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Game of Thrones: Book of the Stranger (Season 6, Episode 4) | Recap/Talk

9:14:00 PM

Air Date: May 15, 2016

Time: 9 pm EST

TV Channel: HBO

Director: Daniel Sackheim

Writer: Dan Weiss and Dave Benioff

Run Time: 59 min

Tyrion strikes a deal. Jorah and Daario undertake a difficult task. Jaime and Cersei try to improve their situation.

WARNING: Major SPOILERS. Do not read if you are not caught up to Season 6, Episode 4. May contain book spoilers.

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Considering this episode is 59 min long rather than the standard normal time the episodes air, I was expecting something big to happen from the beginning! The episode starts off with the emotional reunion of Jon Snow and Sansa Stark! There could not have been a dry eye watching that scene! I was so excited, I still feel so happy right now knowing the fact they finally had a reunion and saw each other. Hopefully this is the first of many Stark family reunions. We get some reminiscing and banter between the two as they catch up. I really enjoyed that scene and again, so happy they've joined forces! Sansa will be the pull and sanctuary on Jon's mind back to Lord Commander and just sanity in general. I also noticed the little easter egg with Jon's line, "If I don't watch over you, your father's ghost will come back and murder me." That was kind of a little hint and egg toward's last week's episode with Bran and the Tower of Joy incident. Dave and Dan are wonderful writers, also very meticulous and creative, when Jon said that line, it was for a reason. We get a little standoff between Brienne and Davos/Melisandre. It was pretty clear that Brienne very well knew who killed Renly and I have a feeling that it will be mentioned again. Also, the fandom is just going crazy right now because of Brienne and Tormund! I actually ship it myself and we all know they are going to have a moment with the sultry looks he keeps on giving her ;).

We finally get a little scene in The Vale with Robin Arryn and Petyr Baelish. We get a little display of power when Baelish shows off that Arryn will follow whatever he says to the T. Am I the only one that had a chuckle when we heard Arryn speak? Damn, did that voice drop from puberty. I'm also been a fan of Baelish, so I'm happy we finally get to see him and plus, in next week's episode with Sansa. Now that is going to be an awkward scene. It's pretty clear that Arryn is going to send some if not all (he is impulsive) his army to Sansa and Jon to fight Ramsay. We know that in episode 8 or 9 there is going to be a super long battle and I'll put my money down that it's going to be the fight for the North and Winterfell.

We then jump to Meereen where we have Tyrion trying to bargain with the slavers themselves. It's pretty clear that the people of Meereen, Missandei and Grey Worm are not for this plan and make it known, which can be a problem in later episodes. I feel as if the people are very close to giving up on Daenarys and will revolt themselves. It's going to be really interesting if the a little civil war is coming to Meereen with all of these opposing sides and the Queen of Dragons not there to rule.

In Vaes Dothrak, Jorah and Daario have a little spat over Daenarys and it's revealed to Daario that Jorah has Greyscale. By the progress of the Greyscale I'm pretty sure that Jorah will live till at least season 7, so that's a little comforting. There is no way they'll let him live and I feel as if that death will set Daenarys off to King's Landing to essentially rule. In the city itself, it seems that the High Priestess of the Dosh Khaleen is on Daenarys's side and will be a character of guidance and advice (like Jaqen H'ghar is to Arya Stark). We have that awesome scene where Daario and Jorah make themselves known to Daenarys that they are there to take her back but she insists on staying and saying that, they'll never make it out of Vaes Dothrak alive.

At King's Landing we have Queen Margaery having a little chat with the High Sparrow and it seems like she impressed him with her knowledge of the Book of Stranger. There is a little easter egg when the High Sparrow comments on the fact that as a cobbler in his past, he walked out without putting on any shoes. It's a little tribute to the novels because it's a well known fact that the High Sparrow does not wear shoes in the books and they even showed it on the TV series so at least we got a backstory to that little detail. During that scene they do say the word, 'Graveyard' twice, which is also a little tribute and maybe easter egg(?) towards the the Gravedigger theory???? If you have not read the books, the Gravedigger theory is that Sander Clegane (The Hound) is still alive and is rumoured to be the Gravedigger (a man who digs graves for each person he's killed). This, eventually leading to the fight between The Hound (if he is the Gravedigger) and his brother Gregor Clegane (Robert Strong in the novels). There is some pretty compelling evidence towards this theory; In the novel, A Feast for Crows, Brienne describes the Gravedigger as:

"From the way he moved, it was plain to see that he was lame."

"[He] walked with an awkward lurching gait of one half-crippled."

Then, in, A Storm of Swords, Arya describes the last time she saw The Hound (Sandor Clegane) as:

"The Hound was still weak, every movement slow and clumsy. He slumped in the saddle, and sweated, and his ear began to bleed through the bandage. He needed all his strength just to keep from falling off Stranger."

