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scifi_rewatchMost of the storylines this episode involve characters having to choose between family/friends and duty. Or at least, as according to the historical account called the Dance of Dragons that Shireen was reading, people have to take sides. The fruits of Jon’s side-taking this season came to literally pass through the gates into Westeros this episode; many of the Night’s Watch continue to look surly about it. Ellaria and the Sand Snakes must choose between revenge for Oberyn and allegiance to Doran. Arya deals with this more slowly on Braavos, when Lord Mace and Ser Meryn finally make their landing. Daenerys deals with this when Jorah’s decision to fight in the games comes to fruition. But more than anyone else Stannis deals with this, oh boy does Stannis deal with this. :/
Although we end with a pretty pivotal, game-changing (and incredibly shot) scene in Meereen, it’s the fires that burn in the north that carry the most emotional gravitas. There’s been some backlash from Stannis fans due to this turn of events, though apparently, according to the showrunners, what happens here will ultimately be canon in the books, too. Of a sort, anyway; suffice to remind you that there are a lot of characters in much closer proximity on the show than they are in the novels. Certainly some details will be tweaked either way.
From the show’s perspective at least, IMHO, we saw some harrowing performances in service of believable storylines. I think, in terms of nitpicky differences, I might have to focus on Meereen. Definitely some interesting stuff in there.
Summary
The Wall
Jon, his men and the wildlings return to the Wall at the northern entrance. After some hesitation, Thorne lets them through. The wildlings pass into Westerosi territory, the Night’s Watchmen glare, and Jon laments not being able to save more people.
Dorne
Jaime tells Doran of the threat on Myrcella’s life sent to King’s Landing; Doran immediately suspects Ellaria. He allows for Myrcella (and Trystane) to return to the capital, and frees Bronn. Later, Ellaria and the Sand Snakes must swear their allegiance to him or face death, and Ellaria promises Jaime that she doesn’t hold Myrcella accountable for Oberyn’s death.
Braavos
“Lana” returns to the docks to poison her target, but Arya re-awakens when Mace and Meryn arrive at the Iron Bank. While Mace is off on business, Meryn and the other guards go to a brothel. Arya does reconnaissance, and later lies to Jaqen about why she couldn’t finish her Faceless Men mission.
The road to Winterfell
Ramsay’s men attack in the night, reducing food stores and siege weapons. Stannis sends Davos back to the Wall for reinforcements. He decides to take Melissandre’s advice and sacrifice Shireen for the Red God’s favor; as the girl pleads for mercy, Stannis suffers and Selyse’s fanaticism breaks, but too late.
Meereen
The Games proper begin; Daario taunts Hizdahr about speed in battle, and Daenerys and Tyrion argue with the consort about the validity of dying for entertainment. Things take a more personal turn when Jorah enters the arena; Dany refuses to stop the fight, but ultimately Jorah saves her from a Sons of the Harpy attack. The games end in pandemonium as more terrorists unmask themselves and kill Hizdahr, among others; sensing that Dany is in danger, Drogon flies off with her after incinerating many people.
Changes from book to screen:
The Wall: Jon does succeed in bringing many wildlings south of the Wall, and loses a lot of support from his own men at the same time. But he uses envoys to negotiate with them, rather than leaving the Wall and going into wildling territory himself. He doesn’t feel guilty about the White Walker attack, because that doesn’t happen at Hardhome in the book.
Dorne: Doran does send Myrcella and Trystane to King’s Landing, though in the book it’s Cersei who wants the prince to come as well. Things are more openly tense in that Doran assumes there will be an attempt on Trystane’s life. Doran actually arranges for one of his nieces, not his son, to take a seat on the small council. Another niece, Obara, empties her wine cup in disgust at a dinner for a Kings Guardsman sent to escort the prince and princess, since Jaime and Bronn aren’t there. Also, technically speaking, in the book his daughter, Arianne, is Doran’s heir, not Trystane. There’s no evidence that I recall of a cat-fighty relationship between the Sand Snakes. Finally, Ellaria doesn’t need to show her support for Doran on pain of death, because she already agrees with him that war is not the answer. Ellaria actually believes, unlike in the show, that Myrcella should not be punished for Oberyn’s death, though she doesn’t have an opportunity to discuss the matter with Jaime.
