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scifi_rewatchAlthough this episode is named for a group of sellswords with whom Daenerys interacts, it is primarily the opening act of the Season of Weddings. Cersei/Loras has been talked about a lot lately, Edmure/Roslin is mentioned in this very episode, and Joffrey/Margaery is surely on the horizon. But we start off the festivities with Tyrion and Sansa.
Several of the weddings have canon or fanon names, which I urge you not to look up if you are an “Unsullied” who wishes to remain unspoiled. I call this one The Marvelous Wedding, after The Marvelous Marriage in “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” It’s basically me mocking that element of the fandom, which responds to a marriage between a young, defenseless girl and a member of the enemy's family looking to steal her inheritance, with derision for the former. Not to compare Tyrion to closely to Count Olaf, beyond their senses of humor. :P But book Sansa is even younger than Violet’s 14.
Overall, this was a very strong episode. There was the usual whitewashing and gratuitous female sex and nudity, but not to the glaring amount of recent eps. We featured far fewer locations than usual, too, which made things seem more focused and flow faster. Also a nice ease into next episode, the pinnacle number nine. But I’ll leave that for next week.
Summary
The Riverlands
Only one storyline happening here this week. Shocking! Anywho, we open on Arya eyeing a rock. The Hound is asleep—she tiptoes over to him with said rock—but as she’s about to strike, he warns that if she doesn’t kill her then he’ll break both her hands. So he gets her on his horse and tells her to stop sulking. He’s not so bad. Once, he even saved Sansa from rape. Arya says he’s lying, but he insists: she can ask her, if she ever sees her sister again. :/ They come across some water, which Arya assumes is the Blackwater—on their way back to King’s Landing. But nope—he’s decided to ransom her to her mother and brother at the Twins. Arya’s confused—why would they be there? The Hound fills her in on the Edmure/Roslin wedding.
King’s Landing
In King’s Landing, a very different wedding is about to take place. Sansa’s doll from Ned sits near her mirror as her handmaidens help her prep. Tyrion’s reflection appears in the glass and she sighs, gathering courage. He sends everyone else—including Shae—away. The betrothed exchange strained pleasantries before Tyrion tries to assure her that he knows how she feels. Yeah, she doubts that. :P So instead, he takes her hand and promises that he’ll never hurt her. Do you drink wine? He asks. Only when she has to. Today you have to, Tyrion tells his soon-to-be wife, earning a small smile as he leads her away.
In the sept, the other nobles congregate for the event. Margaery is all chatty cathy with Cersei, exclaiming that they should be friends, as soon-to-be sisters. Cersei responds with the story of House Reyne—once the second richest House in Westeros, like the Tyrells are now. But when they betrayed the Lannisters, Tywin made sure to make a huge, lethal example out of all of them. And just in case Marg isn’t getting the picture: “you call me sister again and I’ll have you strangled in your sleep.” :/
Sansa appears at the top of the staircase, where again she tries to gather her courage. A smug king Joffrey comes to escort her. Reminding her that her father is “gone,” this is his duty as “father of the realm.” She takes his arm and they slowly make their way down, the camera stopping briefly to pan on others in the crowd before going back to Sansa and then Tyrion at top of a dais with the septon. As Joffrey deposits her there, he makes sure to take the stool that was left for his uncle. This turns out to be problematic when it comes to the “cloaking ceremony,” where the groom cloaks the bride in his House colors. Tyrion, of course, can’t reach Sansa’s shoulders, leading to some sniggers from the crowd. Joffrey even gets a laugh in after Tywin does a big glare around the sept. Tyrion ultimately asks Sansa to kneel, so she does. The marriage ceremony begins, even though neither bride nor groom look too happy about it.
We skip, later, to the wedding reception. Hearty music is playing and Tyrion is already drunk, disgusting his new wife (not to mention his glaring father) with his burps and smearing his face on the tablecloth. Sansa, ultimately, asks to be excused. She ends up talking to Varys while Shae, beside her, stares heavily at Tyrion. Joffrey is also eyeing his former fiancée beadily, and he gets up to stalk her, despite his mother’s insistence that he talk to his new fiancée instead. She and her brother are being regaled by their grandmother about their twisted in-law relationships, now that they’re marrying a mother and son. :P Cersei ends up trying to find seclusion, looking at the Blackwater, and she rebukes Loras dismissively when he tries to make conversation. In Sansa’s absence, Tywin has made his way over to his son to rebuke him about his drunkenness—he needs to get Sansa pregnant ASAP. Tyrion has some funny, inebriated responses to that, including a sing-songy “I am the god of tits and wine.”
Sansa has moved on from talking and Shae pushes back some curtains for her. It seems she’s trying to make an escape but Joffrey wheels her back inside. He’s sniggering happily in his ungenuine congratulations for this “glorious” occasion while she’s forced to murmur her thanks. He gets to the crux of his harassment—she must be so thrilled to finally live out her dream of having a Lannister baby that “it doesn’t matter which Lannister puts the baby into her.” Maybe he’ll pay her a visit tonight once Tyrion’s passed out. At her stony face, Joff sniggers. “Ser Meryn and Ser Boros will hold you down.”
Speaking of unwanted sexual advances, King Joffrey now announces it’s time for the bedding ceremony. As he drags Sansa back down to the main table, Tyrion declares that he won’t have one. Joffrey tries to lay down the law, but Tyrion lays down a more damning threat: “then you’ll be fucking your own bride with a wooden cock.” :O Joffrey goes from gleeful to infuriated in two seconds, and the rest of the guests go quiet. Tywin and Tyrion finally manage to diffuse the situation—Tywin by pointing out that his son is drunk, and Tyrion for acting the part. He stumbles over to Sansa to lead her away, all the while talking about how he once vomited on a girl during sex. Lovely.
