A Recap of Thrones: Season Six, Episode Seven: The Broken Man

By Holly Hill (@hollishillis)

CLEGANEBOWL GET HYPE! It’s finally happening. The Hound is alive and well, and as the episode started this way, let’s start the recap there as well.

We all knew something was up when our intro music didn’t suddenly start playing tonight, but instead we watch a group of the happiest people to ever step foot in Westeros build a wooden structure of some sort. Holy Ian McShane (that guy who says ‘cocksuckers’ a lot in Deadwood) joins the cast for an episode as a reformed man who seems to be the one we can thank for saving The Hound’s life after Arya left him for dead. He is alive and well, and possibly waiting for a good moment to go kill his brother, when all the good people he’s been chilling with are slaughtered. It’s a great way for him to take that axe he’s been using to angrily chop wood, and exact some revenge on the three guys who did the killin’. I’m expecting a full Hound recovery by the end of the season so he can fight and defeat his brother in Cersei’s trial by combat.

Speaking of Cersei, I think this will be her last season. It’s a shame because Lena Heady is such a great actress and I’ve really enjoying loving to hate Cersei these past few years. But, if we want The Hound to win this one, Cersei obviously will lose this one, and it’s pretty clear from the verbal bitch slap that Olenna gave her, The Lannisters are done for. Queen Margaery is playing a good long game (the stuffing of the rose symbol rather than the Sparrow symbol into her grandmother’s hand proves it). She’s just waiting for the perfect opportunity to shove Tommen off a roof after Cersei dies and call it good.

Sansa, Jon, and Davvos are off to ask for help from the last great houses of the North. It’s not going well, but the BEST scene of the night was watching nine year old Lyanna Mormont show us all how it’s done when it comes to leading a house. That actress killed it, and it was such a great moment. We can only hope that *theory* Cersei’s death with give Jamie a chance to go over to Brienne’s side and help bring the Northern Stark army the men it deserves. Also, yay for Bronn being back in action and being SO fucking over Lannisters paying their debts. We end the North storyline this week with Sansa finally giving in and writing to, I assume Petyr (as I’m sure he knew she would), to bring troops ASAP.

Yara Greyjoy surprises no one with her preference for vagina, and it is confirmed that once Theon gets his shit together they will sail to Mereen to side with Dany. Convenient that they have a ton of ships, and all the ships in Mereen’s harbor burned to dust. Good timing.

Also in Essos, Arya gets stabbed like seven times by The Waif and falls into a river. She then stumbles around bleeding out and no one does anything. That’s how it goes down in Bravvos. Before the stabbing, she is seen flaunting her wealth for passage to Westeros, then hanging out in the open, not watching her back, and enjoying the scenery. Did any of this seem OFF to anyone else? I’m thinking Arya DID flaunt her Westerosi tongue, and book passage LOUDLY all around town. But only so the Waif could hear about it. Then who knows. There already theories popping up about if she REALLY was stabbed, or if someone wearing her face was stabbed. It’s hard to say what’s happening here, but I think we can all rest assured that Arya will make it out of this one alive.
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Best quotes this week:

– “As long as I’m standing, the war’s not over.” – The Blackfish

– “Are you the worst person I’ve ever met? You’ve lost Cersei. It’s the only joy I could find in this Misery.” – Olenna Tyrell, Queen of Thornes