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scifi_rewatchThere’s a sort of return to tradition with these first two eps. Last year, things were crazy sped up in terms of seasonal plot, because Joffrey bit the dust at the end of the second hour. Now we are back to a slow burn, even making time for some character moments that are in no way about plot. Plodding along, maybe.
Not to say that nothing happens! There’s death threats and fated meetings, a hugely (in-show) controversial execution, and even an election. Two new storylines make an appearance—Arya in Braavos and the Martells in Dorne. I’d like to spew some ridiculousness about how each character has a stake in this week’s title, but yeah, it’s all about Arya. :P Most canonical storyline ahoy! Well, kinda, hee.
Summary
Braavos
Arya arrives and is taken to the House of Black and White. After she’s denied entry, she throws Jaqen’s coin in the water. Later, when about to get into a scrap with a couple of ruffians, Jaqen appears, hands back the coin, and invites her into the temple of the Faceless Men.
Essos Road
Tyrion and Varys are traveling to Volantis. Feeling cabin sick, they talk about their draws to power, their misanthropic and their general loneliness. Sets the mood for the characters, but doesn't add anything substantial to the plot.
Westeros Road
Brienne and Sansa finally run into each other at an inn. Propelled by Littlefinger and her general distrust of strangers, the eldest Stark girl joins her sister in refusing Brienne’s help. After a scuffle with their escort, Brienne (and Pod) vow to follow Catelyn’s eldest daughter, fearing that she is not safe with Littlefinger.
Dorne
Ellaria watches Myrcella with Trystane in the Water Gardens, feeling angry and vengeful about Oberyn’s death, which she blames on the Lannisters. She accuses Oberyn’s brother, Doran, for being weak by not seeking revenge, and claims that “the sand snakes” will stand with her. Doran refuses to mutilate a young girl for vengeance, and maintains the public façade of accepting that Oberyn’s death was blameless.
King’s Landing
Cersei receives a message from Dorne that blatantly threatens Myrcella’s life. Jaime vows to bring the girl home, and collects Bronn to help him do it. As Tommen’s acting agent, Cersei is able to manipulate most of the small council with platitudes, but her uncle Kevan is disgusted and storms back to Lannisport.
The Wall
Shireen teaches Gilly to read, and Gilly tells the girl and Sam horrific tales about the grayscale disease from Craster’s keep. Stannis is mad at Jon for mercy killing Mance, but in the face of new realities is willing to legitimize him as Jon Stark and instate him as Lord of Winterfell if he fights for his cause. Instead, Jon is elected for, and wins the seat of Lord Commander, surpassing a very irate Allister Thorne.
Meereen
The Unsullied and Second Sons capture a Son of the Harpy, and Daenerys debates with her council what to do with him. Although Barristan convinces her to give him a trial, one of her freed slaves on her council kills the harpy in revenge. Dany’s attempt to enact law fairly and publicly execute her former friend is not met kindly by the rest of the freed slaves.
Differences Between Page and Screen
Braavos: Arya has much less of a relationship with the people on the boat, and in the book it’s the captain’s son who rows her to Braavos. She is immediately admitted into the temple by the Kindly Man, revealing a face that is first a skull with graveworms crawling in it, and then a gentle old man face. She has not re-met up with Jaqen (as far as we know :P) in the novels.
Essos Road: Tyrion and Illyrio travel on a litter kept pristine through magical properties. They eat, discuss Essos history, Illyrio’s knowledge of Daenerys, tactical stuff.
Westeros Road: Pretty much everything. :P Thus starts the “Game of Thrones” tradition of letting characters actually meet up, especially when one is looking for the other. :O Tends to be more arduous in the books, and Brienne spends most of her time in “A Feast for Crows” searching fruitlessly for Sansa, who is not traveling.
Dorne: A lot fewer people and less world building on screen. Book Ellaria is not vengeance-seeking, and in fact refuses to get involved in a futile, endless cycle of violence. Indira Varma’s character’s motivations are taken from Obara Sand, the eldest of Oberyn’s daughters, the Sand Snakes. Although even Obara doesn’t want to mutilate Myrcella. Even so, while show Doran lets Ellaria go, book Doran has his nieces arrested, even for their lesser threats. Finally there is no Arianne, Doran’s daughter and a POV character from “A Feast for Crows,” who wants to crown Myrcella over Tommen.
