Unsullied Recap—Game of Thrones, Episode 608—”No One”

Spoiler note: “A girl says nothing. A girl keeps her mouth closed. No one hears.” —Girls, boys, and everyone alike, Jaqen H’ghar has spoken, so please remember: This recap is primarily for non-book readers (book fans can discuss the show here). If you’re a book reader, please avoid posting any spoilers here so as not to ruin the fun for those who don’t know what’s coming next. Thank you!

We begin this week’s foray into the GOTverse in Braavos, where last week’s speculation immediately pays off. After Lady Crane gives her standard moving performance (seemingly taking Arya’s advice to spice things up with a little anger), she goes backstage to find Arya at the backdoor, pale and bleeding. As it turns out, the deep-dive theories that have been circulating prove moot—Arya isn’t really Jaqen, nor did she fake her death; she simply wasn’t as fatally injured as busted Kimmy Gibbler intended. I for one find this conclusion disappointing, as it means that Arya’s run-in with Kimmy in “The Broken Man” was partly a result of her uncharacteristic negligence. It just isn’t very Arya at all; although I’m relieved to see her mostly alive and well, it was an out-of-character way to get her to this point.

Nevertheless, Lady Crane pays her life debt to Arya by dressing her wounds and nursing her back to health. As someone with an admitted long history of bad relationships, Lady Crane is quite adept at such things. She offers Arya a spot in the theater troupe, which is moving on to Pentos, but Arya declines: should she go with them, no one will be safe, not while Kimmy is still on the lookout for her. (Although why Arya figures things this way, I can’t say, as it seemed last week that Kimmy left Arya to drown because she thought her dead already. Ah, well.)

Arya tells Lady Crane that she will instead travel west of Westeros, a place no map details because presumably no man has ever stepped foot so far. She reluctantly takes some milk of the poppy and falls asleep.

Elsewhere, we come upon four nameless members of the Brotherhood Without Banners, who are doing some practice-kissing with each other when the Hound falls upon them with his axe of justice—sort of like his own Mjölnir, but bloodier. He kills them, but leaves one alive for questioning. He’s looking for “the one with the yellow cloak” in particular, but even on the pain of death, he can force no information from the men he kills.

No matter, as later on in the hour he finds the rest of the men responsible for the massacre he’s avenging. As it happens, the Hound need not have sought them out for their comeuppance, as Beric Dondarrion and his lifemate Thoros are hanging them for their crimes. They allow the Hound to kill two of them in respect for his personal losses and, although the Hound would prefer to gut them, ultimately he’ll take what he can get and hangs them as Beric and Thoros instruct.

Despite his lost and found and lost again faith, the Hound listens to what Beric and Thoros have to tell him about the Lord of Light, religious belief, and the winter that’s coming through the North. Beric assures the Hound that he can still help, no matter how he’s harmed in the past—he has something within him that has compelled the Lord of Light to allow his survival thus far, and it would be a disservice for the Hound to ignore that. There’s little indication of what the Brotherhood’s mission is specifically, but I’m interested to see where this plotline is going. Rory McCann is a real treasure, and it seems that the Hound’s arc is leading somewhere significant within the overall plot of the series.

In Meereen, it seems that High Priestess Penélope Cruz has kept her end of the bargain, as the city is back to its old, bustling self with the promise of Daenerys’ return and influence. Varys is as displeased as Tyrion is self-satisfied, but the former can at least separate himself from the fanatics for a time, as he’s off on a secret mission: they need allies and ships from Westeros, so he leaves Tyrion as though neither of them have seen a horror movie before, in which case they would know better than to split up.

With his only like-minded companion out to sea, Tyrion is once again left in the pyramid with Grey Worm and Missandei, whom he peer-pressures into drinking with him. The group share jokes that range from nonsensical to just plain not funny at all, but at least Grey Worm and Missandei are showing some personality, and Nathalie Emmanuel has quite the engaging laugh.

Alas, the mirth doesn’t last, as the bell outside tolls in anticipation of newcomers. The sea is alive with the ships of the masters, who—as Missandei observes—“have come for their property.” Unfortunately, it seems that Tyrion’s diplomacy, coupled with Daenerys’ absence, didn’t yield the results he was hoping. Instead, the masters rain hell down upon Meereen (props to the special effects department here). Grey Worm, impatient with Tyrion’s ineptitude, declares that the Unsullied will remain in the pyramid so as to defend it when the masters are forced to come to them.

But there’s no time to wait. There’s a rumble overhead that shakes the pyramid, and the doors open to allow entrance not to the masters, but Daenerys, who looks around at them all like a disapproving mother whose kids had an expressly forbidden party while she was away on business. I have a feeling that she’s not going to be too chuffed with Tyrion, whose negotiations don’t really jive with her “take first and ask questions never” approach. Seeing as Tyrion’s tactics produced nothing but destruction this time, a fallout between the two seems inevitable.

