(the awfull bits),I was just hoping for more Dosh Khaleen interactions instead. So something more in line with the conversations she had with the older woman and the girl

22. Yeah, I’ve got to jump on the Dany scene out of place bandwagon. Comparing it to Drogo’s speech doesn’t work. When Drogo gave his speech in ‘You Win or You Die” it came on the back of the strong Dany-centric ‘Golden Crown’ episode which was progressing the storyline, and there were multiple Dany scenes in the episode including the first failed attempt to get Drogo to care about the Iron Throne. This juxtaposition lends weight & power to the speech.

    In contrast this scene seemed bolted on to the episode with no build up earlier in the episode and little build up in the previous episode. In fact the only thing in the episode that feels like it connects to Dany’s speech is the Mad King flashbacks and that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

23. Stark Fanboy:
    “Daenerys = mad queen”
    “They waste cgi in drogon”
    “D&D killing direwolves and wasting money in drogon”
    “Stark are the true saviours”
    “Daenerys is the main enemy, the stark will join the WW to destroy the mad queen”
    “No jon snow = snoozefest”
    “The Dothraki are rapist but the wildlings are good people”
    “Tormund isnt a murder, cause he is Jon friend”

24. Just want to reemphasize, I’ve not jumped on the Dany-hate train. I simply felt that it was oddly placed. The “rally the troops” type scenes are always difficult to pull off anyway. This one had timing working against it as well.

25. Jon,

    Nope. Dany, and the show, are building up her self awareness as a conqueror. They knew she’d see reason to make the speech once she found Drogon again.

    Daario’s face tells the whole story.

    But it was weirdly placed in the episode. As mentioned, it was probably only to build parallels with Bran’s vision.

26. Damon Snow,

    Why? The connections are intentional. You don’t feed random people to Dragons unless you are slightly unhinged, and you certainly don’t let the Dothraki loose in a land you want to rule over, or a land where you want the small people to like you.

    She enjoyed conquering but not ruling, and the show made that clear. Especially when it highlighted the mistakes she made as a ruler.

    I like what they are doing with her. It’s similar to what GRRM is on his way to doing. And I can’t wait to see how the dynamic of Daenerys the Conqueror plays out once she reaches the shores of Westeros.

27. Honestly, the problem I had the most with the Dany scene was the fact that now– hey, presto– she can control Drogon at will. All the times she tried to get him to act before being captured by the Dothraki, and then she couldn’t call him to her aid while being herded to Vaes Dothrak. But now that she needs him to make a motivational speech, he’s all “yes, Mother.” Just one more thing that does not follow…

28. Oz – this line made me laugh out loud.

    We pick up where we left off with poor Meera doing her damnedest to drag Bran’s heavy ass through the snow.

    My girl, Meera, has been awesome this season. Hope Uncle Benjen appreciates her efforts to protect the Bran the Baby 3ER.

    I didn’t mind Dany’s scene. That’s how she operates – she makes long speeches. Welcome back, Drogon – now go get your brothers out of the dungeon.

29. Interesting things.

    When Tommen comes out of the sept, people cry ”Long live the king!” and ”bless queen Margeary”..

    It’s a nice comparasion from the scene in S5 were people called him a bastard, a monster..etc.

    Poor boy, he must feel great, thinking he is loved and adored…. He thinks he is doing the right thing.

30. Mihnea,

    He is though.
    The people love him, and love what they did.

31. Actually, the more I think of it: We have a flashback of Aerys and a scene with Dany making a motivational speech about tearing down Westerosi society in an episode called Blood of my Blood. I like it.

    I mean, also works with the Drogo/Drogon connections.

32. Thank you Oz, as usual!

    I liked the episode, as it felt like an opportunity to catch our breaths after the action-packed pevious episodes. Nobody died (I’m still hurting for Hodor and Summer) and it moved things along, setting the course for the final 4 episodes (brace for impact, people: Arya’s story, Jamie in the Riverlands, Bran learning to control his powers, bastard bowl, KL about to burst out of tension). Plus I loved all the re-introductions (Benjen!!!!! Edmure, Walder Frey) and the new characters (particularly Randyll Tarly).

    I did not like Daeny’s scene, but in my case it was not a surprise as I have gotten tired of her story. I know she is a fundamental character and I know she will get as much airtime as possible, but I still don’t like her.

    Having said this, misplaced or not, the scene was important to let us all know that she’s finally going to Westeros and let the Dothraki know that they will have to board some ships and travel west if they are to serve her. So forget about going around the Dothraki Sea or in the eastern cities.

    What I took from the scene was Dahario’s comment: “you’re a conqueror”, which was later stressed in Daeny’s speech by asking her Dothraki followers to roll over Westeros.