King’s Landing: Only minor issues from the dwarf head scene—there were three men instead of two, and Qyburn doesn’t ask for the head. The head actually belongs to someone whom Brienne met on her travels. Cersei plants more sycophants on the small council and doesn’t pay as much attention to the show-established characters. Privately, she names one man the Hand of the King as a means of keeping her uncle in check; Kevan is still disapproving of her rule and wants her to return to Casterly Rock. He does ultimately leave King’s Landing, where he’d been since the Blackwater. As for Jaime, his trip to Dorne with Bronn is completely uncanon. His relationship with his sister, concerning who wants to be more open vs quiet about the incest, is also switched. In the books, Cersei has to force Jaime to go to his canonical Riverlands journey when Jaime wants to stay and protect Tommen. As for Bronn and Lollys, they spend a little bit of time on the show discussing their book plot (Bronn ultimately does his part to dispatch the mean sister and her husband, because he wants the castle.) He and Lollys do marry, and it’s her mother, not her father, who rules Stokeworth. Maybe I’d call show Lollys simple-minded, since her concerns aren’t too worldly, but not exactly the canonical dimwitted.
The Wall: Stannis’s offer of legitimization comes with more religious stipulations about the Red god, as do his plans for having the wildlings submit to him. Either way, likely not gonna happen. They drop some complexity in that Lyanna Mormont has older sisters whom Jon recollects. She is ergo not Lady of Bear Island. Jon is less visibly amused by northern loyalty, too. Ghost actually arrives at the Wall around this time, after having been separated from Jon since the second book—which reminds Jon of his loyalty to the northern gods. He is still tempted by the Lord Stark title. The election is more drawn out and has an additional candidate. The show also doesn’t include Mormont’s raven’s vote of “Snow, Snow” while flying to Jon’s shoulder. :P Elsewhere, Gilly and Shireen never meet in the novels, though Sam does make a passing reference to the very young Lord Commander whom he finds in the book. Most wildlings call grayscale gray death, though show Gilly doesn’t have a name for it.
Meereen: These specific incidents are fabricated, though loosely based on the canonical fact that the Sons of the Harpy are causing violent turmoil, and straining relations with Dany and her subjects. Drogon also doesn’t stop to visit as such.
Thoughts
A lot of the fantastical, magical elements have been toned down; the show centers them more concretely among specific people. I suppose the kindly man doesn’t make the cut. :P Instead they focus on shape shifting, which was Jaqen’s main identifier in season two, and they bring back a familiar face for Arya. I respect that it keeps the audience invested (there’s lots of emphasis on established relationships over random encounters, and it gives the show a more focused feel. One of the complaints about the later books is that they consist of the Tyrion/Varys wandering scene, writ large.)
There was a religious component in Arya being refused entry at first (maybe I’m speaking from my native Judaism again,) because she more or less has to prove herself. Maybe “Jaqen” is called home after she arrives (I like the idea of the first man she met actually being someone else. We can unravel a whole lot of reality if we dig too deep into how all Faceless Men are “no one.”) The show focuses a bit on Arya’s anger, with her truncated kill list, and her general feral attitude with the hooligans. (I also loved all of the color and liveliness of Braavos as a fishing island. And great CGI, of course.)
Another big theme of this episode (and the whole season, really) is rulership, which Martin stretched between characters inhabiting “A Feast for Crows” and “A Dance with Dragons.” Everyone exists on a spectrum of how much they let personal concerns outweigh political complexities. Will Jon forsake his vows and take on the title he always wanted? Will Dany give into her hatred for the Harpies and have him executed, “fire and blood” style? Will Doran throw his people into a war over vengeance for Oberyn’s death? The person who, undoubtedly, gives in the most to her personal desires is Cersei, whose entire goal is to protect her children by keeping everyone else the fuck at bay. Her circle of trust extends to a mad, unethical scientist, and maybe Jaime.
