KEEP CALM AND LOVE BOOKS: Cersei

Air Date: Sunday, May 8, 2016

Time: 9 pm EST

TV Channel: HBO

Director: Daniel Sackheim

Writer: David Benioff & D.B Weiss

Daenerys meets her future. Bran meets the past. Tommen confronts the High Sparrow. Arya trains to be No One. Varys finds an answer. Ramsay gets a gift.

WARNING: Major SPOILERS. Do not read if you are not caught up to Season 6, Episode 3. May contain book spoilers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This episode was super exciting! Overall it was very thrilling and we learned a lot. You can tell that the producers are trying to fit as much content as they can in only 10 episodes, considering the series has 1-2 more seasons left! At the start of this episode we pick up right where we left off last week. Jon Snow is now fully alive and kicking. We see Davos looking misty-eyed in wonder as Jon raises (literally) from the dead. Major props to Melisandre are in order considering she did the impossible and still managed to stay cool when she found out she succeeded. We also get a huge R+L=J easter egg in her scene. It was really intense when he was walking through the crowd of wildlings and his men. The reunion between Jon and Giantsbane plus Edd was sweet and long overdue. As Giantsbane said,

"They think you're some kind of God."

It was really true. Now, we are totally off the books so no one knows what Jon Snow is anymore and I kind of half to agree with the men because not just anyone can rise from the dead.

For the first time in season 6 we finally get reunited with Sam and Gilly! Clearly Gilly had no idea she was headed to Samwell's old home, so that should be interesting. Way back in season 1, I remember Sam giving the not so good impression that his father is a total ass. I'm really excited to see what happens in that storyline because we'll hopefully get to finally meet the Tarly's. It was a cute scene between the two and we get a tender moment when Gilly calls Sam the father of her child. I just really hope nothing bad happens to any of them because in true Game of Thrones fashion, it's bound to happen.

We FINALLY have the Tower of Joy flashback. I will admit I'm a bit disappointed with the lack of R+L=J info but I'll take what I can get. This was by far the best scene in the whole episode. We get a shot of Oswell Whent sharpening his blade fully knowing that someone is coming to retrieve Lyanna Stark from the tower. Bran and the three-eyed raven closely watch as his father, Eddard, his men and Howland Reed approach Whent and now Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. I'm so ecstatic that we finally get to see the famous Arthur Dayne. A little back story on Dayne is he wields the sword Dawn, forged metal from a fallen star. He is the one that knighted Jaime Lannister and is said to be the best swordsman Eddard had ever seen. We really do get proof that Arthur Dayne might've been the best swordsman in Westerwos because he took out all of the northmen except for Ned, whom was about to die. I really liked the surprise we got that it was actually Reed who stabbed him in the neck while Ned finished him off. I agreed with Bran about Dayne being stabbed in the back. It was pretty undignified for Stark to continue but of course we then hear Lyanna's scream from the top of the tower and Dayne is totally forgotten. I found it really interesting that Bran screamed, "Father!' and it had seemed like Ned heard him!!!! I'm sure Dan and Dave wouldn't just put that in there for no reason. Now I wonder what significance that has on Bran's powers and if it's manifesting considering the three-eyed raven seemed disturbed when Ned turned around at the shout. Ugh. This was such a great scene and I have a feeling we're not going to see the continuation of it (with Lyanna in the tower) until the end of season 6 or maybe beginning of season 7. I just hope we get flashback scenes with Rhaegar or even more Arthur Dayne.

Then we move to the Dothraki Sea with Daenerys at the Temple of Dosh Khaleen. Let's just say the other women there do not joke around. It seems that Daenerys has to go through some trial for her resistance of arriving right after Khal Drogo died. She might not even be granted shelter of the Temple which could really help her but I wonder if the other option is death? Not much happened with her in this episode, which only means that next, something big is going to happen. Hopefully.

In Meereen, Varys shows his darker side and his true 'spider' self. We find out that Masters of Astapor, Yunkai and Volantis are all funding the Sons of the Harpy. Meanwhile Tyrion, being his usual self, is trying to make conversation with Missandei and Grey Worm. It's a pretty funny scene and typical of Tyrion Lannister to make Grey Worm uncomfortable. He even has the gall to try to engage the two into a drinking game he knows. Safe to say, that did not happen. We get mention of Varys's little birds and soon enough we'll get the information from the three cities and find the leader of the Sons of the Harpy.

All the way in King's Landing we have said birds seemingly being manipulated by Qyburn, a creepy old man whose alliance is clearly with Cersei Lannister. I really don't feel good about that little alliance and since he has such hold over Varys's little birds. I hope Qyburn doesn't try and stall Varys in his quest whilst in Meereen and rather keep separate of his business. The golden trio, Cersei, Jaime and Gregor Clegane (Yes different from the book, whose named Robert Strong), all arrive and make sure to bride the little ones so that they can spy everywhere. Cersei has this great line when she says,

"Don't stop at the city. I want little birds in Dorne, in High Garden, in the North. If someone is planning on making our losses their grains, I want to hear it. If someone is laughing at the queen who walked naked through the streets covered in shit, I want to hear. I want to know who they are. I want to know where they are."

