As this episode opens we see that Arya has made it to the home of Lady Crane; here she is patched up but her troubles are far from over; later on The Waif appears and kills Lady Crane. Arya must now flee through the city and retrieve her sword 'Needle' before facing The Waif in combat one last time. Elsewhere it becomes clear that Sandor Clegane has definitely not forsaken violence as he brutally dispatched those responsible for the massacre of the previous episode. Brianne arrives at Riverrun and persuades Jaime Lannister to let her talk to Blackfish Tully in order to persuade him to abandon his position and head north to join the fight to retake Winterfell for Sansa Stark. He refuses but Jaime comes up with another way to try to take Riverrun. In King's Landing the King makes an announcement that significantly weakens his mother's position and in Meereen the slavers go back on their agreement with Tyrion and attack the city.
I was surprised to see just how unpopular this episode is with some reviewers as I really enjoyed it especially the parts others seemed to dislike most. I really enjoyed Arya's story line; for too long she was just training and generally having a bad time; things may reach a low point for her here as she is wounded then the person who is caring for her is killed but it leads to her fighting back and, in a scene I really liked, proudly reclaiming her name. Maisie Williams does a fine job in the role, which is why she has been one of my favourite characters from early on in the series. The other scenes were pretty good too; the Clegane brothers, 'The Hound' and 'The Mountain', each provide some brutal action of the sort we haven't seen for a while. The events in Riverrun provided some interesting twists as well as the unfortunate loss of an interesting character slightly disappointingly this was off screen. The attack on Meereen was fairly impressive and sets things up nicely for a battle that is sure to come; the timing of Daenerys's return to Meereen might be a bit convenient but adds to the dramatic effect. Overall I thought this was a really fine episode but I won't say 'fans of the show are sure to enjoy it' as clearly some don't.
I was surprised to see just how unpopular this episode is with some reviewers as I really enjoyed it especially the parts others seemed to dislike most. I really enjoyed Arya's story line; for too long she was just training and generally having a bad time; things may reach a low point for her here as she is wounded then the person who is caring for her is killed but it leads to her fighting back and, in a scene I really liked, proudly reclaiming her name. Maisie Williams does a fine job in the role, which is why she has been one of my favourite characters from early on in the series. The other scenes were pretty good too; the Clegane brothers, 'The Hound' and 'The Mountain', each provide some brutal action of the sort we haven't seen for a while. The events in Riverrun provided some interesting twists as well as the unfortunate loss of an interesting character slightly disappointingly this was off screen. The attack on Meereen was fairly impressive and sets things up nicely for a battle that is sure to come; the timing of Daenerys's return to Meereen might be a bit convenient but adds to the dramatic effect. Overall I thought this was a really fine episode but I won't say 'fans of the show are sure to enjoy it' as clearly some don't.