Jaime, too, chooses the personal over the more prudent, perhaps, on the show. Elio from Westeros thinks that the character is inconsistent; in one episode he’s talking about nearby threats to the Lannisters, and in the next he’s packing his bags. I think I disagree that it’s inconsistent. Cersei shamed Jaime for being unable to stop Tywin’s murder. She also shamed him for being an absentee father. On the show he’s a little whitewashed to want to be a good father (in the books he more wants to stay with Tommen out of Kingsguard duty, imho.) Also, he’s weighing a direct threat to Myrcella’s life against less defined threats at King’s Landing, and Jaime is a man of action. From a production standpoint, obviously Jaime has to go to a place where other characters are, but I think it makes sense for the character, too. Picking Bronn up along the way is obviously about the bro humor. :P
I’m cool with Cersei acting more fiery like her canon counterpart with her angry outburst: “If they touch her, I will burn their cities to the ground!” I am far less cool with Ellaria’s turn as a one-note revenge artist. Turning Catelyn into a similar sort of shrew was one of the, if not the, biggest botch on the show, IMHO. Honestly, is there no one in this world who is sick of fighting already and wants to bring up the futility of endless violence?? The only thing I liked about the Ellaria scene was how her snake bracelet curled against her fist. :P As for Doran, I think it’s feasible to come away believing that he actually has faith in everything he’s said, but from the books, anyway, it seems like he’s playing more of the long game. He definitely wants the Lannisters out.
Stannis also wants the Lannisters out, but right now he’s focused on the Boltons, lol. :P He seems to do a little siwtcheroo with Jon, first threatening him with “ask Ser Davos what I do with traitors” and then “you showed bravery. I award that, unlike Thorne.” Guy’s a manipulator. :P He wants Jon on his side, and in either case—for Westeros or for the Night’s Watch—it seems he’s destined to be a leader. The speeches were good enough and reflected plot points from earlier seasons. Jon’s a stand up guy, if still a little emo. :P And, of course, there’s room for contention. It was a very tight race between him and Thorne, so not only is that dude against him, so are a lot of his brothers. Cue recent U.S. presidential races, hee.
I admit, I’m a bigger fan of the scene in the library, especially Sam and Gilly’s banters. Those cute flirts. :P Plotwise, the scene is there to introduce the idea that grayscale is usually a horrible, lethal thing, because of reasons /zips lips (Also, the ten-year-old Lord Commander is meant to make Jon seem not too ridiculously young for the task.) But it’s those character moments, man. Like when Selyse dismisses Sam and Gilly and starts lecturing her daughter on the wildlings. Such different worldviews—Selyse is this terrified, narrow-minded woman who has latched onto extremist religion as the only truth. Shireen, meanwhile, is big-hearted and empathetic about the world around her. Interlacing all of this is the strain in their own relationship, in that Selyse sees Shireen as her failure to give Stannis a son. Good stuff.
I’m a fan of the Tyrion/Varys scene, too, and it was even less plot-driven. It was basically there to check in on the characters. Tyrion is still in a funk (not nearly as much of a funk as he is in the book) about killing his father and lover. They talk about his penchant for leadership and both of them being distrusted outsiders, etc. Sansa’s traveling scene was far more plotty. (And LOL, with Pod recognizing her publicly, this Alayne disguise is largely for shit on the show.) I certainly appreciate that she won’t let Littlefinger off the hook about his secret missive, and he lets drop some hints about an upcoming marriage. It’s also a nice name drop for Catelyn’s phrase “dark wings, dark words” (uttered most ominously in the books when she receives news of Bran and Rickon being killed. Don’t doubt the meaning will change much now…)
Of course, once Brienne offered her services to Sansa, I wanted the girl to break with all protocol and run away with her. But it doesn’t make much sense—a stranger, whom she only saw once at Joffrey’s wedding, spouting off stories about “a shadow” killing Renly when most people blame her. Obviously Littlefinger’s line of questioning doesn’t help either, but the show is very sympathetic to Sansa’s refusal of Brienne’s help, just as Arya refused it. Certainly last season, Sansa threw her lot in with Littlefinger because, as she explained to him, she knew what he wanted. She doesn’t know what Brienne wants, and even Brienne respects both Stark girls for being wary of strangers. I, of course, was relieved when Brienne resolved to keep following Sansa, because I still consider Catelyn’s sworn shield to be Sansa’s best hope, maybe other than Jon, who is far away. It’s probably my favorite—and the most hopeful—subplot of the series, Brienne pledging herself to Sansa’s safety, Sansa, who is probably one of the most abused characters on the show. Maybe the only thing I was more “eh” about was Brienne as a ruthless killer, though that’s already established for her show character. And hell, it might be the only sort of action that can save my girl, Sansa, from this horrific world. This is why we need more characters as peacemakers, dammit.
