GOT, Season Six marathon done for another year. Much better than last season, which was good but not great. This one was almost great and the last two episodes were, indeed, exxxcellent. With apologies to David Letterman, my Top Ten List of my favorite scenes/moments from season 6:
10. Sansa's Reflection - Yeah, I have a crush on Sansa, I admit it. But, hey, is there any male viewer of the show that doesn't? Anyhoo, it's been nice seeing Sansa mature over the course of the series. After they retake Winterfell, she's sitting in a former favorite childhood secluded spot, in a pensive mood. Little Finger shows up and she tells him: "I used to come here everyday when I was a girl. I prayed to be somewhere else. Back then I only thought about what I wanted, not what I had." Nice, quiet moment.
9. Melisandre the Hag - The beauteous Melisandre stands naked before a mirror, then removes her magical jeweled necklace, revealing her true self to be an ancient hag with a horribly shriveled body. Chilling, haunting, shocking imagery.
8. Jon Snow's Rebirth - Even though we knew it was coming, it was still a cool moment when Snow, lying still and dead, suddenly gasps for breath and opens his eyes. (Talk about spoilers! I went on Rotten Tomatoes to look up a movie, months before the season of GOT even aired, and there was this huge banner headline: KIT HARRINGTON SEEN ON-SET OF GOT SEASON SIX FILMING! Or something like that. Gee, thanks a bunch, RT.)
7. King Tommen's Suicide - Wowsa. Sure, didn't see that one coming! Filmed without fanfare, simply, quietly and all the more shocking for it. Also reinforced the recurring theme of Cersei destroying every damn thing she touches.
6. Sept of Baelor Wildfire - Speaking of Cersei, I knew it wasn't going to end well for the folks in the Sept as soon as I saw them gathered there all together. Sorry that Margaery bought it, but very satisfying to see the High Sparrow get his comeuppance. (Though one thing troubled me: I felt that Margaery was faking her conversion, which seemed to be confirmed when she gave her Grandma the drawing, so I thought the story was setting up for Margaery to take some kind of revenge on the Sparrow herself. Not sure what the writer's were doing there since there was ultimately no payoff in that regard.)
5. Arya Kills Frey - Again, I knew Frey was dead meat (no pun intended) as soon as I saw who was serving him, the surprise was that it was actually Arya. (Interesting that she can do the "face-thing" now, which will probably figure importantly in some future intrigue.)
4. Daenerys Lights it up - What a great moment when Daenerys confronts the supremely arrogant Khals and tells them that she, not they, will be the leader of their people, then burns them all up when they ridicule her, emerging nude and unblemished from the inferno to the adoration of the masses. Another recurring theme - Macho-macho males utterly mis-reading and underestimating the diminutive Daenerys and then getting their heads handed to them (sometimes literally).
3. Battle for Winterfell - One of the great filmed battles, be it tv or film. Absolutely thrilling. So many great scenes, my favorite was the wall of dead bodies. What gorgeously macbre imagery!
2. Death of Ramsay - Has there ever been a more despicable villain than the sneering, smirking, sadistic, cowardly psychopath Ramsay? Eaten alive by his own vicious, starving dogs - perfect. Also loved Sansa's little smile at the end. (BTW, Iwan Rheon, the actor who played Ramsay, probably one of the most hated, memorable villains in tv series history, is also in a wonderful Brit sci-fi series called "The Misfits", in which he plays a shy, kind, generous character who is just as sweet and likable as possible. And Rheon is just as believable in that role as he was as Ramsay. Great actor.)
Annnnnd my Number One Favorite Moment from Season Six:
1. Hodor's Death/Backstory - This show has many, many great scenes and many, many genuinely shocking moments but rarely does it actually move me. This scene really got to me. First of all, I didn't even think Hodor would have a backstory. I figured he was just brain-damaged and always had been and that's all there was to it. Then in an earlier episode we learn he was once a normal kid, which really piques our curiosity - WTH happened to Hodor? Then the scene with Bran and company fleeing from the White Walkers and "HOLD THE DOOR! HOLD THE DOOR!" - shouted both in realtime and in the reveal in the flashback - Wowsa. That just absolutely chilled me to the bone. Just writing about it chills me to the bone. So many things about it - the horrible nature of his death, his devotion and self-sacrifice, the fact that he was a normal kid and so young when he got locked into this prison of his own mind for his whole life - it's very moving. And, I think, another testament to fine acting. Kristian Nairn had, literally, one line - hell, one word - of dialogue (to which he gave an infinite variety of inflections) the entire series - yet he created a lovable, gentle giant whom we all mourn.