Inside their room, things are a bit less comical. Tyrion goes for his umpteenth glass of wine, though Sansa asks her “lord” if that’s wise. Tyrion asks her to use his name, which she does. He babbles a bit while she stands awkward and quiet, and then he asks her age. The answer—14—seems to sober him a bit. “Talking won’t make you any younger.” But Tywin ordered this marriage consummated. Sansa takes a deep breath—then a cup of wine for herself, which she downs. She walks over to the bed and slowly begins to undress. She’s about to take off her slip when Tyrion stops her. He can’t go through with it, no matter what his father says. “I won’t share your bed,” he promises. “Not until you want me to.” Sansa has her arms wrapped around herself and is tugging at her Lannister necklace. “What if I never want you to?” Tyrion doesn’t look thrilled at the response, but he smiles mockingly and lifts his glass. “And now my Watch begins.” He’s able to stumble over to a couch before completely passing out.
In the morning, Shae wakes Tyrion rudely by clanging breakfast on the table and yanking Sansa’s robe out from under his head. She helps her charge into it as tension rolls around. But when she removes the sheets from the bed where Sansa was sleeping, she finds them free of blood. She and Tyrion share a meaningful look as Sansa starts nibbling at breakfast.
Yunkai
Camouflaged in sandy colors, Daenerys, Jorah, Barristan, Grey Worm and others watch a large group of riders near an encampment. They are from a group of sellswords called the Second Sons, and Yunkai has hired them to fight Dany’s Unsullied. Their numbers are big enough to be a problem, so Dany calls for a meeting with the captains. Maybe they’ll be amenable to switching sides.
Two captains and one lieutenant (Daario, the only one who needs remembering) come to visit. Dany plays up her youth and inexperience in war, but also notes her large number of Unsullied, also her rapid acquisition of goods: “a month ago I had no army. A year ago I had no dragons.” One of the captains immediately tries to unnerve Dany with crass sex talk. The other is simply adamant that they can’t break their contract to the Yunkai or no one else will hire them. Daario is cocky, but more refined than the first one. Dany sends them off with a barrel of wine. Daario looks back at her with interest; crass dude merely slaps Missandei on the ass and says he’ll look for her “when all this is over.” Dany asks Barristan to kill that one first, if all comes to battle.
Back at their encampment, the three of them sit around. Crass dude has a whore with an elaborately skin-revealing dress on his lap, but he’s talking about fucking Daenerys. Daario introduces his personality—he says he fights for beauty, not gold, and the two best things in life are “fucking a woman who wants you to and killing a man who wants to kill you.” The second captain thinks they should avoid a military entanglement and kill Dany in her tent. They draw coins that the whore hands out—the Braavosi one “does the deed.” Daario gets it and says “valar morghulis.”
Missandei bathes Dany in her tent, while the khaleesi is impressed by her knowledge of 19 different languages. Missandei says Dany speaks Dothraki “reasonably well,” which shocks her. She responds, in the language, that Drogo said she spoke as well as one born to it, and Missandei corrects her on the same pronunciation that Irri did in season one. :P Missandei continues that Dany’s Valyrian is impeccable, and how this is the only language beautiful enough for poetry. But then she gasps off screen and Dany opens her eyes to see Daario with a knife to her throat. But he doesn’t seem keen on killing her; in fact, he reveals the captains’ plan without enacting it. He explains that he and the captains had philosophical differences over Dany’s “beauty” and how it was worth fighting for. When he got the coin, he said he didn’t want to kill her they said he had no choice, and he responded: “I am Daario Noharis; I always have a choice.” Then he upends a sack on her floor, containing the captains’ heads! Dany rises from the water—Daario watches appreciatively—and Missandei robes her. Will Daario and the Second Sons fight for her? The sellsword kneels and swears it.
Dragonstone
Melissandre brings Gendry to Stannis; the king takes the boy’s face in his hands and declares him “half Robert, half lowborn.” Mel asks for a room and bath to be drawn for the boy, then promises to visit him later. Stannis asks wtf is she doing, toying with him, when she should just sacrifice him. Mel likens the situation to slaughtering a lamb—scare it with the blade and the lamb’s fear seeps into the meat, darkening the flavor. I guess a happy sacrifice is better than an unhappy one?
In his cell, Davos practices reading Shireen’s book about Aegon’s conquest. He gets a visit from Stannis! They exchange pleasantries—how’s the food? :P Then Stannis expresses remorse over Matthos’s death; “he was a good lad, a loyal lad.” He says he’s here to free his Hand, if he promises not to lay a hand to Mel again (I can’t promise not to speak against her again, Davos says.) He gets his chance immediately; Stannis explains how Mel has captured one of Robert’s bastards and plans to sacrifice him for military victory. Davos is horrified—this boy is of your blood! So was Renly, Stannis says dismissively. Yeah, but Renly wronged you, declared himself king, took your bannermen. This boy is an innocent. Stannis claims that he believes Melisandre about a darkness coming to swallow them all. He’s no atheist like Davos (“I believe men invented the gods so our children could go to sleep,”) he believes in his vision from last season’s finale, and names it “a great battle in the snow.” He calls this his duty, “and great or small, we must do our duty.” Davos counters that Stannis came to free him because he knew he’d counsel restraint when it came to killing Gendry.