Braavos: In a chapter released from the yet-unpublished sixth volume, “The Winds of Winter,” Arya does confront the King’s Landing representative’s guard (with whom she has history) to the Iron Bank. Ser Meryn and Lord Mace aren’t present in Braavos. Mace in general isn’t shown to be so clownishly ridiculous. Meryn’s apparent pedophilia is also drawn from this book guard. Also, none of this interferes with Arya’s mission to assassinate her first Faceless Men target.
The road to Winterfell: Conditions are desperate, including a matter of cannibalism. Some of the guards who now worship the Red God do sacrifice these men. Stannis has enough northern allies that are doing better than the southerners. The Boltons never send in a sneak attack, at least not in the published material. Shireen has yet to be sacrificed, and if/when she is, it’ll likely take place far from her father. No “goodbye” conversations with either Stannis or Davos, at least how things stand now. Davos is also off to try and recruit more Houses to the cause, not to get more food.
Meereen: Tyrion is actually still a slave as well, and fights in these games, unbeknownst to Dany (she does save him and Penny from being eaten by a lion, however.) Daario, in fact, is a hostage of the Yunkai, right now, as part of a terse diplomatic mission, because a Yunkai delegation is attending the games. Jorah does not participate in the games and has yet to see Dany again. The Sons of the Harpy do not organize a full-on attack, but instead likely try to poison Dany. One of her associates gets sick before she can partake of the poison. It’s implied that Hizdahr might be involved; he’s not killed by the Sons of the Harpy. Ergo Drogon doesn’t arrive because his mother is in immediate danger; he is likely drawn to the blood of this sport. The book makes sure to point out that Drogon doesn’t differentiate between people when he roasts them; all the same to him. Dany’s actions are far less calculated, and more of an instinct to try and calm him down and remove the spears from him. Drogon decides on his own to take off with her on his back, rather than Dany prompting it. In general Dany is in much worse shape as well, with half of her clothes burned off and part of her hair on fire.
Thoughts
Dany’s situation is certainly much different. The show made the Sons of the Harpy a far more visceral threat, rather than building up enemies beyond her gate who are readying to wage war. Works to simplify things for purposes of time and the medium, I think. I’m also ok with Hizdahr being killed off, rather than having a more complicated and ongoing part in this story. With Tyrion and the others in town, we have enough plotty promise. Though perhaps Hizdahr could have made for a good foil. I appreciated his arguments with Tyrion and Dany today (well, really, I liked their takes better. :P) Kind of a relief to have someone, in the form of Tyrion, who isn’t enamored with the status quo of killing for the sake of an old and venerated culture. I mean, he and Jorah had that nice Ozymandias moment earlier in the season anyway, about how glory always fades.
Was perhaps Hizdahr’s most obtuse turn, and also the most empowered we’ve seen him since Dany’s takeover. When, in earlier scenes, he came to her as an inferior, arguing that his father should be buried respectfully or traditions should be upheld to keep the peace, I had more empathy for him. Now, he’s just crowing about the glory of killing, which is a bit too macabre for me. Also, suffice to say, that when the bloodthirsty spectators had the scepter of death turned on them, they weren’t so pleased about it. Therein lies the fallacy of the “glory” of death sports. Killing is just killing. Look at Drogon, who roasts without giving a fuck who is in front of him. Granted, that’s much more explicit in the novel. It’s even less certain that he’d stop for Dany, though in the show he’s definitely a mama’s boy. :P
Again, this feels similar to the Walkers for me; these supernatural elements (ice monsters, dragons,) show us that death is always horrible, and often indiscriminate. Humans make up this bullshit heraldry about it, but we’re all just meat. Still…a final farewell to Joel Fry. I appreciated his quiet take on the Meereenese nobleman.
Elswhere, Daario was obviously just showing off his sexual prowess with Hizdahr. :P I also appreciated Dany’s dilemma—does she give in to her feelings for Jorah, or does she stand by her word/her duty as queen to allow for the games to go forward? More importantly…shouldn’t she have grayscale, now that Jorah touched her, skin to skin?? Somehow I think there will be some loophole for this. Maybe because she didn’t touch the infection directly. I assume grayscale is not in Dany’s future, but who knows how well my predictions stand after this episode. :P
What I loved most about the Meereen sequence—total truth here—is Dany taking Missandei’s hand when she thought she faced imminent death. That relationship deserves more kudos, and Dany obviously didn’t want to die alone or terrified (nor would she want that for Missandei.) Neither of the women are physical fighters on their own, but they found their own strength. As for turning Drogon’s arrival into a mother/ “son” moment…well, it was effective. Tyrion, in particular, got firsthand confirmation that Dany is involved in something very powerful and supernatural. The game must have changed pretty heavily for him, too. He was always about getting decent people into positions of power (especially on the show…in the books he’s a little less perfect), but now there’s also a bigger picture, a possible destiny to contend with.