    Yes Daeny is an excellent conqueror. However, I’m worried that she has not proven to be great at government (and having Tyrion and Varys in Meereen, which was originally thought to be a crash course in politics has been a missed opportunity, since she hasn’t been there for the lessons). At some point she will have to stop conquering and start governing the conquered lands. Many will say that she is very strong and will know what to do… IDK, I just don’t really trust her. The softer sympathetic Daeny who freed the slaves created a huge conflict. The tougher “crash every stone house to the ground” Daeny does not seem to care at all about the lands she claims as her own.

    Other people has pointed out the she has Tyrion and Varys on her side, but neither of them are trusted in Westeros (Tyrion is seen as a treacherous, evil, kinslayer and Varys is a foreigner that was part of the old-establishment; he worked for Joffrey and the Lannisters and conspired with people from Pentos and other parts of Essos to restore the Targaeryans).

    I may be wrong, of course, but the way things are going in Westeros, there may not be a lot of people to try their political maneuvers on. They may end up having to negotiate with zealots (red priests and HS) and/or “bass-born” people (wildlings, the bastards in Dorne, brotherhood without banners) none of which seems too inclined to trust invaders. The wildlings and the Ironborn choose their own leaders, they do not accept royal lineage.

    Daeny and her dragons are important in the fight the WW, but I’m not sure she is what Westeros needs in the aftermath.

33. I love Dany but that speech wasn’t the emotionally charged event of the evening. It was good but the ending should have been something else.

34. Dee,

    In a way he does, yes. Should have worded that better!

    But it will hurt his family, we already saw that when he removed Jaime from the Kingsguard.
    I think poor Loras will die…And his actions may harm Cersei as well.

35. Mihnea,

    How will Loras die due to his actions?

    His actions will lead to his own death at the hands of his mother.

    But in regards to saving the city and going for peace, he did the right thing.

    Not sure how its going to play out. I have no idea what to expect.

36. LatrineDiggerBrian,

    Kisses, darling. ?

37. I think the Drogon CGI was pretty awesome for a TV show (oh wait, it’s not TV, it’s HBO). But he always looks better flying overhead. The speech was a little jarring and odd but after rewatching, I think this may be intentional and meant to make watchers uncomfortable.

38. Cersei’s Brain,

    Yeah I think the CGI is even harder when you have to add a real human into the CGI.

    When hes flying over head, its a bit easier because its all CGI

39. Matthew The Dragon Knight,

    I don’t think he’s secondary;
    I just think this is a flipping Westerosi Avengers supergroup of characters that have more or less had their own individual storylines (Davos and Mel are counted as a group here) since their introductions. It’s just a LOT of once main characters in their own subplots converging, so his role is going to be diluted to make room for others. But I have a feeling he will come back to the forefront before too long.

40. I didn’t dislike the Dany scene. I just wasn’t wowed by it. I don’t think it should have been the final scene of the episode.

    As for Dany turning evil… I don’t buy it… yet.
    That said, if she DOES, I actually think it would be kind of cool. The meek girl from season one turns out to be the ultimate villain of the series…
    I don’t think that’s what they’re going for though.

41. Dee,

    I don’t think she’s going evil…but she might getting a little too self-righteous.

    Also, the dothraki are kind of a pillage, plunder and rape group much like the wildlings…she rallied the troops basically saying they can do all those things in Westeros.

    I did also think rallying the troops with the dragon seemed odd when she just got them fully committed to her by burning down the khals and walking out. They would have boarded the wooden horses without that speech.

    Had someone maybe tried to kill her or contradicted her claim to rule and drogon had toasted him that might have been a better pre-cursor to *wait here, I can sense my dragon nearby.*

42. Cersei’s Brain,

    Yeah, I always knew making Dany ride the dragon will be very difficult!

    I thought it S5 the scene was good but some moments were a bit off, mostly though the camera, not the CGI itself. It looks great when she flies and the pyramids are behind and quite nice when Drogon leaps into the air.
    But those fixed shots, where the camera is ”tied” to Drogon were a bit off to me.

    This is deffinetly a improvement! Thought they did a good job!

43. rhymeswithweak,

    She does clearly omit the rape and slavery part from Drogo’s speech.

44. rhymeswithweak,

    Actually, her speech was like Drogo’s in season 1, but she removed the violent portions of it – i.e the parts where says we will rape the people of westeros and make them our slaves or something to that end. She didn’t say that

45. Mihnea,

    Just because she omitted it, doesn’t mean they won’t do it. She still suggested tearing down Westerosi society.

    I don’t think she is turning evil. I just think she is turning into an antagonist to all Westerosi (save for probably the Ironborn).

    I like that idea.

46. GhostCR,

    I totally agree, actually. I think it’ll mirror Robert’s path to the throne. She may reclaim the throne, but can she keep it, and at what cost?