Instead, we have Dany, who oscillates between her own desires (and those of her closest followers) for “fire and blood,” vs those of her more Westerosi councilors (name: Barristan) who counsel a more fair and objective approach. She even allows herself to believe that her father was a vicious man who destroyed the family, something she’s surely trying not to repeat. All goes swimmingly until Mossador screws it up. :P Dany’s flaw, again, comes in expecting people to react rationally—that if she executes Mossador for breaking the law and killing a prisoner, her people will understand. But most people are ruled by passions; I mean hell, why would we be so war-mongering otherwise? Like Selyse, they see things in black and white (title shoutout! :P) And it’s difficult to blame them, after all of those centuries of oppression. Mossador’s speech to Dany at her throne was very affecting, for the characters as well as the audience. There is a lot of humanism in this, for a plot that is occasionally strained by the fact that many people revere Dany as some sort of mother goddess. Hard act to live up to.
Finally, Drogon. Firstly, all of the CGI dragon stuff is much…bigger. :P Looks impressive. As much as I talk about the dragons being nuclear weapons (they are) there is still something so touching about this scene—a son checking in with a mother. But Drogon and the other dragons are also a metaphor, of course. He represents Dany’s urge, the Targaryen urge, to do “fire and blood” conquering, screw the long term consequences. Dany wants to rule and be revered, and for right to be right (no slavery, no fighting pits, yadda yadda.) Instead, she, like the other dragons, is “chained” by the complex realities of being a ruler of a tumultuous place. But oh, how she longs to fly free with Drogon across that beautiful, CGI-scape. :P Music was effective, too.
Not to say that nothing happens! There’s death threats and fated meetings, a hugely (in-show) controversial execution, and even an election. Two new storylines make an appearance—Arya in Braavos and the Martells in Dorne. I’d like to spew some ridiculousness about how each character has a stake in this week’s title, but yeah, it’s all about Arya. :P Most canonical storyline ahoy! Well, kinda, hee.
Summary
Braavos
Arya arrives and is taken to the House of Black and White. After she’s denied entry, she throws Jaqen’s coin in the water. Later, when about to get into a scrap with a couple of ruffians, Jaqen appears, hands back the coin, and invites her into the temple of the Faceless Men.
Essos Road
Tyrion and Varys are traveling to Volantis. Feeling cabin sick, they talk about their draws to power, their misanthropic and their general loneliness. Sets the mood for the characters, but doesn't add anything substantial to the plot.
Westeros Road
Brienne and Sansa finally run into each other at an inn. Propelled by Littlefinger and her general distrust of strangers, the eldest Stark girl joins her sister in refusing Brienne’s help. After a scuffle with their escort, Brienne (and Pod) vow to follow Catelyn’s eldest daughter, fearing that she is not safe with Littlefinger.
Dorne
Ellaria watches Myrcella with Trystane in the Water Gardens, feeling angry and vengeful about Oberyn’s death, which she blames on the Lannisters. She accuses Oberyn’s brother, Doran, for being weak by not seeking revenge, and claims that “the sand snakes” will stand with her. Doran refuses to mutilate a young girl for vengeance, and maintains the public façade of accepting that Oberyn’s death was blameless.
King’s Landing
Cersei receives a message from Dorne that blatantly threatens Myrcella’s life. Jaime vows to bring the girl home, and collects Bronn to help him do it. As Tommen’s acting agent, Cersei is able to manipulate most of the small council with platitudes, but her uncle Kevan is disgusted and storms back to Lannisport.
