‘Game of Thrones’ season 6, episode 8 review: Arya vs. the Waif; the Blackfish’s blaze; Brienne and Jaime

When we last left Arya on “Game of Thrones” she had been stabbed by the Waif and was bleeding out in the water, right after securing her passage back home. Is she going to die? We don’t think she will, but you never know on this show – also House Stark doesn’t have the best luck when it comes to staying alive.

Well, Sunday night’s episode “No One” began in a way that we certainly did not see coming, and that was with Lady Crane tending to Arya’s wounds and offering for her to travel with the theater group to Pentos. It was a chance for her to get away from the chaos … but she doesn’t want that, and feels that so long as the Waif is out there, darkness will surround her. This proved to be true, as we witnessed the end of Lady Crane; from here, in turn we had a lengthy chase between Arya and the Waif that led to the latter’s death. It was intense, and yet somewhat predictable that after killing her in the night, Arya said her true name and proclaimed herself to be going home.

The Hound howls – Also, he cuts off a bunch of people’s body parts. If there was ever an awesome way to get revenge, this was it! He eventually did find the members of the Brotherhood responsible for what happened, and negotiated to at least take part in the hangings for those who killed Brother Ray. Does he end up joining Beric? It’s at least possible.

Trouble for Cersei – She did her best to be defiant against King Tommen and the Faith Militant, and even allowed The Mountain to stand for her not visiting with the High Sparrow! She basically had this man at her side to be her perfect Trial by Combat participant, only for Tommen to then decree that this practice was to be banned in the Seven Kingdoms.

Chaos in Meereen – Varys is departing on a mission, and Tyrion is … opening a wine business? Well, he claims that he wants to start a brand called “The Imp’s Delight” at the conclusion of the war. Also, he wants to get Grey-Worm drunk and Missandei to start telling jokes. For a while, we thought that this was going to just become “Game of Thrones: Last Comic Standing,” but then the ships arrived of the former masters. Clearly, Tyrion was wrong about the deal … but at least we had the return of Dany to the city!

Adventures in Riverrun – Brienne visited Jaime in order to see if she could get the Blackfish to bring the Tully army north in return for a peaceful transition at his ancestral home; unfortunately, she realized soon after that the odds of this happening were astronomically low.

While Brienne worked this angle, Jaime worked his own in going to speak with Edmure; specifically, he decided to use him as a pawn in order to ensure he got what he wanted, which was to return to his sister. Basically, he used Edmure in order to ensure that he could get the Blackfish out of Riverrun. He got what he wanted, Brienne ultimately had an army of her own, and Jaime gets to return to Cersei. Is this a win-win? It’s at least close enough. The only problem here is that Brienne still doesn’t have the Blackfish, even if she has everyone else. Based on what Jaime was told, he opted to go down in a blaze of glory and is no longer with us.

Overall, this Riverrun storyline, coupled with Arya’s somewhat predictable proclamation, make this a good episode more so than a great one. Yet, the Battle of the Bastards is next! Episode grade: B.

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