There was a lot riding on this episode for HBO and Game of Thrones, which inevitably featured Jon Snow finally facing down with Ramsay Bolton as he – along with Sansa and his relatively modest army – sought to wrestle Winterfell from the series’ most despised villain. Traditionally, these kinds of episodes would be the only ones to focus in on and stay with just one section of the overall story, but we got to see much of the happenings over at Meereen too and so we were given two very big, very memorable battles which were both handled skillfully by Director Miguel Sapochnik (who gave us two of last season’s best with “The Gift” and “Hardhome”).
Let’s start with Meereen and its most excitable, satisfying development yet. Time spent debating the merits of slavery and whether Daenerys can co-exist with the accepted social order in Slaver’s Bay has been lacking, despite the characters involved. We’ve had some great dialogue and a bit of humour thanks to Tyrion’s involvement, but for the most part – in a similar fashion to The House of Black and White – Meereen has been a means to kill time between bigger developments like Dany winning over an army of Dothraki and the slavers betraying Tyrion’s naive trust.
Dany’s return thankfully was treated with the appropriate urgency it needed, and after a worrying Mad King-esque “burn them all” speech was carefully calmed by Tyrion we were able to see Grey Worm swiftly dispose of the leaders – leaving one alive to tell of the Queen’s mercy – and our very first sequence of all three adult dragons in action. It was intense, wide-eyed action that was treated as such, and the image of all three creatures raining fire upon the attacking ships will be burned into the hearts and minds of Game of Thrones fans long before the final episode airs [can you believe we only have 15 episodes left of the entire series!].
Then we had the sudden appearance of Theon and Yara who addressed Dany and Tyrion in Meereen’s throne room. I really liked the dynamic here, the conversation flowed naturally and it wasn’t frustratingly vague, when it could have easily been so. The Greyjoys laid it all on the table for Dany and seemed very genuine and assertive, coming to an amicable agreement that she give them the Iron Islands and help kill Euron in exchange for the ships and them backing the Queen’s grab at the Iron Throne. Iron for Iron.
While dragons almost stole the entire episode from the action over Winterfell, it was hard not to stay invested in Jon’s struggle against Ramsay. Although the battle was fairly flat for tension, the build up and release was spectacular to watch. Ramsay has been the most well drawn, brilliantly acted villain the show has seen to date and it’s unlikely they will be able to build someone up like him again; watching the bastard of Bolton slyly – and calmly – threaten Jon Snow was appropriately unnerving and added credence to Sansa’s insistence that Jon was coming at this the wrong way.
Sophie Turner’s acting has never been better this season, and though time spent with her has been limited, portraying a headstrong and insightful woman determined to claim back her ancestral home has been a glowing strength for her. This was highlighted in her brief argument with Jon, verbally slapping some sense into him and making the eventual reveal (that wasn’t really a surprise anyway) of Littlefinger’s army that much more impactful.
When Catelyn disagreed with Rob’s decisions she rarely – save from freeing Jaime for which she was reprimanded – deviated from loyalism; Sansa – like all Stark children – moved away from convention by going behind Jon’s back and sending a letter to Littlefinger requesting help, doing what needs to be done and essentially making the winning move against Ramsay.
Sansa is in a long line of younger Game of Thrones characters who are pragmatic in the face of tradition, breaking the chains of the old ways and helping rearrange the order of the new world. This theme has been an undercurrent for Game of Thrones ever since the very beginning, and working it into the plot here and having it be the masterstroke is an excellent move that will hopefully continue over the next 15 episodes.
The gritty battle was tracked incredibly well, and having Ramsay’s army forming a semi-circle then edging in with their spears provided the only real tension in the episode, a formation that was spectacularly viewed with some wide aerial shots. Jon being briefly trampled and Tormund fighting Smalljon was the only real misstep here in terms of direction, fast and blurred with no real clarity on what was happening until Jon rose and Brienne’s ruggedly handsome suitor took a huge chunk out of the Umber idiot.
Ser Davos – he who now, finally, knows what happened to Shireen – was unfortunately underused in the battle scenes but had an important part to play in rallying the army as Jon fell into Ramsay’s trap, which was set with the sad death of Rickon, one last “hunt” for the sadistic bastard. From the second Ramsay let Rickon run to Jon it was clear what was going to happen but it was no less tragic, particularly given the heart-wrenching shot of his corpse lying there while arrows would drive straight into it.
Wun-Wun taking his very last arrow before his death was tragic, and represents a great loss to the strength of Jon’s army, but I guess the show had to give Ramsay one last villainous thing to do before poetic justice came into play and, in a great scene, starving his hounds came back around as they ripped the evil flesh from his evil bones.
Visually, this was a very big episode for Game of Thrones and Sapochnik deserves his reputation as one of the show’s most valuable directors. Every episode with his name attached to it will be held to high standards from now on, and while it wasn’t completely flawless, “Battle of the Bastards” gave us some necessary closure to Ramsay’s feared existence and some scenes fans will be talking about for years to come.
Review Score: FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights:
- Sansa arguing with Jon
- Dragons in action
- Grey Worm making the kill
- Semi-circle of death
- Jon beating Ramsay to a pulp
- Hounds ripping Ramsay apart while Sansa smiles
- Tormund taking a chunk out of Smalljon
- Littlefinger to the rescue
Lowlights:
- Davos underused
- Lack of tension
- Killing off Wun-Wun
- Rickon running in a straight line (or Jon not shouting out “hey Rickon if you dart around a bit maybe the arrow will miss you)
Stray Thoughts:
- Killing Ramsay off was necessary fan service, but I do wish they held him captive and Theon got to kill him eventually.
- Rickon could have just hid in front of one of Ramsay’s flayed man set ups
- I wonder what will happen with the Umbers and the other houses now.
Episode MVP: Dany/Sansa
Game of Thrones screens in Australia on Showcase every Monday at 11am and 7:30.
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