WARNING: This review contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.
Man, that episode was so much better than last week’s premiere. The episode still served up a lot of set up for the season, this time focusing on some characters we missed in the premiere, but overall it felt less exposition heavy. And of course there was the huge moment at the end that surprised no one, but we’ll get to that in a minute. First, let’s walk through the big happenings from “Home.”
There was a lot of death in this episode, huh? Roose Bolton, Balon Greyjoy, some Knight’s Watch dudes, and that poor sap that got walled by Frankenstein’s Mountain. For real, those kills by The Mountain and the giant at Castle Black were brutal. I’d love to see those two go toe to toe.
I have to say that I’m very relieved we’re getting the Greyjoy story from the books. It was something that I was very interested in seeing on screen, but after the timeline of season five, I was afraid the show was going to skip it completely. In the books, Balon Greyjoy falls to his death and then there’s a Kingmoot to decide the next ruler of the Iron Islands. So far in the show, it looks to be between Yara and Euron Greyjoy, Balon’s younger brother. There are some other characters that play into it in the books, but I won’t spoil that here in case they do end up on the show in some capacity. Regardless, there are a lot of fascinating characters and politics in the Iron Islands, and it’s a place we know far too little about in the world of the show. Hopefully the writers are setting up Yara to be a major player as she was in the books. She definitely can be ruthless, but she seems as just a person as you can find amongst the Greyjoys. On the other hand, Euron doesn’t look how I imagined from the books. He’s described as being highly battle-worn, and I pictured him as older, with an eye patch. This Euron is definitely a different look, but he seems to have the same brutal nature. I’m guessing the show is setting him up as the new bad guy.
Roose Bolton’s death is going to have huge repercussions on the rest of the season, if my theory is correct. I said last week that Sansa would end up heading to The Wall, and it seems like that’s the plan. It just so happens that Ramsay Bolton has been wanting to head up north to take out Jon Snow, obviously not knowing that he was already dead. If Jon was alive, there would always be someone for the northerners to rally behind against the Boltons, and Ramsay just could not deal with that. Now that Jon is alive again, could we see Sansa reunite with her brother, only to be attacked by Ramsay’s army? That seems like something this show would do. I am a little sad that Roose is dead, to be honest. He obviously deserved his comeuppance for his part in the Red Wedding, but he was a great leash for Ramsay. Roose was the only person that could keep his son in line. Without that moral compass (however broken), we get the kind of Ramsay that feeds his step-mother and half brother to the dogs. Yikes.
I also want to point out another quick little moment that may end up being important. Last week, I was speculating on when we might see Rickon Stark and Osha again, if ever. They were heading to The Last Hearth, otherwise known as the house of the Umbers. It was easy to miss, but Ramsay actually referenced the Umbers in this week’s episode. Roose was arguing that by killing Jon Snow, they’d make enemies out of most of the north. Ramsay replied that they didn’t need all of the northerners to be allies, as house Karstark, house Umber, and another house (sorry, it’s escaping me right now) held larger armies than the other houses combined. Before Osha and Rickon left him, Bran told them that house Umber would always be loyal to house Stark, and that’s why they should head there. It could all end up being nothing, but maybe, just maybe, Ramsay will end up being taken out by the Umbers at some point, under the leadership of young Rickon. It’s a long shot, but something worth thinking about.
But, enough about the Boltons, those assholes. Let’s quickly get through the other happenings in this episode. Poor Cersei didn’t get to go to her daughter’s funeral. She’s really having a rough go of it, isn’t she? I was talking about this with my wife, and I’m really curious to see what happens with Cersei. Is there a hidden storm brewing under that pixie haircut, or is it possible that she really has changed her ways? She’s been very non-confrontational so far this season. Maybe that walk of shame really did change her. I kind of doubt it, but it would be really interesting to see her become a more sympathetic character. Remember how much you hated Theon a few seasons ago? And now tell me you weren’t a little sad when he decided not to stick with Sansa. This show is amazing at turning hated characters into heroes, and it might be happening with Cersei.
