Game of Thrones 6-3. "Oathbreaker".

In memory of Allister Thorne and Ollie (now their watch is ended) and Shaggydog.

At castle Black, Jon Snow shows us how to quit like a boss when he hangs the conspirators, hands "Dolorous Edd" Tollett the Lord Commander's cloak and exits stage right announcing "and now my watch is ended". We'll see now if he marches on Winterfell.

Ser Allister, at least was an honest enemy, a knight who always let you know exactly where you stood with him, even as he was committing mutiny . His last words were to the effect that he knew that Jon thought he was doing the right thing, which is fitting because we can say exactly the same of him. Like some of my favorite villains, Ser Allister believed himself to be the hero of his own story.

Meanwhile, at Winterfell, Smalljohn Umber delivers Asha and Rikkon to Ramsey. This may have been a ruse to get a male heir to house Stark back inside Winterfell, but if so, killing Shaggydog (assuming it was) was a pretty grim sacrifice. I can only note that Smalljohn declined to swear to house Bolton, which saves him from being an oathbreaker when he eventually turns against Ramsey. At the least, he is keeping his options open.

If you haven't been keeping track of the direwolves:
Ghost (Jon's): Still with Jon
Summer (Brandon's): Still with Bran
Grey Wind: (Robb's) deceased
Lady (Sansa's): deceased
Shaggydog (Rikkon's): deceased
Nymeria (Arya's): In the books, she is currently the alpha female of a pack terrorizing the Riverlands.

Speaking of Bran, through him we are slowly piking up clues to the past. This week, we witness the the famous fight at the Tower of Joy, but Max von Sydow, I mean the Three Eyed Raven, pulls Bran and ourselves out right before the R+L=J fans get what they have been waiting years to get because Beinoff and Weiss know what we want and are playing the long tease.

Meanwhile, in Essos, things are starting to move along. Danni is in Vas Dothrak with Darrio and Ser Jorah hot on her trail while attempts at nation building in Slaver's bay seem an utter failure.

Speaking of utter failures, we get another brilliant Peter Dinklage scene when Tyrion the Dragon Whisperer attempts a bit of small talk with Greyworm and Missandei who do not win any life of the party awards. The big winner in Meereen was Lord Varys. His scene with the harpy spy was a master class in how to speak softly and be ruthless.