What's going on guys, Cockmine here and the latest of Game of Thrones season 6 went in
a very different direction this week with the return of everybody's favorite burn victim:
The Hound.
The episode didn't really give us much in terms of action and it was basically another
week of setting up the last 3 episodes of the season but I did think it was...okay.
I still believe episode 1 was crap but this wasn't exactly keeping me on the edge of my
seat like the last ones.
Like I said in my previous review we don't need action packed heavy stuff going on all
the time, its fine when the show slows down a bit and builds its characters up or in this
case brings back an old ones.
My one major issue with the show still stems from the fact that this was another really
short episode.
Clocking in at about 47 minutes excluding the opening and closing songs.
That's fucking insane for anybody who pays for HBOGO hoping to watch the new season and
instead they're getting about 10 minutes less than what we've gotten in the previous seasons.
I keep hearing from people that they've packed the last two episodes with enough content
that'll stretch over the hour mark and hopefully thats true...but let me stop rambling and
get on to the review.
First let's start over in King's Landing with Margaery, Olenna and the High Sparrow.
We didn't get a full on "The gods are good" speech, thank the lord of light, but his latest
conversation with Margaery really proved to me that the High Sparrow really is attempting
to control the ruling powers for his own agenda.
At first I thought this guy was legitimately trying to just spread more religious crap
around the city but he really wants to be in control and you can just tell.
You know the situation is bad when hes dictating when the King and Queen need to get busy in
the bedroom.
Eventually he tells Margaery that he fears for her grandmother's safety which prompts
her to try and get Olenna out of the city but not before making sure she knows that
Margaery is just putting on an act and hasn't forgotten who she is.
I liked the scenes between these three but mainly between Margaery and her grandmother.
Props to Natalie Dormer for those amazing acting chops, she almost had me in thinking
she was broken by those fanatics but shes really trying to save her family.
The one thing that still gets on my nerves is that these assholes have no armor or good
weapons.
I think their best weapon is a piece of wood with a nail through it and everyone is acting
like they're untouchable which is bullshit.
All you really need to do is get 20 good men and follow on this....20 good men, sneak in
there and cut their throats while they sleep.
If Ramsay was in charge?
this shit would've been taken cared of ages ago.
Say what you want about Ramsay but the son of a bitch knows how to get things done.
But to the point, It really does seem like the show runners are stretching the King's
Landing situation as much as they can to fill in time...which makes no sense considering
they're cutting the episodes so short.
The one scene in King's Landing I really did like was Olenna putting Cersei in her place.
It was a long time coming and it was well deserved.
Cersei has realized that she needs the Tyrells and their soldiers in King's Landing if she
is to win her war against the High Sparrow but hes making sure that those who could pose
a threat are leaving one by one.
First Jaime and now Olenna.
Cersei will be the only one left who can do something about them but I still have faith
that she will put her plans in motion in due time.
I mean we didn't even see her truly outraged over Jaime's lost position and Tommen being
controlled.
This isn't like her which is why I think there is some kind of master plan going on.
The King's Landing stuff this episode was okay but I just wish there was more to it
and trust me...with how short this episode was?
you'll be hearing me say that quite a bit.
Over in the Riverlands we get Jaime back in his Lannister general armor which I think
is the best looking armor in the show.
We also get Bronn back which I really liked and as much as I enjoyed him in this episode
it really does annoy me that hes come back this late in the season.
I assume the reason they couldn't have him in the earlier episodes is because he had
nobody to hang out with considering Jaime spent a lot of his early scenes with Cersei.
There is a rumor going around that the actor who plays Bronn and the actress who plays
Cersei had a relationship in the past and that it ended badly so both of them aren't
allowed in the same room.
So considering Jaime needed to hang around Cersei a lot of the time in King's Landing
they couldn't have Bronn in there but I still think they should've found room for him somewhere.
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But regardless I'm glad we have him back and he delivers.
I hope it becomes a running gag that Jaime is promising him all these things and that
in the end he never really gets them.
Jaime brings 8,000 Lannister soldiers to take back Riverrun, the House Tully main castle,
from Bryden Tully also known as the Blackfish.
House Frey is on the scene and they're doing a piss poor job of trying to take back the
Castle.
I'm surprised Blackfish and his soldiers didn't wipe them out completely, especially since
he really doesn't care if Edmure dies or not.
And I hope you don't mind me ranting about House Frey for a minute here but they all
seem so fucking dumb and poorly equipped.
It really does make sense that they'd have to get Robb Stark's men all drunk before going
out there and killing them because they could never hold their own against a sober group
of soldiers.
Not only that but their armor isn't even armor...it's like dish rags taped to their skin.
