Video Games As Travel

Beyond just being a fun diversion, a good video game can be a transportive experience. I would even go so far to say that for many of us whose responsibilities to work and family preclude us from extensive travel, video games offer a way to experience both real and imagined worlds. Some games immerse the player in compelling 3D environments that offer an experience that is not unlike taking a trip to an interesting locale. Below is my personal list of games that have taken me away to exotic and compelling places.

10. Animal Crossing

Yes, it's a game about living in a village of cartoon animals but take a midnight winter's stroll through your village and tell me you are not immersed. Animal Crossing in any of its incarnations is the epitome of a chill experience from its soft and colorful art style to its relaxing soundtrack. The music of Animal Crossing does a lot to set the mood and feels like it could be from some half-remembered kids show from your childhood which helps to put the player in the right mindset for this very charming kid-friendly world. While the environment is a simple one, that's not a bad thing and it offers an enjoyable alternative to our our fast-paced stressful adult lives.

9. Turok The Dinosaur Hunter

In this Nintendo 64 classic you play the titular dino hunter as he traverses a dramatic jungle environment replete with ersatz Mayan and Incan temples. Sure, the game in its original incarnation has not aged particularly well but playing Turok takes you away. In fact, years later when I was backpacking through actual Central and South American ruins, I couldn't help but think of this game and how it planted a seed of exploration in my mind.

8. The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker

From the very beginning the Zelda games emphasized exploration and featured immersive open worlds. This is especially true of the 3D games that started with Ocarina of Time but Windwaker presents the most unique visual experience of all of the Zelda games. Windwaker takes the form of a gorgeously fluid animated movie and has aged surprisingly well for a game that is over a decade old. What's more, it provides the player with a vast oceanic world with a lots of islands big and small to explore. While sailing this world can get a little repetitive (alleviated in some recent versions of the game) traversing this enormous watery world is an undeniably thrilling experience, no small thanks to a stirring soundtrack.

7. Resident Evil: REmake

Not all trips are to fun vacation spots. Resident Evil Remake is the Nintendo Gamecube version of the classic Playstation game and is essentially a remix of the original with new graphics and side stories that really bring the environments to life in way they hadn't been before. The game is set in the creepy Spencer Mansion, a dark, sprawling creature-infested estate built over an equally creepy labyrinth of grungy labs. The original Playstation graphics left a lot to be desired but this remake lovingly recreates a set of truly scary and disturbing environments to the point where the mansion itself is an important character in the game. What's more, there is a lot of fun lore to pick up that helps you piece together the events that led to the outbreak and the long twisted history of the mansion.

6. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

There are technically bigger GTA maps but San Andreas gives you a whole state to play in complete with three distinct cities, multiple small towns, a sprawling desert, and a vast countryside. While there have been newer and better GTA experiences in the over ten years since this game was released, nothing quite offers this much variety and distinction in its environments. Not only do you get analogues of LA and San Francisco but a Las Vegas clone to explore complete with playable casinos. Including a Vegas-inspired city is unique and makes the game worth playing in itself. It turns out San Andreas is a great spot for a virtual vacation.

5. Alien Isolation

Sure the Alien is terrifying but the real star of Alien Isolation is the magnificent Sevestapol station, a wonderfully low-rent and shoddy space outpost. Sevastopol is a brilliant extrapolation of Ridley Scott's dystopian capitalist future and is steeped in lo-fi 1970's retro futuristic realness, complete with CRT monitors, ashtrays, and random magazines lying around. What's more the game features a lot of great space porn with vistas of a gorgeous gas giant hanging out the windows and a blazing star casting long black shadows.

When you are not hiding under desks and in lockers avoiding a deadly xenomorph, you can marvel at what is a towering design achievement. There have been a lot of games inspired by Alien but this is the only one that really captures the spirit of the movies. It's a harrowing game and a bit of a slow burn but worth playing for the design alone.

5. LA Noire

A loving video game recreation of the 1940's film noir aesthetic. Unlike a lot of games which offer approximations of American cities, the designers have thoroughly recreated post-war Los Angeles based on years of research and archival materials to deliver an unforgettable setting for their dark detective story. This is an amazingly ambitious game from the studio who brought you the Grand Theft Auto series and shares some of its open world structure with that series but it is also very much its own thing with an emphasis investigative gameplay and then-cutting edge performance capture. Still, there are few games that are this successful at capturing a particular time and place.

4. Halo

For a series of games that span the known universe, the Halo series is great at creating very terrestrial-feeling environments that usually resemble the Pacific Northwest and juxtaposing them with otherworldly elements. Who can forget strolling along a grassy hill in the first game and looking up to see the horizon giving way to a ribbon of land and water in the distance which arcs over the zeneith? Or turning a corner in a forested stretch of land only to see a massive Forerunner skyscraper in the distance? Or exiting a room only to find yourself in a snowy tundra where marines and alien tanks are engaged in a sprawling battle? Halo is not only a series of excellent console shooters but it never forgets to give players epic environments in which to play.

2. Far Cry 4

The raison d'etre of the Far Cry series has always been open world action games in exotic locales but Far Cry 4 not only brought it into the next generation of consoles but also brings to life a unique and truly compelling environment, the fictional Himalayan country of Kiryat which is an analogue of real life places such as Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan and therefore draws on their culture and visual language. Far Cry 4 is filled with majestic mountain vistas, exotic architecture, jungles, and glaciers all of which can be traversed with ATVs, helicopters, and mountain climbing.  Even the region's mythological heritage is represented in a series of missions that take the player to the legendary realm of Shangri-La, created in shades of red and gold. Far Cry 4 also shows off what is possible with the current generation of consoles in creating environments that are at times almost photo-realistic and gorgeous to behold. It's a game that really takes you away to an unforgettable (though violent) place.

