Deola’s Corner: Another Week Of TV (Edition 16)

DISCLAIMER: The following article contains spoilers from TV shows of the past week. So if you haven’t SEEN the episodes of the week, and you detest spoilers, then I suggest you leave while you can. If you haven’t and you don’t mind spoilers, feel free to enjoy. If you have seen the episodes, then by all means read on and lets ki-ki.

REVIEW OF THE WEEK: Game Of Thrones – S06E04 (Book of the Stranger)

Welcome to my weekly recap of Game of Thrones, the greatest show that ever was and ever will be. If you don’t agree, please argue with someone else 🙂

Guys, I swear this season of Game Of Thrones just seems to be taking my requests and giving me what I need. I asked for swift vengeance for Olly and Ser Allister, and I got it. Last week, I asked for a Stark kids reunion and that’s what I got this week.

The episode opens with Jon Snow still at the wall! And I am like umm, does it take that long to pack one’s luggage? Because the way he sashayed off at the end of the last episode, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was at Mereen at the start of this episode. However, he is still at the Wall, and in rides Sansa. The moment she steers her horse in through the gates and I know a reunion is imminent, I immediately enter the process of losing my shit. She gets down from her horse, Jon is on his balcony. They see each other and they – and the entire realm – is shocked by this development. Who would have thought happy things were capable of happening on this show.

And then when they go in for that hug, I immediately lose it like:

This is like the first happy thing that has happened since season 1 and I am here for it.

After settling in, they start catching up.

Sansa: Biiiiitchhhhhhh! You is the Lord Commander?! Damn, what’s that like? I bet all your brothers are loyal to you!

Jon: Well funny story about that. My brothers killed me, but then I snuck up on them and came back like:

Jon: It’s a long story, I’ll tell you all about it, but tell me about you, sis.

Sansa: Well I got married to Ramsay Snow.

Jon: Yup. You win.

So, Sansa apologizes for being a jerk to Jon when they were kids. But Jon doesn’t take it personally. Sansa talks about taking Winterfell back from Ramsay Bolton, but Uncle Jon says he is tired of fighting. Sansa makes sense here; Ramsay won’t stop coming for her and they need to go on offense.

Meanwhile, Mellisandre and Davos catch up, post resurrection. See? All it took was a resurrection to get them to “get along”. Mellisandre says she now serves Jon as he is the Prince (Azhor Ahai) that was promised.

Brienne interrupts the gossip session and Ser Davos is like, “Sup?” And she is like “We’ve already met. I was King’s Guard to Renly Baratheon when a demon ghost baby killed him.”

Awkward!

And then, Mellisandre is like, “Aunty Brienne, kilode? You sef, your body too dey hot. Make pesin born demon pikin wey kill your oga, na im dey make you vex?”

And – HA! Look, it’s Littlefinger! It’s taken all of four episodes for us to check in with him. He gets back from wherever and in typical Littlefinger fashion, he still has his hands on all the pieces he needs. Mark my words: Petyr Baelish is one of the people adept at actually playing the game of thrones. He once again demonstrates his control by getting the mumu boy, Robin Arryn to throw his support behind Sansa.

Back in Mereen meanwhile, Tyrion has chosen to use diplomacy to solve the slavery and Sons of the Harpy problem. As such he invites the Masters of Astapor, Yunkai and Volantis to sip wine and talk about how they can be less of a bunch of douche bags. Missandei and Grey Worm object to Tyrion’s proposal of easing slavery out instead of completely and decisively eradicating it. This is the smart and realistic thing to do. As much as we would like to think we can all just make up and make change happen immediately, it’s not a realistic approach. Change happens over time. Slavery didn’t just happen yesterday and so, it can’t just go away with the snap of the finger. The Sons of the Harpy are what results when you try to force change at once. Seven years truly is a long time for a slave as Missandei and Grey Worm can testify, but Tyrion’s solution seems to be the better idea. Whether the Masters hold up their end of the bargain remains to be seen.

Daario Naharis and Jorah Mormont continue their search for Daenerys and their pissing contest over who is worthy to be with the queen. This pissing match is quite immature and frankly I’m over it. Neither of them are worthy of the might that is Khaleesi. They make plans to sneak into the Dothraki sacred city to rescue Daenerys. The plan seems silly really. And naturally they run into obstacles and have to clobber their way out of it. Literally.

They meet up with Daenerys who has gone out for a stroll with a new acquaintance, who I shall call “Missandei 2.0.” And she basically tells them that she can handle herself and they should chill. She’s got this.

Back in King’s Landing, Margery, my sweet Margery, isn’t looking so hot; that reverend sister has obviously not been good company. Margery has a talk with the High Sparrow and he goes into a Scandal-like monologue about how he came to be the religious fanatic that he is today. It’s quite an interesting tale and the actor (Jonathan Pryce) acts the hell out of the scene. He draws me in and I start to buy his bullshit. LOL. That’s how they get you!

He lets Margery see her brother, for whatever twisted reason; either way, I am glad we get to catch up with Ser Loras, the Knight of Flowers. The Knight of Flowers isn’t faring well at all. He looks even worse than Margery. This ‘Pray Away The Gay’ camp has obviously been brutal on our dear knight and he’s lost all hope and just wants to leave the camp whatever the cost.

