A Recap of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 2: “Home”

By Holly Hill (@hollishillis)

Well once again, not a lot happened this episode. I turned it off at the 50 minute mark because I was getting bored so I will recap up until that point.

We begin north of the wall in our second flashback ever. Bran and the old guy who lives in a tree are watching a young Ned Stark fight his brother Benjen in the yards of Winterfell many years ago. Suddenly Ned’s older sister, Lyanna appears.

“Wait, who’s that?”  Show watchers ask.

“Oh just the answer to every theory ever so hold on tight and pay attention.” book readers reply.

Let’s hope for more flashbacks next episode. Hodor’s real name is Willis, which is basically the perfect name ever, and Myra is bored by Bran’s visions. Well, get over it Myra, we want more flashbacks, and we want to see Tower of Joy.

The Wildlings and Davos take back Castle Black in a fight that lasts all of sixty seconds. The traitors of the Night’s Watch surrender after watching Mag the Mighty slam a watchman into a wall. Smart move boys. Unfortunately Olly, the little shit, and Alliser Thorne get taken to the dungeons instead of having their faces eaten off by Ghost.

A man in flea bottom brags about showing his penis to a naked ‘shamed’ Cersei as she walked the street last season. It doesn’t end well for him as The Mountain Zombie ends his life with one push of his skull against the wall (there’s a lot of that going on this season). Tommen finally looks up from playing with Ser Pounce for five fucking seconds to realize that he let some church with imaginary power take his wife away, and prance his mother naked down the street. Congrats, and  welcome to your kingdom Tommen. The boy king asks for forgiveness from his mother and just as it seems Cersei might throw him out of a window, she forgives him. Jamie tries to go up against the High Sparrow, and realizes he probably shouldn’t just yet.

Back in Mereen, Tyrion does some Hippogriff taming shit with the two remaining dragons that are locked in the dungeons. He gets himself drunk and tries to befriend them, and happily, it works. Looking forward to that storyline moving along.

Arya gets her ass beat once again, but convinces Jaquen that she is No One, so she is brought back to the House of Black and White for more training. GOOD. I can’t stand another episode of Arya not doing anything. I mean, the girl sold oysters all last season (yawn), and only killed one person (it was a good death though). More training ahead!

Ramsey Bolton once again surprises us with his insanity. His father has a baby boy with Fat Walda, but Ramsey can’t have any of that. In a not surprising move, Ramsey kills his father, and then in a slightly surprising move he lets his dogs eat his step mother and new baby brother alive. I mean, we knew he’d kill them, but in that way? Not prepared. But of course he did this, well, because he’s Ramsey. Looking forward to his death ALMOST as much as Joffrey’s at this point.

Okay, now I need you to stretch your mind back to season two of this show, which was the last time we really talked about Theon Greyjoy’s family and the last time we saw Pyke, his home. His father, Baleon Grayjoy sent a bunch of his men out to gain strong holds in the north after Rob died, but they’ve all fallen. Yara, his daughter, is sick of his shitty leadership and is ready to rule. Baleon ignores her, and goes out on a bridge alone where his brother Euron who is believed to be dead appears, and kills him. At Baleon’s funeral Yara tries to make some commands and the men remind her that she must go through a Kingsmoot to become leader. A bit of book history, ‘Kingsmoot’ is tradition in the Iron Islands as a way to choose new rulers via longship captains. These events happen in the A Feast For Crows book, so the show writers seem to be making up for a lot of lost time in ignoring Pyke. I was fairly convinced that they would skip over this entirely, but it makes sense to tie up Theon’s redemption and give Sansa some ally’s in the north when she starts to take over *fingers crossed*.

Brienne, Pod, and Sansa will head for the wall, and a dead Jon Snow, while Theon goes back to Pyke to….I’m not entirely sure. The best part of this scene is Brienne telling Sansa that Arya is still alive. Some good news for her, finally.

And that is basically the episode.

_________________________________________________________________

OKAY FINE. I guess I will go back and watch the last ten minutes, because MAYBE I missed something and – HOLY SHIT IT’S HAPPENING.

Back in season five when Jon Snow was stabbed to death we all thought, “No, that can’t possibly be!” “I REFUSE to believe it.”  “But he IS the ICE, in the ‘song of ICE and FIRE’.” Fear not my friends.

The red woman has not given up yet in her power it seems, as Davos throws all caution and common sense to the wind and ask that she TRY to bring Jon Snow back.

I have ALWAYS believed that this would happen, but knowing how the show runners NEVER let us win anything, I was still not entirely convinced they’d do it. But then there she is, she’s wiping his wounds, cutting his hair and throwing it in the fire, she’s chanting with her hands on his wounds. She chants….she chants….nothing happens. Tormund gives up first, then Melisandre walks away, and his last loyal night watch brethren leave the room. Davos takes one last look at a sleeping Ghost, and gives up as well. I almost do too.

I ALMOST FUCKING DO, AND THEN GHOST, HE WAKES. He looks over at his number one boo, and we wait. We wait for what feels like an eternity as we stare at Jon’s dead cold face….and then his eyes open and he gasps in a deep breath from his goddamn LIVING, BREATHING lungs.

After years of our favorite characters dying in what seemed like an endless circle of losses, we finally get one back. I run around the house, I scream “fuck yeah” a thousand times, I punch the air in victory. It was the best feeling I’ve had all week. I don’t know what that says about me as a person, but I will never forget this moment in cinematic history. Thank you Game of Thrones. Here is to a fucking magnificent remainder of the season.

Best quotes this week:

• “I’ve never been much of a fighter. Apologies for what you’re about to see.” – Davos
• “That’s what I do. I drink, and I know things.” –Tyrion
• *GASP*  – Jon Snow