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scifi_rewatchMan oh man. If there’s any part of this season where all of my feels reside, it’s here. This is the Sansa Show. OK, fine, there are large set pieces featuring warriors in battle, particularly personified by Jon vs Ramsay. It’s also worth noting the level of detail the showrunners put into production; this was their first, fullscale medieval battle without Walls or water in the way.
They apparently took a lot of inspiration from the American Civil Wars (piles of bodies so high that they were an obstruction on the battlefield) and Hannibal vs the Romans (spoilers!) Though for all of its impressive elements, there is something a little anticlimactic about this battle. Unless you’re a sadist, there’s really no question about who you should be rooting for.
There’s even some time to build up teasers for the final episode, as per the Davos/Melissandre tension and the entire ten minutes we spent in Meereen. And, more harrowingly, there’s a death that really gives me pause about the future books. Too spoilery to get to over the cut, but yeah. Talk about an uncertain world for book readers.
Sansa’s story arc and character development have skewed from the books, perhaps the most out of anyone’s. I have a lot of feelings about that, and about what went down with her this episode. But at the moment, given current entertainment news as I write this recap, I can’t help but think of her as Wonder Woman during THAT scene (not the final one; the other one :P). Or, more precisely, she’s my Wonder Woman, the female character who inspires me more than any comic book super hero (Jean Grey included. :P) We all have our biases—what speaks to us about being heroic in an oft-unjust world.
SummaryMeereen
An unimpressed Daenerys speaks with Tyrion, and he talks her down from crucifying the masters. Instead, she hops onto Drogon (as the other two break free) and sets fire to the slavers’ ships; the Dothraki and Dany’s other men take care of the rest on land, leaving one man alive to remind other former slavers what awaits them if they rebel. Later, Dany and Tyrion meet with Yara and Theon to form an alliance; Dany will help them take the Iron Islands back from Euron, and then they will support her claim and stop pillaging! :0 The horror.
Before the B of B
Jon, Sansa and their men treat with Ramsay and their men to confirm that Rickon is a hostage and Jon is far outnumbered. After the men discuss strategy, Sansa warns Jon that Ramsay likes to play mind games and that Rickon will never survive, leading to infighting between siblings. Jon goes to Melissandre to ask that she not bring him back if he falls, and Davos, walking to clear his head before the battle, finds a familiar stag toy in the snow around the snowed over remains of a bonfire.
During the B of B
Ramsay plays his games immediately, and kills Rickon with an arrow as he is desperately running towards his brother. Jon’s army is ultimately forced between a rock and a hard place—felled by men with spears and armor on one end and cut down on the other end by Umber's folk standing guard over a pile of dead bodies. They’re about to either suffocate or be picked off like flies when a new horn sounds—Sansa and Littlefinger lead the Knights of the Vale to the rescue!
After the B of B
Ramsay retreats to Winterfell, but Jon’s giant breaks the door down; within minutes the rest of the Bolton army is slaughtered. Jon almost beats Ramsay to death himself, but leaves him to attend to Rickon’s body. As the Stark banners fly over Winterfell again, Sansa visits Ramsay one last time, and watches his starving dogs rip into him.
Possible Book Reveals
Meereen—the second siege on the city is a more complicated affair in the books. I’ve mentioned before how Tyrion isn’t acting for Daenerys (he hasn’t even officially met her) and is instead trying to organize a side project for Casterly Rock on the outskirts of the violence. Otherwise, there’s a lot more characters and a lot more with the plots within plots. Not only does Tyrion not counsel Dany but he didn’t hear about the caches of wildfire from Jaime. Asha and Theon are very unlikely to treat with Dany; the show development loosely follows their Uncle Victarion’s intentions. Though it’s much more likely that Dany won’t accept him because he's a turd. :P
The North—IF Rickon dies, it won’t be in circumstances such as these, because he never went to the Umbers and he was never betrayed to Ramsay; given the hints about location in the novels, that seems unlikely to happen. In broad terms it seems likely that Ramsay will ultimately die (he doesn’t really play well with others) and that the Knights of the Vale will play some part in the north. After all, that’s part of Littlefinger’s reasoning about Sansa marrying Harry the Heir. Much like Rickon, Sansa has never met Ramsay in the books and therefore probably won’t be the one to kill him.
