Game of Thrones “The Broken Man” was written by Bryan Cogman and was directed by Mark Mylod. The episode actually begins with a new scene before the credits – something I can’t remember it ever doing before (feel free to correct me in the comments!)
We see a group of people building something – a Sept? A watchtower? It’s never quite clear – lead by Brother Ray (Ian McShane). Another group is staggering in with four men to a gigantic log – except for one fellow, carrying one all on his own. Thanks to McShane this has been the worst kept GoT secret, so I may have squealed immediately, even before the log is put down and we pan up to see the figure turn around and realize that it’s The Hound (Rory McCann). Cut to opening credits….
This episode is beautifully structured, beginning and ending with the Hound. Woven throughout the episode is the theme of what it means to be pious or to believe in something higher at any rate. Woven in with that is a sense of destiny and purpose for all of these groups and individuals.
After the credits, we go back to the Hound chopping wood, making beams for the construction. Brother Ray wonders how many men it took to take down the Hound given his size and strength. The Hound says only one, and Brother Ray assumes HE must have been a monster. The Hound admits it was a woman, and Brother Ray laughs. Of course, the woman could have been either Brianne (Gwendoline Christie) or Arya (Maise Williams), and truly Arya has become a monster of sorts – or was well on her way to becoming one in losing all of her compassion.
Brother Ray comes to the Hound while he is eating, off alone by himself. He tells the Hound that some of the men are a bit afraid of him, and the Hound shrugs it off, saying he’s used to it. The discussion with Brother Ray is a somewhat stilted and awkward way to fill us in on what’s happened to the Hound. Apparently, Brother Ray happened upon the Hound and thought he was dead – he stank, he was covered in bugs, and there was bone sticking out of his leg. But then, the Hound coughed and Brother Ray says, “I nearly shit myself!” Brother Ray marvels that the Hound almost died many times after that, and he wonders what kept him going. The Hound tells him, “Hate.” Raising the question, hate for whom? Arya? Brienne?
Brother Ray insists there’s a reason the Hound is still there. The Hound has his own explanation: “I’m a big fucker and hard to kill.” But Brother Ray insists that the gods aren’t done with him yet. The Hound tells him that he heart that before but the man talking was talking about a different god… But Brother Ray is not to be deterred. He tells the Hound, “There’s plenty of pious sons of bitches think they know the word of god or gods. I don’t. I don’t even know their real names. Maybe it’s the Seven or the old gods or maybe it’s the Lord of Light or maybe it’s all the same fucking thing. What matters, I believe, is that there’s something greater than us and whatever it is, it’s got plans for Sandor Clegane.” Is this perhaps the start of the Hound becoming the champion for the Faith Militant?
The Hound insists that Brother Ray doesn’t know him or what he’s done. He wonders why, “If the gods are real, why haven’t they punished me?” Brother Ray points out that they have. And it really says something about the Hound that he doesn’t consider the burns inflicted on him by his brother or the fact that he nearly died – many times – and was left to suffer – as punishment. It’s clear that the Hound wants to believe he can change, can have a different life.
This conversation shifts right to Margaery (Natalie Dormer) reading The Book of the Mother in the Sept in King’s Landing. I had to wonder why she was still there when she didn’t have to be. The High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) joins her, and they have a conversation parallel to the one that just transpired between the Hound and Brother Ray. Margaery is able to recite from the Book of the Mother. The High Sparrow is impressed, yet still points out that there are some who can recite the words but have none of the mother’s mercy while there are “savages who can’t read at all, who understand the father’s wisdom.” And it’s fairly clear that Brother Ray falls into the latter category. Margaery admits that for years she pitied the poor but didn’t love them – she was disgusted by them. The High Sparrow explains this is natural as “they are us, shorn of our illusions.”
