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Game of Thrones: Season Six, Episode 8 – “No One”

20 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by Ben Whittaker in Game of Thrones, Television Reviews

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Anton Lesser, Arya Stark, Beric Dondarrion, Braavos, Brother Ray, Catelyn Stark, Cersei Lannister, Cleganebowl, Clive Russell, Daario Naharis, Daenerys Targaryen, Dean-Charles Chapman, Dorne, Dragons, Drogon, Edmure Tully, Emilia Clarke, Essie Davis, Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, Grey Worm, Gwendoline Christie, Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, Ian McShane, Iwan Rheon, Jacob Anderson, Jaime Lannister, Jaqen H'ghar, Jerome Flynn, Jon Snow, Jonathan Pryce, King's Landing, Kit Harington, Lady Crane, Lady Stoneheart, Lena Headey, Maisie Williams, Mark Addy, Meereen, Michelle Fairley, Missandei, Nathalie Emmanuel, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, No One, Peter Dinklage, Qyburn, Ramsay Bolton, Richard Dormer, Riverrun, Robert Baratheon, Rory McCann, Sansa Stark, Sean Bean, Sophie Turner, Television, The Blackfish, The Brotherhood Without Banners, The Faceless Men, The Faith Militant, The Mountain, Tobias Menzies, Tom Wlaschiha, Tommen Baratheon, TV, Tyrion Lannister, White Walkers

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via watchersonthewall.com

“No One” was a divisive episode of “Game of Thrones”. Major media outlets that regularly praise the show in spite of its faults stated that they didn’t enjoy the episode, and in particular they criticised the handling of Arya’s (Maisie Williams) storyline.

I can understand why this storyline frustrated some viewers because a part of me is disappointed that Arya’s time in Braavos didn’t really develop her as a character, but from my perspective the mistakes that were made here weren’t the result of what this episode did. Arya’s scenes in this episode were exciting and well-shot, and Maisie Williams did a great job, so it seems unfair to criticise “No One” in isolation for faults in a story which has taken two seasons to tell.

Having said that, the failings that the showrunners are guilty of as far as Arya’s storyline is concerned are very apparent. When Arya told Jaqen (Tom Wlaschiha) that she was going home it should’ve been a marquee moment for the character, but instead it felt cheap because her actions leading up to it didn’t really highlight what she had learnt from her time with the Faceless Men. Yes, she used her former blindness to her advantage, so being able to fight in the dark is another string to her bow, but it’s not like this parlour trick is going to be her signature move going forward. In the previous episode Arya had a lapse in concentration which nearly cost her her life, so it’s clear that her time in Braavos hasn’t exactly made her the perfect assassin.

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via telegraph.co.uk

Much of Arya’s storyline in season five could’ve been omitted and replaced with her arc this year and not a lot would’ve changed in the grand scheme of things, and the events of this episode would’ve been just as impactful if Arya hadn’t been stabbed in episode seven. Arya could’ve gone to see Lady Crane (Essie Davis) in this episode to say goodbye because she felt a daughterly affection for her, which would’ve made just as much sense as Arya surviving after having her stomach sliced open, so the latter now feels like a cheap trick which happened simply because episode seven was uneventful on the whole.

To see a character shake off multiple stab wounds in the way that Arya did is really annoying, particularly on a show which is known for its realism and grim depiction of violence, so I have to question what the writers were going for here. Re-watch season one and you’ll see that Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) died of a similar injury to spark the series into life, so to have a child survive – and be able to outrun a merciless killer in spite of her wounds – is disappointing.

Still, these criticisms aren’t levelled entirely at this episode, so I still feel that the reception for “No One” has been unfair. If you’re going to review “Game of Thrones” episode-by-episode, (which I clearly feel is the way to go because it’s what I do), then obviously you have to balance what you’re saying by taking the series as a whole into consideration. You have to consider where the events of each episode fit into the wider narrative, because you can’t separate scenes which are influenced by five seasons of television from said seasons. However, you still have to look at what an episode does and judge it on that basis, because it’s unfair to judge the father by the sins of the son, or vice versa.