Thoughts
Just to briefly get the unimportant stuff out of the way…ok, Meereen isn’t unimportant. :P The acting is good, as is the CGI with the dragons torching the fleet. Poor Tyrion’s hard work goes largely unnoticed given the turmoil Dany returns to. But he plays the part that Joran and Selmy played before him; instead of responding with killing them all, let’s win and rule honorably. Hope you picked up on that reference to the Mad King and his stores of wildfire; felt authentic enough within the scene, but it’s really a bit of foreshadowing for the final episode of the season. /zips lips
We also get to see new reunions—between Tyrion and Theon who haven’t laid eyes on each other since season one! Boy oh boy, talk about being in a different place. I was sort of blown away anew by Alfie Allen’s acting, to remember the cocky little shit he played in season one, vs the quiet contrition in Dany’s throne room. I’m glad they gave a little screen time to the fact that these two knew each other, but then onwards to business! Of course it makes sense that Dany would be more in favor of an alliance with Yara vs with Euron. He might be more patriarchy for her to burn down later. :P I think some fans started to grumble about “feminazis” because that’s what they say when we see two women holding power and pointing out that they had to overcome sexism to get there. Dany’s lines about “evil fathers” and how “we’re going to leave the world better than we found it” are a bit on the nose, but she’s always been a grandiose figure, so. :P I kind of had to chuckle when Dany said “no more pillaging people!” and Yara gasped “but that’s our way of life!” Oh Viking characters, I’ve never really liked you. :P We’ll have to see how this pans out next season, but for now, Dany’s formed her first alliance with a major Westerosi house. Or at least a significant portion of that House, which is better than nothing, hee.
But now let’s move to the north, where my heart is, and I’ll start with the question…will Rickon die in the books???? I admit, I held onto hope until the very end that he’d survive, because I thought his whole purpose in the story was to serve as Lord of Winterfell. Jon and Bran can’t, because they’re both too involved in the greater war, and Sansa and Arya have that pesky female thing going on. This wouldn’t be the first time that I’m wrong about a Stark family affair this season. It’s certainly possible that canon Rickon will die, though probably not at Ramsay’s hand. It’s also possible that Rickon isn’t actually considered “a main character”—I suppose Art’s multi-year absence is testament to that—and ergo he can die on the show and be safe in the books. I was definitely expecting too much this season, hoping that Rickon would get multiple lines and scenes, all because he’s a Stark and that’s important to me. I assume the showrunners wanted to minimize his role because last time we saw Art Parkinson, he was a pipsqueak. Not so much anymore!
So Rickon is dead, and I can’t deny that it makes perfect sense for the story. Sansa called the situation out correctly—quite a jump for her, too, given how the deaths of her parents and Robb rendered her almost catatonic for awhile. I think Sophie played it well—it’s not that she doesn’t care about her brother, it’s just that she can’t save him, and ergo wants to focus on what she can save. On the other hand, I can’t blame Jon for rising to that bait on the battlefield. My heart still leaps in my chest whenever I see him riding with his arm outstretched, ready to catch his brother. But emotion and logic are often at odds, and there’s no denying that Jon’s actions scrapped his earlier battle plan. Just as Sansa said, Ramsay plays games to hurt people, and that causes them to make mistakes. I mean, at the very least Jon shouldn’t have run into the fray, unprotected, after Rickon was dead, but the battle was kind of a lost cause, anyway. :/
Think I’ll skip over the technical aspects of the battle; I mean, they were impressive, but I don’t have much specifically to say about them. Let’s get to my “Wonder Woman” scene, where Sansa oversees the Knights of the Vale break through the Bolton/Umber blockade to free her brothers and comrades. Ramin Djawani recorded a new version of the Stark theme song with a female vocalist playing right over her—MAJOR FEELS. This is the big indication of Sansa being seen as a player by others by majorly turning the tides of events. It’s powerful, and perhaps needed for visual media. Sansa has strength in the books, but it’s much quieter, much more under the radar. I doubt Martin will ever have her act as a free agent this way—it’s her marriage to Henry the Heir that will hopefully secure the Vale for the North, and she’s knowingly reeling him in, but that’s certainly not as arresting as leading in armies on her own horse, and casting steely gazes at Jon and Ramsay. Same, too, for insisting on attending the meeting with Ramsay before the battle. Gah, her hair and her Stark outfit and her acting in that scene…perfect, too.
