Serpentine, Rickon! Serpentine!. I knew his chances of survival in the clutches of Ramsay were incredibly slim, but it was still gut-wrenching to watch him make it to within feet of Jon before taking an arrow to the knee... heart. I actually thought his best chance of making it was that Ramsay would instead try and kill Jon after drawing him out in the open like that.
I know Jon was still reeling from Rickon being killed in front of him, but I was really hoping he wouldn't fall for Ramsay's trap (which Sansa warned him about) and would return to his own lines so that they would have to come to their entrenched position. It was going to be an ugly slugfest no matter what, but Jon ended up costing a lot more lives and would have been defeated if the horselords of Rohan hadn't shown up to save them.
So, with Rickon out of the way, Jon a bastard (and possibly a cousin), and Bran out of the picture for now, Sansa becomes Lady of Winterfell and probably owes Pervy McCreeperton a marriage to either him or that little momma's boy shitweasel Robyn to secure their alliance now that the Northern armies are seriously depleted. Neither of which is a very promising partnership for her, but I guess Robyn is the lesser of two weasels since he could possibly be molded into something approaching a halfway decent approximation of a human over time, while Littlefinger should have to register as a sex offender in all seven kingdoms.
Wun-Wun, you magnificent bastard, you and your conversation skills will be sorely missed. Pretend this is an entire oak barrel of Colt .45 being poured out in your honor:
It felt odd having Yara/Asha and Theon just standing there making a proposal to Daenarys without any setup. We should have at least seen the Ironborn fleet enter the harbor and have Tyrion give an "Oh, shit, what now?" expression before revealing they were there to form an alliance. But I'm totally shipping Yarys Targreyyn. Daenasha? Greygaryn? Tarjoy? This needs to happen... for science.
Also, Theon can now join a Dicksanbollocks Argononnus support group with the Unsullied and Varys if he returns from his undisclosed location, so maybe he'll snap out of his funk.
Meereen has been tedious as hell this season, but it was pretty awesome when all three dragons went Apocalypse Now on the Master's command ship. I guess that answers our question from earlier in the season after Tyrion took their chains off about how the dragons would get out. They just had to bust down the wall. It was nice of them to wait for Mom to give them permission.
I'm glad they're finally going to give us some resolution with the Shireen sacrifice and Davos finding out what happened. I knew when they camped out in the same location as before it would have to come up. That was a very powerful and well-shot scene with Davos at the pyre without even a word having to be said.
The battle itself was just brutal. That minute long bit in the middle where Jon was being trampled on and couldn't breathe is something you know must have happened all the time in those ancient battles yet I've never seen it depicted that I can recall. It was such a claustrophobic scene that really made you feel like you were there experiencing it. This is the same director who filmed Hardhome, and hopefully they let him handle all the big battle episodes from now on, because he's got a real knack for it. He's also directing the season finale. I'd love to see what he could do with a blockbuster movie budget.
Finally, after seeing the Master's being upstaged for the umpteenth time (so it's kind of old hat at this point), the truly satisfying moment came when Ramsay got fed to his hungry dogs. It was a little strange to have Sanaa repeat that Ramsay had said he hadn't fed the dogs in seven days since he actually taunted Jon and his men with that after she had left the battlefield parlay, but I figured Jon must have told her that as a *hint**hint* "Hey, you know what would be a great way to get revenge on Ramsay?" bit of big brotherly advice.
But all in all, apart from the sad but understandable moments like losing Rickon and Wun-Wun, it was a VERY satisfying and enjoyable episode with arguably the best battle scenes ever done on TV. If the Faith Militant get their comeuppance in the finale it will have been even more satisfying, but Cersei being Cersei, instead of just burning down the Great Sept, she's possibly going to go full Mad King and burn all of King's Landing to the ground with Wildfyre. You never go full Mad King.
I know Jon was still reeling from Rickon being killed in front of him, but I was really hoping he wouldn't fall for Ramsay's trap (which Sansa warned him about) and would return to his own lines so that they would have to come to their entrenched position. It was going to be an ugly slugfest no matter what, but Jon ended up costing a lot more lives and would have been defeated if the horselords of Rohan hadn't shown up to save them.
So, with Rickon out of the way, Jon a bastard (and possibly a cousin), and Bran out of the picture for now, Sansa becomes Lady of Winterfell and probably owes Pervy McCreeperton a marriage to either him or that little momma's boy shitweasel Robyn to secure their alliance now that the Northern armies are seriously depleted. Neither of which is a very promising partnership for her, but I guess Robyn is the lesser of two weasels since he could possibly be molded into something approaching a halfway decent approximation of a human over time, while Littlefinger should have to register as a sex offender in all seven kingdoms.
Wun-Wun, you magnificent bastard, you and your conversation skills will be sorely missed. Pretend this is an entire oak barrel of Colt .45 being poured out in your honor:
It felt odd having Yara/Asha and Theon just standing there making a proposal to Daenarys without any setup. We should have at least seen the Ironborn fleet enter the harbor and have Tyrion give an "Oh, shit, what now?" expression before revealing they were there to form an alliance. But I'm totally shipping Yarys Targreyyn. Daenasha? Greygaryn? Tarjoy? This needs to happen... for science.
Also, Theon can now join a Dicksanbollocks Argononnus support group with the Unsullied and Varys if he returns from his undisclosed location, so maybe he'll snap out of his funk.
Meereen has been tedious as hell this season, but it was pretty awesome when all three dragons went Apocalypse Now on the Master's command ship. I guess that answers our question from earlier in the season after Tyrion took their chains off about how the dragons would get out. They just had to bust down the wall. It was nice of them to wait for Mom to give them permission.
I'm glad they're finally going to give us some resolution with the Shireen sacrifice and Davos finding out what happened. I knew when they camped out in the same location as before it would have to come up. That was a very powerful and well-shot scene with Davos at the pyre without even a word having to be said.
The battle itself was just brutal. That minute long bit in the middle where Jon was being trampled on and couldn't breathe is something you know must have happened all the time in those ancient battles yet I've never seen it depicted that I can recall. It was such a claustrophobic scene that really made you feel like you were there experiencing it. This is the same director who filmed Hardhome, and hopefully they let him handle all the big battle episodes from now on, because he's got a real knack for it. He's also directing the season finale. I'd love to see what he could do with a blockbuster movie budget.
Finally, after seeing the Master's being upstaged for the umpteenth time (so it's kind of old hat at this point), the truly satisfying moment came when Ramsay got fed to his hungry dogs. It was a little strange to have Sanaa repeat that Ramsay had said he hadn't fed the dogs in seven days since he actually taunted Jon and his men with that after she had left the battlefield parlay, but I figured Jon must have told her that as a *hint**hint* "Hey, you know what would be a great way to get revenge on Ramsay?" bit of big brotherly advice.
But all in all, apart from the sad but understandable moments like losing Rickon and Wun-Wun, it was a VERY satisfying and enjoyable episode with arguably the best battle scenes ever done on TV. If the Faith Militant get their comeuppance in the finale it will have been even more satisfying, but Cersei being Cersei, instead of just burning down the Great Sept, she's possibly going to go full Mad King and burn all of King's Landing to the ground with Wildfyre. You never go full Mad King.
