Game of Thrones 6.9: A Night for the Light

One of the best Game of Thrones episodes in the entire series tonight - 6.9 - in which the forces of good, or at least, much better than their enemies, finally win all around.

In one of the best protracted battle scenes of the series, Jon Snow and the wildings, with a last minute assist of cavalry courtesy of Sansa, finally beat the despicable Ramsey Bolton.   Just in case we forgot how despicable he is, Ramsey first kills young Rickon, and puts the final arrow in the eye of the giant to bring him down. He was such a hateful character that I felt not even the minuscule glimmer of regret I had when the Swede was rightfully hung in Hell on Wheels - no, I was just glad to see Ramsey dispatched for good by his own starving hounds that Sansa set upon him.

The coming attractions had interesting postscript - what price has Jon Snow paid for being bought back from the dead, what he has really become?   My guess he's become a version of what we briefly saw was the case with Melisandre earlier this season - a Lord-knows-how-old woman who looks just a fraction of her age.   She invoked that power to bring back Jon Snow, who will likely now age on the inside, in reality, while maintaining his youth of the outside.  (I haven't read beyond the first novel, so we'll just have to see next week and next season.)

Meanwhile, tonight also had the best dragons in action so far.   As has been clear from the beginning, the ultimate battle will not be between Daenerys and the seven kingdoms, but between the fire of her immense and supple dragons and the white, cold death of the north beyond the wall.   In such a battle, humans will almost become an afterthought.

But there's a lot more to come before that, and next week should top off what may be the best season of Game of Thrones, even better than the first.

See also Game of Thrones 6.1: Where Are the Dragons ... Game of Thrones 6.2: The Waking ... Game of Thrones 6.5: Origin of a Name ... Game of Thrones 6.6: The Exhortation ... Game of Thrones 6.7: Giveth and Taketh ... Game of Thrones 6.8: Strategic Advantage

And see also Game of Thrones 5.1: Unsetting the Table ... Game of Thrones 5.8: The Power of Frigid Death ... Game of Thrones 5.9: Dragon in Action; Sickening Scene with Stannis ... Game of Thrones Season 5 Finale: Punishment

And see also Games of Thrones Season 4 Premiere: Salient Points ... Game of Thrones 4.2: Whodunnit? ... Game of Thrones 4.3: Who Will Save Tyrion ...Game of Thrones 4.4: Glimpse of the Ultimate Battle ... Game of Thrones 4.6: Tyrion on Trial ... Game of Thrones 4.8: Beetles and Battle ...Game of Thrones 4.9: The Fight for Castle Black ... Games of Thrones Season 4 Finale: Woven Threads

And see also  Game of Thrones Season 3 Premiere ... Game of Thrones 3.3: The Heart of Jaime Lannister ... Game of Thrones 3.6: Extraordinary Cinematography ...Game of Thrones 3.7: Heroic Jaime ...  Game of Thrones 3.9: A Critique 

And see also Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2 ... Game of Thrones 2.2: Cersei vs. Tyrion

And see also A Game of Thrones: My 1996 Review of the First Novel ... Game of Thrones Begins Greatly on HBO ... Game of Thrones 1.2: Prince, Wolf, Bastard, Dwarf ... Games of Thrones 1.3: Genuine Demons ... Game of Thrones 1.4: Broken Things  ... Game of Thrones 1.5: Ned Under Seige ... Game of Thrones 1.6: Molten Ever After ... Games of Thrones 1.7: Swiveling Pieces ... Game of Thrones 1.8: Star Wars of the Realms ... Game of Thrones 1.9: Is Ned Really Dead? ... Game of Thrones 1.10 Meets True Blood

And here's a Spanish article in Semana, the leading news magazine in Colombia, in which I'm quoted about explicit sex on television, including on Game of Thrones.

And see "'Game of Thrones': Why the Buzz is So Big" article in The Christian Science Monitor, 8 April 2014, with my quotes.

Also: CNN article, "How 'Game of Thrones' Is Like America," with quote from me

 
"I was here, in Carthage, three months from now." 

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