It's a war for the seven kingdoms! It's a soap opera with romantic weddings and blood sacrifices!!
It's the latest episode of Game of Thrones, and it's time to recap and discuss! When we last left Arya Stark, she'd gotten fed up with the fire-worshipping Brotherhood Without Banners and their gold-hungry ways and run straight into the arms of Sandor "The Hound" Clegane, who killed her friend Mycah in a more innocent time.
The Hound is a great character: He never pretends to be a good person, but in his blunt honesty about all his deeds, you can see he's maybe not such a bad one. As he reminds Arya, he saved her sister Sansa from certain rape and likely death in the slums of King's Landing. It's a crude, candid kind of bargaining that puts Arya off her notion to try to kill him, and that same bleak pragmatism looks like it'll even lead him to bring her to the Twins to reunite with her family, just in time for her uncle Edmure's wedding to Roslin Frey.
Clegane knew about the upcoming wedding and suggests the Brothers ought to have told Arya -- important note that occupied with other things and keeping to themselves, they probably just hadn't heard the latest, versus making an omission more convenient to their ends. In the massive world of Westeros information travels slowly and often unreliably, by raven or word of mouth, and by the time news reaches one's ear, the information may have changed.
That's actually a powerful plot device especially when it comes to the narrative of the Stark family, scattered to the winds, never quite sure if a brother or sister's last known location is accurate (Arya's family thinks she's still being held at King's Landing, for example, as the Lannisters have ensured the truth hasn't spread).
Arya sat side-saddle, clinging to the Hound, is a brilliant bit of scene framing. We usually see the camera close to her pensive face, or see her at an angle of some parity with the adults of her world. In this shot, she looks so tiny we can't help but remember she is a little girl, one who probably badly misses her family and wants her mom after all this time.
The slave city of Yunkai has hired a mercenary-for-hire army called The Second Sons to bolster its defense against Daenerys, her dragons and her thousands of Unsullied. In Qarth, she needed money, and in Astapor she needed armies, but this agenda against Yunkai is about her own savior complex and her well-intentioned, if ambitiously-simplistic, refusal to tolerate slavery. It doesn't seem likely that her upcoming fight against Yunkai's defenses is going to bear certain fruit for her war effort in Westeros, and in fact it might even be a costly distraction.
Again now the TV series does some tidy streamlining of the books -- handsome Daario Naharis, the mellower foil to the Second Sons' grotesque and lecherous captain Mero, canonically originates from a different mercenary group, the Stormcrows. In the novels once Daenerys reaches Yunkai a number of military factions begin parlaying for or against her loyalty -- it's so confusing I can hardly remember it myself -- but making lusty aesthete Daario one of the Second Sons makes her acquisition of a mercenary group easier to follow.
It also makes her flicker of evident desire for the young warrior a little more plausible (the book gives him a multi-pronged, blue-dyed beard?!). Apparently rather than assassinate Daenerys as Mero would have liked, Daario Naharis would rather behead both his comrades and serve Dany strictly because of her beauty. Do you trust him?
Of course, Emilia Clarke is a startlingly beautiful human being. As she slowly rose from the bathwater and crossed the room to confront her suitor I might have made aloud some kind of awestruck exclamation including the word "perfect," to which my guy friends watching with me politely demurred "nahhh," presumably for my benefit.
Meanwhile at Dragonstone, Melisandre has arrived with Gendry, friend of Arya Stark and bastard of Robert Baratheon, whose king's blood she needs for her Red God ritual. With all her talk of knives and lamb slaughter, we presume she will be wining and dining the boy to his death. And we join Davos Seaworth, one of the series most lovable characters overall, as he diligently continues teaching himself to read with the Targaryen history book given to him by Stannis' daughter Shireen.
Davos is called the Onion Knight because he was once a lowborn smuggler, but snuck onions and produce to Stannis and his armies during the siege of Storm's End amid Robert's Rebellion, without which none of them would have survived against the Redwynes.That act earned Davos his knighthood -- but it tells you a lot about Stannis that he nonetheless removed three of Davos' fingers in punishment for his past as a smuggler.
Still, for always telling Stannis the truth, Davos is his most loyal advisor. Stannis ostensibly comes to visit him in the dungeon to offer him his freedom in exchange for his acceptance of Melisandre and her sorcery -- but he has to know that's not a bargain Davos would take, when there is an innocent boy's life at stake. Even at the risk of his own ongoing imprisonment he counsels Stannis to be more true to his nature ("you're not a man who slaughters innocents for gain or glory,") and less so to the spectre of R'hllor.
Yet there's evidence of Melisandre's power, from the shadow assassin she birthed to kill Renly to Stannis beginning to see his own visions in her fires. When we see the Red Priestess is thus far only leeching Gendry's blood, not killing him, Davos once again looks unjustly mistrustful of her in his King's eyes. When Stannis curses one of his "false king" enemies for each fat leech -- Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy and Joffrey Baratheon -- is he dooming them to divine redemption? Is this the will of a higher power, some black magic, or the manipulations of a mad sorceress?
This episode gives us an incredibly bleak and gutting wedding, as Tyrion has to wed Sansa amid the open loathing she isn't crafty enough to hide. He feels mocked, being made to marry a beautiful, miserable young thing while the woman he really loves maintains a ruse of handmaidenship in the background. We also get a wonderfully harsh little bit of Cersei Lannister, who lets Margaery Tyrell know she isn't buying the manipulative, sweet sister act and has nothing to gain from playing along.
