Book of the Stranger: Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 4 Recap
In the last episode of Game of Thrones, Dany ended up in Westeros Shady Pines, Bran can possibly bend the future and Jon Snow said “NAWL” to the Watch.
I feel like this season is one of those where they’re going to bust a bunch of fan theories wide open. I’m excited about it. Anywho, let’s get into what happened in this last episode.
Castle Black
Dolorous Edd is talking to Jon Snow, shocked that he is quitting the Watch. Our bae says since he died once, he is no longer under oath and that he is going South to find some warmth. That’s how I feel during Chicago winters. How can he stay in a place where people he considered brothers tried to kill him? HOW, SWAY? Just then, the horn sounds and the door of Castle Black opens. Who is it? Sansa Stark, Brienne of Tarth and Podrick. THEY MADE IT TO THE WALL???? Color me SHOCKED. Jon steps out the room he’s in and sees his sister, who is now off her horse. The two see each other and run into an embrace and I get all up in my feels.
This is the BEST thing that has happened on this damb show since season one. Legit. This could have gone so different. Sansa and them coulda been slayed in the woods. Or Jon could have left before they got there. Or anything. This show never gives us good things like this. It was like Nettie and Celie getting together. Ain’t no White Walker, ain’t no Wall. Maki Dada. Can keep Jon’s sister Sansa away from him. Maki Dada.
This is also the first time 2 Starks have been in the same place since like season 2 of the show. They’ve been all over the place and never together. When the siblings are finally alone, Sansa apologizes to Jon for how she treated him when they were younger. That aside, she wants them to take over Winterfell, away from the grasp of the Boltons. She wants them to squad up and take their home back and Jon is not feeling it. “I’ve fought. And I lost.” ALL HIS LIFE HE’S BEEN FIGHTING. She makes the point that if they don’t take back the north, they’ll never be safe.
Ser Davos is surprised to see Melisandre hanging around so he asks her why she hasn’t left. She says because she will do whatever Jon commands of her, because he’s the Chosen One and whatnot. Meli is the reason for cults. She always needs a leader. Brienne walks up to them and shows why she’s one of my faves on this show. She’s petty like me, holding a permanent grudge. She tells them she executed Stannis AND she hasn’t forgiven or forgotten how Red Woman used dark magic to kill Renley Baratheon. Awkward moment alert.
Later on, they’re all eating and Tormund is staring at Brienne like a delicious steak.
Our fave Wildling MIGHT have a crush on her. Aawwww! I’ll totally ship that! Then a message comes for Jon, and it’s from Ramsay, basically saying that he better send Sansa back to him or face the punishment of watching him rape her when he finally gets to her. OH and he has Rickon, whose direwolf is now dead. For sure Sansa is now ready to take the North. Our girl has grown up and grown into some badassery. Old her would have been in the fetal position. New her is like “fuck that guy.” How do they do that when he has more troops and all they got are Wildlings? I’m not sure.
Oh and shoutout to Jon Snow’s man bun! HA!
The Vale
The little boy (Robin) who used to be hanging off his mom’s boob even though he was like twelve is now being trained with an arrow and he is awful at it. The boy has no fight in him. Littlefinger, who we haven’t seen in a bit, shows up with a parrot and Robin is enamored. He tells the boy that Sansa was kidnapped by the Boltons and that they need to army up to save her.
Y’all know he was lying because he basically sold her to them. Robin agrees and the Knights of the Vale are about to head to the North.
Meereen
Tyrion is meeting with the Slavers to broker a peace deal, because it’s “better to make peace with your enemies than your friends.” He sits with them and says if they quit funding the Sons of the Harpy, they can have a bit more time to stop slavery in their cities, which Daenerys conquered them for. They deny they had anything to do with the coups in the city, but he tells them to cut that shit out anyway. Missandei and Greyworm accompany him to this meeting, even though they don’t fully approve.
