Actually, I expected a typical GoT episode where everyone that is a "good" character gets violently killed. Going with that old "someone comes to save the day" trope was a nice change of pace.

Quick question: Jon instructed that Rickon should be buried in the tomb next to his father. Leaving alone the fact that people are not buried in tombs, when did most of Ned's body make it back to Winterfell? Last I recall it was chilling in a coat check closet in The Twins.

Didn't Cat send it back to winterfell?

And if she did, she probably knew that Bolton would not fight an army that size, but would instead hole-up for a siege that Jon Snow could not win. If that's true, then Sansa turns out to be the best strategist of the episode, which I think is what they were trying to say in that scene where they were planning the attack. She knows Jon Snow thinks with his emotions, and she made the cold, hard decision. Between that, and the little smile at the end, I think we've seen a complete turnaround of her character.

Or when Tywin and the Tyrell's saved King's Landing.

Good episode.

I expect the finale to be really quiet.

I felt she already turned when she went Dark Sansa

Damn it, Wun Wun! Why didn't you have your flaming log?

RIP big guy.

I liked the dragons just burying the ships into the water with fire. The giant fucking pit bull eating Ramsay's face was brilliant.

Great episode.

Rickon should have Benny Hill that run.

This episode rocked, made up for the last one. Cersei is up next for her burn.

Don't know if it was mentioned on the show, but in the book Tyrion sent Ned's body back to Winterfell when he was Hand of the King.

There's something that bothered me about Ramsay Bolton's forces that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I think I finally grasped it in this episode. We didn't have anyone on their side to root for.

Other than the White Walkers, we've had sympathetic characters with pretty much every large army in Westeros, even if we don't like whoZ's in charge. With the Lannisters there was Tyrion (and to a lesser extent, Jamie). With Stannis there was Davos. Same with the Nights Watch and the Wildlings. There were people we liked on both sides.

The reason it bothered me here was because this is the north. It would have been nice to have seen someone in the battle on Bolton's side who was sympathetic to the Starks, even if they were too intimidated by Ramsay (or too pragmatic about the likelihood) to actually fight at Jon Snow's side.

Instead, Bolton's forces were were presented as just an extension of him. Surely some of those men would have been Stark banner men at once point.

It's no big deal, but this just seemed a little more black and white than the shades of gray the show has used before.

[QUOTE=Lastblade;12830711]Rickon should have Benny Hill that run.

QUOTE]

Which is probably why they chose not to have him do that; they were probably afraid it might get a laugh. We're all thinking it, the director and the writers had to be thinking it, -but we're kind of referencing it out of a comedy ("The In-Laws", for example). The only way to make a crazy run work on a big huge battlefield is to change the focus of the scene to Rickon and get into his head, but it isn't Rickon's scene, -it's Jon watching a tragedy play out, which Sansa wisely warned him of, but he didn't want to listen.

Just because a character doesn't do what you think they should do, does not necessarily make it "lazy writing".

I think they painted themselves into a corner with Ramsey. They didn't give him a single redeemable quality and they extended that on to his forces as well.

They could've had Rickon zig zag but that wasn't going to save him and it would've just wasted time on the screen. They made a point of showing the long distance between him a Jon and zig zagging would've done nothing but make that distance further.

Thoughts on the Direwolves. Lady was the first one killed yet Sansa is one of the remaining Stark children. She's not going to make it out of this alive. Will Nymeria come back during the climax of the show or are we supposed to forget about her? Does Summer being killed signify that Bran has moved beyond just being a Stark and is destined for something far bigger?

Also, it seem pretty ridiculous that Sansa would not bother telling Jon about the backup army since their very lives were at stack. On twitter, I saw someone impose Littlefinger's head onto Galdalf's body in the scene where they save the day when all hope is gone.

The Rickon scene reminded me of this one, and they did zig zag here. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKVgF2hA0Q8

I think the Jon charging calvary served two purposes. First tease the audience that Jon could actually die here, folks. Also show again that Jon isn't a very bright person, but his hate of Ramsey is at a high point and the payoff is when he almost beats him to death.

I wonder who fills the role of ultimate psycho baddy now that Rasmey and Joffrey are gone. Who could top them?

Was Dany essentially controlling all 3 dragons at the same time? Meaning each does not need it's own "rider"?

I loved the masters thinking "he is not one of us, he was low born" is something that would help them. And I loved that they broke their word to the masters and killed two not one.

The zig-zagging in that scene wasn't erratic enough. The archers were able to anticipate their movements and compensate for it.

Regardless, Rickon had to die in that scene, but for him to 'appear' to attempt to be elusive would've made the scene a bit better.

Ellaria Sand
Varys

It looks like they will follow the big one which seems to be the Alpha.

Varys is as likely to become a villain as Tyrion is. His line in season 1 to Ned about serving the realm has so far been pretty accurate. Most of his actions aren't motivated out of purely self interests.

Euron is my guess.

In theory, House Umber could have filled that role. They were among the most loyal bannermen, and when they introduced the Small Jon earlier this year they made it clear he thought Ramsay was a piece of shit, and that his turning was more to do with the wildlings camped right on their doorstep.

But he also turns over Rickon and cuts off Shaggydog's head so you can't exactly sympathize with him. And you couldn't exactly have the wildlings invading the Last Hearth b/c then they'd be violating the agreement with Jon.

I'm surprised we didn't see some of Ramsay's army turn, especially since Jon mentions that. Would have been nice to see Jon be right about something