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scifi_rewatchThis is a decent hour of television, but I’ve been struggling with this episode ever since it aired. I think too much. :P I remember reading Sean T Collins’s review in “The Rolling Stone,” where he lamented a certain subplot that went into Walking Dead territory and seemed to imply that any attempt at peace is a sham; war is the only way to go.
That subplot, by the way, includes another surprise return character, so there’s issues there! :P
The more I think about it, the more we really can’t ignore warmongering nature of Game of Thrones, or in this episode at the very least. Jon and Sansa, with the able help of Davos, go on their campaign to rally the north to their cause; no sitting on the sidelines, guys, you gotta fight this fight. Arya’s attempts for a clean break from the Faceless Men won’t be that easy, even on the show. :P The Blackfish goes on to insist that even though the War of the Five Kings is long done, he won’t lay down his sword. Speaking of life and death, Theon has to make a choice in the shadow of the civil war brewing between his uncle and his sister. Only in King’s Landing are the politics complicated enough that sometimes one can make choices to avoid antagonism…at least in part.
Maybe this is what happens when we don’t see Tyrion for two episodes; we forget that there might be ways to avoid war. Of course, we haven’t seen the aftermath of his decisions in Meereen either. I’d better zip my lips; there’s enough to talk about in this episode without addressing future ones!
Summary
King’s Landing
The High Sparrow meets with Margaery to encourage her to go back to the marriage bed and to warn her grandmother against sinful behavior. When the Queen of Westeros meets with the Queen of Thorns, we finally get official, if subtle, confirmation about her true loyalties. Cersei tries to implore Olenna to stay in the capital, even claiming contrition for her actions, but Olenna has no sympathy for the Queen Mother, seeing her inevitable downfall as the only good thing to come out of a shitty situation.
The North
With Tormund’s help, Jon reminds the wildlings of his past loyalty to them, and on pain of inevitable extinction, they agree to help him fight the Boltons. Things go slightly less smoothly at House Mormont, with Davos finally being able to save the day; and fall apart completely at House Glover, as the lord feels more charitable to Ramsay than to the memory of Robb. Despite their small (and sometimes in-fighting) numbers, Jon insists that they start the battle ASAP, leaving Sansa to secretly write to Littlefinger for his aid.
Riverrun
Jaime, Bronn and the Lannister army arrive to a truly lackluster Frey attempt at a siege. Jaime, of course, quickly takes over, slaps some Freys around, and orders that they bathe and clothe Edmure, who is very peeved to see him. The Blackfish, however, is less agreeable to the Kingslayer’s demands, mocking and dismissing him during their treat.
Volantis
Theon and Yara take some shore leave, but before going off to get jiggy with a prostitute, Yara delivers some tough love to her brother. Though Theon is still traumatized by Ramsay’s abuse, we ultimately do see a new flicker in his eye. Also, Yara reveals that before their Uncle Euron catches up with them, they’re going to steal his plan and attempt a pact with Daenerys.
Braavos
With stolen coin, Arya is able to bribe her way to a good place on a ship heading to Westeros. She gets one moment of cocky hope before the waif tricks her in disguise and stabs her painfully in the belly! Arya falls into the water and resurfaces once the waif is gone, but though she’s bleeding out on the streets of Braavos, no one seems inclined to help her.
The Riverlands
Shocking reveal—the Hound is still alive, recovered, and reformed! He’s living out his days with a peaceful band of villagers led by a septon played by Ian McShane. But when reengage Knights of the Brotherhood slaughter these pacifists, the Hound is thrust back into being a killer.
Possible Book Reveals
King’s Landing—I love the political complexity on the show, all of these people with competing agendas and motivations, but most of them aren’t really all that central in the books. From my remembrance, King’s Landing for these last couple books has been the Cersei Show—with growing paranoia she’s fucking up alliances all on her own, including with Jaime, and we’re mostly focused on her impending trial by combat.
The North—In the books, Davos has been out and about attempting to rally the northern houses to Stannis. House Manderly pretends to kill him and then sends him on a secret mission to find Rickon—who thank goodness is not in Ramsay’s possession. With Jon, it’s uncertain what he’ll do when he inevitably wakes up, but it’s likely that some wildling factions would fight for him if he asked it. Lyanna Mormont is not the ruler of Bear Island (her mother is believed to be alive, if a captive, and she has an older sister), but since she did canonically write that dismissive letter to Stannis, the show decided to up her role. House Mormont lends support to Stannis, and it’s Stannis, not Ramsay, who helps the Glovers reclaim their home. The former Lord Glover is not dead but is in fact secretly aiding the Manderlys against the Boltons. Although Littlefinger promised Sansa that the Knights of the Vale would ultimately fight for her, they’re still doing some extra politicking at this point in the books, far from the north.