Clearly, both are crippled and hurt and the little easter egg Dan and Dave wrote in this episode's script with the double mention of 'graveyard' isn't by accident. There are obvsiouly way more clues that further deepen this theory such as, the Gravedigger scratching Dog and since The Hound's family crest is three black dogs and is known to have close relations with dogs, it's pretty compelling evidence since the Gravedigger too, is close with dogs.

Still in King's Landing, we see Loras with Margaery, Cersei with Tommen and finally Cersei, Jaime, Olenna and Kevan. It's now known that the High Sparrow means to have Margaery do the walk of atonement as Cersei did. For obvious reasons, they all know that can not happen. Since Margaery is Queen, the people can never see her do what Cersei did because then they lose all respect for their Queen. If that happens, Margaery will never rule the people fully because she'll be made a joke of. Olenna and Kevan and Cersei and Jaime agree to have the Tyrell's army, which is the second most largest in all of Westeros, to fight the High Sparrow, Faith Militant and make sure Margaery is in the Crown's custody. We've already scene a little snippet of that happening in the Season 6 trailer months ago so I'm super excited to see all of that drama!

In the Iron Islands, Theon Greyjoy returns to Pyke. He claims he does not want the thrown and insists that Yara, his sister, have it and he'll help her. It's pretty weird to see her so hostile to him considering she had that little fling with him before. It's not like incest is a rare thing to happen in Westeros but I was still a little surprise how mad she was at him. It's so sad to see Theon so broken down and he even says so in this scene. Ramsay did break him and the line when Yara said,
"He sent us one of those pieces, that's why I came for you." (Clearly meaning his penis)
And then Theon just starts crying.... UGH SO SAD. I truly feel as though everything Theon has done in the past can be forgiven and forgotten because he has definitely paid for his mistakes, if not more than he should have. It was a sad scene and I feel like Yara and Theon are going to be very close in the upcoming episodes fighting against Euron.

OMG. I was so sad to see Osha die. Everything she said was so true and she really was a great manipulator. It was pretty sad to see that she truly does care for Rickon and even till the last moment she died, she was still trying to kill Ramsay. I will definitely miss her!

Now, back at The Wall in Castle Black, we finally get the Pink Letter, or at least the TV version of it. It was obviously going to be different from the novel considering in the TV show, the Nights Watch has already mutinied against Jon Snow and Sansa is with him now rather than in the novels, it being much earlier in the storyline. It's still a nice adaptation from the novels and it clearly marks the battle that is going to happen between the Starks and the Boltons for the North and Winterfell. I honestly can not wait much longer to see that awesome fight and it is going to be so cool to watch it on the screen!!!!

Now, the last scene of the episode that made it a 59 min special!! We are back at Vaes Dothrak and during the Khalar Vezhven, the khals are all trying to figure out what to do with Daenarys. She has this awesome battle with words between her and Khal Moro,

Daenarys: "Don't you want to know what I think?"
Moro: "....We don't care what you want. This is the Temple of Dosh Khaleen. You have no voice here, unless you are Dosh Khaleen. Which you are not, until we decide you are."
Daenarys: "... You are small men. None of you are fit to lead the Dothraki. But I am. So I will."
[Khals all laugh]
Moro: "All right. No Dosh Khaleen for you... Did you really think we would serve you?"
[Daenarys puts hand on ledge of fire]
Daenarys: "You're not going to serve. You're going to die."
[BAM, CRAZY FIRE KILLS EVERYONE]

For offensive and strong language purposes I've had to leave some of the dialogue out but wasn't that scene just awesome? Daenarys really kicked ass and I mean yeah Dan and Dave bent the unburning thing a little too much. The only reason why Daenarys was able to walk through the fire with the hatched dragons in Season 1 was because Blood Magic was involved, other than that, Daenarys can be burnt and can't actually walk through fire. But since the show is the show and the books are the books, I guess they can get away with bending the rules a little. It really made such an impactful scene and I did get what they were trying to do. It's essentially the sequel to Daenarys unburnt, and it's showing the Dothraki, yet again, that she is not to be messed with. I think they got the picture LOL. So that means in the books, Daenarys can get burnt and in the show, Daenarys is 100% all the time immune to fire. It was such an empowering scene for the Dothraki to just automatically kneel when they see Daenarys walking out of the fire, naked. That is definitely one of the top favourite scene for GoT.

This episode seemed like the calm before the storm type of scenario. We do have that great scene at the end but still, it seems like some huge battles are coming very soon. I think next episode and the one after that are going to be a little more timid and calm before episodes 7-10. We shall see though. The next episode's trailer is already up and we're finally going to have some Sansa and Baelish moments AND Bran with the Wights and White Walkers!!! Exciting!!! Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 5 Trailer.

Photo Credits: HBO and Emergency Awesome.