However, the High Sparrow is not there to discuss religion as such. He wants to discuss a personal matter – Margaery’s purpose. The King has told the High Sparrow that Margaery hasn’t returned to the marriage bed. This is her duty – to her husband and as Queen – to produce an heir. She explains that she hasn’t had the same desires, but the High Sparrow tells her that the woman doesn’t have to have desire, she merely has to have patience. Like we didn’t hate him enough! The High Sparrow needs an heir to solidify his own position through Tommen and Margaery’s.
In case Margaery isn’t motivated enough, he then threatens the Queen of Thorns (Dianna Rigg). He tells Margaery that she must be taught the new ways – by Margaery – or he fears for her safety. The High Sparrow realizes that Olenna is both smart enough and powerful enough to pose a real threat to him.
Margaery wastes no time going to see her Grandmother. The illusion that she is a true convert continues. Olenna is incensed at the continual presence of Septa Unella (Hannah Waddingham) and even threatens to have her men come in and beat her! Much to Margaery’s apparent shock and disapproval. Rather than try to convert Olenna, Margaery urges her to leave King’s Landing. Olenna insists that she will never leave either Margaery or Lorus. Margaery tells Olenna that Lorus will have to repent and renounce his claim to High Garden and become a penitent. Oleanna is shocked – Lorus is the future of their House!
Olenna then tries to at least convince Margaery to come to High Garden with her – there’s nothing preventing Margaery from leaving. Margaery insists that it is her duty as a wife and Queen to stay. Olenna again insists that she will never leave. Margaery goes down on her knees and takes her Grandmother’s hands – and passes her a note!!! Finally! Confirmation that Margaery hasn’t given in. But she tells Olenna to go – and makes the danger clear to her. The two embrace and it’s clear from Margaery’s face that she has been playing a part. As soon as Olenna leaves, she plasters a smile back on her face, and suggests to Septa Unella that they pray.
For her own part, Olenna waits until she is outside and alone before opening the small piece of paper. It contains only the drawing of a rose – but it is a symbol that Margaery hasn’t forgotten her House or her family. Olenna smiles. Is this the beginning of a plan? Will Olenna return to High Garden to strengthen her own position in order to return and save her grandchildren? I simply adore every scene Rigg is in.
Jon (Kit Harington) begins to gather his army. He starts with the Wildlings who were prepared to fight against the White Walkers and the Army of the Dead but aren’t prepared to fight the other Houses, which they see as Jon’s fight. Dim Dalba (Murray McArthur) fears that the Freefolk will all be killed fighting in a war that isn’t theirs – another theme that comes up in the episode. Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) speaks for Jon, reminding the others that he died at the hands of the Crows for speaking for the Freefolk.
Jon tells them that if they don’t help him take and secure the North, they won’t be safe. Tormund tells the others that they are cowards and deserve to be the last of the Freefolk if they don’t support Jon for what he did for them. I loved that Wun Wun (Ian Whyte) simply sits quietly in the background then stands and stares at Jon before saying simply “Snow,” thus giving his endorsement.
Cersei (Lena Headey) attempts to form an alliance with Olenna. She’s heard that Olenna is leaving and reminds her that her grandson is still rotting in prison. Olenna tells her: “Lorus rots in a cell because of you. The High Sparrow rules this city because of you. Our two ancient Houses face collapse because of you. And your stupidity.”
Cersei admits that she make a terrible mistake by delivering an army of fanatics to their doorstep, but she tells Olenna that they now have to face them together. Olenna simply muses, “I wonder if you’re the worst person I’ve ever met. At a certain age, it’s hard to recall. But the truly vile do stand out through the years. Do you remember the way you smirked at me when my granddaughter and grandson were dragged off to their cells? I do. I’ll never forget it.” Olenna has no intention of forgiving or forgetting – or helping Cersei in any way.
Cersei, however, is sure that Olenna loves her grandchildren the same way that she loves her son – it’s the only truth she knows. But Olenna tells her that she’s getting out before that “shoeless zealot” can throw her in a cell. Cersei maintains that she will never leave her son. Olenna again points out the hard truths. Cersei has no support – her brother has left, her family abandoned her and the people hate her. She finishes by telling Cersei, “You’ve lost, Cersei. It’s the only joy I can find in all this misery.” And Olenna keeps writing with her head down as she says it – Cersei is not worth her notice.