Riverrun—this is all pretty similar to the novels, except that the Tullys are far more intriguing and fleshed out characters. I love you for the King’s Landing stuff, show, but I’m not letting this bit go! :P
Volantis—In A Dance with Dragons, Victarion takes the fleet to Slaver’s Bay. He’s obsensibly following his brother, Euron’s orders (including ultimately making it to Daenerys), but he intends to screw the guy over. As of the beginning of The Winds of Winter, Theon and Asha are both Stannis’s prisoners in the north.
Braavos—Linda from westeros.org thinks it’s unlikely that Arya will attempt to escape the Faceless Men in Braavos, only to be attacked by them. One popular theory is that she will be sent on assignment to Westeros, where it will be easier for her to reclaim her Stark identity. But at the moment, although I still doubt that Arya has truly given up her sense of self, considering that she still finds time to kill her own enemies, she’s not in a big hurry to go home. The whole reason she came to Braavos is because she thinks her entire family is dead.
The Riverlands—Ian McShane’s septon is loosely adapted from a couple of book characters. One of these characters is believed to have saved the Hound’s life, and later Brienne glimpsed him acting as a gravedigger but didn’t recognize him as the Hound. (She's never officially met him in the books.) It’s less definite in the books that an attack would lead the former Hound, now Sandor, to abandon his new, peaceful identity. There’s a decent chance that he’ll rejoin the broader story, but in giving up the Hound moniker, he’s supposed to be a very changed man. Also, the Brotherhood Without Banners, under the direction of Lady Stoneheart, is brutally murdering Freys and Lannisters, but no one seems to be terrorizing the peasants.
Thoughts
I know it’s canon (maybe second-hand canon but generally thought to be accurate) and that the Hound technically never died, but his shocking proverbial return to the living is a little grating. With Dany, Jon and others connected to R’hloor defying death at every turn, it almost feels like the show is saying now this is normal for everyone.
But I’m glad to have him back and intrigued to see where his path might lead him. I still don’t really like how his “frame plot,” as it were, was resolved. With the noble houses continuing to tear each other apart, it’d be nice to think that some peasants could ultimately have a go at peace. Granted, there’s more to the brotherhood without banners story than meets the eye this hour. Still, I would have preferred Sandor being moved to action by news of Sansa or something. I’m keeping my eye out for whether or not he’s reunited with the Stark girls next season!
I enjoy that Rory McCann is definitely playing a more thoughtful, if just, version of the man. And for all his scoffing about Game of Thrones being a show of “tits and dragons,” Ian McShane got a very empathetic role to play! It’s nice to realize that not all religious leaders are fanatics—in contrast to the High Sparrow’s gluttony leading him to hate all sin, Ian McShane’s character eschews violence by embracing peace and openness. Guess it would have all gone down better if he’d have lived. :/ Was a compelling performance.
I’m slightly more amenable to the Braavos subplot upon reflection. I love Arya’s sass with the ship captain and that beautiful view of the Titan of Braavos. But then the damn waif had to ruin it all! I mean, her character is defined by now, but talk about carrying a personal grudge. Not only attempting to kill her, but twisting the knife for maximum pain! I think this is a big problem with depicting the Faceless Men; there’s not a lot of drama between “no ones,” so everyone has to feel like a someone!
I love Maisie as an actress and care about Arya as a character enough to be a bit alarmed to see her stabbed, at the very least. But once my heart beat settles, I know she’s going to survive this. There’s not a lot of tension here. Still, I’ll leave the rest of my Faceless Men plot kvetching for another episode and end on a good note. No matter Arya’s ultimate fate, it’s pretty chilling to see how the city people gawk at her stumbling and bleeding through the street, and no one stops to help. Game of Thrones is not showing the best of humanity this hour. Maisie’s depiction of pain and fear is palpable. I’m glad she could bring some vulnerability to this character.
Some people don’t like vulnerability, however…like Yara. I’m continually frustrated by how much I kinda like the character but kinda haaate her worldview. I don’t even think she’s attracted to the same sex; it’s just that she’s a pillaging viking and women are meant to be conquered. Maybe Theon needed this “tough love” and maybe he didn’t, but as an empathetic viewer, I feel the need to point out that he’s dealing with the after effects of physical and sexual abuse, abuse which his sister, uncles and others continue to deride him for. That’s the patriarchy for you…the weak are meat and the strong do eat.
Man, do I continue to love Alfie Allen’s acting, though. He brings enough subtle nuance to the role to show that he’s on the mend, but not without still having to deal with the past. Meanwhile, of course, we get an update on the Greyjoy plot—brief pit stop before Daenerys! Understandable…and Yara is certainly more likely to have a better shot with the Dragon Queen than Euron is.