1. Skyrim

For years the Elder Scrolls games have been been creating a sprawling fantasy world steeped in thousands of years of history and lore. Each game has built on a successful formula of single player action RPG gameplay and it's hard to say that anyone of the recent games are "better" than the others but Skyrim gets the edge for being the most recent and polished experience. If you are looking to spend a lot of time in a fully realized expansive fantasy world with shades of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones there is no better game. Not only is the presentation great but the world is so dense. You can literally spend hours in-game reading any of the hundreds of books that can be found all over the game and which enrich the world. It doesn't get much more immersive than that.


Patrick Garone
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Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 6 "Blood of My Blood"

Season six continues to race along with "Blood of My Blood" an episode with interesting turns, returning characters, and revelations. First, there's some stuff we don't see. The northern plot takes the week off as Jon, Sansa, and company make their way to whichever loyalist northern houses they are going to recruit. Brienne and Pod are also unseen, presumably making her way to the riverlands. Theon, Yara and the Greyjoys also get the week off. The show also is without a Ramsey scene for the third week in a row, which is not a bad thing as a little Ramsey goes a long way.

We start with Bran and Meera in a precarious situation with Meera dragging Bran's wooden stretcher through the snow with wights on their heels. Bran is unconscious and still stuck in his weirwood vision. We experience his visions as a series of cuts of important moments in Westerosi history including some shots of the Mad King Aerys, the father of Rhaegar and Danaerys Targaryen. This season has been great about showing us some of the legendary characters who were important players in the story's history. Aerys, in addition to being generally insane, murdered Ned Stark's father and brother in particularly cruel fashion. He has been frequently mentioned in the show but this is our first look at him. He had previously been featured in an unseen version of the Game of Thrones pilot but this appears to be a different actor and footage shot for season six.

As the wights close in on Meera and Bran, he regains consciousness to witness their rescue by a hooded figure. In a later scene he reveals himself to be none other than Benjen Stark a character-aside from a couple of flashbacks this season-not seen since season one when he failed to return from a Nights Watch ranging. Benjen is the younger brother of Ned Stark and a former member of the Watch who, like Jon, presumably is exercising the death clause in his vows. Last season we were teased with his return in a particularly trollish "Previously On" segment, although there was no mention of him on the one before this episode so it looks like there are still some surprises to be had.

In any case it was great to be treated to a second Stark reunion this season. Benjen explains that he was stabbed by a Walker and left for dead only to be rescued by the Children of the Forest who used obsidian to revive him to his current (undead?) state. It seems he has been serving the Raven since then. Not only does Bran now have a Stark to look after him but one who likely has a lot of useful information at his disposal. Perhaps he can shed some light on a certain weirwood vision...

The Benjen reveal answers a lot of longstanding book questions about the whereabouts of this character. The books feature a character named Coldhands, who is a creature related to the White Walkers but who also serves the Raven and who escorts Bran and friends from the Wall to the weirwood cave. There has been a lot of theories about this character's identity and, for, show purposes, it is Benjen although it may be different in the books. Interestingly, in the books, Coldhands is unable to pass through the Wall due to magic that prevents the dead from crossing it. Bran may or may not still be marked by the Night's King which could cause serious problems if he passes through the Wall, so Benjen's knowledge could come in handy.

Sam and Gilly arrive at Hornwood where we meet Sam's lovely mother and sister and his horrible father who takes his place in the Game of Thrones Surly Old British Actor Hall of Fame. We also meet Heartsbane, the ancestral Valyrian steel sword of house Tarly. If you remember from last season, Sam and Jon conclude that Valyrian steel is one of the few things that can kill a White Walker. After a disastrous Guess Who's Coming To Dinner meal with his family, Sam decides abandon his plan to leave Gilly with his parents and determines that they should stay together. He also steals Heartsbane, which is awesome but I'm not sure what his plan is. Is he still going to the Citidel to train as a Maester? And what is he going to do with Gilly and the baby? It makes me wonder if the Night's Watch and the Wall are going to be no more by the end of the season in which case Sam's vague decision making will be less consequential.

In Braavos, Arya's story continues to find focus and momentum post-training montage. Once again, Arya is at the theater this time watching a play based on the events surrounding Joffrey's death. After some trademark Arya inappropriate laughter we see her empathizing with the Cercei character. This theater side story has been an clever and efficient way to provide some character growth for Arya. Masie Williams is killing it in these scenes of Arya coming to terms with her past and realizing that she doesn't, in fact, want to be No One. 

She realizes the younger actress has hired the Faceless Men to kill her rival in order to steal her juicer part mostly because the actress is barely off stage mouthing faux-Cercei's lines which, in addition to making her murderous intentions obvious, is grossly unprofessional. Arya poisons Faux Cercei's rum only to change her mind at the last minute and swipe the cup out of her hand. Arya has decided not to be No One and reclaims her sword Needle from where she hid it last season and at that point I shouted "Yes!" because I love Arya and want her to continue being Arya.

Of course the Faceless Men find out about Arya botching her mission and the Waif is sent out to kill her. We'll see how that works out next week but I for one will be happy to see Arya head back home. But if Arya heads home, which many are expecting, what was the point of her time with the Faceless Men? It's hard to see what useful skills she learned in her time in Braavos. One thing that we do know is in Arya's future is a meeting  with Melisandre, which the Red Woman foretold back in season three.