47. GobbleGobble,

    I don’t think they will do it. Not if their god tells them not to.

    Same way Aegon the conqueror did…. She wants to take the 7 kingdoms…that will involve killing, there is no way around it.

48. GobbleGobble,

    Will she still be an antagonist to them once everyone finds out about the White Walkers? As Davos says, “The real war is between the living and the dead.” If you had to choose between fighting her or a sea of wights, who would you choose?

49. Lyanna_Targaryen,

    I don’t think she will rule, I’m more confident of this with every passing episode.

    I think she will be faced with a similar situation, like she was in S2 in the vision, she won’t have time to sit the IT, she will have to go North, were the real threat is.

50. So, Benjen Stark has returned just in the nick of time to save Bran, which was cool.

    Anybody want to place bets on Arya getting her butt kicked by the Waif until out of the blue appears… Syrio Forel?

    And I’m only half kidding here.

51. Mihnea,

    I suppose so. But she also suggests tearing down their stone houses etc. So definitely a bit of pillaging.

    But seems a bit harsh on the smallfolk, whom I assume Dany can sympathise with, to unleash the Dothraki on them though. As GRRM and the show pointed out, war hurts everyone. It’s not going to be a happy populace.

    A bit of Aegon, a bit of Robert, a bit of Aerys. I’m looking forward to it.

52. GobbleGobble:
    Mihnea,

    Just because she omitted it, doesn’t mean they won’tdo it.

    This is why I was hoping she was going to connect more with the Dosh Kaleen,maybe try make changes with their help though I guess it would be baby steps at that points…not sure there I enough time left to really change their ways so hence the forcing them in line with help of Dragon?

53. Jay Targ,

    That depends if she lives long enough to find out. And that depends if there is going to be much left of the south to realise the WW threat.

    I’m not sure how all the timing will come to be, but I quite like the idea of Jon, with the R+L theory, having to balance fighting both Ice and Fire. That means there will remain some of the intrigue that the show was excellent for earlier on.

54. GobbleGobble,

    Aegon malted one of the biggest castles in the 7 kingdoms and killed every woman, man and child in it…..
    It’s war.

    She isn’t going to ”unleash” the Dothraki on the smallfolk…. She always showed compassion for the abused, powerless and the week.

55. Dee:
    Lyanna_Targaryen,

    Bahahah seriously.

    This. x 100000

    I agree… For me the scenes with Dany and her dragon(s) is the real ‘kick ass’ stuff in GoT.

    The various battle scenes, the twists and turns in the story with all the other characters are of course great also… but excuse the pun, there is something ‘magical’ in those scenes with the dragons. Just makes the whole GoT experience that much better than simply a show about medieval life in an imaginary world?

    As for the CGI, I thought it was good. The producers do a pretty good job for what is a TV series and not a super high budget movie. So no problem for me with Dany and her dragons 🙂

56. Mihnea,

    And did I ever say that Aegon wasn’t an antagonist? Robert never had nukes, but the Targ conquerors did. Melting an entire castle is pretty cruel, even by war standards. It’s Hiroshima levels of bad.

    Apologies for my poor wording, but i don’t mean unleash specifically on the smallfolk. I meant as a byproduct of conquest. Dany has tried, and I assume will try in Westerosi, to protect the weak and poor. But as happened in Mereen and other places, it didn’t turn out so well. I am merely assuming the same will happen again.

    Yes, it is war and everyone is affected. Which is why I don’t think Dany will be very well liked come her conquest. And I’d like that because I would like Daenerys to turn out like that. I look forward to see her feeding more people to dragons, too.

57. GobbleGobble,

    I think she’ll definitely live to see the threat and die fighting it. But I guess it depends on how you interpret the House of the Undying vision in season 2

58. Jay Targ,

    True, I suppose. Jon Snow will probably die then also, since his arc is also tied into the overarching conflict.

    We shall see.

59. Mihnea,

    Gooood point.

60. I’d like to point out that I don’t hate Dany and so don’t see her turning into a one dimensional evil character. I like to think of it more as like the Blackwater. Stannis was the antagonist but he wasn’t evil, and he certainly wasn’t one dimensional. He had good reason.

    Same goes for Dany. It’ll go a bit better for her though. I’d just like to see her take a darker path.

61. The Bastard,

    Yes, she gave a speech to rally her army, which is completely unheard of and must mean she is evil. Riiiiigggggghhhhht, you Danyphobes are way too itchy on the trigger finger when it comes to bashing her. It hurts your credibility in those times you could actually have a point.

62. There was no true segue into Dany’s story. Instead, it seemed like an abrupt jump from an exciting, mysterious character reveal to monotonous Dany on horseback.

    It was a bit clumsy, but I’d wager they feel the need to foreshadow why Dany would choose to ally with Yara & Theon.
    I really hope that “Mercy’s” statement “I have to go, my father is waiting for me.” isn’t foreshadowing.