Obviously, Tyrion’s not the only one contending with possible supernatural destiny this episode. Jon already contended with his last week, and is now moving the pieces into position. I was taken by the line Thorne told Jon—“you have a good heart”—same as Jorah told Dany once upon a time. Well, obviously these two have some similarities. And both are suffering this ep because of crimes against humanity.
But the most poignant supernatural gamble obviously came through Stannis. He decides to go ahead and take Melissandre’s advice to sacrifice Shireen for the Red God’s favor. Otherwise, seems they’ll freeze to death in the snow. But will killing his own innocent daughter bring him the victory he craves? Even if it does, is it worth it? I mean, it’s difficult to pit anything against the danger of the Walkers. The angry Nights Watchmen just annoyed me this week, being so petty in the face of the horrible slaughter at Hardhome (granted, most of the lads didn’t witness it.) Maybe it stands to reason that only such a huge sacrifice can beat the Walkers—which is, after all, Stannis’s goal. But I don’t believe that. I believe that filicide is it’s own brand of inhumanity. I believe that it turns those responsible—Stannis, Melissandre, Selyse, into monsters themselves.
And I think Selyse realized that this ep. She’s always been a bit of a fanatic, looking for black and white answers; she didn’t even have a good relationship with Shireen regardless. But I really dislike one dimensional characters. Melissandre is too far gone for me. But Selyse encounters her breaking point as her daughter dies, and has an empathetic moment, albeit too late.
(Random juxtaposition—Ned laid down his rigid convictions in order to save the lives of his daughters. Stannis sacrificed his daughter to burn alive in order to uphold his. Just sayin’.)
Obviously this storyline is held together by Stephen Dillane and Kerry Ingram. I’ve heard that this segment was particularly difficult for Dillane, as he lost a family member in real life to a fire. Certainly leant to a heart-breaking performance. His final scene with Kerry was such a bitter polar opposite to the father/daughter scene nearer the beginning of the season. Stannis, over all, is not a loving man, but he loved Shireen.
Kerry Ingram has always been accomplished beyond her years, playing this bookish, intuitive character. Best of luck in your future endeavors, but I will miss this presence on the show!
The Dornish and Braavosi plots are far more mundane in scope. I think my favorite scene, total, in Dorne involved Ellaria crying as she gave in and bowed to Doran’s wishes (though if she’s on the level is another story.) Still, it’s the first time these characters, plus the conflicted Sand Snakes, looking on, felt real to me, rather than some archetypes about passion and vengeance. They could have started here in episode 5.01 and fleshed out these characters, but they didn’t.
The Lannister/Martell meeting was largely perfunctory, though I appreciated the father/daughter griping about Myrcella's clothes. :P Doran publicly declares allegiance to Tommen, Ellaria publicly disputes this, Bronn gets set free after receiving a punch to the gut *eyeroll* Elswehere, the Sand Snakes have an annoyingly archetypal female-competitors relationship to one another. Ugh. And Ellaria tries to pass herself off as harmless to Jaime. And we’re supposed to believe that the Dornish are ok with fraternal-twin incest? Not what Oberyn was spouting last season, just sayin’. But I like Ellaria’s parting words—holds true for many characters—you can’t help who you love.
Arya, perhaps, can’t help who she hates. :P She makes a very conscious choice to forego her Faceless Men training and privilege her priorities as Arya Stark to seek revenge on Meryn. Honestly, I was a little annoyed how unequivocally the show made sure this wasn’t a moral issue in and of itself. Meryn is obviously a brutish, pedophilic monster. I guess Arya already had her moral dilemma with the Hound last year.
I’m also eyerolly because this episode proves how you can have a scene in a brothel where everyone is clothed and it still gets the point across. I used to not be such a prude, but “Game of Thrones” takes every opportunity it can to objectify the sex workers. But like last year, when suddenly the womens’ shirts came back on once Isaac entered the scene, Maisie being underage meant they had to curb their appetites. This brothel actually felt like more of a real place, where the prostitutes had lines and did more than just writhe and moan.