This episode also features the return of one of the worst people in Westeros, Walder Frey who we have not seen since the events of the Red Wedding. It seems that the Freys have lost control of the Tully fortress of Riverrun which has been reclaimed by Brendyn Tully the Blackfish, who was the uncle of Catelyn Stark. We also learn that the Freys still have Edmure Tully, the groom at the Red Wedding and brother to Catelyn Stark. Perhaps most importantly, this scene proves that Littlefinger gave Sansa the correct information regarding the status of her great uncle and Riverrun.

In Kings Landing, Tommen has been spending time with the High Sparrow and is finally allowed to meet with Margaery who is apparently been converted at some point since her meeting with Loras. This seems to be an elaborate ruse which she wisely is not letting Tommen in on. Later she is brought before the Sparrows on the steps of Balor and appears to be about to make her Walk of Atonement when Jamie arrives with the Tyrells and their forces in tow. He demands Margaery and Loras' release on Tommen's orders only to have Tommen appear on the steps having been converted by Margaery and the High Sparrow and foiling the Lannister/Tyrell plot. The violent conflict between the Sparrows and the Lannisters is thwarted again but is seemingly inevitable. At this point can we all agree that the High Sparrow is not what he seems? The guy is playing the game way too well for a simple cobbler. I bet if one were to check his mail he'd be getting regular ravens from a certain brothel owning former master of coin.

What's worse, Jamie is removed from the Kingsguard by Tommen in punishment with the apparent approval of Kevin Lannister, whom is likely sick of Cercei and Jamie's crap. Jamie is dispatched to the Riverlands to assist the Freys in retaking Riverrun. He and Brienne seem destined to cross paths again.

Finally, we return to Danaerys who leads her khalasar and is about "a week" away from Meereen, so, maybe next Sunday? Sensing something, she has her forces wait while she ventures up ahead only to return awhile later riding a substantially bigger Drogon who is apparently up from his nap. Mounted on Drogon, Dany gives a rousing speech, not too dissimilar from Khal Drogo's speech in season one. Dany now seems intent on departing for for Westeros and is not seeming concerned about the fate of Meereen or her other liberated cities.

While we may have seen a few superficially similar scenes from Dany, I feel like this one has some important differences. First, it is important for the Dothraki to actually see Dany on her dragon in order to close the deal. Emerging unscathed from the fire was a nice trick but seeing her in command of a giant dragon is something that the Dothraki are likely to truly fear and respect. Secondly, her encounter with the Dothraki seems to have changed Dany and given her her groove back. Her language has gotten much more aggressive and she seems to have become more comfortable with her role as violent conqueror. It may be that she is moving away from her unsuccessful attempts at being a benevolent Mysa in favor of being a brutal conqueror. What does that mean those who are working in Meereen to unravel the Meereenese knot? She seems as likely to burn the city down as to save it. 

This turn gives credence to those who think that Dany may be playing a more antagonistic role in future seasons of the show. It is easy to see that Dany invading Westeros with a trio of dragons, foreign armies, and a bunch of rapey, pumped up Dothraki could not be a great thing for our Westerosi characters.


Patrick Garone
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Game of Thones Season 6, Episode 5 "The Door"

Can you believe that we are at the halfway point of Season 6? This season is moving at a mostly satisfying fast pace and offering up big revelations and important plot info as we leave the books behind. One of the things the HBO adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire has done so well is streamline and edit down George R. R. Martin's sprawling and sometimes meandering story and now that we are largely "off book" we have picked things up at a brisk pace. I feel like Dany's Dothraki story, for example, is something that will likely take half a book to get through and we are wrapping it up in episode five.

At the Wall, Sansa gets a raven from Littlefinger to meet him in Mole Town. My question with these scenes at the Night's Watch is, when did the Wall become a B & B? There are a lot of "guests" who have been hanging around for a long time who seem to have no urgency to go anywhere.

Sansa with Brienne in tow, meets a contrite Littlefinger in a really terrific scene. Once again, Sophie Turner is the episode's MVP. She is cool and strong as she forces him to acknowledge what has happened to her because of what is either his miscalculation or double crossing. Despite the fact that he has a much-needed army at his back Sansa sends him off. I can't help but wonder what his role will be from now on. My money is on him essentially playing Brienne's part from last season and watching from afar in order to sweep in when he can make a difference although presumably Ramsey will become aware of the large Vale army marching through the North and force Littlefinger to take a side.

Bran continues his vision quest with Obi Wan Treenobi and we see moment in the very distant past of Westeros, during a time when the Children of the Forest were at war with the First Men. Prior to the arrival of the first human settlers from Essos, Westeros was sparsely populated by the Children, giants, and a few other creatures. As they made their way north, as a kind of Westerosi Manifest Destiny, there were many wars and conflicts  during which the Children were displaced farther and farther north. We see in this vision a moment where the Children had captured a human and inserted some sort of magic blade in his chest apparently creating the first White Walker, perhaps even the Night's King.

The fact that the Walkers had been created by the Children had not been previously stated in the books so this quite a major plot reveal for the show. What does it mean practically? Who knows? But it's pretty awesome.

In Meereen, a fragile peace seems to be holding and Tyrion-in full Karl Rove mode-is now concerned about shoring up Dany's political support. In order to do so, he enlists a Kinvara, a high-ranking fire priestess from Volantis. As we have seen in the show, it seems that Dany is widely considered a messianic figure for followers of R'hollor in Essos, Kinvara refers to her as the one "who was promised" similar language to how Melisandre described Jon Snow earlier in the season. Much like GOT fandom, the Red Priests seem to have a schism as to which one of these characters is the chosen one.

