Lifestyle: Game of Thrones “Battle of the Bastards, Season 6, Episode 9” Review – Just Remarkable (Contains Spoilers)

, , , , , 1 Comment

Dear Alice,

Our discussion today will be a different one, and it will refer to an informal review I chose to make at this point on one of my favorite “TV Series”, and that is “Game of Thrones”.

You probably remember one of our previous discussions concerning the “Best TV Series to Watch in 2016”. Here is a short reminder Best TV Series to Watch in 2016 🙂 . So you probably remember that one of my favorite “TV Series” is “Game of Thrones”, which is inspired from the fantasy novels “A Song of Ice and Fire” of G.R.R. Martin. As already mentioned previously, I was a big fan of “Game of Thrones” – The “TV Series”, when it began, and that means the first 3 seasons. Afterwards I was kind of slightly disappointed, but I still kept my hope alive while watching season 4 and season 5. And I am really proud for doing this, since now, that season 6 is aired I must say that I am pleasantly impressed! Season 6 has definitely brought “Game of Thrones” back on track. And it did this in an extraordinary way. An extraordinary way that reached its apogee in Season 6, Episode 9, “Battle of Bastards”.

I am no film critique or expert, but here are the main points I found extremely powerful in this particular episode:

  • Building gradually the tension of the episode. This was literally the key to success of this episode, as it is for any piece of television or music that follows this rule. Simple but powerful. Starting with the battle of Daenerys Stormborn for the city of Mereen and for the freedom of all that simple and ordinary slaves. Her Majesty knows how to use her allies, her armies, her advisors, her friends, her dragons and mostly her virtues. Continuing with the battle of the bastards, and ending with the fate of the brutal and merciless Ramsay.
  • Empowering the elements of science fiction at the right moment. While watching the show, I often wonder myself: what about the dragons? Please do use them, if only for feeding them or depicting their sensational evolution. Yes, this definitely happened in this episode. Daenerys proves to have rightfully earned the title of “Mother of Dragons”: the dragons are not only following her into the battle and executing her orders, but they are keen on doing this, exactly as their master.
  • Realistic reproduction of the battle of the bastards. While watching the scenes of this battle, I often thought about the scenes depicted in “Braveheart”, the marvelous movie of Mel Gibson. There were a lot of similarities, but I must specify that the battle of the bastards has its own story. A story that is so realistically depicted that I partially almost felt as if I am part of the battle field itself. Yes, well done.
  • Depicting very straightforwardly the “Girls Power” message, in a men’s world after all. Daenerys Targaryen fighting mercifully in the Slaves’s Bay, Essos; Yara Greyjoy arriving in Mereen and closing quite fast and without any blood loss a pretty good deal for her and her people with possibly one of the most powerful successors to the Seven Kingdoms throne. Sansa Stark proving herself a cunning and tactical leader, which has the ability to make the right decisions in defeating a powerful and numerous army of House Bolton and their countless northern allies.
  • Depicting very subtlety but outstandingly the transformation of the characters. Yes I am talking here again about Sansa Stark. I do remember her in the first season fearing another copy of Ramsay in the person of Joffrey Baratheon and crying for the loss of her family, and I can say her transformation is outstanding: Sansa has definitely transformed herself into a leader, a leader that can use either sneaky strategies (just as Littlefinger, i.e. calling for the help of the Knights of the Vale behind her brother’s back) or ruthless ones (just as Joffrey or Ramsay, i.e. planning and supervising a brutal end for Ramsay) at the right time and place. All of this, still combined with the heroic and rightfulness behavior of the House Stark. Well she is a Stark after all. In my opinion this is exactly the right combination a Stark needs not to end up as Ned or Rob Stark. And not to forget: Sansa’s smile in the last scene of the episode after the deserved fate of Ramsay is memorable. The “Little Dove” with broken wings definitely transformed herself into a powerful Phoenix bird.
  • ” What was that again?” “Courage, courage and more courage.” Definitely, this episode is an ode to courage. Courage is a disease in this episode for its main protagonists (and I did enjoy it so much because it is so contagious), well except Ramsay of course. Who can sacrifice the lives of his soldiers fearing a direct duel with John Snow, who represents everything that Ramsay does not. Yes I do think firstly at John Snow when I talk about courage in this episode. Even though he realizes he does not have much chances against Ramsay and even though he probably thinks that he will die as a hero, John Snow still has the strength to lead his men with optimism into the battle, proving himself a courageous leader; he has the courage to try to save his brother; he has the courage to confront Ramsay directly several times. He has the courage to fight a mud of corpses and soldiers when no hope lies anywhere in the horizon. Yes, John Snow proves himself a courageous leader. A courageous leader intoxicating everyone else with his courage. Even the viewer.

So if you were or/and are a “Game of Thrones” fan, you should definitely watch this episode. It will prove you once again that “Game of Thrones” is a remarkable piece of television when its complete producing team does focus on the story plot and its evolution, and not only on the commercial factor. This episode gets a LOUD and CLEAR “10” out of “10” from my side as well on IMDB – Rating.
Sincerely yours,
Madalina

Comments

comments