Best performance

Sophie Turner, Ben Crompton, Jonathan Pryce.

Jonathan Pryce again.

Also, Natalie Dormer did her best work in years (in both her scenes).

Sophie first, Emilia second, third is a tie between Natalie Dormer and Gemma Whelan. Such fierce sisters both.

Change is good for actors. Carice is a classic example of this. She is basically playing a new character this season (not that she wasn't great before; she was).

Sophie bossed this one by a mile.

Jonathan Pryce was fantastic in his monologue. I won't say I was impressed, because I know how good of an actor Pryce is, but damn, he had me on the edge of my seat just by telling a story about making shoes. I almost wish he was cast as Septon Meribald just to see him deliver that epic monologue, however I'm am so pleased with his performance as the High Sparrow. He took a fairly bland character in the books, brought him to life, and has become possibly the show's most interesting villain.

Gemma Whelan deserves some serious props as well. Even after everything Theon has been through, seeing him belittled by Yara was one of the most devastating scenes to sit through this year.

While these scenes might be similar in structure, I don't really find them to be repetitive.   It's a fresh, and new type of politicking never before seen in this series.  It's one thing to get angry and wage war with a royal family like the Lannisters or the Starks, but the Faith seizing power puts the rest of the nobility in King's Landing in an awkward and uncomfortable position.  This is a world where atheism is not outwardly popular, and you can't just wage war with a widely believe political institution.  The beautiful irony in this is that t he wealthy use religions to pacify the poor and downtrodden, and now it's being used against them.  Cersei herself said that 'the crown and faith are the two pillars that hold up this world' because she understands how powerful of a tool it can be, after all, she was using it to take down the Tyrells.  Now in season 6 she is teaming up with the Tyrells to destroy the monster she created.

The High Sparrow is a fascinating character because he's straddling the line between piety and ambition.  If he's simply another power-hungry politician, using the Faith to assert control, he's certainly masking it well in the conversations in these scenes, and that's what I find compelling: the ambiguity.  His scenes in season 6 are unique because he's taking characters like Jaime and Marg, and pulling them out of their comfort zones, and making them engage him on his terms.  They're all trying to use their unique strengths to manipulate the High Sparrow, and they all fail.  Jaime's always been defined by his confidence and swagger, we've never seen him so desperate and aggressive as when he's threatening the High Sparrow.  But the HS holds his ground, Jaime's brute force has no effect on him.  Jaime knows that even if he strikes the HS down, he'd lose his own life, with the chilling realization that a wealthy man like himself has a lot more to lose than a bunch of nobodies wearing rags.

Tommen is trying to assert his power as the king, with the illusion that one institute outranks another.  Whereas Jaime sees through the High Sparrow's act, Tommen takes his faith sincerely.  Tommen is the easiest to placate, and the High Sparrow's warm, grandfatherly wisdom is something sorely missing in Tommen's life.  We're now getting the sense that the High Sparrow could use all aspects of the Seven to manipulate the people around him.  Jaime was the Warrior, with Tommen he's utilizing the Crone's wisdom.  Margery, who is totally at his mercy, gets the Father treatment as she awaits his judgment.  He offers an olive branch to Marg, allowing her to finally see her brother, making him seem stern, but fair.  With Tommen he allows himself to appear vulnerable, pointing out his weak knees and frail body ravaged by age.  With Jaime he shows the strength of his institution with a subtle but undeniable threat of violence.  Just because the scenes all offer Pryce monologues, doesn't mean they are similar in tone, and there lies the greatness in Pryce's performance.  His demeanor is quite different in each interaction, while still maintaining the illusion of a righteous holy man.

Aye, you're ready for the HYPE, but the waiting only makes it sweeter.  I think the scenes with Pryce help ground and add balance to the King's Landing story line, especially considering the other scenes feature a giant zombie monster.  In a series with colorful, at times cartoonish, villains like Ramsay Bolton, I find myself increasingly intrigued by the High Sparrow.  The way he operates is almost scarier, with a gentle, unassuming voice; nobody has a grasp of his treachery until he's all ready in control of the situation.  But I understand where you're coming from, us book readers, especially, have been waiting a long time for some closure in this storyline.

I love you. That's all.

Also, the way he slightly alters his philosophy to suit his audience is brilliant. In his speech to Jaime, men are "weak and vain" creatures. In his speech to Tommen, men are suddenly fundamentally good, and all we have to do is to bring the best of one another. Dude knows his audience - knows that Tommen will be enchanted by this fiction of noble men, while Jaime will recognize the fiction of men born evil. And later with Margaery, he's basically saying "look, I'm much more of a sinner than you could ever hope to be". He willingly puts himself below her, while still retaining the moral authority.

And that's without even mentioning how he dealt with Olenna and Cersei last season. The guy is unstoppable, and Pryce brings new shades every time.