Arya does a good job playing the unassuming little fish peddler, but succeeding in lying to Jaqen? I don’t buy it. To be fair, I don’t think the show really expects us to buy it, either. Still, he’s biding his time…for now. Although she promises to complete her mission tomorrow, seems like she’ll probably be putting her energies into laying a trap for Meryn instead. And since I’ve already seen the season finale, of course, I guess it’s time for me to zip my lips. :P Hee.
Although we end with a pretty pivotal, game-changing (and incredibly shot) scene in Meereen, it’s the fires that burn in the north that carry the most emotional gravitas. There’s been some backlash from Stannis fans due to this turn of events, though apparently, according to the showrunners, what happens here will ultimately be canon in the books, too. Of a sort, anyway; suffice to remind you that there are a lot of characters in much closer proximity on the show than they are in the novels. Certainly some details will be tweaked either way.
From the show’s perspective at least, IMHO, we saw some harrowing performances in service of believable storylines. I think, in terms of nitpicky differences, I might have to focus on Meereen. Definitely some interesting stuff in there.
Summary
The Wall
Jon, his men and the wildlings return to the Wall at the northern entrance. After some hesitation, Thorne lets them through. The wildlings pass into Westerosi territory, the Night’s Watchmen glare, and Jon laments not being able to save more people.
Dorne
Jaime tells Doran of the threat on Myrcella’s life sent to King’s Landing; Doran immediately suspects Ellaria. He allows for Myrcella (and Trystane) to return to the capital, and frees Bronn. Later, Ellaria and the Sand Snakes must swear their allegiance to him or face death, and Ellaria promises Jaime that she doesn’t hold Myrcella accountable for Oberyn’s death.
Braavos
“Lana” returns to the docks to poison her target, but Arya re-awakens when Mace and Meryn arrive at the Iron Bank. While Mace is off on business, Meryn and the other guards go to a brothel. Arya does reconnaissance, and later lies to Jaqen about why she couldn’t finish her Faceless Men mission.
The road to Winterfell
Ramsay’s men attack in the night, reducing food stores and siege weapons. Stannis sends Davos back to the Wall for reinforcements. He decides to take Melissandre’s advice and sacrifice Shireen for the Red God’s favor; as the girl pleads for mercy, Stannis suffers and Selyse’s fanaticism breaks, but too late.
Meereen
The Games proper begin; Daario taunts Hizdahr about speed in battle, and Daenerys and Tyrion argue with the consort about the validity of dying for entertainment. Things take a more personal turn when Jorah enters the arena; Dany refuses to stop the fight, but ultimately Jorah saves her from a Sons of the Harpy attack. The games end in pandemonium as more terrorists unmask themselves and kill Hizdahr, among others; sensing that Dany is in danger, Drogon flies off with her after incinerating many people.
Changes from book to screen:
The Wall: Jon does succeed in bringing many wildlings south of the Wall, and loses a lot of support from his own men at the same time. But he uses envoys to negotiate with them, rather than leaving the Wall and going into wildling territory himself. He doesn’t feel guilty about the White Walker attack, because that doesn’t happen at Hardhome in the book.
Dorne: Doran does send Myrcella and Trystane to King’s Landing, though in the book it’s Cersei who wants the prince to come as well. Things are more openly tense in that Doran assumes there will be an attempt on Trystane’s life. Doran actually arranges for one of his nieces, not his son, to take a seat on the small council. Another niece, Obara, empties her wine cup in disgust at a dinner for a Kings Guardsman sent to escort the prince and princess, since Jaime and Bronn aren’t there. Also, technically speaking, in the book his daughter, Arianne, is Doran’s heir, not Trystane. There’s no evidence that I recall of a cat-fighty relationship between the Sand Snakes. Finally, Ellaria doesn’t need to show her support for Doran on pain of death, because she already agrees with him that war is not the answer. Ellaria actually believes, unlike in the show, that Myrcella should not be punished for Oberyn’s death, though she doesn’t have an opportunity to discuss the matter with Jaime.
Braavos: In a chapter released from the yet-unpublished sixth volume, “The Winds of Winter,” Arya does confront the King’s Landing representative’s guard (with whom she has history) to the Iron Bank. Ser Meryn and Lord Mace aren’t present in Braavos. Mace in general isn’t shown to be so clownishly ridiculous. Meryn’s apparent pedophilia is also drawn from this book guard. Also, none of this interferes with Arya’s mission to assassinate her first Faceless Men target.