When the trio gets back, there are former slaves waiting for them, pissed that they dared to meet with their enemies. In fact, they hit him with a “who the hell are you?” pretty much and he said he is not their ruler, just the advisor to their MIA Queen. Anywho, he says he chose to sit with the Slavers so they can find some way to peace. The men are not pleased, and they question Greyworm, because they trust him. Missandei too, but she is a little more real when she says she doesn’t trust those damb Slavers OR Tyrion but peace is worth trying. The men leave, still unsatisfied. Missandei and Greyworm step outside the usual and question Tyrion’s logic. Why is he making a deal with those greedy summabitch ass slavers?
OOP!!! White savior complex on deck, Tyrion! Missandei straight pulled his card.
Little Lannister said it’s because he figures it can be worth their while if it’s in their best interest. The soldier says “They look at me and see a weapon. They look at her and see a whore.” WHEW. That’s too close to home. TOO CLOSE.
King’s Landing
One of the goon nuns goes to fetch Margaery Tyrell from her cell and takes her outside to see the High Sparrow. Head Scientologist asks our girl where she’d go if she could pick and she said she’d go see her family. Before he lets her do anything, he tells her he used to be a partying frat boy before he got saved. Yeah yeah. She still gotta atone for her sins. Anywho, one of the goon nuns takes her to see her brother, Loras, in his cell. He is in AWFUL shape, a shell of his former self. He begs his sister to save him from the hell he’s in, which will be to take that awful Walk of Shame that Cersei did. Aw damb.
Cersei goes and sees Tommen and finds Maester Pycell speaking to him. She dismissed the old man and discusses the High Sparrow’s drunken power. The boy tells his mom not to rock the boat with the Scientologists because they ain’t all there. He then shows that he is truly Inspector Obvious by asking his mother “You don’t like Margaery, do you?” I literally yelled “NO SHIT” at the TV screen. This boy ain’t too long for the world. He tells him mom that Margaery is gonna do the Walk of Shame. She is that desperate for freedom for her and her brother. Gotta do what you gotta do.
Lady Lannister goes to the Small Council with an idea, and of course my fave Lady Olenna Tyrell is there to throw shade at her like only she can. “You have been stripped of your dignity and authority, what’s left to work with?” I HOWLED. I love old people.
You know Lady Olenna ain’t here for her grandbaby taking that humiliating walk, though. They gotta shut the down.
The plan is to get the soldiers of the Tyrells to come into King’s Landing unchallenged by the King’s Landing army so they can kill all the Scientologists. And no one can tell Tommen, because he’s a punk and nah. Kevan balks at first and then Cersei reminds him that his son Lancel is in prison with the Faith soooo he’d get him back too.
COOL. Plan is set! Something tells me it won’t go so smooth.
The Iron Isles
The boat that Theon is on docks at the Iron Isles and he walks into his home for the first time in years. “Hush up you old fool. Theon Greyjoy’s home nah!” He finds his sister Yara, sitting by the fireplace. She’s not that pleased to see him, wondering what he’s doing there. She is pissed that when she sent folks to rescue him from the Boltons, he didn’t leave with them. They just died pointlessly. He says “He broke me. He left me in pieces.”
And she counters with “I know. He sent some of those pieces to us.” Well shit. So what do you want, Theon? Why did you come back? He wants Yara to rule the Iron Isles and he helps her.
Winterfell
Ramsay is being the little creep that he is when Osha enters his study. He has sent for her and she seems to be showered and cleaned up. He asked her why he should find her useful at all and she says she can give him what he wants, what all men want. She straddles him and they start kissing. There’s a knife just beyond her reach on the table. She starts talmbout how she doesn’t fuck with the Starks really and he is eating it all up. Until he says that he knows exactly who’s been helping them, because Theon let him know everything. He grabs the knife and stabs Osha in the throat. She falls to the floor, dead. And I yell NOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Osha, though? Already? Damb. We ain’t seen her in 3 seasons and she came back just to die immejately. UGHHHH!!! Fucking Ramsay, man.
