WARNING: This story is dark and full of spoilers.
So, perhaps there was a maester hiding behind that rock after all.
For the second Sunday in a row, Game of Thrones gave us an episode that served more as plot-builder than thriller. That doesn't mean we were left high and dry for excitement, though. For example, THE HOUND'S ALIVE.
Yes, Sandor Clegane survived his nasty encounter with Brienne back at the end of season 4 and is now trying on a new life for size. While watching the episode, it was easy to imagine how that’d work out.
For the Hound and other players in the Great Game, “The Broken Man” dealt out a series of reality checks. Be they in King’s Landing, the North, the Riverlands or across the Narrow Sea, several characters in this episode were forced to come to terms with their world -- and themselves.
Oh, and Ian McShane was in it and was not a bad guy!
Somewhere in the Riverlands
Before the beloved opening credits even roll, the episode begins with a cold open -- of somewhere peaceful? (I have to admit that I rewound after a few seconds because I wasn’t even sure this was the right show.)
But, alas, this is an opening for Thrones: people going about building a sept while actually being happy. Ian McShane's good guy is a septon named Ray, the leader of these pleasant peasants.
We soon see a rather large man carrying a rather large log all by himself. As he drops it, the camera scrolls up his body to reveal the familiar scarred face of the Sandor “the Hound” Clegane, former Lannister man and guardian of Arya Stark.
As it turns out, Ray happened upon the Hound a few days after the fight with Brienne. He was prepared to bury him until the Hound coughed -- after most men would have given up, Clegane just wouldn’t die.
Ray and the Hound discuss this during a lunch break at the construction site (most of the others are still too afraid to sit with him, something the Hound is fairly used to). Ray shares how he isn’t particularly sure that the Seven Gods are the real gods; he’s just sure that there’s some higher power in control of things. The Hound says it was hate that kept him alive all that time, but Ray thinks the gods spared him because he still has a part to play in the world.
“If the gods are real, why haven’t they punished me,” a still-doubtful Hound asks. Ray’s response, “they have,” gives him pause. After all the terrible things he’s seen and done, the Hound’s ready for a fresh start.
A little later, the group is listening to one of Ray’s sermons. Long before he became a man of faith, Ray was a soldier, and like many good soldiers, he followed terrible orders. Whereas the High Sparrow’s moment of revelation came after a night of partying, Ray’s followed his killing of a boy in front of the boy's mother. The event scarred him, and the memory of it has led him to try to bring “a little goodness” into the world. Looking right at the Hound, he says that it’s “never too late to come back.”
Before we’re able to think too much, three riders approach the group. Ray politely greets them, but they’re not much for chit chat; their leader asks about their provisions and if they have horses. Before leaving, he urges the group to “stay safe. For the night is dark and full of terrors.”
With that farewell, the Hound suspects who these men are, and so do we. These are likely members of the Brotherhood Without Banners, and Clegane suspects what’ll happen when they return.
Talking privately, he alludes to as much to Ray, but the septon isn’t anxious for a fight. Killing is a disease, and “you don’t stop a disease by killing people.” “You don’t stop it by dying either,” Clegane responds.
King’s Landing
While we still process the Hound’s return, Margaery has a friendly meeting with the High Sparrow -- and by meeting I mean chat about sex.
Wearing her crown with a very modest dress, Margaery gives off some seriously pius vibes with the Sparrow, spouting off holy verses like nothing. He didn’t come to lead Sunday school, though; Tommen has told him that the two have yet to do the dirty (I mean, “the holy”) since her release.
She chalks it up to a lack of sexual urge, but that’s irrelevant to him. The High Sparrow reminds her that it’s her duty as a wife to, ahem, be there for her husband -- and her duty to give the king an heir. After all, he says, “the king must have an heir if we’re to continue our good work.”
That statement speaks volumes on the deal the two must have struck to allow her release. Margaery delivered on getting Tommen to convert, but now the High Sparrow wants another royal pawn in his pocket.
Driving the point home, he picks a new Tyrell target: Lady Olenna, the Queen of Thorns. He tells Margaery that she must bring her grandmother to their side or (in not so many words) Lady Olenna will be brought to heel.
Back in the Red Keep, she meets with her grandmother, who is none too pleased with her granddaughter’s conversion or her now-constant follower, Shaming Septa. Olenna cannot stand how Margaery has changed during her imprisonment and wants to send her back to Highgarden at once.
The young queen refuses to leave; her place is in the city with her husband. Getting on her knees, she urges Olenna instead to do good works back home. As she does this, Margaery subtly slips her grandmother a note and gets the real message across with her eyes: Get out now.
Walking away from her and Shaming Septa, Olenna opens the note, which is a sketch of the Tyrell rose. A proud smile breaks across her face as she realizes her granddaughter is still in the game.
