Game of Thrones, episode 5.08: “Hardhome”
Apr. 3rd, 2016 10:38 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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scifi_rewatchI’m not usually one to be taken in by zombies. Even when they’re not used as a cheap thrill, it’s just not my thing. There’s all sorts of more complex things to grapple with in both literary and genre stories; outside of the White Walkers and wights, most of the characters and their struggles are multidimensional. But what I’m really trying to say is…in ASOIAF/Game of Thrones, the main zombie storyline actually works for me. :P I usually, somewhat lazily, equate them to global warming; the universal problem we humans ignore while we’re too busy fighting one another over politics and what have you. In looking deeper, however, and in seeing the Walkers and wights on their own terms, it’s much more apparent that they are the personification of inhumanity, the spirit of war and violence. The framing of the scenes at Hardhome…it was enough to leave me (and Jon et al) speechless.
Otherwise, a pretty decent episode overall. Kind of quieter and less crowded, especially after the last one. Book readers got a pretty big reveal concerning certain something something at Hardhome. :P I was also really partial to the guest character played by Brigitte Hjort Sorensen; she got a very complete sense of self for a one-off role.
My favorite scene of the season—Sansa related, of course—is in this episode. And, of course, I can’t really go under the cut without giving off an obligatory, “OYSTERS, CLAMS AND COCKLES!” :P
Summary
Meereen
Daenerys decides to consider Tyrion, but after listening to his advice, re-banishes Jorah. Jorah returns to the master who bought him for the chance to fight in the big games. Meanwhile Dany and Tyrion figure out they have some stuff in common, and the former Lord of Lannister takes on an advisory role.
King’s Landing
Cersei is continuously denied water by the septas, but she refuses to confess her sins. She receives a visit from Qyburn, who tells her that Kevan is now presiding over the small council but refuses to see her, and Tommen isn’t doing so well. Later, Cersei attempts to bribe and threaten the septa, and then slurps at water she spills on the ground.
Braavos
Arya takes on the identity of Lana, an orphan who sells seafood by the docks. She’s directed to her target, a greedy moneylender who has a date with the Many Faced God. Jaqen gives her a “gift” of poison to give this man, and tells the waif it doesn’t matter whether Arya fails or succeeds.
Winterfell
Sansa is dressed and waiting to confront Theon when he brings her a meal. Theon confesses to many sins against House Stark, but when Sansa presses him about murdering Bran and Rickon, he admits that her brothers escaped him. Meanwhile, Ramsay posits to Roose that in addition to their advantage over Stannis’s army, he can sneak in a group of 20 men to weaken the Baratheon forces further.
The Wall and Beyond
Gilly attends to Sam’s wounds, and then Sam tries to convince Olly that Jon is doing the right thing. Jon and Tormund go to Hardhome to convince the wildlings to come south, but they are attacked by the undead. Amidst the fighting Jon discovers that Longclaw can kill Walkers, but overall the event is a horrifying massacre of the living.
From Page to Screen
Meereen: Dany and Tyrion have never met, and ergo can't discuss anything at length yet. Jorah has not been re-banished because the Khaleesi doesn’t know of his whereabouts. Technically speaking, for the most part, the Great Houses of Westeros never vied for the ultimate supremacy of the Iron Throne; the Targaryens ran a pretty tight ship until the Mad King. Also, Tyrion omits the Martells as possible allies; in the books they have a long (and more recent) history of Targaryen support.
King’s Landing: Cersei is not denied water while imprisoned. Tommen asks for her but is not permitted to visit. Kevan actually does eventually visit Cersei in an attempt to salvage what he can of Lannister honor from the situation.
Braavos: Arya chooses the name “Cat of the Canals” rather than Lana, an obvious testament to her mother. She actually wears a face, of “an ugly little girl,” to kill her target, but on the show she still looks like herself, albeit in new clothes.
Winterfell: Theon has not “confessed” to any Stark about his sins against the family yet, and Sansa remains ignorant that Bran and Rickon could still be alive. Technically speaking, Stannis does draw some support from some northern Houses that have refused to join Roose at Winterfell. Ramsay does not propose a small attack on the Baratheon/northern forces.
