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'Game of Thrones' season 6 finale review: 'The Winds of Winter' crown a new king and queen

Major spoilers ahead. Tread with caution!

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All images via HBO.com.
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How does one talk about an episode that is the culmination of five books, six seasons and two decades of storytelling? Game of Thrones began as a show that just would not give its viewers what they wanted or expected. It thrives on throwing curveballs our way. No wins for the heroes, no redemption for the bad guy with the good heart, no breaks for the women from the terrible cruelties inflicted on them, hardly any consequences for the manipulators and the bad guys. The show’s only leveller for the good, bad and all that’s in between is death. A fate only Jon Snow and Daenerys remain immune to because their Targaryen blood necessitates that they make it to the end.

With the season 6 finale the show began its third act and for the first time gave viewers everything they could have possibly wanted. The catch is that as viewers we would not have expected to be in this position. Sure, we wanted a win for Jon Snow and Sansa, for Daenerys to finally sail with an army to Westeros, for that R+L=J to finally come true. But did we expect to root for an evil Cersei or cheer for a bloodthirsty Arya? To watch with satisfaction as the Tyrells are blown to bits and little children murder Pycelle? With A Song of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin aimed at subverting the tropes of good and evil in fantasy. He recently said, “In my view, the battle of good and evil is waged within the individual heart...We’re all partly good and partly evil or selfish.” And it’s really this grey area within us that this universe has tapped into.

The episode ‘The Winds of Winter’ begins with a montage of the Lannisters, the Tyrells and the High Sparrow getting ready for the trial. The sequence of events in King’s Landing are set to a lilting piano playing alongside a mournful cello, creating an effect that is surprisingly upbeat. The music is setting the stage for Cersei, because the main focus here is on her successful transformation— from a volatile, wilful young queen, hungry for power, to a terrifying one who exacts her revenge with precision and then takes what she has wanted all this while, the Iron throne. Throughout this season, Cersei’s kept her head down and taken her time to carefully plan and eliminate the threats in her way, keeping her cards close to her chest and only using two loyalists to both protect her and do her bidding. In the end, Tommen’s jump from his bedroom window becomes an unavoidable casualty, one Cersei almost seems well prepared for. His death also removes any vulnerabilities she has left.

You might smile a little at the way the tables have turned when she throws her wine in the face of Septa Unella, who’s bound up and now her prisoner. But when she leaves the septa with Ser Gregor, her every call of “shame” rings with terror in your ears. This is Lena Heady’s moment and her best season yet. Cersei’s journey from the mid-season five to the end of season six has been one of the best character arcs on the show and that is almost entirely due to Heady’s performance. When she is finally crowned queen, Cersei is a formidable figure that commands fear and absolute obedience.

For whom do the bells toll? They now toll for Cersei. For her reign and her imminent death.

According to the witch's prophecy, Cersei is probably not long for this world— a young queen is on her way to cast her down and she has two ‘valonqars’ who could kill her. From the looks of it, Jaime is far from happy at the latest developments. Cersei’s similarities with the ‘Mad King’ Aerys may be too close for comfort.

Between Cersei and the High Sparrow, it’s hard not to root for her. The High Sparrow’s duplicitous nature is on display during Loras’ trial, as he easily has his pick from The Seven to make up any judgement he sees fit. When Loras chooses to surrender and admits all guilt, the High Sparrow calls on the Warrior to punish him and then the Mother’s mercy to forgive him, all to conveniently tie in with a plan agreed upon with Margaery.

But as this is underway, Qyburn has set the wheels in motion to carry out Cersei’s plan. His murderous little birds kill Pycelle in a scene from the book, A Dance with the Dragons. So we’ve moved from killing children to having them kill. Game of Thrones, always upping its kill game.

It’s incredible that in a finale full of triumphant moments, one of them is when Sam walks into the Citadel’s library and discovers endless shelves of books. Sam and Gilly have finally made it to the home of the maesters, just in time to see white ravens leaving its tower to announce the change of seasons.

