The game is afoot... Game of thrones season 6... Spoilers

So... We can all agree that a lot of things went sideways in the most literal of way this season. And I know there is much complaining about how the season had less time continuity than Dr Who. But that is one of these things you either learn to let go or become forever stuck on. 

Me I just do not have enough fucks to give. 

This season saw the show wrap up a lot of loose threads and try to neatly wrap a bunch of rather lively scorpions. As expected it was messy and and well.. frankly.. sloppy. But I am sure that HBO have a very firm point of "wrap this shit up" because it is a very expensive show to make. Taking things at book pace and I am sure that they would have to release the final episode some time after the end of time. We... as the general population would not like that I am sure. 

Now things ofc kicked off with the least twisty twist in the history of the series. Jon Snow was not dead.. or well he was dead but he got better. As people are inclined to do. It would set the tone for some serious cases of "walking it off". Also just to get that out of the way "R+L=J" = True. For the people not in the loop, Jon is the bastard of Rhegar Taygarian and Lianna Stark. Ned only took him as his to keep him safe from Robert who probably did not like the idea of contending with a legitimate heir to the throne... Well as legitimate as any conquer can be. I guess that will be a fun thing for him to learn in the future. For now only Bran knows. Bran is now the greenest of seers and still bloody annoying. Beyond that he really did not serve as much beyond a plot device. But we got to know that he was the one who messed up Hodor. That was a nice twist. "Hold the door" indeed. Arya does her Daredevil thing this season and while it was sort of boring it was never really that good in the books either. She then decides to go home and straight up murder people, Walder Frey being at the top of the list. Nice touch how she baked a Frey pie... It is like a humble pie, but with the children of Walder Frey as the main ingredient. 

This does generally not bode very well for Cersei but since she spent this entire season working her way from crazy to nuttier than Nutella i think she will be to busy to notice when Arya kille her. On the bright side we do have a less Wild Fire in Kings Landing (and a lot less Sept of Baelor) but i felt it was a tad bit heavy handed and not a very good buildup. Tomen´s reaction to the entire thing was very human. Having lost his love Margaery and any chance of ever ruling the land by any other mean than fear he simply steps out from his balcony and falls to his death. Nothing grand or spectacular about it. No real drama. He simply takes his crown from his head and calmly place it by the side. Then he just take a casual stroll out the window. And with that he fulfills the fate that was told to young Cersei. She has now lost all her children. My bet is that it will be Jamie who will wrap up the prophecy seeing how she is going in to insane territory. Combining that with her crowning her self queen and i fear Jamie will be forced to add another regent to his name. 

As for Danny, this season has pretty much just been a bunch of sizzle moments. Some more than other as she once again put the Dothraki people under her control, took back Mereen... again... and now sail for Westeros. She got to be bad ass but nothing of real consequences came to pass.  

Now the big question mark for me this season was going to be Sansa. After last season she was pretty much robbed of any momentum and left as a plot device. While she still serves this role in this season she does retake some of the momentum and show that she has been taught by some of the biggest arseholes in Westeros. Sure Jon might have been crowned king in the north but since he has the diplomatic ability of grape (as per all male Stark´s) my guess is that she will carry the brunt of that work.

Anyway... For what it is worth and to answer my question that I stated at the start of the season. Yes it was worth it if you enjoy the show for what it is. But if you are looking for solid and logical TV... 

This is not your show. 

Game of thrones is back, but is it worth it?

Just a quick reflection on the first episode of season six. This will be spoiler free and not very in depth for reasons we will get to.

Now the unofficial tag-line for this season is "off the books" as in they no longer have fully formed books to use as a basis for the plot line, This will offer more freedom i guess and give the producers a chance to tell their own story. Time will tell if they are up to the task because like it or not, Martin is a good writer, not outstanding perhaps but good.

Now of course some plot threads will carry over from the books while others, as set up in the previous season have taken a hard left in to fan fic territory. what this means is that for once the book readers do not have a uncut advantage and we can not lean on our snark to end discussions about the ins and outs of the HBO juggernaut. I guess we instead will see rant and ravings on what version is superior.

Now the first episode it self is more or less a update on where all the people are and a quick reminder of in what state we left them last season. Or well.. Most at least. It seems that episode two will do the same with the characters not in this episode. We get some plot development and some minor twists. For a first episode of a season it did feel a bit plodding and the pace is not all that exciting. And that kind of goes for the entire thing, some of the glow has faded and unless episode two and three pick up significantly i fear this will be  a season that will be on fast forward.

Maybe it is a general fatigue that is setting in. But i have high hopes and low expectations for this season. I will check back once we reach the half-way mark.

Stay safe.