Gamer Throons (SPOILERS for S6Ep3)

8.5/10 for me.

Likes:

? Arya - the test of drinking that potion and the look on her face when she said "no-one" at the end. She was more honest with herself about The Hound - it felt like a layer of something had been stripped back, and it felt like at least at this point she truly had become no-one. Something will pull Arya back out of no-one later on but at this stage I thought it was very well done. Great acting from Maisie Williams. Surely she will take Needle when she goes back to Westeros but that's not a very "no-one" thing to do, so maybe I've got something wrong there.

? Constant hints about Cleganebowl - calling Ser Robert Strong "Ser Gregor" more than once, reference to trial by combat, reference to the Hound.

? Wall - great performance from Kit Harrington, thought Owen Teale's delivery of Thorne's speech was spot on, quite certain the lingering on Olly was a shout-out to the "f**k Olly" tendency. Loved the uncertainty about who Jon is any more, loved the look on his face at the very end (killer last line - as my kids would say, "mic drop"), loved the bits with Tormund and Edd.

? Umber guy - loads of ambiguity and again a lot of good acting in that scene. Is it really Shaggydog? I'd like to think the look Osha gave Rickon means no (yay, GNC). But only 7 more eps this season and 13 more afterwards - is there time to add GNC to all the other stuff that's happening? Hope they give Osha more to do, Nat Tena is brilliant in that role.

? High Sparrow - very subtle performance again from Pryce. He used the threat of violence against Jaime, he's now using a softer technique against Tommen. Man's a consummate player and a brilliant politician and Pryce carries all of that off so well.

? ToJ - they were always going to split it over more than one episode and I think Bran will rebel against Bloodraven a bit and go back when he's not supposed to. Loved the way Ned heard Bran, foreshadowing that Bran will somehow effect things we are yet to see. Really hope Bran is not the reason Hodor has an aphasia. Also suspect that when he goes off and the Night's King sees him, he's off-piste at that point (and maybe attracts them to Bloodraven's cave, resulting in that being burnt and him, Meera and Hodor just making it out - Bloodraven will know this is going to happen if it is, but I'm speculating instead of reviewing so I'll stop now). Any ways up we will see more in the next episode or two (next episode is one of the long ones so expect Stuff To Go Down).

Dislikes:

? That dragon scene apart, Tyrion has really disappointed so far this season. Hopefully that picks up a bit. How much wine did he want to play a drinking game with? The level was very low to start then seemed to go up and down a bit.

? Dany. Yyyyyaaaaaawwwwwn. Clarke can act so it's not that, but not captivated by this stuff so far this season.

After the epic events of last episode this was always going to be a catch your breath kind of affair, but it was none the worse for that and I can't wait already for the next one. I don't think Sansa will miss Jon; I think ultimately they will have to deal with Ramsay who will have Rickon up his sleeve.

I'm going to get a rubber bracelet with WWLD - What Would Littlefinger Do - ready for ep 4 :-)

Posted By: Old Man, May 9, 13:40:58