The Wall, and Beyond the Wall: Sam is not attacked by his brothers and in need of treatment; Olly isn’t a character in the books. No one else who dislikes Jon’s plan seeks Sam’s counsel. There’s a lot of backstory missing about Hardhome, of course. Jon never goes there, and although there is an attack (which we don’t see directly) it’s mostly by malnourished wildlings and maybe some wights. There is no Walker presence, and Longclaw has yet to slay one, at least not since the last White Walker incursion several centuries ago. Rattleshirt dies earlier, at the Wall, due to circumstances that have been excised from the show (he’s glamored as Mance, and then the real Mance goes to Winterfell to save “Arya.”)
Thoughts
I suppose there’s not much more to say about the actual Hardhome segment that I didn’t say above. It stands in significant contrast to the other Night’s Watch stuff—the Hardhome stuff was the best of the episode (though I’m still biased enough to prefer Winterfell), and the Wall stuff was the weakest. Honestly, there wasn’t anything Sam did with either Gilly or Olly that hasn’t been done before. Was this supposed to be an awkward reminder that Sam had sex, and a more blatant reminder that Olly isn’t happy with Jon? Already got that message loud and clear already on both fronts.
At least the dragonglass name-drop from last episode had a function tonight. Much more importantly, it seems that we all, sullied and unsullied alike, learned that Valyrian steel can kill Walkers! :O Someone go make some more, stat! (It’s not actually that easy, but…yeah.)
Was an interesting juxtaposition, of course—everyone arguing over whether they could forgive old grudges against human groups, then suddenly the undead are here to slaughter the lot. I already said I loved Sorensen’s character, Karsi (she’s not even named within the dialogue, but this chick most certainly has a name.) She was tough, unforgiving, rational, nurturing…a fully formed person. It really did hurt to see her turned into a wight. With no main cast killed off in the battle, Karsi became the personification of stolen humanity. She’s now just an empty slave to the Walkers—like those wights who thoughtlessly catapulted off mountains, only to pick themselves up and get to the task of killing, for literally no reason.
Kit did his own stunts, which is awesome; he had a lot to do! I loved the exhaustion on his face after he killed the Walker, and the music in general. I suppose the Lord of Bones was there to create a sense of continuity about Jon’s past with the wildlings. And I guess killing him off is a quick way to move past the pointed hostility against Jon and the Watch in general. Or maybe it was just all about that toxic masculinity crap, because Tormund went to town when the Lord of Bones started to suggest that he was weak/engaging in homosexual acts. Trash talk, basically.
The scene opens with Hardhome being this bustling, loud place of wildling life, and then it closes in utter, windy silence, where the only things there now are the silent army of the dead. Spooky, arresting stuff. But moving on from the final 20ish minutes of the show!
I loved Arya’s outfit as Lana; I wish to wear that to RennFest. :P I also love that Lara, from a season back, was one of her customers; maybe it’s convenient, but it makes the world fit together more. It was also fun to see Arya in this new role, a merchant among merchants in this bustling pre-industrial city. I found the backstory with the moneylender a little difficult to follow, but the main takeaway is that Arya is undercover and then reporting back to her spy agency. I’m less thrilled with the apparent meaninglessness of Arya’s task—failure or success is all the same? Presumably because the Many Faced God, much like the Walkers and wights, doesn’t care who dies, so long as someone does. I have a lot of moral qualms with the faceless men, moreso than the other religious orders. Which, for the most part, are pretty awful, but at least they don’t demand this slavish devotion to death. I’m sure my fellow book readers would tell me that I’m missing some nuance, but…how is this different from the White Walker mentality? If they were just a Dr. Kevorkian agency that gave death to willing and suffering people that’d be one thing. But everything from this episode…meh.