Kinvara agrees to throw her support behind Dany, although the priests already seem to be doing this so I'm not sure what the expectation is. This plotline has some uncomfortable parallels to Cercei's alliance with the Sparrows which didn't work out too well for her. Varys is clearly skeptical and you may remember he was castrated as a child by some sort of fire warlock which he described in a previous season as well as the otherworldly voice he heard coming from the flames as his genitals burned. Apparently, Kinvara is aware of this story as well and recounts it to them in the creepiest way possible.

We meet up with Arya who is continuing to train with the Waif with whom she is stick-fighting unsuccessfully. Apparently, she is still not quite No One. Jaquen H'ghar gives her a new mission to scope out a theater troupe and get intel on an actress whom someone has contracted the Faceless Men to kill. Arya sits through a play based on the War of the Five Kings, which is apparently a popular theatrical subject in this world.  Arya is enjoying it through the Lannister/Baratheon portion but turns all theater critic when she seems Ned Stark portrayed as a power hungry buffoon. If she were really No One she wouldn't have been giving the stink eye so hard.

Although this represents ANOTHER yo-yo back to her retaining her Arya identity, I am hoping it is happening at a time when she is about to get the hell out of Braavos and go home. The Waif actually refers to her still being able to leave, an opportunity which I hope she takes because Enough With The Faceless Men. This organization is nonsensical. Also, in Braavos anyone can just hire them to kill anyone just because they feel like it? Why couldn't Arya just have found herself a Syrio Forel substitute and have spent all this time learning how to swordfight?

In the Iron Islands we have the long-awaited Kingsmoot (or Queensmoot!) in which Yara makes her case to rule the Iron Islands, although with less swagger than in the books. Theon, having cleaned up, is there to support her and actually refers to himself as Theon Greyjoy, seemingly having left the Reek persona behind. However, Yara is literally cockblocked by Euron Greyjoy who we previously met on a dark bridge pushing his brother Balon to his death. When accused of murdering his brother, Euron freely admits it, and his kin-and-kingslaying gets a surprisingly warm reception which make me think that Yara has badly overestimated the decency of the electorate in the Iron Islands. If there had been a focus group held afterwards I think the consensus would be something like, "'E speaks 'is mind. I like 'im!" which, along with his penis-bragging, makes Euron Greyjoy the Donald Trump of Westeros. We also learn that he has a plan to sail to Meereen to wed Danaerys Targaryen, which people seemed really positive about. However, while Euron is being coronated and baptized, Yara, Theon and Yara's loyalists steal most of the Iron Fleet. Which leaves the new king of the Iron Islands with nothing but his janky driftwood crown. He is in the hilariously impotent position of having to wait until a new fleet is built to be able to do anything. Not the most auspicious beginning of his reign.

Back at the Wall, the Committee to Retake Winterfell meets in a conference room over a lower budget version of the RISK battle maps we have seen throughout the show. They come up with a plan to expand their forces by petitioning different northern houses not currently alligned with the Boltons. Once again, it is stated that the Boltons are primarily supported by the Karstarks (who's scion calmly watched on as Ramsey killed his father) the Umbers (who's leader delivered Rikkon to the Boltons) and the Manderlys who have not yet appeared save for a brief appearance during the Red Wedding. In the books, the Manderlys are secret Stark supporters but we don't know if the show will be adapting this particular plot line or if another northern house will be subbed in for them.

Sansa relays the info she obtained from Littlefinger that the Tully's are occupying their castle at River Run and have reassembled their forces under Caitlyn's brother and Sansa's Great Uncle, the Blackfish, last seen having ducked out of the Twins right before the Red Wedding. Sansa dispatches Brienne to treat with him hoping enlist his forces. Again, this is based on Littlefinger's info so we don't actually know what the real situation is. In the books, the castle is and and has been under siege by Lannister and Frey armies.

In the cave of the Three Eyed Raven, Bran is up late at night and is, understandably, bored. He wargs into the weirwood network and finds himself at the same circle of stones we saw in the previous Children of the Forest vision but now it is faced with an army of wights and walkers. Soon Bran is spotted by the Night's King who somehow GRABS HIS ARM. From here we go into full horror movie mode.

Back in the cave, the Three Eyed Raven tells Bran he must leave and that he as been marked by the Nights King nullifying the protections of the cave. Soon, the forces of the dead invade the cave and the Children and Bran's direwolf Summer and the Three Eyed Raven are killed in the assault. Bran and Meera narrowly escape as Hodor sacrifices himself to "hold the door." And we learn the very sad origin of Hodor as Bran is stuck warging into the past and someone wargs into young Hodor whose brain is scrambled as he experiences both the past and present.

This was a great episode with a harrowing, mind-bending finale. Interestingly, it was directed by Jack Bender who directed a lot of notable time-travel episodes of Lost. There is certainly an element of that in here as Bran seems to trigger some sort of causality loop. The important distinction is that, while he affects the past, he doesn't actually change it and he may not be able to.

So things look dire for Bran and Mira (no pun intended). Presumably they are going to make for Jon and the Wall but they won't get far without Hodor to carry Bran. Is it possible we will finally meet Coldhands, the undead being who, in the books, escorted Bran and company to the Three Eyed Raven's weirwood tree. Or perhaps Benjen Stark, the Night's Watch ranger who vanished beyond the wall in season 1?

As awsome as all this was, it means we won't get another Tower of Joy flashback until Bran finds another weirwood tree, possibly not until he gets to the one just beyond the Wall. Grrr.

