Game of Thrones, Episode 5.07: “The Gift”
Mar. 27th, 2016 10:47 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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scifi_rewatchIf I had my druthers, I wouldn’t call this episode “The Gift” (which refers to Tyrion’s relationship to Daenerys, but I always think of as that bit of northern farmland that might one day go to the wildlings. :P) Instead, I’d call it “Ladies Locked in Cells.” We start the hour with a large concentration of those, and the number only grows at the end. /zips lips
I know this probably isn’t what people want to hear after last week, but there are a few story arcs about female sexuality and autonomy that I found particularly exploitative, moreso than the Sansa scene, really. I’ll explain under the cut how they served less of a purpose, and have no bearing on the character growth of the women in question.
It was also a particularly long installment; we checked in with everyone except for the folks at Braavos. In general there’s a lot of set up before we enter the climactic end of the season.
Also, just to put it out there, this episode contains the most shocking death ever on “Game of Thrones”—death by natural causes. :o Most people aren’t even old enough for that to happen…should narrow it down, heh.
Summary
The Wall
Jon, Tormund and some others leave for Hardhome, meaning that Thorne is in command at home. Aemon dies under Sam and Gilly’s watch, and the pair immediately face some antagonism from some rapist brothers. Once Ghost chases them off, Gilly tends to Sam’s wounds and the two of them have sex.
Winterfell
Sansa, bruised and locked up, begs for Theon’s help by lighting the candle in the old tower; Brienne waits with a cart outside. Theon goes to Ramsay instead, and Ramsay flays Sansa’s “northern friend.” But when he brings Sansa outside to see the corpse, she secretly squirrels away a corkscrew.
The Road to Winterfell
True to Ramsay’s word, Stannis’s army is suffering in the snowy, northern conditions. Davos wants them to retreat to Castle Black but Stannis refuses, knowing that they will be marooned once winter truly comes. Alone with the king, Melissandre makes the appalling suggestion that she’d only ever hinted at before—it’s time to sacrifice Shireen for the Red God’s favor.
Dorne
Jaime tries to explain to Myrcella why they must return home, but Myrcella, enamored with her engagement to Trystane, refuses to comply. Inside the dungeon, Bronn is dying from a poisoned wound that Tyene gave him during their fight. First she disrobes, and then she gives him the antidote for saying that she is the most beautiful woman in the world.
Meereen
Tyrion and Jorah are sold to a slaver who pays them a paltry “wage” to take part in the fighting pits. Dany justifies her political alliance to Daario, who wants to marry her himself and for her to become more ruthless. She attends the first games with Hizdahr, and before she can leave in disgust, a masked Jorah fights his way to victory and presents Tyrion as a gift.
King’s Landing
Olenna’s negotiations with the High Sparrow don’t go so well, but a new pact with Littlefinger proceeds much more smoothly. Tommen struggles with his next move, and Cersei promises to visit Margaery in prison. She does so to gloat, but as she is leaving, she’s stopped by the High Sparrow and Lancel, who arrest her for her own sins against religious doctrine.
Changes from Book to Screen
The Wall: Aemon’s health deteriorates on the way to the Citadel, where he’s traveling with Sam and Gilly. Meanwhile, it’s Jon who stays put. Aemon’s death and funeral take place far from the Wall. He also remains more focused on Daenerys and the prince who was promised prophecy, and his companions have sex much more directly related to their grief for him. Gilly is never assaulted by the brothers.
Winterfell: Jeyne never has the means or the gumption that Sansa does to try and escape from Ramsay. She certainly never steals something that could be used as a weapon, nor is there a “northern friend” to flay. Brienne is not outside Winterfell. Sansa in the novels does learn of Jon becoming Lord Commander, however, via gossip from a person at the Vale who does not know her true identity.
Road to Winterfell: We don’t have a POV in place for the earlier part of this journey (Theon’s sister is ultimately captured by Stannis in the book) but the struggle is real. :P Davos is not around to suggest retreat, nor has Melissandre yet suggested Shireen’s sacrifice.
Dorne: Jaime is not around for Myrcella to chat with, and in the books she’s actually only been in Dorne for a matter of months. “The Dornishman’s Wife” lyrics are accurate, but Tyene’s poison isn’t canonical. Tyene does, however, have her father’s interest in poisons, but Bronn isn’t around anyway for the character to entice with her show-created femme fatale act.