Contrast all of this with Winterfell, where the dead are, of a sort, coming back to life. :P I’m not talking about the war council stuff, which was mostly a perfunctory, setting the stage scene where Ramsay tries to prove himself to Roose. (Though he did get that nice name drop of the book 4 title, “A Feast for Crows.” :P)
My favorite scene is about some pretty obvious character growth for both Theon and Sansa. In an episode where Cersei refused to confess her sins, Theon comes clean to a surviving Stark about the damage he inflicted upon her family. And Sansa—at long fucking last—gets to hold someone accountable and demand a sort of justice. Granted, that stuff where she said she was glad Theon was so abused was a bit rough—a brutalized girl letting off some steam. I mean, look at the long revenge quest that Arya’s undertaking due to the deaths of her family members. But Sansa changes her tune when she learns the startling twist—Bran and Rickon might still be alive. The music, the lighting, Sophie and Alfie’s faces, and the promise of Stark reunion possibilities…yeah, I was crying. Sansa immediately wants to find her brothers. There is hope again, where before there was only death, and her own suffering. The showrunners actually talk about all of this in the inside the episode segment. It’s definitely a tease for Sansa’s storyline to move in a new direction next season. /FEELS
Cersei receives almost no hope this episode, except for Qyburn’s veiled promise that the “work” (presumably Ser Frankenstein under the sheet in his lair) is going well. But when it comes to the state of affairs with her family…not so much. I guess I’m a little eyebrow archy as to why Kevan would refuse to visit his niece to try and salvage what he can of the situation (I suppose it’s two fold—one, timing/getting another actor on set, and two, it adds to Cersei’s sense of isolation.) But at least drag Tommen out of bed and into a council meeting, Kevan. :P Poor Tommen.
Anywho, Lena Headey did an excellent job. She was simultaneously scared and defiant, attempting to cut deals and make threats, based on the passing reality of her situation and its effect on her mental state. And it’s only going to get better for Lena! (Not for Cersei, but definitely for Lena. :P /zips lips)
Finally, Meereen. I have mixed feelings, but am mostly cool with it. The Jorah stuff is pretty par for the course. He’s re-exiled (same music and everything), the grayscale is spreading, and he resumes his chivalric fight for Dany by rejoining the games as a gladiator. Pretty standard knight in shining armor /reclaim my honor trope.
I liked the Dany/Tyrion interlude, but it reminded me how different Tyrion is in the books. I don’t think he’s been this calm and collected since he was Joffrey’s Hand of the King. He’s certainly in no condition right now in canon to have a mild conversation about their horrible fathers, and what it means to stay in Meereen vs rule Westeros. From Dany’s perspective, this episode gives her a perhaps unearned reprieve to step back from all of the complications with the Sons of the Harpy violence and the contradictions of opening the fighting pits. Instead, she gets to go meta, and consider Westeros and her revolutionary ambitions. Which, at the moment, seem waaay out of reach. Will Meereen ever be stable enough to leave, and assume won’t slip back into full scale slavery? Does she intend to leave a proxy ruler behind, a la Alexander the Great (which I don’t think worked out so well for him, or for her, last season with the Yunkai.) I dunno, I kinda get why people don’t like the Meereen storyline. It’s very likely a futile exercise, and Martin makes sure that we don’t really identify much with these people—there’s no POVs. Their struggles, ergo, aren’t as important as the struggles in Westeros. I think it’s obvious that the politics are complicated and real to the people involved, but the narrative never cares about them centrally. Dany’s endgame is still to go “home,” which would also align her much more closely with the other characters who are the primary concerns of this story. I wonder, if Martin (and the show) had done things differently, if we could care about everything in Meereen, not only as a stepping stone for Dany’s ascendancy to the Iron Throne, but on it’s own merits. Would probably mean that Dany herself would have to choose to rule there forever, and that’s not likely to happen, IMHO. Even in the books, where things move much more slowly. :P But they’re also hella long volumes, lol.
Another thing I started thinking about more recently—isn’t Dany’s “break the wheel” ambition pretty similar to the Faith Militant’s? Even in the books, where the religious order focuses less on punishing the small folk and more on reigning in the excesses of the noble houses. That’s what Dany wants to do, too. I think that Tyrion has a point about how it’s a relatively common goal, and one that is not so easily enforced. Dany is certainly having trouble creating a happy, new free society in Meereen and slaver’s bay. Why should things be different in Westeros? There’s a lot of systematic injustice—in Westeros, in Essos, certainly in the real world. But can re-emergence of a new society come out of utterly destroying the old one?