Cersei is, against all odds, one of my favorite characters in the entire canon. She's not so great at playing the game, but she never loses her nerve in the face of impossible odds -- she's got a nightmare son, is a brood mare for her father's power plays, gets none of the regard of her famous twin brother and has even less value in her father's eyes than the younger brother he hates.
One can almost admire her unguarded nastiness. If she hadn't been so paranoid about her imagined rivalry with sweet-natured, bare-armed Lady Margaery, the Lannisters would have lost Sansa, and a crucial brick in their power struggle, to the Tyrells. Cersei's instincts are what began peeling back the layers of the obsequious Tyrell plan to usurp and undermine her family. Not that she'll be given the latitude to do anything about it, nor the credit for unveiling the problem.
When Margaery grasps Cersei's arm to ooze about being sisters, the Queen Regent lets her son's fiancee know, coolly, that the Tyrells are not fooling anyone. She explains the Rains of Castamere song to Margaery (sorry to have illustrated it for you a bit prematurely in last week's recap), the warning tune abut what must befall any family that tries to rival the Lannisters. And tells her in no uncertain terms that she has no interest in playing along with that fakey sister crap.
Cersei isn't graceful in general, simply brutal. But personally I can appreciate that rather more than Margaery's constantly-insincere, apple-cheeked opportunism. Machinations are going to go on at court either way, so it takes a certain bravery to be simply honest with your enemies, a certain toughness to refuse to play along.
Sansa is given away on her wedding day by the cruel little monster who had her father beheaded. No wonder this procession resembles a funeral. Joff thinks it's funny to torment his uncle by yanking away the stepstool provided to keep him level with his tall young bride, so that when Sansa has to be cloaked by her groom in the colors of her new family, the entire court assembly chuckles when Tyrion can't reach her.
Well. They chuckle until Tywin silences them with a stony look. And then Joff goes on laughing, a subtle bit of symbolism that even his powerful granddad can't get a rein on him. It's hard to read whether it simply does not occur to Sansa to kneel, or whether this is a subtle refusal on her part, the tiniest bit of claimed agency -- what do you think?
Either way, it's cruel to Tyrion; her youth and beauty are cruel to him, as is the flinch-making "what if I never want you to" response she makes when he gently declines to make her consummate the marriage later in the episode. I feel for Tyrion, but one can't exactly blame Sansa for having run out of sympathy for the Lannisters, either -- even her marriage doesn't look likely to free her from Joffrey's abuse, and Cersei's "suggestion" that her son pick on Margaery instead is easily rebuffed.
Poor Loras Tyrell, who will have to marry prickly Cersei now when neither of them want it whatsoever, is having a miserable time. He's also been made into something of a caricature, his homosexuality a sort of joke (note him eagerly chatting up a man to comedic effect as Margaery and Cersei stroll past). This portrayal of a flowery, lusty lad-lover is not exactly canonical with the quiet if lovely warrior who pined for the loss of Renly and probably would have never slept with Littlefinger's mole a few episodes back.
Joff has been particularly odious today, so when drunk Tyrion, pushed to his limit, threatens his nephew and sucks the last pretense of merriment out of the wedding day, it's a thrilling little moment. And no matter how drunk Tyrion has gotten, he can't bring himself to go to bed with a trembling 14 year-old girl who's near tears at the prospect.
This, of course, is much to Shae's delight when she checks the bedsheets in the morning. I still wonder why if she loves Tyrion so much, why she doesn't trust him or compromise with him, or leave King's Landing if these are circumstances she can't abide, but the look on her face upon stripping the unsullied marriage bed was very sweet.
Finally, Sam Tarly gets his chance to be a hero to Gilly and her baby, and we learn that "dragonglass" has some mysterious power against the White Walkers, news that's sure to be of use to the Night's Watch and the Wildlings alike. This scene is placed a little differently than in the books -- Sam's act of heroism actually occurs earlier in the story, and in order to save his Black Brothers, not Gilly, but since the relationship with Gilly is of primary importance to Sam, this was an acceptable (and appropriately-dramatic) edit.
This was a subtler, less action-packed episode than maybe we're used to, but then, there are only two episodes left in the season now, so expect this is some kind of calm before a storm.
Who did you feel sorrier for, Sansa or Tyrion? Would you declare for Lannister or Tyrell? What do you make of Daario Naharis?
I’m glad they’re condensing the Essos storylines. That portion of the books did my head in.
The scenes surrounding Tyrion’s wedding were excellent, very true to the book. That Joffrey is such a smug little shit, I hope Gleeson doesn’t get typecast.
Sam the Slayer! The White Walker death scene CGI was fairly impressive, better than I was expecting at least. And the crows! Awesome. I wonder if Sam has cold hands after that.
did i miss it or did he leave the dagger?
Looks like he did, yeah.
What a dope, suppose there were bare crows flappin about. Still that wedding will not be a happy affair
I was pretty sure that in the book, Sam was able to communicate his
zombie research results to the other rangers. Not sure how they’re going
to find out now, but then I forgot what happened to Sam. Not a big fan
of the books- I’m glad the show is so much better edited.
There’s no doubt that the show is much tighter (and skillfully and appropriately tightened), but I’m enjoying the books too — especially the expository legends and history.
I hope that we see more of Sam as more than a bumbling coward. Book Sam was able to make use of his intelligence and learning to help his companions, not just his luck with the dragon glass blade.
