Let’s face it, if you’re like me, you’re probably counting the days and binge watching all of the episodes gearing up for Season 7 of Game of Thrones. The fact that they keep playing with our emotions by pushing the debut back further and further makes me feel a little like Theon getting weenie wacked by Ramsay Bolton (Ok nothing is that bad.) But with the spare time its given me plenty of time to go back and watch some of my favorite episodes and I think we all can agree that Episode 9 (as the trend tends to be each season) of Season 6 is one of, if not the best installment in the show’s history. Battle of the Bastards was one of those experiences that you wait for in any show that completely leaves you speechless and you realize you’ve just watched something special. It was so special in fact that it took home an Emmy award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Miguel Sapochnik) and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (David Benioff, D.B. Weiss) and deservedly so. And because the Emmy’s continue to give gifts, they decided to release the original script from the Battle of the Bastards on their website for us to behold!
There are very few times that you truly get to pull back the curtain on a show or movie that you love and get an inside look into the creative process, but the release of this script certainly does this. Being the nerd that I am, I read the entire thing and visualized the incredible imagery that came forth from these very pages.
Its pretty incredible when this short segment here…
…turns into this iconic shot and scene.
I can’t forget to mention the phenomenal opening sequence where the Masters of Slavers Bay get reacquainted with just how little crap that Daenerys takes, especially when she has her dragons and that second line isn’t actually anything spoken in the scene, just kind of a hilarious descriptor for how it should look.
What’s also great about this script is that it really is almost identical to what we saw on screen, with a few exceptions we’ll point out. But one of my favorite interactions was between Ser Davos and Tormund Giantsbane on the eve of the battle and Davos letting Tormund in on his secret pre-battle ritual. Tormund is the king of one liners in this show and he delivers with this classic to Davos.
Here are a few of the differences that I noticed and if I thought they were better off leaving them as the script said or how they actually turned out:
This segment describes the moment when Daenerys is riding Drogon and her other 2 dragons , Rhaegal and Viserion, are set free from their dungeon below the great temple. I love the fact the Benioff and Weiss make the point of saying that the Unsullied roll back the stone and hurry the f*#k out of the way because the dragons are coming. I mean its the best way to describe it. But if you’ve seen the episode you know that the 2 dragons actually break their way through the temple wall and join Dany and Drogon in their barbeque of the slaver ships. It just adds more to the scene and shows you just how powerful the dragons can be. Them breaking out of the temple on their own as opposed to having the door opened was far more dramatic and frankly way cooler.
Also at the end of the episode, during one of the most satisfying scenes the show has ever had with which Ramsay has the absolute poop beaten out of him by Jon Snow, before Jon can finish the deed he looks over to Sansa who has entered Winterfell a short time prior.
As you can see, Jon interrupts his punch fest on Ramsay to see Sansa entering on horseback, but in the show he looks over as he’s wailing on the Bolton bastard and sees Sansa looking on. That’s when you can tell Jon knows that Sansa should be the one to finish Ramsay off. Its the only fitting way for it to conclude. I really think this scene is better the way they showed it during the episode. Its more effective to have Jon see Sansa in his peripheral than to react to horses approaching which would’ve been pretty normal after a major battle like that.
Finally, the last scene of the episode (which left off on the perfect note) was when Sansa at last gets her well-deserved revenge on Ramsay Bolton, who did unspeakable things to her during their brief marriage. Fittingly, Ramsay was devoured by his beloved hounds much to the pleasure of Sansa. That smile she gives at the end is perfectly executed from how they imagined it in the script.
Only 4 to 5 months to go until we can get wrapped up in this life ruiner of a show and I’ll be so happy!
Here’s the link to the full script. Enjoy! http://m.emmys.com/sites/default/files/Downloads/GameofThronesEP%20609%20-%20Battle%20of%20the%20Bastards%20-%20GOT%20S6.pdf
Check out the trailer for Season 7:
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