In his new room, Mel tries to coax Gendry to relax with some wine. He’s way out of his element here and waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Mel plays up his importance in worldly events. “A darkness has come to swallow the dawn…you and I can stop it.” She starts to get freaky with him, making out, removing his shirt, then her dress. She pushes him to the bed and starts gyrating. Then she ties his hands and feet, talking about a king’s blood. He’s definitely scared now, and implores Stannis and Davos for help as they enter. Mel places three leeches on the boy—including one on his unseen cock— and blames Davos, saying he “needed a demonstration” of the Red God’s power. She removes them as Gendry screams. Stannis takes them and throws them into the brazier, calling out the names of “the usurpers”: Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy and Joffrey Baratheon.
Beyond the Wall
Sam, Gilly and baby find shelter in an abandoned, ramshackle home. After unsuccessfully trying to start a fire, Sam joins the girl to stay warm. But Gilly quickly tires of Sam’s “fancy talk” when he discusses the “philosophical difference” between a wink and a blink. (I’m with Gilly; a blink is on purpose.) She starts to make a fire, and Sam presses her on giving the baby a name. She doesn’t know many boys’ names and centers on inappropriate ones—Craster or Mormont. (Sam tries to explain the family name vs birth name thing, using him and his father as an example.) She’s keen on the idea of “Randyll” as a name, until Sam explains that his father was cruel, though “a different sort of cruel” than Craster.
Outside, the crows are going crazy! Sam leaves to check it out, despite Gilly’s protests. The wind snuffs out the torch and the crows stop squawking as an imposing figure draws near—a White Walker! Gilly has come to the threshold, clutching her baby, whom she’s sure the WW wants. Sam tries to stand his ground, but the supernatural being merely grabs his sword and smashes it to smithereens. :O He sends Sam flying, and advances towards a terrified Gilly, trying to plead for her baby’s life. Sam grabs his dragon glass and stabs the creature as a last resort; the creature turns in shock before falling to his knees…and shattering into pieces himself. :O Sam grabs Gilly’s hand and the two of them run as loud crows swoop in a fantastically creepy final image.
Thoughts
There’s a large diversity of female nudity and sexualization on stage today. Daenerys’s scenes alone run the gamut. We start with the Second Sons commander intentionally trying to unnerve her (and pissing off Jorah and Grey Worm in the process) by disempowering/sexualizing her. Later, he’s the one with the whore on his lap, making more comments and touching her clothed genitals. (I gotta admit, that was a creatively designed outfit in what it hid and revealed.) Daario makes comments that seem to go against this stance—he’s into consensual, unpaid sex and has an appreciation for “beauty,” which seems more elevated than the words others use. In fact, the scene where he witnesses Dany’s nudity seems like the least sexualized “titty scene” on the show. Obviously there’s meant to be some heat between them, but Dany standing in the nude is more about HER power (Daario just killed his superiors, after all, and is about to swear his allegiance to her.) The only thing that really comes close to that is Brienne standing angrily before Jaime when he mocks her relationship with Renly a few eps back.
I’ve seen some legitimate criticism about Missandei not being able to stand up for herself when the pervy commander slapped her ass and made lewd comments. Even secondary characters can have their agency, after all. On the other hand, I really appreciate her tub talk with Dany, which fleshed her out as a very learned person (again, I wish the show/books had more talk of culture and poetry.) And it was an amusing flashback with Missandei correcting Dany’s Dothraki. :P Very nice moments of female friendliness. (None of this could happen so much in canon, because Missandei is much younger than Dany. But I’ve always been a fan of aging her up for relationship purposes.)
In all honesty, I’m not a huge fan of Ed Skrein’s performance as Daario. It’s certainly a nice change of pace, since so many of the dudes on this show are dickheads, but something about his dialogue seems staged. It feels like he’s acting. It’s a tough role, surely, because Daario’s “special boy” status of admiring beauty and being a free agent border on the Gary Stu. Overall, it drew me out of the moment, kind of like how book Daario with his blue hair draws some other fans out of the moment. :P (Also there’s a lot of—unfair, imho—backlash against Dany for being attracted to someone when she “should” be focused solely on her Westerosi mission. Don’t see Jon getting this much pushback for Ygritte.)
Anywho, back to the episode…there’s lots of streamlining with the sellsword companies (more than one in the book,) and Daario’s reasons for killing the captains is less explored (they don’t conspire to kill the khaleesi, either). Also, the wine Dany sends back with the sellswords is poisoned, so that she can mount a surprise attack. I’m assuming the showrunners thought she was aggressive enough without that, and they wanted to build up her relationship with Daario. Minor whitewashing, perhaps, but it doesn’t really change her agenda, or her relationship with the Second Sons.
The most inappropriately sexualized scene was between Melissandre and Gendry. Honestly…makes no sense to me, other than to titillate the audience. She’d just had that conversation with Stannis about not scaring “the sacrificial lamb,” but he looked pretty freaked out to me; I mean, who wouldn’t be? I didn’t buy that she’d “calmed him down” at all. Anywho, in the book, the bastard boy (Edric Storm’s) blood is drawn out by a maester, and not sexualized. The intent was to “wake” a dragon from stone, but in both cases Stannis took the leeches and made a sacrifice to kill the “usurpers.” One difference is that he said Robb’s name last, and after a pause. Uncertainty, perhaps, even guilt? They streamline things for the show; certainly both canon and adaptation Stannis regard Robb as a traitor, in the same vein as Joffrey and Balon.
There’s a lot of worldbuilding language that I appreciate—Stannis’s talk of “doing your duty,” which is the foundation upon which Westerosi culture exists, and the more poetic warnings about huge danger looming in the distance—“a darkness that will swallow the dawn.” When Stannis reveals his vision as “a great battle in the snow,” I think it’s safe to announce that we are talking about White Walkers here. :P But we will have to wait awhile before this talk pans out into action!