Cersei has a chat with her son, the King AKA The mumu Tommen. They talk about rescuing his wife, Queen Margery. Tommen then asks, “You don’t like Margery, do you?”

And I am like:

How perceptive of you, Your Highness! Your wisdom and sight is a blessing to us all! SMH.

It turns out doing amebo is also a sin, as Tommen wants to spill some exclusive Tea he’s learnt from his conversation with the High Sparrow. He goes ahead and does it anyway. Someone wants to desperately join his wife in the dungeon, methinks. Jaime and Cersei interrupt the Small Council “meeting” again. Lady Olenna and Kevan Lannister are the only ones in attendance, because let’s face it, they are the only ones that matter. The ensuing talk eventually comes down to them all uniting forces to take down the High Sparrow and his followers.

Theon has arrived at the Iron Islands via express delivery. Seriously, how did he get there so quick? His sister, Yara is rightly not glad to see him. If you remember, she had taken a few of her men to try and rescue Theon back in Season 4 and Theon (still Reek then) was too broken to leave. He betrayed her and the rescue attempt led to the death of her men. She questions his intentions, and he says he is back to support her.

Ramsay in peeling the skin of an apple back in Winterfell, because of course he is. Osha saunters in. And one can immediately tell what will transpire here. Osha tries to seduce Ramsay and claims she doesn’t care about the Starks but Reek (Theon) had already spilled the tea to Ramsay about Osha’s dedication to the Starks. And when Osha tries to play a fast one of stabbing Ramsay, while acting all seductress, he drives his knife into her throat. The lesson learnt here is? Sex kills. So don’t have sex, kids.

At the Wall, a text message from Ramsay comes in, while the children are having dinner. Tormund the Wilding is undressing Brienne with his eyes. Frankly I dig the budding chemistry. These two are the couple we never knew we wanted. The text message is filled with vile threats of rape and such, so we know it’s definitely from Ramsay. Sansa chooses to stand up and fight for their home and the North, and convinces Jon to do the same.

At the sacred Dothraki city, the Khals are seated and Daenerys is summoned so her fate can be determined. They go on to be horrible. It’s like they are trying their best to be as misogynistic and anti-feminist as possible. Well they achieve that, and Daenerys calls them out and basically calls then unambitious goats. They laugh in her face and say they’ll fuck her and then let their horses fuck her too. EEEESH!

Obviously, Daenerys isn’t there to mark attendance and so she goes ahead to give them the Lord of the Light execution that I demanded last week.

And. It’s. Glorious!

She burns them all, and then walks out of the burning temple unhurt. The Mother of Dragons, ladies and gentlemen. The entire Dothraki clan bow before her (just like they did in the first season finale). This should add another title to her long list of titles. The Mother of Dragons, the Breaker of Chains, The Mai Suya of all the KHALS!

Other Tidbits:

1. You don’t think Petyr ‘Littlefinger’ Baelish is a formidable player? Then check this. Baelish and Lyssa Arryn were responsible for the murder of Robin Arryn. That murder basically dragged Ned to King’s Landing, and then led to an investigation by Ned Stark, which led to his discovery that Cersei’s children weren’t Robert’s, which led to Robert’s death. Littlefinger’s betrayal of Ned also led to Ned’s capture. Also Littlefinger and Lady Olenna were responsible for murdering Joffery Baratheon. This dude is low-key dangerous, and what makes him formidable is that no one sees him as a danger.
2. Theon really is one of the most tortured characters on this show. Dude has more than paid his dues for betraying the Starks and I’d like to see him happy and fulfilled a bit.
3. Isn’t Jorah Mormont supposed to be a decent fighter? I mean, Jeez! Abi, maybe the Grey Scale has made him incompetent? At no point during his fight with that Dothraki soldier did he look like he was going to gain the upper hand.
4. This was quite the happy episode, between the Stark reunion and Daenerys’ grand takeover. However, something tells me we will pay for this short happiness at some point.
5. Next week: Bring on the White Walkers! As much as I enjoy the game of thrones of Westeros, I get more excited when we get to see the mystical parts of this world, whether it’s Bran Stark warging, or Mellisandre birthing demons and raising the dead, or the friggin White Walkers! I just really enjoy the magical part of the show!
6. So the cast is so huge, it took four episodes to get to Littlefinger. And we got no Arya, Rickon or Samwell this week. And we haven’t seen Dorne since the season premiere. One would think the rate with which characters die, the cast would reduce, but that’s not the case.
7. This was definitely one of the better episodes of what has been a stellar season so far. This season has come out swinging, unlike last season that didn’t really pick up until the final 3 episodes.
8. Cersei and Olenna teaming up seem like a grand idea. The sooner they take down the High Sparrow, the better. Cersei though, she most definitely has other plans.
9. Death Toll this week: 1 – Osha. You try eh. But you were never gonna kill Ramsay. I feel like the character was just killed off to show us more evidence of Ramsay’s cruelty. Trust me, producers, we don’t need more proof. He literally scares the bejesus out of me.

That’s it for the week guys, Sound off!

Written by Deola