Arya is still blind, but at least now she’s getting some love from Jaqen. She’s such a huge badass, and it seems like she really is turning her back on Arya Stark and becoming “no one.” She’s gonna murder some faces, I promise you that. We also got to see Bran this episode! I was disappointed that he didn’t show up in the premiere, but I was satisfied with his screen time to start this episode. Magic in the Game of Thrones universe is something that is always referenced, but rarely seen. That’s what makes Bran’s story so exciting. Yer a wizard, Bran.
Quickly (or not so quickly), I have another potential spoiler / theory based on stuff from this episode. If you remember back to the first season six trailer, there was a quick scene of a man in armor stabbing another man. Neither character was one we’ve seen, but the guy doing the stabbing was wearing armor with the Targaryen crest on it. This was big news because Dany is the only living Targaryen, and we’ve never seen anyone wear Targaryen armor. So, this could either have been a scene from later in the season, maybe when Dany gets an army or something. OR, what is the more popular theory, and the one I get behind, is that this scene was a flashback. I think this is a flashback to a well-known story in the Game of Thrones universe. It’s from the day that Lyanna Stark died. Stick with me on this, shit gets complicated.
So, Rhaegar Targaryen was the prince of Westeros, and next in line to be king after his father, King Aerys, known on the show as the Mad King. Rhaegar was also the eldest brother of Dany, and her late brother Viserys. The whole Targaryen dynasty went to shit when Robert Baratheon started a rebellion and Jaime Lannister stabbed the Mad King in the back. The entire Targaryen line was wiped out, except for Dany, Viserys, and Aemon (who had become a maester and joined the Night’s Watch). This scene that I’m taking about is what started the war and put everything into motion.
You see, Robert Baratheon was promised in marriage to Lyanna Stark, Ned’s sister. Rhaegar Targaryen was married to Elia Martell, of Dorne (Prince Oberyn and Prince Doran’s sister). Are you starting to see where all of these important family pieces come together? Anyway, rumor was that Rhaegar didn’t love Elia Martell, and instead had eyes for someone else: Lyanna Stark. As the history books tell it, Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna, brought her to Dorne, and raped her. After this happened, Lyanna’s brother Brandon and father Rickard were both murdered by King Aerys after they demanded Lyanna be freed and Rhaegar be punished. Ned Stark then rode south to rescue Lyanna with the help of Howland Reed (father to Meera and Jojen Reed) and some other knights. When they arrived, Lyanna had already been killed. Robert then killed Rhaegar in single combat, before taking the throne for himself.
If that all sounds confusing, remember that this is only how the history books remember it. The truth may be something else entirely. My theory (which is shared by some) is that Ned didn’t find his sister raped and murdered by Rhaegar. Instead, she had gone with Rhaegar willingly and ended up having his bastard son. This son was given to Ned to protect when Lyanna died, and Ned took him in as his own. He came up with a story of his infidelity to cover the truth, and named his pretend bastard son Jon Snow. MIC DROP. Jon Snow is actually half Targaryen, half Stark, and as such, has a valid claim to the Iron Throne. Boom.
Soooo, long story made long, that scene we saw in the season six trailer is that scene, where Ned rides south to rescue Lyanna and learns the real truth. And I think we’ll get that scene through Bran’s visions of the past, which were introduced in this episode. You know who else we saw in a flashback this episode? A young Lyanna Stark. If you don’t have goosebumps about how brilliant I am, you’re even more dead than Jon Snow was last week.
And yeah, Jon Snow got brought back to life because of course he did. I don’t think anyone out there thought he was really dead, or at least that he’d remain that way for long. I am super curious to see how he responds to his recent un-deadness. Is he glad to be back? Is he changed in any way? What’s he gonna do about Sir Allister and those other brothers that betrayed him? Will he take back over as Lord Commander, or will he decide to leave the Night’s Watch behind? The vows may be for life, but he’s technically on his second one, now. Find out next time on Game of Thrones.
9.1/10