Coming right after last’s week’s tedious and dull episode, this week’s Game of Thrones episode had a lot to deliver. There’s one thing you should note about any episode of any show; if it starts off differently in terms of editing, you know it’s going to be interesting. “The Broken Man” is directed by Mark Mylod and written by Bryan Cogman. Mylod will go on to direct next week’s episode “No One”.
Last week we saw a rather depressing turn of events unfold in King’s Landing. The climactic clash between Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) didn’t come about and ended in a political stalemate. If anything the High Sparrow came out on top by seemingly collecting on more political capital by swaying King Tommen and Queen Margaery (Natalie Dormer) to his side, whilst pretty much kick out Jaime. I stated that I found it odd for Margaery to suddenly be so pious, considering she was quite livid with the whole ordeal (Septa Unella is quite the stone-faced enforcer). The beginning of this episode started off on the same step, with the High Sparrow counselling Margaery. While it’s mostly just waffling, we do see the High Sparrow flex his grip on his newly found political allies, first by pretty much commanding Margaery to sleep and bear Tommen a child, and secondly to use her to tell Lady Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg) to leave the city. The High Sparrow also subtly threatens the latter’s well-being, if she were to remain in the city. I’ve said it time and again, but Jonathan Pryce absolutely nails it when it comes to portraying the High Sparrow.
The scene then shifts to Margaery (Septa Unella is in tow) meeting with Lady Olenna, where the latter is shocked at the sudden piousness of Margaery. Lady Olenna did after all advice Lady Margaery on how to act and manipulate the political forces in the field so it’s undesirable to see why she appears to lose her temper at the thought of Margaery proposing that her brother Loras live his life as a penitent. It was also absolutely hilarious to see Lady Olenna describe what she would have had done to Septa Unella, even if the latter just smirked through it all. However, before Lady Olenna can lose all hope in her granddaughter, Margaery slips her a cryptic message. As a result, Olenna seems to be content with leaving the capital, going so far as to snub Cersei (Lena Headey) on her way out. After all, it was due to the meddling of the latter that let the High Sparrow rise to prominence and power.
The Riverlands are making a bigger appearance this season with many recurring characters such as the Freys and the Blackfish. Another familiar face making a comeback is Bronn (Jerome Flynn)! Riding by the side of Jaime Lannister, the former has decided to elevate the sellsword-turned-knight into his right-hand man. Bronn was a character loved by everyone who watched the show, if only for his refusal to be daunted by characters who had more power and wealth, and also due to his witty one-liners. His witty one-liner this episode may have been at the expense of the Unsullied. We also see Jaime take into stride his newfound power at the head of the army with him slapping one of the Frey’s in charge of Riverrun’s siege. The siege itself is going badly, with the Blackfish (Clive Russell) refusing to yield over the castle, telling Jaime that he and all his men would die in it. The latter is a sombre moment as the Blackfish seems to pity Jaime, with the latter trying to find a way to take the castle without charging head first. I guess we’ll have to see what happens when Brienne comes to Riverrun.
Bronn and the Blackfish aren’t the only characters making a return to the show. The episode itself is named after someone we haven’t seen for quite a while. Someone we hated and then came to pity. The Hound is back. The episode itself opens up with a rather quaint and peaceful community of people trying to build a structure, with the women preparing a meal and the men carrying in lumber. One such man carries an entire log just by himself; such is the strength of Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann). His arc this episode is a soul searching one, with him exchanging verbal bouts with the Septon in charge of the community. While the Hound no longer seems bent on killing people he thinks the pacifist nature of the community will be their undoing and alas he’s proven right. Soldiers from the Brotherhood without Banners visit the community and when turned away by the Septon, return later to pillage and wreck the place, killing everyone but the Hound. Thus, in a true birth-of-a-hero moment, the Hound hefts a large axe and the credits run before we can see him dish out some justice. What this spells for the Hound remains to be seen, but considering that the people he had been living with were with the Brotherhood of Banners, it’s safe to say he’ll be visiting them soon.
Meanwhile, to the North, Jon (Kit Harington), Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) are busy trying to form an army. The first step in that process is trying to convince the Wildlings to fight for them, something that predictably goes their way; we saw an army of wildlings fighting a Bolton army in the season trailer. Luckily for Jon, Tormund has his back and convinces the rest of the Wildlings to fight for him; to top it off Wun-Wun strides off after saying “Snow”. Alas for Jon, the Wildlings were the easy part. Over the episode, we see Jon, Sansa and Ser Davos beseech both House Mormont and House Glover for troops, with the former giving in after a lot of convincing from Ser Davos, and the latter flatly refusing. As a result, by the time the episode ends, Jon has just over 2000 men in his army, even if fights break out in his army. Unfortunately, in Game of Thrones, that’s laughable. As a result, we see Sansa sending off a raven, my guess is, to Littlefinger. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Also, where on earth is Lady Melisandre?
Meanwhile across the Narrow Sea, Theon (Alfie Allen) and Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan) are whoring and drinking their way through brothels in Slaver’s Bay. And by that I mean, Yara is, Theon being too timid to do anything other that stare at his plate of scraps. But that isn’t the Ironborn way, something Yara reminds Theon of as she offers her brother a tough talk whilst forcing him to drink ale. It’s an amusing segment that is also broiled in character development, for Theon that is. Interestingly we also hear that both Greyjoy’s plan to sail to Meereen, to serve Daenerys.
In Braavos, Arya is trying to secure passage back to Westeros, and she’s in a hurry to do so, throwing money at a ship’s captain in an effort to gain passage. While she succeeds in booking passage she’s found by her old nemesis from the Faceless men who proceeds to slice her stomach and attempt to reenact the Red Wedding by stabbing Arya in the stomach. While Arya does survive, things don’t look good for her and I actually can’t fathom her surviving.