With that in mind, I don’t think that Arya’s scenes in this episode were particularly bad. Her interactions with Lady Crane were engaging and reminded us all about her past and what she has lost – i.e. a mother figure – and Maisie Williams’ acting was fantastic, as it has been throughout the series. Furthermore, whilst the mic-drop moment at the end of the episode was a little cliché, we finally got what we all wanted, the promise that Arya is going to return home. So, from a personal perspective I was more than happy with how this episode handled Arya’s story, I just think that there were a couple of speed bumps along the way because of the mistakes that previous episodes have made.

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via comingsoon.net

Much the same can be said for an equally criticised set of scenes in which Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and the Lannister forces took back Riverrun, because whilst these scenes didn’t necessarily land in the way that the writers would’ve hoped for, they weren’t terrible at all. Jaime’s interaction with Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) was wonderful, and it reminded us that he has some good left in him (even if he did proceed to threaten to use a baby as ammunition for a catapult), and so was his conversation with Edmure (Tobias Menzies).

Like Rory McCann, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is an actor who really excels when he can play-off someone else, whether it be Gwendoline Christie, Sean Bean, Jerome Flynn, or Peter Dinklage, so it was no surprise that this episode marked a return to form for him and his character. We saw both sides of the man here – the Oathbreaker and the Oathkeeper – and Coster-Waldau’s acting was brilliant. George R. R. Martin has stated that the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself, and I think that it’s clear in this episode that this perfectly describes Jaime’s character arc.

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via collider.com

Since the series began Jaime has been fighting against the person that everyone else thinks he is, and in the process he’s had to decide what he thinks of himself. Is he the Kingslayer or is he an honourable man who broke his oath to save lives? Is he trying to get back to Cersei (Lena Headey) when he threatens Edmure, as he claims, or is he trying to prevent a full-scale attack and thus keep his promise to Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) not to take up arms against the Tullys? You never really know, but I think that this episode posed these questions in an interesting and intelligent way and the writers deserve credit for that.

The issues that there are with the Riverrun storyline aren’t wholly the result of how the scenes in this episode and its predecessor were executed, but rather the result of the fact that not enough time was spent to build up the conflict in the first place because of the Dorne storyline in season five. In my opinion, if the siege that took place in this episode had been prolonged, perhaps occurring over the course of a whole season, then it would’ve been a lot better and more exciting than what we saw in Dorne last year.

The only genuine issue that I had with Riverrun in this episode was the way in which the writers dealt with The Blackfish’s (Clive Russell) death, because having it happen off-screen was a strange decision. He was portrayed as an honourable man who wanted a death to suit his status, so for that notion to be the main driving force of his character and then not have the moment itself appear simply didn’t work. Plus, when a character isn’t shown to have died on “Game of Thrones” the audience is forced to believe that they’re still alive – given the fact that even characters who die on this show aren’t always dead for good – which takes all impact away from the storyline.

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via bgr.com

Back in King’s Landing, Cersei took the fight to the Faith by choosing violence rather than surrender. This was a fine scene, but personally I didn’t really care what was happening because it was abundantly clear how the charade was going to end. Nobody in the world could possibly have believed that The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) would be overcome by a fool in a cloak, so it was hard to become invested in the events playing out on screen. Nevertheless, the murder that The Mountain committed was still creative and entertaining, and it served to show once again that he is a dangerous man/zombie. Still, part of me wonders why the Faith aren’t preparing a trial for him as well, given that they have that authority and aren’t too fond of murder.

After seeing the physical capabilities of The Mountain, the Faith clearly had to rethink their strategy for dealing with Cersei, because they must’ve been fully aware at that point that the safest bet for the former Queen would be to request a trial by combat with The Mountain acting as her champion. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together could’ve figured that one out, so in the next scene involving Cersei it was revealed by Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) that the practice would be banned. This was a surprising turn of events and puts ideas of Cleganebowl on the backburner for now.

However, The Mountain isn’t the only henchman that Cersei can call upon when she needs to get out of a sticky situation; she also has the deceptively nasty Qyburn (Anton Lesser), along with his little birds. Having exhausted all other options, Qyburn reveals to Cersei that he has followed up on a rumour that she told him about, and that the results are positive. This could mean any number of things, and it would be unwise to jump to too many conclusions, but it would appear that he is referring to wildfire.