That is just such a great line! I really got to give it to Lena Headey for her excellent portrayal of Cersei. She does the best at making us hate, admire and love her. We then get the golden trio facing off with Olenna and Mace Tyrell and Kevan Lannister with Pycell just awkwardly sitting there. I was really shocked to see them so defiant against the golden trio considering Clegane could simply kill them all. We get this funny scene with Pycell bad-mouthing Qyburn and Clegane and having the trio walk in right at that moment. The look on Pycell's face when he realizes he got caught was so funny! Definitely needed humour for the strong words Olenna had for Cersei after.

We quickly get a little scene between Tommen growing a pair and facing off with the High Sparrow. Nothing huge happens, it seemed like the two bonded if anything. It's really disappointing to see a King so weak. He has the power to kill and slaughter the High Sparrow and his people, I just don't understand his hesitation. The people are his people, if they want to rebel they can try but again, he's the King. If they dealt with the Mad King, the King Slayer and the Usurper before, I'm sure the people can deal with Tommen killing the Sparrows and going against the faith.

Anyways, we finally get to the 2nd best part of the whole ep and that's Arya! We have a series of shots with Arya slowly but surely getting better at fighting blind and actually frustrating The Waif because she's clearly exceeded their expectations. I was really happy when The Waif had that look of anger on her face when Arya actually got back up and blocked her attacks and managed to land one herself. I have a feeling Arya is going to show The Waif that she is not a storm, or should I say Stark, to mess with. It felt really empowering for Arya when she had to recite her siblings names and have no clue if they're dead or alive. I think, having that mentioned in the episode, that maybe it's a sign that if news got to Arya of the state of her family, it would be her breakthrough moment. I also feel some foreshadowing with The Waif's voiceover when she asked why the 'funny little' list was so short and that it can't be everyone she wants to kill. ALSO, I was so annoyed when The Waif just had to say, 'Arya's funny little list'. I want to see The Waif say that with HER name on the list then. I hope Arya kills her, I really do and I hope that's part of the foreshadowing. It's really satisfying to see Jaquen H'ghar call Arya over, clearly impressed by her progress into being no-one. We finally end Arya's portion with her getting her eyesight back. I was actually pretty surprised at how fast she regained her vision. I definitely thought it would be longer than just her passing a couple of tests. I wonder if or when Arya goes rogue and carries out her 'funny little' list, if she will lose her sight again as punishment by H'ghar. I hope we'll see soon.

At Wintefell we have Ramsay Bolton without a care in the world siting in his fathers seat. I'm pretty bored of the Bolton's storyline to be honest but this episode did end the scene with a chilling factor to it. I had a feeling Rickon Stark and Osha would resurface but now that Ramsay has them, I wonder what the next move is going to be. I can definitely, 100% see Ramsay killing both of them either in next episode or as a huge death in the finale because Rickon doesn't really have any purpose. I was sad to see his direwolf dead though. It seems that the only living ones left are Ghost, Nymeria and Summer. Stupid Smalljon Umber just had to go and kill Shaggydog. Speaking of Umber, I can't tell that if the Starks do come back into power in the North somehow, if House Umber will be loyal to them or if this alliance for survival to House Bolton is permanent. As said in the episode, all Umber wants to do is keep safe from the wildlings, yet he literally lead the youngest Stark to his death with the severed head of his direwolf too. I want to see the role he plays in this storyline because they wouldn't introduce him to the series so clearly if the producers didn't have a plan on using him. Whether for good or evil towards the Starks, I don't know.

We end this episode with Jon Snow facing his killers: Bowen Marsh, Othel Yarwyck, Allisor Throne and Olly. Jon gives them a chance for last words and it was mostly uninteresting except for the last little act of defiance from Thorne saying he'd do it all again. Olly just glared like a little brat, which he is and did not say anything. I was so happy when I saw Olly's dead face. I know that sounds weird and crazy but that kid needed to die soon because he was just such a brat and frankly, almost worse than Joffrey. We see Jon showing a side we haven't seen before: cruelty. It's then clear that he shows remorse for doing what he did but it was still a harsh scene to watch. He ends up giving his cloak to Edd, which is basically making him the 999th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. I really want to know who's going to be the 100th because we all know that if Edd is the 999th than Dan and Dave HAVE to either kill him off or give the responsibility to a special person worthy of being the 100th. I'm super curious as to who that could possibly be. The episode ends with Jon Snow walking out while saying, "My watch has ended." DAMN. I'm guessing this is where Melisandre's vision comes into play with seeing Jon at Winterfell fighting???? Who knows! This was such a great episode, possibly my favourite so far. It'll be hard to top this one for sure!