Game of Thrones Episode 6.02: “Home”
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scifi_rewatchIf I remember correctly, this was a little bit of a frustrating episode for fans. At least it has all of the attributes of a so-called frustrating episode, with minimal action and a much-anticipated development dragging on until the very end. I mean, when Saturday Night Live is gonna make fun of that scene in a fully fledged script, then. :P Other than that, the most “plotty” developments of this episode happened to people whom most would consider to be side characters. Otherwise, this hour has the feel of the storylines getting their ducks in a row.
I tend to enjoy these relationship-heavy episodes. Game of Thrones does character dialogue so well. There’s a compelling scene between Jaime and the High Sparrow, Tommen and Cersei, and Brienne and Sansa. And so many more, too! One of the big themes of this episode, of course, is that of “home”—people wanting to return somewhere or find somewhere that is comforting and safe. Regrets abound, and crises of faith. I wrote a ridiculously long personal rambling review of this when it first aired. Will try to keep it cleaner now.
But td;lr—the ending certainly brings a major storyline back on track and officially moves us past the final image in the published books. I find most of the other stuff more interesting.
Summary
Beyond the Wall
We see Bran for the first time since season four; he and the Three Eyed Raven are “warged” into a tree. The tree takes them back in time and space where Bran sees his young father and siblings at play; the Three Eyed Raven is forced to pull him out. Elsewhere, Meera feels restless about all the tedium, but Leaf tells her that Bran will need her when he leaves this place.
King’s Landing
A drunken letch finds himself on the wrong end of Gregor’s sword when he spouts lies about Cersei. It looks like things will come to blows again when Tommen orders his men to keep Cersei from attending Myrcella’s funeral; he’s afraid of losing her again. Jaime sends Tommen home to make his amends with his mother while he spars against the fanatical enemy called the High Sparrow.
Meereen
Slaver’s Bay has gone back to the slavers, no one knows who for sure torched the fleet, and the dragons aren’t eating. Tyrion volunteers himself to feed the dragons, citing his “I drink and I know things” expertise. :P But when he gets down to the crypt, he unchains Drogon’s siblings!
Braavos
A very beat up Arya gets what seems to be a routine visit from the waif. The waif taunts Arya with the fact that she’s not no one and then Jaqen joins in on the game. He promises her safety, security, her eyes for revealing herself but when Arya stays strong, he advances her past the “blind beggar” stage of training.
Winterfell
Ramsay suggests that the Boltons do a stealth mission to kill Jon Snow; Roose is not on board. When the maester announces that Walda has given birth to a son, Ramsay kills his father! The newly arrived Lord Karstark, Jr doesn’t seem perturbed by these events, or Ramsay taking on the mantle of the Warden of the North. Ramsay seals the deal by murdering his stepmother and new baby brother with his dogs in the kennel.
Beyond Winterfell
Brienne confirms to Sansa that she has seen Arya, who looked very comfortable with her companion and was certainly not dressed as a lady. :P Haunted by her Winterfell experience Sansa expresses regret for not listening to Brienne last season, to which Brienne says everyone has regrets. Later, Theon tells Sansa that he doesn’t want forgiveness for the ways that he treated her family, and that he is going home.
Pike
As the northern strongholds return to their previous owners, Balon and Yara argue about the next move for the Ironborn. Later, alone on a rainy bridge, Balon is murdered by his returning brother! At the funeral Yara vows revenge by her new position and is reminded that she needs the Kingsmoot’s go ahead before she can take the throne.
The Wall
Thorne’s men are just breaking down the door to the Jon supporters when the wildlings arrive at last! They make swift work of a couple of tired Watchmen, encouraging the rest to lay down their arms; Thorne, Olly and the other leaders are taken into custody. Later, Davos implores Melissandre to try and bring Jon back from the dead despite her lack of faith; after a long, drawn out ritual and everyone but Ghost giving up on him, Jon sputters back to life!
Possible Book Reveals
Beyond the Wall—the biggest one, to me, is that Bran might leave the Three Eyed Raven! I was under the impression that he’d BECOME the Three Eyed Raven, or Bloodraven—literally bound to that tree. Linda doesn’t comment on that via westeros.org so maybe it’s not completely out of left field. Otherwise, Bran’s visions are pretty static—he sees through the eyes of the weirwood trees; he can’t really move around. But the Stark backstory is pretty accurate from what can be gleaned from the books.