Meereen: Tyrion, Jorah (and Penny) are purchased by a Yunkai slaver as part of a comedy act. Dany chooses to end her relationship with Daario once she is married to Hizdahr, where on the show she implies that she will continue it. Despite the fact that show!Daario gets a better deal, sexually, it's book!Daario who is more cool with his fate. And although Jorah and Tyrion do ultimately fight in front of Daenerys the circumstances are very different and their paths don’t cross directly. As of the end of book 5, Dany still has no idea that either of them are in the vicinity of Meereen.
King’s Landing: Cersei is betrayed by a character not appearing in the adaptation, whom she sent to testify against Margaery but instead turns on her under torture. She resists her arrest with a little more physical violence than she does on the show. Tommen is as ineffective in the books, but he’s also much younger, less involved and perhaps less concerned by current events. Olenna does not meet with the High Sparrow or Littlefinger, because neither she nor Littlefinger are in the capital. As far as what has been revealed, there is no Baelish/Tyrell component to Cersei’s arrest.
Thoughts
I’ll start with the lady sexuality issues. This is the least problematic for me, but the more I think about it, the less I like the Sansa/Ramsay scene. I can kind of see where critics are coming from who claim that the character is regressing; this scene is almost entirely a mirror image of her and Joffrey at the end of season one. Flanked by guards, her captor mocks her with small talk. In both cases Sansa attempts to snark back, and although her words to Ramsay are more sophisticated, they’re relatively ineffective. At least in the immediate future, he’s no powerless bastard but in fact exudes enormous influence most everywhere. Finally, both scenes end with Sansa being terrorized by a gruesome act of violence—witnessing her father’s severed head or her “northern friend’s” flayed body, respectively. Then she’s carted back to her prison. The only real difference is that in season one she tried and failed to kill Joffrey, and here she succeeded in squirreling away the corkscrew for later use.
But in her scene with Theon…yeah, character development galore. It’s natural that she’d have a traumatic response to her (repeat) rapes and beatings, but she also quickly moves into action. The conundrum for her is the same as it is for Theon—can she take back control of her life and escape to freedom? In Theon’s case, as of his psychology presently, he’s fated to die a prisoner. Sansa is definitely more proactive and has some fight left. One thing I did appreciate about her scene with Ramsay was learning about Jon’s fate, because it pulls hers in a new direction, too. There’s much more for her in the north than being Ramsay’s torture toy.
I also kind of love that Brienne’s only role in this episode was to stand in the snow, looking worriedly at Winterfell. :P Wonder how much Gwendoline got compensated for that. All I could think about is how the character must be freezing! Hope there’s a heater in that cart. :P
The rape attempt I really didn’t like this episode also took place in the north…involving Gilly, Sam and their attackers. Obviously this was only a plot device to get Sam and Gilly to sleep together. And so Gilly is reduced to being the damsel in distress, with Sam as her knight. They couldn’t even think of a way to get them out of the situation without invoking Ghost-ex-machina. :P Honestly, why couldn’t they just build up the quiet moments between the pair and Aemon, and then let them have sex out of grief, like in the book? Or out of compassion, or out of sharing those rare-for-Westeros feelings of love and human connection over constant violence? Ugh.
But even this dulls in comparison to the bullshit in Dorne. What is this, a porno?! Which believable woman actually acts this way? What did she have to gain by becoming a wet dream for Bronn? Why didn’t she just let him die (I mean seriously, he was obviously an enemy of Dorne.) HATE SO MUCH.
I guess I’ll wrap up Dorne with the much better scene between the Lannisters. I think it’s remarkably similar to the stuff between Cersei and Tommen in King’s Landing; parents and children not connecting. There’s a little more complexity with mother and son, but for Jaime, he’s never really considered that Myrcella might have found happiness within the “duty” she fulfilled by going to Dorne. She certainly does not see the same dangers that he and Cersei do, and she doesn’t want to uproot her (not so) new life to return home.
