‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 7 Review: The Broken Hound and Brother Ray [SPOILERS]

“Game of Thrones” Season 6, Episode 7 (“The Broken Man”) aired June 5 on HBO, featuring the TV return of Sandor Clegane a.k.a. The Hound (Rory McCann). Ian McShane (“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”) joins the cast albeit for a few moments, as Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) makes a smart move.

Spoiler alert: This review contains “Game of Thrones” Season 6 spoilers. Details include highlights about the cast and characters mentioned above.

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 7: The Broken Hound

This weekend’s new episode (GOT 6x7) is titled “The Broken Man” seeminly pertaining to the broken Hound. In George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series, broken men are formerly armored knights, just as Sandor was, when he was still with the House Lannister.

Maisie Williams’ Arya Stark may have been thinking the Hound is long gone. She left him for dead, but she would be surprised if they meet again. It is possible though, that there’s a new Sandor Clegane somehow, and the old Hound is gone. It seems Ian McShane’s character existed to point that out.

McShane’s Brother Ray is a septon, a supposed follower of the Faith of the Seven. He seems to know better than to be a fanatic, though. McShane was simply remarkable in delivering this monologue:

"Oh, there's plenty of pious sons of b- who think they know the word of god, or gods. I don't. I don't know their real names. Maybe it is the Seven. Or maybe it's the Old Gods. Or maybe it's the Lord of Light, or maybe they're all the same f- thing. I don't know. What matters, I believe, is that there's something greater than us. And whatever it is, it's got plans for Sandor Clegane."

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 7: Where will the Hound go?

Brother Ray dies in the same episode, hanged to death in the sept he was building with his flock. Thoughts must have screamed in the Hound’s mind upon seeing Ray. This septon was going to bury him after finding him seemingly lifeless in Vale. (But the Hound coughed and scared Brother Ray!) This former mercenary refused to fight the Brotherhood Without Banners. He actually believed there is some divine plan for the Hound. And now just when they were beginning to talk like friend, he was murdered.

After a moment of processing the bloodbath left by the Brotherhood Without Banners, the Hound goes back to where he was chopping woods (supposedly for camp fire for the night), angrily picks up his axe and leaves – to where? Will he seek vengeance, or will he be on his way to a solitary, aimless journey? If not for a divine plan, there must be an exciting reason why the Hound is back. It is very likely to see him again in a lot of action before the “Game of Thrones” Season 6 finale.

Interestingly, by the end of GOT 6x7, the stories of the Hound and Arya Stark are told back to back, as if foreshadowing a reunion or merely inviting the viewers to look back into their past. This is a relatively calmer episode, which is not unusual for a sixth episode in a GOT season. Seeds were planted in the stories of the Hound and Arya Stark, as well as many others, expanding viewer speculation on what to expect from the last three episodes of the season.

“Game of Thrones” Season 6, Episode 7 was written and directed by Bryan Cogman and Mark Mylod, respectively. Episode 8 will air next Sunday, June 12, on HBO.