63. Dee:
    The Bastard,

    How is she showing signs of going evil? This is actually the worst argument right now.

    Not sold yet. I will judge when she arrives in Westeros.

    I think the main point of that argument is that when she brings her army of unsullied (who are viewed as basically murder-robots, even though Dany’s perspective has shown they are people with feelings) and murderous raping dothrakis (who are also slavers) as well as dragons and possibly the much hated Ironborn (assuming that’s where she’ll get the ships) to Westeros, she’s not going to be greeted as a saviour of any kind.

64. The more I think of it, the more I feel the Daenerys scene acted as a bookend to the opening.

    What’s one of the first scenes we see in the episode? The last Targaryen king telling them to “burn them all”. The episode then ends with the current Targaryen ruler saying, basically, “let’s burn them all!”

    The transition of abrupt, but thematically, it made sense.

65. Excellent episode. Just excellent.
    Benjen, at last, when we most needed him. Arya, I am sure the Waif will soon leave us. This girl (not A girl anymore) is back. I just love Essie Davis, who would want to kill her? Way to go Sam – valyrian sword and all. His dad cannot be completely bad though, otherwise his wife would not even dream of treating him like that. King’s Landing… ok, so the Sparrows continue but at least Jaime got out of there and we got to see the awful Mr. Frey again. Edmure Tally is back too; you are right Oz, Gendry must be out there somewhere too.
    And then a random Dany and the Dragon scene. Weird.

66. Lyanna_Targaryen,

    I see, thanks for the explanation.

67. I think a better place for that speech would have been as she came out of the burning building. She could have picked up a waiting robe, worked the Dothraki up with her speech, and the capper: Drogon then flies out of the night, smashing the building to fiery bits. Point made: she’s got dragons, but she can kick anyone’s tail all on her own. Dany climbs aboard, shouts “To Meereen!” And off they go.

    Eh, they didn’t ask me, though.

68. GobbleGobble:
    Damon Snow,

    Why? The connections are intentional. You don’t feed random people to Dragons unless you are slightly unhinged, and you certainly don’t let the Dothraki loose in a land you want to rule over, or a land where you want the small people to like you.

    She enjoyed conquering but not ruling, and the show made that clear. Especially when it highlighted the mistakes she made as a ruler.

    I like what they are doing with her. It’s similar to what GRRM is on his way to doing. And I can’t wait to see how the dynamic of Daenerys the Conqueror plays out once she reaches the shores of Westeros.

    This 100%.

    She fed random people to her dragons, she crucified hundreds of men without a trial (for a crime at least some of them were innocent of), she’s all fire and blood.
    So call me a hater but I think she’s mad already, or at least unhinged and misguided.
    And she’s taking an army of rapists used to the idea that rape is a conqueror’s right to Westeros. Anyone who thinks she won’t let them do that or won’t unleash them on the smallfolk has never read a history book. It reminds me of a Le Clézio quote, when a character is thinking about WWII and she says that maybe there wasn’t a war, just groups of people sacking, killing and raping. GRRM clearly has the same understanding of how war works, so even if he’s not planning on turning Dany in the Mad Queen, it’s still pretty obvious her army is going to bring a lot of misery to Westeros.

69. Two things I wonder:
    1. Did Dany feed her horse to Drogon?
    2. Did Bran just drink a cup of rabbit’s blood?

70. GobbleGobble,

    Im not disputing the intent, im just saying the scene didn’t land as well as others have in the past. I understand that we are effectively seeing Dany get her groove back, i just thought the delivery, setting and timing didn’t work.

    Again- not about the plot, just the quality of the scene

71. Dee,

    Well he hasn’t been JUST sitting there – he did manage to go out and get himself a new wife … 🙂

72. I just loved Lady Crane’s reference to Arya’s eyes and eyebrows. How long is it since Arya had a kind word spoken to her with absolutely no ulterior motive attached?

    I think we knew Arya hadn’t really turned into an indiscriminate killer but it was so good to see she still has her basic compassion and humanity intact ( at least until the Waif finds her!).

73. Ramsay’s 20th Good Man:
    So, Benjen Stark has returned just in the nick of time to save Bran, which was cool.

    Anybody want to place bets on Arya getting her butt kicked by the Waif until out of the blue appears… Syrio Forel?

    And I’m only half kidding here.

    No, but I could buy Jaquen coming to her rescue only to realize that after all he too has feelings so he is not really noone and deciding to kill himself.