Patrick Garone
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Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 4 "Book of the Stranger"

Sibling reunions! Brienne gets checked out! Emilia Clarke nudity! Fire! It's the "Book of the Stranger!"

Once again we begin back at the Wall as Jon Snow lingers after abdicating his leadership last week. Edd confronts him with some sensible questions about the challenges facing the Night's Watch and the impending White Walker invasion. I'm glad the show is raising theses questions as, while I'm happy to see Snow leave the Wall and become a player in the story, I know that Game of Thrones punishes characters who drop the ball to pursue their personal agendas at the expense of the greater good. I can't help but think there will be bad consequences for Jon taking off.

Soon Sansa's party arrives and we are treated to an actual Stark reunion which is incredibly emotional and satisfying as this family has suffered so much in the first five seasons. Although Jon and Sansa had never had a scene together and were never close, it was still a powerful moment in the show's mythology.  We even get a moment for these two to work out their heretofore unseen conflicts. Not only was this a long awaited and satisfying moment for these characters, it marks a major convergence of character and plot and a movement into the show's endgame.

This also an opportunity to have some new character interactions which is always a fun part of the show. Brianne not only gets some some strange looks (including some hilariously appraising gazes from Tormund) she gets to interact a bit with Melisandre and Davos, two characters with whom she has some business from her time with Renly and their time with Stannis. Melisandre, in particular, looks  terrified of Brienne. Also, it doesn't seem like it will be long before there is a reckoning for Shereen's death last season. It almost was revealed in this episode and Davos seems determined to find out. If Sansa and Jon are converging their traveling parties, there seem to be some explosive conflicts brewing.

Because many of the show's plots seem to be speeding towards their climaxes this season my hope was that Tyrion and Varys would find a way to resolve the Meereenese Knot that has entangled the Dany storyline for the last couple of years, However, Tyrion seems to have come up with a less-than great plan to phase out slavery in Slaver's Bay over the course of seven years, which pisses off Dany's supporters. What's more, Meereen seems to be in such a precarious situation with the other slave cities closing in on it that I don't know what leverage Tyrion thinks he has to be able to make demands. Either way, we are now even deeper in this quagmire than before.

In the Vale, we revisit Petyr Baelish and his dealings with Robin Arryn and the Knights of the Vale. Now when we last left off with Baelish, he met with Cercei and promised to use the warriors of the Vale to bring the North to heel and to bring Sansa back. There has been some speculation about his actual motives but I certainly wouldn't trust anything he says to Cercei. It seems he genuinely cares for Sansa and regrets his miscalculation in marrying her off to Ramsey but maybe I'm being too sentimental about it. We'll see.

Theon makes his way back to the Iron Islands and gets a cool reception from his sister Yara who suspects him of wanting to challenge her for the Salt Throne but he would be, shall we say, a flawed candidate to lead the Ironborn. He does pique her interest when he tells her that he is going to support her claim. I guess he's going to be her campaign manager? I don't know how he's going to function at the Kingsmoot except to appeal to the haunted and twitchy vote. Theon is waaay off book at this point so I have no idea where they are going with him.

Our third reunited sibling pair are the Tyrells as the High Sparrow finally allows Margaery to visit Loras after a long (probably untrue) monologue about his past as a socially up-jumping cobbler who found humility and faith in the Seven. Loras is in really bad shape after having been tortured by the Westeros Baptist Church. I don't even want to imagine what the "atonement" for being a gay man consists of but Loras seems ready to throw in the towel. Margaery, on the other hand, has a lot of fight in her and seems to have something up her sleeve.



Cercei and Jamie again try to crash a Small Council meeting and, after another sick burn from the Queen of Thorns, the Tyrells and Lannisters form an uneasy alliance to use the Tyrell army to break the Faith Militant and prevent Margaery's Walk of Atonement. Tommen comes to the realization that his mother may not like Margaery very much. This kid makes me miss Joffrey.

At Winterfell, Ramsey has a meeting with Osha who tries to use her old seduce-and-stab routine on him but, having tortured Theon, Ramsey knows exactly how she managed to escape last time and knifes her before she can do anything. This is a sad loss for me as I really liked this character, who didn't have enough to do this season. She's a tough wildling chick and I was hoping she would at least get to get a few licks into Ramsey before she died. At least we avoided another rape scene or a scene of Rikkon getting tortured. My hope is that Rikkon will find a secret way to hide in the castle and go all Home Alone on the Bolton men until help arrives.

Back at the Wall, Sansa and Jon are having an awkward Bon Voyage meal at Castle Black. Sansa urges Jon to help her take back Winterfell as she did earlier. Jon is strangely hesitant about it and still somewhat shellshocked from all he has experienced. Their meal is interrupted by the arrival of a letter from Ramsey Bolton, the show's version of the infamous Pink Letter. The letter taunts Jon and threatens Rikkon, Sansa, and the Wildlings. This finally urges him to action and it looks like the forces of Jon and Sansa are going to devote themselves to raising an army to take back Winterfell, which I think we can all get behind. The first step will be convincing the Wildings but this may prove to be easy both given Ramsey's threat to them and their growing dedication to Jon Snow who risked and even gave his life for them at Hardhome and Castle Black.

What's really great about these scenes at the Wall is Sansa, who has consistently had the best storyline this season. For all the darkness she has endured in prior seasons, she is developing into a strong character and a real leader. It is not Jon, but Sansa who is the brains and visionary of this formative coalition to take back the North. While I don't know book Sansa's ultimate path, the show's controversial decision to bring her north is turning into a deeply satisfying storyline.

