GAME OF THRONES: Best Moments From Season 6, Ep. 2 "Home"

Warning: spoilers ahead for season 6, episode 2 of Game of Thrones, entitled "Home." If you haven't seen the episode yet, turn back now. 

This season, I'm going to try to write up some quick thoughts about each episode the day after it airs. I won't get too deep into full-on recaps (you can find those all over the internet, and you've probably already read a few today if you're into that sort of thing) and will instead focus on what I consider to be each episode's best moments. This can be as many or as few as I want, and will likely vary every episode — today, it's five. I'll also toss in some additional observations that don't fit into the "best moments" category, which you can find at the bottom of the post. For the best moments of the latest episode, click here. Onward!

5. The Death of Balon Greyjoy

This is something that happened ages ago in the books, so book readers knew Theon's father's death has been in the cards for quite some time. But the actual way he died has been a mystery: many suspected that Balon's brother Euron — who we met on the show for the first time last night — had something to do with it, but there was a section of fandom that believed Euron hired one of the Faceless Men to throw Balon from the bridge. Now we see that, in the show, anyway, he did it himself, setting the stage for a power struggle in the Iron Islands that will be officially settled by a "kingsmoot," a traditional vote among the sailors of the region.

4. Bran's Back

Bran spent what seemed like forever trying to reach the Three-Eyed Raven, and now we're finally able to see the fruits of that journey. He's graduated from simply warging into animals (or, when the occasion called for it, into Hodor) into being able to walk through time itself, traveling back to Winterfell when Ned and Benjen Stark were young boys, and Hodor could still speak normally. We caught our first glimpse of Lyanna, Ned's sister, when she was still alive. Think of her as the Helen of Troy of Westeros — her role in the history of Westeros is complicated, but it boils down to men vying for her favor ultimately causing a war. There's a very convincing and long-held fan theory involving Lyanna that I won't ruin for you here, but let's just say this probably isn't the last of her we've seen this season. Thankfully, Bran will be there to walk us through all of it.

3. Head Smashings

Dolorus Edd came through in the clutch, returning with the wildlings just as Ser Alliser Thorne and the turncloak Night's Watch members were about to make short work of Davos and company. Wun Wun the giant, rightfully pissed off about taking an arrow to the shoulder, proceeded to swing the archer by his legs, smash his head against the wall of Castle Black, and toss his body on the floor like a rag doll. Pretty freakin' metal. And speaking of metal, the golden-armored Knight of the Kingsguard, Ser Robert Strong (aka the zombie remains of The Mountain), smashed another dude's head against a wall in King's Landing after the guy regaled his friends with a ribald story about Cersei. The queen regent's ego may be bruised, but she's not going to let that fly.

2. Tyrion Freeing The Dragons

There's a storyline from the books in which a character gets roasted by one of Dany's dragons in a manner similar to the situation Tyrion found himself in last night, so some fans were wondering if the Imp would meet a fiery fate at the hands of Rhaegal and Viserion. Thankfully that didn't happen, but we did get a touching moment of dialogue (straight from another section in the books) where Tyrion explains his childhood fascination with dragons as he frees them from their chains (along with his great line about drinking and knowing things). With only Drogon out and about for so long, I've been waiting to see what would happen with all three of the dragons out in the world. My guess? Having Drogon fly over Vaes Dothrak would have impressed the Dothraki, but having all three cruise overheard might be enough to give Dany the army she's been waiting for.

1. The Return of Jon Snow

We all knew this was going to happen at some point, it just came down to when the showrunners decided to do it. A lot of people assumed it would happen right off the bat in last week's season premiere, and I was thinking it wouldn't happen until at least halfway through the season, but it looks like Jon has a lot more to do this season than I anticipated. Will he be "himself" right away (or ever again)? What is the reaction to his resurrection going to be? What is his first act going to be? We know Jon is a man of honor, but even he must think death frees him from his oath to the Night's Watch, so what's his game plan? I'm glad the show brought him back quickly enough in the season to explore these things instead of dragging it out longer than necessary.

Additional Observations

Tommen has proven to be a quiet, boring king so far, letting everyone walk all over him. At least he's self-aware about it, and he seems to be fed up with that role. Do you think he'll actually have the balls to do anything about the Faith Militant, or will the increasingly annoying High Sparrow continue to "overthrow an empire"? That face-to-face with Jaime in the sept is another one of those moments that feel like the High Sparrow has won the battle, but the Lannisters might yet still win that particular war.

The Arya plotline seems to be moving along quicker than it has in previous seasons. Fingers crossed that continues.

Ramsay feeding his step-mother and infant brother to the dogs? Cold-blooded, but expected. I can't wait to watch that son of a bitch go down...I hope.

How is Theon going to factor in to the events on the Iron Islands, if at all? That's one of the show's biggest question marks for me.

The other huge question mark — what the hell is Littlefinger up to, and what's his endgame in all this? Did he know about Ramsay's monstrous behavior when he sent Sansa into the bastard's arms? Is he putting her through the paces on her own and trying to build her up to be some sort of Queen in the North for some strategic purpose, or does he have some other scheme in mind?

Sound off with your thoughts below.

GeekTyrant Homepage