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If there has ever been a Game of Thrones season that has been hyped up to the max, it would be season six. The show has officially passed the books in terms of story line and it starting to heavily deviate from the original work of GRRM. Combined with the turmoil of the upcoming war in the North, the approaching army of the dead, and the possible return of a beloved character, season six will have to do a lot to satisfy fans' itching desires for a kick ass season.
Since I am officially now a "book-reader" (having completed the season in the time off) and I am very excited to be able to compare my experiences with the books to the plot lines in the show. This will serve as both an episode recap and comparison medium, and I hope you will enjoy my writing.
I want to start off by saying that I was really excited for this season, like really fucking excited. The trailers that were put out by HBO in the months leading up to last Sunday were breathtaking, and I'm sure everyone is dying (no pun intended) to know whether or not Jon Snow is coming back, and if so, how will that happen.
Well, I could answer that now if you would like; yes, Jon Snow will be returning, but I don't think it will be any time soon. My guess is episode four or five in the season, which would give other characters the spotlight and would allow them to grow and have a major point of focus while our favorite bastard lies cold and dead on the Night's Watch's kitchen table.
With that, I would like to begin my full recap of this season's premiere, which I would give an honest 6/10.
Without further ado, here is the recap of "The Red Woman". Of course, be warned, as this post is DARK and FULL OF SPOILERS:
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We enter with a beautiful shot of the wall looking very ominous and strong, which zooms onto the courtyard of Castle Black where we see our beautiful Kit Harrington laying right where we left off in season five. Sir Davos opens his door and is appalled by what he sees before him; the 998th Lord Commander lying dead and punctured like a piece of Swiss Cheese.
Davos alerts other members of the Night's Watch who appear still loyal to Jon Snow (most notably Edd who Jon Snow was great friends with) who come out to carry Snow's body into the Lord Commander's chambers to protect the body from the mutineers.
While the group is gazing in agony at their beloved leader's body, Alliser Thorne approaches from outside the door and states that all men who lay down their arms by sunset will not be harmed. This is clearly a ploy to get the body of Jon Snow so that they can destroy it to prevent any funny business (aka possible resurrection - whether that be in the form of the Lord of Light or even a wight).
Davos and the members of the Watch inside speak for a bit, and send Edd to go and bring back the Wildlings in case things get violent. This is basically all that happens at the Wall in this episode, so we will leave them here for now.
Travel farther south to outside Winterfell, we find Theon and Sansa attempting to escape from the Boltons after jumping off the ramparts at the end of last season. The pair is seen running through the forest and eventually having to cross an icy river, which I'm sure puts a damper on their already low spirits. They come to a fallen tree which creates a small enclave in the snow and sit down for a bit of a rest.
The pair are not comfy for long, however, as howling hounds can soon be heard approaching from the distance. Theon tells Sansa that she will have to go on without him, and he leaves her to go distract the riders and the hounds who shortly come upon him. Honestly, I thought Theon was done for here. I really think Theon will die this season in a semi-heroic way to redeem all the shit he did to Maester Luwin, Sir Rodrik, and the others when he initially took Winterfell.
Theon, surprisingly, is saved just in the nick of time as Brienne and Podrick come galloping in and basically annihilate the Bolton riders who are trying to recapture Theon and Sansa. Brienne then falls to one knee and pledges herself to Sansa in a very heartwarming moment in the episode in which Sansa promises Brienne "You will always have a place by my hearth and at my table". These are the exact same words that Catelyn Stark said to Brienne a few seasons ago, and this was a special moment in my opinion which I think is meant to symbolize the beginning of Sansa's rise in the North. It is clearly evident that Sansa will find loyalty in a family in the North and will use her claim to Winterfell to fuck shit up, but the action with Theon, Brienne, Pod, and Sansa ends here in this episode.
Cross all the way around the world to Dorne, things go from 0 to 100 pretty damn quickly. Ellaria and Tyene Sand approach Doran at his throne and basically tell him that he is a shitty leader and they are tired of him not doing anything. Tyene proceeds to pull out a dagger and stabs my boy Areo Hotah right in the back, killing him right then and there. This was the most surprising moment of the whole episode for me, because Area Hotah is supposedly one of the best fighters in the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series. He could definitely go toe to toe with Jaime Lannister, and honestly could probably match the Mountain in a one on one, because he is pretty damn big too. But nope, it doesn't look like the producers had any big plans for Areo Hotah's character, which I was definitely disappointed by.
