Of old vows and new allegiances

In a rare treat, Game of Thrones’ latest episode, The Broken Man, starts off with a cold start — a scene inserted before the much-watched title sequence — and with good reason. This being the season of reunions, a much-loved, old character is thrown at you right off the bat, making the upcoming plotline a little more interesting and muddled.

The setting up for the upcoming finale that began in the last episode gets deeper with The Broken Man. ‘Tis the season of alliances, agreements, and rejections in Westeros. Sansa Stark and Jon Snow use up most of this episode to gain allegiances from Northern houses, as well as the wildlings. A special mention must be made of the child actor who plays Lady Lyanna Mormont, of the Bear Islands, who does a stellar job of playing a young leader forced into ruling her subjects under harsh circumstances.

While some alliances need to be formed using patience, some can be taken by force, and that’s what a banished Jaime Lannister is doing at Riverrun, by brushing aside the weak Freys. The face-off Jaime has with the Blackfish, Brynden Tully, is one of the better-written scenes in this episode, and make no mistake, The Broken Man is full of such stellar scenes.

It’s funny how being away from King’s Landing is doing wonders to Jaime’s sense of sarcasm and his sense of irreverence that once came naturally to him. On the other hand, Cersei is looking like a woman at her wit’s ends. In an absolute brutal exchange, Olenna Tyrell cuts the former queen to size, with absolutely no effort. “I wonder if you’re the worst person I’ve ever met,” she tells Cersei, knocking her off her perch.

Other arcs of the story show some movement too , with Theon and Yara Greyjoy revealing plans to meet with Daenerys, as is — unbeknownst to them — their uncle Aeron. Arya, on the other hand, ends up having a run-in with the Waif as she plots her escape to Westeros, which doesn’t quite go her way.

This was not quite the episode that was expected after the filler Blood of My Blood, last week, going down a rather predictable route. The legendary speech from A Feast for Crows was watered down too, upsetting some book readers.

It’s been two episodes since Tyrion or Ramsey made an appearance, and Danny, Bran and Benjen are missing from this one as well. The Broken Man, however, moves the story along nicely towards the season finale, and is packed with explosive dialogues and confrontations. All in all, unless the final four episodes left this year can deliver something more than what the fan theories floating around expect, season six is bound to be the most disappointing one for Game of Thrones.