#WinterIsHere Countdown: “The Red Woman” (S6E1)

Previous Episode: “Mother’s Mercy”

 

Episode: “The Red Woman” (Season 6, Episode 1)

Original Air Date: April 24, 2016

Director: Jeremy Podeswa

 

Plot (via HBO)

Season Six Premiere. Jon Snow is dead. Daenerys meets a strong man. Cersei sees her daughter again.

 

Best Moment: Brienne and Podrick find Sansa and Theon

Following their escape from Winterfell at the end of “Mother’s Mercy”, Sansa and Theon are on the run from Ramsay’s men and dogs, and both are freezing after treading through icy water. It looks like they will be brought back to Ramsay when the Bolton men catch up, but two horses come stomping in—with Brienne and Podrick riding them. The two are able to kill all the soldiers with the help of a sword-wielding Theon for the final kill, and then Brienne offers her services for the second time to Sansa. She gave the same oath that she previously gave to Catelyn Stark, and Sansa accepts with some help from Pod to recite the words: “And I vow that you shall always have a place by my hearth and meat and mead at my table, and I pledge to ask no service of you that might bring you dishonor. I swear it by the old gods and the new. Arise.”

 

Best Quote

“He thrust a terrible choice upon us… and we made it.” – Alliser Thorne on the decision to assassinate Jon Snow

 

Trivia (via IMDb)

In order to play Arya Stark as blind, actress Maisie Williams wore large, 16-millimeter contacts that she could not see through.

 

Character Deaths

-Areo Hotah

-Caleotte

-Doran Martell

-Trystane Martell

 

MVP: Davos Seaworth

Brienne, Pod, and Theon all stepped up for Sansa with the Bolton men chasing her, but at Castle Black, Ser Davos started off the season by finding Jon Snow’s lifeless body in darkness and getting some loyalists of the Lord Commander to bring him inside. That allowed the battle lines to be drawn for the Night’s Watch, and having Ghost there with Edd and the others kept the traitors away. Also, even though he has been her adversary for the entire series, Davos suggests that Melisandre could do something to bring Jon back.

 

Inside The Episode