Season 6, Episode 1: The Red Woman

SPOILERS if you haven’t seen the episode!!!

Recap

Ghost's howling alerts Davos who finds Jon’s body. With the help of a few loyal brothers they move Jon. Ed fetches Ghost then goes for the OTHER people who owe their life to Jon (aka: the wildlings). Alliser explains to the Night’s Watch that a bunch of them killed Jon over his wildling plans. The Watch seems torn.

Ramsay mourns Miranda, the only person not afraid of him… and then says to feed her to the dogs. Roose scolds Ramsay about Sansa and Theon disappearing. He messed up. Daddy made him feel it.

Theon helps Sansa into the river to escape the hounds

Sansa and Theon run, cross a river, get caught anyway, and then… BRIENNE!!! Pod holds his own and even Theon pitches in, but Brienne is the big hero. She then swears fealty to Sansa in a scene reminiscent of when she swore to Lady Catelyn.

Jaime and Myrcella’s body arrive, breaking Cersei’s heart. Cersei tells Jaime of the Wood’s Witch prophecy. Jaime tells her they are going to take it all back.

Septa Unella abuses Margaery with the Seven Pointed Star, telling her to confess. The High Sparrow interrupts and also also urges a confession, saying King Tommen misses her.

Dorne: WTF? Seriously. What just happened? Prince Doran gets a message, reads of Myrcella’s death, and then Ellaria stabs him and Tyene stabs Areo Hotah while all the household guards stand watching. Ellaria declares no weak man will rule Dorne again. Obara and Nym somehow appear on Tristane’s boat and kill him, wiping out the Martell clan.

Tyrion and Varys wander Meereen. Tyrion offers to buy a baby to eat, or so his poor translation leads the woman to believe. Varys smooths it over. They discuss Dany’s poor PR, then hear a red priest saying the Lord of Light sent Dany. He urges them to take up the flame. A mass of people runs by in fear and when they go to investigate they see the harbor (and all the boats) is on fire, knocking the option of sailing back to Westeros right off the list of possibilities.

Jorah and Dario find charred bones, then find the evidence of the Dothraki hoard and the ring Dany dropped so they know who has her.

Dany faces Khal Moro

Dany is marched into the Dothraki camp and brought to Khal Moro. Khal Moro and his bloodriders discuss the joys of life (such as looking on a woman naked). Dany tells him who she is and he doesn’t care until they get to the topic of Khal Drogo—nobody is to lay with a Khal’s widow. She is meant to go to Vaes Dothrak where all widows of Khals live out their days.

Blind Arya begs in Bravos. The waif shows up with two sticks and taunts Arya first with words, then she gives Arya a stick, tells her to fight and starts hitting her. Arya gets knocked around badly then the waif says “see you tomorrow” and leaves.

Back at the wall Ser Alliser tries to get in to where Jon’s body is being guarded by Ghost, Davos and a few others. Alliser offers amnesty and to let Davos ride south. Davos asks for mutton. They are awaiting the wildlings and Davos notes the Red Woman may help. Unimpressed, one of the Watch asks what one redhead can do against forty men... oh, if they only knew...

Melisandre goes to a mirror and undresses because it wouldn’t be a Game of Thrones episode without Melisandre undressing. She takes off the ruby at her throat and is suddenly VERY OLD. She goes to bed like that.

Assessment

I thought this was a fantastic first episode. I’d only rank season 4 higher for a season opener (well, and one, but that is a special case). Several of the things that happened were sort of what I expected from the books or teasers, but they came out more awesome. I loved the Sansa and Theon escape, nearly getting caught and Brienne saving them heroically--probably my favorite sequence of the show. I like Ramsay on edge under his father’s disapproval. Anything that makes the bastard squirm. Davos was all kinds of awesome and I love Ed going for the wildlings… all expected, but the execution was great. The only sort of confusing thing is if Jon is dead, why are they protecting him? What do they think they can do? Are they just wanting to make sure he is dealt with respectfully, or does Davos have some inkling of what is possible? I’m thrilled that Arya’s story seems to be following her book path.

There are two big book departures. Myrcella has not died yet in the books, so maybe Jaime and Cersei WILL bond when that happens, but to me it messes with Jaime’s redemption arc. Not as big a fan of that. And Dorne… holy CRAP!  In one episode wiping out the royal family… My thought is that without Quentin to woo Dany, Arianne to woo Aegon (or even Aegon) the rest of the Dornish plot is just about war baiting, and leaving this to the sand snakes makes some sense. I certainly liked these sand snakes better than last season’s. But so much for the Dornish Master Plan, eh?

I’m very excited to see where all this goes. Sansa is set to finally get her season, I think. I am eager to see how she and Brienne interact and what that does for Sansa’s confidence. Brienne will be following Sansa’s orders, which puts Sansa in charge for the first time ever. The war at the wall (between the traitorous brothers and the wildlings and loyal brothers) should be interesting. I expect Jon to be raised somewhere in there and if Mel is touting him as Azor Ahai he will probably inspire an army. The battle of the bastards should be amazing.

So anybody have any thoughts they want to share? I'm giving the episode a 9, I think...