Later, Cersei and FrankenMountain approach Olenna, who’s preparing to get the heck out of Dodge. She lays all of the misfortune that’s befallen their two houses at Cersei’s feet; everything that’s happened is because Cersei gave the High Sparrow power.
Cersei seems to accept that now, owning up to her mistakes but urging Olenna to stay and fight with her. Olenna has no interest in helping her anymore, though. After all that she’s done, Cersei is alone, surrounded by enemies and all but powerless. “You’ve lost, Cersei,” she tells her. “It’s the only joy I can find in all this misery.”
Lady Olenna has a point: With Tommen turned and even Jaime gone, Cersei is very much alone in this fight.
Riverrun
Cersei’s better half (I suppose?) arrives to the siege of Riverrun with the Lannister army -- and Bronn! Even for the non-military minded, the Frey siege of the castle looks pathetic. Jaime makes Bronn his second-in-command, but Bronn’s still a little sore about not having the lordship/wife he was promised last season. He even cuts Jaime off when the latter tries to remind him how a Lannister always pays his debts. Bronn’s like us: He’s heard that saying far too much.
As they approach the front lines, the two sons old Walder Frey was scolding last week (Walder and Lothar) are trying to negotiate with Brynden “the Blackfish” Tully -- with negotiate meaning that they threaten to execute Edmure Tully. The Blackfish watches this terrible attempt at a threat from the battlements, unfazed. When Walder then insinuates he'll slice Edmure’s throat, the Blackfish says to just get it over with and walks away. Bluff called.
Jaime approaches the two, who are unsurprisingly surprised to see all these Lannister troops, and takes command of the siege. Lothar tries to be all “hey, this is our siege, dude, we run the show here,” but Jaime is all of us when he casually slaps the dickens out of him with his metal hand.
Later, Jaime walks alone over the bridge to the entrance of the castle, seeking to parlay with the Blackfish. In perhaps one of the coolest medieval things this show has done, we watch a drawbridge get lowered in every sort of camera shot imaginable (well, I think it’s cool). The Blackfish walks across to discuss matters.
Old man Tully notes how Jaime hasn’t lived up to the oath he gave his niece, Catelyn, and delivered Sansa and Arya back to them. Pivoting back to their current predicament, Jaime tries to persuade the Blackfish to surrender by threatening to kill Edmure and/or storm the castle. The Blackfish, however, says Edmure is marked for death regardless and that attacking them will result in thousands of Lannister deaths.
Jaime can’t help but think this whole mess is pointless since the greater war is over. The Blackfish disagrees: “As long as I’m standing, the war is not over.”
With that, negotiations are concluded. Poor, bored Jaime is going to have to stick around a bit longer.
Around the North in how many days?
Jon, Sansa and Davos begin their journey to rally Northern houses to their cause against the Boltons (without Melisandre, which might have been for the best). They start with persuading the rest of the wildlings to fight with them.
After all it took to get them south of The Wall, many of them aren’t anxious to fight a foe that isn’t composed of the dead. Jon acknowledges that this fight wasn’t part of their deal, but he warns them that if undefeated, the Boltons will come for them as well. Tormund jumps in and reminds them that Jon died in defense of the wildings (lest we forget) and that being unwilling to return that sacrifice is not in their nature.
Wun Wun, everyone's favorite head-smashing giant, stands up and says “Snow.” With that, the wildlings are in.
Next stop for the trio is Bear Island, home to House Mormont (Jorah’s old stomping grounds).
It’s there they meet perhaps my favorite new leader, Lady Lyanna Mormont. She's barely a preteen, but don’t let her age fool you: This girl don’t take no BS.
Jon and Sansa’s unfamiliarity with this sort of situation is painfully obvious. They try to break the ice with some pleasantries and smalltalk, but Lady Lyanna doesn’t have time for that. With a presence that rivals Tywin Lannister in his prime, she cuts them off repeatedly and tells them to get to the point. The pair tries to convince her to join forces with them, but despite the loyalty her house has had for the Starks, Mormont doesn’t want to risk the safety of her people anymore.
It takes an argument from Davos to win her over. He tells her this isn’t just someone else’s war their asking her to join; the real war is coming, and it’s between the living and the dead. The North will stay divided so long as the Boltons are in power, and that leaves the North vulnerable to the real threat.
Davos has always had a fatherly way with girls, and he’s enough to convince Lady Mormont to commit her men to them. All 62 of them. Well, better than nothing? “If they’re half as ferocious as their lady,” Davos says, “the Boltons are doomed.” For real, though: #LyannaMormont2016
Jon & Co. next visit the Glovers, who have no interest in joining the coalition of the willing. Their house has suffered greatly, with their castle just retaken from the Iron Islanders -- and it was the Boltons who helped them retake it. Sansa tries to be forceful and reminds their lord of their oath to the Starks, but she gets nowhere. “I served House Stark once,” Lord Glover says, “but House Stark is dead.”