Cersei’s conversation with Tommen is a mix of truth and lies. Obviously the big lie involves the Queen Mother’s involvement in the situation with the Tyrells. If Tommen declared war on the Faith there’d be a lot of death, though perhaps Margaery would still only be punished for her particular “sins.” Unless, as Tommen’s wife, she takes on his in their eyes, and then she’s probably immediately a goner. But the real truth in what Cersei says is how much she feels for him. Everything she claims—about how he and Myrcella are the only things that matter to her, that she’d do anything for them—are completely genuine. And gah, that tear when Cersei hugged him and called him “my only boy…” I really felt for her as a character, in the grieving mother sense.
There’s lots else going on in King’s Landing, too. Perhaps even tying with my love for the final scene, we have Olenna and the High Sparrow sparring. This is a fascinating duel between two very different personality types—Olenna is used to people who “play the game” for power, but instead everything that the High Sparrow has done has been in service of his genuine beliefs. He can’t be bought. I also appreciate the broader political talk about nobles being out of touch with the concerns of the “many” lower class people, and of course Olenna’s assertion about homosexual liaisons vs rape and murder. Even the old people aches and pains commiseration were awesome. :P Such a meaty exchange.
I’m going to go ahead and put my money on the fact that Littlefinger and Olenna colluded with Lancel to take Cersei down. It is quite possible that “a handsome young man” might be someone else—perhaps Lord Baelish will take Olyvar out of play, and then poof goes the evidence against the Tyrell siblings. But there’s no payoff for that as of yet. The Tyrells are still imprisoned; they just have extra company now. Perhaps the twosome convinced Lancel that the best way to declare allegiance to the Faith Militant over his family would be to turn his cousin in.
There’s a broader satisfaction to this turn of events either way. Sooner or later, Cersei’s self-interested, vengeful tactics would come back to stab her in the back. She made an enemy out of Olenna, who is powerful in her own right. But more importantly, like the Queen of Throns, she failed to understand that the High Sparrow was genuine in his beliefs. He wouldn’t just play “the game” of ignoring her sins because she put him in power. His only allegiance is to his dogma. The takedown was so wonderful because he brought her down to his level—the simple, ungaudy and anonymous Faith of the Seven, where nobility doesn’t make you special. Can definitely see some shades of the Protestant Reformation in here.
Of course the other great scene in King’s Landing was Margaery finally able to be honestly infuriated with her mother-in-law. I imagine that was cathartic. Though that’s probably true for Cersei, too, because the last time the twosome interacted directly, the Queen Mother couldn’t grasp the upper hand. Herein lies Cersei’s final chance to gloat. :P
Meereen was a little more hit and miss for me. I loved all of the stuff with Daenerys. I’m definitely more of a fan of her taking a lover on the side rather than terminating the relationship. Why shouldn’t she keep her politics and love life separate, as is the case for many other characters on this show? That being said, perhaps Daario is correct in saying that being forced to marry for political reasons means that she is not quite free herself. Another locked up lady, of a sort.
The showrunners and I have different opinions about Daario, I think. They see his “fire and blood” advice as having more merit than I do. Haven’t we already tried the “fire and blood” approach by turning the one former master into dragon food? Didn’t turn out so well in the end. I like to think that Daario’s cynicism about power clashes with Dany’s idealism, and perhaps will ultimately make her realize that they are very different people. At the very least, I’m cool with saying that Daario’s use mostly extends to being a sex toy. :P Kinda glad she can’t marry him.
The Tyrion/Jorah stuff was definitely more of a miss. What the hell happened to the cock merchant plot point? Guess it was just included for comedic effect or something in the last episode, because in this one Tyrion is sold, presumably for less, along with Jorah. Also, are we supposed to believe that Dany doesn’t see that these fighters are obviously slaves? Meh.
Then there’s the whole thing of the boys actually meeting up with Dany…after reading through a 1,000-page book where they STILL haven’t met up, the show had me cackling. :P Look, I think “A Dance with Dragons” could have used more editing, but here’s one thing I’ll say for it—relationships aren’t so sudden, so they feel more earned. There’s a majesty to the fighting pit scenes in the book, where here it felt like some roadside show. Don’t get me wrong; I’m definitely looking forward to Dany and Tyrion having a relationship in the show, but the introduction will never be my favorite part.