74. Jon,

    Oh, I agree. It felt out of place, despite their intentions. But I’m a sucker for that Targ music, especially on outros. 😛

75. I’m going into the episodes unspoiled nowadays…

    Spot on review I think, especially what you said about Dany. I like Dany, but this speech and scene didn’t feel earned. Why did she choose this particular moment to deliver a speech? Were the dothraki showing signs of unrest? Did the dialogue about ships have anything to do with Drogon and her speech? The speech itself could have worked instead of the fire in episode 4, or as a rousing speech before they set sail, but I didn’t like it here.

    About Arya I think she’ll be okay if she manages to kill the Waif. From a couple of episodes ago we remember Jaqen saying “One way or another, a face will be added to the hall”. At the moment we fear for Arya because of those words, but I think it could just as well be the Waif’s face that’s added.

76. Stargaryen,

    Because she it not a black or white character. When Jon Snow killed a boy, younger than Bran, nobody blamed it. The same for Tyrion who killed his own father. Moreover, in both situations, there was no trial either. Maybe Olly killed Jon before, right. Dany has been threatened by the Khals. I think she demonstrates a lack of diplomacy and this is why she needs so many advisors. She can’t rule without help. But what kind of mad person would free slaves ? Ramsay never did that, Joeffrey never did that too : they were actually mad but not Dany. She can be crual so as many good characters in Game of Thrones. Then, she did a mistake with the Masters and I think she realized it with Barristan and after with Tyrion. You should not forget that she lives with ancient slaves : Missandeï and Grey Worm. She is influenced by all of them but she already demonstrated that she has a heart, she can make the good even if she is a conqueror.

77. Johan Sporre,

    I took that statement to be : one way or another a face will be added to the hell — the face of who she was supposed to kill or her face.

78. Nonore,

    None of these guys killed random people.

79. Nonore,

    Nonore:
    Stargaryen,

    When Jon Snow killed a boy, younger than Bran, nobody blamed it. The same for Tyrion who killed his own father. Moreover, in both situations, there was no trial either. Maybe Olly killed Jon before, right. Dany has been threatened by the Khals. I think she demonstrates a lack of diplomacy and this is why she needs so many advisors. She can’t rule without help. But what kind of mad person would free slaves ? Ramsay never did that, Joeffrey never did that too : they were actually mad but not Dany. She can be crual so as many good characters in Game of Thrones. Then, she did a mistake with the Masters and I think she realized it with Barristan and after with Tyrion. You should not forget that she lives with ancient slaves : Missandeï and Grey Worm. She is influenced by all of them but she already demonstrated that she has a heart, she can make the good even if she is a conqueror.

    Nobody blamed Jon because for Olly’s death, he blamed himself. Yes there was no trial, but he reacted the custommary way in the North and in the NW: the leader pointed the fault, which was committed in front of (as in the case of Janos Slynt) or at least was evident to the other brothers as the perpetrators of Jon’s stabbing assumed their responsibility. So he passed the sentence and swung the sword.

    Daeny crucified 162 random people to fight injustice with “justice”, ignoring Barristan Selmy’s sound advice, assuming they were guilty because they were masters… But it turned out some of them were not guilty. So, no, it’s not the same as Jon’s case.

    In the case of Tyrion, yeah, the show did not make a point of him feeling remorseful for a long time (although he was about to drink himself to death, he has “recovered” quite nicely since he has been again in a position of power). But book Tyrion rambles on and on about what he did. Not to excuse his killings, but Tywin had sentenced him to die and Shae betrayed him not only during the trial, but also in private with his father. So there were strong personal reasons and the evidence was there.

    My problem with Daeny’s actions is that she acted based on assumptions and feelings (she was a slave once and she knows the pain). She did not bother to confirm them in any way, shape or form; and the cost of those actions have been incredibly high: the initial 162 masters + many ex-slaves, +murdered unsullied and Second Sons + other assassinated masters in retallation, etc who have died during the Sons of the Harpy rebellion in the three cities). We’re talking hundreds if not thousands of people.

80. Personally I was more disappointed by Arya stuff than Dany. With Dany the only complaint I have is her wig this season, looks really unnatural with all those curls in the middle of the desert. With Arya, however, that’s just bad writing, I mean we endured her endless spank the waif stuff for what feels like a few seasons and then she is pretty much back from where she started, zero skills gained. If they skipped entirely on everything that happened in house of B&W and just let her beg in Bravos for 2 seasons it would have been more entertaining and we would not have missed anything important it seems.

81. ugashep,

    Good and evil are puerile designations, but Dany certainly is entitled, megalomaniacal and narcissistic. She’s talking about conquering a land she doesn’t remember and killing people merely related to a distant grievance because the Iron Throne “belonged” to her family. It’s obnoxious and deserving of ridicule and hatred. That her greatest assets are gifts she did nothing to earn herself, i.e. dragons and flame resistance, only add to the perception that she’s Queen Mary Sue. That her likely allies in the unprompted invasion of a foreign land are marauding barbarian rapists, castrated child soldiers, and sea-faring reavers don’t exactly help her image.