We learned from Jaime in season three that The Mad King hid wildfire underneath King’s Landing as a sort of contingency plan should Robert Baratheon succeed in taking the city. His plan was to burn the entire place down and rise again as a dragon, but Cersei probably has a slightly less drastic plan in place. If I had to guess then I’d say that she’ll most likely want to burn down the Sept of Balor in order to get out of her trial, but I’m convinced that in doing so she will cause a lot of collateral damage and possibly kill Tommen. This isn’t just a theory that I’ve made up off the top of my head, it’s actually got a lot of traction online and I think that at this point it’s quite likely. Hopefully if it happens it will push Cersei and Jaime apart so that the latter can finally be the man that he deserves to be.

Daenerys-Game-of-Thrones-No-One-Season-6screenrant.jpg

via screenrant.com

Finally, we have the scenes in Meereen and the scenes involving The Hound (Rory McCann), neither of which were particularly memorable from my perspective. Meereen is never very exciting, but this week it was particularly boring as Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) awkwardly tried to make jokes with Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) before the Masters returned to reclaim their property. With the situation looking dire, there was a loud banging noise, and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) returned to save the day.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like all three of these characters, but it was frustrating that Daenerys returned to Meereen at such a convenient moment. Also, despite the fact that the conversations between Tyrion and his new friends give Missandei and Grey Worm more depth, I just didn’t think that the jokes in this episode were interesting, well-delivered, or funny. I know that this isn’t a comedy and that the point of the jokes was to act as the calm before the storm, but the jokes could’ve at least been interesting in some way couldn’t they? Tyrion has a wealth of knowledge and is constantly reading, so you’d think that he’d have just the right relatable joke for the situation, and it would’ve been hilarious for Grey Worm to tell a really dark joke and think it was normal.

My point is simply that these characters are diverse and well-travelled people with stories to tell, so a moment like this should give them a distinct voice – that simply didn’t happen here, and in fact it was Missandei who came out of the scene on top because she was at least somewhat endearing.

game-of-thrones-season-6-episode-8-the-houndbgr.gif

via bgr.com

The Hound’s scenes were somewhat more exciting than those in Meereen, and actually they were a lot funnier despite the fact that they contained beheadings and hangings. We saw The Hound deal with those responsible for murdering Brother Ray (Ian McShane) and his followers, and we were treated to some time with Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) and the Brotherhood Without Banners. It’s interesting that at this point in The Hound’s story he’s met up with the Brotherhood again, because whilst he isn’t necessarily religious it’s clear that he wants to better himself and fight for a noble cause. He’s lucky to be alive, but he doesn’t really have any reason to go on, so to meet up with men who have a clear purpose could do him a lot of good. Plus, if he’s headed north to fight the white walkers then he could potentially reunite with Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya, which would be something special.

So, overall I liked this episode of “Game of Thrones”. It wasn’t perfect and I have to admit that the climax of Arya’s storyline in Braavos was slightly underwhelming, but in my opinion the problems that this episode encountered were directly caused by the way the story has been handled previously, not because this episode itself was bad. In my opinion, “No One” actually did an admirable job of salvaging certain ideas and making them interesting again, such as Jaime’s inner conflict and Arya’s need for a mother in her life, and there were parts of the episode that I loved, such as Jaime’s conversation with Brienne.

7.5/10

Game of Thrones: Season Six, Episode 7 – “The Broken Man”

13 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by Ben Whittaker in Game of Thrones, Television Reviews

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Aidan Gillen, Alfie Allen, Arya Stark, Braavos, Bran Stark, Brienne of Tarth, Brother Ray, Carice van Houten, Cersei Lannister, Cleganebowl, Daenerys Targaryen, Dean-Charles Chapman, Dragons, Emilia Clarke, Essie Davis, Faye Marsay, Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, Gwendoline Christie, Ian McShane, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Iwan Rheon, Jaime Lannister, Jaqen H'ghar, Jon Snow, Jonathan Pryce, King's Landing, Kit Harington, Lady Crane, Lady Stoneheart, Lena Headey, Littlefinger, Maisie Williams, Margaery Tyrell, Meereen, Melisandre, Natalie Dormer, Ned Stark, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, No One, Peter Dinklage, Ramsay Bolton, Richard Madden, Riverrun, Robb Stark, Robett Glover, Rory McCann, Sansa Stark, Sean Bean, Sophie Turner, Television, The Blackfish, The Broken Man, The Faceless Men, The High Sparrow, The Hound, The House of Black and White, The Ironborn, The Many-Faced God, The Night's Watch, The Waif, The Wall, Theon Greyjoy, Tom McInnerny, Tom Wlaschiha, Tommen Baratheon, TV, Tyrion Lannister, Westeros, White Walkers, Winterfell