On a final, final note…so Melissandre finally came clean with what she’s only (with the force of a bludgeon) hinted at so far—she wanted Shireen for a sacrifice. How will Stannis temper his ambitions vs his love for his daughter? And what, if any, correlation will this have to the as-of-yet unpublished book material? Here's a spoiler if you're interested. :P
I know this probably isn’t what people want to hear after last week, but there are a few story arcs about female sexuality and autonomy that I found particularly exploitative, moreso than the Sansa scene, really. I’ll explain under the cut how they served less of a purpose, and have no bearing on the character growth of the women in question.
It was also a particularly long installment; we checked in with everyone except for the folks at Braavos. In general there’s a lot of set up before we enter the climactic end of the season.
Also, just to put it out there, this episode contains the most shocking death ever on “Game of Thrones”—death by natural causes. :o Most people aren’t even old enough for that to happen…should narrow it down, heh.
Summary
The Wall
Jon, Tormund and some others leave for Hardhome, meaning that Thorne is in command at home. Aemon dies under Sam and Gilly’s watch, and the pair immediately face some antagonism from some rapist brothers. Once Ghost chases them off, Gilly tends to Sam’s wounds and the two of them have sex.
Winterfell
Sansa, bruised and locked up, begs for Theon’s help by lighting the candle in the old tower; Brienne waits with a cart outside. Theon goes to Ramsay instead, and Ramsay flays Sansa’s “northern friend.” But when he brings Sansa outside to see the corpse, she secretly squirrels away a corkscrew.
The Road to Winterfell
True to Ramsay’s word, Stannis’s army is suffering in the snowy, northern conditions. Davos wants them to retreat to Castle Black but Stannis refuses, knowing that they will be marooned once winter truly comes. Alone with the king, Melissandre makes the appalling suggestion that she’d only ever hinted at before—it’s time to sacrifice Shireen for the Red God’s favor.
Dorne
Jaime tries to explain to Myrcella why they must return home, but Myrcella, enamored with her engagement to Trystane, refuses to comply. Inside the dungeon, Bronn is dying from a poisoned wound that Tyene gave him during their fight. First she disrobes, and then she gives him the antidote for saying that she is the most beautiful woman in the world.
Meereen
Tyrion and Jorah are sold to a slaver who pays them a paltry “wage” to take part in the fighting pits. Dany justifies her political alliance to Daario, who wants to marry her himself and for her to become more ruthless. She attends the first games with Hizdahr, and before she can leave in disgust, a masked Jorah fights his way to victory and presents Tyrion as a gift.
King’s Landing
Olenna’s negotiations with the High Sparrow don’t go so well, but a new pact with Littlefinger proceeds much more smoothly. Tommen struggles with his next move, and Cersei promises to visit Margaery in prison. She does so to gloat, but as she is leaving, she’s stopped by the High Sparrow and Lancel, who arrest her for her own sins against religious doctrine.
Changes from Book to Screen
The Wall: Aemon’s health deteriorates on the way to the Citadel, where he’s traveling with Sam and Gilly. Meanwhile, it’s Jon who stays put. Aemon’s death and funeral take place far from the Wall. He also remains more focused on Daenerys and the prince who was promised prophecy, and his companions have sex much more directly related to their grief for him. Gilly is never assaulted by the brothers.
Winterfell: Jeyne never has the means or the gumption that Sansa does to try and escape from Ramsay. She certainly never steals something that could be used as a weapon, nor is there a “northern friend” to flay. Brienne is not outside Winterfell. Sansa in the novels does learn of Jon becoming Lord Commander, however, via gossip from a person at the Vale who does not know her true identity.
Road to Winterfell: We don’t have a POV in place for the earlier part of this journey (Theon’s sister is ultimately captured by Stannis in the book) but the struggle is real. :P Davos is not around to suggest retreat, nor has Melissandre yet suggested Shireen’s sacrifice.
Dorne: Jaime is not around for Myrcella to chat with, and in the books she’s actually only been in Dorne for a matter of months. “The Dornishman’s Wife” lyrics are accurate, but Tyene’s poison isn’t canonical. Tyene does, however, have her father’s interest in poisons, but Bronn isn’t around anyway for the character to entice with her show-created femme fatale act.