Dothraki Place
Jorah and Daario are now making their way to the Dothraki to save the Mother of Dragons and they see it in the distance. Mormont is more winded than usual. When they see the Temple of the Doth Khaleesis, Jorah says they need to de-weapon so if they are seen, they can say they’re merchants. Between them, they probably have like 10 swords and knives, so this is a BIG deal. As they do that, Daario sees Jorah’s arm, which is greyscaling more and more everyday.
The two head to the camp and are soon spotted by 2 Dothraki men who do not believe they’re actually merchants. Because: DUH. One of them runs to get backup and the other starts whooping Jorah’s ass. Daario runs off to go get one of their weapons and comes back in time to stab the one who was about to kill Jorah. He then bashes his head in with a rock so his death won’t look so clean.
Over at the Westeros Shady Pines, the oldest woman seems to be enjoying telling Daenerys that her best case was ending up with them but the men really decide where she will be. One of the younger ex-Khaleesis mentions how her Khal scooped her up when she was 12, so by 13 she had her first child and her Khal broke her ribs. Ouch.
Dany and the girl go outside for a hot second and Jorah and Daario pop up outta nowhere. Jorah puts a knife to the other girl’s neck and Dany tells them to be gentle. They want to grab the Mother of Dragons and make a run for it but she says that wouldn’t work. The place is surrounded.
Daenerys walks into the temple where the men who will decide her fate are. It’s a bunch of knuckleheads and the Khal, but our girl is looking unbothered, unbought and unbowed.
She calmly starts knocking down the standing fire torches, and the Dothraki men are screaming as they’re lit on fire. She’s flipping fiery tables and burning the place up. Finally, she turns to the Khal and drops the last torch his way and he is LIT UP. It is literally LIT. KHAL BARBEQUE.
The Dothrakis see the Temple burning and they crowd in front of it. The entire place is ablaze, and surely everyone in there is deader than dead. That’s what they thought, until a silhouetted figure emerges, butt naked and BAWSE-like. Daenerys Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Mother of Dragons, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals, the Breaker of Chains, the Unburnt, walks out of the burnt building, edges and everything else still intact.
YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!! BOW DOWN, BITCHES!
The Dothrakis, including the widowed Khaleesis, do just that. Jorah and Daario walk up, and this is Daario’s first time seeing this. He is shocked. STUNNED. He bows too.
First of all DAENERYS AIN’T HERE TO PLAY WITH YALL!!! She’s such a bad ass and this fire power of hers is huge. Not being able to be burnt to a crisp is certainly a gift and where she was about to be a prisoner, the Dothrakis now know she is unfuckwitable. Also, now Daario can see why Jorah almost worships her.
Game of Thrones continues their 4-episode streak killing a character we might give a damb about. We hardly knew ye, Osha. Damb. So Rickon gotta fend for himself now. I hope he learned some skills in this time of absence.
Now, Tyrion’s deal with the Slavers is not a good one, even for momentary peace. I feel like Daenerys is gonna get back and be PISSED. He just gave them permission to keep slaves for 7 more years. SIR, how is that smart? How is that empowering to the people of Meereen? How are you gonna then get them to stop having slaves when that time comes? This ain’t grade school graduation. LAWDT. It was an interesting statement on the oppressive institutions that we let fly, all in the name of temporary and cheap accord. But what happens when people are sick of that? Revolutions. And I think Meereen is ripe for one.
This episode of GOT was one of the kindest ones yet. Siblings reunited and Dany didn’t get burnt. I’ll take it. Looking forward to what’s to come.
P.S.
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“It was like Nettie and Celie getting together. Ain’t no White Walker, ain’t no Wall. Maki Dada. Can keep Jon’s sister Sansa away from him. Maki Dada.” – I couldn’t cheer loud enough on this part. This was by far one of the best episodes. BY FAR!! My favorite part though – Tormund and his crush on Brienne…. she ain’t checking for him though, she wants Jaime… but the sexy eyes he was giving her? Who can resist that?
LOVED LOVED LOVED this episode….
Let’s pour one out for Osha though… she did keep Rickon semi-safe…..
