Tonight’s GAME OF THRONES opens on a grisly scene of the ships bombing the city of Meereen. Tyrion tries to make light of the situation by pointing out that the city has been thriving. Daenerys tells Tyrion that she plans on burning the slavers’ towns to dust. Tyrion points out to her what her father, the Mad King, had hidden under the Red Keep and why Jaime killed him. He suggests an alternative.
Daenerys and Tyrion meet with the three slave masters as they arrogantly think they are discussing her surrender. She informs them that they are there to talk about theirs; they mock her until Drogon comes flying up out of nowhere, screeching, and lands behind Daenerys. She climbs aboard him and takes off towards the ships. Busting out of a pyramid wall, Rhaegal and Viserion (who are much smaller than Drogon, I might add) join him in the sky. Daenerys’ Dothraki army, led by Daario, arrive at the front gates and slaughter the Sons of the Harpy.
When Daenerys and her dragons reach the bombing ships, she tells Drogon, “Dracarys” and he breaths fire on the ships, as does Rhaegal and Viserion.
Back at the pyramid, Grey Worm tells the soldiers of the masters to put down their arms and go home to their families, or die. They run away. Grey Worm kills two of the masters and Tyrion tells the other to go back and tell the people what happened this day, of Daenerys and her dragons.
Yara and Theon arrive in Meereen. Tyrion remembers Theon making short jokes when Tyrion was in Winterfell. Yara and Daenerys seem to hit it off pretty well, much to Tyrion’s chagrin. Yara and Daenerys strike a deal and shake on it: Daenerys will use Yara’s boats to get to Westeros to take the Seven Kingdoms, killing a few uncles along the way, and Yara will be the Queen of the Iron Islands.
The Bastards
Jon waits for a parlay with Ramsay in the middle of the field, a few soldiers and Sansa with him. Ramsay rides up with a few of his own, Sansa glaring at him. Ramsay, all full of himself, thanks Jon for returning Sansa to him, and wants everyone to kneel before him and declare Ramsay lord. Jon challenges Ramsay to a duel, just the two of them. Ramsay refuses, and throws Rickon’s direwolf’s head at them. Sansa interrupts Ramsay, telling him that he is going to die tomorrow and to sleep well.
Later, Davos, Jon and Tormund plan their strategy. Sansa stresses to Jon that he does not know Ramsay. She goes so far as to say that they won’t get Rickon back, as he’s a true blood Stark and a bigger threat to Ramsay that he or she. They argue over what to do and how to defeat Ramsay.
Jon visits Melisandre and tells her that if he should fall, he does not want her to bring him back again. She tells him she must try.
After a buddy moment with Tormund, Davos takes a walk (what he likes to do before a battle). He comes across what looks like to be the snowed-over funeral pyre where Shireen was burned. He finds the stag he made for her in the snow and picks it up. It becomes first light and he hears the war horns.
Jon’s army is lined up and ready. Before the vast Ramsay army are flayed men crosses, burning what looks like flayed men hanging on them. Ramsay rides up dragging a rope behind him; of course it’s Rickon. Jon’s face is incredulous. Ramsay brings out a sword as Jon angrily gets off his horse. Ramsay cuts the ropes to Rickon’s rope. Ramsay tells Rickon he wants to play a game: the game is to run to Jon. Someone brings Ramsay a bow and arrow as Rickon begins to run. Jon mounts his horse again and takes off riding towards Rickon as Ramsay lets arrows fly. Right when Jon reaches Rickon, an arrow hits Rickon in the chest, killing him. Davos and Tormund look unhinged. Jon is livid as Ramsay smirks. Jon charges in as Davos and Tormund charge the rest of the army in.
Jon stands alone as Ramsay’s cavalry charges, but his own army reaches right at the same time. A long bloody battle ensues, with Ramsay safe behind his archers as he continually rains down arrows on both his men and Jon’s army. Davos commands his archers to rush in with him and fight. Ramsay commands his troops to join in, as there are now mounds of dead people on the battlefield. Ramsay’s troops surround Jon’s army with shields in place. Ramsay, of course, continues smirking. Ramsay’s army pushes in and groups them tighter, until Davos shouts to break their ranks. It does not good as the shields continue moving forward, pushing the wilding army tighter together.
As things look hopeless, a war horn sounds and it looks like Littlefinger came through (presumably, that’s who Sansa sent that raven off to after trying to gather the North). The Arryn army rushes in with thousands of horses as Ramsay looks shocked. Sansa sits on horseback overlooking the battlefield, beside Littlefinger, as the Arryn army rushes in and makes quick work of Ramsay’s army. Sansa is the one with a smirk now.
Jon climbs out of the mass and sees an open-mouthed Ramsay alone with two guards. Ramsay turns his horse and begins to ride away as Jon, Tormund and the giant follow, Sansa watching the whole thing.
Ramsay makes it to Winterfell and tells the guards they have Winterfell and can hold it. The giant breaks the door pretty quickly and rushes in, covered in arrows. The rest of Jon’s army follows in. Ramsay shoots the last arrow into the giant, killing him. Ramsay now wants the one-on-one combat as he shoots arrows at an approaching Jon. Jon uses a shield to block them and reaches Ramsay, pounding his face bloody. Sansa arrives as Jon is going all out. He gets off of Ramsay and walks away.
The sigils for the frayed man are taken down and our proud Stark banner is hanging again at Winterfell. Rickon’s body is brought in and Jon tells the men to bury Rickon in the crypt next to his father. Sansa walks up and asks Jon where Ramsay is now. We also see Davos holding the recovered stag statue as he stares intently up at Melisandre on the balcony; she is oblivious to his withering gaze.
We see a very bloody Ramsay tied up in the dungeon. Sansa stands outside the bars as Ramsay taunts her. She lets him know how insignificant he is. She has let the hounds into his cell, as they growl. He does not think they will hurt him, but he himself had said that he hadn’t fed them in seven days. One of the hounds gets in Ramsay’s face and though Ramsay is commanding it to get down, it attacks him. Sansa stays and watches impassively. When she does walk away, it is with a smile on her face.
My Thoughts
Literally, it was what I was hoping for. The battle between Jon and Ramsay, and then Ramsay dying at Sansa’s hands; even though she used the dogs, it was still her doing. I literally choked on my Diet Coke when the dog lunged and bit into Ramsay’s face. I absolutely love that Sansa has gotten herself a gigantic set of gonads this season. That overshadowed the uniting of the dragons at the beginning of the show, but you have to admit, that was pretty awesome too. I’m interested to see where this Daenerys/Yara relationship goes as well.
Let us also not forget that during this whole season, Davos did not know what had happened to Shireen. He had asked Melisandre back earlier in the season, but she did not answer. I think tonight he figured out what happened to Shireen and I believe he is going to be looking to get some revenge.
Sadly, only one more episode of GAME OF THRONES. Tune in on June 26th at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Canada for the grand finale!