In the book Davos hadn’t begun to learn to read yet, and this is the time when Stannis names him his Hand, but that was all changed for streamlining events. They argue, similarly, over sacrificing the boy, and in fact it’s Stannis who decides to do leeches instead; Mel still thinks they need a death. There’s some other story details that are cut for timing purposes; nothing that really takes away from core characterizations, imho. (I love Davos and I love Liam Cunningham’s betrayal. Have I said that before? I think these scenes prove, as usual, that Davos is one of the most honest AND one of the most realistic men in the story.) Poor Gendry. :/
And poor Sansa. In the book, this is the time when she finds out about her impending marriage—about a half hour before it starts. The show has obviously given her more time to prepare. I continue to love how they utilize Ned’s doll to showcase her connection to her own past. Speaking of past connections, it’s worth noting how Tyrion’s “I’ll never hurt you” speech mirrors Joffrey’s from season one. A legitimate, canon-esque reason for Sansa to be wary.
Another side effect of Sansa having more time to prepare (also the domino effect of whitewashing Tyrion’s character so much—sheesh, that was a lot of guilt!wine he was drinking at the reception,) is that Sansa lost an iconic scene from the wedding—where she refuses to kneel for her husband, and he has to stand on the back of a fool instead. The show, as usual, gave the blame to Joffrey, as he removed an uncanonical stool from the premises. Also it’s worth noting that in the book, Tyrion didn’t directly ask Sansa to kneel, but instead tugged hintingly on her dress. A lot of fans are upset that Sansa lost her prideful agency…I’m more on the fence. Tweak a couple of details like this, and it makes less sense for her to refuse to bend. But on a broader level, it’s a shame that she lost one of her most open moments of defiance.
Some other King’s Landing characters get brief moments in the sun, particularly Cersei. Her uncanonical scene with Margaery features some deviations from the Rains of Castamere backstory, but that sort of background worldbuilding isn’t as important to me in the adaptation. Certainly mentioning this story now is foreshadowing for next ep. *zips lips* In terms of Cersei, her reactions to Marg, Loras—and Joffrey, even, when it came to Sansa—seem legit for her adaptation character. Olenna spouting twisted family trees, plus Tyrion’s drunkenness, were nice moments of levity. Loose with canon but good for episode flow.
Sansa’s moments of female sexuality are arguably the most genuine, because the show can’t use Sophie, who was 16 at the time of filming, for nudity and titillation. So instead, Tywin’s command to Tyrion about his “duty” to bed his wife, plus Joffrey’s rape threat, seem more about character building (all true to canon, too.) The Tyrion/Joffrey confrontation is also from the book, though the groom is not as drunk there. Great tension, though. A proverbial slapping, if you will. :P
The major differences when it comes to Sansa and Tyrion’s wedding night is that Sansa was 12 in the text, and both she and her husband took off their clothes and even engaged in a little fondling before Tyrion put a stop to it. Obviously none of this could happen on the show due to Sophie’s age (both the nudity and having to age her up. Sophie was wa too old to play 12! Still an unwilling child, though, which was the important part.) Again, Tyrion feels much more guilty on tv than in the book—textually, he urges Sansa to accept him, though it’s true that he doesn’t force her into anything. Given the legal restraints, Tyrion’s whitewashing might even be seen as necessary here. Overall the scene felt true to canon—and it was one of the few times that instead of focusing on the physical act of sex, the show had to focus on the implication for the characters. So kudos (and especially for Peter and Sophie, who did a fine job acting.)
Beyond the realm of sex, Arya/The Hound and Sam/Gilly both provided meaningful moments. Arya’s time on screen was brief this week, but poignant as she realized that the Hound meant to ransom her to Robb and Catelyn. Maisie’s face—so vulnerable for a second—was incredible. It was also a nice, and canonical, chance for the Hound to talk about Sansa a bit. In the book, he didn’t directly save her from rape, but that’s a technicality by this point. Obviously the real issue is Arya examining that maybe the Hound is a more complex character than she gave him credit for. Will his name make it off her kill list? The one bigger discrepancy from the book is that Arya told him that she was his brother’s prisoner, which amused Sandor to no end (that Gregor, unknowingly, had such an important prize.) Assuming they took that out due to lack of time. (Another omission—Arya gives away, in her face, how much she dislikes Sansa, and the Hound even jokes that she wants to kill her sister. Assuming the showrunners found this to be too brutal, and not really indicative of Sansa and Arya’s relationship. It’s clear, from their internal monologues, that although they don’t get along, the two sisters love each other. Some fans disagree.)
Finally, Sam/Gilly. There’s actually tons of deviations from canon here…Sam uses the dragon glass to save himself and Grenn, before the NW makes it to Craster’s. It was obviously moved later in the season to have more impact. (Also, the White Walker melts in canon, which makes sense since it’s DRAGON glass, you know, but that’s not an important distinction for me in the adaptation.) With Gilly, Sam witnesses crows fighting off lots of wights, and then he and the wildling woman and child are saved by a character whom we have not met yet in the show. Obviously this was changed for streamlining and budgetary reasons. Not hugely important to me.
In its place, we actually get some sweet, character-building interaction between Sam and Gilly. In the novels, they discuss naming the baby much later, because wildlings have a custom not to do namings for a few years. I rather enjoyed this scene, as Sam and Gilly went from discussing cultural differences to the one thing they share in common—cruel fathers. Was a nice chance for John Bradley and Hannah Murray to highlight the internal struggles of these characters. (And in a Season of Weddings, this is the only couple I’d actually like to see end up together, yanno, if Sam could get away from that pesky lifelong vow of celibacy. :/ Oh well.)
