Doesn't look like there'll be a Clegane Bowl but instead we're getting something better in the Battle of the Bastards. The Starks may be coming in underprepared and short on numbers but the Boltons lack the same x-factor as their opponents. Strap yourselves in for a fascinating clash, the Doc and Wildcard sure are.

Click Here for our GOT S06E08 Review/Recap

Diggity Doc: El Wildcardo, I wanna get on to looking at the upcoming 'Battle Of The Bastards' episode but a lot of strangeness has gone down in the GoT world which has me worried. Whether it was Arya walking around recklessly or the Blackfish getting an off-camera death in an underwhelming situation at Riverrun, it all felt like a bit of a let down in very general terms. We'll get on to specifics (like Arya luring la Waif into the darkness) soon; do you think there's a lot more to that episode or was it just a lull in proceedings?

Wildcard: Ah yes. What is courteously up, Doc? I did kinda like that episode last week, to be honest, but I feel ya in that it didn't seem to be a very crucial one in a lot of ways. Mostly it was good for me because we spent a lot of time with the characters I want to spend a lot of time with. But I do reckon there's more than met the eye, Arya's entire thing was very underwhelming in the end, as much as they tried to make it work and as good as some of the scenes and sequences were, there was too much that didn't make sense. However the subtle (and then not-so subtle) undermining of Cersei is pretty big, while Jaime's actions and intentions should have huge ramifications. And, mate, if you can't love a the sight of Sandor hacking baddies and cracking wise like some 80s cop show then I'm shocked. But here's the secret, for my estimations... they're saving the best 'til last. Hence we've had three eps in a row where the tales were being set, hence the last one was as much about character development as anything. It's all about to payoff... hopefully.

DD: Yeah I get all that and enjoyed a few of the seeds that were planted (Varys and Cersei's right-hand man) but I enjoyed the Blackfish and he was just killed off screen ... after Edmure shat his pants and gave up. It's all very weird and I'm not ready to go all in on disappointment because I view those as loose ends that will be tied up ... I think

WC: Riverrun was a means to an end, really. It worked better in the books because the show has muddled the timelines a bit but there the purpose as much as anything was to drag Jaime out and force him to take a few stocks while isolating Cersei in King's Landing. It's all happened a lot later (and less interestingly, despite the promise) but we still got a similar dynamic. And in Edmure's defence, Jaime did threaten to catapult his infant child into the castle just for the hell of it. Plus we also saw how the rest of the Blackfish's men weren't in it for the long haul like he, with nothing to lose, was. Should've taken the offer to march north, aye? I thought that ep was pretty notable also in how it shattered the Lady Stoneheart and Clegane Bowl theories, that did make me chuckle a little. Same with all the wild theories with Arya - although those were better than what we got. Hey, how quick do you reckon it takes to recover enough from an attempted gutting to where you can jump off balconies and sprint through streets? I just watched Joe Ledley play for Wales at the Euros 40 days after breaking his leg but Arya's recovery seemed pretty unlikely. One of many weird scripts things going on with her, right?

DD: Do you think that is where it's kinda cool that there is the book and the TV show where two different avenues can be explored? I mean, right now I feel enticed to read the books and how those storylines end up. Ah yes one of the many logistical flaws in a show that defies general sense and I'm not overly fussed. I've come to view Arya's story as nothing more than her training to be a ruthless assassin and that we all got caught up in digging too deep into her story this season. She'll go back to Westeros where shit is gonna pop off and she's gonna be a killing machine (she can slice and dice in the dark). It just took a season or so to establish that.

WC: Yeah, in as much as they don't spoil each other. It's unprecedented this kind of thing, where the book and the adaptation are travelling down these diverging paths to presumably end up at the same place. But it does backfire when the show digresses only to do something worse than the book did. You'll need a spare few months to finish all those books though, it's a big task, haha. The problem with Arya is that she was the best character on the show, no exaggeration, for the first few seasons and they pretty much did a Daenerys to her by stalling her all this time, small victories followed by repeated dramas. Some of it was really interesting but if this is the last we see of Jaqen H'ghar, and it might well be, then I'm going on record as saying it was a complete waste of a promising character. Even his final lines made no sense. But you're right in that these will all be valuable lessons for the rest of her life, it took too long to get there is all - another problem with altering the adaptation: they had to stall her until Westeros was ready for her return. Other storylines had to catch up, and hers was already having that problem in the book, with GRR Martin even saying once he considered like a two year time jump in the book just to avoid all this. They could have done a Bran and skipped her for a year but Arya's a headline character and the show is bound to its stars. At peak Arya, she was ruthlessly insubordinate, always rebelling against those who told her what to do. Then she was forced into submission with Jaqen and the whole 'no-one' thing. Best case scenario: the Arya of seasons 1-4 is back now, finally.

DD: And I think that is exactly what we'll see from Arya, maybe Arya 2.0. She was cool back in seasons 1-4 and in a narrative lull she has been upgraded, which is required as Westeros is about to explode. Another question I wanted to ask you was about all this godly talk, not just the annoying righteous preaching of the High Sparrow. Would you care to elaborate on this God Of Light and anything else to do with that? I've got a feeling that these gods follow the Fire vs Ice idea ya know?