Meanwhile, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Bronn (Jerome Flynn) arrive at the head of 8,000 Lannister soldiers to the Frey siege on Riverrun. The Frey siege is utterly pathetic. Jaime tells Bronn that once he has command of all the Lannister forces, he wants Bronn to be his right hand. Bronn hasn’t changed – he’s still a sell-sword at heart and tells Jaime he expects a lordship, castle and beautiful, wealthy bride in return.
Lothar Frey (Daniel Tuite) and Walder Rivers (Tim Plester) threaten to hang Edmure (Tobias Menzies), and then threaten to cut his throat. The Blackfish (Clive Russell) is utterly unmoved and tells them, “Go on then. Cut his throat.” Which of course, they don’t do. Jaime and Bronn are utterly disgusted. I loved the scene in which Jaime takes over the siege!
Frey expresses surprise at seeing Jaime, and Jaime lets him have it: “Because you didn’t set a proper perimeter. You just let 8,000 men approach unchallenged.” And Bronn chimes in with, “Good thing we’re friends or we’d be fucking you in the ass right now!” Jaime tells them to have Edmure bathed and fed. At which point, Frey tries to assert his position – Edmure is a prisoner of House Frey! Looks like they’ll be answering to father Walder for losing something else…
Jaime tells him, “Only a fool makes threats he’s not prepared to carry out. Let’s say I threaten to hit you unless you shut your mouth. But you keep talking. What do you think I’d do?” Frey foolishly starts, “I don’t give a rat’s ---“ at which point Jaime hits him in the face with his gold hand. Once that’s established, Jaime tells Bronn that he wants him to set up a parley. Bronn says, “Parley or fight?” Jaime is shocked – he’s an old man. Bronn points out that Jaime only has one hand – his money’s on the old man!
Jon, Sansa (Sophie Turner), and Davos (Liam Cunningham) visit two more Northern Houses. They first go to House Mormont on Bear Island. It’s interesting to see that neither are very adept at negotiating. Jon is too unassuming, and Sansa is too haughty, but she quickly sees the damage that has been done to her reputation over the last few years.
Lady Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey) is head of House Mormont… and 10 years old. However, she takes her position deadly seriously and is not interested in Sansa’s chit chat about where she got her name or Jon’s stories about her Uncle. When they try to play the Stark card, Lyanna calls them on it – Jon is a Snow – and she gets downright nasty with Sansa – whom she says is a Bolton, or perhaps a Lannister… Sansa tries to excuse herself, saying she did what she had to do. Lyanna knows that they don’t just want her allegiance, they want her fighting men. But like the Wildlings, she doesn’t want to sacrifice any more of her people for someone else’s war.
At this point, Davos steps up. I loved his introduction of himself and telling her her Maester (Louis Rolston) wouldn’t have heard of his House – it’s rather new! His relationship with Shireen stands him in good stead here as he is able to get through to Lyanna – not by talking down to her, but by talking to her as an equal, and demonstrating their common ground. He tells her of his humble beginnings and that he never expected to be standing in front of a great Lady, conversing with her any more than she likely expected to be the head of a major House at 10. He tells her that this isn’t someone else’s war. She tells him to go on.
Davos tells her, “Your Uncle chose Jo to be his successor because he knew he had the courage to do what is right. Because Jeor Mormont knew what Jon knows. The real war isn’t between a few squabbling houses. It’s between the living and the dead. And the dead are coming.” Lyanna asks Jon if this is true, and he confirms it. Davos goes on to tell her that as long as the Boltons hold Winterfell, there will be no stopping the Night King, and there’s no hiding from this.
