Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 2 Recap

Game of Thrones (2011-)
Season 6 (2016)

Created by: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
Starring: Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Lena Headey, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillan, Gwendoline Christie

Plot: 
HBO's fantasy drama series adapted from George R.R. Martin's book series A Song of Ice and Fire follows the civil war of kings and usurpers in Westeros who wish to sit one the throne. The scale and scope of the story is staggering, fully realized with a large ensemble cast.

Previously
We're still waiting for Melisandre to revive Jon Snow. Does it happen this episode? Last episodes final scene with Melisandre was a direct acknowledgment of her power. Thorne is waiting outside the door for Davos, who is guarding Snow's body, to surrender.

I hope they unfold Arya's story more. She'll rejoin the House of Black and White I'm sure.

Will we get an update on Bran Stark's trek? We didn't see him last episode.

Check out my Game of Thrones season 6 recaps.

Review: Episode 2 - Home
The episode opens with Bran and the Three Eyed Raven (Max Von Sydow), who looks like a man but lives entangled in tree roots, in a memory watching Ned and Benjen Stark as boys. He also sees Hodor, who's real name is Willis. Willis can talk. Will we find out what happened to Hodor or will it forever be a mystery?

He can walk!

Bran can walk again and he's back home, though only in his dreams.
Bran is excited to tell Meera what he saw, but she's not content to fight a war in the cave. An elf girl urges Meera to stay. I don't know why we need the elf girl. Does the show really need to voice every thought? Obviously Meera is loyal to Bran, she's traveled this far with him.

Back at Castle Black, Thorne demands Davos open the door. Thorne promises to let the rogue Night's Watch brothers rejoin and let the wolf free, but I'm not one to trust Thorne. Davos draws his sword and the rogue brothers do the same. The direwolf CGI looks pretty good.
Just as Thorne's man is about to break down the door, the Wildlings with a giant in tow led by Tormund Giantsbane and a man from the Night's Watch, break down the castle gates. The Night's Watch drop their weapons. Cowards the lot of them, I tell you. Thorne is imprisoned.

It's a zombie mountain.

Zombie The Mountain kills a man for telling a rowdy story about Cersei. We don't know how Qyburn resurrected him... yet. Zombie Mountain is Cersei's personal bodyguard. All we can see are dark lifeless eyes surrounded by gray flesh peeking out from a Kingsguard helmet.

Son, father, and uncle

Tommen and Jaime discuss why Tommen barred Cersei from Myrcella's funeral. Tommen is ashamed that he did nothing when Cersei and Margaery were arrested. He did nothing when Cersei was paraded down the street in punishment.
The High Sparrow shows up to the funeral, much to Jamie's disgust. The High Sparrow implies that together they could overthrow an empire.
Tommen confronts Cersei, apologizing that he imprisoned her for her safety. He beseeches Cersei to teach him strength as king. This seems exactly like what Cersei wants. She's always wanted to pull the power strings. She even got to for a while. Has she learned any lessons? Tommen will want to free his wife. Margaery and Cersei are enemies.

Tyrion dances with dragons.

Tyrion and Varys seek information in Meeren on who set fire to the ships in the bay. Tyrion proposes letting the two remaining dragons fly free. Dragons in captivity waste away he purports. He visits the dragons, and that CGI looks very good.

Arya gets more training, which means a good beating. Just as I wonder what she'll have to do to complete her penance, Jaqen H'ghar shows up for a verbal quiz. The questions are so easy that even I could pass the test. Arya is no longer a beggar, her eye sight now restored.

You can count on Ramsay to be unpredictable.

Ramsay and Roose Bolton discuss Sansa's escape. They know she's heading to Castle Black for Jon Snow. While Roose is hesitant to anger the Kings of the North, Ramsay retorts that they only need a couple of the families to squander any challengers to the Bolton throne.
When it's announced that Roose has a son with a Walder Frey woman, Ramsay is visibly upset. Ramsay is an illegitimate son, formerly Ramsay Snow. A legitimate child would be ahead of him in secession. Ramsay unexpectedly, though why is anything Ramsay does unexpected, kills his father and steals the throne. Ramsay orders the maester to report that their enemies poisoned his father. He orders for the Frey girl and the baby. We know this wont' end will, but just how terrible will it be? The Frey girl's pleading, the music... I had hoped whatever it may be would occur off screen. Thankfully it did, though my imagination was bad enough.

Brienne shares what she knows about Arya with Sansa. Sansa bemoans not following Brienne when she had the chance. Reek is unsettled about returning to Castle Black. He deserves punishment for his crimes, but he's not willing to seek said punishment. He would have delivered Sansa to Jon Snow, but with Brienne he doesn't need to. He plans to return home, but with a father that didn't like him before, I don't see him being accepted readily.

Balon Greyjoy's hold on the North is slipping. When his brother, the pirate Euron, returns, Euron kills Balon. The custom of the Iron Islands is for their leader to be chosen. Yara, Balon's daughter, wants the throne, but it won't be handed to her. We can assume that Euron will be vying for the same throne.

Melisandre has failed us.

Davos asks Melisandre to resurrect Jon Snow. Shes seems particularly disillusioned. She placed her bet on Stannis Baratheon and that didn't pan out. Melisandre has never resurrected anyone but Davos asks her to try her best. What could go wrong with that?
Melisandre cuts locks of Jon's hair and chants. If he comes back is he going to be a zombie or will he have his faculties? I assume he will be fully functioning. Melisandre saw the Red priest Thoros revive Beric Dondarrion. I assume that is what she references in this episode.

Just kidding, the magic take a while to kick in.

Despite Melisandre chanting, nothing seems to happen. I'm not buying it. They string it out. We watch one Tormund, Melisandre, and Davos leave. We see the unresponsive Jon, we see his wolf, we see Jon again, and then.... HE'S ALIVE! Roll credits.

Catching up on each story makes the episode pass quickly. Each episode is a collection of vignettes, vignettes that eventually will collide. With this episode Jon Snow is the reason to watch.

We're still on the set up side, but this episode brought Jon Snow back to life. We knew Snow was coming, and we also got to see Ramsay Bolton rise another rung up the ladder. Euron Greyjoy and Theon may have a conflict soon. So what happens next? We've got a lot of stories.