In the books, I seem to recall Grenn picking it up (after several tries because it was bitingly cold).
I was thinking that might be intentional… that later another character might return the dagger to Sam saying “here, you might need this again” to gain his trust.
They left 90% of the dragonglass cache just laying there at the Fist of the First Men though… that’s unfortunate.
I shouted at the screen. Yes, he left it (couldn’t hear me I guess because he was running from all those creepy crows).
From the way he left it, my guess is that someone else will stumble upon the dead walker’s ‘body’ with the spear point in the middle, and learn the secret. Besides, Sam had several more in his bag, if I recall.
In a similar vein, as Shae was carrying out the clean bedding after the wedding night, everyone in my house shouted, “wait a minute, stick some blood on that!” at the screen.
YEEAAARGH! IT WASN’T A DAGGER, IT WAS A SPEARHEAD!
Sorry. Lots of people are calling it a dagger. It’s my chosen nitpick of the episode. Nothing personal.
LOL…..yeah you’re right , it was a spearhead….
OKAY SORRY IT WAS A SPEARHEAD MY MISTAKE!
I thought that, I was like your going to need that dont just leave it there!
I’ve actually read somewhere that Gleeson doesn’t plan on pursuing acting as a career and instead will be heading to college once his role in GOT is over. I’d love to see him again though, he’s a great actor. Agree it’d be nice to see him not get typecast.
Gleeson plays the role so well, if I were him, I’d be looking over my shoulder at college for potential assassins.
The look Cersei gave Margery when she linked arms with her was priceless. I too am a Cersei sympathizer.
Think you have to feel more sorry for Sansa, dad dead, imprisoned away from her family now stuck in a marriage to the uncle of the boy who abused her. Something pretty fishy about the assassin dude, got a feeling he’s got his own motives beyond just serving Dani cos she’s so perdy.Also something maoosive is gonna go down at that Stark wedding and I really hope my prediction isn’t right.
‘Tis not a Stark wedding, ’tis a Tully wedding.
The Starks are just the honored…guests
you scare me!
As much as I don’t find her a sympathetic character, I feel more sorry for Sansa, too. Tyrion has understood his lot in life for a long time, and has no romantic illusions. Sansa is a 14-year-old girl (I’m glad they made that explicit) who’s having all her dreams brutally dashed away. That she’s carrying on despite it shows some character.
yes, exactly! I was glad they made her age explicit as well. I dunno, I guess I have high hopes for Sansa, and I really didn’t likeher at first…
Well there is a wide distance between not liking and wanting to see a 14 raped. I am still hating her character, but really glad she ended up in the protection of the Imp. Good to see he intends to avoid becoming monsters like the rest of the family.
I found the Joffry moment at the wedding telling for the grandfather. I think it was a new low for him as he watched something so clearly cruel and was still most worried about his family pride.
I was personally a bit confused as to the importance given to her age – 14 doesn’t seem like it would be that young for the court. If we are to assume that the culture is roughly analogous to medieval times in Europe, she would be a couple of years below average, but by no means the youngest. I’d have thought Joffrey would be at least as noteworthy for his youth, especially as he is planning to marry an older woman (as far as I can tell from the wikis).
http://womenofhistory.blogspot.com/2007/08/medieval-marriage-childbirth.html
IIRC, in the books Sansa was even younger — 12 I think — which would make her exceptionally young. All the youngsters were aged a couple of years for the TV series, both for practical logistics and I imagine modern sensibilities — TV Danerys is hot warrior queen, book Danerys would be kiddie porn.
I don’t feel sorry for Sansa, Because she is in the “click” of Tyrion. He will make things okay for her, some how, I feel more sorry for Tyrion by far, because he has all the weight on his shoulders, not the girl. She reminds me one of those Survivors who make it to the final three, who were carried!!! GoT rules, never stop this show-make 20 seasons!!!!
I’m curious – how do you think Tyrion will make things right? His father hates him, his lover is mad at him for not taking control of his life, Joffrey doesn’t seem interested in letting the marriage stop him from raping Sansa. What could make things okay for her?
Cersei sympathiser? MOAR! Rly? I dislike here more with each screen time minute. What an inflated ego, on no grounds but her name and her cheekbones. She’s acting so extraordinarily stupid that only Sansa gets more in her own way than she does. Third place goes to Catelyn.
I’m really thankful for Arya and Daenarys, and kindof for Brienne and Granma. Otherwise, all women are quite misogynically deformed characters. I include Margery in that, but at least she’s not charecterised as stupid. Yet.
I haven’t read the books, but I truely hope for some butts and balls to be kicked.
i don’t agree with you at all. All these women are strong characters
If you think so, I can’t help it.
To me, Cersei is a mean, spoilt brat who thinks born-in position an looks are more important than anything else. Her only approach to politics is exploiting these two ‘traits’ and threatening and lowering others. If that’s a strong character, I don’t know anything about character. My bet would be it get’s her killed the moment her father stumbles. He doesn’t even have to fall.
Sansa is still a child, granted. But she’s equally spoilt, and I can’t grasp how stupid she must be to still live in a dreamworld where the good looks of Loras, some glitter and gold are still that important (i.e., vs. the looks of Tyrion, who helped her out several times), after all she’s gone through. That she takes Margery and Granma into her confidence vs. not to trust Sandor is another hint. She’s characterised as a weak and feeble it-girl. And she’s a cruel liar: I’ll never forgive her lying about Nymeria, which got Lady executed. Not a strong character, IMHO. Not at all.