The road to Winterfell: Conditions are desperate, including a matter of cannibalism. Some of the guards who now worship the Red God do sacrifice these men. Stannis has enough northern allies that are doing better than the southerners. The Boltons never send in a sneak attack, at least not in the published material. Shireen has yet to be sacrificed, and if/when she is, it’ll likely take place far from her father. No “goodbye” conversations with either Stannis or Davos, at least how things stand now. Davos is also off to try and recruit more Houses to the cause, not to get more food.
Meereen: Tyrion is actually still a slave as well, and fights in these games, unbeknownst to Dany (she does save him and Penny from being eaten by a lion, however.) Daario, in fact, is a hostage of the Yunkai, right now, as part of a terse diplomatic mission, because a Yunkai delegation is attending the games. Jorah does not participate in the games and has yet to see Dany again. The Sons of the Harpy do not organize a full-on attack, but instead likely try to poison Dany. One of her associates gets sick before she can partake of the poison. It’s implied that Hizdahr might be involved; he’s not killed by the Sons of the Harpy. Ergo Drogon doesn’t arrive because his mother is in immediate danger; he is likely drawn to the blood of this sport. The book makes sure to point out that Drogon doesn’t differentiate between people when he roasts them; all the same to him. Dany’s actions are far less calculated, and more of an instinct to try and calm him down and remove the spears from him. Drogon decides on his own to take off with her on his back, rather than Dany prompting it. In general Dany is in much worse shape as well, with half of her clothes burned off and part of her hair on fire.
Thoughts
Dany’s situation is certainly much different. The show made the Sons of the Harpy a far more visceral threat, rather than building up enemies beyond her gate who are readying to wage war. Works to simplify things for purposes of time and the medium, I think. I’m also ok with Hizdahr being killed off, rather than having a more complicated and ongoing part in this story. With Tyrion and the others in town, we have enough plotty promise. Though perhaps Hizdahr could have made for a good foil. I appreciated his arguments with Tyrion and Dany today (well, really, I liked their takes better. :P) Kind of a relief to have someone, in the form of Tyrion, who isn’t enamored with the status quo of killing for the sake of an old and venerated culture. I mean, he and Jorah had that nice Ozymandias moment earlier in the season anyway, about how glory always fades.
Was perhaps Hizdahr’s most obtuse turn, and also the most empowered we’ve seen him since Dany’s takeover. When, in earlier scenes, he came to her as an inferior, arguing that his father should be buried respectfully or traditions should be upheld to keep the peace, I had more empathy for him. Now, he’s just crowing about the glory of killing, which is a bit too macabre for me. Also, suffice to say, that when the bloodthirsty spectators had the scepter of death turned on them, they weren’t so pleased about it. Therein lies the fallacy of the “glory” of death sports. Killing is just killing. Look at Drogon, who roasts without giving a fuck who is in front of him. Granted, that’s much more explicit in the novel. It’s even less certain that he’d stop for Dany, though in the show he’s definitely a mama’s boy. :P
Again, this feels similar to the Walkers for me; these supernatural elements (ice monsters, dragons,) show us that death is always horrible, and often indiscriminate. Humans make up this bullshit heraldry about it, but we’re all just meat. Still…a final farewell to Joel Fry. I appreciated his quiet take on the Meereenese nobleman.
Elswhere, Daario was obviously just showing off his sexual prowess with Hizdahr. :P I also appreciated Dany’s dilemma—does she give in to her feelings for Jorah, or does she stand by her word/her duty as queen to allow for the games to go forward? More importantly…shouldn’t she have grayscale, now that Jorah touched her, skin to skin?? Somehow I think there will be some loophole for this. Maybe because she didn’t touch the infection directly. I assume grayscale is not in Dany’s future, but who knows how well my predictions stand after this episode. :P
What I loved most about the Meereen sequence—total truth here—is Dany taking Missandei’s hand when she thought she faced imminent death. That relationship deserves more kudos, and Dany obviously didn’t want to die alone or terrified (nor would she want that for Missandei.) Neither of the women are physical fighters on their own, but they found their own strength. As for turning Drogon’s arrival into a mother/ “son” moment…well, it was effective. Tyrion, in particular, got firsthand confirmation that Dany is involved in something very powerful and supernatural. The game must have changed pretty heavily for him, too. He was always about getting decent people into positions of power (especially on the show…in the books he’s a little less perfect), but now there’s also a bigger picture, a possible destiny to contend with.
