Let’s just answer the first question on everybody’s mind right off the bat — Jon Snow is still dead. And that is where the first episode of the sixth season, The Red Woman, starts — a tracking shot from across the Wall into Castle Black and Jon’s body lying in a pool of blood — exactly where we left off at the end of the last season.
At the Wall
The first episode wastes no time in jumping into the action and we pan across continents to set the stage for the players for this round. The main focus is, of course, the Night’s Watch, where rebellion is brewing and we keep going back to it through the 50-minute episode. Davos Seaworth recovers Jon’s body and guards it with Eddison Tollett, two other Jon faithfuls and Ghost, and plans how to strike back. Edd leaves to round up some of the Wildlings for help, even as Alliser Thorne tries to manipulate the rest of the Watch into backing their actions.
In the North
The other standout element of the episode is, surprisingly, not Daenerys but Sansa Stark and Theon Greyjoy/Reek. Chased by the Bolton hounds, they run through snow-covered forests and wade through icy river. Theon is on a redemption curve, moving steadily away from Reek and reclaiming Theon. His volunteering to draw the hounds away from Sansa may be a stupid plan that could lead to capture, if not death, but it does move him far along the path to redemption.
It is also a pleasure to see Brienne of Tarth back in action after spending season five waiting for Sansa’s candle. She rides to the rescue of Sansa and Theon with Podrick Payne in tow and after a brutally real fight, where she takes quite a few knocks, she does it. The action even allows Theon another chance to redeem himself as he impales the Bolton guard who was advancing on a disarmed Podrick. Brienne finally has a purpose again, swearing fealty to Sansa, but it is also a significant step in the Sansa-Theon relationship when she looks at Theon for approval before accepting Brienne’s offer.
Speaking of the Boltons, Ramsay almost makes you fall for his pain and grief at Myranda’s death, but his matter-of-fact suggestion that “she is good meat, feed it to the hounds” dispels any sympathy anyone could ever feel for him.
At King’s Landing
One of the most emotional scenes of the episode involves Cersei and Jaime Lannister. Lena Headey proves, once again, why she is the best actor on the show, as we see her go from hope to despair in a matter of minutes. Her warm smile, so different from her manipulative persona, as she rushes to greet the boat that is bringing back her daughter and Jaime from Dorne, fades on realising that Myrcella is dead.
Broken and defeated, Cersei claims that this was all prophesied and that the witch had told her this would happen, so there was no way to prevent it. But Jaime, almost out of the main game last season, vows vengeance against those who have and are trying to take their family away from them.
The episode also pays a visit to Margaery Tyrell in the dungeons of the Sept of Baelor, where she is getting more or less the same treatment Cersei got. The High Sparrow promises that she has started on the right path and would soon be ready to confess.
In Dorne
Back in Dorne, Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes are up to no good. While Tyene Sand stabs Areo Hotah in the back, Ellaria stabs Doran Martell in the heart and tells him while he bleeds that weak men, who let their sister be raped and brother be murdered and not do anything, would never rule Dorne again.
The other two Sand Snakes, Nymeria and Obara, pay Tristan Martell a visit and while Tristan chooses to fight Nymeria, Obara puts a spear through his head from the back. Nymeria’s comment “You are such a greedy b**ch” is exactly what you’d expect from Game of Thrones.
In Meereen
Our favourite duo — Tyrion Lannister and Lord Varys — are back walking the paved roads of Meereen discussing the politics of Meereen, in true Tyrion-Varys style, which, of course, includes witty barbs at each other. The two provide us the only light moments of an episode fraught with tension, death and grief.
One thing this sequence makes sure is that the people of Meereen or Daenerys (if she ever comes back) and her army will not sail to Westeros anytime soon, with the Sons of the Harpy burning up all the ships docked at Meereen’s port.
The other two members of Team Dany — the lover Daario Naharis and the friend-zoned Jorah Mormont — are galloping across fields in search of their queen. There is a nice exchange between the two about each of their relationships with Daenerys and how each wants to see the world after Dany is done conquering it. In Jorah’s case, it seems an unlikely fate with his rapidly spreading greyscale infection.
In Essos
Dany herself is not in a very good place. Captured by the Dothrakis, she is being marched to meet Khal Moro who wants to bed her and have her produce his heir. But she stands up to the Khal even when they laugh as she recites her titles in Dothraki.
It is only her status as Khal Drogo’s widow that stops Khal Moro, but it is also her one-way ticket to Vaes Dothrak where she has to spend her life with the other Khal widows. She eyes the skies for help but there is none coming, apart from Jorah and Daario, and they are nowhere near.
In Braavos
Arya Stark is begging on the streets of Braavos, but even there she is not free of The Waif. You get an inkling of what lesson she is supposed to learn from this when The Waif asks her if she can “hear them”. What follows is another humiliation for Arya at the hands of The Waif who leaves her beaten and bruised.
Back at The Wall
Alliser Thorne has given Davos and the others till nightfall to surrender arms. Davos is even willing to consider “the Red Woman”, Melisandre, someone he tried to kill, for help. “What’s one redhead gonna do against 40 armed men?” asks one of the men. To which Davos replies, “You haven’t seen her do what I’ve seen her do”. But even Davos Seaworth is not ready for what Melisandre can actually do. We see the titular woman — and here is the show’s quota of nudity — disrobe in front of a mirror and take off the amulet around her neck to transform into a crone. Kudos to the make-up department for the full frontal transformation. For the first time, you even feel a tinge of sympathy for a woman who has done horrible things as all her hopes seem to die. And that is the beauty of Game of Thrones.
Did the first episode live up to your expectations? Tell t2@abp.in
GET A PIECE OF GoT
Game of Thrones returns to Indian television with its sixth season today. Before you tune in tonight to S06E01 (10pm on STAR World Premiere HD), put on your thinking caps and answer these questions. The first three all-correct entries at t2contest@abp.in will win customised GoThrones merchandise, courtesy STAR World Premiere HD and t2.
1. Who almost played Kit Harington’s Jon Snow in the Game of Thrones?
a. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau aka Jaime Lannister
b. Alfie Allen aka Theon Greyjoy
c. Richard Madden aka Robb Stark
2. Who made his/ her acting debut with GoT?
a. Maisie Williams (who plays Arya Stark)
b. Emilia Clarke (who plays Daenerys Targaryen)
c. Peter Dinklage (who plays Tyrion Lannister)
3. Who says “I choose violence” in the trailer of Season 6?
a. Daenerys Targaryen
b. Cersei Lannister
c. Margaery Tyrell
4. Who turned blind in the Season 5 finale?
a. Sansa Stark
b. Arya Stark
c. Theon Greyjoy