got6070004 - comingsoondotnet

via comingsoon.net

“The Broken Man” was a slow episode; it began with a cold opening and ended with a sombre finale, and in between there wasn’t a lot going on. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Seasons of television require moments of restraint, and whilst I didn’t find this episode particularly exciting, it set up future conflict in a reasonably intelligent way. Fan theories were touched upon to thrill book readers, which is enough to keep them entertained despite a noticeable lack of death (until the final two scenes), and there was a lot of strategic positioning going on; whether it be Sansa (Sophie Turner) sending a letter to Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen), Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) speaking with The Blackfish (Clive Russell), or Yara (Gemma Whelan) expressing her plans to make a pact with Daenerys (Emilia Clarke).

This episode was titled “The Broken Man” for a reason; The Hound (Rory McCann), Arya’s (Maisie Williams) worst enemy turned best mate, returned in what was a pretty cool opening scene. It wasn’t particularly shocking for me, because Ian McShane (the actor playing Brother Ray – The Hound’s ‘teacher’ in this episode) gave away the fact that he was going to bring back a character previously thought to be dead on the show prior to the start of season six. This could’ve been a number of characters, with Lady Stoneheart and Jon Snow (Kit Harington) cited as possibilities at the time, but it was obvious to most of us that the only real choice for this resurrection was The Hound, given the description of the character that McShane was set to play and the Gravedigger theory.

On top of that, McShane also revealed that he would only be on the show for one episode, which tarnished my enjoyment of the final scene in “The Broken Man” because it was abundantly clear that Brother Ray was going to die and that The Hound was going to move on. This didn’t make the final scene any less interesting, particularly because it teased Lady Stoneheart in a big way by re-introducing The Brotherhood Without Banners, but I do wish that I hadn’t read any articles about the series before it started because it would’ve been nice to have gone into this episode without knowing this information.

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via popmatters.com

Still, The Hound being back opens up a world of possibilities, including Cleganebowl. I think that everyone in the “Game of Thrones” fandom would like to see the two Clegane brothers face-off against one another at some point, so the fact that this is now a possibility is really exciting. Plus, the face that the reveal was done using a cold opening (i.e. a scene which occurs before the opening credits) made it all the more impactful, as it caught me off guard and made it feel as though The Hound’s return must have real significance. However, I should point out that the main reason that the episode was edited in this way was that Rory McCann’s name appeared in the opening credits!

Having said all this, The Hound wasn’t the only broken man in this episode; Jaime Lannister, Robett Glover (Tom McInnerny), and Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) also showed that they are also utterly damaged.

Jaime’s storyline is perhaps the most interesting here, as he is once again separated from Cersei (Lena Headey) and is thus able to understand the ramifications of his actions outside of King’s Landing. As a character Jaime has always shown that he can be kind as well as cruel, and any abhorrent things he may have done have always been for the sake of Cersei, including pushing Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) out of a window back in episode one. Cersei is toxic for Jaime and she stops him from fulfilling his true potential, so I welcome having him as far away from her as possible.

jaime-riverrun-game-thrones-season-6-episode-7 - idigitaltimes.jpg

via idigitaltimes.com

However, I can’t say that I’m overly bothered about the Freys and The Blackfish. This isn’t to say that the characters themselves are dull or that the actors playing them are doing a bad job, it’s just that it doesn’t feel as though this storyline is ever going to go anywhere, given that the Lannister forces outnumber the Tully forces significantly and it would be silly to have Jaime orchestrating a protracted siege on a decrepit castle for the remainder of the series. He’s going to win the battle, so the real question is whether or not doing so is going to affect his character in an important way. Hopefully it will, because I think the majority of the audience would like to see Jaime return to how he was in season three, when he was finally showing some humanity on his travels with Brienne (Gwendoline Christie).

