Season 6 Episode 7 "The Broken Man" - "Non book readers"

lbj666

Anachrony wrote: »

If everything happened as it appears, then she should totally be dead, or at least very near it, with no medical technology short of magic that could save her. If the blood loss didn't get her, the slow painful infection would (similar to King Robert). And having a Red Priest pop up out of nowhere is really the last thing we need.

And if she dies, which I doubt will happen, then her whole Bravos storyline will be a dead end that doesn't connect with the rest of the story at all. It doesn't make narrative sense. I don't think she'll actually die, and I'd be very disappointed if she just miraculously survives that wound with no real explanation, or a poor explanation.

There are a lot of hints though, that things may not have been exactly as they appeared. Arya was acting very strangely leading up to that. It would be really poor writing if it were unintentional. There are three main ideas that I've heard on what might be going on, which differ by the number of Aryas in that scene.

The simplest is that there was one Arya in that scene, who anticipated that they'd come after her, was much more prepared for it than she appeared, and faked her death, perhaps using practical effects from the theater troup, and from there there are a few possibilities of what she could be planning.

The next simplest is that there were zero Aryas in that scene. One of them was Jaqen or another Faceless Man, testing the Waif somehow (she seems to be holding a personal grudge, and disobeyed a clear order on how Arya's death should occur), or for whatever unknown reason helping her to escape by faking her death.

The really weird one, which didn't occur to me, is that there were two Aryas in that scene. The Fight Club scenario. Faceless trainee "No One" is metaphorically trying to kill off the old Arya Stark, and this is a normal stage of the Faceless Men process. It would put an interesting spin on those scenes where the Waif was beating up blind Arya in public and everyone ignored it, if it was a crazy girl beating herself up.

Slept with needle by her bedside last time yet when she was out and about she didn't seem to have it. Something is amiss about the whole thing alright, but just like with every thing about the faceless men, we'll all be confused as f*ck regardless how it pans out.

J. Marston

Agree on the cinematography. Wouldn't usually pay much attention to that stuff but the shot of The Hound taking a drink with the sun coming through the trees was beautiful.

Lackey

Is Theon and Yara and the Iron Born not where Arya is?
I thought that's what the ship captain said before Arya gave him the gold to pay for her journey back to Westeros? That the Iron Born are at the brothel?
(I may research to check)
If I'm right then Ide guess that she'll meet Theon and he will save her? And bring her with them to Danerys with the Irin Born?
I could have misheard though?

lbj666

Lackey wrote: »

Is Theon and Yara and the Iron Born not where Arya is?
I thought that's what the ship captain said before Arya gave him the gold to pay for her journey back to Westeros? That the Iron Born are at the brothel?
(I may research to check)
If I'm right then Ide guess that she'll meet Theon and he will save her? And bring her with them to Danerys with the Irin Born?
I could have misheard though?

Yarra and Theon are in Volantis where Tyrion got kidnapped by Jorah last season. The captain said the Iron Born were in slavers bay which is Mereen Yunkai and Astapor which is wrong unless he was on about Eurons fleet last sighting before heading home.

Reckon Euron was definitly responsible for burning Danys Fleet.

Average-Ro

I believe it was Irish cinematographer PJ Dillon who shot this week's episode, so one of our own! He's been a cinematographer for years and has done some directing as well, so he knows what shots he needs to tell a story.

Roar

The thought did occur to me that Ayra was Jacquen, in her conversation with the ship captain. Seemed very Jaquen-like.

Also, I don't think Ayra would let her guard down like that - just standing on a bridge staring off into space, knowing a faceless assassin who could literally be anyone is on the hunt for her.

My wife doesn't watch the show at all but watched this episode, and thought that whole sequence was a dream.

So something is off alright I would think.

