An all-female ‘Game of Thrones’ roundtable: A hottie returns

Every week, the ladies of Fusion.net will join together to discuss the most recent episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. This week, political reporter Katie McDonough and culture reporters Tahirah Hairston and Kelsey McKinney tackle the second episode of season six, “Home.”

In this week’s episode (SPOILERS): Jon Snow is resurrected, unsurprisingly. Melisandre is the real hero. Ramsey, still an awful person, murders his father. Bran takes us on a flashback to meet a new character.

What’s happening with Jon Snow?

Katie: I think we have to start with Jon!

Tahirah: Agreed. Can I start by saying how dramatic that was? I’m not sure if it’s because I knew he was going to come back to life, but the scene was very drawn out and dramatic.

Kelsey: To be honest, I have never ever liked Jon Snow’s character. Every single scene with him since the beginning has been shot so that it is supposed to have ALL this drama and ALL this emotion. But guess what? I never feel it.

Katie: Oh I feel his drama! I think he’s compelling in that his goodness doesn’t really seem tied to ambition. Even Robb Stark, who was another morally rooted character, made all these compromised, power-grabbing choices in his quest for the throne. But Jon Snow is just trying to minimize the carnage as best he can.

Kelsey: I felt literally nothing when Jon Snow was raised from the dead except like I myself might be dead inside.

Tahirah: I always feel his drama, except last night. It was so contrived. But I love Melisandre now. I always love when GOT characters are made a little more human.

Katie: I loved Melisandre’s crisis of faith in this episode, too. Davos goes to her for help and she is doing whatever the Westeros equivalent of smoking a cig and wearing sweatpants is. And then she has that killer line about Jon: “If you want to help him, leave him be.”

Kelsey: Katie, I’m interested that you saw Melisandre having a crisis of faith. Because I felt like her lack of faith in herself kind of showed up out of the blue. Maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention to her emotions!

Katie: Because Stannis ate it! She had put all of her ghost murder baby eggs in Stannis’ basket. The Lord of Light had shown her glory in the flames and then… nothing. She’s freaking out. My question, though, is: Why did Davos want Jon’s resurrection so badly? I really thought Melisandre would be the one behind it as part of her witch scheming, but that wasn’t what ultimately happened.

Kelsey: My question: Who even is Davos?

Tahirah: Davos needs something or someone to believe in to thrive, I think. So, he picked Jon Snow. He’s forever a wingman.

Kelsey: Tahirah, you are so right. He doesn’t know how to lead.

Katie: As an aside, I have to celebrate the return of the hottest Wildling on this side of the Wall: Tormund Giantsbane!!!!! Gimme more Tormund!!!!

Kelsey: Oh, hell yeah. Welcome back Tormund!

Katie: He is the hottest. He should get the throne. For hotness.

Kelsey: Definitely his return was more welcome to me than Jon’s. I miss what’s-her-face. Why can’t Melisandre raise her, too?

Katie: Ygritte, Kelsey! Let’s raise her!

Kelsey: But really, where was Melisandre when Stark Hottie #1 Robb died?

Tahirah: Where was Melisandre at the Red Wedding? Where has she been seasons one through five?

Katie: Let’s send Melisandre on a resurrection spree.

Flashbacks and Iron Throne predictions

Kelsey: So the favorite fan theory is that Jon is actually a Targaryen, right? Should we talk about that?

Katie: If we want to get ~spoilery~…

Kelsey: I love spoilers.

Tahirah: SAME. Spoil me.

Katie: Snow is supposed to be the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen.

Kelsey: Yes, and we SAW Lyanna Stark for the first time last night!

Tahirah: In Bran’s flashback—who, also, is so grownup now.

Kelsey: That is kind of a funny thing, since the creators of Game of Thrones said very explicitly for the first three seasons that there were not going to be any flashbacks because that was “lazy storytelling,” and YET. Here we are.

Tahirah: HERE WE ARE. But I feel like these flashbacks are like new scenes, because it’s a new character.

Katie: But if Snow is a Targaryen, does that mean that he and Daenerys are going to be battling it out for the throne? And just as Yara Greyjoy is now facing a contested claim to the Iron Islands, one she will probably lose to her uncle, ghost pirate Euron Greyjoy, is Daenerys ultimately going to lose out because she’s a woman?

Tahirah: Honestly, if Daenerys loses because Jon Snow tries to take the throne, we’ll have to kill him yet again. I am definitely Team Daenerys.

Kelsey: Daddy Greyjoy is literally so stupid. The minute he walked out on that bridge I was like, RIP.

