Game of Thrones Episode 607—”The Broken Man”—Preview

Last week, HBO paved the way for several plots to move forward in “Blood of My Blood.” Will there be more movement in “The Broken Man,” the seventh episode of the season? Let’s look at HBO’s official synopsis:

"The High Sparrow eyes another target. Jaime confronts a hero. Arya makes a plan. The North is reminded."

Now that Margaery has finagled her way out of holy jail, might the High Sparrow’s new target be Cersei? That trial of hers is coming up soon, after all. As for Arya making a plan, it almost certainly has to do with the Waif coming to kill her. It’s a showdown in Braavos town!

Here’s a quick factual breakdown of the episode:

• Start Time: June 5, 2016, 9 p.m. EST
• TV Info: HBO
• Episode: Season 6, Episode 7, “The Broken Man”
• Writers: Bryan Cogman
• Director: Mark Mylod
• Run time: 51 minutes
• Live Stream: Stream 1 – Stream 2

Next to “The Red Woman,” which ran only 50 minutes, “The Broken Man” is the shortest episode of the season. It’s also the first of two directed by Mark Mylod, who helmed both “High Sparrow” and “Sons of the Harpy” in Season 5. And even though those episodes may not be the most popular in the show’s history (particularly “Sons of the Harpy”), I encourage everyone to go back and look at how carefully they were directed. Mylod knows his stuff.

Now let’s check out the trailer for the episode.

It looks like the “hero” Jaime confronts will be the Blackfish, who’s retaken Riverrun from the Freys. Their face-off outside the castle is a highlight from A Feast for Crows, so hopefully the show will do it justice.

The other big news from the trailer is that Jon, Sansa, and the rest of the northern crew will return after sitting out “Blood of My Blood.” If the North is being “reminded,” then they’re doing the reminding. Still, if the official stills are any indication, we’ll be spending most of our time in Braavos and at Riverrun, with some follow-up in King’s Landing—there’s only one still of our Northern friends.

Still, it’s hard to say if the number of still shots dedicated to any one plotline means anything. Also, will we check in on Ramsay and Rickon at Winterfell? They’ve been absent for two episodes now, and there’s no trace of them in any of the promotional materials.

Also nowhere to be seen: Tyrion and company, Daenerys and company, and Bran and company. After the Bran and friends have had lately, maybe they deserve a week off. But we will be catching up with Theon and Yara. They appear to have sailed to Volantis after fleeing the Kingsmoot in “The Door”—wherever could they be heading?

We’ll be back tomorrow after the episode to break it all down.