Game of Thrones recap: season 6, episode 9, Battle of the Bastards review: Jon and Sansa's bitter spat and Ramsay's brutal sacrifice
Oh now, that was VERY impressive. And by “impressive” we mean gruelling, cathartic and upsetting. By the end of the Battle of the Bastards and the Jon Snow v Ramsay Bolton showdown over Winterfell we felt as if we’d crawled through a freezing quagmire, climbed a wall of cadavers and gasped for breath as a dozen dying men sat on our faces. Which, oddly enough, is exactly what befell Jon as the grumpy saviour negotiated the grandest mass battle Game of Thrones has yet mounted for our enjoyment/terror/disgust
A cast of hundreds, a budget of millions, flayed men roasting on an open fire – season four’s penultimate episode had it all. Yet spectacle took a backseat to gut-punch drama as poor, sweet Rickon met his untimely demise and questions were raised over the leadership qualities of Jon, rescued, at the death, by Sansa and her subterfuge.
This was Game of Thrones at its finest – setting the scene for an epic clash, then subverting expectations with violence that seemed far too… violent, and a villain condemned to a death so horrific that, when it came to it, you felt slightly sorry for him. Next week's finale will clock in at an unprecedented 69 minutes – but how can it possibly top the topsy turvy excitement that unfolded here?
1. The action was some of the best seen on the small screen
Showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff were true to their promise that the Battle of the Bastards would be unprecedented in sweep and ambition. With its mountains of corpses and up-close garrotings and beheadings, this was Braveheart spliced with the opening 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan.
It was also a repudiation of the idea that warfare is in any way “epic”. Here was a hellish tableaux of men clambering over dead comrades, warriors who had dreamed of a glorious end unceremoniously trampled in the muck. George RR Martin's novels are at their heart about the distance between myth and reality – in the Battle of the Bastards that thesis was spun into 20 minutes of visceral horror. More positively – likeable, decent Ser Davos survived! (we did not think likeable, decent Ser Davos would survive)
2. Who cares that the twist was a cliché?
Can you believe it? Just as all appeared lost, Sansa's secret reinforcements arrived in the shape of Littlefinger's Knights of the Vale. Surprise allies galloping over the hill has been a cliche since the heyday of the Western - yet you couldn’t help cheering. It was Sansa who, with guile and steely will, overcame Ramsay – not earnest, mud-spattered Jon. Hurrah!
3. Ramsay's death was horribly poetic. And also, just horrible
Eaten by the very mastiffs he had unleashed on his baby brother all those weeks ago – and while Sansa watched, with cold, introspective satisfaction. Given Jon Snow’s importance, it was inevitable Team Stark would triumph at Winterfell but many of us had pictured Ramsay felled by a sword or stomped by a giant (yes, RIP Wun Wun!). Instead, Game of Thrones propped him in a chair and arranged for him to be ripped to pieces by the once loyal hounds he'd starved for seven days.
As a side-note: what a relief Ramsay is at last gone. He was a fantastically cartoonish bad guy – but far too straightforwardly nasty for a show that has set itself against simple good v evil moralising.
4. The episode was really all about “Girl Power”
Game of Thrones has been justly criticised for employing young actresses as wobbly-wobbly window dressing and, though the toplessness has been dialled back this season, it’s still very much a calling card. However there are reasons for suspecting that the series is attempting to make amends – by arguing that Westeros would be far better off with women in charge. Even as Sansa was turning the tide at Winterfell, in Meereen Daenerys and Yara Greyjoy were striking up a lady bromance – and seemingly rock-solid alliance – for the ages. They understood one another absolutely and had fun with their mild flirtation. From blizzards of boobs to a cogent argument for the matriarchy – my how you’ve changed Game of Thrones.
5. Rickon's death was devastating – even if you’d basically forgotten about Rickon
To think we'd forgotten the youngest Stark was even still alive when the show dragged him from the basement earlier this season. But we suddenly, urgently cared for Rickon as Ramsay kicked off hostilities by cutting him down in view of the terrified teenager’s brother and sister. The battle was a tragedy before it had begun - an extraordinary piece of manipulation that caused the viewer’s blood to run cold even as the heart beat faster.
6. Didn't the pre-fight banter fall a bit flat?
You expected sparks as Ramsay and Jon Snow met for a preliminary natter. Alas, their zingers didn't quite land. It fell to Sansa – “Lady Bolton” as Ramsay insisted on calling her – to deliver the best line. "You 're going to die tomorrow Lord Bolton, sleep well.”
Sansa has obviously been this year's breakout – her transformation into steely-eyed survivor forged in the white heat of her degradations at the hands of Ramsay. Jon has the swagger and the sword – but Sansa was the one with true vengeance in her gaze, a point Benioff and Weiss made with impressive forthrightness.
7. The real battle was the row between Sansa and Jon
In an episode brimming with eye-widening set pieces, the best moment was a simple conversation – okay a heated spat – between brother and sister. The show reminded us just how hardened Sansa had become as she told Jon that trying to rescue Rickon was pointless: he was dead already. Amid all the blood, thunder and mud (there was lots of mud – did they have to fly extra in?), this was one of the scenes that will stay with us. Is Game of Thrones not too subtly hinting Sansa, not Jon, would be the more fitting ruler?
8. They're finally getting the dragons right
We've had our issues with Daenerys riding about on Fake Drogon this season. But as the Mother of Dragons’s favourite metaphorical offspring led his siblings on a triple threat pushback against the Masters, such concerns went up in flame. The show’s much vaunted FX team had for once delivered and it was genuinely stirring to see Daenerys perched imperiously on Drogon’s back as the invading fleet burned.
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