History YMMV / GameOfThronesS6E2Home

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** After the assassination of Trystane Martell seemed to have been [[FailedASpotCheck completely ignored]] by Jaime in the season premiere despite taking place on his ship in the cargo hold, this one has him not only show awareness, but also seemingly let go of the IdiotBall to show he is unclear on who had him killed, but that it would not have been Cersei, MamaBear or no. It also makes some attempt to explain why the Sand Snakes would kill their own cousin when and where they did - killing him while his ship was still in King's Landing's harbor served to frame Cersei for it.
** One of the common complaints about the adaptation of [[Recap/GameOfThronesS3E9TheRainsOfCastamere The Red Wedding]] is that Robb's failings as a leader to spur the betrayal were not properly shown in the series. In this episode, it's shown the Starks actually ''don't'' have the HundredPercentAdorationRating, with House Karstark in particular still vengeful for Robb killing their lord.
** The writers attempt to roll back Ramsay's Villain Sue status by having Roose remind him that last season's victory over Stannis' army-- a freezing, exhausted, half-starved army with catastrophically low morale and no cavalry-- isn't much of an achievement, and warning him that there will be real trouble if they have to face a Lannister army. However, Roose is clearly talking about the battle in "Mother's Mercy" rather than the infamous "20 Good Men" raid that really rankled with many fans.

* TheUntwist: The only people surprised by Jon Snow's resurrection were those who thought it was so obvious that the showrunners were going to take it a different way to subvert expectations. Ultimately they brought him back in the most predictable way possible.

* WhatAnIdiot: So... killing Roose makes some sense for Ramsay (though even the "Inside the Episode" points out obvious drawbacks), but feeding Walda and her baby to the hounds rather than a more discrete method like VorpalPillow that could pass for DeathByChildbirth will definitely destroy the crucial Bolton-Frey alliance they represented. Remember, the Lannisters are coming, and Walder Frey is the kind of man who set up the Red Wedding because Robb failed to ''marry'' one of his daughters. What'll he want to do if he even suspects Ramsay of ''murdering'' his granddaughter and her son? And Lord Walder is lord paramount of the Riverlands in a way the Boltons can only dream of, since he still has the true lord, Edmure Tully, locked in his dungeon. Adding another ''entire region'' to your list of enemies is an expensive way to make puppy chow.

* TheWoobie: Serving under Ramsay Bolton, Maester Wolkan has to have the most soul-crushing jobs of all Citadel alumni. Even something as cheerful as a textbook birth can be turned into NightmareFuel in an instant. All while he's forced to endure, assist and mind his choice of words at all times or he'll be next.
** Poor Fat Walda. Even in a dreary place like the North under the Boltons' rule, she still had Roose that protected her. Shortly after his death, Ramsay has her and her newborn baby ''devoured by his hounds''.

* FridgeLogic: Who keeps changing the collars of the ever-growing Viserion and Rhaegal? Season 5 made it clear that before Tyrion not even Daenerys was allowed to get this close to them anymore without almost getting roasted.
** In Season 6 finale, Viserion and Rhaegal are shown to be smaller than Drogon. It is possible they did not grow as much as he did in that time due to reduced diet and lack of free range

* BrokenBase:
** Do we like the redesign of the Children of the Forest? Some fans love the more eerie, mythical look, others find it over the top and more reminiscent of a Creator/CirqueDuSoleil gymnast than an ancient forest creature.
** While fans were generally joyful over Jon's resurrection itself, some found it anticlimatic and had hoped for a bigger spectacle: fire magic, special effects, a sacrifice etc. Others liked the scene ''because'' it was rather low-key.

** The writers attempt to roll back Ramsay's Villain Sue status by having Roose remind him that last season's victory over Stannis' army-- a freezing, exhausted, half-starved army with catastrophically low morale and no cavalry-- isn't much of an achievement, and warning him that there will be real trouble if they have to face a Lannister army.

* WhatAnIdiot: So... killing Roose makes some sense for Ramsay (though even the "Inside the Episode" points out obvious drawbacks), but feeding Walda and her babe to the hounds rather than a more discrete method like VorpalPillow that could pass for DeathByChildbirth will definitely destroy the crucial Bolton-Frey alliance they represented. Remember, the Lannisters are coming, and Walder Frey is the kind of man who set up the Red Wedding because Robb failed to ''marry'' one of his daughters. What'll he want to do if he even suspects Ramsay of ''murdering'' his granddaughter and her son? And Lord Walder is lord paramount of the Riverlands in a way the Boltons can only dream of, since he still has the true lord, Edmure Tully, locked in his dungeon. Adding another ''entire region'' to your list of enemies is an expensive way to make puppy chow.

** The writers attempt to roll back Ramsay's VillainSue status by having Roose remind him that last season's victory over Stannis' army-- a freezing, exhausted, half-starved army with catastrophically low morale and no cavalry-- isn't much of an achievement, and warning him that there will be real trouble if they have to face a Lannister army.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The tune playing over the end credits just after Jon's resurrection is Djawadi epicness at its best.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** Roose Bolton was a DeathSeeker who was goading Ramsay to kill him and take over Winterfell. Roose knew that he was too cautious to actually win a battle or war on his own, but he wanted to ensure that Ramsay had it in him to jump the final hurdle and be a true Bolton, ruthless and treacherous, so he kept taunting him about his newborn son. His lack of reaction to Ramsay's betrayal is out of stoic acceptance and not pained betrayal.[[note]]In the books, Roose tells Theon that he expects House Bolton to die out soon. Walda is pregnant and he expects Ramsay to kill her and the baby.[[/note]]
** Ser Robert Strong simply hates the smell of urine and treated the offender in kind (the smell of blood and brain matter, on the other hand, is okay).