In King’s Landing, Tommen has allowed the VIP of the Faith Militant admittance into the Red Keep. They converge upon Cersei and insist she accompany them to the Sept of Baelor, where the High Sparrow fancies a chat, but Cersei has been ignoring his texts for a reason and refuses to go with them. Her famed “I choose violence” line from the Season 6 trailer makes its contextual debut here, and the Mountain follows through by doing just the right amount of damage to send a message. When one unlucky member of the Faith unwittingly volunteers as tribute by dashing his weapon into the Mountain’s armor, the latter simply rips off his head, and his fellows stand down. I was expecting a little more bloodshed to follow Cersei’s decree, but the subtlety is nice in its own way.

Later, Cersei’s triumph is dampened when no one tells her of an important announcement that’s to take place in the throne room. Something similar happened to Maleficent and we all saw how that turned out, so Kevan Lannister might want to watch his step a bit. For now, though, Cersei is thoroughly disgraced, and her last hope is dashed as well when Tommen announces that from this day forth, trials by combat are forbidden. The practice, Tommen states, is too barbaric to uphold any longer, and so Cersei and Loras’ trials alike will be judged by seven septons, as they were way back when. Tommen avoids his mother’s gaze as best he can throughout this game-changer, and it appears that Cersei’s final hold upon sanity and reason has snapped; without hope of the Mountain winning her trial for her, and without her son, the last of her children, there is nothing left for her.

The scene ends with Maester Frankenstein sharing some of his little birds’ intel with Cersei: The “old rumor” she told him of is in fact no rumor at all, and has far more weight than the gossip that surrounds it. Intrigue.

The Mountain may be present and prepared to bend to Cersei’s will, but the rest of the Lannister forces are away in Riverrun, where my idol Brienne and my boyfriend Podrick have arrived as well. While Brienne and Jaime meet for a private reunion, an even better one unfolds outside their tent—Bronn and Podrick, the bromance we never knew we wanted until it arrived. The pair engage in some good old fashioned bro time, Bronn punches Pod in the face and Pod can’t help a laugh at every turn, and Bronn talks about how everyone would totally get with Brienne if they had the chance (he’s not wrong, since Brienne is getting all the honeys this year, but don’t let Tormund catch you saying that). To avoid quoting their entire scene, I’ll just say that, truly, Bronn and Podrick have a great dynamic here, and I’m happy it was included.

It’s not all fun and games with Jaime and Brienne, though. Although impressed that Brienne found Sansa alive, as Jaime assumed the eldest Stark daughter dead because she’s not as macho as he is or something, he’s wary of Brienne’s appearance at the siege. In an effort to gain Sansa her army, Brienne strikes a deal with Jaime: she’ll persuade the Silverfox (or the more professionally called “Blackfish”) and his men to abandon Riverrun, and the Lannister forces will allow them safe passage north. Although doubtful that Brienne will succeed in her negotiations, Jaime agrees, and insists she keep the sword she tries to return to him. Despite this stroll down memory lane, Brienne points out that if she fails to convince the Silverfox, and the Tully and Lannister armies consequently come to blows, her honor and oath to Sansa will force her to fight Jaime.

That seems to be where this plot is headed, as the Silverfox initially refuses to help Brienne—not because he doesn’t care about Sansa, but because he won’t surrender his home on Jaime and Brienne’s word alone. With the powerful voice of her honor, Brienne at last convinces the Silverfox to read Sansa’s letter and, as he does, he says with something like reverence, “She’s exactly like her mother.”

All the same, he claims that he doesn’t have the numbers or, quite frankly, the will to help Sansa’s cause when he has his own, and as such the Silverfox officially denies Brienne’s request. Thoroughly disillusioned, Brienne bids Pod send a raven to their lady to inform her of Brienne’s failure, and our hearts break along with hers.

Across the Tully grounds at the Lannister camp, Jaime drops in for a visit with Edmure Tully, who, as it turns out, conceived a son with his wife on their wedding night. Edmure has yet to see the boy, but Jaime offers them all rooms at Casterly Rock and all the amenities the place has to offer. Edmure, however, is hardened by his years as a prisoner; rather than accept Jaime’s offer, he regards him with disgust and says, “Do you imagine yourself a decent person? Is that it? After you’ve massacred my family, kept me in a cell for years, stolen our lands?” Dang, Edmure coming at it full throttle.

But Jaime, as is his custom, does what he likes. He talks about how Catelyn hated him, but how he admired her, more so than he admired Ned or Robb—for all their nobility, it was Catelyn who had a fierceness beyond that of the men in her life, and that’s what Jaime saw in her. Edmure spits at him—“Don’t talk about Catelyn”—but Jaime won’t quit. He professes his love for Cersei and his lack of caring what anyone thinks of that, and recites what will surely be his downfall: he’ll do whatever it takes to get back to her, because nothing and no one matters to him, only Cersei. He’ll launch Edmure’s son over the walls of Riverrun if it means the Lannister men can take the castle and Jaime can go home, and it’s after this threat that Edmure is forced to fulfill his role in Jaime’s new plan and enter the castle.