In Riverrun, we see Edmure the hostage and Brynden the rebel…interesting to see how they both react to their former captive, Jaime. Always nice to remember that continuity from a few seasons back. The whole “let him hang” thing depresses me on a couple levels. First, it sucks that an uncle would sacrifice his nephew, even if he has just cause, but more importantly because their relationship was so stupid in season three. The Blackfish barely seemed to care about Edmure at all! The whole thing would be more heartbreaking if they were fully formed characters.
But then, like now, the character focus is on the Lannisters. Jaime in particular, as he gets to show off his siege smarts and smack some dumb Freys around. :P Of course it was also nice to get Bronn back, and witness their bro banter. But being Miss Vulnerable over here, my favorite part was that the Blackfish took him down to size. Jaime can boss a lot of people around, but not everyone.
All of my REAL feels are in the North, of course, where the Jon/Sansa campaign for Winterfell starts off strong, moves to mostly good, and then to mostly bad. :P The wildling loyalty is pretty understandable; they know that the northern lords who want to fight Jon also hate them, and Jon has done a whole lot for them! Of course he says it much better, coming off as an equal (or close to, anyway) fighting for a common purpose. The big reveal is that everyone—including Sansa—seems to know that he died and they’re all OK with it. :P Guess they have some mental fortitude. And I know we didn’t have time for this, but—man, Sansa is in an entirely different world here, surrounded by wildlings whom she was likely raised to fear on some level, and bantering about magical creatures who shouldn’t even exist. I sure hope that she never sees a White Walker. :/
But Sansa’s role came to the forefront with the northern houses. I love my girl, but even I have to say it’s pretty funny to see Lady Mormont bat her (and Jon) down for their inane small talk. :P And just like Jon is pretty much on equal terms with the wildlings, I get why Davos is pretty much on equal terms with Lyanna. They’re both basically outsiders to their positions, and Davos can talk some real talk. I totally get why Sansa distrusts him, but he’s a good egg.
And not to discount the amazing performance of the young Bella Ramsey, but my Sansa defenses went on high alert, as usual. “I did what I had to survive”—word up! Of course she’ll always be a Stark. Lady Mormont may grow to also be used as a marriage pawn, same as almost everyone of her sex. How easy it is to use patriarchal conventions strip a woman of her identity. Dammit, where is Dany and her magic fire walking ability. :P
The Lord Glover encounter, of course, is worse. Lady Mormont has reservations about keeping her people safe, but her allegiances are clear. Glover has allowed his to get clouded by some recent involvement with the Boltons, plus a negative reaction to Robb’s controversial marriage and all that followed. I have the Sansa feels to get angry when he spits in her face “House Stark is dead.”
But if anything, these losses brought Sansa more firmly into the Littlefinger camp. Remember, she was playing by Ned’s rules. She was banking on the fact that the northern houses swore loyalty to her father, and they’re the ones who betrayed her! Then Jon goes ahead and starts preparing for the battle with too few men, and…should she tell her brother of her plans? Probably. But she’s learned that playing her cards close to the vest is the best way to keep power. I’m ok with sibling tension so long as it feels genuine…this feels genuine to me. We’ve had six seasons of Jon and Sansa building up their respective worldviews. What worries me is simplifying disagreements into all out hatred. Don’t let me down, show. :/ Nuanced relationships are your friend.
So let’s get away from all of that and finally move to King’s Landing. Speaking of patriarchy and power plays, the High Sparrow wants to get his newly (supposedly) devout royal couple busy under the sheets! He was an empire! And lest you think this pious old man is above political machination, he threatens Olenna! Damn!
Luckily Margaery knows how to play the game—so well that her own grandmother, and teacher, doesn’t know she’s doing it until the end of their talk! I always enjoy these character-revealing scenes. So Olenna, rejuvenated by the fact that her granddaughter isn’t a zealot after all, takes her advice to leave, but not before getting a few jibes in at Cersei. Another character-defining scene—a reminder of how alone the Queen Mother is now that Jaime is gone and the tides have turned against her. Even contrition (contrition from Cersei!!!) doesn’t save her in the Queen of Thorn’s eyes. Olenna won’t forget, much less forgive, the joy Cersei took in bringing Margaery and Loras down. The problem, of course, is that this quest for revenge goes both ways. The more Olenna pokes Cersei now, the worse the retribution later will be. Cersei may be down, but like so many other characters in this episode, she’s in this to fight to the end.