King’s Landing—seems in keeping with Cersei’s book character that she could use Ser Robert Strong as a strong arm revenge tactic, though for the most part she’s not concerned with the gossip of commoners. Tommen is too young and uninvolved to concern himself with the Faith Militant, whereas Jaime in the books is turning away from his sister’s plight.
Meereen—the other cities returning to the slavers is in line with the books, as is Tyrion requesting a dragon when he was young. Tyrion getting along with the dragons now could speak to certain theories in the books but that’s downplayed on the show; perhaps the dragons like him cos he’s a funny guy. :P Also, both dragons are loose at the end of the last published book because of a botched kidnapping attempt involving characters who will likely never appear on the show.
Beyond Winterfell and Braavos—Sansa’s story is completely different than the novels (hopefully she will someday learn about Arya’s whereabouts /feels) and Arya’s has been a bit truncated. The big difference is making the waif into a physical antagonist. Meanwhile, Theon in the novels has been captured by Stannis and won’t be returning home soon.
Pike—in fact, Asha (Yara on the show) is also Stannis’s prisoner! Balon has been dead for awhile in the books, though the show confirms the likely theory that his brother, Euron Crows Eye, killed him. Or at least used a Faceless Man to do so. Though in earlier books, Asha did have to face a kingsmoot.
Winterfell—Ramsay has already posited killing Jon Snow in the novels; adding Roose and his family to the mix seems likely. They’re not on good terms at the end of the last published book. The Karstark family is in a little more disarray in the novels and Ramsay is not Roose’s first born son (though Ramsay probably killed the guy, lending credence to this family-killing spree.)
The Wall—big, unsurprising one—Jon Snow is back from the dead! Pretty much a given with all the religious undertones. The means might be different but the end results the same. It’s also possible that Jon’s wildling friends might come fight his mutinous brothers for him, or at least take part in the future of the Watch. Thorne is elsewhere and Olly doesn’t exist, but presumably if all this happens, Jon’s killers will be in big trouble.
Thoughts
I’ll start with the big stuff and put my weight behind bringing Jon back from the dead. First of all, we know some priests can do it. Secondly, it’s pretty well established that he, not Stannis, is the mythical Prince Who Was Promised. Plus, Jon is the only person with power who understands the threat of the White Walkers—the true war. So there we go. Religious prophet trumps death. So long as 99% of the dead remain in their graves…but on this show, that probably means that we can still bring a couple of people back. :P
I also love how they used Ghost—in the book, he probably warged into Ghost, but at the very least they’re shown to have a connection on the show. But my favorite part of this whole shindig is Melissandre. I had written her off as a one note fundamentalist but Carice finally gets something tenuous and vulnerable to play with here. I love her conversation with Davos, and especially how I fell that the desperate “please” brought Jon back to life more than anything in the ritual. It’s the same with Thoros of Myr from season three—this power works when the wielder is at his or her spiritual lowest.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I almost feel like Ramsay was supposed to be a real person in this episode. I loved the music and the staging, too. If he didn’t show some trepidation at killing Roose, he certainly did with Walda and the baby. That’s about the best we can get with him and a semblance of humanity before he goes back to being a complete psycho. Makes sense to rope the vengeful Karstarks into this as well. Gotta wonder if Roose is right about Ramsay’s ultimate fate, though…behaving like a wild dog only gets you to one place.
Meanwhile, the Sansa/Brienne speech about Arya left me all kinds of feklempt. It’s one of those things that isn’t integral to the story, as well as Sansa’s palpable pain at being asked about her Winterfell experience, but it fleshes out the characters. Makes them real. From there, we get to move on to Theon and Sansa’s goodbye, where he’s filled with his own regret and confusion. These two characters helped each other through an extremely vulnerable situation, and I’ll miss the interactions. Even if it’s better for them both to move forward.