I loved Lyanna cutting off her Maester by simply raising her hand. She tells them: “House Mormont has kept faith with House Stark for a thousand years. We will not break faith today.” Jon is relieved and asks how many fighting men they can expect. Lyanna tells them 62! Rather than insult her, Davos tells her, “If they are as ferocious as their Lady, the Boltons are doomed.” And I think he could very well be right!
The three also visit Lord Glover (Tim McInnerny) but with a very different result. Glover is angry that the Starks never came to his rescue when the Ironborn took his castle and hurt his family. Glover is also appalled when Jon tells him that the bulk of the army is made up of Wildlings.
Jon is camping his army in the same spot as Stannis did before assaulting Winterfell. Davos points out it is the best, defensible spot for the army. He insists that they have a chance if they are careful and smart. Davos leaves Sansa and Jon to go break up a fight – the men are not happy to be fighting alongside Wildlings. Sansa asks if Davos is now Jon’s most trusted advisor – she is clearly not impressed. Jon insists that Davos is why he’s standing there with her – and Davos also has the experience of having served with Stannis for years.
Sansa insists that they need more men. They need to visit more of the Northern Houses, but Jon tells her that there is no time. They will fight with the army they have. We see Sansa writing a note – but not what it says or whether she actually does send it by Raven. Is she writing to Littlefinger to beg for his help? Does she still really trust him? It would seem foolish to trust him in any way. Any help he gives will certainly come with a heavy price tag.
Jaime parleys with the Blackfish. This was a terrific exchange that served as a really nicely integrated reminder of some of the previous events. I loved that the Blackfish addresses Jaime as Kingslayer. It’s been a while since we’ve been reminded of that part of Jaime’s history – and it’s how the world at large views him. The Blackfish asks if Jaime is there to fulfill the vow he made to his neice – but he doesn’t see Sansa or Arya. Jaime was to have returned them in exchange for his own freedom. The Blackfish asks if Jaime is there to resume his captivity! Um…. No.
Jaime tells the Blackfish that he’s trespassing – the castle now belongs to the Freys. It’s also clear that Edmure will never be a bargaining chip. The Blackfish tells Jaime that they should just kill him and get it over with. The Blackfish tells Jaime: “As long as I’m standing, the war is not over. I was born in this castle and I’m ready to die in it. So you can either attack or try to starve us out. We have enough provisions for two years. Do you have two years?” Jaime realizes that the Blackfish never had any intention of bargaining with him and he wonders why he agreed to come out and treat. The Blackfish tells him, “Sieges are dull, and I wanted to see you in person. Get the measure of you.” And then he tells Jaime he’s disappointed in what he’s seen. It’s every bit as dismissive as Olenna was with Cersei.
Yara (Gemma Whelan) has paused with her own army on their way to Meereen to allow the men – and herself – a brief respite. Theon (Alfie Allen) is clearly freaked out by being out in public, especially in the middle of a whore house. Yara begins by teasing him, but soon relents, promising never to hurt her little brother. Yara tells him that she’s tired of watching him cower – she makes him drink. She wants the real Theon Greyjoy back. She tells him, however, “If you’re so broken there’s no coming back, take a knife, cut your wrists and end it. But if you’re staying, I need you.”
She goes on to tell him that “We’re going to sail to Meereen, make a pact with this dragon Queen and take back the Iron Islands.” Theon seems to pull himself together and he tells Yara he’s with her. Interestingly, we find out that Yara’s preference appears to be for women – and no one has an issue with it. It’s a nicely integrated bit of diversity.
Back at wherever the Hound happens to be, Brother Ray is speaking to his congregation – not that they are ever formally identified as such, but he is clearly their leader. He is telling them about his own history. He was a soldier and did what he was told to do: “we weren’t animals. Animals are true to their nature, but we’d betrayed ours.” Let’s not forget that Sandor is known as the Hound.