Speaking of Sisters Doin' It For Themselves, Dany very inconsiderately decides she doesn't need to be rescued by Jorah and Daario or even Drogon as we had all expected. During a contentious meeting with the Khals to decide her fate, she tells them off and proceeds to knock over all the braziers setting the building on fire and killing them all. When she walks out of the flames unburnt, she gets pretty much the standard Dothraki miracle reaction, only now she has many many more Dothraki in her thrall than she did at the end of season one.

While I feel like was a very fast development, maybe too fast a development,  I also know I shouldn't complain about anything happening in this plotline too fast because it has been dragging literally for years.  I hope she can Dothraki her governing problems away by the end of this season and set sail for Westeros. Moreover, this may be a return to a version of the character who is less burdened with the particulars of governing and more in touch with her inner power and nature. Part of this excursion back into the Dothraki might be a way for Dany to really believe the litany of titles she has amassed. By the time she was facing down the Khals in this episode you get the sense that she really owns all of them and is not just reciting them. So, look out complex Meereenese political situation, Mama's comin' home!

Patrick Garone
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Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 3 "Oathbreaker"

Spoiler Warning:  This post contains spoilers for all broadcast seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones, all published volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, references to interviews, set reports, informed by wild speculation, and both fire and greenseer visions. 


Let me say first of all, I enjoy Game of Thrones from the perspective of a book reader and someone who eagerly consumes all possible spoilers online so I watch the show anticipating things that I know or strongly suspect will be happening in the story. I admit this is not the way the show is intended to be watched and probably colors my perception of the episodes as I watch them but I have to say I was monumentally annoyed with the Tower of Joy cliffhanger in this episode but more on that below.

We start with Castle Black where apparently Davos and Melisandre have heard Jon Snow's dramatic gasp and have already rushed into the room. In this series of scenes we are starting to get a feel for how Jon has come back and, thankfully, he is not fundamentally different. There has been some fan speculation that he might come back "wrong"or even as a villain. This idea would be supported by the repeated resurrections already seen in Beric Dondarrion from earlier seasons during which he seems to have lost a little bit of himself each time he came back. Thankfully, after only one resurrection, Jon seems okay. He even shows flashes of humor which might be an improvement.

Melisandre starts to finally put two and two together and seems to think that Jon might be the hero that she mistakenly thought Stannis was. Unfortunately she doesn't get much time to articulate her feelings since she will have undergone a big point of view change since hitting rock bottom in the last couple of episodes. She does use an interesting phrase to describe Jon's possible savior role, she refers to him as "the prince who was promised." I believe this is the first time the phrase has come up in the show. Previously she has referred to Stannis as the rebirth of Azor Ahai, her religion's savior figure. The Prince Who Was Promised is another prophesied figure which may overlap with Azor Azai but who is closely associated with Rhaegar Targaryen's prophesy of a heroic warrior (or possibly trio of warriors) that was to come from the Targaryen line. So the use of this phrase is either a sloppy juxtaposition of two different prophesies or foreshadowing.

In my mind, an outstanding question regarding Melisandre is how the Targaryens fit into her Azor Azai beliefs. For example, is Targaryen lineage important in her definition of kingsblood? After all, the Baratheons are partially Targaryen descended. Can anyone claim the throne and then their blood becomes royal upon coronation? Are there degrees of royal blood power? Is she particularly interested in Targaryen blood since they were a centuries-old royal dynasty that interbred for generations? If so, it would explain her interest in Jon who is likely a Secret Targaryen.

We do get to spend some more time with Davos who gives Jon some not-particularly coherent advice about failure or something. This scene stumbles around the big question of why Davos was so set on resurrecting Jon Snow. What we do come away with is a slightly better understanding of the Onion Knight's world view in that he sees the world as a fundamentally unjust place and he is drawn to leaders who are committed to fighting to make it a little less horrible no matter how futile the struggle is. Apparently he sees Jon as that kind of leader.

Next up is the long awaited Tower of Joy scene! The book version of this scene is actually experienced in the very first book in the series while Ned Stark hallucinates in the Black Cells and it is described much as we see it on the show. The sequence looms large in Game of Thrones mythology and theorizing. It is central to the popular R + L = J theory that proposes that Jon Snow is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Infuriatingly, just was we are about to ascend the Tower and meet Lyanna and baby Jon, the Three-Eyed Raven arbitrarily decides to end the vision and millions of book readers screamed out in frustration and threw their remotes at the TV.

What's worse is move to a scene in which we check in with Sam and Gilly on the way to Old Town as if to rub salt in our wounds. Instead of entering the Tower, we cut to a scene in which two people discuss their travel plans in a storyline that doesn't seem terribly consequential. Grrr.



We also check in with Arya in Braavos whose story has been both opaque and glacially paced. But this week there was thankfully some forward movement. I don't think I have ever been so grateful to see a montage! If not for Masie Williams, this storyline would be unwatchable but she is so damn good and haunting and kind of beautiful looking all blind and abused. And she gets her sight back! And learns to stick fight. Hopefully she can breeze through being No One so that she can become Arya again.



In Meereen, Varys questions the prostitute who was helping the Sons of the Harpy last season. They have a great and very tense scene in which they are both intelligent and make good points. Here we see Varys in top form as an master chess player and a cunning pragmatist. He's been sort of hanging around in the Meereen storyline so it is great to see him use his talents.