I wonder if Gregor bashing that peasant’s head in was supposed to be a set up for the next scene—reminding us that Cersei could have him mow through the Lannister guards, but she doesn’t. With the first scene, what I liked most was the waitresses rolling their eyes at the male sexual bravado. Almost seems like the show runners have learned the error of their ways. :P
Tommen’s set up is pretty interesting—he’s angry and frustrated about what’s befallen his family and he wants to his mother to make him strong. Music to her ears! Lena was on point in that scene, and you can feel the genuineness of her love for the boy. Meanwhile, a pissed off Jaime lists off some of his own sins and threatens the High Sparrow for daring to punish him (or Cersei) for them. Of course I appreciate that Jaime is saying that life’s choices aren’t black and white, dammit. People are more complicated than being good or evil. But I also really love the High Sparrow, and how he reminds us of the underdogs. Jaime is rich, and used to getting his own way no matter what. The fundamentalists are basically revolutionaries, and I can understand what they’re railing against. It’s just a reminder that revolutions can also fall victim to the dark side. Man, now I wanna read or watch The Hunger Games series again. :P
I think the stuff in Essos was the weakest for me. See how none of the concerns that the Meereeneese council are talking about actually have to do with the Meereeneese people? The Meereen plot in the books can be excruciating, but at least it feels like a real place. Also, if we confirmed that dragons don’t hurt their friends and Missandei is a friend, why not have Missandei feed the dragons? I get it—plot reasons (some rash guy has gotta free them) and also Tyrion’s quips. :P But eh.
Then, on Braavos, Jaqen lets Arya come “home,” even though she didn’t do what he asked and say her name. And I get it—the whole thing is a test, but…meh, I don’t like the overview of Arya’s plot. I’ll get to the rest of it later.
Pike is a set up for the Kingsmoot, which is interesting enough for me as a book reader but I don’t know how show watchers responded. Balon and even Yara are such minor characters. Plus, I don’t know if it’s just me, but Euron “I am the sea” Greyjoy is a huge, dickward annoyance. He’s worse in the books but even on the show I’d love for him to meet the drowned god asap. I’m not even interested in him as a character because he is such an ass. Just thank goodness he left his brother, Victarion, in the books. :P
And finally…my Bran Bran is back. Hearts. The true power in the north. He’s far more mobile (bad puns ahoy) on the show than in the books, which I suppose can only make sense. Things need to physically happen and someone (Bran) needs access to some vital backstory. We’re not at the “vital” part yet, but introducing us to Ned as a kid and Lyanna and Hodor when he was Wylis (Walder in the books…one of many) gets the audience comfortable with them as important players. As a Stark fan, I loved having the access to Ned’s childhood (though frankly, I would have preferred Bran’s own childhood *wibble*) And I appreciate how seeing things through Bran’s eyes keeps this from being a hokey flashback. This segment was a lot about Bran—about how difficult it is to resist the temptation to stay locked in the past. But if you stay locked in the past, you can’t move forward. That spells out bad things—always for yourself, and often, in fantasy, for the world.
I tend to enjoy these relationship-heavy episodes. Game of Thrones does character dialogue so well. There’s a compelling scene between Jaime and the High Sparrow, Tommen and Cersei, and Brienne and Sansa. And so many more, too! One of the big themes of this episode, of course, is that of “home”—people wanting to return somewhere or find somewhere that is comforting and safe. Regrets abound, and crises of faith. I wrote a ridiculously long personal rambling review of this when it first aired. Will try to keep it cleaner now.
But td;lr—the ending certainly brings a major storyline back on track and officially moves us past the final image in the published books. I find most of the other stuff more interesting.
Summary
Beyond the Wall
We see Bran for the first time since season four; he and the Three Eyed Raven are “warged” into a tree. The tree takes them back in time and space where Bran sees his young father and siblings at play; the Three Eyed Raven is forced to pull him out. Elsewhere, Meera feels restless about all the tedium, but Leaf tells her that Bran will need her when he leaves this place.
King’s Landing
A drunken letch finds himself on the wrong end of Gregor’s sword when he spouts lies about Cersei. It looks like things will come to blows again when Tommen orders his men to keep Cersei from attending Myrcella’s funeral; he’s afraid of losing her again. Jaime sends Tommen home to make his amends with his mother while he spars against the fanatical enemy called the High Sparrow.
Meereen
Slaver’s Bay has gone back to the slavers, no one knows who for sure torched the fleet, and the dragons aren’t eating. Tyrion volunteers himself to feed the dragons, citing his “I drink and I know things” expertise. :P But when he gets down to the crypt, he unchains Drogon’s siblings!
Braavos
A very beat up Arya gets what seems to be a routine visit from the waif. The waif taunts Arya with the fact that she’s not no one and then Jaqen joins in on the game. He promises her safety, security, her eyes for revealing herself but when Arya stays strong, he advances her past the “blind beggar” stage of training.
