The seventh episode of After the Thrones, HBO’s in-house “Epic Weekly Recap Show,” has arrived. You can watch it on HBO Go, HBO Now, HBO on Demand, and HBO.
After the Thrones was created by executive producer Bill Simmons. Its hosts are author, screenwriter, and critic Andy Greenwald, and writer/editor Chris Ryan, from Simmons’ upcoming site, The Ringer. This week, Andy and Chris are joined by regular guest Mallory Rubin, who is also part of The Ringer.
“The Broken Man” was a great episode, and both Andy and Chris seem jazzed to dig into it, starting off with some big picture stuff. First is “the ruptured girl,” Arya Stark, whom neither host believes has been wounded to the death. Next up is the big return of the Hound and his intense but brief relationship with Brother Ray, who Chris suggests is something of a religious counterbalance to the High Sparrow.
As we move into WHO WON THE WEEK, Andy nominates the Hound due to his surprise return and the unknown destiny his character now faces. Chris is unconvinced, and instead tables the possibility of Yara Greyjoy (one of my personal favorites) as most deserving of the award. Yara managed to sail her fleet from the Iron Islands to Volantis “in about five seconds,” plus:
And what does she do when she gets to Volantis? Yara Greyjoy gives one of the greatest inspirational speeches I’ve ever heard on television . . . she goes to her brother and says basically ‘I want the old Theon back, I would never hurt you, footnote: drink this beer or kill your self; endnote: I’m going to go get laid. This is why Yara Greyjoy won the week.
Andy relents, and Yara Greyjoy wins the week.
The boys move on to the Riverlands where we got some wonderful ‘castle porn,’ and finally, after watching years of the show, we got a ‘good drawbridge.’ Also, we enjoyed the return of Bronn’s character, “which makes everything 10 percent better.’
Although he has been mentioned earlier in the season, Andy and Chris choose Bryndan “the Blackfish” Tully as the technical winner of the WHO THE F!&K WAS THAT award. As a member of the old guard, the Blackfish is digging in his heels and trying to hold out even though Jaime, who’s back in military mode, may be correct in his assessment that the end result will be the death of the Blackfish and all of his men.
There was also a lot going on ain King’s Landing this week, what with Margaery passing the rose sketch to Lady Olenna, who then goes on to browbeat Cersei Lannister. But it also represents the rare moment when Cersei sees the bigger picture (part of this week’s Big Idea, below), and she tries to get past the bad blood with Lady Olenna in order to try to generate some cohesive resistance against the Faith Militant.
Regular guest Mallory Rubin (Hodor Tee!) arrives for the ASK THE EXPERT segment to discuss THE BIG IDEA of petty grievances versus the big picture. In returning to the Cersei/Lady Olenna scene, Mallory highlights a bit of character role-reversal:
Mallory: “I thought it was a great scene. Lots of zingers. A lot of tension. It’s interesting that Olenna, who is the character who we often give credit for, as you are saying, ‘seeing the big picture,’ and not being petty, she was the one in this moment who was sort of being the hypocrite, right, while Cersei is sort of finally willing to eat her words and fess up and own up to her mistakes, and Olenna is like’ ‘uh, you know what? I think you kinda suck,’ and so I’m going to let my emotions rule me in the moment . . . she’s being blinded by her hatred when overlooking her personal feelings and joining those forces is really their only hope.”
On to the Jon/Sansa/Ser Davos alliance, the crew highlights Lyanna Mormont, an instant fan favorite. (Personally, I think she has a lot of her uncle Jeor Mormont in her, and he would be proud). Mallory, holding what looks like a neat replica of Karl Tanner’s ghastly Jeor Mormont skull/drinkin’ mug, explains Bear Island and the genealogy of the Mormonts for us. Andy also offers up his sense of the ‘generational shift’ now going on in Game of Thrones:
Andy: “This is a generational shift, like what we’re seeing with Bryndan the Blackfish; while the Blackfish and Jaime are wearing their beautiful armor talking about laying siege for two years, we have an entirely new generation of players basically making a case here. The group (Jon/Sansa/Ser Davos) in front of a child who is running Bear Island, which is in itself kind of noteworthy, right? We have Sansa, whose name in in question, we have Jon, who is a resurrected bastard, basically, and we have Davos, who, as he makes a point of saying in that scene . . . I’ve been a knight for essentially ten minutes.”
In the QUESTIONS FOR NEXT WEEK segment, the crew also discusses how King’s Landing and the Iron Throne are no longer a ‘pressure point’ in the action, how Sansa might be considering contacting Littlefinger and his Knights of the Vale and the depth of her connection to Jon, and what’s up with the Brotherhood Without Banners? Have they been framed? And where is the Hound going? Plus, how will Arya survive?
This week’s episode was the smoothest installment so far, and the producers are finding more and more ways to find time for the hosts to talk, riff, and steer the conversation.
Via http://winteriscoming.net/2016/06/07/recap-after-the-thrones-hbos-epic-weekly-recap-show-episode-7/
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