Catelyn, on a second thought, is. While all her decisions turned out to be really, really bad, they did not seem totally stupid at the time of decision, though, as in the other two. She’s still not on the clever side, though. I hope she will not loose more of her children due to her quite blindfolded way of intervening without getting (and, sometimes accepting) a second opinion. If she get’s Arya, Bran, and Rickon killed, I’ll be mad as hell. If she get’s Jon killed, I’ll be mad, too – but it would fit her character. She is aware that she did never love him – and it grieves her, which she admitted. That, for one, was a strong and moving scene which added to her characterisation more than anything else in the series.
I hear people say Arya is a strong character a lot but I can’t buy it. She’s young but she’s also extraordinarily careless with her own life – every “problem” is confronted with a sword in her hand, and its only by the basest luck she has survived this far.
There’s far more to strength than just waving a sword, yelling or burning people alive.
people keep saying “strong character” but it can have many meanings. strong to the plot as devices? strong in appearance due to crazy (or not) actions? strong as in the strength of their character as humans?
if it’s the latter, strength-of-character has nothing to do with intelligence nor value of one’s own life, no?
In GoT, I think of strong characters as those that are well defined, well written. It’s so morally removed from our own universe that it’s hard to think of in more conventional terms.
Yeah. I definitely think “strong female character” can be one of those sexist prescriptions that suggests to be admirable a woman character can’t be: frail, sexual, mean, clumsy, mistake-making, vulnerable — hell, it prescribes she needs to be “admirable” at all. That doesn’t tend to be a prescription we make for male characters.
I think it’s fine if the portrayal of a woman is “problematic” so long as those problems have context and meaning within the narrative and she isn’t being stripped of her agency in order to fulfill some gender ideal.
A “strong” character is one that is plausible, empathetic, nuanced, relatable, at their best and worst. I do think there are some alienating elements at times when it comes to how GRRM writes women, but I don’t think we need to feel like only the women who “take up a sword” are “strong.”
The assassin dude part made perfect sense to me. She has 8000 unsullied, dragons, and a bunch of Dothraki, riches, and a trail of burned cities behind her. He has a bunch of outnumbered sellswords each of whom would as soon slit his throat than eat with him. From a pragmatic point of view, the advantages of moving over to Dany’s camp add up. That he also fancies her a bit is just icing on the cake really.
I agree!!! I’m now anticipating what he will do when Daenarys tells him to do something, and he doesn’ t want to do it, Oh snap!!!
Aye, I guess that makes sense, just get a bad vibe innit. It’ll be interesting to see how Dani’s advisers, Baron Celery and the one who I can never remember the name of react to him. Not too well I’m guessing.
mayhaps, mayhaps not.
Generally, I always feel their condensing of the storylines for the teleplay to highlight smart choices, just as the actors bring those characters to life so well.
I do find it very interesting to see different reactions to the characters across the net, with Leigh finding Cersei to be refreshingly honest, while another reviewer likened her to the poker player who thinks it’s a good idea to always go ‘all in’, to their own detriment every time. It’s also very amusing to see some of the commentary based on who has and has not read the books, but that’s another thing entirely.
I feel worse for Sansa, but not because of Tyrion, just the whole mess. Tyrion has the maturity to deal, as well.
As for Lannister or Tyrell, I think I’d go with Lannister. Their machinations are at least more forthright. If I were a Tyrell, I’d still hate my parents but I wouldn’t know which was a threat to myself as well. At least Tyrion will tell you off to your face.
Having read the books, I don’t want to comment much on Darrio — but what I remember thinking when I first read about him was that he was a power-hungry snake and wanted to be on the side with dragons, not against them.
Darrio’s face bones are ridiculous!
In his first scene I said “Oh this guy is getting laid this season!”
I think my favourite part of the episode was Tyrion raising his cup to Loras. Like “Hey bro, you and me are in the same boat, being forced to marry, sucks don’t it?”
I think Loras is probably one of the only people in just as terrible straits as Sansa, and idk if it’s because Finn Jones is brilliant or not, but I love him.
Tyrion has sworn to never harm Sansa. Being married to Cersei, however, seems significantly more hazardous.
Loras also seems just as privileged, spoiled and pouty as Sansa. “Knight of Flowers” LOL. the gay community thanks you, GRRM
The pace of the episode was nice, and reflected its theme of characters making themselves vulnerable to others: voluntarily and involuntarily, sober or drunk, to good effect and bad. It’s been part of a larger theme I’ve noticed this season, about different kinds of openness and how they play out in this unforgiving world. Given that, it’s appropriate that that all of the most sympathetic characters (who also the fan favourites) were featured in this episode: Tyrion, Arya, Sam, and Davos.
Your observation about the slow pace of communications being a great plot device for the setting is dead-on. It’s also kept the Lannisters somewhat in the dark about the progress of Dany and her dragons (though I suspect Varys is a bit better informed than even Tywin, thanks to his “little birds” in Essos).
Speaking of Tywin, once again Charles Dance brought the goods in the wedding and feast scenes. He’s really become the breakout character of the series for me. Olenna was also great, entertaining the viewers and herself (if not her dinner companions) with her discussion of the pretzel-like family trees of the great houses of Westeros. Cersei and Jaime may take things to extremes (as did the Targaryens), but the Queen of Thorns illustrates that incestuous unions are to a certain degree the norm amongst the upper classes of the Seven Kingdoms.