Meereen: Tyrion, Jorah (and Penny) are purchased by a Yunkai slaver as part of a comedy act. Dany chooses to end her relationship with Daario once she is married to Hizdahr, where on the show she implies that she will continue it. Despite the fact that show!Daario gets a better deal, sexually, it's book!Daario who is more cool with his fate. And although Jorah and Tyrion do ultimately fight in front of Daenerys the circumstances are very different and their paths don’t cross directly. As of the end of book 5, Dany still has no idea that either of them are in the vicinity of Meereen.
King’s Landing: Cersei is betrayed by a character not appearing in the adaptation, whom she sent to testify against Margaery but instead turns on her under torture. She resists her arrest with a little more physical violence than she does on the show. Tommen is as ineffective in the books, but he’s also much younger, less involved and perhaps less concerned by current events. Olenna does not meet with the High Sparrow or Littlefinger, because neither she nor Littlefinger are in the capital. As far as what has been revealed, there is no Baelish/Tyrell component to Cersei’s arrest.
Thoughts
I’ll start with the lady sexuality issues. This is the least problematic for me, but the more I think about it, the less I like the Sansa/Ramsay scene. I can kind of see where critics are coming from who claim that the character is regressing; this scene is almost entirely a mirror image of her and Joffrey at the end of season one. Flanked by guards, her captor mocks her with small talk. In both cases Sansa attempts to snark back, and although her words to Ramsay are more sophisticated, they’re relatively ineffective. At least in the immediate future, he’s no powerless bastard but in fact exudes enormous influence most everywhere. Finally, both scenes end with Sansa being terrorized by a gruesome act of violence—witnessing her father’s severed head or her “northern friend’s” flayed body, respectively. Then she’s carted back to her prison. The only real difference is that in season one she tried and failed to kill Joffrey, and here she succeeded in squirreling away the corkscrew for later use.
But in her scene with Theon…yeah, character development galore. It’s natural that she’d have a traumatic response to her (repeat) rapes and beatings, but she also quickly moves into action. The conundrum for her is the same as it is for Theon—can she take back control of her life and escape to freedom? In Theon’s case, as of his psychology presently, he’s fated to die a prisoner. Sansa is definitely more proactive and has some fight left. One thing I did appreciate about her scene with Ramsay was learning about Jon’s fate, because it pulls hers in a new direction, too. There’s much more for her in the north than being Ramsay’s torture toy.
I also kind of love that Brienne’s only role in this episode was to stand in the snow, looking worriedly at Winterfell. :P Wonder how much Gwendoline got compensated for that. All I could think about is how the character must be freezing! Hope there’s a heater in that cart. :P
The rape attempt I really didn’t like this episode also took place in the north…involving Gilly, Sam and their attackers. Obviously this was only a plot device to get Sam and Gilly to sleep together. And so Gilly is reduced to being the damsel in distress, with Sam as her knight. They couldn’t even think of a way to get them out of the situation without invoking Ghost-ex-machina. :P Honestly, why couldn’t they just build up the quiet moments between the pair and Aemon, and then let them have sex out of grief, like in the book? Or out of compassion, or out of sharing those rare-for-Westeros feelings of love and human connection over constant violence? Ugh.
But even this dulls in comparison to the bullshit in Dorne. What is this, a porno?! Which believable woman actually acts this way? What did she have to gain by becoming a wet dream for Bronn? Why didn’t she just let him die (I mean seriously, he was obviously an enemy of Dorne.) HATE SO MUCH.
I guess I’ll wrap up Dorne with the much better scene between the Lannisters. I think it’s remarkably similar to the stuff between Cersei and Tommen in King’s Landing; parents and children not connecting. There’s a little more complexity with mother and son, but for Jaime, he’s never really considered that Myrcella might have found happiness within the “duty” she fulfilled by going to Dorne. She certainly does not see the same dangers that he and Cersei do, and she doesn’t want to uproot her (not so) new life to return home.
Cersei’s conversation with Tommen is a mix of truth and lies. Obviously the big lie involves the Queen Mother’s involvement in the situation with the Tyrells. If Tommen declared war on the Faith there’d be a lot of death, though perhaps Margaery would still only be punished for her particular “sins.” Unless, as Tommen’s wife, she takes on his in their eyes, and then she’s probably immediately a goner. But the real truth in what Cersei says is how much she feels for him. Everything she claims—about how he and Myrcella are the only things that matter to her, that she’d do anything for them—are completely genuine. And gah, that tear when Cersei hugged him and called him “my only boy…” I really felt for her as a character, in the grieving mother sense.
