Yahoo News Game of Thrones: my love-hate relationship with Battle of the Bastards
This episode was epic. I kept talking about the calm period before the storm, hoping it will be worth the wait - and it was. I am not even excited about battles and figth scenes, I prefer cold scheming and plotting but the Battle of the Bastards was so emotional and stressful, it was perfect. It worked really well that they only focused on the two battles and noone else in this episode. Which of course left us with very few people to love and hate this time, but still, let’s talk about them for a bit.
I loved…
I’ve had conflicted feelings about Daenerys for a while but her storyline finally worked for me in this episode. Or at least it worked better and Tyrion was definitely a good choice to be put next to her. I especially liked the reminder of the Mad King and how Dany decided to listen to reason instead. They seem pretty unbeatable right now so if they make their move to Westeros in the finale, they are probably going to have an easy win over King’s Landing. But let’s not forget about the White Walkers - because however powerful they are against humans, in the end they are going to face something much worse.
Also, dragons!I also loved Yara - no one is ever this relaxed around Daenerys or really anywhere so it was good to see her confidence and honesty. She even insulted Dany which was quite fun to watch. And Theon is getting back to his old self, so all’s good on this side.
I loved Jon’s dedication and passion - I mean he was always like this but it felt different now, maybe because it really seemed like a lost cause. He also got his revenge on Ramsay - I don’t like violence at all but Jon beating him almost to death was so so satisfying!
I have to mention Tormund and Wun Wun as well - the way they have fought was beautiful.
It’s not about characters but the whole episode was built up so amazingly! That scene with Rickon and Jon gave me goosebumps. Even though everyone knew how it’s going to end it was still so emotional… The Battle of Bastards was shot beautifully, the whole crew deserves the praise.
I had conflicted feelings about Sansa. On one hand I loved how badass - “You are going to die tomorrow, Lord Bolton. Sleep well.” - and mature she was. She showed a lot of signs already of how strong she became next to all those horrible men but she is truly Lady Stark now. On the other hand, why didn’t she say anything about the possible help to Jon? She could have saved a lot of lives - maybe even Rickon’s! She was so angry about not having a word in anything but when she had the chance, she stayed silent.
I hated…
Ramsay, obviously! He deserved everything he got in this episode. He was such a cruel, twisted man, he had to die sooner rather than later. I have to mention how brilliant Iwan Rheon was in this role - he is the sweetest guy in real life but whenever I saw Ramsay’s smile on screen, I completely forgot about him.
Hate is not the right word but I was a bit annoyed with Rickon - it was so obvious that it’s a trap! But if I think about it, there was nothing to be done - maybe just running in zigzags instead of a straight line. The scene was extremely powerful though and it had to happen so I’m not complaining.
So after this highly emotional and stressful episode we are quite possibly going back to King’s Landing in the finale. Hopefully we are going to get at least a glimpse of Bran as well - he’s been hidden for so many episodes now, they must have plans with him, right? My post about what to expect for the finale - with a bit of an overview of the season - is coming at some point during the weekend, I hope you are going to join me then as well!