Sansa doesn’t kneel in the book. In fact, she pointedly refuses because she’s a still a petulant young girl who’s unhappy that the fairy-tale wedding she thought she was entitled to has turned into … this. They actually make her a bit more sympathetic here.
Not sure I’d agree that Sansa is petulant by this point in the books.. No question is she an immature brat in book one — but by this time she’s endured quite a bit of horror at the hands of the family she’s forced to marry into. I’ve always seen her refusal to kneel as more than teen pique.
Good point. It could be taken as a small act of defiance against the Lannisters. I just didn’t like being made to feel sorry for Tyrion.
your perspective is a tad bit different and more privileged than Sansa’s
Just repeat to yourself “It’s just a show,
I should really just relax.”
i think you misinterpreted my comment entirely. Sansa doesn’t have the privilege that you do of being in the head of all the POV characters. but seriously, she’s grabbing any sort of power or making a point wherever she can and sometimes doing it in the wrong way (from the perspective of one whom has the privilege of knowing what’s going on all over westeros/essos and indeed IN others heads).
insert comment on prior restraint and whom needs to relax. i’m finishing my coffee
Of course, in the book Sansa has no warning about the wedding; someone fetches Sansa while she is trying on her new dress (which she thinks is for Joffrey’s wedding) and they’re like “Hi! You’re getting married today! To Tyrion! Here’s Joffrey to give you away!” So I don’t blame her for being shocked and angry and upset there. At least in the show she had some warning and time to get used to the idea.
yes, I really appreciated a Theon tordure-free episode
Now I can’t remember how the Frey wedding and Joffry’s wedding turn out- they *have* to be more cheerful affairs than this one!
“Joffry” and “cheerful affair” are mutually exclusive terms. Walder Frey doesn’t strike me as the most festive of party hosts, either.
The scene last season where Joffrey was having his men pour a gallon of wine down some guys throat – was that scene in the book or was it a homage to “Caligula?” Likewise turning the wedding into public sexual humiliation would have been from “Caligula.”
That was in the book.
Did they let him go or stab him like in “Caligula?”
I think it was actually Tiberius who did this.
Go google Caligula and Gleeson……they both look alike. lol
“Of course, Emilia Clarke is a startlingly beautiful human being. As she
slowly rose from the bathwater and crossed the room to confront her
suitor I might have made aloud some kind of awestruck exclamation
including the word “perfect,” to which my guy friends watching with me
politely demurred “nahhh,” presumably for my benefit.
”
After multiple readings I still cannot figure out what this is supposed to mean. Can anyone explain? Am just dumb or what?
Female reviewer was watching with some guys. Guys tried to play it off..
Play what off?
A lot of guys won’t compare a girl on the screen to the girl present in the room. They will downgrade what they say about her and mute their responses.
Oh.
Well, thanks.
Stupid, really. As if a girl can’t take it if a guy makes an appreciative remark about another woman’s beauty. As if all women are insanely jealous of each other all the damn time.
Welcome to the world of American gender roles and communication 101.
Seriously.. you will be hard pressed to find a guy in the US who has not been burned by complimenting a girl’s looks in front of another girl. It happens enough growing up that a lot of guys are quite gunshy on the topic.
Reply to Charles Buckley – you’re right, I’m European. I guess if it’s that ingrained, I can’t fault a guy for thinking that way.
Comments removed? Sorry if I offended anyone (moderator?)!
I presume she implies here she said something in the line of ‘Look at these perfect secondary sexual characteristics!”, and he said “Naahr, their not *that * perfect.”
Now, I feel a little embarrassed because I explained that.
Yeah, I got that much.
I think it’s the dark eyebrows with the blonde horsehair wig that is a boner shrinker. If her eyebrows were bleached and she has a little eye shadow, she would look very different.
o rly?
OK well that’s a dude, more or less.
You’re friends are gay, sorry, but if you think perfect when you saw her, like I did, then you are not!!! Beware of your buddies in the locker room!!!
Despite Tyrion being one of the more good-hearted characters on the show, Sansa takes the cake in the pity party. She is being wed to a member of the family who:
1) are currently at war with her family
2) crippled her brother
3) beheaded her father
4) physically and mentally abused her while holding her prisoner at Kings Landing
I’m frustrated by her naivety but she is a survivor and I think is more aware than she gets credit for. Sansa uses her polite-soft spoken nature as a shield, and quite effectively. She knows she’s being manipulated but what can she do but bide her time?
I’m hopeful that there can be some trust between Tyrion and Sansa. Although there is nothing Game of Thrones enjoys more than pulling the rug out from under you when you weren’t even aware you were on a rug. I’m keeping my optimism in check.
“…there is nothing Game of Thrones enjoys more than pulling the rug out
from under you when you weren’t even aware you were on a rug.”
Truly the best tl;dr of this series.
Sansa, of course. Tyrion at least has the option to do what Shae suggested – pack up shop and relocate to the Free Cities. He’d have to leave behind his family and the wealth which comes with it, but I’d bet Sansa would be gone in a heartbeat if given the same opportunity. Even though she’s one of my least favourite characters especially compared to Tyrion’s all-around awesomeness, you’ve got to have compassion for how she’s always dealt the worst hand.