Eventually Jaime and the Blackfish talk it out and the negotiations go nowhere which
I thought was a waste of potential.
There is some good history behind who the Blackfish is and hopefully Jaime could've
helped put more emphasis on that.
Some people were saying that Jaime in the Riverlands seemed a little pointless but its
mainly a setup for when Brienne comes over there to request the Blackfish's aid in defeating
the Boltons which I look forward to.
According to the preview there will be a nice confrontation between her and Jaime which
should be good and hopefully it'll add to Jaime's story line which is kind of lacking
this season with him taking being sidelined every time hes on screen.
Hes either being defeated by the Sand Snakes, the High Sparrow or getting thrown out by
his own son.
This season hes been taking hit after hit and you kind of want him to win a little but
hes up against another set of good guys who deserve a win of their own.
Like with King's Landing I feel like we should've gotten more of Jaime with Bronn or more of
Jaime with everybody else over there and I say that mainly because I like the character
and he is just fun to watch...Plus I really did like that Frey bitch slapping.
I feel like we could've gotten more of him over there but for some reason we keep missing
out on what could've been with these characters and it's not just Jaime.
Hopefully we get more of him actually kicking some ass and taking names before the season
end instead of being defeated every other episode.
Over in Volantis we get a brief scene with the Yara and Theon deciding on what to do
next and I was surprised they planned to head over to Mereen to see Dany before Euron gets
there...unless the show plans to have him build 1000 ships by episode 10 which I would
find hilariously terrible.
This scene was too short in my opinion and I couldn't get much out of it.
I did feel bad for Theon though because if there's one thing the old Theon would've enjoyed
it would be the loads of naked women in the room.
See he and I have that in common.
Before the season began many of the cast kept saying that this season many characters would
be meeting each other for the first time and I would really like it if we got to see these
two meet up with Tyrion and Dany.
I think it would be a little strange but very interesting at the same time.
But like I said this scene was too short for me to say much about it but hey...we finally
got a scene where the Ironborn don't suck so...good job?
Another set of scenes that were really short but also insane was Arya in Bravos.
Shes trying to book passage back to Westeros and stops to take a view at the Titan one
last time...and then she gets stabbed by the Waif disguised as an old woman.
Um...what?
You know you're trying to run away from these people and yet you let your guard down that
easily?
come on dude are you kidding me?
When you're being chased by a group of assassins you don't stop to take a view of the area
you go hide as soon as you possibly can.
It was a rookie mistake on her part but the one thing I still find a little weird is her
decision to escape the Faceless Men so quick.
Shes been in the group for like...less than 10 episodes and now she wants to leave?
it just seems a little too quick on the show's part.
I really wish they would've waited until next season to give her the escape Bravos story
line...you know when she actually becomes semi-good at the whole killing people in disguise
thing.
But because this episode was a "set-up" episode we don't get much conclusion to it but hopefully
the next one titled "No One" will give us a final Arya Vs Waif" fight with some surprises.
Next we have Jon Snow, Sansa and Davos going around trying to convince everyone in the
North to fight for them.
They manage to recruit the wildlings without too much of a fight mainly because...no matter
what they do they'll be fighting the Boltons anyway.
They try getting house Glover to fight with them but the new lord Glover doesn't feel
like heading on to another battle so quickly.
This scene kind of got on my nerves a little because he got on Robb's case for his castle
being taken over by the Ironborn.
What the hell did you want Robb to do?
march back up North and take it for you?
He was fighting a war against multiple armies on many sides.
It seemed a little unfair of him to get that uppity over it but I also understand where
hes coming from.
Then we get the famous scene on Bear Island with everybody's favorite Lyanna Mormont,
Jorah's cousin.
She completely stole the show and I can understand why.
I forgot who said this but someone said "If George had given Lyanna Mormont 3 dragons
this story would have been over 4 seasons ago" and I couldn't agree more.
What makes Lyanna Mormont and Dany so different is that Lyanna actually gets the realism of
the situation whereas Dany is still a little naive.
The one thing about the Bear Island scene I wish happened was a conversation about their
ancestral valyrian steel sword: Longclaw.
Jon had it with him and I was hoping for a conversation about it but nah...fuck that
cool stuff.
But the conversation between Lord Glover and the Lady of Bear Island brought up and interesting
point that we didn't get in the books.
Many of the northern lords died with Robb at the Red Wedding in the show, leaving behind
these people to take over in their place.
Galbert Glover was given about 2 minutes of screen time in season 1, seen here, and one
line of him saying "Renly is not right".
Lyanna's mother is only given about 10 seconds of screen time and all she does is laugh.
Great Jon Umber has a full scene of him starting shit with Robb and we never get his resolution
but according to his son when talking to Ramsay, he died off screen.