Doran Martell also catches a dagger in the chest, this one by Ellaria, to which she says "weak men will never rule Dorne again". Later in the episode, we get a scene on the boat to King's Landing where the other two Sand Snakes kill Trystane Martell, which completely ends the Martell bloodline in Dorne, thus proving the fact that "weak men will never rule Dorne again". Dorne is basicallu starting all over this season, a change from the books, to which of course I can't wait to see what happens there.
In Mareen, not much progress has been made by Tyrion and Varys. They walk the city and talk about how they can win back the people, and notice that the harbor of all the ships has been set on fire. Tyrion remarks "It doesn't look like we will be sailing to Westeros anytime soon" which sets up the idea that neither of the two characters will be leaving the city any time soon.
In Vaes Dothrak, there is not a bloodrider in the horde that is not eyeing up Daenerys Stormborn. She is now in the custody of Khal Moro, who took many of Khal Drogo's people into his command after Drogo's death in season one. The Dothraki men talking about how much they want to have sex with Dany, but she uses her fluency in the language to basically tell them to fuck off.
After explaining that she is the widow of Khal Drogo, Moro tells her that he promises that no harm will come to her. However, apparently it is known that widows of former Khals are reliquished to spend the rest of their days in the Temple of the Dosh Kaleen and serve as acolytes to the Dothraki gods, something that does not sound very fun to our beloved Dany.
In Braavos, Arya is beginning her blind training, and by that I mean she is getting her ass beat by the other girl who always seems to have the last word. Arya is definitely not blind forever, but I do think that this training regime will make her a serious bad ass by the end of the season.
Last but not least, we return to the Wall to find Melisandre in her bed chambers looking rather gloomy. She is removing her robes (like always) but appears that she is going to go to bed. We have never seen Melisandre sleep on the show, like ever, so it is really out of the ordinary. Melisandre also removes her Ruby necklace, something else that has never been shown before, and the camera angle switches to the mirror which Melisandre is looking at her reflection in.
Here is where it gets...weird. The camera pans back to Melisandre and instead of beautiful Carice Van Houten standing naked before us, we see the image of another naked woman, one who is much, much older. Yes, it is shocking to see a saggy and decrepit body, but this is nothing new to the people who have read the books. It is revealed several times that Melisandre is much older than we perceive her as, which is thanks to her power of cloaking and her ability to change people's perception of her and others.
A great example of this power is the situation with Mance Rayder in the books, which has not yet happened on the show. In the books, during the scene when Stannis burns "Mance" at the stake, Melisandre uses her power to cloak the lord of bones (aka rattleshirt) to look like Mance Rayder, meaning that Mance actually lives through the whole process but is perceived as Rattleshirt by onlookers. This situations is revealed in a Jon POV chapter, meaning that many people probably don't know that she possesses this incredible power.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Melisandre has had some serious blunders toward her faith in the Lord of Light. Turns out she was wrong about both Stannis and Jon, who both ended up dying, and something really incredible will have to occur this season to renew her faith in the Lord of Light (aka being able to revive Jon Snow). Her power is very strong when at the Wall, only adding to the almost definite possibility that she will be the one to bring back the bastard.
Daenerys is in a serious pickle and I will love to see how she gets herself out of this one. I'm sure Drogon will make an appearance eventually and will light up some Dothraki folks in a fly-by massacre. Tyrion and Varys will also have an interesting time this season trying to maintain control in Mareen.
I really do think Sansa will have a heavy impact this season. My guess is that she will connect with house Umber who would still be loyal to house Stark. I think she will be able to rally other northern lords to her cause and might be the driving force behind the battle of Winterfell that we all know will occur later this season. It will be a tough road but Sansa has shown on more than one occasion that she can endure almost anything.
Bottom line, this was an appropriate opening episode to what I'm sure will be a tremendous season. I would rate the season overall a 6/10 for the fact that I was definitely shocked by the deaths of the Martell characters. This season is going to by hype, and I think we will finally see aspects of the books that viewers and book lovers have been waiting to see for so long (Tower of Joy flashback, Young Griff storyline, etc).
Until next time.
Night gathers, and now my Watch begins.
-Tyler