As for Cersei, behind all the glamour and intrigues, she’s obviously had a shitty life herself and she’s making up for it by seizing any opportunities to free herself of her shackles and do what she wants for a change. She’s a marvellous example of displaying character growth not through actions, but through slowly exploring people’s motivations as the story progresses and they become POV characters. Cersei’s one of the easiest characters to loathe in the first few books, save Joffrey (and maybe the somewhat inconsequential Viserys), but as the story develops, that quickly turns to pity. Yeah, she doesn’t care for the well-being of anyone other than her kids and Jaime and she’s easily one of the most incompetent rulers around, but she’s just struggling for freedom and was never prepared to handle the responsibilities that come with it.
That said, I’d still back the Tyrells over the Lannisters. Margaery would actually make a fine queen, especially when forming a dream team with Olenna as her hand. But then, as she herself said, there can only be one queen, and there’s no way that she wins out over our favorite abolitionist and her fiery pets.
“so expect this is some kind of calm before a storm” – we’re clearly living on different paces if you call this a “calm” episode. WTF-moments on end, from the first to the last scene.We were so glad Sansa did not get the promised night-time visit, and incredibly annoyed Sam left the obsidian sword/knife on the scene. I started getting cold and sweaty hands the moment Melisandre started talking about lambs – an Iwas quite shaky at the end of this episode. Calm. Yeah. Sure. Yo, you read Macbeth to your little ones as a bedtime story, right? ;)
“incredibly annoyed Sam left the obsidian sword/knife on the scene.” I know, right? He has to be one of the most useless idiots I’ve ever seen in a tv show.
Bing!
i thought in the books the glass was destroyed, but i can’t really recall for certain. so maybe that’s part of the reason sam leaves it behind.
Ah! Kinda useless as a secret weapon then.
well, in the books they found more, hidden in caches all around — my guess is that it was an old defense whose knowledge was lost at some point, and now they are re-discovering it.
Yeah, it was destroyed, but not before he gets his nickname. Obsidian is fantastic against the White Walkers, but pretty much useless for anything else.
Useless! Poor Sam – he travels through the North all alone save for a savvy woodswoman and her baby, killed a white walker (which no one in living memory has done) and manages to keep a smile on his face the whole time.
Didn’t we see Robb kill a White Walker in Season One, and didn’t the Watch just kill a whole bunch of them – with regular fire? Which Sam DROPS the moment he sees one? Sorry, he’s a swell guy, but also the very definition of useless.
It’s a little different though, the show hasn’t been super clear about the distinction. Wights are the zombies – those are the vast majority of the army of undead you see at the end of episode, and also what Jon kills at the end of season one when it attacks the Lord commander.
White walkers otoh are the ones who raise the wights in the first.
this was completely clear in the show, IMO
Ah! I had no idea, thanks for clearing that up.
My mother started me on Macbeth, saying, “You’ll like it; it has witches.” True story.
Agreed, re: Cersei. Lena Headey is a gorgeous personification of “Ice and Fire.” So delighted she landed this role after her excellent turn as Sarah Connor in the short-lived “Terminator” show.
Catch Lena Headey in the 2012 movie Dredd, playing the ganglord Ma-Ma, lurking in her 200-story-tower-top penthouse suite, as Old Stoneface himself and Psi-Judge Anderson cut a two-person swathe through her soldiers
The White Walker’s interest in the baby was new and interesting. It seems to confirm that they have a particular interest in infants (hinted at by Craster’s sons.)
“it tells you a lot about Stannis that he nonetheless removed three of Davos’ fingers in punishment for his past as a smuggler”
Just the top section of four of them, IIRC.
“first joint from each finger of his left hand” would i believe implies 5, but mayhaps not?
Dumb, Sam, Dumb… first rule, if you manage to luck out and kill a nigh-unkillable monster with a magic blade… the FIRST THING YOU DO IS PICK UP THE DAMN BLADE.
But otherwise a good episode. I kind of crave a long conversation between Tyrion and Sansa, even something of a friendship, because he’s always treated her well
And well-chosen on the title… Second Sons, we have The Hound, Stannis, Tyrion, the mercenary group. Only Sam’s didn’t have a “Second Son” in it (maybe the wraith was, when he was alive!)
Sam is a second son in a different way. He was firstborn, but his father favoured his brother in all ways. Sam is at The Wall because it was either that or being hunted like an animal by his father.
that is an excellent point. To paraphrase Tyrion, he’s a second son in his father’s eyes
Yes, good point there.
I really don’t see Sansa being half of a good conversation….
Well, not if you’re looking for intelligent repartee, probably, but I think a good conversation can be wrung out of their situation.
And maybe it’s just that I’d like her to have somebody she can trust who is actually worthy of it… Margarey’s nice enough seeming but I have a feeling she’s do whatever she needed to if it benefitted her. Littlefinger’s obviously skeezy. Shae’s probably trustworthy except she’s also pretty powerless to help, as evidenced by the fact that she knew Sansa was going to be deflowered and pretty much let it happen because she had no choice. Tyrion’s about the only other person I think who she could learn to trust and would actually try to help her even when it cost him, and I’d like her come to realize this and to see it play out.
I do agree.
Thanks for another great recap! I always see something in the pics you include that I didn’t notice when watching the show. This time, it is the giant plate behind Dany’s head that looks just like a halo. Goes well with the madonna blue. Mother of dragons, indeed.
Finally some leeches, am I right Roose_Bolton?
“…who killed her friend Mycah in a more innocent time.”
…
This series is fucked up, yo.
