HBO Reveals Partial Synopses for Episodes 9 and 10

Yesterday, the Emmy Nominating Ballots were released. These are not the final nominations, but the “nominations for the nominations,” as it were; the “For Your Considerations.” We went through the entire list yesterday and examined which episodes HBO put forward as representative of the best Game of Thrones Season 6 has to offer. HBO nominated the two remaining episodes of Season 6—”Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter”—in several categories.

HBO put out a press release confirming what we already knew about Episodes 9 and 10: the titles and run times. Conspicuously absent, though, were any synopses for the episodes. This was not in error. HBO does not plan to release synopses for either of these episodes ahead of time.

Except! Brief descriptions of both episodes were included in HBO’s submittals to the Emmy voters, buried deep within a set of long PDF documents that only TV nerds like us bother to read. They’re not as detailed as the usual synopses (which aren’t that detailed to begin with), but they’re something. Let’s check them out.

SPOILER ALERTS

WHAT?!?

"Game of Thrones“Battle Of The Bastards”June 19, 2016Terms of surrender are rejected and accepted."

I knew it was going to be short and dry. But “Terms of surrender are rejected and accepted” may be one of the best non-spoilery synopsis HBO has ever come up with. That’s up there with “Stannis remains Stubborn” or “The North is reminded.”

"Game Of Thrones“The Winds of Winter”June 26, 2016Season Finale. Cersei faces her trial."

So we won’t see Cersei’s trial until the finale, so in the unlikely event that we visit somewhere other than Winterfell in “Battle of the Bastards,” it won’t be King’s Landing.

What do you think of the synopsis?