Winter is here, but Jon Snow has already known that. In the aftermath of the ‘Battle of the Bastards’, that’s about all he knows. Take him out of the battlefield and he is not sure what to do except tell Melisandre to ride south to avoid being executed for Shireen’s murder and tell Sansa that they have “so many enemies now”.

So it’s a good thing that he has Lyanna Mormont on his side. Boy, can that child (girl? woman? Queen of all that is awesome?) get people in line. When Jon is floundering with how to address the northern families gathered at the hall in Winterfell, she cuts grown men down to size and has them rallying behind Jon as not Warden, but King of the North, a scene much like when Robb was crowned several seasons ago. You can see Jon pay careful attention to Lyanna throughout this scene, because who else cuts through bullshit like that kid? Kit Harington’s expression here is hilarious. Jon is flabbergasted by Lyanna’s speech and her unshakeable confidence.

This rousing vote of approval for Jon comes alongside the biggest reveal of the show. After Benjen Stark leaves Bran and Meera at the Wall, Bran uses the weirwood to continue his vision of the Tower of Joy. The scene all but confirms the popular fan theory, one that first took root in 1998, that Jon is Lyanna and Rhaegar’s son and not Ned’s bastard. (*dances like no one’s watching*)

I’m not sure if all this ties up the arcs a little too neatly or is just enough to make everything a little more complicated. Will Jon fight both the war with the dead and the one for the Iron throne? It’s possible he’ll leave that decision upto Lyanna. In fact, Jon may just leave everything up to Lyanna now. He’s probably just waiting for her to finish training as a warrior so he can retire.

Meanwhile, in exchange for winning the battle, Petyr Baelish wants his reward— marrying Sansa on the way to claiming the Iron Throne. Sansa rejects him but Littlefinger is not dissuaded and throws her sleazy looks as Jon’s declared King of the North.

In Mereen, Daenerys finally packed her ships and dragons to sail for Westeros. But first, she says goodbye to Daario as proof to us viewers that she’s no longer a young girl playing queen but a cold-hearted conqueror who prizes kingdoms above love. No, not even in fantasy can a woman have both a successful career and love.

Before they set sail, Tyrion gives her pep talk on the ‘great game’. In return, he gets what he’s been craving for years, respect for his knowledge and official acknowledgment of his capability.

When her ships finally leave the Bay of Dragons, as it’s now called, Daenerys stands on the deck and stares at the horizon like Westeros will show up any minute now.

It definitely could. Varys’ ship all but flew to Dorne. In this godforsaken place, he’s forging an alliance for Dany with Olenna Tyrell and Ellaria and the Sand Snakes. This episode is really about giving viewers what they want. Look at how little we get of Dorne and, when we do, we have Olenna Tyrell shutting them all up.

A certain Lady Stoneheart didn’t make an appearance at the Twins, but her stand-in Arya did the job, feeding Frey Pies to Walder Frey in revenge for the Red Wedding. “I’m Arya Stark of Winterfell,” she declares, before slitting Walder Frey’s throat just like Catelyn’s was all those years ago. The pies made of Lothar and Black Walder are a callback to the books, where Wyman Manderly serves up pies made of three Freys at the Bolton wedding feast in revenge for the murder of his son. With her new skills Arya could wreak havoc across Westeros, knocking people off her list and adding new ones. When will she make it to Winterfell though?

With this, we’re officially done with the books. I know we said season 6 had gone ahead of the books but the events at Riverrun, Braavos and King’s Landing still drew small parts from them. The finale officially finished every single bit, heralding the wait for The Winds of Winter’s release.

Much like ‘Battle of the Bastards’, it’s the build up to the events and not the expected results that make this episode a captivating watch. Weaving the right amount of tension into the drama seems a particular skill of director Miguel Sapochnik.

My only question is— where the hell is Gendry?


(imgur)
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