We know that Brienne and Jaime are going to meet up again in the next episode because their doing so is on the promo, and also because Brienne is headed to Riverrun, so I’m hoping that she can talk some sense into him. I’m not expecting some sort of dramatic change in the character right away, but perhaps Brienne can be the catalyst for another redemptive Jaime character arc.

ep57-ss09-1920-1024x576 - watchersonthewall

via watchersonthewall.com

Elsewhere, Jon and Sansa were on a kind of recruitment drive in the North, trying to convince Stark loyalists to fight for them. Back in season one this was an easy sell for Robb Stark (Richard Madden); at the time Ned (Sean Bean) was still alive, and there was a sense of hatred towards the Lannisters permeating the North. However, following The War of the Five Kings people are less inclined to take up arms – they’ve lost their families, friends, and livelihoods, and they simply want peace. They feel a sense of betrayal at the Starks because of what happened in the North during the aforementioned war, as the ironborn attacked their castles and killed their people, so they aren’t really ready to put their faith in a bastard and a woman who has been married to two of her enemies.

Their logic is sound here, so it’s difficult to get behind the protagonists even though we know that their cause is righteous. They’re in a tough spot right now, so they need to do something to turn the tide – step in Littlefinger. It seems obvious to me that Sansa was writing her letter to Littlefinger asking for his support, and it also seems clear that she’ll get it… for now. I like to imagine that Littlefinger wants what’s best for Sansa, but it’s going to be hard for her to trust him in the future after everything he’s done, and I don’t think that he’ll be satisfied with an alliance in which he doesn’t have complete control. This leads me to think that we could well see a trademark Littlefinger betrayal before the season is over; imagine if Littlefinger was to lend his support to Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) and bolster the Bolton army instead at the last minute! He likes to fight for the team that’s got the best chance of winning after all.

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via comingsoon.net

A scene which wasn’t so amazing in this episode was the one in which Margaery (Natalie Dormer) and the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) had a conversation about the marriage bed. I have to say that from a personal perspective I’m becoming increasingly bored with this storyline and with King’s Landing in general, because as I mentioned last week, there’s nothing that the Lannisters, the Tyrells, or the Faith can do to stop Daenerys or the white walkers. Although they were a key factor in the first few seasons of this series, the Lannisters feel like a side note to a far more important story now, which means that when they appear on screen they merely take up time which could be spent on more compelling events elsewhere.

Nonetheless, I’m not naïve enough to believe that this is really the case, because the way in which the showrunners are streamlining George R. R. Martin’s narrative leads me to believe that anything they’re putting on the screen has to be important in some way or another; it’s just that this storyling doesn’t feel like it is when I’m watching it unfold, and the way it feels to watch an episode of television is very important.

I’m expecting Cersei to get her comeuppance at some point, just as I’m expecting Margaery to outthink the High Sparrow, but how either of these things will come about is much less clear. It seems like Cersei will have a trial by combat to decide her fate, but it also appears that if she does she’ll come out on top, so the trouble won’t end there. Cersei wants the High Sparrow dead and the High Sparrow wants Cersei in chains, so it’s pretty clear that both of them can’t go on living as they are right now. After Bran’s visions last week, I’m expecting Cersei to use wild fire to burn down the Great Sept of Balor (probably with the High Sparrow inside) but because we’re talking about Cersei here something will likely go array. Perhaps she’ll set the whole city on fire, making it easier for Daenerys to take it amidst the chaos, or maybe she’ll unwittingly kill Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) and thus fulfil the prophecy which she fears so much. I think the latter would be a really satisfying way to end her character arc, so that’s what I’m putting my money on.

Finally, I should probably mention what was simultaneously my favourite and least favourite scene in “The Broken Man”, Arya’s stabbing by The Waif (Faye Marsay). Arya walked the streets of Braavos with a skip in her step, booking passage back to Westeros and staring out into the distance with a dream of freedom in her mind. She looked triumphant and happy for the first time in a long time because she was finally herself again – she wasn’t ‘No One’, she was Arya Stark and she was ready to go home.