Considering the note this episode ends on…things look kind of nihilistic. The White Walkers “break the wheel”—by destroying everyone and everything in their path. They remain the number one enemy who most people either aren’t paying attention to or aren’t even aware of. Luckily, when it comes to ASOIAF/Game of Thrones, I’m primarily interested in Stark reunions. :P Though I also assume that those world-destroying dragons will ultimately be pitted against those world-destroying White Walkers, in the song of ICE and FIRE. So far, that’s only speculation! But short of dropping curtain on the series with “rocks fall, everyone dies,” I’m not sure what other sort of endgame we can hope for.
Otherwise, a pretty decent episode overall. Kind of quieter and less crowded, especially after the last one. Book readers got a pretty big reveal concerning certain something something at Hardhome. :P I was also really partial to the guest character played by Brigitte Hjort Sorensen; she got a very complete sense of self for a one-off role.
My favorite scene of the season—Sansa related, of course—is in this episode. And, of course, I can’t really go under the cut without giving off an obligatory, “OYSTERS, CLAMS AND COCKLES!” :P
Summary
Meereen
Daenerys decides to consider Tyrion, but after listening to his advice, re-banishes Jorah. Jorah returns to the master who bought him for the chance to fight in the big games. Meanwhile Dany and Tyrion figure out they have some stuff in common, and the former Lord of Lannister takes on an advisory role.
King’s Landing
Cersei is continuously denied water by the septas, but she refuses to confess her sins. She receives a visit from Qyburn, who tells her that Kevan is now presiding over the small council but refuses to see her, and Tommen isn’t doing so well. Later, Cersei attempts to bribe and threaten the septa, and then slurps at water she spills on the ground.
Braavos
Arya takes on the identity of Lana, an orphan who sells seafood by the docks. She’s directed to her target, a greedy moneylender who has a date with the Many Faced God. Jaqen gives her a “gift” of poison to give this man, and tells the waif it doesn’t matter whether Arya fails or succeeds.
Winterfell
Sansa is dressed and waiting to confront Theon when he brings her a meal. Theon confesses to many sins against House Stark, but when Sansa presses him about murdering Bran and Rickon, he admits that her brothers escaped him. Meanwhile, Ramsay posits to Roose that in addition to their advantage over Stannis’s army, he can sneak in a group of 20 men to weaken the Baratheon forces further.
The Wall and Beyond
Gilly attends to Sam’s wounds, and then Sam tries to convince Olly that Jon is doing the right thing. Jon and Tormund go to Hardhome to convince the wildlings to come south, but they are attacked by the undead. Amidst the fighting Jon discovers that Longclaw can kill Walkers, but overall the event is a horrifying massacre of the living.
From Page to Screen
Meereen: Dany and Tyrion have never met, and ergo can't discuss anything at length yet. Jorah has not been re-banished because the Khaleesi doesn’t know of his whereabouts. Technically speaking, for the most part, the Great Houses of Westeros never vied for the ultimate supremacy of the Iron Throne; the Targaryens ran a pretty tight ship until the Mad King. Also, Tyrion omits the Martells as possible allies; in the books they have a long (and more recent) history of Targaryen support.
King’s Landing: Cersei is not denied water while imprisoned. Tommen asks for her but is not permitted to visit. Kevan actually does eventually visit Cersei in an attempt to salvage what he can of Lannister honor from the situation.
Braavos: Arya chooses the name “Cat of the Canals” rather than Lana, an obvious testament to her mother. She actually wears a face, of “an ugly little girl,” to kill her target, but on the show she still looks like herself, albeit in new clothes.
Winterfell: Theon has not “confessed” to any Stark about his sins against the family yet, and Sansa remains ignorant that Bran and Rickon could still be alive. Technically speaking, Stannis does draw some support from some northern Houses that have refused to join Roose at Winterfell. Ramsay does not propose a small attack on the Baratheon/northern forces.
The Wall, and Beyond the Wall: Sam is not attacked by his brothers and in need of treatment; Olly isn’t a character in the books. No one else who dislikes Jon’s plan seeks Sam’s counsel. There’s a lot of backstory missing about Hardhome, of course. Jon never goes there, and although there is an attack (which we don’t see directly) it’s mostly by malnourished wildlings and maybe some wights. There is no Walker presence, and Longclaw has yet to slay one, at least not since the last White Walker incursion several centuries ago. Rattleshirt dies earlier, at the Wall, due to circumstances that have been excised from the show (he’s glamored as Mance, and then the real Mance goes to Winterfell to save “Arya.”)