I look forward to your recap every week.
as soon as that plan was set in kings landing i was like “this will end badly.” because it always does. for whom it will end badly, is the question.
i was so hype when jon and sansa reunited i might have cried a little bit. that was definitely the show creators and writers being like “we’ve torn the fans of the starks apart for 5 whole seasons. they need a gimme. but remember– whenever we see a happy family moment, you KNOW it ain’t finna last.
the North is finna be lit. Jon is going to try and rally the loyalties of the northmen, but it will be hard since they don’t want to fight alongside wildlings. Petyr Baelish has just gotten the armies of the Vale to head north. his next stop might be to the Twins to remind/inform them that Ramsay killed Lord Walder Frey’s daughter and grandson– he’s the current Warden of the Trident and the Riverlands, so those armies are likely in play for heading north as well. Walder is an awful man, but he will take the murder of his blood as an insult that cannot be ignored.
the letter to jon snow is referred to as “the pink letter” or “the bastard letter”. they switched the timing and the contents around to fit the show and… i like it better in the show. in the books it just got too convoluted. actually, a lot of things have gone left on the show now and i appreciate the changes. looks like GRRM is letting the show write his last two books for him because *looks at the calendar* Winds of Winter was supposed to had BEEN out so…..
You know GoT doesn’t let us savor sweet moments….they better not let nothing happen to Jon or Sansa or its gone be trouble TROUBLE!!
Sansa has grown on me. I’ve straight-up hated her for years, until the mess at Winterfell with Ramsay. Who couldn’t pity her? Now she’s a straight-up boss. She’s not just throwing little fits because she can’t marry Joffrey and have his blonde babies. She’s like “We need to get strategic.” Also, I feel like she’s finally grown into her looks. It bothered me when everybody talked about her great beauty early in the show. Like, were they seeing what I was seeing?
As for Ramsay, I’m considering holding viewing parties every week from now until he dies. I want to be able to rejoice with my friends when it finally happens. It’ll be like Purple Wedding times a million.
I might get virtual mollywhopped for this but Dany has a bit of white savior complex too. Dany is a great character with a lot of empathy for the enslaved, but she was never a slave so I’m not here for people who say that she was. Her awful brother arranged for her marriage to Khal Drogo. That is not the same as slavery. Also Dany has invaded Mereen and imposed her will on the entire population because of course she knows better than anyone else. My point is that she is just as misguided as Tyrion in her policies.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
I am so sick and tired of this imagery of the white blond savior rescuing the poor/enslaved/”uncultured” colored people. Please make it stop. Please.
I agree with this. I liked in the Behind the Episode how the writers said they looked at Lincoln and his policies when writing this episode. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave within the United States, only in the Confederate States (which fancied themselves their own country). However, when more slaves left the CSA for the USA, or joined to fight with the Union during the war, they set in motion a chain of events that would eventually lead to the 13th amendment freeing ALL slaves. I feel like Tyrion knows a war likely may not be won against the slavers. The slaves are powerless. However, if slavery progressively is abolished, and slaves have more freedom themselves, they then become powerful as a part of the movement to become free.
lol not just a bit, Daenerys is the full embodiement of a white savior.
I’ve been side-eyeing her ever since that “Mhysa” scene in season 3. She’s a colonist, pure and simple.
She’s always been “mighty whitey saves the negro” forcing her way and will on helpless “colored” communities.
That’s a good point!
Ohmygod, yes! I was completely in love with Dany for the first couple of seasons until I read a critique of the show that pointed out that she was a representation of the White Savior Complex. Now I still root for her, but I’m really bummed that GRRM has used such a racially-insensitive leitmotif in his story arc.
Of course, this is the same dude whose material is as gory AF and likes to kill off sympathetic characters, so maybe HE just doesn’t give AF because he’s rich AF and obviously has fans hungering for more…
Too bad, really. I love his use of mythological themes in general, but other than that, I can’t stomach his work.
Yesssss!! This season I can already tell is going to be one of my favorites.
I love to read the recaps before I watch the episode. Crazy I know!
Stealing the Bow Down Bitches gif..
Thanks
I love to read your recaps, after I watch it! I find myself giggling at your creative take .