One more comment about this season: I think it's interesting that in the past this series has been famous for killing off beloved characters - usually in the most brutal, shocking manner possible - but in the final two episodes of this season, it was mostly the villains that bought the farm, quite a few of them.
10. Sansa's Reflection - Yeah, I have a crush on Sansa, I admit it. But, hey, is there any male viewer of the show that doesn't? Anyhoo, it's been nice seeing Sansa mature over the course of the series. After they retake Winterfell, she's sitting in a former favorite childhood secluded spot, in a pensive mood. Little Finger shows up and she tells him: "I used to come here everyday when I was a girl. I prayed to be somewhere else. Back then I only thought about what I wanted, not what I had." Nice, quiet moment.
9. Melisandre the Hag - The beauteous Melisandre stands naked before a mirror, then removes her magical jeweled necklace, revealing her true self to be an ancient hag with a horribly shriveled body. Chilling, haunting, shocking imagery.
8. Jon Snow's Rebirth - Even though we knew it was coming, it was still a cool moment when Snow, lying still and dead, suddenly gasps for breath and opens his eyes. (Talk about spoilers! I went on Rotten Tomatoes to look up a movie, months before the season of GOT even aired, and there was this huge banner headline: KIT HARRINGTON SEEN ON-SET OF GOT SEASON SIX FILMING! Or something like that. Gee, thanks a bunch, RT.)
7. King Tommen's Suicide - Wowsa. Sure, didn't see that one coming! Filmed without fanfare, simply, quietly and all the more shocking for it. Also reinforced the recurring theme of Cersei destroying every damn thing she touches.
6. Sept of Baelor Wildfire - Speaking of Cersei, I knew it wasn't going to end well for the folks in the Sept as soon as I saw them gathered there all together. Sorry that Margaery bought it, but very satisfying to see the High Sparrow get his comeuppance. (Though one thing troubled me: I felt that Margaery was faking her conversion, which seemed to be confirmed when she gave her Grandma the drawing, so I thought the story was setting up for Margaery to take some kind of revenge on the Sparrow herself. Not sure what the writer's were doing there since there was ultimately no payoff in that regard.)
5. Arya Kills Frey - Again, I knew Frey was dead meat (no pun intended) as soon as I saw who was serving him, the surprise was that it was actually Arya. (Interesting that she can do the "face-thing" now, which will probably figure importantly in some future intrigue.)
4. Daenerys Lights it up - What a great moment when Daenerys confronts the supremely arrogant Khals and tells them that she, not they, will be the leader of their people, then burns them all up when they ridicule her, emerging nude and unblemished from the inferno to the adoration of the masses. Another recurring theme - Macho-macho males utterly mis-reading and underestimating the diminutive Daenerys and then getting their heads handed to them (sometimes literally).
3. Battle for Winterfell - One of the great filmed battles, be it tv or film. Absolutely thrilling. So many great scenes, my favorite was the wall of dead bodies. What gorgeously macbre imagery!
2. Death of Ramsay - Has there ever been a more despicable villain than the sneering, smirking, sadistic, cowardly psychopath Ramsay? Eaten alive by his own vicious, starving dogs - perfect. Also loved Sansa's little smile at the end. (BTW, Iwan Rheon, the actor who played Ramsay, probably one of the most hated, memorable villains in tv series history, is also in a wonderful Brit sci-fi series called "The Misfits", in which he plays a shy, kind, generous character who is just as sweet and likable as possible. And Rheon is just as believable in that role as he was as Ramsay. Great actor.)
Annnnnd my Number One Favorite Moment from Season Six:
1. Hodor's Death/Backstory - This show has many, many great scenes and many, many genuinely shocking moments but rarely does it actually move me. This scene really got to me. First of all, I didn't even think Hodor would have a backstory. I figured he was just brain-damaged and always had been and that's all there was to it. Then in an earlier episode we learn he was once a normal kid, which really piques our curiosity - WTH happened to Hodor? Then the scene with Bran and company fleeing from the White Walkers and "HOLD THE DOOR! HOLD THE DOOR!" - shouted both in realtime and in the reveal in the flashback - Wowsa. That just absolutely chilled me to the bone. Just writing about it chills me to the bone. So many things about it - the horrible nature of his death, his devotion and self-sacrifice, the fact that he was a normal kid and so young when he got locked into this prison of his own mind for his whole life - it's very moving. And, I think, another testament to fine acting. Kristian Nairn had, literally, one line - hell, one word - of dialogue (to which he gave an infinite variety of inflections) the entire series - yet he created a lovable, gentle giant whom we all mourn.
One more comment about this season: I think it's interesting that in the past this series has been famous for killing off beloved characters - usually in the most brutal, shocking manner possible - but in the final two episodes of this season, it was mostly the villains that bought the farm, quite a few of them.
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