    She’s the worst.

82. I didn’t dislike the Daenerys scene, but I agree that it seemed a bit misplaced. It had all the ingredients for a really epic scene, but somehow it didn’t really affect me emotionally the way it seemed like it should.

    Maybe it’s partly because it was coming almost immediately after another big high point for Daenerys (the burning of the khals), without a real low point (challenge, adversity) in between to give it contrast. There was the really great goodbye scene for Jorah, but other than that it seemed like we went directly from “I’m awesome and immune to fire” to “…and I have a dragon too”.

    I think many of the previous Daenerys scenes of episode-ending awesomeness worked better because they had an apparent low point immediately before them. The hatching of the dragons came right after the death of Drogo, the buying of the Unsullied appeared to be at the cost of selling Drogon, the burning of the khals started with Daenerys as a prisoner.

    The emotionally engaging part of these scenes (to me) isn’t just Daenerys being awesome, but Daenerys being awesome in the face of adversity, and I think that’s the element that was lacking here. This scene reminded me a bit of the crowd surfing scene at the end of season 3, which was also not a bad scene, but didn’t quite have the emotional impact of some of the other scenes. Putting it right at the end of the episode made it feel a bit forced, like it was trying too hard to end on an epic note.

    Also, the scene may have lost part of its impact because I spent the whole second half of the episode worrying about how Arya was going to survive with the world’s most elite assassin group hunting for her. I think moving the Arya scene to the end of the episode might have been a better choice. Ending the episode with Arya blowing out the candle, and plunging the screen into blackness I think would have felt like a more natural end point.

    I think the discussion of whether Daenerys is evil is interesting, but I think we need to remember what Jorah said a few seasons ago:

    “It’s tempting to see your enemies as evil, all of them, but there’s good and evil on both sides in every war ever fought.”

    There are certainly some actions that Daenerys has taken that could qualify as evil (collective punishment rather than determining individual guilt), but overall, I don’t think she’s a malicious person.

    In some ways she’s similar to Arya. They both see the injustices of the world, and reflexively turn toward violence as a means to eliminate them. When Daenerys is having the Masters crucified, or burning the khals alive, she’s exercising a sort of righteous wrath similar to Arya’s killing of the Frey soldiers, or Polliver, or Meryn Trant.

    The problem with this approach to injustice, particularly when carried out by means of armies and dragons, rather than a blade in your own hand, is that it’s very easy to let emotion cloud your judgment, and cause collateral damage to people who don’t deserve it. Daenerys often has soldiers or dragons carry out her killings, while Arya follows the northern tradition and wields the blade herself.

    Regarding the fundamental morality of Daenerys invading and conquering Westeros, I think it’s interesting to consider the previous Targaryen conquest of Westeros. Before Aegon arrived, the Seven Kingdoms really were seven separate kingdoms, and they fought with each other almost constantly.

    I was recently watching some of the histories and lore BluRay extras, and the one for House Tully talks about how the various kingdoms constantly fought over the Riverlands, until eventually the Ironborn kicked their asses, took it all, and built Harrenhal. When Aegon showed up, the houses of the Riverlands (led by the Tullys) sided with Aegon to get rid of the Ironborn, and afterward Aegon made House Tully the rulers of the Riverlands.

    Aegon conquered the seven kingdoms with fire and blood, but he also united them into one empire, and suppressed the open warfare between them, so was it an unjustified conquest, or was it a war that brought peace to the region? Was it evil or good?

    The same could be said of Daenerys. If Westeros was being peacefully ruled by the Baratheon dynasty, and life was good, an invasion by a dragon queen and a horde of Dothraki would be hugely disruptive, destructive, and almost certainly would kill a lot of innocent people. It would be pretty easy to call the invasion evil, even if Robert Baratheon and his heirs were usurpers.

    With the current state of Westeros though, it’s quite possible that Daenerys arriving with dragons and an overwhelmingly powerful army (compared to the battered and depleted armies of Westeros) could force them to submit to her rule and unite against the White Walkers, rather than squabbling with each other until the army of the dead comes down to recruit the corpses.

    As Ser Davos said, nobody really wants to fight for a lost cause, and Drogon can make a pretty convincing argument that opposing Daenerys is futile. Thorne’s men surrendered to Edd, Tormund and Wun Wun without much of a fight when they realized they were beaten, and the lords of Westeros might do the same when Daenerys arrives.

83. Lumatrix,

    Well she does know how to apply and wear a different face, who knows if that might turn out to be important in the next few episodes. Maybe wait and see before judging?