I lean towards cutting Sansa some slack for not initially bending down during the wedding. It frankly might not have occurred to her — I know she saw Joffrey remove the stool, but can you imagine everything that’s going on in her head? She’s 14, getting married to a far less than ideal husband (to her eye), the man who just gave her away is the one who had her father killed, her mother and brother are in a war with her captors, her sister is missing and her other brothers might be dead (though she might not know that last one). The fact that she made it though the whole thing upright is a testament to her strength and Stark-ness.
It was very explicit in the books that she was consciously rebelling by refusing to help Tyrion. Then she heard the laughter and realized that Tyrion had a few issues as well and then chose to kneel. The show gave her a bit of an out at the expense of a small bit of character growth, but all in all I think it worked.
She never actually chose to kneel in the books.
Good I did not read this, yet. Seems she’s written even more a shallow character, and everything positive about here comes from Sophie Turner…
Yeah, not going perfectly along when your enemies force you to marry them is so shallow. What a spoiled brat!
Not true – she doesn’t kneel for the cloaking, but after the ceremony, she feels poorly for treating Tyrion that way and kneels for the ceremonial kiss.
Since so much of that scene is internal for Sansa, it would have been hard to portray on screen. Especially once Tyrion asked out loud.
I think you mean “divine retribution” not “divine redemption”
I think as far as the wedding goes, I feel slightly worse for Sansa, as this really was a terribly cruel match for her and an awful situation. In the scope of the series overall, though, I feel worse for Tyrion. At least Sansa had a loving family and a safe and pretty happy life before she came to King’s Landing. Tyrion had wealth and some influence, but pretty much universal scorn/disdain/mockery. The circumstances of his marriage to Tysha pretty much make me give Tyrion the most sympathy points.
Also, I feel like Sansa has more hope for a better ending; yes, she is a pawn now, but as Varys told us a few episodes ago, influence is a matter of patience and time. Sansa has a lot of potential if she can slip free of the Lannister leash; I feel like Tyrion may have the least bad fate of any of the Lannisters… but that’s probably not saying much, given the level of karmic retribution that tends to happen in Westeros. When the Lannisters fall, they are going to fall HARD, but the Starks have already lost a lot, and have more potential to come back and rise again.
See, despite all her suffering, Sansa has failed to show herself as a person of substance. She has never had a plan or foreseen a problem. If she were smart she would probably have offered to consummate the marriage in hopes of avoiding rape. If she had done that and then suffered through we would all be talking about the strength of her character. No, she is written to be shallow and stupid while her younger sister is smart, brave, and thoughtful. And really the marriage Sansa got was one that avoided her likely rape, murder or other usage by anyone else.
The marriage as the title of the episode highlights is more about Tyrion. In a lot of ways they highlighted how his father, sister, and nephew are evil heartless people, while he and his brother seem to be the only sources of decency in their family/kings landing.
I don’t think that’s being fair to Sansa. The girl is only 14, and she
was younger in the books– 12 or barely 13. She’s a child and you can’t
ask a child to understand or plot things the way an adult can. At this
point Sansa probably isn’t even used to having a period; having sex at
all is probably terrifying to her and offering herself up to someone who
is as unattractive to her as Tyrion is just unfathomable. In a few
years she might reconsider, which is what Tyrion is hoping for.
Sansa
is naive, but I don’t think she’s stupid. She’s survived in a very
hostile environment where she has no power by making her enemies believe
her meek and defeated. Arya’s techniques of survival (violence and
deception) serve her well outside the Court but would never help her
inside it. The two sisters use different techniques for survival in very
different circumstances; I don’t think it’s fair to compare the two.
That construct of 14 being a child is really from the modern age. In the medieval world, this was a common occurrence, and one would think that as the daughter of one of the top families in Westeros, she would have been raised to expect this, unless her parents were idealistic idiots . . . oh wait . .. nevermind . . .
True.
Not as common as you’d think – the average age for noblewomen’s first marriage was 18years in England during the approximate period in which GoT is “set”. Much older for lowborn and merchant women.
Umpf. See my remark above. She’s trusting the wrong people, still flattered by good looks and gold, and repelled by bad looks. In my book, that does not spell naïve. It’s no technique involved in telling everybody that Jo-jo is her beloved King with a face that tells otherwise, it’s utter failure. I truely hope she’s not going to trust Littlefinger again, if he comes back. It could be Tyrions end to do so. (And I like Tyrion. I really hope he survives this dark age, and the winter.)
See, the thing is, she isn’t a little girl at all. She is a character. largely conceived and written by adult men.
so… that makes her acting and reacting like a young girl wrong? I don’t get your train of thought, I’m afraid.
Meaning they wrote her to be a twit without redeeming value and wrote her sister to be smart interesting and active. There is no point in sitting around saying her lack of value as a character is because of her youth because her age is made up.
She is written to be the shallow girl, obsessed with being a princess that hasn’t ever taken the time to learn to think for herself and when the whole world conspires to make her into a human pinball in the Lanister cruelty machine, she is written not to stop and try and think her way out of the problem. She just bats her eyes and smiles and hopes someone will save her.
(In reply to RedShirt77’s response…)
It’s important to remember that a lot of that behaviour was learned in the first series, the hard way. The Hound put her in her place telling her that if she plays along, dresses nicely and says her pretty words like everything’s ok, she might just survive. So that’s what she has to work with, because she knows she can’t win any other way. That’s pretty smart.
