“The Battle of the Bastards” is such a ludicrously big episode of Game of Thrones that it begins the best GoT episodes end: Tyrion gets off some solid quips, Grey Worm gets in a satisfying double-kill, and Daenerys rides Drogon around Meereen, torching the slavers’ armada while flanked by a newly-freed Rhaegal and Viserion. It’s awe-inspiring, it’s gorgeous, and “Dracarys” might well be one of the most evocative words in the Game of Thrones lexicon.
And that, to reiterate, is how this episode starts. It opens with a mic drop and somehow gets better from there. The batshit-crazy penultimate episode has been a staple of GoT since Ned Stark lost his head way back in “Baelor,” and “The Battle of the Bastards” is easily that episode’s equal, if not its superior. This is one of the best four or five episodes that Game of Thrones has ever done. It’s up there with “The Rains of Castamere” and “The Mountain and the Viper.” It’s essential to the show, and it probably doesn’t even need a review, but what the hell, here we go.
It would have been easy for Game of Thrones to deliver an episode like “Bastard” and make it an unabashed crowd-pleaser. But this isn’t a show that indulges in fan service. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of moments here that are very crowd-pleasing, but it’s a testament to GoT‘s newly rediscovered storytelling powers that the best moments feel earned. They feel like the culmination of the past six seasons.
And it doesn’t help that the lines are so clearly drawn: Jon Snow vs. Ramsay Bolton is one of the show’s most obvious clashes between good and evil. Kit Harington and Iwan Rheon tear into their roles with zeal, but never chew the scenery. Rheon in particular has a way of saying “Sansa” that sounds more like a taunt every time. Ramsay was the show’s best villain – better than Joffrey – and he will be sorely missed. Um, spoilers.
But let’s talk about Sansa real quick, because, Jesus, has a show ever saved a character as hard as Game of Thrones saved Sansa Stark? She went from crying about lemon squares in King’s Landing for three seasons to being, at any given time, my favorite character on the show. Sophie Turner should start clearing out room for her Emmy: listen to her withering delivery of lines like “You’re going to die tomorrow, Lord Bolton. Sleep well.”
The battle, when it finally begins, is one of the all-time greatest on this show. It’s only real competition is last season’s “Hardhome,” which shares a director (Miguel Sapochnik) with “Battle of the Bastards.” Sapochnik delivers what might well be the best-directed episode of Game of Thrones ever, shooting the massive battle like a war film and not a fantasy epic – think more Saving Private Ryan, less Lord of the Rings. There are no sweeping crane shots, no stirring music, just unpleasant reality. Nowhere is this better done than in the long, tense shot of Jon racing to rescue Rickon, while Ramsay shoots arrows at him. We know Jon won’t make it – this isn’t that kind of show – but it’s crushing nonetheless. RIP, Rickon, maybe in the next life you can have a storyline.
It’s worth mentioning, too, that “Battle” looks gorgeous. Fabian Wagner, a Game of Thrones vet, perfectly balances the beauty of the landscape with the brutality being wrought upon it. There’s an Oscar in this guy’s future – look at that long shot of Jon in the middle of the fray, clocking in at fifty-three seconds. Like everything else in “Battle,” it’s a triumph of design and execution.
And the ending, when it finally comes, might be some of the most satisfying, cathartic filmmaking ever seen on Game of Thrones. Wun Wun bursting through the walls of Winterfell is stirring, because “Battle” represents nothing so much than the power of hope. It’s an incredibly hopeful hour of a show that loves to shit on its characters – namely the Starks, who (with the exception of Rickon) come out on top tonight.
Jon beating the shit out of Ramsay is satisfying. Stopping so Sansa can end his life is moving. Sansa’s final confrontation with her former tormentor, a monster she has now thoroughly triumphed over, is empowering. Sapochnik makes the best possible choice here, at Ramsay’s brutal end: he doesn’t focus, like many would, on the gruesome spectacle of dogs ripping Ramsay apart. He focuses on Sansa. This is her victory, not his demise. “You can’t kill me, Sansa,” Ramsay tells her. “I’m a part of you now.” Her smile as she walks away says otherwise.
A Few Thoughts
- Can we get a Daenerys/Yara spinoff? Goddamn those two were fun to watch. Also nice: Tyrion’s undisguised disdain for Theon.
- Davos found the figurine he carved for Shireen. That’s going to come up again soon.
- “Any advice?” “Don’t lose.” Melisandre is just a dynamite strategist.
- Lyanna Mormont sighting! She looked badass on that horse.
- “If I die, don’t bring me back.” Kit Harington does haunted very well.
- Anybody else get goosebumps seeing a Stark banner hanging in Winterfell again?
- Ramsay’s shield-and-spear battle strategy was smart as hell. Ramsay was smarter than Joffrey ever was, which is what made him such an amazing villain. Thanks for everything, Iwan Rheon.
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