They make their way to their new army's encampment, located where Stannis kept his before marching on Winterfell. Jon is anxious to march on the stronghold himself and doesn't want to wait for long. When it's just the two of them, Sansa speaks to him about Davos. She's still not sold on an old adviser for Stannis having a place of trust in Jon's circle. Jon, however, points out that Davos is experienced and, oh yeah, the reason Jon's alive.
All that aside, Sansa believes they have too few men to march, but Jon says they'll use the men they have. As he walks away, she gets an idea when she spots a caged raven (next to Lyanna Mormont. Who is literally going to war with her men. This girl is my new favorite). Sansa writes a little message to send away, but to whom?
There is a certain character in the North who happens to have an army from the Eyrie. Is Sansa about to make a deal with the devil?
Volantis
Fresh from defeat in the Kingsmoot, Yara Greyjoy has led Theon and her men to one of the great cities of Slaver’s Bay in Essos. They’re all having a grand time drinking and whoring (even Yara), but Theon’s utterly miserable. She makes a couple jokes about how he used to love this sort of thing, but (understandably) it does little to lift his spirit.
On top of the awkwardness of lacking manhood around beautiful women, Theon’s also afraid of Uncle Euron catching up to them. Sitting there, staring down and quivering, he’s more reminiscent of Reek than the Theon we last saw.
Yara tries to snap him out of it. “I know you had some bad years,” she tells him, the understatement of the year.
Through the time-tested strategy of booze therapy, she makes him drink some ale like he likes it and says she needs the old Theon back if they’re ever to take justice/revenge/whatever he wants on the people who’ve wronged them. If he can’t come back, she tells him to cut his wrists and just end it. The thought of it gives him some pause.
But if he can come back, she says, they’re going to go to Meereen and make a deal with the Dragon Queen. Yara leans in and asks if he’s with her, to which Theon sits up and becomes himself once again. He’s in.
Braavos
Elsewhere in Essos, Arya is taking a casual, but attentive, stroll through Braavos. Rockin’ some new clothes, she finds someone with a ship and buys herself a trip back to Westeros. She’s finally going home!
She’s walking along a bridge and looking at the great Titan standing over the harbor, imagining (like us) all the good things to come, when an old lady approaches her. This kindly little woman calls to her, and Arya turns around with a polite expression on her face.
C’mon Arya; you’re smarter than this! Don’t just greet strangers in Braavos!
Of course, this was a bad move. The old lady swiftly pulls out a dagger, slices at Arya’s stomach and stabs her twice in the gut. That’s no old lady, it’s the Waif.
Stunned and in terror, Arya fights loose and throws herself into the water. After the Waif walks away with a smug look, the girl pulls herself out of the water and walks into the street. Arya is seriously wounded, with blood flowing profusely from her gut and her face turning pale. The people she passes look at her, almost judgingly, and offer no assistance. This is not a good spot for Arya to be in.
--Aside-- Perhaps this is just me, but does this guy below look like Gendry in the crowd around Arya? We haven't seen him for some time, and many think he has to return eventually, but could this be him? What do you think?
Back in the Riverlands
After voicing his concern to Ray, the Hound is back to chopping up some brush off in the woods when he hears a scream from the worksite. He runs back to the group, but it’s already too late.
Everyone there -- men, women and children -- has been slaughtered. Gazing about, he walks over to the sept they were building. Hanging from the inside is Ray, dead. The septon preached peace and openness, and that mindset led in his death.
The Hound stares up at the body as his expression changes from shock to stern. He turns around, grabs an axe from a stump and marches off. So much for a life of peace.
The title “The Broken Man” comes from a speech in one of the books delivered by a character Ray is based on. That speech describes the mindset of a soldier who’s fought so much and lost it all, a man who eventually has abandoned whatever cause he once had. The broken man has gotten the snot beaten out of him by life. We rediscovered the Hound as a broken man, one who had given up on fighting but sought a new purpose in life.
Of course, Game of Thrones likes to throw wrenches into the desires of its characters. The Hound got a sharp dose of reality that put him back on the path of a killer, but others such as Theon, Arya, Jon, Sansa, Jaime, Cersei, even Olenna and Margaery had to come to grips with the paths they wanted and the paths they were dealt. In their own ways, they're all broken men.
The question now is: How do they all mend themselves. This episode did an excellent job laying the groundwork for some epic showdowns (might one of them be Cleganebowl?). With three episodes left this season, the fruit of these players' labor will soon be ripe.
BONUS LINES OF THE WEEK
Tormund: "We're not clever like you Southerners. When we say we'll do something, we do it."
Lady Olenna, Queen of Sass, regarding the Shaming Septa: "Does it move or talk?"
Lady Olenna, Queen of Sass, to Cersei: "I wonder if you're the worst person I ever met. At a certain age it's hard to recall. But the truly vile do stand out through the years." BURN