The Wall
Shireen teaches Gilly to read, and Gilly tells the girl and Sam horrific tales about the grayscale disease from Craster’s keep. Stannis is mad at Jon for mercy killing Mance, but in the face of new realities is willing to legitimize him as Jon Stark and instate him as Lord of Winterfell if he fights for his cause. Instead, Jon is elected for, and wins the seat of Lord Commander, surpassing a very irate Allister Thorne.
Meereen
The Unsullied and Second Sons capture a Son of the Harpy, and Daenerys debates with her council what to do with him. Although Barristan convinces her to give him a trial, one of her freed slaves on her council kills the harpy in revenge. Dany’s attempt to enact law fairly and publicly execute her former friend is not met kindly by the rest of the freed slaves.
Differences Between Page and Screen
Braavos: Arya has much less of a relationship with the people on the boat, and in the book it’s the captain’s son who rows her to Braavos. She is immediately admitted into the temple by the Kindly Man, revealing a face that is first a skull with graveworms crawling in it, and then a gentle old man face. She has not re-met up with Jaqen (as far as we know :P) in the novels.
Essos Road: Tyrion and Illyrio travel on a litter kept pristine through magical properties. They eat, discuss Essos history, Illyrio’s knowledge of Daenerys, tactical stuff.
Westeros Road: Pretty much everything. :P Thus starts the “Game of Thrones” tradition of letting characters actually meet up, especially when one is looking for the other. :O Tends to be more arduous in the books, and Brienne spends most of her time in “A Feast for Crows” searching fruitlessly for Sansa, who is not traveling.
Dorne: A lot fewer people and less world building on screen. Book Ellaria is not vengeance-seeking, and in fact refuses to get involved in a futile, endless cycle of violence. Indira Varma’s character’s motivations are taken from Obara Sand, the eldest of Oberyn’s daughters, the Sand Snakes. Although even Obara doesn’t want to mutilate Myrcella. Even so, while show Doran lets Ellaria go, book Doran has his nieces arrested, even for their lesser threats. Finally there is no Arianne, Doran’s daughter and a POV character from “A Feast for Crows,” who wants to crown Myrcella over Tommen.
King’s Landing: Only minor issues from the dwarf head scene—there were three men instead of two, and Qyburn doesn’t ask for the head. The head actually belongs to someone whom Brienne met on her travels. Cersei plants more sycophants on the small council and doesn’t pay as much attention to the show-established characters. Privately, she names one man the Hand of the King as a means of keeping her uncle in check; Kevan is still disapproving of her rule and wants her to return to Casterly Rock. He does ultimately leave King’s Landing, where he’d been since the Blackwater. As for Jaime, his trip to Dorne with Bronn is completely uncanon. His relationship with his sister, concerning who wants to be more open vs quiet about the incest, is also switched. In the books, Cersei has to force Jaime to go to his canonical Riverlands journey when Jaime wants to stay and protect Tommen. As for Bronn and Lollys, they spend a little bit of time on the show discussing their book plot (Bronn ultimately does his part to dispatch the mean sister and her husband, because he wants the castle.) He and Lollys do marry, and it’s her mother, not her father, who rules Stokeworth. Maybe I’d call show Lollys simple-minded, since her concerns aren’t too worldly, but not exactly the canonical dimwitted.
The Wall: Stannis’s offer of legitimization comes with more religious stipulations about the Red god, as do his plans for having the wildlings submit to him. Either way, likely not gonna happen. They drop some complexity in that Lyanna Mormont has older sisters whom Jon recollects. She is ergo not Lady of Bear Island. Jon is less visibly amused by northern loyalty, too. Ghost actually arrives at the Wall around this time, after having been separated from Jon since the second book—which reminds Jon of his loyalty to the northern gods. He is still tempted by the Lord Stark title. The election is more drawn out and has an additional candidate. The show also doesn’t include Mormont’s raven’s vote of “Snow, Snow” while flying to Jon’s shoulder. :P Elsewhere, Gilly and Shireen never meet in the novels, though Sam does make a passing reference to the very young Lord Commander whom he finds in the book. Most wildlings call grayscale gray death, though show Gilly doesn’t have a name for it.
