Game of Thrones recap: 'Battle of the Bastards' 

Not merely the obvious — Sansa letting slip the dogs of war to turn her sadistic tormenter and the show’s biggest villain into kibbles and bits — but everything else was pitch-perfect thrilling, too. We wanted a massive battle that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before, and we got it. We wanted to see Dany’s three dragons fighting an enemy all at once. We wanted Theon and Yara to meet Dany and form an alliance. We wanted to see resurrected Jon Snow in action-hero mode. We wanted Davos to get a clue about Shireen. We wanted Jon and Ramsay to have an actual conversation — and for them to fight one on one. We wanted the Starks to reclaim their home. And of course, yes, we wanted comeuppance for Ramsay and sweet revenge for Sansa. 

Sure, there was tragedy in “Battle of the Bastards” too — Rickon, Wun-Wun. But can we be honest with ourselves? On some level, we wanted that, too. We don’t want a huge climactic episode 9 battle without any loss. That would not be war, and that would not be

Was this the show’s best episode? It’s hard to immediately process that question. Maybe? Probably. It’s almost certainly the most

hour and had the most jaw-dropping battle sequence we’ve seen yet on TV. 

! Here we’ve been teased with this incredible battle in episode 9 with publicity photos, previews, and quotes. Yet the BastardBowl isn’t the only major action sequence in this hour — there’s this whole

clash in Meereen that was kept entirely hidden from view — no photos, no trailer footage, no quotes, nothing.

As you’ll recall, at the end of last week, mom returned home and found her kids had trashed the house and a party was raging out of control.

We start with a shot of a makeshift cannonball being fired at the city that’s already stunning us within seconds of the episode starting.

In the pyramid, Dany is pissed. Tyrion is spinning his stewardship while the city burns, selling a tale of “the rebirth of Meereen.”

Dany’s initial idea is to dragon-nuke the other Slavery’s Bay cities whose masters are attacking Meereen. Tyrion points out her Mad King father once had a similar reaction to an invading army. It’s admittedly a bit worrisome that a varation on “burn them all” is her first instinct. He suggests a different approach. 

They meet with the trio of masters who arrogantly order her to surrender. “My reign has just begun,” she tells them. She gets on Drogon as her two less-appreciated dragons, Rhaegal and Viserion, bust out of their prison and finally get to stretch their fully grown wings. 

Then it’s on: an extraordinary sequence where the dragons torch the attacking ships. It feels almost like some dragonfire fantasy version of the Pearl Harbor attack. There’s this swooping sense of aerial movement to this sequence that we haven’t felt when Dany has been on Drogon before that makes you feel like you’re watching the action from a dizzying height. Director Miguel Sapochnik tells us he studied World War II fighter footage for making this sequence (as did George Lucas for making the dogfights in

); he wanted to have shots where the dragons “break the frame” — as if the camera is having difficulty capturing the fast-paced action.

What’s also clear for the first time is that Dany can fully mentally control her dragons now – Drogon appeared on cue, Rhaegal and Viserion burst out to help, and they all attacked in unison. Dany commanded “dracarys,” but she doesn’t have to say it aloud anymore. We just get the feeling that she likes to say it.

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