Brother Ray, however, had his epiphany after he could neither eat nor sleep after having killed a young boy. He tells them that he can’t bring that boy back, but he can bring a little good into the world. He tells them, “It’s never too late to come back” – and he looks directly at the Hound as he says this. He also tells them that it’s not about the gods, it’s about them. They have to answer their own prayers. Brother Ray has a very different take on religion than Melisandre for example, and seems more clearly self-effacing than the High Sparrow – who I seriously doubt really has the mother’s mercy beating in his chest.
The meeting is interrupted by three of the Brotherhood without Banners – followers of the Lord of Light. Lem Lemoncloak (Johannes Haukur Johannesson) wants to know if they have horses, iron, or food. Brother Ray denies the first two and invites them to stay for dinner – but there’s no extra above that. Lemoncloak tells him, “the night is dark and full of terrors” before riding off – lovely sentiment!
Brother Ray goes to fetch the Hound from chopping for the evening meal. The Hound warns him about the Brotherhood. Brother Ray defends himself – “I’m a fucking Septon. What was I supposed to say?” The Hound points out that they do have things the Brotherhood wants – steel and women. Brother Ray tells him that these people can’t fight – he knows that the Hound wants to kill them. The Hound points out that Brother Ray knows how to fight and could teach the others. And isn’t that rather like answering your own prayers?
But Brother Ray is having none of it: “Violence is a disease. You don’t cure a disease by spreading it to more people.” But the Hound points out that you don’t cure it by dying either. Brother Ray returns to the camp, but the Hound keeps chopping because it’s going to be a cold night. McCann is really terrific in this episode as we see him achieve just a tiny bit of happiness before it is all ripped away.
The action cuts to Braavos. Arya is walking through the streets – which seemed utterly foolish to me right from the get go. She approaches a sea captain from Westeros and tells him she wants to book passage back to Westeros. She tosses a bag of gold in front of him, and he tells her that she can have a hammock and they leave in two days. She tosses another bag of gold and tells him that she wants a cabin and that they leave at dawn. So clearly, she’s become an expert pickpocket among her other talents – no doubt part of her training. Yet she knows she’s not safe – she should know to be ever vigilant.
She stops to admire the scenery and is approached by an old woman (Margaret Jackman) who I knew immediately was Waif (Faye Marsay). She grabs Arya and stabs her repeatedly in the abdomen, sticking the knife well in and twisting it. Clearly, she is not listening to her instructions to make it quick. Arya manages to head butt Waif and drop into the canal.
Waif doesn’t see her surface, and the last we see of her, she is bleeding heavily and staggering down the street. Where will she go? Could she throw herself on the mercy of Lady Crane? Surely Waif will think to look there. It’s impossible to believe that Waif will settle for anything less than having Arya’s cold dead body on the slab so that she can remove her face herself… It’s also hard to believe that Arya could survive such an injury. Or is it possible that she will meet up unexpectedly with someone from her past?
The Hound is still chopping as he hears horses and screaming and this leads him to return to the camp. Everyone is dead, and Brother Ray is hanging from the tower. Ian McShane made a terrific corpse! It was great makeup or CGI. Again, thanks to McShane, it was clear that his character wouldn’t survive the episode, but it’s a shame as his perspective brought a new facet and example to the overall theme of religion that runs through the show.
In the first shots of Brother Ray, we see him looking up the middle of the structure, lifting an ax – the seven pointed star prominent on his chest. Not surprisingly, the gold star is now missing from his chest. He’s come full circle – as has the Hound. The episode ends by panning down the Hound’s body, so the last shot we see is of him picking up his ax. I would not want to be those members of the Brotherhood – or anyone associated with them…
For me, this was another great episode. Terrific acting reinforcing careful writing that weaves it’s themes through multiple storylines. And it’s also still one of the most gorgeously visual programs on television, even when the scenery is clearly CGI! What did you think of the episode? What is the Hound’s next move? What about Olenna? Is there any way she’s really giving up on her grandchildren or the future of her House? Will we see the war between Jon and Ramsay before the end of the season? Will Sansa send the raven? And who is she sending the note to? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