Sansa isn’t the only one who got special music; all season Jon’s had this new, whimsical sort of number, maybe a rebirth “getting my shit together” sort of thing. :P The entire battle is spoiled with the ending credits music, hee—first the Bolton theme and then that Jon number. It was most powerful when used in that pre-salvation scene where Jon is just another dirty, suffocating body in the trap that Ramsay’s men laid. Emotions running high!
I talk about how this is a simple good vs evil battle, but actually its not that simple. We see a lot of faceless people die, plus Rickon, plus Smalljon Umber, who breaks my “empathy rule,” cos I cheered like sports fan when Tormund took him out. :P Traitorous, child endangering fucker. (Nothing but respect for actor Dean Jagger!) Then there’s the issue of Jon himself, and how this battle stripped him of more dignity than anything else he’s fought against-- wildlings, wights or Walkers. The showrunners talk about this in “Inside the Episode,” that enough abuse can push a good person to do monstrous things, like attempt to beat another man to death. Jon just barely escaped death and witnessed the death of his brother like it was a parlor trick. Of course it makes perfect sense that this might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
And yet, then he looks at Sansa and he stops. I immediately thought that when he looked at his sister, he knew he was behaving dishonorably, un-Ned like, and he didn’t want her to see him like that. D.B. Weiss, instead, says that Jon respected that Ramsay was Sansa’s to kill, and that makes it sound even worse. Not only is he cool in doing something sadistic himself, he’s aiding and abetting Sansa to join in. I might just stick with my own interpretation, as I do at other points on this show. So long as it’s not explicitly stated, I think I have the right. :P
Before I get to the final scene, I suppose I’ll touch on the finale set-up pieces in the North, too. Davos and Tormund have a bromance conversation before the battle, which was charming but really served as a way for the Onion Knight to explain “welp, gotta stumble over that plot point over there!” While on one of his apparent “pre-battle” nocturnal wanders, he stumbles upon Shireen’s bonfire and the toy he made for her last season! :0 Ergo he’s glaring at Melissandre after the Bolton banners are replaced with Stark ones (MAJOR FEELS AGAIN!) Speaking of the post-battle, it’s of course a little eyrollingly convenient for the giant to break down apparently siege-sturdy doors in a matter of minutes, but yanno, we need to move on with the story here. :P Plus, I respect what Weiss mentioned Inside the Episode--the emotional importance of having Jon and Ramsay fight within the walls of Winterfell.
And not that this has anything to do with the rest of the season, but Jon confirmed to Melissandre that he doesn’t want to be brought back from the dead again. Seems like the resurrections will be over for a time.
I’ve put it off until the very end…the scene where Sansa kills Ramsay. Or at the very least played a big part in his death. The showrunners talk about the meticulous crafting of this scene, to portray that Sansa may be home but she’s no longer the same person. She promises Ramsay death—not just him but his entire family and legacy—and then she watches his dogs devour him. She even considers moving away at first, then stops herself. Many people laud her for this act. She killed her rapist, and certainly the world is a better place without Ramsay in it. Sean T. Collins wrote in the Rolling Stone that Sansa’s actions showcase that surviving assault doesn’t make one a saint, though that’s a little simplistic. No one on this show is a saint, even Dany, for all of her magnanimous attempts to eradicate slavery. I do think it comes down to violence begetting violence—as Ramsay says, most damnably, he’s part of her now. I also think this has to do with rejecting, in part, that Ned-like honor, which for the most part has failed her. Even her attempts to gather her bannermen under that cause didn’t work. And this episode, she told Jon the only truth she knows: “No one can protect me. No one can protect anyone.” It’s cynical and sad, but also very real for what she’s been through.
