Dude, where are my fan theories

The things we do for love - Jaime Lannister has been synonymous with the words since the very first season of Game of Thrones. The only difference between Jaime saying these words in season one and No One is the tired, broken man he’s become now, trying to safeguard his love for Cersei and their family.

In a rather painfully drawn out sequence at Riverrun, the Kingslayer uses the family card to make progress into the castle. Like he says, the sooner he can take over Riverrun, the faster he can get back to the love of his life; that would be a great prospect to the show’s viewers too.

Back in King’s Landing, Cersei seems to be losing the plot, slowly and surely. She no longer has the power she once commanded over the city and the crown, especially when Joffrey was alive, having Tommen’s ear is a whole different game, she’s realised. Lena Headey is doing a splendid job to show the former queen’s slow descent into madness, eventually fulfilling Bran’s vision.

If you were expecting Cleganebowl to happen anytime soon, after Sandor ‘The Hound’ Clegane’s appearance in the previous episode, get ready to be disappointed; the show’s makers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss know just how to keep us waiting for more. Another fan theory about a certain undead matriarch seems to be shoved aside by the end of this episode as well. The Bastardbowl hype train, however, is still running on schedule, with a potential showdown between Ramsay Bolton and Jon Snow coming up for the grand finale.

Speaking of the finale, the Mereen plot seems to be progressing smoothly too, with an unsure Tyrion getting the city into trouble with the slave masters, but help is at hand for the “most famous dwarf in the world.” However slow moving Mereen’s story may have been after Daenerys was kidnapped by her own dragon last season, Peter Dinklage’s strong presence seems to have saved the story’s face, making it less disappointing than the Dorne story line.

No One, however, belongs completely to Arya Stark. She has had the most outrageous and sensational plot of all this season, but Maise Williams manages to light up the episode with her pure spunk. The show has fire-breathing dragons and men coming back from life, but Arya’s miraculous semi-healing from her wounds seems a little fantastic. In fact, the stabbing seems to serve no purpose at all except to provide for a cliffhanger in the previous episode.

Despite Arya, No One cannot help save Game of Thrones’ latest season the blushes for being a poorly executed one. With the show running out of book material in season six, fan theorists were working overtime to predict twist and turns. The loud sound you can hear each Monday morning is the sound of their collective groans when the makers have other plans for the beloved characters.