___
Several of the weddings have canon or fanon names, which I urge you not to look up if you are an “Unsullied” who wishes to remain unspoiled. I call this one The Marvelous Wedding, after The Marvelous Marriage in “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” It’s basically me mocking that element of the fandom, which responds to a marriage between a young, defenseless girl and a member of the enemy's family looking to steal her inheritance, with derision for the former. Not to compare Tyrion to closely to Count Olaf, beyond their senses of humor. :P But book Sansa is even younger than Violet’s 14.
Overall, this was a very strong episode. There was the usual whitewashing and gratuitous female sex and nudity, but not to the glaring amount of recent eps. We featured far fewer locations than usual, too, which made things seem more focused and flow faster. Also a nice ease into next episode, the pinnacle number nine. But I’ll leave that for next week.
Summary
The Riverlands
Only one storyline happening here this week. Shocking! Anywho, we open on Arya eyeing a rock. The Hound is asleep—she tiptoes over to him with said rock—but as she’s about to strike, he warns that if she doesn’t kill her then he’ll break both her hands. So he gets her on his horse and tells her to stop sulking. He’s not so bad. Once, he even saved Sansa from rape. Arya says he’s lying, but he insists: she can ask her, if she ever sees her sister again. :/ They come across some water, which Arya assumes is the Blackwater—on their way back to King’s Landing. But nope—he’s decided to ransom her to her mother and brother at the Twins. Arya’s confused—why would they be there? The Hound fills her in on the Edmure/Roslin wedding.
King’s Landing
In King’s Landing, a very different wedding is about to take place. Sansa’s doll from Ned sits near her mirror as her handmaidens help her prep. Tyrion’s reflection appears in the glass and she sighs, gathering courage. He sends everyone else—including Shae—away. The betrothed exchange strained pleasantries before Tyrion tries to assure her that he knows how she feels. Yeah, she doubts that. :P So instead, he takes her hand and promises that he’ll never hurt her. Do you drink wine? He asks. Only when she has to. Today you have to, Tyrion tells his soon-to-be wife, earning a small smile as he leads her away.
In the sept, the other nobles congregate for the event. Margaery is all chatty cathy with Cersei, exclaiming that they should be friends, as soon-to-be sisters. Cersei responds with the story of House Reyne—once the second richest House in Westeros, like the Tyrells are now. But when they betrayed the Lannisters, Tywin made sure to make a huge, lethal example out of all of them. And just in case Marg isn’t getting the picture: “you call me sister again and I’ll have you strangled in your sleep.” :/
Sansa appears at the top of the staircase, where again she tries to gather her courage. A smug king Joffrey comes to escort her. Reminding her that her father is “gone,” this is his duty as “father of the realm.” She takes his arm and they slowly make their way down, the camera stopping briefly to pan on others in the crowd before going back to Sansa and then Tyrion at top of a dais with the septon. As Joffrey deposits her there, he makes sure to take the stool that was left for his uncle. This turns out to be problematic when it comes to the “cloaking ceremony,” where the groom cloaks the bride in his House colors. Tyrion, of course, can’t reach Sansa’s shoulders, leading to some sniggers from the crowd. Joffrey even gets a laugh in after Tywin does a big glare around the sept. Tyrion ultimately asks Sansa to kneel, so she does. The marriage ceremony begins, even though neither bride nor groom look too happy about it.
We skip, later, to the wedding reception. Hearty music is playing and Tyrion is already drunk, disgusting his new wife (not to mention his glaring father) with his burps and smearing his face on the tablecloth. Sansa, ultimately, asks to be excused. She ends up talking to Varys while Shae, beside her, stares heavily at Tyrion. Joffrey is also eyeing his former fiancée beadily, and he gets up to stalk her, despite his mother’s insistence that he talk to his new fiancée instead. She and her brother are being regaled by their grandmother about their twisted in-law relationships, now that they’re marrying a mother and son. :P Cersei ends up trying to find seclusion, looking at the Blackwater, and she rebukes Loras dismissively when he tries to make conversation. In Sansa’s absence, Tywin has made his way over to his son to rebuke him about his drunkenness—he needs to get Sansa pregnant ASAP. Tyrion has some funny, inebriated responses to that, including a sing-songy “I am the god of tits and wine.”
Sansa has moved on from talking and Shae pushes back some curtains for her. It seems she’s trying to make an escape but Joffrey wheels her back inside. He’s sniggering happily in his ungenuine congratulations for this “glorious” occasion while she’s forced to murmur her thanks. He gets to the crux of his harassment—she must be so thrilled to finally live out her dream of having a Lannister baby that “it doesn’t matter which Lannister puts the baby into her.” Maybe he’ll pay her a visit tonight once Tyrion’s passed out. At her stony face, Joff sniggers. “Ser Meryn and Ser Boros will hold you down.”
Speaking of unwanted sexual advances, King Joffrey now announces it’s time for the bedding ceremony. As he drags Sansa back down to the main table, Tyrion declares that he won’t have one. Joffrey tries to lay down the law, but Tyrion lays down a more damning threat: “then you’ll be fucking your own bride with a wooden cock.” :O Joffrey goes from gleeful to infuriated in two seconds, and the rest of the guests go quiet. Tywin and Tyrion finally manage to diffuse the situation—Tywin by pointing out that his son is drunk, and Tyrion for acting the part. He stumbles over to Sansa to lead her away, all the while talking about how he once vomited on a girl during sex. Lovely.