“Daario runs off to go get one of their weapons and comes back in time to stab the one who was about to kill Jorah.” Didn’t Daario stab the guy with his naked lady knife, the one he said he was really attached to when they disarmed on the hill?
That’s correct. He ran off to stop the guy from alerting the village that stranger danger was afoot.
Excellent recap once again!! “Nettie and Celie” and everything else! Thank you.
Cosign @ blackberry molasses – I had also forgotten that poor Walda and baby were Walder Frey’s kinfolk.
You know this means she’s the Khal of the Dothraki. She isn’t even a Khaleesi anymore. The only way to become a Khal is to kill a Khal, and she just burnt them all to ashes. She has the Dothraki, the Unsullied, the Dragons, and all her other peeps. Shit’s gonna go down in Westeros when she gets those dragons tame and makes her move.
Meantime, why are all the direwolves getting killed all the time? I thought they were supposed to be YUGE and invincible. Most of them go without even being significant to the story. I hope Ghost or Nymeria gets Ramsay in his throat.
I agree completely about DT being a very distasteful white saviour type. Also spent a goodly ten minutes thinking about whether she believes herself to be divine or if she’s just courting the belief from others for practical (manipulative) reasons. (Still rooting for her because sisterhood, but you know. It’s all a bit Kipling, not loving it.)
Anyway, the real point of my comment is EDGES. Explain edges to me. I googled a bit but only found people talking about them without really explaining them. Help a white European out, I have no-one else to ask. I grasped baby hair (which I only learnt about because Beyoncé, shout out to Lemonade, the only music I’m listening to since it came out) because I can see that on people so get it. But I don’t understand edges. What’s the difference between edges and hairline? School me. I beg.
So my not-at-all official definition is that edges are the hair along your hairline. It’s the hair that tends to be lost by overstyling and abuse. In particular, women who wear lots of wigs/weaves or very tight braids tend to “lose their edges”. They wouldn’t say their hairline was receding.
I can’t really explain the slang usage (i.e. “getting edges snatched”), cuz I don’t get it =).
again, I agree on the white savior complex tip. every time I see this shot, sorry for the long link: (https://mediadiversityuk.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/49563_600.jpg?w=667) I cringe.
but, I think you guys are forgetting about who Tyrion and Varys are. they know how folks aren’t feeling that extra seven-year bid, and would have planned for it. it wouldn’t surprise me if those three ‘gifts’ Tyrion gave the slavers, end up killing them. Varys needs a new set of little birds. who better than the women of Meereen?
Poor Osha. At least she didn’t have to suffer the “Ramsay”.
Cersei’s plan is going to fail. The high Sparrow knew Tommen was going to tell Cersei everything, and he’s setting them up.
Either that or the high Sparrow told Tommen that the Tyrells killed Joffrey and Cersei is setting them up. She is making sure that no Lannisters are involved in the raid that she’s planning, so that makes me think she’s setting up the Tyrells.
Either way I think it’s going to backfire on her anyway and Tommen will be killed. Jamie will find out about her schemes and choke the life out of Cersei for getting his only surviving child murdered. Tommen is probably going to die trying to save Margaery, and Cersei is going to be the one who tried to have Margaery killed.
One quick correction though (and minor) Daario his his knife on him. When he ran he ran after homeboy who was going to warn the others (and snapped that fools neck). Otherwise I’m here for your recaps. Not sure how I follow you on fb and never knew you did GOT recaps tho!! I’m so here for it!!
Stop it. The funniest ever! {This show never gives us good things like this. It was like Nettie and Celie getting together. Ain’t no White Walker, ain’t no Wall. Maki Dada. Can keep Jon’s sister Sansa away from him. Maki Dada.}
You have the best recaps! “Nettie and Celie”????????????????????
Love these recaps. Can’t wait for this week’s.
As far as Tyrion goes, I think he has an end game and is just buying time until Queen D comes back. That might just be optimistic thinking because I’m 100% team Tyrion. “I drink and I know things.”is my new life motto.