“Come and see.”
Perhaps the most common criticism of Game of Thrones’ sixth season is that the show-runners have spent too long setting the table while their audience looks longingly at the kitchen’s closed door…
Well, well, well. Come and see. With season six’s penultimate episode, director Miguel Sapochnik has served viewers a feast to rival The Red Wedding, Hardhome and all the most epic moments in the show’s back catalogue.
The Battle of The Bastards is not the kind of television you watch. It’s the kind of television that happens to you. The kind of television you recover from. If you’re lucky.
Meereen
The episode begins with Dany’s swift suppression of the Masters’ revolt, complete with plenty of snappy verbal exchanges that serve to highlight her ever-growing badass status.
Her tilt for the Iron Throne has also been bolstered by the arrival of Yara Greyjoy, the ever-mopey Theon in tow, with whom Dany flirts before agreeing to grant the independence of the Iron Islands in exchange for their 100 ships.
The Meereen segment of the show was made complete by a horde of ululating Dothraki riders cutting the Sons of the Harpy into Sons of the Harpy McNuggets. We only got a few seconds of the horsemen in action but if it was anything to go by, we can expect to see them dominate some of the forces of Westeros once they arrive on the continent.
That moment when Dany & Yara did the 'Predator' handshake #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/NYLAt3XHSh
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) June 20, 2016
Winterfell
Soon after the stop-off in Essos, we were taken back across the Narrow Sea and further north to join Jon, Sansa, Davos and their small band of Stark-loyal northerners and Wildlings on the eve of the titular battle.
Focusing largely on the battle itself, the episode is naturally rather light on dialogue. That considered, enormous credit goes to Sapochnik’s vision and its execution by the Game of Thrones technical crew – who will surely find themselves awash with Emmys thanks to their efforts on this episode.
When a sequence is rendered with so few flaws, it’s tough to pick highlights – but Sapochnik’s pacing and staging of Rickon’s death in particular, which ostensibly opens the battle proper, is magnificent.
Ramsay offers the youngest Stark the chance to run across the battlefield-to-be – only to start firing arrows at him as soon as he hits the ground. Great care is paid to emphasise Ramsay’s nonchalant misses at first, before a painstaking build-up to the third arrow… Only for Ramsay to miss again.
We get a side view of Rickon, mere yards from the safety of Jon’s arms, before a head-on shot of the arrow piercing through the young boy’s heart. Unlike all the others arrows, there is no build up to the killing blow – we are merely shown Jon and Rickon on the home stretch, and then an arrow tearing through Rickon’s chest. And so Jon charges headfirst at the Bolton forces.
From that point forth, the battle sequence is exquisite – packed with moments that will live long in the memory: Jon Snow removing his belt as he unsheathes Longclaw and faces down hundreds of Bolton forces, the unbroken take of Jon’s charmed existence as he dodges and ducks assaults like he was trained by Patches O’Houlihan, head-on horse collisions… Sapochnik captures the confusion, the chaos and the carnage of medieval warfare and it is captivating.
https://twitter.com/MatthewACherry/status/744936573863665664
The episode provides 59 minutes of tension unbroken until the credits roll. It’s a testament to the topsy-turvy nature of the show that no moment feels comfortable. Heroes and villains are as likely to meet their end at any given moment, no matter who seems to have the upper-hand.
George RR Martin has regularly subverted the expected storyline, particularly where Stark men are concerned (Eddard, Robb…) – but in The Battle of the Bastards the protagonists finally have their day.
In a moment of Littlefinger-ex-machina that many saw coming, Petyr Baelish responded to a secretly-written call-to-arms by Sansa Stark (who is proving every bit as astute as her mother) – leading the Knights of the Vale into battle at the last to ravage Ramsay’s phalanx who had left their rearguard utterly exposed.
Jon, Wun Wun and Tormund chase a retreating Ramsay to Winterfell where Wun Wun breaks down the door before he’s finally slain (having withstood what seems to be a thousand arrows). Ramsay then takes aim at Jon Snow but his fellow bastard is too quick for him, knocks him to the ground and beats him within an inch of his life. And in a moment that will have you wondering whether you’re watching the right show, the good guys win. For the second time in an episode.
The question is: at what price? The first casualty of the battle is of course Rickon, undeniably the least-relevant of all the Starks – while emotive, his death has little to no implications for the show going forward. The already-paltry Stark forces are also depleted, but we imagine that won’t matter too much right now because they’ve got the Knights of the Vale onside…
Which brings us to Littlefinger. The conniving little cut-throat has saved the day and is now perfectly positioned for a strategic marriage to Sansa – there’s no doubt he wants to become Lord of Winterfell. Taking into account her experiences so far, Sansa will hardly be over the moon about this arrangement, so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.
Davos also appears to have discovered Melisandre’s role in burning his young friend Shireen to death – which is going to give the Stark camp something else to solve in the season finale.
But we swear, on the Old Gods and the new, it was all worth it to see the Stark banner unfurled on the walls of Winterfell once more.
Best line – Sansa Stark
Between cutting off Ramsay to tell him he will die, winning a war of words with Jon over strategy, riding in to save the day alongside the Knights of the Vale (who she herself beckoned) and watching Ramsay feed his dogs (literally), Sansa has more highlights in this one episode than she’s had in the previous almost-six seasons combined.
Her most cutting bar is directed at Jon, when he assures he’ll never let Ramsay Snow hurt her again. “No-one can protect me. No-one can protect anyone.”
It is a lesson she has learned time and again at the cruel hands of the narrative, and she’s setting out to teach it to the men who are resting on the laurels of heroic ideals. In the end, it’s her plan that saves Jon’s life.
Best death – Rickon Stark
Of course there’s a satisfying irony in seeing Ramsay fed to the hounds he’s used to tortured and devour countless conquests, but the best death goes to Rickon Stark.
Yes, perhaps he’d have evaded Ramsay’s arrows if he’d done more cardio or simply run in a zig-zag but as we mentioned earlier, the youngest Stark’s death is such a well-worked directional double-bluff that it shocks the audience despite being the most obvious outcome. Bravo, Miguel Sapochnik.
Battle of Bastards Man of the Match
Definitely Wun Wun. The giant played a blinder, and was fittingly killed when Ramsay foolishly fired an arrow into his eye rather than taking out Jon Snow.
Best screengrab
This absolutely iconic still of the mean-mugged Lyanna Mormont.
All I want is a woman that looks at me like Lyanna Mormont looks at everybody. #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/SeyF3KtjwO
— Tim (@CookPassTim) June 20, 2016
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