While the Silverfox, smelling a trap, insists that Edmure be refused his demand to enter Riverrun, the Tully men are bound to obey their lord, no matter the conditions he comes under. Once allowed entry, Edmure commands his men to lay down their weapons and open the gates to the Lannisters and Freys, and orders that his uncle be found, chained, and handed over to their enemies (a demand that gave me pause, since Edmure literally just locked eyes with the Silverfox in the foyer, so why not command he be seized then and there?)

Before the walls can be stormed, Brienne and Pod make a break for it with the help of the Silverfox, who refuses Brienne’s offer that he come with them. “Don’t die for pride when you can fight for your blood,” she implores, but the Silverfox only regards her with a quiet sadness and replies, “You’ll serve Sansa far better than I ever could.” This, combined with what he says about how he won’t run now after he ran from the Red Wedding, goes to show his grief over his family, to demonstrate the dishonor he feels at their deaths and his abandonment of them. He feels, to some degree, unworthy of them, and now he’ll fight and die for their name in his ancestral home, where he belongs: “I haven’t had a proper swordfight in years. I expect I’ll make a damn fool of myself.”

Jaime doesn’t get his shot at a one-on-one with the Silverfox, as he’s informed that the man died fighting off-screen—a true loss, as the Silverfox was a veritable force, and I would have loved to see him and Sansa tear it up together. Perhaps as dejected as I am, Jaime walks off to brood, and sees Brienne and Pod escaping the grounds via boat. To his credit, Jaime doesn’t go after them or send his men to capture them, but instead he and Brienne share a longing look, Whitney Houston plays in the background, and somewhere miles away, Tormund feels a disturbance in the force.

Back where we began the episode, Arya is still feeling the unconscious effects of milk of the poppy. Lady Crane watches over her like a dutiful mother and—just as we’re hoping that Arya is going to form an attachment to someone who will stay alive—their chambers are disturbed by a young man with “Lifetime stalker boyfriend of the week” written all over him.

When Arya awakes, it’s to find Lady Crane dead, and of course the aforementioned young man who killed her was actually the dreaded Kimmy Gibbler, who advances upon Arya like Shere Khan upon Mowgli. Unhealed wounds and all, Arya launches herself over the balcony and tears through the streets of Braavos with Kimmy in hot pursuit. The pair wreak parkour havoc across the city, and Arya drags bloody handprints over walls like she’s leaving breadcrumbs for her pursuer to follow.

Kimmy follows Arya into the dark corridor in which she’d hidden Needle, and seems to think the sword will be of no help to Arya at all. Now, while it’s true that Kimmy has proven herself superior to Arya in hand-to-hand combat, I’m sure that a sword wouldn’t hurt the latter’s chances. In any case, Arya knows this, which is why she led her nemesis into the dark and closed her own eyes before the fight began: Arya knows she couldn’t beat the Waif in normal combat skills, but she knows how to fight blind, and that’s where she wins—with that specialty, and with her desire for escape, for home. The Waif is driven by her senseless envy, but Arya is propelled by a substantial sense of justice and vengeance in the name of Lady Crane and herself, and her desire to return home.

When Jaqen finds his deceased wife Kimmy’s face among the others in the hall, he turns to meet Arya’s steady gaze. He congratulates her on becoming No One, but Arya has had enough with that pretense: “A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell. And I’m going home.” Yes, baby girl—Arya has finally, fully embraced her identity, and it drove her to do whatever it took to get back to where she belongs. No One has no place in the world, but Arya belongs in Westeros, in Winterfell with her family, and that’s where she’s headed.

Well, Unsullied, we’ve got two episodes to go—what do you think season’s end has in store? Between Riverrun, King’s Landing, and the happenings in Essos across the board, there was much talk of fighting, but not much we actually saw. Perhaps because we’re to see a bigger battle play out next week, in the showdown between Team Stark and what will hopefully be Ramsay’s final appearance as something other than a corpse?

Now that Arya has no ties left in Braavos, what will she do upon her return home? Will Tyrion be able to talk himself out of this one, or will Daenerys banish him from her midst? With all hope lost, how will Cersei avoid the likely guilty verdict at her trial? What’s the rumor Maester Frankenstein spoke of, and how will it affect Cersei’s plans? What is the Brotherhood Without Banners up to next? And how often can we anticipate the pure enjoyment of a little Bronn and Pod banter (because, honestly, we’ve earned a laugh now and then to counterbalance all the mondo bummers)?

Remember—speculation is encouraged, spoilers aren’t! Please refrain from posting book spoilers here! Feel free to discuss the episode in the comments or Tweet me @kattymaj, but don’t ruin any surprises for the viewers who haven’t read the books. While the show has largely diverged from its source material, you never know what details will crop up later. Thanks, and see you next week!