84. Nonore,

    When Jon Snow killed a boy, younger than Bran, nobody blamed it

    Jon Snow killed a murderer and a conspirator, not a boy. When he plunged the knife in Jon’s chest, he was no longer a boy, but a murderer and a conspirator. And what was Jon’s big crime? A better understanding of the conflict: the Night’s Watch is already severely outnumbered by the Army of the Dead, so why let the Wildlings die and become wights? That’s not justice, that’s madness.

85. I am not a hater of Dany but it is clear she is a warrior not a ruler, why? She wants to take over the iron throne and do what rule with nothing but fear she has no understanding of what is going on or what has gone , not her fault but never once did I ever get the feeling she is a intelligent woman, sound like a hater, but remember when she wanted to send Dario back to kill all the Masters and jorah tells her if Ned Stark had done to him what she wants to do in Yunki he would not be here. The same with the whole Justice for injustice went way over her head. I do not hate her but without the dragons and rapists, what else is there to her . I do not think she will go mad but I do think she will be killed by the people she set free, because they are not free she controls everything and they finally see this is happening, and they will seek justice for their injustice or everyone will get a pet dragon an endless food supply and they will live happily ever after

86. Lumatrix,

    That’s not true, she’s learned a ton of skills. She’s getting better at lying, she’s learned about poisons, she’s getting better at combat. There was never any promise that she became an unbeatable warrior during her blind training, in fact the last big moment in the blind training montage is when the Waif takes a big swing at her and she blocks it. But never did she launch any offensive attacks against the Waif when blind. There was never any promise that she could now defeat the Waif in the combat. And just because she lost to the Waif, doesn’t mean she’s back to where she started. Why does everything have to be so binary? There is never any in between for some of you guys. That she could’ve gained a lot in training, but still not be perfect.

87. GhostCR,

    And you revealed the difference between Jon’s actions and Dany’s actions : Jon killed the boy for personnal reasons, as Tyrion, but Daenerys killed for others reasons which are more symbolic, I guess. What is interesting about Dany, is the fact that she knows how to use violence. It wasn’t a question of justice with the masters, only a way to exhibit her powers so that no one could attack her (and she realized it was more complicated because of the Sons of the Harpy). Besides, she feels connected with the slaves, not only Missandeï and Grey Worm. I think she acts emotionally because she symbolizes the “Mother/Mhysa” : she was in rage when her dragons disapeared and she has a connection with the slaves.

    Saying she is a villain isn’t how Game of Thrones works. It sounds too manichean for me, I suppose, even if she killed hundreds (thousands ?) of men. I admit she can be crual and she is not impartial (same word in english, right ?) but I think she wants to punish what sounds unfair for her : I mean, slavery isn’t good at all, she wants to abolish it. Of course, all of the masters weren’t bad, all the Dothrakis aren’t bad as well. She is not a villain because she wants war and there will be rapings and murders, she would be if she accept that.

88. LatrineDiggerBrian:

    I was talking more about character development and how much that is shown through the skills she gained. Where it all started, at the crowd when Ned was executed, Arya was that boyish kid, who killed pigeons and was a friend with the Hound. House of B&W pretty much Dorned that character, she did not become no-one as much as we can assume from what we saw, she did not have that sort of yeah I am Arya and I has Stark honor moment either (or whatever), it was like oh yeah the actress is kinda nice, I do not really know her, but yeah I won’t kill her and I am off from all this Faceless place, bye. Sure, they still might come up with some twist, but my fear is that we will just get a combat sequence a la sand snakes between Arya and Waif and it will be it for Bravos plotline.

89. Lumatrix,

    I see your point. It was kind of convenient of them to all of a sudden introduce the fact that the Faceless Men will target anyone, even innocents. Wouldn’t she have figured this out pretty quickly? And what is the Faceless Men’s code?

    It is a little indicative of how the story telling this season has gotten a little loose. Another example of this is Margaery’s about face on the High Sparrow. Also, Ramsey just being able to walk up to Roose with a knife and kill him without repercussion from inside of House Bolton.

    We’ll see how Arya’s story ends though, I agree it might be a little underwhelming if it’s just a fight between her and the Waif in the dark, then she burns down the House of B & W or whatever.

90. BENJEN!! YES!

    Liked the episode. I thought it was nice to have a bit of a slower episode after last weeks heartbreak.

    My favorite scene was the dinner scene at Hornhill. Randyll Tarly is a scary guy. Not someone to mess around with. So yeah, probably not the last we see of him.

    Other great scene was the scene in Kings Landing and the HS outmaneuvering the Lannisters and Tyrells and making them look like fools in front of the whole city. Though I think Margaery has something up her sleeve.

    And those flashbacks, damn! Can’t wait to learn more.

    I agree with you Oz about the last scene though. I liked the scene itself, but it was very oddly placed like you said. And as a result it fell flat. If they would have done the scene/speech in the last episode after her scene with Jorah and then leave Vaes Dothrak with the entire Dothraki and her flying on Drogon above them all(not unlike the Dracarys sequence in season 3, with the Unsullied leaving Astopor), I think it would have been much better. But now it comes out of nowhere and on the middle of the road. It just didn’t work well and it had no real dramatic buildup.

