TV Review: Game of Thrones, Season 6, Episode 4 “Book of the Stranger”

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

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EPISODE 4: Book of the Stranger

THE PLOT : Winter is coming, and with it, the white walkers. If those still standing don’t band together soon, the iron throne may become a throne of ice.

THE LOWDOWN: (The following column contains MAJOR SPOILERS, so I don’t recommend reading this if you haven’t watched this episode). Earlier today I was thinking, “wow, next week will be the halfway point for Game of Thrones”, which is nuts, so I was praying that tonight’s episode would be awesome. My prayers were answered. Before we get to the juicy details, I’ll weigh on the rest. The whole Theon situation isn’t terrible, but I’m a little indifferent because I have no idea how the Iron Islands are going to fit into all this. Clearly, like everything else, between the Kingsmoot, Theon’s return and Yara’s ambition, something cool is bound to happen. I’d like to see Theon help his sister rise to power, and then convince her to help Sansa in some way, shape or form. Something tells me that would take a lot of convincing, but what the hell else do they have to do?

Tyrion really stepped up when it came to negotiations, even if everyone wasn’t totally on board. You have to give the guy some credit, what am impossibly ridiculous situation to deal with. Grey Worm and Missandei backed him, even if they didn’t want to, but what the hell do either of those two know about negotiations anyway? Not to mention the fact that their opinions on the matter are a tad bias. That said, I don’t Dany’s view on the subject matter would fall directly in line with Tyrion’s either, but thankfully she’s not there to mess it up. Tensions are still running high in King’s Landing, but somehow Cersei has managed to convince everyone to band together against the High Sparrow. Not sure how that’ll play out either, as book readers know, Margaery’s storyline is far different in the show.

The biggest thing for me tonight was the reunion of Sansa and Jon. What a moment. The Starks have gotten their asses handed to them this entire series, but tonight, this felt like a long overdue win for House Stark. The fact that Jon decides to march with Sansa to retake Winterfell and save Rickon is huge, and as far as I can tell, it looks like Littlefinger will have The Vale’s army join the wildlings in the attack. That will be an awesome battle, but as I’ve said before, I need to see Jon vs Ramsay in a fight to the death. I don’t think Jon will like Littlefinger though, and we know for a fact Brienne isn’t a fan, so how those characters interact should be widely entertaining. That said, Brienne’s little chat with Davos and Melisandre was interesting. I was waiting for her to say something about Renly (not to mention the look on Davos’ face when she says she killed Stannis), and you can bet that conversation is far from over.

GAME OF THRONES SEASON 6’s fourth episode has not only set some grand spectacles in motion, but it went out with a bang. Last week I was complaining about how boring Dany’s storyline was, but I also said it was no doubt leading up to something awesome. I was not right. When it comes to scene stealing in this show, few do it better than Emilia Clarke. The look of pure vengeance on her face when she dispatches her enemies is worth a thousand words. Tonight, she laid waste to all the damn Khal’s in a sea of fire, coming out of the flames again, this time looking like a damn Goddess. Looks like her army just grew tenfold. Now, with the Unsullied, the Dothraki and three dragons at her disposal, Daenerys Targaryen is a true force of nature. Is it time to sail home yet?

SEX/NUDITY: There’s some Dothraki street sex, but you don’t really see much. Dany’s goes full frontal amidst a sea of flame. Needless to say, it was hot.

VIOLENCE: Sword stabbing, rock smashing and poor Osha had a rough night.

MOST EPIC SCENE: I want to say Dany’s trial by fire, but the sap in me has to go with that moment Jon and Sansa see one another for the first time since season one, and then hug like they’re the last two people on earth. It was beautiful.

FINAL VERDICT :

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