Winterfell
Ramsay suggests that the Boltons do a stealth mission to kill Jon Snow; Roose is not on board. When the maester announces that Walda has given birth to a son, Ramsay kills his father! The newly arrived Lord Karstark, Jr doesn’t seem perturbed by these events, or Ramsay taking on the mantle of the Warden of the North. Ramsay seals the deal by murdering his stepmother and new baby brother with his dogs in the kennel.
Beyond Winterfell
Brienne confirms to Sansa that she has seen Arya, who looked very comfortable with her companion and was certainly not dressed as a lady. :P Haunted by her Winterfell experience Sansa expresses regret for not listening to Brienne last season, to which Brienne says everyone has regrets. Later, Theon tells Sansa that he doesn’t want forgiveness for the ways that he treated her family, and that he is going home.
Pike
As the northern strongholds return to their previous owners, Balon and Yara argue about the next move for the Ironborn. Later, alone on a rainy bridge, Balon is murdered by his returning brother! At the funeral Yara vows revenge by her new position and is reminded that she needs the Kingsmoot’s go ahead before she can take the throne.
The Wall
Thorne’s men are just breaking down the door to the Jon supporters when the wildlings arrive at last! They make swift work of a couple of tired Watchmen, encouraging the rest to lay down their arms; Thorne, Olly and the other leaders are taken into custody. Later, Davos implores Melissandre to try and bring Jon back from the dead despite her lack of faith; after a long, drawn out ritual and everyone but Ghost giving up on him, Jon sputters back to life!
Possible Book Reveals
Beyond the Wall—the biggest one, to me, is that Bran might leave the Three Eyed Raven! I was under the impression that he’d BECOME the Three Eyed Raven, or Bloodraven—literally bound to that tree. Linda doesn’t comment on that via westeros.org so maybe it’s not completely out of left field. Otherwise, Bran’s visions are pretty static—he sees through the eyes of the weirwood trees; he can’t really move around. But the Stark backstory is pretty accurate from what can be gleaned from the books.
King’s Landing—seems in keeping with Cersei’s book character that she could use Ser Robert Strong as a strong arm revenge tactic, though for the most part she’s not concerned with the gossip of commoners. Tommen is too young and uninvolved to concern himself with the Faith Militant, whereas Jaime in the books is turning away from his sister’s plight.
Meereen—the other cities returning to the slavers is in line with the books, as is Tyrion requesting a dragon when he was young. Tyrion getting along with the dragons now could speak to certain theories in the books but that’s downplayed on the show; perhaps the dragons like him cos he’s a funny guy. :P Also, both dragons are loose at the end of the last published book because of a botched kidnapping attempt involving characters who will likely never appear on the show.
Beyond Winterfell and Braavos—Sansa’s story is completely different than the novels (hopefully she will someday learn about Arya’s whereabouts /feels) and Arya’s has been a bit truncated. The big difference is making the waif into a physical antagonist. Meanwhile, Theon in the novels has been captured by Stannis and won’t be returning home soon.
Pike—in fact, Asha (Yara on the show) is also Stannis’s prisoner! Balon has been dead for awhile in the books, though the show confirms the likely theory that his brother, Euron Crows Eye, killed him. Or at least used a Faceless Man to do so. Though in earlier books, Asha did have to face a kingsmoot.
Winterfell—Ramsay has already posited killing Jon Snow in the novels; adding Roose and his family to the mix seems likely. They’re not on good terms at the end of the last published book. The Karstark family is in a little more disarray in the novels and Ramsay is not Roose’s first born son (though Ramsay probably killed the guy, lending credence to this family-killing spree.)
The Wall—big, unsurprising one—Jon Snow is back from the dead! Pretty much a given with all the religious undertones. The means might be different but the end results the same. It’s also possible that Jon’s wildling friends might come fight his mutinous brothers for him, or at least take part in the future of the Watch. Thorne is elsewhere and Olly doesn’t exist, but presumably if all this happens, Jon’s killers will be in big trouble.
