Game of Thrones Review: "No One"

          I can’t help but notice the last time we saw this much of the Riverlands on Game of Thrones was the Red Wedding. This time though things were slightly less violent, but Blackfish didn’t get away.
          “No One” brought a couple storylines to an end while revving up another couple, had some pretty good performances, and character reunions that ranged from bittersweet to “you again?” to “thank god you’re here!” It does pick up on the cliffhangers from last week, and delivers on them well, but the more intense stuff is still to come. Especially with next week’s episode being titled “Battle of the Bastards” (which reminds me that Ramsay hasn’t shown up in a while).
          I’m noticing people are travelling very quickly in Westeros as already Brienne has reached Riverrun. Bronn and Podrick have a reunion typical of their characters and I couldn’t help but share Bronn’s sentiments of admiration that Podrick’s still alive (both are characters you wouldn’t have thought would make it this far). They share a bit of a funny routine. Jamie though proud that Brienne’s been able to do her duty is not in a position to help her as Blackfish won’t relinquish the castle to either of them, which Brienne finds out for herself. Blackfish though respectful of Sansa’s birthright refuses to abandon his for a relative he barely knows. Clive Russell is great and though stubborn you respect his dedication and acceptance to die defending his home. Jamie is forced to choose another option. In one of the episode’s best scenes, he visits the captive Edmure who disgusted with Jamie’s actions, is forced to listen as Jamie compares his late sister Cat to Cersei Lannister, and Jamie declares he’s prepared to murder every Tully if it’ll get him back to King’s Landing and her, including Edmure’s son who he’s never met. The tension in the scene is amped up and you feel the mutual disrespect from Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s and Tobias Menzies’ performances. The result is Edmure being sent out to order the drawbridge of Riverrun lowered, and despite Blackfish’s protests that it’s obviously a trap, the soldiers do as commanded, Edmure being the actual Lord of Riverrun. The Freys and Jamie’s army enter and retake the castle, Blackfish nobly dies off screen, and Brienne and Podrick leave by boat their mission failed. I really liked the bit where Jamie saw her leaving but doesn’t try to capture her out of attachment. Somehow theirs has become a sweet relationship and if this is their last encounter, it was a good one. This sequence was a really good conclusion to a fairly recent plot development and even though its sad to see the Tullys didn’t win this one, perhaps this story isn’t quite over, and hell maybe Edmure will get some power back over his captors. 
          Someone else in King’s Landing is beginning to get her power back, as Cersei refuses an order from the Faith Militant to go to the Sept. To make an example she sets the Mountain on them, who kills one and scares the living shit out of the rest. Unfortunately she later discovers that in addition to being no longer allowed by her son’s side on the Iron Throne (Kevan’s no help either), he has outlawed trial by combat purely because of that earlier demonstration, leaving Cersei almost nothing to defend herself. Though apparently Qyburn who it’s nice to see again, has confirmation of some rumour she’s heard, possibly something that will bring down the High Sparrow. Tyrion Lannister is also not having a good time as he starts off the episode by losing Varys, who’s off to Westeros to find more allies. Tyrion’s in a bit of denial that everything’s going well despite the state of Mereen being a powder keg. There’s a scene where he tries to teach Missandei and Grey Worm humour by telling Westeros jokes that they clearly wouldn’t get. But they begin to bond over Grey Worm’s own joke and while a scene like this is somewhat just filler, we do get a little of each character’s personality that I can’t fault it for not filling a purpose. Their levity is interrupted though by a bombardment by slavers off the shore that continues into the night when Danaerys finally shows up on her dragon. Though we don’t see her end the conflict, we at least know who’s got the bigger guns.
          Oh yeah, I almost forgot about those big cliffhangers. The Hound kills a few men in a kind of funny scene where he criticizes how terrible one guy is at dying before immediately killing him. He then finds the Brotherhood Without Banners about to execute the men who’d massacred that village, funnily enough running into the same man he’d once killed, Beric Dondarrion as well as his Red Priest companion Thoros of Myr. It’s good to see Richard Dormer again. Dondarrion permits the Hound to kill two of the three men but only by hanging. He then invites the Hound to join them, using the same rhetoric of it not being too late to do good that Ian McShane did last week (damn I miss Ian McShane!). It’s interesting that the brotherhood the Hound was ready to kill after last week may end up being his next family.
          And finally in Braavos, Arya does wind up finding sympathy and is nursed back to health by Lady Crane. They have a great conversation about seeing the edge of the world though you kind of want Arya to join her acting troupe. However, though Arya couldn’t kill her, she’s killed anyway by the Faceless follower who’s returned to finish the job and we get an extended chase during which Arya manages a number of stunts she’s in no condition for and a few times should wind up with further injuries if not paralysis. She does eventually start bleeding again, the strain on her wounds too much, but she’s able to lure her enemy to the place she’s hidden Needle. In a pretty awesome move, she extinguishes the one candle in the room with her sword and next thing you know the girl’s face shows up in the House of Black and White, Arya having clumsily removed it after against the odds killing her rival. She confronts Jaqen who tells her she is now “No One” (though clearly he’s just saying that because she has Needle prodding him in the chest). She renounces it however, states she’s Arya Stark and is going home. So now all the Starks save for Bran are making their way back to Winterfell it seems, and while it’s nice to have Arya back I can’t help but feel her time with the Faceless Men didn’t amount to a whole lot. She got some training, better at killing, but now she’s done with them and I feel like we didn’t need to see as much of them and their ways as we did. It’s not important in the larger scheme of things on Game of Thrones and I don’t see them coming back after this. Arya’s has been a very bumpy story these past couple seasons but I love her character enough I still want to follow her next journey back to Westeros. 
          So yeah this was a decent episode with some exceptional scenes, only a few storylines, and nothing that really dragged. Though the season still has a few places where it meanders (again, what’s going on in Dorne, and are we going to Sam or Jorah again?), the focus of these last few episodes has been great and I look forward to the next two. Cersei’s trial, Jamie, Arya perhaps, and Dany and Tyrion though will have to wait until the season finale. I’m too pumped for next week’s showdown between Jon and Ramsay!