WC: Well there are a few different religions out there on this show. You have the Seven, who the Sparrows follow and is the main religion in King's Landing and the south of Westeros, the Drowned God which the Iron Islanders dig, the Lord of Light which seems to be a bit of a johnny-come-lately (but has way more miracles than the rest of them) and then the Old Gods who the northerners worship at their weirwood trees - word is the Old Gods were passed on by the Children of the Forest. But it's the red bugger that's getting all the good PR, what with the cheating of death and the flame visions. There's supposed to be a chosen one with the Lord of Light, which Melisandre believed was Stannis but now she's tying her wagon to Jon, plus The Great Other or something like that, which is the opposite force, effectively a devil thing, ya know? If Jon is the chosen one then the Night King makes sense as the epitome of evil opposing him. Except that the red priestess in Meereen (there are a few of them now it looks like) fancies that Dany is the chosen one, so it all gets weird. Dany's credentials are a bit stronger, I'll give her that with the dragons and the fire-proofing. I love the way that the show presents religion more from the character's ideas so we get a really relatable view of it, but then I'm often left wondering if one of these religions is supposed to be true or if they're all true in their own way or none of them, even. Like, does the show believe in God? There's definitely evidence that the Red God is for real, though there's also evidence that, in a world that already contains a lil bit of magic anyway, maybe that's only wishful thinking on Melisandre and friends' part. Oh, that dude with Sandor is a red priest too, which was established way back when, before the leeches blood and the fire visions and the smoke monster and the Jon resuscitation. Back when it looked way more like a cult with all the human sacrifices. Any revelations there for ya?

DD: No revelations, it just feels as though we take in all the drama that goes down without applying much context to the bigger picture ... well the bigger picture of all these godly figures, not just the incoming Winter. I did note that Sandor's new mate was one of the few folk not in the north to highlight the impending doom of winter which intrigued me. That and fat Sam's absence. Oh and the possibility of some wild fire action in King's Landing...

WC: Yeah, man, of the fire and ice it looks like both are gonna have a lot to do with each other. We haven't been north of The Wall for a little while but at least Thoros and Beric, if nobody else, realise the risk of impending doom there. As far as that goes, if Jon and Sansa can win back Winterfell then they can turn their minds towards that, otherwise I doubt the Boltons are too bothered. That wildfire thing is another crazy ominous point, the story goes that when Jaime killed the Mad King, the king had been planning to burn the city to the ground with wildfire bombs hidden all over the city (the rebellion wasn't going well for him, needless to say). Jaime killed him, crisis averted. But he's obviously told Cersei about that and as far as Qyburn's 'more than a rumour' thing goes, that's the most likely theory - especially since we witnessed the foreshadowing of that in Bran's visions a few episodes ago. Call me conservative... but burning down a city seems like an excessive reaction, is it not? Though Jaime said some words to Edmure that suggest it's not quite out of her realms. Wouldn't it be weird if history repeated itself and Jaime was forced to choose between honour and letting a city burn? Only this time instead of a Mad King it'd be his sister-lover. Guts, bro. Fat Sam was one of many fringe characters that have come in and out of episodes, I get the feeling that we won't see much more of him or many others this week. With the way the Battle of the Bastards has been talked up, I'm predicting a sole focus, stand-alone episode entirely devoted to Winterfell. Which, frankly, sounds awesome.

DD: That has me thinking that maybe we won't see Cersei burn the whole city down or that she'll have a little trick to it all. It does seem a bit silly to just destroy everything but there's not too many other options at the moment - surely she'd get out of harm's way. Ah yes, Winterfell ... we can't expect that this will just be a straight up and down battle right? There will have to be some trickery or a new development.

WC: I dunno, Doc, one of the lessons learned at Riverrun - with the Frey's threatening to hang Edmure - is that a threat isn't worth anything if you aren't prepared to carry it through. Jaime said that in fact, and Cersei is more ruthless than he is. Would not be shocked if she tries send the whole city to hell. If she's lost Tommen then she's lost everything. Gotta agree on Winterfell though. They can throw in a few ups and downs and momentum swings but there must be something crazy gonna happen during it all to be worth the hype. And episode nines are usually worth the hype on GoT. One theory: Littlefinger's possible influence.

DD: There are a few people or groups of people who could have a major influence on what goes down at Winterfell. Who knows, maybe Ramsay brings down the Night's King for a tag-team mission? The Wildlings will play a major role and I've also heard about tunnels under Winterfell ... in fact we've seen them when Sansa popped down there in the past?

