GAME OF THRONES Season 6 Episode 09
Episode Title: “Battle of the Bastards”
Writers: David Benioff & D. B. Weiss
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Previously on Game of Thrones:
There are spoilers ahead for last night’s episode of Game of Thrones, but don’t pretend that you didn’t know that!
I’m amazed that some of my fellow critics and fans of Game of Thrones apparently have such sky high expectations of the series that they are actually arguing that last night’s episode was a let down. That it somehow failed to live up to the lofty heights that the show has previously reached.
So let me just say that they’re full of s***. This was easily the best episode of the season, and arguably one of the best of the series. HBO original dramas are often in the grey area between television and movies. “Battle of the Bastards” fell firmly on the cinematic side, and I’d love to see it on a big screen. Considering that HBO has done that before for select episodes, it’s not impossible.
Think back to the earliest days of Game of Thrones, when Tyrion was knocked out before a major battle and essentially slept through it. Or the time that Robb Stark led his troops into battle, only for a quick fade to the end of the fight. At the time, it was understood that GoT didn’t have the budget to pull off those sequences. And HBO still hasn’t admitted how much it cost to shoot this episode, although the early estimates are above $15 million.
It was worth it. This episode outdid the spectacle of the Battle of Black Water and the Battle of Castle Black. The earlier battles were spoiled ahead of time for me, so they lacked a certain tension. The Battle of the Bastards had no published story to go on, hence the relatively spoiler free broadcast. That made for some extremely intense moments as things turned out very poorly for Jon Snow and his makeshift army of Wildlings and Northerners. Everyone expected a clear victory for Jon. Instead, both sides lost their respective armies and the North has been greatly weakened ahead of a much more dangerous invasion. Make no mistake, this was not a victory for the Starks, despite the return of their banner to Winterfell.
Let’s stop for a moment to consider Wun Wun, the episode’s most emotionally resonant victim. I felt more for the giant who died than I did for Rickon “Cameo” Stark. It’s not as if Wun Wun’s personality was any better developed than Rickon’s, although he did get more screen time this season. Wun Wun took so much punishment in this episode that I kept waiting for the fatal blow to come, and then it did. The last giant is gone, just when the world needed him the most. But what a way to go out!
Related: What Went Into The Latest Epic Battle on ‘Game of Thrones?’
Rickon was not spared, which means that he and Osha both returned for two scenes before dying this season. If the show’s creative team expected us to really feel for Rickon, then they failed. Jon got a measure of sympathy in that sequence, even though he had clearly fallen into Ramsay’s trap. One of my favorite moments in the den of battle was Jon’s ill-fated attempt to give an order to one of his soldiers moments before the soldier took a fatal arrow.
Admittedly, the end of the primary battle was telegraphed last week when Sansa wrote to the Knights of the Vale and Littlefinger. At this point, we know how Game of Thrones works, and the show has relied on the last minute save more than once. So no, it wasn’t a shock ending. But it was definitely satisfying, especially when Sansa got her revenge on Ramsay. Although, getting eaten by his own starving dogs was still too good a death for Ramsay. Iwan Rheon has been a great villain on this show, but Ramsay will not be missed.
The rest of the episode largely wrapped up the Meereen storyline, as Daenerys put down the slave masters once and for all with her dragons. But it may have been Tyrion who kept her from going “Mad Queen” and burning entire cities to the ground to make her point. Note that this was probably a clever way to remind the audience that King’s Landing is lined with Wildfire, which will probably come into play next week. In the meantime, we got to see Tyrion, Grey Worm, and Missandei get some payback on the Masters for reneging on their deal. But nothing beats watching the three dragons attacking the fleet in unison.
I was less than enamored with the secondary plotline of Meereen, which brought Yara and Theon to Daenerys’ doorstep a lot faster than anticipated. However, the show does earn a nod for remembering to callback to Theon and Tyrion’s scene from the first season. Five years is a long time to set up something like that! The show also seemed to hint that Yara and Daenerys admire each other, which will surely be the ship that launches a 1,000 femslash fan-fiction tales. I still find Yara to be a boring character, but anything that gets Daenerys in Westeros is a win. I predict that the final image of the season will be Daenerys and her new fleet crossing the Narrow Sea at last.
Although this wasn’t a perfect episode, “Battle of the Bastards” lived up to everything that it promised. The bar has been raised for this series, and it’s likely that even greater battles are still to come as the show enters its final two seasons.
What did you think about last night’s episode? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