Degag

Kinda feel for The Hound. He was finally somewhere where he actually wanted to be and could be at peace and then it was all taken away from him.

klose

I think the arya scene was probably a faceless person and was a test for the waif who herself seems not be "no-one" in that she clearly holds a grudge against arya. I think i read the faceless men are meant to deliver a swift death too, the waif brutally stabbed arya in the gut knowing it would be a slow death.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Is it possible to kill anybody off in this show.

I have read no rumours or anything but I am 100% expecting Stannis to appear in the last couple of episodes.

klose

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Is it possible to kill anybody off in this show.

I have read no rumours or anything but I am 100% expecting Stannis to appear in the last couple of episodes.

Isint the saying if it didnt happen in camera then they could still be alive.

Asides stannis, brienne confirmed she finished him off.

tharmor

Its not arya for sure.. she is walking thru the streets with out asking for help...who would not ask for help ? probably someone impersonating her...

lbj666

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Is it possible to kill anybody off in this show.

I have read no rumours or anything but I am 100% expecting Stannis to appear in the last couple of episodes.

paulie21

Has or is GRRM directing an episode this season?

Hunchback

There are just so many strands to this show - how in God's name are they all going to be resolved, or whatever in the time we have left? Which is the few episodes left in this season and then next season as well, right?

Dair76

I agree that it didn't seem like Arya when she was attacked, but why would you think it could have been one of the Faceless Men in her stead? I mean, why would they be more likely to let their guard down than Arya, or allow themselves be murdered to prove the waif went against Jaqen's wishes?

Nah. While I'd like to believe there'll be a neat twist to reveal the truth, my guess is it's just bad writing and Essie Davis' character (name escapes me at the moment) will somehow be involved in Arya being saved. Of course, hope I'm way off.

Edit: Lady Crane

seligehgit

lbj666 wrote: »

Slept with needle by her bedside last time yet when she was out and about she didn't seem to have it. Something is amiss about the whole thing alright, but just like with every thing about the faceless men, we'll all be confused as f*ck regardless how it pans out.

Yeah surely she would have had needle at hand to defend herself now that she's abandoned her training.Ian McShane's characterisation reminded me of one of the hobbits from LOTR.

Top notch dialogue between Yara and Theon.

PressRun

Did anyone think Jon seemed a bit unconvincing as a leader in this episode? I don't know if it's because he's changed now that he's been resurrected or if he is very aware of his status as a bastard when dealing with the northern houses, but he didn't seem incredibly inspiring when speaking to either the Mormonts or the Glovers. In fact, he barely spoke at all. It was Davos who ended up convincing the little Mormont lady to stick with the Starks and he didn't do much to reassure the Glovers. He seems unprepared for this battle. At least Sansa seems to realise that they can't retake Winterfell with the numbers they have.

alchemist33

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

One of the reasons why this episode was superior to the previous 'chess piece' episodes was we got to see some military maneuvers.

When people think of Westeros, it is hard to fathom the disparity in wealth and population.

Bear Island sends 62 to join Jon's 2,000+ to face the Bolton's 5,000+ to fight for the future of the entire North.
Meanwhile Jamie leads 8,000.... a small fraction of the Lannister army to retake Riverrun.

Ahem, don't you mean 620?

Vojera

tharmor wrote: »

Its not arya for sure.. she is walking thru the streets with out asking for help...who would not ask for help ? probably someone impersonating her...

I think she didn't ask for help because she realised that anyone there could be a Faceless Man and she has absolutely no way of knowing who she can trust.

leonil7

i almost missed this one .. i was looking at the birds.

looks like the stern and new favorite lyanna mormont is the key to winning the war with his 62 men.

lets just hope melisandre does not see her as another girl to burn.

eeguy

Can we have one, just one plot line resolved please.

Every episode has ended on an unresolved cliff hanger and there's so many threads in this story I don't know how it's going to resolve in the next three episodes.

Anachrony

Dair76 wrote: »

I agree that it didn't seem like Arya when she was attacked, but why would you think it could have been one of the Faceless Men in her stead? I mean, why would they be more likely to let their guard down than Arya, or allow themselves be murdered to prove the waif went against Jaqen's wishes?

