Game Of Thrones Season 6: 10 Ups And 2 Downs From 'Battle Of The Bastards'

by James Hunt

1. Predictability

Game of Thrones Ramsay Rickon
HBO

This episode was excellent, but in terms of the titular battle, there wasn't really anything that happened there that you wouldn't have expected.

Rickon dies? Yep. A good but ultimately non-important character is killed off? Wun Wun. The Boltons have the upper hand thanks to their numbers, before the Knights of the Vale arrive to turn the tide? Check. Ramsay is defeated? Mmhmm. Sansa is the one who gets to kill him? Yay, but also yeah.

The battle was staged brilliantly, as made clear by my waxing lyrically over Sapochnik's direction earlier. But when the outcomes have been so clearly signposted, it does lose some of that emotional impact. When it's a battle of good vs bad that you know the good side can't possibly lose, it doesn't carry quite as much weight. It's why episode nines such as Baelor, Blackwater, and Rains of Castamere are so incredible, all among the five best the show has produced and why, for all it's a great episode, Battle of the Bastards is just a notch below some of its penultimate predecessors.

What did you think of Battle of the Bastards? Share your thoughts down in the comments.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.