Thoughts
I suppose there’s not much more to say about the actual Hardhome segment that I didn’t say above. It stands in significant contrast to the other Night’s Watch stuff—the Hardhome stuff was the best of the episode (though I’m still biased enough to prefer Winterfell), and the Wall stuff was the weakest. Honestly, there wasn’t anything Sam did with either Gilly or Olly that hasn’t been done before. Was this supposed to be an awkward reminder that Sam had sex, and a more blatant reminder that Olly isn’t happy with Jon? Already got that message loud and clear already on both fronts.
At least the dragonglass name-drop from last episode had a function tonight. Much more importantly, it seems that we all, sullied and unsullied alike, learned that Valyrian steel can kill Walkers! :O Someone go make some more, stat! (It’s not actually that easy, but…yeah.)
Was an interesting juxtaposition, of course—everyone arguing over whether they could forgive old grudges against human groups, then suddenly the undead are here to slaughter the lot. I already said I loved Sorensen’s character, Karsi (she’s not even named within the dialogue, but this chick most certainly has a name.) She was tough, unforgiving, rational, nurturing…a fully formed person. It really did hurt to see her turned into a wight. With no main cast killed off in the battle, Karsi became the personification of stolen humanity. She’s now just an empty slave to the Walkers—like those wights who thoughtlessly catapulted off mountains, only to pick themselves up and get to the task of killing, for literally no reason.
Kit did his own stunts, which is awesome; he had a lot to do! I loved the exhaustion on his face after he killed the Walker, and the music in general. I suppose the Lord of Bones was there to create a sense of continuity about Jon’s past with the wildlings. And I guess killing him off is a quick way to move past the pointed hostility against Jon and the Watch in general. Or maybe it was just all about that toxic masculinity crap, because Tormund went to town when the Lord of Bones started to suggest that he was weak/engaging in homosexual acts. Trash talk, basically.
The scene opens with Hardhome being this bustling, loud place of wildling life, and then it closes in utter, windy silence, where the only things there now are the silent army of the dead. Spooky, arresting stuff. But moving on from the final 20ish minutes of the show!
I loved Arya’s outfit as Lana; I wish to wear that to RennFest. :P I also love that Lara, from a season back, was one of her customers; maybe it’s convenient, but it makes the world fit together more. It was also fun to see Arya in this new role, a merchant among merchants in this bustling pre-industrial city. I found the backstory with the moneylender a little difficult to follow, but the main takeaway is that Arya is undercover and then reporting back to her spy agency. I’m less thrilled with the apparent meaninglessness of Arya’s task—failure or success is all the same? Presumably because the Many Faced God, much like the Walkers and wights, doesn’t care who dies, so long as someone does. I have a lot of moral qualms with the faceless men, moreso than the other religious orders. Which, for the most part, are pretty awful, but at least they don’t demand this slavish devotion to death. I’m sure my fellow book readers would tell me that I’m missing some nuance, but…how is this different from the White Walker mentality? If they were just a Dr. Kevorkian agency that gave death to willing and suffering people that’d be one thing. But everything from this episode…meh.
Contrast all of this with Winterfell, where the dead are, of a sort, coming back to life. :P I’m not talking about the war council stuff, which was mostly a perfunctory, setting the stage scene where Ramsay tries to prove himself to Roose. (Though he did get that nice name drop of the book 4 title, “A Feast for Crows.” :P)
My favorite scene is about some pretty obvious character growth for both Theon and Sansa. In an episode where Cersei refused to confess her sins, Theon comes clean to a surviving Stark about the damage he inflicted upon her family. And Sansa—at long fucking last—gets to hold someone accountable and demand a sort of justice. Granted, that stuff where she said she was glad Theon was so abused was a bit rough—a brutalized girl letting off some steam. I mean, look at the long revenge quest that Arya’s undertaking due to the deaths of her family members. But Sansa changes her tune when she learns the startling twist—Bran and Rickon might still be alive. The music, the lighting, Sophie and Alfie’s faces, and the promise of Stark reunion possibilities…yeah, I was crying. Sansa immediately wants to find her brothers. There is hope again, where before there was only death, and her own suffering. The showrunners actually talk about all of this in the inside the episode segment. It’s definitely a tease for Sansa’s storyline to move in a new direction next season. /FEELS
Cersei receives almost no hope this episode, except for Qyburn’s veiled promise that the “work” (presumably Ser Frankenstein under the sheet in his lair) is going well. But when it comes to the state of affairs with her family…not so much. I guess I’m a little eyebrow archy as to why Kevan would refuse to visit his niece to try and salvage what he can of the situation (I suppose it’s two fold—one, timing/getting another actor on set, and two, it adds to Cersei’s sense of isolation.) But at least drag Tommen out of bed and into a council meeting, Kevan. :P Poor Tommen.