I could talk myself in circles over my Sansa feels, but instead I’ll link to a concise blog post I wrote about the subject at the end of last season. Though warning—it also contains spoilers for Arya's and Cersei’s episode 10 storylines! I guess we’re close enough to that as it is—sheesh, season 7 starts next weekend! :0 Winter is here.
They apparently took a lot of inspiration from the American Civil Wars (piles of bodies so high that they were an obstruction on the battlefield) and Hannibal vs the Romans (spoilers!) Though for all of its impressive elements, there is something a little anticlimactic about this battle. Unless you’re a sadist, there’s really no question about who you should be rooting for.
There’s even some time to build up teasers for the final episode, as per the Davos/Melissandre tension and the entire ten minutes we spent in Meereen. And, more harrowingly, there’s a death that really gives me pause about the future books. Too spoilery to get to over the cut, but yeah. Talk about an uncertain world for book readers.
Sansa’s story arc and character development have skewed from the books, perhaps the most out of anyone’s. I have a lot of feelings about that, and about what went down with her this episode. But at the moment, given current entertainment news as I write this recap, I can’t help but think of her as Wonder Woman during THAT scene (not the final one; the other one :P). Or, more precisely, she’s my Wonder Woman, the female character who inspires me more than any comic book super hero (Jean Grey included. :P) We all have our biases—what speaks to us about being heroic in an oft-unjust world.
SummaryMeereen
An unimpressed Daenerys speaks with Tyrion, and he talks her down from crucifying the masters. Instead, she hops onto Drogon (as the other two break free) and sets fire to the slavers’ ships; the Dothraki and Dany’s other men take care of the rest on land, leaving one man alive to remind other former slavers what awaits them if they rebel. Later, Dany and Tyrion meet with Yara and Theon to form an alliance; Dany will help them take the Iron Islands back from Euron, and then they will support her claim and stop pillaging! :0 The horror.
Before the B of B
Jon, Sansa and their men treat with Ramsay and their men to confirm that Rickon is a hostage and Jon is far outnumbered. After the men discuss strategy, Sansa warns Jon that Ramsay likes to play mind games and that Rickon will never survive, leading to infighting between siblings. Jon goes to Melissandre to ask that she not bring him back if he falls, and Davos, walking to clear his head before the battle, finds a familiar stag toy in the snow around the snowed over remains of a bonfire.
During the B of B
Ramsay plays his games immediately, and kills Rickon with an arrow as he is desperately running towards his brother. Jon’s army is ultimately forced between a rock and a hard place—felled by men with spears and armor on one end and cut down on the other end by Umber's folk standing guard over a pile of dead bodies. They’re about to either suffocate or be picked off like flies when a new horn sounds—Sansa and Littlefinger lead the Knights of the Vale to the rescue!
After the B of B
Ramsay retreats to Winterfell, but Jon’s giant breaks the door down; within minutes the rest of the Bolton army is slaughtered. Jon almost beats Ramsay to death himself, but leaves him to attend to Rickon’s body. As the Stark banners fly over Winterfell again, Sansa visits Ramsay one last time, and watches his starving dogs rip into him.
Possible Book Reveals
Meereen—the second siege on the city is a more complicated affair in the books. I’ve mentioned before how Tyrion isn’t acting for Daenerys (he hasn’t even officially met her) and is instead trying to organize a side project for Casterly Rock on the outskirts of the violence. Otherwise, there’s a lot more characters and a lot more with the plots within plots. Not only does Tyrion not counsel Dany but he didn’t hear about the caches of wildfire from Jaime. Asha and Theon are very unlikely to treat with Dany; the show development loosely follows their Uncle Victarion’s intentions. Though it’s much more likely that Dany won’t accept him because he's a turd. :P
The North—IF Rickon dies, it won’t be in circumstances such as these, because he never went to the Umbers and he was never betrayed to Ramsay; given the hints about location in the novels, that seems unlikely to happen. In broad terms it seems likely that Ramsay will ultimately die (he doesn’t really play well with others) and that the Knights of the Vale will play some part in the north. After all, that’s part of Littlefinger’s reasoning about Sansa marrying Harry the Heir. Much like Rickon, Sansa has never met Ramsay in the books and therefore probably won’t be the one to kill him.
