I Drink and I Know Things: Game of Thrones S6, E4 – “Book of The Stranger”

“Book of The Stranger” Recap

The episode opens with a reunion at The Wall. My first thought was that this happened way too fast. My next thought was, “This is the first time two of the Stark children have been in the same place in a really long time!” So I’ll go ahead and give the show a break and just assume that Sansa, Brienne, and Pod have the fastest horses in Westeros so that I can continue to enjoy the show. Jon and Sansa catch up and we find out that after hundreds of years the Men of the Night’s Watch still can’t seem to brew a good ale! Also Sansa wants Jon to help her raise an army so that they can take back Winterfell. With those horses they rode in on the entire trip should take no more than two hours.

Brienne the boss! She tells Ser Davos and Melisandre that she executed their beloved Stannis on the battlefield and then drops the mic and walks away. It was just perfect. 

We travel to The Vale and get a scene that reminds me of exactly why I love Littlefinger. He has manipulated his way into controlling Sweet Robin which in turn gives him control of The Vale and its army. We find out that Littlefinger also wants to attack Winterfell (to save Sansa of course, no ulterior motives I’m sure). I wonder how fast his horses are?

There are negotiations taking place in Meereen. Varys is there and doesn’t say a word and yet Grey Worm and Missandei have the most lines of dialogue they have ever had on the show. It’s all interesting I guess, but didn’t Tyrion free a couple of dragons a few weeks ago? Let’s get back to that part of the story.

Jorah and Daario: “Hey Dany! We’ve come all this way to save you!”
Dany: “No thanks. I got this.” 
Jorah and Daario: “Oh. Ok, well… we found your earring…” 
Really Khaleesi?

Jonathan Pryce delivers a killer monologue and shows us all why he’s the High Sparrow we love to hate. Cersei and Jaime get the small council on their side and talk more about revenge and taking back what’s theirs. A bloodbath in King’s Landing seems inevitable at this point. The Queen of Thorns said it best – “Many will die no matter what we do. Better them than us.”

The ships are moving even faster than the horses on this show as Theon arrives back at Pyke. He gets a tongue lashing from his sister and agrees to help her become the ruler of the Iron Islands, a position that nobody cares about.

Ramsay speaks with Osha (who needs her own lesson in occupational safety) in Winterfell. You knew when she looked at that knife that it wasn’t going to end well. This guy makes Joffrey look like a kitten. 

Jon gets a nice letter from Ramsay asking him to “come and see” all the great things he’s done to his home since he’s been gone. He’s even given his brother Rickon free room and board in the dungeons! Good guy.

We once again see Dany emerging from flames, unburnt. The same cannot be said for the Khals. Apparently there is no Dothraki word for “fire exit.” Seriously, do they treat the wood for their huts with gasoline before they build them?  Anyway, everyone kneels before Dany and I’m going to guess that Daario is rethinking his “ride the dragon” joke from earlier. In all honesty, this scene was a pretty great end to the episode and a nice nod to the season one finale. There were no dragons this time though! Where are the damn dragons?!

I like dragons. 

Thoughts and Theories

  • Jon Snow is a badass right? He was really whiny in this episode.
  • Sansa is usually whiny right? She was a real badass in this episode.
  • Tormund looking at Brienne as if she were a bear (that’s what he likes remember) was hilarious and I can’t wait to see if that goes anywhere. He’s easily become one of my favorite characters. Unfortunately, that’s dangerous on this show…
  • What’s the over/under on Davos killing the Red Woman once he finds out what happened to Princess Shireen?
  • Can we push Sweet Robin out the Moondoor please?
  • Tyrion playing the game is fun to watch, but couldn’t he have just fed the Masters to the dragons? I know, enough with the dragons already!
  • Zombie Mountain vs Loras Tyrell in a trial by combat. I’m calling it. 
  • In the episode 5 preview (below) Bran comes face to face with the Night’s King. I wonder what they’ll talk about?

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts and theories as well! I would love to add some of them to next week’s recap! 

Here’s last week’s recap “Oathkeeper” in case you missed it.

“That’s what I do. I drink and I know things.”

Cheers