Game of Thrones Episode 607 Recap: The Broken Man

Brother Ray oversees a small community of believers who are building a new sept. Everyone seems happy, with men building, women cooking, and children playing. It is idyllic. A reveal shows that one of the workers is none other than the Hound. Brother Ray found him, thought that he had been dead for days, and was going to give him a proper burial when he suddenly coughed and proved he was alive. Hate kept him going, the Hound insists. Ray seems to think that the gods aren’t done with him yet, but the Hound thinks if they were real, they would have punished him by now. “They have,” Ray reassures him.

Ray gives a speech to his followers, sharing tales of his life of sin. A trio of men from the Brotherhood Without Banners gallop up, making the Hound a little nervous. Ray greets the men warmly and claims he doesn’t have any supplies to give them, but invites them to stay for supper. Lem Lemoncloak makes a vague threat, and the men leave. The Hound doesn’t like the look of them and goes deep into the woods to chop wood for the night fire. He hears a scream, and goes to check on his community. Every single person in his little group/cult is dead. Most were killed with arrows, but Brother Ray has been hanged from the skeletal structure of the sept. I hope he’s not really dead – what a waste of Ian McShane! The Hound doesn’t like this either. He picks up an axe and marches away.

Margaery is reading from the Book of the Mother when the High Sparrow comes in. She admits she spent years pretending to love the poor and afflicted. The High Sparrow offers a couple words of soothing, but he quickly presses on to the issue which brought him here: Margaery has not been having sex with her husband. Margaery admits that she hasn’t had the desire, and the Sparrow reminds her that “desire is not necessary on the woman’s part,” and that she has a duty: to give the king an heir. He also makes a vague warning about Olenna, whom the High Sparrow feels is an unrepentant sinner. “I fear for her safety, body and soul.”

Margaery goes straight to Olenna, and warns her about marching against the faith and tells her her place is at home. Loras will be fine, too, so long as he repents and gives up his title. Before Olenna leaves, Margaery slips her a secret note. When Olenna opens the note outside, she sees a rose drawn on it. This makes her smile.

Cersei visits Olenna after hearing she was leaving. Olenna blames Cersei for the fate of her grandchildren, and Cersei admits she made a mistake in allowing the High Sparrow to rule the city. Olenna thinks Cersei may be the worst person she has ever met. She is leaving as soon as she can, and suggests Cersei do the same. Cersei won’t leave her son, and Olenna points out that she has no family, no friends, and the people hate her. “You have lost.”

Jon, Sansa, and Davos begin their army begging tour, starting with the wildlings. They feel it is not their fight, and last time they helped Jon Snow, their numbers dwindled considerably. Tormund defends Jon, pointing out that he died in speaking up for them. Wun-Wun the giant stands and simply says, “Snow.” It’s decided. The wildlings will fight with the Starks.

Next, the trio visits Lyanna Marmont, the feisty child queen of Bear Island. Lyanna admits that House Marmont has always backed the Starks, but Jon is a Snow and Sansa is, technically, a Bolton. Davos sucks up to her and Lyanna agrees to stand beside House Stark. She can offer them only 62 fighting men.

The trio heads to Robett Glover, but the Boltons helped him take back his castle – it would be a faux pas to turn against them. Plus, he doesn’t want to work beside wildlings, and he felt like the Starks turned their backs on him when Robb was taking up with his “foreign whore” while the Ironborn seized his castle. As far as Glover is concerned, “House Stark is dead.”

The trio gather at the site of Stannis’ old camp, where the wildlings and the few other soldiers have picked up camp. Sansa wants to go begging to other houses, but Jon refuses. “We fight with what we have.” Sansa goes back to her tent, alone, and writes a note, stamping it with her House Stark seal.

Jaime and Bronn lead their army into Riverrun, where the Freys are trying to seize the castle. It isn’t going well. Lothar and “Black” Walder threaten to kill Edmure. The Blackfish doesn’t bat an eye, and the kidnappers pussy out of the murder. Jaime marches up to Lothar and takes charge of the seige. He wants to parlay with the Blackfish.

He waits for the drawbridge to be lowered. When it is, the Blackfish meets Jaime, who promises to spare his men if he surrenders right now. The Blackfish won’t back down, promising that they have enough provisions to last two years. He retreats back into the castle.

In Volantis, Yara and her men are enjoying the company of whores at a brothel. Everyone except Theon, of course. She promises to stop teasing him about his castration and assures him that she won’t hurt him. She does, however, make him drink his entire flagon of mead. “You are Ironborn; I am tired of watching you cower like a beaten dog,” she tells him. “I need you, the real Theon, can you find him for me?” She swears that he is never going back to being Ramsay’s servant, and suggests that if he is so broken there is no coming back, he kill himself. But she needs him to help her fulfill her plan: they will go to Meereen, make a pact with the Dragon Queen, and take back the Iron Islands. Theon assures her he is with her.

Arya, brimming with confidence, finds a sailor to take her back to Westeros. Two bags of coins buys her a private cabin and a sooner cast-off date. As she strolls through the marketplace, she stops on a quiet little bridge. An old lady approaches her – and stabs Arya in the belly. She fights back, and removes the old lady’s face – it is the Waif. The girls struggle, but it is Arya who goes over the bridge. The Waif waits for Arya to surface from the bloody water, but she doesn’t. Feeling proud of herself for a job done, the Waif leaves. But Arya isn’t dead. She crawls out of the water a short distance away, and stumbles through the market, clutching her bleeding belly. Her confidence has been replaced with paranoia – an assassin could be posing as anyone, anywhere.

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