Meereen: These specific incidents are fabricated, though loosely based on the canonical fact that the Sons of the Harpy are causing violent turmoil, and straining relations with Dany and her subjects. Drogon also doesn’t stop to visit as such.
Thoughts
A lot of the fantastical, magical elements have been toned down; the show centers them more concretely among specific people. I suppose the kindly man doesn’t make the cut. :P Instead they focus on shape shifting, which was Jaqen’s main identifier in season two, and they bring back a familiar face for Arya. I respect that it keeps the audience invested (there’s lots of emphasis on established relationships over random encounters, and it gives the show a more focused feel. One of the complaints about the later books is that they consist of the Tyrion/Varys wandering scene, writ large.)
There was a religious component in Arya being refused entry at first (maybe I’m speaking from my native Judaism again,) because she more or less has to prove herself. Maybe “Jaqen” is called home after she arrives (I like the idea of the first man she met actually being someone else. We can unravel a whole lot of reality if we dig too deep into how all Faceless Men are “no one.”) The show focuses a bit on Arya’s anger, with her truncated kill list, and her general feral attitude with the hooligans. (I also loved all of the color and liveliness of Braavos as a fishing island. And great CGI, of course.)
Another big theme of this episode (and the whole season, really) is rulership, which Martin stretched between characters inhabiting “A Feast for Crows” and “A Dance with Dragons.” Everyone exists on a spectrum of how much they let personal concerns outweigh political complexities. Will Jon forsake his vows and take on the title he always wanted? Will Dany give into her hatred for the Harpies and have him executed, “fire and blood” style? Will Doran throw his people into a war over vengeance for Oberyn’s death? The person who, undoubtedly, gives in the most to her personal desires is Cersei, whose entire goal is to protect her children by keeping everyone else the fuck at bay. Her circle of trust extends to a mad, unethical scientist, and maybe Jaime.
Jaime, too, chooses the personal over the more prudent, perhaps, on the show. Elio from Westeros thinks that the character is inconsistent; in one episode he’s talking about nearby threats to the Lannisters, and in the next he’s packing his bags. I think I disagree that it’s inconsistent. Cersei shamed Jaime for being unable to stop Tywin’s murder. She also shamed him for being an absentee father. On the show he’s a little whitewashed to want to be a good father (in the books he more wants to stay with Tommen out of Kingsguard duty, imho.) Also, he’s weighing a direct threat to Myrcella’s life against less defined threats at King’s Landing, and Jaime is a man of action. From a production standpoint, obviously Jaime has to go to a place where other characters are, but I think it makes sense for the character, too. Picking Bronn up along the way is obviously about the bro humor. :P
I’m cool with Cersei acting more fiery like her canon counterpart with her angry outburst: “If they touch her, I will burn their cities to the ground!” I am far less cool with Ellaria’s turn as a one-note revenge artist. Turning Catelyn into a similar sort of shrew was one of the, if not the, biggest botch on the show, IMHO. Honestly, is there no one in this world who is sick of fighting already and wants to bring up the futility of endless violence?? The only thing I liked about the Ellaria scene was how her snake bracelet curled against her fist. :P As for Doran, I think it’s feasible to come away believing that he actually has faith in everything he’s said, but from the books, anyway, it seems like he’s playing more of the long game. He definitely wants the Lannisters out.
Stannis also wants the Lannisters out, but right now he’s focused on the Boltons, lol. :P He seems to do a little siwtcheroo with Jon, first threatening him with “ask Ser Davos what I do with traitors” and then “you showed bravery. I award that, unlike Thorne.” Guy’s a manipulator. :P He wants Jon on his side, and in either case—for Westeros or for the Night’s Watch—it seems he’s destined to be a leader. The speeches were good enough and reflected plot points from earlier seasons. Jon’s a stand up guy, if still a little emo. :P And, of course, there’s room for contention. It was a very tight race between him and Thorne, so not only is that dude against him, so are a lot of his brothers. Cue recent U.S. presidential races, hee.