Fully trained Faceless Men are very deceptive. If it was one of them, they wouldn't have been fatally stabbed, it would only appear that way. We've already seen them appear to kill one of their own to prove a point to Arya, which doesn't seem like a very sustainable recruiting practice. If they were regularly killing experienced Faceless Men as part of training potential new ones, they'd surely have died out a long time ago.

We don't know the full extent of their abilities, but we've seen enough tricks and manipulations of apparent reality to question what we see when they're around. The idea behind this theory would involve faking a death, not actually committing suicide to deceive the Waif.

And that's just one of the alternatives. Even if that's not the one, it doesn't mean that Arya is suddenly a complacent dummy who chose the most dangerous moment to start acting completely out of character.

Dair76

Anachrony wrote: »

Fully trained Faceless Men are very deceptive. If it was one of them, they wouldn't have been fatally stabbed, it would only appear that way. We've already seen them appear to kill one of their own to prove a point to Arya, which doesn't seem like a very sustainable recruiting practice. If they were regularly killing experienced Faceless Men as part of training potential new ones, they'd surely have died out a long time ago.

We don't know the full extent of their abilities, but we've seen enough tricks and manipulations of apparent reality to question what we see when they're around. The idea behind this theory would involve faking a death, not actually committing suicide to deceive the Waif.

And that's just one of the alternatives. Even if that's not the one, it doesn't mean that Arya is suddenly a complacent dummy who chose the most dangerous moment to start acting completely out of character.

So if faking the death, why reappear at the shoreline and stagger around as Arya, letting potentially anyone see that she/fake needed to be finished off? I don't buy it.

As I say, I'd like there to be something more to it. Maybe Arya pulled a Mission Impossible 2, and stuck an Arya mask on Lady Crane's understudy? :pac:

lbj666

Didn't the Boltons have a huge cavalry too when they finished Stannis.

eeguy

Dair76 wrote: »

As I say, I'd like there to be something more to it. Maybe Arya pulled a Mission Impossible 2, and stuck an Arya mask on Lady Crane's understudy? :pac:

SHe cut her own face off?

Badass.

lbj666

Can someone tell me what bearing the siege of Riverrun is going to have on the reclamation of Winterfell , surely Blackfish has his hands full and is in no position to help out up North and Brienne is going to be dragged into it now too.

HalloweenJack

I think people are underestimating the High Sparrow, just look at how he set up Olenna and I'm certain he knew what Margaery would do, not to mention having your one there when Margaery made a terrible attempt at slipping a note. I think he's trying to see how much nonsense he can feed her and how much she can regurgitate when he sends her on his deeds. He talks in riddles but he did mentioned something about "not walking" surely he was alluding to Margaery's lack of shaming and trying to subtly remind her of it. It's turning into a real battle of wits between the two of them but she seems a lot cockier.

Also, I reckon Sansa may be thinking of tricking Ramsay. Wasn't there some off-handed comment about him sending a raven a while back? It was when she saw the raven's caged up that she seemed to start plotting.

The Arya stuff did seem a bit weird looking back now. One thing's for sure, I'd be very surprised if she actually dies.

pickarooney

Was this the first episode with a pre-credits scene?

BoJack Horseman

PressRun wrote: »

Did anyone think Jon seemed a bit unconvincing as a leader in this episode? I don't know if it's because he's changed now that he's been resurrected or if he is very aware of his status as a bastard when dealing with the northern houses, but he didn't seem incredibly inspiring when speaking to either the Mormonts or the Glovers

Strangely, he is carrying the Mormont's family sword on his person.

Their former lord gifted Jon that pice of Valeryin steel a few seasons ago.....

that would have been all the convincing the girl needed....
But I guess the writers wanted Davos to do his "dead are coming" line.

BoJack Horseman

lbj666 wrote: »

Didn't the Boltons have a huge cavalry too when they finished Stannis.

Yep.... as implausible as it looked.