Inside their room, things are a bit less comical. Tyrion goes for his umpteenth glass of wine, though Sansa asks her “lord” if that’s wise. Tyrion asks her to use his name, which she does. He babbles a bit while she stands awkward and quiet, and then he asks her age. The answer—14—seems to sober him a bit. “Talking won’t make you any younger.” But Tywin ordered this marriage consummated. Sansa takes a deep breath—then a cup of wine for herself, which she downs. She walks over to the bed and slowly begins to undress. She’s about to take off her slip when Tyrion stops her. He can’t go through with it, no matter what his father says. “I won’t share your bed,” he promises. “Not until you want me to.” Sansa has her arms wrapped around herself and is tugging at her Lannister necklace. “What if I never want you to?” Tyrion doesn’t look thrilled at the response, but he smiles mockingly and lifts his glass. “And now my Watch begins.” He’s able to stumble over to a couch before completely passing out.
In the morning, Shae wakes Tyrion rudely by clanging breakfast on the table and yanking Sansa’s robe out from under his head. She helps her charge into it as tension rolls around. But when she removes the sheets from the bed where Sansa was sleeping, she finds them free of blood. She and Tyrion share a meaningful look as Sansa starts nibbling at breakfast.
Yunkai
Camouflaged in sandy colors, Daenerys, Jorah, Barristan, Grey Worm and others watch a large group of riders near an encampment. They are from a group of sellswords called the Second Sons, and Yunkai has hired them to fight Dany’s Unsullied. Their numbers are big enough to be a problem, so Dany calls for a meeting with the captains. Maybe they’ll be amenable to switching sides.
Two captains and one lieutenant (Daario, the only one who needs remembering) come to visit. Dany plays up her youth and inexperience in war, but also notes her large number of Unsullied, also her rapid acquisition of goods: “a month ago I had no army. A year ago I had no dragons.” One of the captains immediately tries to unnerve Dany with crass sex talk. The other is simply adamant that they can’t break their contract to the Yunkai or no one else will hire them. Daario is cocky, but more refined than the first one. Dany sends them off with a barrel of wine. Daario looks back at her with interest; crass dude merely slaps Missandei on the ass and says he’ll look for her “when all this is over.” Dany asks Barristan to kill that one first, if all comes to battle.
Back at their encampment, the three of them sit around. Crass dude has a whore with an elaborately skin-revealing dress on his lap, but he’s talking about fucking Daenerys. Daario introduces his personality—he says he fights for beauty, not gold, and the two best things in life are “fucking a woman who wants you to and killing a man who wants to kill you.” The second captain thinks they should avoid a military entanglement and kill Dany in her tent. They draw coins that the whore hands out—the Braavosi one “does the deed.” Daario gets it and says “valar morghulis.”
Missandei bathes Dany in her tent, while the khaleesi is impressed by her knowledge of 19 different languages. Missandei says Dany speaks Dothraki “reasonably well,” which shocks her. She responds, in the language, that Drogo said she spoke as well as one born to it, and Missandei corrects her on the same pronunciation that Irri did in season one. :P Missandei continues that Dany’s Valyrian is impeccable, and how this is the only language beautiful enough for poetry. But then she gasps off screen and Dany opens her eyes to see Daario with a knife to her throat. But he doesn’t seem keen on killing her; in fact, he reveals the captains’ plan without enacting it. He explains that he and the captains had philosophical differences over Dany’s “beauty” and how it was worth fighting for. When he got the coin, he said he didn’t want to kill her they said he had no choice, and he responded: “I am Daario Noharis; I always have a choice.” Then he upends a sack on her floor, containing the captains’ heads! Dany rises from the water—Daario watches appreciatively—and Missandei robes her. Will Daario and the Second Sons fight for her? The sellsword kneels and swears it.
Dragonstone
Melissandre brings Gendry to Stannis; the king takes the boy’s face in his hands and declares him “half Robert, half lowborn.” Mel asks for a room and bath to be drawn for the boy, then promises to visit him later. Stannis asks wtf is she doing, toying with him, when she should just sacrifice him. Mel likens the situation to slaughtering a lamb—scare it with the blade and the lamb’s fear seeps into the meat, darkening the flavor. I guess a happy sacrifice is better than an unhappy one?
In his cell, Davos practices reading Shireen’s book about Aegon’s conquest. He gets a visit from Stannis! They exchange pleasantries—how’s the food? :P Then Stannis expresses remorse over Matthos’s death; “he was a good lad, a loyal lad.” He says he’s here to free his Hand, if he promises not to lay a hand to Mel again (I can’t promise not to speak against her again, Davos says.) He gets his chance immediately; Stannis explains how Mel has captured one of Robert’s bastards and plans to sacrifice him for military victory. Davos is horrified—this boy is of your blood! So was Renly, Stannis says dismissively. Yeah, but Renly wronged you, declared himself king, took your bannermen. This boy is an innocent. Stannis claims that he believes Melisandre about a darkness coming to swallow them all. He’s no atheist like Davos (“I believe men invented the gods so our children could go to sleep,”) he believes in his vision from last season’s finale, and names it “a great battle in the snow.” He calls this his duty, “and great or small, we must do our duty.” Davos counters that Stannis came to free him because he knew he’d counsel restraint when it came to killing Gendry.