Obviously, Tyrion’s not the only one contending with possible supernatural destiny this episode. Jon already contended with his last week, and is now moving the pieces into position. I was taken by the line Thorne told Jon—“you have a good heart”—same as Jorah told Dany once upon a time. Well, obviously these two have some similarities. And both are suffering this ep because of crimes against humanity.
But the most poignant supernatural gamble obviously came through Stannis. He decides to go ahead and take Melissandre’s advice to sacrifice Shireen for the Red God’s favor. Otherwise, seems they’ll freeze to death in the snow. But will killing his own innocent daughter bring him the victory he craves? Even if it does, is it worth it? I mean, it’s difficult to pit anything against the danger of the Walkers. The angry Nights Watchmen just annoyed me this week, being so petty in the face of the horrible slaughter at Hardhome (granted, most of the lads didn’t witness it.) Maybe it stands to reason that only such a huge sacrifice can beat the Walkers—which is, after all, Stannis’s goal. But I don’t believe that. I believe that filicide is it’s own brand of inhumanity. I believe that it turns those responsible—Stannis, Melissandre, Selyse, into monsters themselves.
And I think Selyse realized that this ep. She’s always been a bit of a fanatic, looking for black and white answers; she didn’t even have a good relationship with Shireen regardless. But I really dislike one dimensional characters. Melissandre is too far gone for me. But Selyse encounters her breaking point as her daughter dies, and has an empathetic moment, albeit too late.
(Random juxtaposition—Ned laid down his rigid convictions in order to save the lives of his daughters. Stannis sacrificed his daughter to burn alive in order to uphold his. Just sayin’.)
Obviously this storyline is held together by Stephen Dillane and Kerry Ingram. I’ve heard that this segment was particularly difficult for Dillane, as he lost a family member in real life to a fire. Certainly leant to a heart-breaking performance. His final scene with Kerry was such a bitter polar opposite to the father/daughter scene nearer the beginning of the season. Stannis, over all, is not a loving man, but he loved Shireen.
Kerry Ingram has always been accomplished beyond her years, playing this bookish, intuitive character. Best of luck in your future endeavors, but I will miss this presence on the show!
The Dornish and Braavosi plots are far more mundane in scope. I think my favorite scene, total, in Dorne involved Ellaria crying as she gave in and bowed to Doran’s wishes (though if she’s on the level is another story.) Still, it’s the first time these characters, plus the conflicted Sand Snakes, looking on, felt real to me, rather than some archetypes about passion and vengeance. They could have started here in episode 5.01 and fleshed out these characters, but they didn’t.
The Lannister/Martell meeting was largely perfunctory, though I appreciated the father/daughter griping about Myrcella's clothes. :P Doran publicly declares allegiance to Tommen, Ellaria publicly disputes this, Bronn gets set free after receiving a punch to the gut *eyeroll* Elswehere, the Sand Snakes have an annoyingly archetypal female-competitors relationship to one another. Ugh. And Ellaria tries to pass herself off as harmless to Jaime. And we’re supposed to believe that the Dornish are ok with fraternal-twin incest? Not what Oberyn was spouting last season, just sayin’. But I like Ellaria’s parting words—holds true for many characters—you can’t help who you love.
Arya, perhaps, can’t help who she hates. :P She makes a very conscious choice to forego her Faceless Men training and privilege her priorities as Arya Stark to seek revenge on Meryn. Honestly, I was a little annoyed how unequivocally the show made sure this wasn’t a moral issue in and of itself. Meryn is obviously a brutish, pedophilic monster. I guess Arya already had her moral dilemma with the Hound last year.
I’m also eyerolly because this episode proves how you can have a scene in a brothel where everyone is clothed and it still gets the point across. I used to not be such a prude, but “Game of Thrones” takes every opportunity it can to objectify the sex workers. But like last year, when suddenly the womens’ shirts came back on once Isaac entered the scene, Maisie being underage meant they had to curb their appetites. This brothel actually felt like more of a real place, where the prostitutes had lines and did more than just writhe and moan.
Arya does a good job playing the unassuming little fish peddler, but succeeding in lying to Jaqen? I don’t buy it. To be fair, I don’t think the show really expects us to buy it, either. Still, he’s biding his time…for now. Although she promises to complete her mission tomorrow, seems like she’ll probably be putting her energies into laying a trap for Meryn instead. And since I’ve already seen the season finale, of course, I guess it’s time for me to zip my lips. :P Hee.
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