Tyrion has an awkward scene with Gray Worm and Missendei and the subtext seems to be that they are waiting for stuff to happen and don't have much to talk about. Peter Dinklage is a great actor but even he can't carry a scene that is about nothing. This is Game of Thrones, not Seinfeld. Varys arrives and we learn that the cities on Dany's Slaver's Bay Liberation Tour are funding the Sons of the Harpy which is not entirely surprising. I was hoping for more of a reveal with this perhaps involving some specific characters that we have met in prior seasons.

In Kings Landing Qyburn has an unsettling meeting with a bunch of children and even gives them candy. He does everything creepy but lure them into a van. It turns out that these kids are Varys' (former?) Little Birds, part of his vast spy network and since Qyburn is now the Master of Whispers, he was holding a meeting with them in his dungeon. Still the guy is sketchy as hell. If the Kings Landing storyline were Archer, Qyburn would be Krieger.  Cercei and Jamie arrive to discuss business and we learn that the identity of Robert Strong is pretty much an open secret in the Red Keep. Cercei and Co attempt to crash a Small Council meeting now lead by Kings Hand Kevin Lannister but the council bails on them  for another location but not before Lady Olenna delivers a sick burn on Cercei. Also, everyone in the meeting knows that it is the Mountain under that armor. So we're not doing Robert Strong anymore?



Tommen attempts to confront the High Sparrow. He starts to show a little Joffrey-esque backbone but  is soon outfoxed by the old man. We learn a couple of things about the High Sparrow in this scene, such as the fact that he claims that he never had a mother. This may seem inconsequential but this character is so mysterious that almost anything seems like a major revelation. More importantly, we learn that he's manipulative and slick which is a bit at odds with his image of a simple pious man. I still think that he is working for Littlefinger.

Meanwhile, Dany is confronted with her situation as one of the Real Widows of Vaes Dothrak and all of the limitations that her new role entails. Apparently, it is forbidden for a widow to go out into the world after the death of her Khal and Dany is going to be judged by a meeting of Khals. Her situation is an interesting mirror of Cercei's last season. Both women are widows who have been put through brutal and patriarchal systems of forced matrimony and will have been imprisoned and judged for their ambition and refusal to adhere to their societal place.

In Winterfell, Ramsey meets with the new Lord Umber. We last saw the Umbers as part of Robb's forces in seasons two and three. While the Greatjon has apparently died offscreen his son is no less boisterous and hilariously gives zero effs where it comes to Ramsey and the Boltons. What's less hilarious is that he presents Ramsey with a gift of Rickon Stark and Osha, the Wildling woman who was to see him to safety when he parted ways with Bran and the Reeds. As proof of the boy's identity Umber also unceremoniously dumps the head of Shaggydog, Rickon's direwolf.

This development is deeply upsetting. First, the death of any of the Stark children's direwolves is always tragic, portentous and symbolically loaded. These animals are their guardians and protectors and their last lines of defense. Without them the Stark children are dangerously exposed and disconnected from their heritage. It was especially upsetting in the matter-of-fact way Shaggydog's head was thrown on to the table with  hook embedded in it, looking for all the world like the show's version of the Stark sigil.

What's worse Osha and Rickon have suffered a horrible betrayal and are now in the hands of a psychopath and we are faced with the prospect of more scenes of torture and sexual violence. This guy needs to be taken out ASAP. By the way, what is going on with the North? What houses are still loyal to the Starks? And why have they all been taken over by young male sociopaths? Perhaps this is an unintended consequence of Robb's war.

As much as I hate this development, from a story point of view it looks like this will cause a lot of characters and their forces to converge upon Winterfell, such as Jon and Sansa, other loyalist northern houses, the Wildlings and maybe even Littlefinger and the Knights of the Vale. It may not be long before we see something akin to Ramsey's infamous Pink Letter from the books. Book Ramsey has some more trollish qualities and is fond of sending provocative ravens to his enemies. In A Dance With Dragons he sends Jon a challenging letter that he has his sister at Winterfell and demands certain characters be sent to him. However it happens, once Jon learns that his brother is captive at Winterfell and how Sansa has been abused it will motivate him to action.

Speaking of which, when we check back in the Wall at the end of the episode, Jon is still struggling with his place and his purpose now that he has been brought back. He oversees the executions of Thorne, Ollie and the other conspirators. He allows them a moment for last words and Thorne actually makes a compelling case for himself. For a moment, I thought Snow was going to let them live, after all regardless of his plans, the night's watch is short of men and Thorn at least is a capable ranger but after a moment of deliberation, snow executes the traitors and turns his cloak over to Edd stating that his watch is over. Technically, his watch ended at death so despite the episode's title he satisfied his oath although he may have a hard time explaining that to people. Hopefully he will stick around long enough to meet Sansa next week.

Patrick Garone
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Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 2 "Home"

Spoiler Warning:  This post contains spoilers for all broadcast seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones, all published volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, references to interviews, set reports, informed by wild speculation, and both fire and greenseer visions. 


So, if last week's Game of Thrones episode seemed like a little like moving chess pieces around, "Home" might seem a little more, shall we say, consequential. In addition to the gigantic Jon Snow reveal at the end, there was a ton of important stuff that happened. Let's dig in!

We start with a scene of Bran training with the Three-Eyed Raven. As you may be aware, this plot line took a year off so this is our first time with these characters in quite a while and hardly anyone is recognizable between natural growth spurts, recasting and weird make-overs. Most notably, Max Von Sydow replaces the original Raven actor, and instead of a creepy tree wizard he now looks like Obi-Wan Treenobi. Has Max Von Sydow ever been young? Wasn't he the old priest in The Exorcist like 45 years ago?