Katie: Yeah, Kelsey. I was like, RIP Daddy Greyjoy a.k.a. Argus Filch/Walder Frey twin.

Tahirah: The whole time I was like, why wouldn’t he just come back once the storm is over? He did that to himself.

Kelsey: I’m also going to be mad if Yara loses the Greyjoy throne to super-whiny man Theon, the only character to speak the title of this episode, “home.”

Katie: I think that Theon would totally give the throne to Yara. He knows that she’s way more deserving, and I think his whole post-Stark betrayal, post-Ramsey torture self gets that his ambition only leads him to the shittiest of places. I think he’s learned a thing or two after needlessly beheading his former allies and having his dick cut off.

Tahirah: Theon doesn’t deserve the throne. I don’t care if he was willing to fight for Sansa. It was only because his heart was so guilty from betraying the people who raised him. Yara would be a great leader. Theon can be a sidekick.

Katie: Theon should just take care of a koi pond or something on the Iron Islands. Start whittling. Get a hobby. Take a break.

Who let the dogs out? Ramsey.

Katie: Should we talk about bad Ramsey on the loose?

Kelsey: Speaking of things I’m bored of: Ramsey being evil. WE GET IT. Ramsey is awful!

Katie: I mean, Roose Bolton was a bad, bad man. But Ramsey’s dad managed to be a bit of a check to him.

Tahirah: It’s also one of those things where I think his dad should have been like…when has my crazy son ever embraced me emotionally?

Katie: Yes, Tahirah! Roose should have known better! “Oh, my psychopath murderer son wants to embrace now that I have had a true heir? Nah, I’m good.” Just saved your life, Roose!

Kelsey: Roose Bolton was evil, but yet when I heard that guttural stabby sound while they were standing close to each other, I whispered, “Please be Ramsey.” I want Ramsey dead more than any other character, so he will probably end up on the throne.

Katie: I think that he has one more really fucked-up trick up his drapey tunic sleeves before he gets what’s coming to him. Hopefully via the Sansa Revenge Express.

Kelsey: A thing I cannot understand about this show (and maybe old royalty in general) is why people don’t just kill Ramsey. Like that second-in-command dude who was standing right behind him, just STAB RAMSEY. Let’s be done.

Kelsey: I need to talk about Sansa for a second.

Katie: Oh shit, and that scene between Sansa and Brienne, where she hints about the abuse she suffered, but doesn’t go there. I am really, really looking forward to these two characters going in together. It’s already a beautiful thing!

Tahirah: So beautiful. I was so happy when Theon decided to leave, because now it’s girl time.

Kelsey: So my biggest problem with the continuous reminders that Ramsey Bolton is awful (in last night’s episode he literally fed a baby and new mom to hungry dogs) is that they diminish all of the truly terrible things he does by making it seem like he is just pure evil. He has zero dimension as a character, which, like, FINE. But they keep killing off the people he tortures the worst, or making them completely unrelatable (Theon).

Katie: Yes, I get that, Kelsey. It’s cartoonish, so we don’t feel the gravity of his cruelty. Or there’s no depth to it, I guess.

Tahirah: At this point, Ramsey has become terribly…predictable. I’m becoming desensitized to his violence because I expect it. Just another day in the world of awful Ramsey.

Katie: No, totally. As soon as he killed Roose, I was like, “Woof, he is probably going to feed the baby to the dogs. He feeds everyone to the dogs.” Then sure enough: feeds baby to dogs.

Tahirah: But I don’t think Ramsey’s death is going to be quick and easy. I think they have to draw out his storyline so that his death can be just as terrible. He has to come into contact with the right person to do it.

Katie: Agree, totally. Yes, he has to wait for Sansa.

Kelsey: I hope Ramsey’s death is just him waiting in a room for 100 episodes and then Sansa Stark marches him before the Iron Throne where she sits and slits his throat

What are our final thoughts? What’s Jon Snow’s next move?

Katie: Final thoughts? Where are we heading next week? Will Jon Snow get a haircut to even out all the choppy pieces now that’s he’s alive again? Sansa and Brienne are feminist road-tripping. Rickon is going to be fucked this season, is my guess.

Kelsey: I miss Khal Drogo.

Katie: Shit. Same, Kelsey. RIP Drogo.

Kelsey: RIP Drog, the hottest hottie. You are the one we truly miss

Katie: Moon of our lives.

Kelsey: That’s my real takeaway this week, I guess: Jon Snow is alive again, but there are at least seven characters I would rather Melisandre have raised from the dead. The first of which is Khal Drogo.

Tahirah: I love that we were all waiting for him to come back alive. But now that he’s alive, we’re like… was it worth it?