* CaptainObviousReveal: Jon Snow being brought {{back from the dead}} was hardly a surprise to anyone, judging from the fan reaction.

* IKnewIt: Throughout the break between seasons, the speculation was less about whether or not Jon Snow would come back, but rather how or why he would do so.

* TakeThatScrappy: [[CanonForeigner Olly]], who had become the {{scrappy}} for much of Season 5, is among those who are sent to the cells for TheMutiny.

*** Well, book fans were happy that the redesign is actually a lot closer to how they're described in the novels.

** Many fans are still upset that shifting the motivation for the mutiny from being due to the Boltons to the wildlings reduced the mutineers to holding the VillainBall and behaving illogically. No, no attempt would even be made to say that news of Stannis's defeat motivated it - ''and'' HBO was stupid enough to re-air the footage of Thorne ''himself'' letting the wildlings through the Wall in the "previously on" section. Dolorous Edd at one point in this episode even points out that ''Thorne'' let the wildlings into Castle Black at first.

** After the assassination of Trystane Martell seemed to have been [[FailedASpotCheck completely ignored]] by Jaime in the season premiere despite taking place on his ship in the cargo hold, this one has him not only show awareness, but also seemingly let go of the IdiotBall to show he is unclear on who had him killed, but that it would not have been Cersei, MamaBear or no.

** Ser Robert Strong simply hates the smell of urine and treated the offender in kind (the smell of blood and brain matter, on the other hand, is ok).

** While fans were generally joyful over Jon's resurrection itself, some found it anticlimatic and had hoped for a bigger spectacle: fire magic, special effects, a sacrifice etc. . Others liked the scene ''because'' it was rather low-key.

* TakeThatScrappy: [[CanonForeigner Olly]], who had become the {{Scrappy}} for much of Season 5, is among those who are sent to the Cells for TheMutiny.
* WhatAnIdiot: So... killing Roose makes some sense for Ramsay (though even the "Inside the Episode" points out obvious drawbacks), but feeding Walda and her babe to the hounds rather than a more discrete method like VorpalPillow that could pass for DeathByChildbirth will definitely destroy the crucial Bolton-Frey alliance they represented. Remember, the Lannisters are coming, and Walder Frey is the kind of man who set up the Red Wedding because Robb failed to ''marry'' one of his daughters. What'll he want to do if he even suspects Ramsay of ''murdering'' his granddaughter and her son? And Lord Walder is lord paramount of the Riverlands in a way the Boltons can only dream of, since he still has the true lord, Edmure Tully, locked in his dungeon. Adding another ''entire region'' your list of enemies is an expensive way to make puppy chow.

** There were two major new subplots introduced in the fourth novel that shifted focus to the fringes of Westeros: Dorne and the Iron Islands. Both were pushed back to later in the TV series and were feared to be cut entirely if the show only lasted seven TV seasons. The Dorne subplot was drastically changed, leading some to fear how they would handle the Iron Islands subplot also returning this season. As it turned out, the Iron Islands material introduced in this episode is ''very'' faithful to the novels and includes many line for line quotes from them. The only major difference is that Balon's DisneyVillainDeath is caused by Euron himself rather than a Faceless Man he hired to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident - but this was so they could give Balon and Euron a face-to-face confrontation, compared to the novels in which Balon complains about Euron before his return, then Euron complains about Balon after his death (the lines Euron gives are from the book, though he said them to other people).
** Some reviewers outright suspect that the showrunners dumped all of the Dorne material in the first episode, and killed off many characters in it, because they realized it wasn't working and wanted to quickly wash their hands of it - knowing that the second episode was so strong that it would stand a good chance of quickly winning back the audience after last week. The Dorne material was 1 - a controversial and drastic change, and 2 - most reviewers watching it simply didn't like it - the showrunners can't be totally oblivious, they must have known this material might not be received well...so why else would they prominently put it in the ''season premiere'', which would be under heavy scrutiny? If anything they would have at least tried to push back Doran Martell's death to a later episode - it wasn't even directly connected to other events in the premiere. So it seems likely they were actively relying on this episode to win back the crowd.

** Tyrion's handling of the chained dragons. Is he really that good of a talker, or [[spoiler:is he really what the fan theories suggest: the promised "third head" of the Targaryan dragon - along with Dany and Jon Snow - that would save the Seven Kingdoms in its time of need?]]

* WhatAnIdiot: So... killing Roose makes some sense for Ramsay (though even the "Inside the Episode" points out obvious drawbacks), but feeding Walda and her babe to the hounds rather than a more discrete method like VorpalPillow that could pass for DeathByChildbirth will definitely destroy the crucial Bolton-Frey alliance they represented. Remember, the Lannisters are coming, and Walder Frey is the kind of man who set up the Red Wedding because Robb failed to ''marry'' one of his daughters. What'll he want to do if he even suspects Ramsay ''murdered'' his granddaughter and her son? And Frey is lord paramount of the Riverlands in a way the Boltons can only dream of since he still has the true lord, Edmure Tully, locked in his dungeon. Adding another ''entire region'' your list of enemies is an expensive way to make puppy chow.