I admit, I’m a bigger fan of the scene in the library, especially Sam and Gilly’s banters. Those cute flirts. :P Plotwise, the scene is there to introduce the idea that grayscale is usually a horrible, lethal thing, because of reasons /zips lips (Also, the ten-year-old Lord Commander is meant to make Jon seem not too ridiculously young for the task.) But it’s those character moments, man. Like when Selyse dismisses Sam and Gilly and starts lecturing her daughter on the wildlings. Such different worldviews—Selyse is this terrified, narrow-minded woman who has latched onto extremist religion as the only truth. Shireen, meanwhile, is big-hearted and empathetic about the world around her. Interlacing all of this is the strain in their own relationship, in that Selyse sees Shireen as her failure to give Stannis a son. Good stuff.
I’m a fan of the Tyrion/Varys scene, too, and it was even less plot-driven. It was basically there to check in on the characters. Tyrion is still in a funk (not nearly as much of a funk as he is in the book) about killing his father and lover. They talk about his penchant for leadership and both of them being distrusted outsiders, etc. Sansa’s traveling scene was far more plotty. (And LOL, with Pod recognizing her publicly, this Alayne disguise is largely for shit on the show.) I certainly appreciate that she won’t let Littlefinger off the hook about his secret missive, and he lets drop some hints about an upcoming marriage. It’s also a nice name drop for Catelyn’s phrase “dark wings, dark words” (uttered most ominously in the books when she receives news of Bran and Rickon being killed. Don’t doubt the meaning will change much now…)
Of course, once Brienne offered her services to Sansa, I wanted the girl to break with all protocol and run away with her. But it doesn’t make much sense—a stranger, whom she only saw once at Joffrey’s wedding, spouting off stories about “a shadow” killing Renly when most people blame her. Obviously Littlefinger’s line of questioning doesn’t help either, but the show is very sympathetic to Sansa’s refusal of Brienne’s help, just as Arya refused it. Certainly last season, Sansa threw her lot in with Littlefinger because, as she explained to him, she knew what he wanted. She doesn’t know what Brienne wants, and even Brienne respects both Stark girls for being wary of strangers. I, of course, was relieved when Brienne resolved to keep following Sansa, because I still consider Catelyn’s sworn shield to be Sansa’s best hope, maybe other than Jon, who is far away. It’s probably my favorite—and the most hopeful—subplot of the series, Brienne pledging herself to Sansa’s safety, Sansa, who is probably one of the most abused characters on the show. Maybe the only thing I was more “eh” about was Brienne as a ruthless killer, though that’s already established for her show character. And hell, it might be the only sort of action that can save my girl, Sansa, from this horrific world. This is why we need more characters as peacemakers, dammit.
Instead, we have Dany, who oscillates between her own desires (and those of her closest followers) for “fire and blood,” vs those of her more Westerosi councilors (name: Barristan) who counsel a more fair and objective approach. She even allows herself to believe that her father was a vicious man who destroyed the family, something she’s surely trying not to repeat. All goes swimmingly until Mossador screws it up. :P Dany’s flaw, again, comes in expecting people to react rationally—that if she executes Mossador for breaking the law and killing a prisoner, her people will understand. But most people are ruled by passions; I mean hell, why would we be so war-mongering otherwise? Like Selyse, they see things in black and white (title shoutout! :P) And it’s difficult to blame them, after all of those centuries of oppression. Mossador’s speech to Dany at her throne was very affecting, for the characters as well as the audience. There is a lot of humanism in this, for a plot that is occasionally strained by the fact that many people revere Dany as some sort of mother goddess. Hard act to live up to.
Finally, Drogon. Firstly, all of the CGI dragon stuff is much…bigger. :P Looks impressive. As much as I talk about the dragons being nuclear weapons (they are) there is still something so touching about this scene—a son checking in with a mother. But Drogon and the other dragons are also a metaphor, of course. He represents Dany’s urge, the Targaryen urge, to do “fire and blood” conquering, screw the long term consequences. Dany wants to rule and be revered, and for right to be right (no slavery, no fighting pits, yadda yadda.) Instead, she, like the other dragons, is “chained” by the complex realities of being a ruler of a tumultuous place. But oh, how she longs to fly free with Drogon across that beautiful, CGI-scape. :P Music was effective, too.
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