    And Arya on her way out of the Faceless Men cult. Excited for seeing her dealing with the fallout. I suspect a twist coming up with the Waif and Jaqen.

    Great recap as always Oz! And if I may ask, is there another Looking Forward coming up? I like to hear your thoughts about the revalations from episode 5 “The Door” and what you think it means for future and remainder of the story.

91. BigMac,

    Arya’s scene felt like a final scene with the blowing out of the candle (reminiscent of the Theon scene when he decides to take the path of evil instead of good as Arya has), but then where would you squeeze the Dany scene into the episode? Perhaps early in the ep? Just before the Sept scene? No place seems right for that scene. Hmmm…

92. Ashara D:
    BigMac,

    I was thinking the same thing with the candle scene with Arya. Perfect way to end that episode. Dramatic, entriguing, terrifying, exciting. Setting up the scenes we know are coming with the Waif. Boom done.

    As for Dany’s ending, I would have put that speech after she burned the Kharls. Emerging from fire, as she builds up emotion with a, let’s face it, it was a kick ass speech…building in volume as she’s walking thru the crowd of amazed Dothraki. As she ends her speech, they all stand up and roar/cheer for their new (spelling?) Khalisie! As the crowd is in a roar, Drogon flies over head with a screech and, cut to black/credits.

    Now that’s what I would do. Hey HBO…? I’m available to direct any time you would like!

    Arya’s scene felt like a final scene with the blowing out of the candle (reminiscent of the Theon scene when he decides to take the path of evil instead of good as Arya has), but then where would you squeeze the Dany scene into the episode? Perhaps early in the ep? Just before the Sept scene? No place seems right for that scene. Hmmm…

93. Sorry not too sure what happened with quoting there! Haha ummm…

94. Well this episode didn’t work for me. And that despite some bits I loved, like: returned chars (Benjen, Edmure, Walder Frey), confirmation of Blackfish (I didn’t believe Littlefinger’s info from last ep at all) and the Tarlys.

    Briefly on the Daenerys topic: Yes, the scene was most odd and I for one consider Daenerys a true Targaryen for a long time (very prone to craziness and bloodshed). Not that that’s a bad thing, I enjoy watching monsters far more than good guys (ie: Joffrey, Roose Bolton, Walder Frey), but I probably never considered her a saviour. The one interesting point in the scene was that Drogon has grown again, clearly also has healed from his spear wounds and that Daenerys has taken control of him.
    Pity we haven’t seen Daenerys incorporate the Dosh Khaleen as more of a ruling body, I thought we were headed that way.
    (Note: I was hoping Drogon might leave Daenerys for good after he sustained those spear wounds when last saving her and that the other 2 “good” dragons would end up fighting Drogon as a rogue element –> a new “dance of dragons”.)

    Bran’s dream adventures: Overall I’ve never been much of a fan of Bran’s storyline. Now without Summer and Hodor, I like it even less. I don’t quite like the idea of someone so much unfit for survival in an icy landscape still being alive (what a coincidence that a saviour always shows up).

    A girl’s failures: It’s quite possible I misunderstood this test by Jaquen, but I thought the only one way to pass it for ex-Arya would have been to poison the jealous young actress. And I’m sad ex-Arya didn’t do just that. Otherwise it was nice watching the play and a girl’s reactions (that was Arya showing though, she laughted at Joffrey dying – alone among the spectators).

    King’s Landing: Well that’s another disappointment for me. It just doesn’t quite compute. My vile and disgusting wish to see Margaery naked (again) aside, I was hoping her Walk of Shame would prove the downfall for the Sparrow. How? Well, I assumed that very much unlike with Cersei, people would remember how Margaery actually helped the common people and carry her to the Red Keep (to make the mirroring complete, people would throw flowers at Margaery instead of trash).
    But the way things are, even assuming Margaery is playing the Sparrow, she has only solidified the Sparrow’s hold on the capital and painted herself in a corner. So as I say, I don’t quite get it.

    Other thoughts:
    – Yay, we have another Valyrian sword! And what’s more, it’s (for now) in the hands of someone who knows of its importance in killing White Walkers. I’m just not sure how long Sam can keep it from his father.
    – Jaime in the Riverlands: I hope this doesn’t go the way of the Dorne expedition disaster.
    – The Freys were just wonderful, both Walder in his own wicked self and the two sons making (valid) excuses.
    – I loved seeing Edmure, I just hope we’ll also get to see Gendry and Thoros.

    In short, there was a number of nice bits, but also many developments that just don’t make sense to me so I can’t really like the episode.

Comments are closed.