Ranking the episodes of Game of Thrones Season 6
By Dan Selcke
5. “Home”
“Home” features several sequences worthy of consideration for the Scene-of-the-Episode Award. In King’s Landing, the show burns light and dark. There’s a grimly funny scene where a peasant spins slanderous stories about Cersei’s Walk of Shame (the Mountain thanks him personally), a tense standoff between Jaime and the High Sparrow, and an affecting moment where Cersei bonds with her last living child. Elsewhere, we get an action extravaganza as the wildlings invade Castle Black and fight the mutinous Night’s Watchmen. It’s a fun sequence that maintain’s the episode considerable narrative momentum, not to mention bringing Wun Wun the giant back into our lives.
The good times continue beyond the Wall, where we reunite with Bran. The show proves that leaving him out of Season 5 was the right decision when we skip all the Jedi-Padawan training sessions and get right to the flashbacks. Bran’s trip to the Winterfell of his father’s childhood is fascinating, and transforms him from an occasionally boring character into someone we look forward to visiting each week.
And we haven’t even mentioned Balon Greyjoy’s death and Jaqen H’ghar’s attempt to tempt Arya away from the assassin’s life. “Home” is overflowing with solid moments.
But even with stiff competition, the contest for top honors comes down to two contenders: Jon Snow’s resurrection and Tyrion’s visit to the dragons. Both are masterfully directed by Jeremy Podeswa, who’s excellent at setting a mood that drips with quiet intensity. (See also: the Melisandre scene at the end of “The Red Woman.”) Of the two, I prefer the Tyrion scene, if only because the outcome isn’t as predictable. We all knew going in that Jon Snow was going to come back from the dead—no matter Podeswa’s gifts, the resurrection sequence still has an air of inevitability. But I was genuinely surprised when, after Tyrion removes the chain from one dragon’s neck, the other bends down for his turn.
The scene is a high watermark for the show’s special effects department—the dragons had never looks so believable—a highlight reel-worthy bit of acting from Peter Dinklage, and a milestone in our understanding of Rhaegal and Viserion. They’re not just killing machines—these guys are characters. That could have big implications down the line.
“Home” stumbles slightly at Winterfell, where Ramsay stabs his father and feeds his step-mother and half-brother to dogs. It’s not that the scene is too violent, although there’s an argument to be made there. (Did we really need to hear Lady Walda and baby be eaten alive?) The bigger problem is that it all happens so quickly. Ramsay is dangerous—it’s not hard to believe that he could kill his father—but it’s hard to accept that he could get the drop on someone as crafty as Roose Bolton that easily. It feels as though, in its rush to make Ramsay the villain de jour, the show undervalued the one it already had.
But so much else happens during “Home” that I can overlook a misstep or two.