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via bgr.com

Sadly, things aren’t so easy for the youngest of the Stark girls, and once again her dreams were wrecked by violence. The Waif, disguised as a very agile old woman, snuck up from behind her and stabbed her violently in the stomach, once again showing that she is a very bad Faceless Man; firstly because she didn’t finish the job, and secondly because Jaqen (Tom Wlaschiha) told her not to let Arya suffer – I don’t know if this is just my opinion, but being stabbed in the belly and allowed to bleed out in a canal isn’t a peaceful way to go.

The scene itself was great to watch because for a moment I really did believe that Arya was going to die, and it injected a feeling of urgency into the episode which was noticeably missing before that moment. However, when I took a step back and thought about the stabbing in the context of the series, I realised that Arya’s actions were wholly unbelievable. There’s a real inconsistency here with the portrayal of the character, because the Arya Stark that we know wouldn’t be so careless with her life as to walk out into the open and stand still for all to see; at least not when she knows that there is a skilled assassin out to kill her.

As such, there are two logical explanations which explain her carelessness; 1) she doesn’t think anyone is out to kill her, which seems incredibly silly given that she knows that she’s denied the Many-Faced God a life; or 2) the writers are lazy.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out which one of these options is the reality of the situation, as it’s pretty clear that the character knew what she was in for when she spared Lady Crane’s (Essie Davis) life; after all, she ran away rather than returning to the House of Black and White. Some people have gone as far as to theorise that Arya has split-personality disorder in order to bridge the logical gap between Arya’s actions and the character as established by the first five seasons, but I have to say that I think this is a massive stretch on their part. Whilst it would be interesting if this was actually the case – with The Waif symbolising the side of Arya that wants to become ‘No One’ and destroy what’s left of the girl she once was – the show just doesn’t have the time to sink its teeth into a psychological phenomenon like this before the end of the season. To do so would require a lot of exposition and a lot of explanation that the writers don’t really need to implement, especially when most people have been satisfied with how Arya’s plot has been handled thus far in season six.

It’s more likely that Arya really did have a lapse of concentration at the worst possible time, and that the writers wrote the storyline in this way to save time in a series which has become diluted with characters competing for a slither of screen time. It’s a shame, but it’s the reality of the situation.

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via moviepilot.com

Where Arya goes from here is much more interesting to theorise about, because she’s definitely going to need help if she’s going to survive (although if we’re being honest with ourselves she wouldn’t survive – she has no access to proper healthcare and her gaping stomach wounds would either cause her to die of blood loss or they’d become infected, leading to septic shock). Help will most likely come in the form of Lady Crane, not just because she’s the only person that Arya knows in Braavos who doesn’t want her dead, but also because the writers have spent a lot of time this season trying to establish a rapport between the pair. I think having Lady Crane support Arya in her time of need would be incredibly cheap on the part of the writers, but frankly I wouldn’t put it past them right now given that they’re desperate to simplify proceedings at every turn.

I’ve seen screenshots which suggest that Syrio Forel (Arya’s ‘dance teacher’ in season one played by Miltos Yerolemou) could be the person who helps Arya survive her attack, but they could easily have been photo-shopped so I wouldn’t hold out much hope. I think that this would be a far better way to carry on her story and also to remind her of her past as Arya Stark, but when Maisie Williams has asked the showrunners whether or not Syrio Forel is still alive in the past they have responded with a resounding ‘no’, which probably means we won’t see him again on the series.

So, that was the episode. The Hound returned, the High Sparrow talked about the birds and the bees, Jon and Sansa recruited their army, Jaime went to Riverrun, Theon was sad in a brothel, (which I’ve intentionally ignored because it was a nothing scene), and Arya got stabbed. That might be a slightly patronising description of what was a reasonably well-written and intelligent episode of television, but that’s the meat of what happened in “The Broken Man”. It was an episode which took a long time to come to life, but the reintroduction of The Hound and the imminent conclusion to Arya’s time in Braavos were enough to provide a sense of intrigue and excitement. It wasn’t a memorable episode, and moments could’ve been executed with greater care, but on the whole “The Broken Man” was a decent hour of television.

6.5/10

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