In his new room, Mel tries to coax Gendry to relax with some wine. He’s way out of his element here and waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Mel plays up his importance in worldly events. “A darkness has come to swallow the dawn…you and I can stop it.” She starts to get freaky with him, making out, removing his shirt, then her dress. She pushes him to the bed and starts gyrating. Then she ties his hands and feet, talking about a king’s blood. He’s definitely scared now, and implores Stannis and Davos for help as they enter. Mel places three leeches on the boy—including one on his unseen cock— and blames Davos, saying he “needed a demonstration” of the Red God’s power. She removes them as Gendry screams. Stannis takes them and throws them into the brazier, calling out the names of “the usurpers”: Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy and Joffrey Baratheon.
Beyond the Wall
Sam, Gilly and baby find shelter in an abandoned, ramshackle home. After unsuccessfully trying to start a fire, Sam joins the girl to stay warm. But Gilly quickly tires of Sam’s “fancy talk” when he discusses the “philosophical difference” between a wink and a blink. (I’m with Gilly; a blink is on purpose.) She starts to make a fire, and Sam presses her on giving the baby a name. She doesn’t know many boys’ names and centers on inappropriate ones—Craster or Mormont. (Sam tries to explain the family name vs birth name thing, using him and his father as an example.) She’s keen on the idea of “Randyll” as a name, until Sam explains that his father was cruel, though “a different sort of cruel” than Craster.
Outside, the crows are going crazy! Sam leaves to check it out, despite Gilly’s protests. The wind snuffs out the torch and the crows stop squawking as an imposing figure draws near—a White Walker! Gilly has come to the threshold, clutching her baby, whom she’s sure the WW wants. Sam tries to stand his ground, but the supernatural being merely grabs his sword and smashes it to smithereens. :O He sends Sam flying, and advances towards a terrified Gilly, trying to plead for her baby’s life. Sam grabs his dragon glass and stabs the creature as a last resort; the creature turns in shock before falling to his knees…and shattering into pieces himself. :O Sam grabs Gilly’s hand and the two of them run as loud crows swoop in a fantastically creepy final image.
Thoughts
There’s a large diversity of female nudity and sexualization on stage today. Daenerys’s scenes alone run the gamut. We start with the Second Sons commander intentionally trying to unnerve her (and pissing off Jorah and Grey Worm in the process) by disempowering/sexualizing her. Later, he’s the one with the whore on his lap, making more comments and touching her clothed genitals. (I gotta admit, that was a creatively designed outfit in what it hid and revealed.) Daario makes comments that seem to go against this stance—he’s into consensual, unpaid sex and has an appreciation for “beauty,” which seems more elevated than the words others use. In fact, the scene where he witnesses Dany’s nudity seems like the least sexualized “titty scene” on the show. Obviously there’s meant to be some heat between them, but Dany standing in the nude is more about HER power (Daario just killed his superiors, after all, and is about to swear his allegiance to her.) The only thing that really comes close to that is Brienne standing angrily before Jaime when he mocks her relationship with Renly a few eps back.
I’ve seen some legitimate criticism about Missandei not being able to stand up for herself when the pervy commander slapped her ass and made lewd comments. Even secondary characters can have their agency, after all. On the other hand, I really appreciate her tub talk with Dany, which fleshed her out as a very learned person (again, I wish the show/books had more talk of culture and poetry.) And it was an amusing flashback with Missandei correcting Dany’s Dothraki. :P Very nice moments of female friendliness. (None of this could happen so much in canon, because Missandei is much younger than Dany. But I’ve always been a fan of aging her up for relationship purposes.)
In all honesty, I’m not a huge fan of Ed Skrein’s performance as Daario. It’s certainly a nice change of pace, since so many of the dudes on this show are dickheads, but something about his dialogue seems staged. It feels like he’s acting. It’s a tough role, surely, because Daario’s “special boy” status of admiring beauty and being a free agent border on the Gary Stu. Overall, it drew me out of the moment, kind of like how book Daario with his blue hair draws some other fans out of the moment. :P (Also there’s a lot of—unfair, imho—backlash against Dany for being attracted to someone when she “should” be focused solely on her Westerosi mission. Don’t see Jon getting this much pushback for Ygritte.)
Anywho, back to the episode…there’s lots of streamlining with the sellsword companies (more than one in the book,) and Daario’s reasons for killing the captains is less explored (they don’t conspire to kill the khaleesi, either). Also, the wine Dany sends back with the sellswords is poisoned, so that she can mount a surprise attack. I’m assuming the showrunners thought she was aggressive enough without that, and they wanted to build up her relationship with Daario. Minor whitewashing, perhaps, but it doesn’t really change her agenda, or her relationship with the Second Sons.
The most inappropriately sexualized scene was between Melissandre and Gendry. Honestly…makes no sense to me, other than to titillate the audience. She’d just had that conversation with Stannis about not scaring “the sacrificial lamb,” but he looked pretty freaked out to me; I mean, who wouldn’t be? I didn’t buy that she’d “calmed him down” at all. Anywho, in the book, the bastard boy (Edric Storm’s) blood is drawn out by a maester, and not sexualized. The intent was to “wake” a dragon from stone, but in both cases Stannis took the leeches and made a sacrifice to kill the “usurpers.” One difference is that he said Robb’s name last, and after a pause. Uncertainty, perhaps, even guilt? They streamline things for the show; certainly both canon and adaptation Stannis regard Robb as a traitor, in the same vein as Joffrey and Balon.
There’s a lot of worldbuilding language that I appreciate—Stannis’s talk of “doing your duty,” which is the foundation upon which Westerosi culture exists, and the more poetic warnings about huge danger looming in the distance—“a darkness that will swallow the dawn.” When Stannis reveals his vision as “a great battle in the snow,” I think it’s safe to announce that we are talking about White Walkers here. :P But we will have to wait awhile before this talk pans out into action!