Anywho, Lena Headey did an excellent job. She was simultaneously scared and defiant, attempting to cut deals and make threats, based on the passing reality of her situation and its effect on her mental state. And it’s only going to get better for Lena! (Not for Cersei, but definitely for Lena. :P /zips lips)
Finally, Meereen. I have mixed feelings, but am mostly cool with it. The Jorah stuff is pretty par for the course. He’s re-exiled (same music and everything), the grayscale is spreading, and he resumes his chivalric fight for Dany by rejoining the games as a gladiator. Pretty standard knight in shining armor /reclaim my honor trope.
I liked the Dany/Tyrion interlude, but it reminded me how different Tyrion is in the books. I don’t think he’s been this calm and collected since he was Joffrey’s Hand of the King. He’s certainly in no condition right now in canon to have a mild conversation about their horrible fathers, and what it means to stay in Meereen vs rule Westeros. From Dany’s perspective, this episode gives her a perhaps unearned reprieve to step back from all of the complications with the Sons of the Harpy violence and the contradictions of opening the fighting pits. Instead, she gets to go meta, and consider Westeros and her revolutionary ambitions. Which, at the moment, seem waaay out of reach. Will Meereen ever be stable enough to leave, and assume won’t slip back into full scale slavery? Does she intend to leave a proxy ruler behind, a la Alexander the Great (which I don’t think worked out so well for him, or for her, last season with the Yunkai.) I dunno, I kinda get why people don’t like the Meereen storyline. It’s very likely a futile exercise, and Martin makes sure that we don’t really identify much with these people—there’s no POVs. Their struggles, ergo, aren’t as important as the struggles in Westeros. I think it’s obvious that the politics are complicated and real to the people involved, but the narrative never cares about them centrally. Dany’s endgame is still to go “home,” which would also align her much more closely with the other characters who are the primary concerns of this story. I wonder, if Martin (and the show) had done things differently, if we could care about everything in Meereen, not only as a stepping stone for Dany’s ascendancy to the Iron Throne, but on it’s own merits. Would probably mean that Dany herself would have to choose to rule there forever, and that’s not likely to happen, IMHO. Even in the books, where things move much more slowly. :P But they’re also hella long volumes, lol.
Another thing I started thinking about more recently—isn’t Dany’s “break the wheel” ambition pretty similar to the Faith Militant’s? Even in the books, where the religious order focuses less on punishing the small folk and more on reigning in the excesses of the noble houses. That’s what Dany wants to do, too. I think that Tyrion has a point about how it’s a relatively common goal, and one that is not so easily enforced. Dany is certainly having trouble creating a happy, new free society in Meereen and slaver’s bay. Why should things be different in Westeros? There’s a lot of systematic injustice—in Westeros, in Essos, certainly in the real world. But can re-emergence of a new society come out of utterly destroying the old one?
Considering the note this episode ends on…things look kind of nihilistic. The White Walkers “break the wheel”—by destroying everyone and everything in their path. They remain the number one enemy who most people either aren’t paying attention to or aren’t even aware of. Luckily, when it comes to ASOIAF/Game of Thrones, I’m primarily interested in Stark reunions. :P Though I also assume that those world-destroying dragons will ultimately be pitted against those world-destroying White Walkers, in the song of ICE and FIRE. So far, that’s only speculation! But short of dropping curtain on the series with “rocks fall, everyone dies,” I’m not sure what other sort of endgame we can hope for.
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