Thoughts
Just to briefly get the unimportant stuff out of the way…ok, Meereen isn’t unimportant. :P The acting is good, as is the CGI with the dragons torching the fleet. Poor Tyrion’s hard work goes largely unnoticed given the turmoil Dany returns to. But he plays the part that Joran and Selmy played before him; instead of responding with killing them all, let’s win and rule honorably. Hope you picked up on that reference to the Mad King and his stores of wildfire; felt authentic enough within the scene, but it’s really a bit of foreshadowing for the final episode of the season. /zips lips
We also get to see new reunions—between Tyrion and Theon who haven’t laid eyes on each other since season one! Boy oh boy, talk about being in a different place. I was sort of blown away anew by Alfie Allen’s acting, to remember the cocky little shit he played in season one, vs the quiet contrition in Dany’s throne room. I’m glad they gave a little screen time to the fact that these two knew each other, but then onwards to business! Of course it makes sense that Dany would be more in favor of an alliance with Yara vs with Euron. He might be more patriarchy for her to burn down later. :P I think some fans started to grumble about “feminazis” because that’s what they say when we see two women holding power and pointing out that they had to overcome sexism to get there. Dany’s lines about “evil fathers” and how “we’re going to leave the world better than we found it” are a bit on the nose, but she’s always been a grandiose figure, so. :P I kind of had to chuckle when Dany said “no more pillaging people!” and Yara gasped “but that’s our way of life!” Oh Viking characters, I’ve never really liked you. :P We’ll have to see how this pans out next season, but for now, Dany’s formed her first alliance with a major Westerosi house. Or at least a significant portion of that House, which is better than nothing, hee.
But now let’s move to the north, where my heart is, and I’ll start with the question…will Rickon die in the books???? I admit, I held onto hope until the very end that he’d survive, because I thought his whole purpose in the story was to serve as Lord of Winterfell. Jon and Bran can’t, because they’re both too involved in the greater war, and Sansa and Arya have that pesky female thing going on. This wouldn’t be the first time that I’m wrong about a Stark family affair this season. It’s certainly possible that canon Rickon will die, though probably not at Ramsay’s hand. It’s also possible that Rickon isn’t actually considered “a main character”—I suppose Art’s multi-year absence is testament to that—and ergo he can die on the show and be safe in the books. I was definitely expecting too much this season, hoping that Rickon would get multiple lines and scenes, all because he’s a Stark and that’s important to me. I assume the showrunners wanted to minimize his role because last time we saw Art Parkinson, he was a pipsqueak. Not so much anymore!
So Rickon is dead, and I can’t deny that it makes perfect sense for the story. Sansa called the situation out correctly—quite a jump for her, too, given how the deaths of her parents and Robb rendered her almost catatonic for awhile. I think Sophie played it well—it’s not that she doesn’t care about her brother, it’s just that she can’t save him, and ergo wants to focus on what she can save. On the other hand, I can’t blame Jon for rising to that bait on the battlefield. My heart still leaps in my chest whenever I see him riding with his arm outstretched, ready to catch his brother. But emotion and logic are often at odds, and there’s no denying that Jon’s actions scrapped his earlier battle plan. Just as Sansa said, Ramsay plays games to hurt people, and that causes them to make mistakes. I mean, at the very least Jon shouldn’t have run into the fray, unprotected, after Rickon was dead, but the battle was kind of a lost cause, anyway. :/
Think I’ll skip over the technical aspects of the battle; I mean, they were impressive, but I don’t have much specifically to say about them. Let’s get to my “Wonder Woman” scene, where Sansa oversees the Knights of the Vale break through the Bolton/Umber blockade to free her brothers and comrades. Ramin Djawani recorded a new version of the Stark theme song with a female vocalist playing right over her—MAJOR FEELS. This is the big indication of Sansa being seen as a player by others by majorly turning the tides of events. It’s powerful, and perhaps needed for visual media. Sansa has strength in the books, but it’s much quieter, much more under the radar. I doubt Martin will ever have her act as a free agent this way—it’s her marriage to Henry the Heir that will hopefully secure the Vale for the North, and she’s knowingly reeling him in, but that’s certainly not as arresting as leading in armies on her own horse, and casting steely gazes at Jon and Ramsay. Same, too, for insisting on attending the meeting with Ramsay before the battle. Gah, her hair and her Stark outfit and her acting in that scene…perfect, too.