There’s lots else going on in King’s Landing, too. Perhaps even tying with my love for the final scene, we have Olenna and the High Sparrow sparring. This is a fascinating duel between two very different personality types—Olenna is used to people who “play the game” for power, but instead everything that the High Sparrow has done has been in service of his genuine beliefs. He can’t be bought. I also appreciate the broader political talk about nobles being out of touch with the concerns of the “many” lower class people, and of course Olenna’s assertion about homosexual liaisons vs rape and murder. Even the old people aches and pains commiseration were awesome. :P Such a meaty exchange.
I’m going to go ahead and put my money on the fact that Littlefinger and Olenna colluded with Lancel to take Cersei down. It is quite possible that “a handsome young man” might be someone else—perhaps Lord Baelish will take Olyvar out of play, and then poof goes the evidence against the Tyrell siblings. But there’s no payoff for that as of yet. The Tyrells are still imprisoned; they just have extra company now. Perhaps the twosome convinced Lancel that the best way to declare allegiance to the Faith Militant over his family would be to turn his cousin in.
There’s a broader satisfaction to this turn of events either way. Sooner or later, Cersei’s self-interested, vengeful tactics would come back to stab her in the back. She made an enemy out of Olenna, who is powerful in her own right. But more importantly, like the Queen of Throns, she failed to understand that the High Sparrow was genuine in his beliefs. He wouldn’t just play “the game” of ignoring her sins because she put him in power. His only allegiance is to his dogma. The takedown was so wonderful because he brought her down to his level—the simple, ungaudy and anonymous Faith of the Seven, where nobility doesn’t make you special. Can definitely see some shades of the Protestant Reformation in here.
Of course the other great scene in King’s Landing was Margaery finally able to be honestly infuriated with her mother-in-law. I imagine that was cathartic. Though that’s probably true for Cersei, too, because the last time the twosome interacted directly, the Queen Mother couldn’t grasp the upper hand. Herein lies Cersei’s final chance to gloat. :P
Meereen was a little more hit and miss for me. I loved all of the stuff with Daenerys. I’m definitely more of a fan of her taking a lover on the side rather than terminating the relationship. Why shouldn’t she keep her politics and love life separate, as is the case for many other characters on this show? That being said, perhaps Daario is correct in saying that being forced to marry for political reasons means that she is not quite free herself. Another locked up lady, of a sort.
The showrunners and I have different opinions about Daario, I think. They see his “fire and blood” advice as having more merit than I do. Haven’t we already tried the “fire and blood” approach by turning the one former master into dragon food? Didn’t turn out so well in the end. I like to think that Daario’s cynicism about power clashes with Dany’s idealism, and perhaps will ultimately make her realize that they are very different people. At the very least, I’m cool with saying that Daario’s use mostly extends to being a sex toy. :P Kinda glad she can’t marry him.
The Tyrion/Jorah stuff was definitely more of a miss. What the hell happened to the cock merchant plot point? Guess it was just included for comedic effect or something in the last episode, because in this one Tyrion is sold, presumably for less, along with Jorah. Also, are we supposed to believe that Dany doesn’t see that these fighters are obviously slaves? Meh.
Then there’s the whole thing of the boys actually meeting up with Dany…after reading through a 1,000-page book where they STILL haven’t met up, the show had me cackling. :P Look, I think “A Dance with Dragons” could have used more editing, but here’s one thing I’ll say for it—relationships aren’t so sudden, so they feel more earned. There’s a majesty to the fighting pit scenes in the book, where here it felt like some roadside show. Don’t get me wrong; I’m definitely looking forward to Dany and Tyrion having a relationship in the show, but the introduction will never be my favorite part.
On a final, final note…so Melissandre finally came clean with what she’s only (with the force of a bludgeon) hinted at so far—she wanted Shireen for a sacrifice. How will Stannis temper his ambitions vs his love for his daughter? And what, if any, correlation will this have to the as-of-yet unpublished book material? Here's a spoiler if you're interested. :P
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