WC: Ooh, mate, there's an idea. The crypts and the tunnels, nobody really knows how to work them except those that grew up there - in the books some old lady needs Theon/Reek to show her around. It's been well documented that Jon's forces are undermanned but he's also the better leader between he and Ramsay... although from what I saw in the preview there's a bit of Sansa telling him not to underestimate young Ramsay ("I've faced worse than him!" "No, you don't know him!"). I like to think of these things the way I do about a game of footy. Ramsay has the better squad and more resources but Jon has several key figures kitting up with him. He is one of them, but so also are Tormund, Davos and my large man Wun-Wun the giant. I'm hoping he turns out to be the Jamie Vardy/Riyad Mahrez of the story. I guess Melisandre could have some influence (here's hoping no dumb sacrifice like the last time she tried to fight Ramsay) and we'll also probably get some more of the new fave Lyanna Mormont. Ramsay, meanwhile, has home field advantage and the better resources. Plus he's on a winning streak having defeated Stannis comfortably while Jon is actually coming off of a very significant injury layoff - these Starks sure do recover quick, aye? Unfortunately Ramsay is a cheat and he's probably bribed the refs.

DD: It doesn't get much better than that Wildcard - nice job. I know Sansa has faced the full wrath of Ramsay, has Jon made her aware of what he's been through north of the Wall?

WC: Not that I can remember, but I s'pose they covered that stuff off camera. Given that mutual suffering is what ties the Starks together, I'd bet it's a common topic. I'm still wondering how Davos hasn't seemed to figure out the whole Shireen/Burning pyre thing. In a lot of ways, all the dramas of Game of Thrones come down to not knowing what other people know. Jon getting shanked, bastard-incest-child Tommen becoming king, all the Sparrowing with their trials and stuff, anyone who's been north vs anyone who hasn't. What they need is a decent phone service, rather than those silly ravens. Oh, you know what I forgot? The Boltons have Rickon. Eeek.

DD: You know what we discussed last week - a flayed, burning body, surrounded by a crowd of people. Ya know what mate? I wouldn't be surprised if that body is Rickon's and Ramsay - the jolly fellow that he is - makes leaves that there for Jon and Sansa to stumble across on their way to Winterfell. Shit, that's just ruined my Friday night.

WC: See, I was just wondering if Sansa and Jon would be as brave as the Blackfish in calling any bluffs on Rickon but of course they wouldn't take that risk and Ramsay wouldn't bother with the courtesies anyway, he'd flay him right there and ask later. Not an ideal outcome, but definitely one that'd be in keeping with old Ramsay. Would it fix your night to speculate on who might get to kill him?

DD: Well Sansa popping a few of his eyes out would be nice. Just leave him to rot ... no, no, make sure he's dead and burned because I couldn't think of anything worse than a non-human-wight Ramsay Bolton.

WC: Eww, that'd be worse than Hodor coming back undead. For very different reasons too, haha. Yeah, Sansa's the fan favourite to do that slaying, Jon's gonna be the one more likely given he'll be right there in the scrap. Shame Theon ain't there to do the business himself. Maybe Old Nan will come out of hiding after all these years, or some other Winterfellian of old. Nah, Sansa's gotta get her inner-Arya going and take him out... or kill Littlefinger instead, either way she needs some big cathartic victory from somewhere. Thing is, being Thrones and all, no-one might kill Ramsay - and I don't mean Arya but actually no-one, like he survives another week. This is a show that likes to take things with a dose of reality to go with the dragons and zombies and it's been well-said that the Stark army's a bit bare. I won't entertain the thought of a Stark defeat because they're definitely due... but then so are New South Wales and yet those Queenslanders keep on winning that one.

DD: NSW are due but keep losing because they are a bit silly. The Starks have been a powerful house in Westeros for a long time and that's not an accident, just like there's no accident in Queensland's dominance. We both know how silly that 'due for a win' concept is mate. NSW and Ramsay have both shown that they can win, it's just that NSW have lacked a bit of razzle dazzle or class; their desire for toughness has got in the way of scoring points. Ramsay's desire to be a maniac will get in his way here and even though we all know what a cunning little bugger he is, I've got him getting out-smarted. Ramsay's craziness will get in the way, he'll score an early try with Rickon's flayed body but he'll make a mistake and Jon/Sansa will pounce. Is Jon Snow Cameron Smith or Jonathan Thurston?

WC: Cheers for reassuring me there. Mate, Jonny is JT without a doubt, they even share a first name (sort of). If anyone is Cameron Smith there it'll be Davos, since he's the wisest bloke on the team and also pretty bloody old too. Which means that Sansa will have to be Cooper Cronk as the other half, and Tormund is Darius Boyd. Wun-Wun can be the entire front row. As for Ramsay... that makes him a cross between Paul Gallen, Greg Bird and Josh Morris (the third one's more personal for me). Haha, this is fun. You're right too, the reckless people don't last long on this show. Ramsay is surprisingly considered about what he does but he's made too many ruthless move too quick and I'm picturing Jon and Sansa's inspirational work to get a few northern soldiers to switch allegiances mid-battle. Maybe I'm optimistic here (not something you'd associate with Starks) but I'll give them a tight-fought 18-16 victory, Ramsay missing a crucial penalty that would've tied it late on.

DD: I've got it at 16-10, the 6-point difference comes as Sansa pokes Ramsay's eyes out. Enjoy ya night mate, keep a needle by your side.

WC: Likewise, champ, and don't trust that candlelight. Hey, and if you know what the madam said to Tyrion when he took his jackass and some honeycomb into the whorehouse, lemme know. That one's been bugging me all week. Seven blessing to you, Doc.