Sansa isn’t the only one who got special music; all season Jon’s had this new, whimsical sort of number, maybe a rebirth “getting my shit together” sort of thing. :P The entire battle is spoiled with the ending credits music, hee—first the Bolton theme and then that Jon number. It was most powerful when used in that pre-salvation scene where Jon is just another dirty, suffocating body in the trap that Ramsay’s men laid. Emotions running high!
I talk about how this is a simple good vs evil battle, but actually its not that simple. We see a lot of faceless people die, plus Rickon, plus Smalljon Umber, who breaks my “empathy rule,” cos I cheered like sports fan when Tormund took him out. :P Traitorous, child endangering fucker. (Nothing but respect for actor Dean Jagger!) Then there’s the issue of Jon himself, and how this battle stripped him of more dignity than anything else he’s fought against-- wildlings, wights or Walkers. The showrunners talk about this in “Inside the Episode,” that enough abuse can push a good person to do monstrous things, like attempt to beat another man to death. Jon just barely escaped death and witnessed the death of his brother like it was a parlor trick. Of course it makes perfect sense that this might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
And yet, then he looks at Sansa and he stops. I immediately thought that when he looked at his sister, he knew he was behaving dishonorably, un-Ned like, and he didn’t want her to see him like that. D.B. Weiss, instead, says that Jon respected that Ramsay was Sansa’s to kill, and that makes it sound even worse. Not only is he cool in doing something sadistic himself, he’s aiding and abetting Sansa to join in. I might just stick with my own interpretation, as I do at other points on this show. So long as it’s not explicitly stated, I think I have the right. :P
Before I get to the final scene, I suppose I’ll touch on the finale set-up pieces in the North, too. Davos and Tormund have a bromance conversation before the battle, which was charming but really served as a way for the Onion Knight to explain “welp, gotta stumble over that plot point over there!” While on one of his apparent “pre-battle” nocturnal wanders, he stumbles upon Shireen’s bonfire and the toy he made for her last season! :0 Ergo he’s glaring at Melissandre after the Bolton banners are replaced with Stark ones (MAJOR FEELS AGAIN!) Speaking of the post-battle, it’s of course a little eyrollingly convenient for the giant to break down apparently siege-sturdy doors in a matter of minutes, but yanno, we need to move on with the story here. :P Plus, I respect what Weiss mentioned Inside the Episode--the emotional importance of having Jon and Ramsay fight within the walls of Winterfell.
And not that this has anything to do with the rest of the season, but Jon confirmed to Melissandre that he doesn’t want to be brought back from the dead again. Seems like the resurrections will be over for a time.
I’ve put it off until the very end…the scene where Sansa kills Ramsay. Or at the very least played a big part in his death. The showrunners talk about the meticulous crafting of this scene, to portray that Sansa may be home but she’s no longer the same person. She promises Ramsay death—not just him but his entire family and legacy—and then she watches his dogs devour him. She even considers moving away at first, then stops herself. Many people laud her for this act. She killed her rapist, and certainly the world is a better place without Ramsay in it. Sean T. Collins wrote in the Rolling Stone that Sansa’s actions showcase that surviving assault doesn’t make one a saint, though that’s a little simplistic. No one on this show is a saint, even Dany, for all of her magnanimous attempts to eradicate slavery. I do think it comes down to violence begetting violence—as Ramsay says, most damnably, he’s part of her now. I also think this has to do with rejecting, in part, that Ned-like honor, which for the most part has failed her. Even her attempts to gather her bannermen under that cause didn’t work. And this episode, she told Jon the only truth she knows: “No one can protect me. No one can protect anyone.” It’s cynical and sad, but also very real for what she’s been through.
I could talk myself in circles over my Sansa feels, but instead I’ll link to a concise blog post I wrote about the subject at the end of last season. Though warning—it also contains spoilers for Arya's and Cersei’s episode 10 storylines! I guess we’re close enough to that as it is—sheesh, season 7 starts next weekend! :0 Winter is here.