Thoughts
I’ll start with the big stuff and put my weight behind bringing Jon back from the dead. First of all, we know some priests can do it. Secondly, it’s pretty well established that he, not Stannis, is the mythical Prince Who Was Promised. Plus, Jon is the only person with power who understands the threat of the White Walkers—the true war. So there we go. Religious prophet trumps death. So long as 99% of the dead remain in their graves…but on this show, that probably means that we can still bring a couple of people back. :P
I also love how they used Ghost—in the book, he probably warged into Ghost, but at the very least they’re shown to have a connection on the show. But my favorite part of this whole shindig is Melissandre. I had written her off as a one note fundamentalist but Carice finally gets something tenuous and vulnerable to play with here. I love her conversation with Davos, and especially how I fell that the desperate “please” brought Jon back to life more than anything in the ritual. It’s the same with Thoros of Myr from season three—this power works when the wielder is at his or her spiritual lowest.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I almost feel like Ramsay was supposed to be a real person in this episode. I loved the music and the staging, too. If he didn’t show some trepidation at killing Roose, he certainly did with Walda and the baby. That’s about the best we can get with him and a semblance of humanity before he goes back to being a complete psycho. Makes sense to rope the vengeful Karstarks into this as well. Gotta wonder if Roose is right about Ramsay’s ultimate fate, though…behaving like a wild dog only gets you to one place.
Meanwhile, the Sansa/Brienne speech about Arya left me all kinds of feklempt. It’s one of those things that isn’t integral to the story, as well as Sansa’s palpable pain at being asked about her Winterfell experience, but it fleshes out the characters. Makes them real. From there, we get to move on to Theon and Sansa’s goodbye, where he’s filled with his own regret and confusion. These two characters helped each other through an extremely vulnerable situation, and I’ll miss the interactions. Even if it’s better for them both to move forward.
I wonder if Gregor bashing that peasant’s head in was supposed to be a set up for the next scene—reminding us that Cersei could have him mow through the Lannister guards, but she doesn’t. With the first scene, what I liked most was the waitresses rolling their eyes at the male sexual bravado. Almost seems like the show runners have learned the error of their ways. :P
Tommen’s set up is pretty interesting—he’s angry and frustrated about what’s befallen his family and he wants to his mother to make him strong. Music to her ears! Lena was on point in that scene, and you can feel the genuineness of her love for the boy. Meanwhile, a pissed off Jaime lists off some of his own sins and threatens the High Sparrow for daring to punish him (or Cersei) for them. Of course I appreciate that Jaime is saying that life’s choices aren’t black and white, dammit. People are more complicated than being good or evil. But I also really love the High Sparrow, and how he reminds us of the underdogs. Jaime is rich, and used to getting his own way no matter what. The fundamentalists are basically revolutionaries, and I can understand what they’re railing against. It’s just a reminder that revolutions can also fall victim to the dark side. Man, now I wanna read or watch The Hunger Games series again. :P
I think the stuff in Essos was the weakest for me. See how none of the concerns that the Meereeneese council are talking about actually have to do with the Meereeneese people? The Meereen plot in the books can be excruciating, but at least it feels like a real place. Also, if we confirmed that dragons don’t hurt their friends and Missandei is a friend, why not have Missandei feed the dragons? I get it—plot reasons (some rash guy has gotta free them) and also Tyrion’s quips. :P But eh.
Then, on Braavos, Jaqen lets Arya come “home,” even though she didn’t do what he asked and say her name. And I get it—the whole thing is a test, but…meh, I don’t like the overview of Arya’s plot. I’ll get to the rest of it later.
Pike is a set up for the Kingsmoot, which is interesting enough for me as a book reader but I don’t know how show watchers responded. Balon and even Yara are such minor characters. Plus, I don’t know if it’s just me, but Euron “I am the sea” Greyjoy is a huge, dickward annoyance. He’s worse in the books but even on the show I’d love for him to meet the drowned god asap. I’m not even interested in him as a character because he is such an ass. Just thank goodness he left his brother, Victarion, in the books. :P
And finally…my Bran Bran is back. Hearts. The true power in the north. He’s far more mobile (bad puns ahoy) on the show than in the books, which I suppose can only make sense. Things need to physically happen and someone (Bran) needs access to some vital backstory. We’re not at the “vital” part yet, but introducing us to Ned as a kid and Lyanna and Hodor when he was Wylis (Walder in the books…one of many) gets the audience comfortable with them as important players. As a Stark fan, I loved having the access to Ned’s childhood (though frankly, I would have preferred Bran’s own childhood *wibble*) And I appreciate how seeing things through Bran’s eyes keeps this from being a hokey flashback. This segment was a lot about Bran—about how difficult it is to resist the temptation to stay locked in the past. But if you stay locked in the past, you can’t move forward. That spells out bad things—always for yourself, and often, in fantasy, for the world.