Bran and the Raven have mystically projected themselves into the past and visit Winterfell when Ned Stark and his siblings were children and, in addition to some younger versions of familiar characters, we see FREAKING LYANNA STARK which is the first of many OMG moment in the episode. Aside from creepy crypt statues, this is our first time seeing Lyanna although she has been frequently mentioned, most recently last season when Littlefinger doesn't bother correcting Sansa's account of her aunt's story. Even if she is not the mother of a certain know-nothing bastard, Lyanna Stark is an incredibly important figure who's alleged abduction essentially kickstarted Robert's Rebellion and ended the Targaryen dynasty. Judging by her very highlighted appearance in this flashback, we will likely see her again as soon as next week in the much-anticipated Tower of Joy flashback.

At the Wall, time has run out for the Friends of Jon Snow Society and as Thorne's men begin to break down the door, FREAKING WUN WUN breaks through the main gate at Castle Black with Tormund,the Wildlings, and Ed in tow. After a brief skirmish, Thorn and Ollie are locked up rather than take on the Liam Neesonish giant.

Back in Kings Landing, Ser Robert Strong seems to spend his downtime cruising the alleys in search of people bad-mouthing Cercei and delivering rough justice. It's good to know he is still into crushing people's heads. Meanwhile, Jamie has a tense encounter with the High Sparrow and seemed to call him out on his misogyny which is weird because it was on, like, the exact same spot where he had some rapey sex with his sister. Anyway it was a great scene and I am excited to see how this plays out as these two are on an inevitable collision course.

Arya has a rerun of her beggar vingette from last week although this time Jaqen H'ghar seems to give another chance to be "No One." Frankly, I'm pretty bored with this storyline. I don't want Arya to become "No One," I like Arya. And the Faceless Men continue to be as needlessly opaque as they are in the books. I mean, everyone wants her to learn sword fighting and go back to Westeros. I didn't sign up for deep Existentialism.

In Meereen, Tyrion confers with Varys, Grey Worm and Missende and they get to talking about the two dragons chained up in the catacombs. In the books, Tyrion is a big dragon nerd and we finally get some of that here. He surmises that the dragons of old shrank and went extinct due to their captivity and decided to let Dany's remaining two free. Which is symbolically awesome but practically problematic. We are then treated to a great scene in which Tyrion creeps down to where they are kept and unchains them, complete with a Dr. Grant /Triceratops moment. I love the way the dragons are animated to behave in this scene you really get a sense of their intelligence.

In the North, Sansa and Brienne discuss Arya although she neglects to mention that Arya was accompanied by the Hound. Sansa now has a good idea that all of her younger siblings are alive. Theon parts company and makes way for the Iron Islands where we learn that Balon Grayjoy is still kicking and has plans to reinvade the North. We also learn that he considers Yara his heir, which is good because he's dead five minutes later at the hands of his brother, Euron, who is apparently nuts.

Yara's ascension is cockblocked by a kingsmoot which will be used to determine the next king. This is actually leftover material from earlier books which had yet to be adapted which makes it unique in a season that has mostly pushed beyond the books. As with everything, it seems like it will happen a little differently on the show as it appears Theon will make it home for the selection of a new king and is technically the heir to the Iron Islands.

At Winterfell, we learn that the Boltons are in league with several Northern houses such as the Karstarks who's patriarch was executed by Robb Stark for killing Lannister prisoners. Also mentioned are the Umbers to which Osha and Rikkon Stark were heading when we last saw them and the Manderlys a house barely seen on the show but plays an important role as secret Stark loyalists in the books.

Once we learn that Walda has given birth to a boy, Ramsey promptly kills his father, snuffing out one of the shows great villains. Ramsey then does some predictably Ramsey stuff with his stepmom and half brother. If Ramsey doesn't die by the end of this season, I may be done with this show. I don't mind that Ramsey is an evil psychopath so much as that he is growing predictable. There have been some good opportunities to explore unexpected facets to his character. Instead of killing Baby Bolton, it would have been nice to surprise us with a nurturing sice. Maybe Ramsey could have adopted the baby as his son to raise in his image,which really would have been more perverse and horrible in the end and more interesting. But instead we get more dog business.

Back at the Wall, Davos approaches Melisandre about using her powers to resurrect Jon Snow, which I found to be weird and surprising. Why is Davos so into Jon Snow? Why would this even occur to him? Hasn't he seen Pet Semetary? More perplexingly, he doesn't even use the best argument to convince her: She has already foreseen Jon Snow fighting at Winterfell.

Melisandre is not really hearing it but decides to go ahead with it like, "Oh, well. It's worth a shot, I guess." She does her thing and it doesn't seem to be working. Once everyone leaves the room, in a gratifying but wholy unsurprising moment, Jon Snow comes back to life! And there was much rejoicing, mostly on behalf of Kit Harington and the cast and crew of Game of Thrones who can stop awkwardly lying about whether or not Jon Snow is alive.

MISCELLANEOUS

The Children of the Forest seem to have been given a makeover and now look like they are from some kind of Fantasy Forest Realness Challenge from RuPaul's Drag Race.

I love Varys' and Tyrion's relationship. They really are like a married couple down to the judgy looks Varys gives Tyrion when he drinks too much.

A lot of really good acting in this episode, especially from the younger actors. Isaac Hempstead Wright has improved a lot in his time off.

Tyrion's dragon encounter certainly seems to lend some credence to the theory that he is a Secret Targaryen. The dragons were strangely docile around him.

If you've ever wondered what pee hitting armor sounds like, you are in luck! Thanks Game of Thrones!


Patrick Garone
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