We come to find that other houses have joined them but once again...off screen for some
reason.
And this is what kind of annoys me.
I don't understand why we couldn't have a filmed montage of Jon, Sansa and Davos talking
to these lords like we got in season 2 with Tyrion talking to Petyr, Varys and Pycelle.
Remember how that was done?
Tyrion says hes going to marry Myarcella off to this person and he tells that to Petyr
and then it cuts to him pouring a drink of wine and then he says "but Cersei must not
know" and it shows him talking to someone else giving the audience the impression that
hes giving the same speech to multiple people.
We could've gotten that with House Hornwood and House Mazin, who I believe is a show exclusive
house.
This seems to be a recurring problem with the show lately, in my opinion, of half-assing
a lot of its scenes by not giving us enough information or going out of their way to show
certain things.
You could argue that there was no point in showing them going around getting support
from these people but I beg to differ.
What makes Game of Thrones an amazing show is the supporting characters that help make
this world alive and unique.
I mean...just look at Lyanna Mormont.
She got 5 minutes of screen time and already has a dedicated fan club all over the internet.
It pays to expand the world and show it off but for some reason we keep getting short
episodes with almost not substance in a lot of the scenes.
It's almost as though they're tired of making this show...but let's get back to the review.
Eventually they make camp where Stannis did last season, you know...because we need a
confrontation between Davos and Melisandre, and we learn that Jon wants to head on to
Winterfell with the men they already have which is kind of dumb considering they have
about 2400 men while the Boltons have twice as more and that's not counting the Umbers
and Karstarks.
Now there are a dozen other houses who could join up like House Cerwyn who hate the Boltons
for flaying their lord and lady last season, House Manderly who lost sons in the Red Wedding
thanks to the Freys.
The are other houses who would join but Jon wants to head in there soon.
Then we see Sansa writing a letter to someone and it was hard for me to make out what she
was saying but I believe it may be a letter to Littlefinger who has most of the Knights
of the Vale ready for combat at a moment's notice.
Now...I liked the scenes in the North with them gathering support and making sure they're
ready for a full on battle with the Boltons so don't get me wrong but I would've liked
it more had they given us a little more to it then just visiting two houses.
The north is a unique place with lots of fun and creative characters to show on screen
and I just find it a shame for the audience that we won't get to see many of them.
Hopefully they'll make up for this when the dread episode 9 comes into play.
And last we get the Hound's return with a new character, Brother Ray played by big mouth
Ian McShane who spoiled his return several months ago before the start of the season.
The one thing I've noticed from you guys on my Facebook page is that the Hound scenes
really divided you guys.
Some of you liked it because it was a nice change of pace from the problems with the
main characters and some of you didn't like it because it felt too much like a Hollywood
revenge plot and I've got to agree with both sides here.
Now I think Brother Ray, who in the books is Septon Meribald, was an interesting characters
and I really...really wanted him to live.
I guess Ian McShane's guest appearance was too costly to extend into the next episode
but I find that a shame considering his character was deep and interesting and could've made
a perfect sidekick for the Hound when he goes off to kill the brotherhood without banners.
But like I said...I agree on both sides.
I liked the change of pace with him coming in and taking up most of the episode because
it does give us a break from the political stuff in King's landing and Arya's stupidity
in Bravos.
But at the same time it did feel a little too predictable because we all know pacifism
works only for about a day in westeros.
Oh and what the hell happened to the brotherhood?
they've become the Game of Thrones version of ISIS with all the killing and religion
and it makes me wonder...who the hell is leading them now....hmmm... but like I said.
I agree with both people who feel like this was a little too Hollywood but a nice change
of pace.
Oh and do me a favor show runners don't bring back the Hound and not give us CleganeBowl
because that's just cock teasing.
But Overall I thought the episode was okay, not as bad as the first but not as great as
it could've been had more scenes been given enough material to work with.
This is just another set-up week and I think it's the first episode we've ever gotten that
hasn't been an episode 9 to feature less characters and the whole season has been like that.
I mean think about it...we haven't even seen much of Melisandre since the first three episodes
and shes not the only one, you got Littlefinger, Bronn, Euron and even Ramsay and Tyrion have
been missing for a couple of weeks.
The major problem with this season is the lack of time given to any of the characters
and and in turn some of their story lines are suffering a bit from it.
I guess that...without the books you can tell the show runners are quickly running out of
material and I wouldn't be too surprised if the next season will have less episodes of
because of that.
But leave your thoughts below and as always if you enjoyed the video then give it a like
because it does help out a lot, subscribe if you already haven't and I'll cya you guys
next time.
Have a good one