Of course, all credit to Sophie Turner for the incredibly nuanced acting.
“If she were smart she would probably have offered to consummate the marriage in hopes of avoiding rape.”
how is consummating a marriage you don’t want not rape? I know marital rape is a fairly modern /legal/ concept but it still remains an actual thing, even back then.
Yes, it is a little too “lie back and think of Westeros” for my taste.
Which she was obviously prepared to do, if totally miserable about it. (And understandably). If I was offered an out in that situation, I’d jump at the chance too.
Well, obviously neither is all that appealing I am sure, but given the choice between unwanted sex with Tyrion and really unwanted rape from Joffrey should word they haven’t consumated gets out….. I really have no Idea what I would do in that situation, but the hint that she is contemplating that calculation would add some depth and value to her character that the writers seem to be avoiding.
So much of Sansa’s struggle in internal, short of having Sophie Turner do voice over monologues, I’m not sure what the producers could do. Sleeping with Tyrion won’t protect her from Joffrey, in her eyes, so I don’t see why she would choose consummation if she doesn’t have to. Maybe she’s hoping to avoid it long enough to anul her marriage on the grounds of non-consummation.
Melisandre started talking about lambs and knives as if lambs actually think “Oh Jesus look out she’s got a KNIFE !!!!!”
I’ve only read the first book, but I know so many people who have read all of them that I pick up bits and pieces from talking to them (honestly, having been on both sides of this, it is WAY easier not reading the books and not having to worry about spilling all the twists!). So I’ve heard about a certain wedding of a certain color but nothing else about it; with each wedding I’m like, “IS THIS THE ONE?” One down, two to go. Personally, I’m not feeling too confident about the Fray-Tully wedding. Bolton warming up to the Lannisters right before riding off to the wedding is mighty suspicious. And now there’s another spell from Melisandre to worry about.
Glad I finally know why he’s called Sam the Slayer, too! Sam is one of my favorite characters, to be honest. He’s just so nice! And with his comment from way back about women being people, not property, he’s practically a radical feminist by Westerosi standards (even Our Hero Jon Snow wasn’t quite in agreement with that!).
As for Lannisters or Tyrells… I can’t decide! I kind of love them both! (Is it weird that I like basically everybody but Joffrey and Littlefinger?) The Lannisters are so messed up and fascinating (especially Cersei). The Tyrells may be manipulative, but they’re pretty decent otherwise, and they’ve done more for the people of King’s Landing than the Lannisters have ever done (except Jaime, I suppose). My problem with watching this show is I root for everybody. (Except Joffrey.)
I’m enjoying Moriarty, er I mean Margaery, way more in the series than in the books.
It is so weird that when my mom was alive(bless her soul), we’d would visit often and most of the time she would have on “The Thornbirds” playing on Tv. I would say to her why she always has The Thornbirds on, even when she was making dinner, it’s like always on. She would watch it over and over 20 times or more. NOW I know she loved it, and that is how I feel about Game of Thrones! Watched all 3 seasons now for the 3rd time and all caught up, and never gets boring. So now what, I think I might just read the book, I love GoT, make 20 more seasons ya hear!!! P.S. wish mom was here to watch GoT with me.
Did anyone else laugh when Grand Maester Pycelle is shown at the wedding talking to two young attractive girls and there is a really dodgy dub of him saying ‘ahhhh, yes, I like you’?
Tywin fans (you know who you are): don’t miss Charles Dance as skeevy, schemy Tulkinghorn in the 2005 BBC Bleak House. That drawn, austere face always shows the *effort* of evil: you may have contempt for all the goody-goody weaklings around you, but there’s a cost that Dance is very good at revealing.
It’s not easy being mean.
“ah ah eye eye eye.. want the kniiiiife”
http://www.highdefdigest.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Golden_Child_insert4.jpg
the guy must be 100 years old!
Great 1988 pic of him here with a smoking hot Helen Mirren:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1394249216/nm0001097
I forgot that there was anybody other than Ben Kingsley in that movie.
I’m kinda puzzled about these posts, why are they written? I’m not trolling, I’m honestly asking why, didn’t notice when they started coming. It’s a total episode breakdown and people seems eager to discuss them. Almost like it deserves it’s own site?
I feel worse for Sansa. Tyrion has had many experiences in life that she hasn’t had that she’s going to miss out on because of being married so young. And she’s been married off as a prisoner(against her will) which makes it all so much worse. I don’t trust Daario at all. I worry for Dany and I’m almost afraid to see what he might do to her.
I’m for the Tyrell’s. All the way. Anyone but Joffrey…
Sansa, all the way. She’s young, she’s alone – for all she knows, more than half her family is dead (or on the chopping block as traitors to the Lannisters), and while I acknowledge the show nod to Peter Dinklage being extraordinarily handsome, he’s still a Lannister to her – and Joffrey made it pretty clear, no one cares what happens to her so long as an heir is born that can inherit Winterfell. (I am surprised, and grateful, for whatever reason, he didn’t follow through on his threat)
Shae’s look of gratefulness is interesting – I thought her protectiveness of Sansa would drive a deeper wedge between her and Tyrion, but I guess the non-consummation of the marriage was something she was pleased about. It doesn’t change any of her arguments from the previous episode (Tyrion’s too wedded to his privilege as a Lannister, he’ll marry Sansa but fuck her on the side, etc) so I’m curious to see where this triangle’s gonna go.
you mean traitors to the Barratheons, right? :-)
… of course :v