In the book Davos hadn’t begun to learn to read yet, and this is the time when Stannis names him his Hand, but that was all changed for streamlining events. They argue, similarly, over sacrificing the boy, and in fact it’s Stannis who decides to do leeches instead; Mel still thinks they need a death. There’s some other story details that are cut for timing purposes; nothing that really takes away from core characterizations, imho. (I love Davos and I love Liam Cunningham’s betrayal. Have I said that before? I think these scenes prove, as usual, that Davos is one of the most honest AND one of the most realistic men in the story.) Poor Gendry. :/
And poor Sansa. In the book, this is the time when she finds out about her impending marriage—about a half hour before it starts. The show has obviously given her more time to prepare. I continue to love how they utilize Ned’s doll to showcase her connection to her own past. Speaking of past connections, it’s worth noting how Tyrion’s “I’ll never hurt you” speech mirrors Joffrey’s from season one. A legitimate, canon-esque reason for Sansa to be wary.
Another side effect of Sansa having more time to prepare (also the domino effect of whitewashing Tyrion’s character so much—sheesh, that was a lot of guilt!wine he was drinking at the reception,) is that Sansa lost an iconic scene from the wedding—where she refuses to kneel for her husband, and he has to stand on the back of a fool instead. The show, as usual, gave the blame to Joffrey, as he removed an uncanonical stool from the premises. Also it’s worth noting that in the book, Tyrion didn’t directly ask Sansa to kneel, but instead tugged hintingly on her dress. A lot of fans are upset that Sansa lost her prideful agency…I’m more on the fence. Tweak a couple of details like this, and it makes less sense for her to refuse to bend. But on a broader level, it’s a shame that she lost one of her most open moments of defiance.
Some other King’s Landing characters get brief moments in the sun, particularly Cersei. Her uncanonical scene with Margaery features some deviations from the Rains of Castamere backstory, but that sort of background worldbuilding isn’t as important to me in the adaptation. Certainly mentioning this story now is foreshadowing for next ep. *zips lips* In terms of Cersei, her reactions to Marg, Loras—and Joffrey, even, when it came to Sansa—seem legit for her adaptation character. Olenna spouting twisted family trees, plus Tyrion’s drunkenness, were nice moments of levity. Loose with canon but good for episode flow.
Sansa’s moments of female sexuality are arguably the most genuine, because the show can’t use Sophie, who was 16 at the time of filming, for nudity and titillation. So instead, Tywin’s command to Tyrion about his “duty” to bed his wife, plus Joffrey’s rape threat, seem more about character building (all true to canon, too.) The Tyrion/Joffrey confrontation is also from the book, though the groom is not as drunk there. Great tension, though. A proverbial slapping, if you will. :P
The major differences when it comes to Sansa and Tyrion’s wedding night is that Sansa was 12 in the text, and both she and her husband took off their clothes and even engaged in a little fondling before Tyrion put a stop to it. Obviously none of this could happen on the show due to Sophie’s age (both the nudity and having to age her up. Sophie was wa too old to play 12! Still an unwilling child, though, which was the important part.) Again, Tyrion feels much more guilty on tv than in the book—textually, he urges Sansa to accept him, though it’s true that he doesn’t force her into anything. Given the legal restraints, Tyrion’s whitewashing might even be seen as necessary here. Overall the scene felt true to canon—and it was one of the few times that instead of focusing on the physical act of sex, the show had to focus on the implication for the characters. So kudos (and especially for Peter and Sophie, who did a fine job acting.)
Beyond the realm of sex, Arya/The Hound and Sam/Gilly both provided meaningful moments. Arya’s time on screen was brief this week, but poignant as she realized that the Hound meant to ransom her to Robb and Catelyn. Maisie’s face—so vulnerable for a second—was incredible. It was also a nice, and canonical, chance for the Hound to talk about Sansa a bit. In the book, he didn’t directly save her from rape, but that’s a technicality by this point. Obviously the real issue is Arya examining that maybe the Hound is a more complex character than she gave him credit for. Will his name make it off her kill list? The one bigger discrepancy from the book is that Arya told him that she was his brother’s prisoner, which amused Sandor to no end (that Gregor, unknowingly, had such an important prize.) Assuming they took that out due to lack of time. (Another omission—Arya gives away, in her face, how much she dislikes Sansa, and the Hound even jokes that she wants to kill her sister. Assuming the showrunners found this to be too brutal, and not really indicative of Sansa and Arya’s relationship. It’s clear, from their internal monologues, that although they don’t get along, the two sisters love each other. Some fans disagree.)
Finally, Sam/Gilly. There’s actually tons of deviations from canon here…Sam uses the dragon glass to save himself and Grenn, before the NW makes it to Craster’s. It was obviously moved later in the season to have more impact. (Also, the White Walker melts in canon, which makes sense since it’s DRAGON glass, you know, but that’s not an important distinction for me in the adaptation.) With Gilly, Sam witnesses crows fighting off lots of wights, and then he and the wildling woman and child are saved by a character whom we have not met yet in the show. Obviously this was changed for streamlining and budgetary reasons. Not hugely important to me.
In its place, we actually get some sweet, character-building interaction between Sam and Gilly. In the novels, they discuss naming the baby much later, because wildlings have a custom not to do namings for a few years. I rather enjoyed this scene, as Sam and Gilly went from discussing cultural differences to the one thing they share in common—cruel fathers. Was a nice chance for John Bradley and Hannah Murray to highlight the internal struggles of these characters. (And in a Season of Weddings, this is the only couple I’d actually like to see end up together, yanno, if Sam could get away from that pesky lifelong vow of celibacy. :/ Oh well.)
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