That subplot, by the way, includes another surprise return character, so there’s issues there! :P
The more I think about it, the more we really can’t ignore warmongering nature of Game of Thrones, or in this episode at the very least. Jon and Sansa, with the able help of Davos, go on their campaign to rally the north to their cause; no sitting on the sidelines, guys, you gotta fight this fight. Arya’s attempts for a clean break from the Faceless Men won’t be that easy, even on the show. :P The Blackfish goes on to insist that even though the War of the Five Kings is long done, he won’t lay down his sword. Speaking of life and death, Theon has to make a choice in the shadow of the civil war brewing between his uncle and his sister. Only in King’s Landing are the politics complicated enough that sometimes one can make choices to avoid antagonism…at least in part.
Maybe this is what happens when we don’t see Tyrion for two episodes; we forget that there might be ways to avoid war. Of course, we haven’t seen the aftermath of his decisions in Meereen either. I’d better zip my lips; there’s enough to talk about in this episode without addressing future ones!
Summary
King’s Landing
The High Sparrow meets with Margaery to encourage her to go back to the marriage bed and to warn her grandmother against sinful behavior. When the Queen of Westeros meets with the Queen of Thorns, we finally get official, if subtle, confirmation about her true loyalties. Cersei tries to implore Olenna to stay in the capital, even claiming contrition for her actions, but Olenna has no sympathy for the Queen Mother, seeing her inevitable downfall as the only good thing to come out of a shitty situation.
The North
With Tormund’s help, Jon reminds the wildlings of his past loyalty to them, and on pain of inevitable extinction, they agree to help him fight the Boltons. Things go slightly less smoothly at House Mormont, with Davos finally being able to save the day; and fall apart completely at House Glover, as the lord feels more charitable to Ramsay than to the memory of Robb. Despite their small (and sometimes in-fighting) numbers, Jon insists that they start the battle ASAP, leaving Sansa to secretly write to Littlefinger for his aid.
Riverrun
Jaime, Bronn and the Lannister army arrive to a truly lackluster Frey attempt at a siege. Jaime, of course, quickly takes over, slaps some Freys around, and orders that they bathe and clothe Edmure, who is very peeved to see him. The Blackfish, however, is less agreeable to the Kingslayer’s demands, mocking and dismissing him during their treat.
Volantis
Theon and Yara take some shore leave, but before going off to get jiggy with a prostitute, Yara delivers some tough love to her brother. Though Theon is still traumatized by Ramsay’s abuse, we ultimately do see a new flicker in his eye. Also, Yara reveals that before their Uncle Euron catches up with them, they’re going to steal his plan and attempt a pact with Daenerys.
Braavos
With stolen coin, Arya is able to bribe her way to a good place on a ship heading to Westeros. She gets one moment of cocky hope before the waif tricks her in disguise and stabs her painfully in the belly! Arya falls into the water and resurfaces once the waif is gone, but though she’s bleeding out on the streets of Braavos, no one seems inclined to help her.
The Riverlands
Shocking reveal—the Hound is still alive, recovered, and reformed! He’s living out his days with a peaceful band of villagers led by a septon played by Ian McShane. But when reengage Knights of the Brotherhood slaughter these pacifists, the Hound is thrust back into being a killer.
Possible Book Reveals
King’s Landing—I love the political complexity on the show, all of these people with competing agendas and motivations, but most of them aren’t really all that central in the books. From my remembrance, King’s Landing for these last couple books has been the Cersei Show—with growing paranoia she’s fucking up alliances all on her own, including with Jaime, and we’re mostly focused on her impending trial by combat.
The North—In the books, Davos has been out and about attempting to rally the northern houses to Stannis. House Manderly pretends to kill him and then sends him on a secret mission to find Rickon—who thank goodness is not in Ramsay’s possession. With Jon, it’s uncertain what he’ll do when he inevitably wakes up, but it’s likely that some wildling factions would fight for him if he asked it. Lyanna Mormont is not the ruler of Bear Island (her mother is believed to be alive, if a captive, and she has an older sister), but since she did canonically write that dismissive letter to Stannis, the show decided to up her role. House Mormont lends support to Stannis, and it’s Stannis, not Ramsay, who helps the Glovers reclaim their home. The former Lord Glover is not dead but is in fact secretly aiding the Manderlys against the Boltons. Although Littlefinger promised Sansa that the Knights of the Vale would ultimately fight for her, they’re still doing some extra politicking at this point in the books, far from the north.
Riverrun—this is all pretty similar to the novels, except that the Tullys are far more intriguing and fleshed out characters. I love you for the King’s Landing stuff, show, but I’m not letting this bit go! :P
Volantis—In A Dance with Dragons, Victarion takes the fleet to Slaver’s Bay. He’s obsensibly following his brother, Euron’s orders (including ultimately making it to Daenerys), but he intends to screw the guy over. As of the beginning of The Winds of Winter, Theon and Asha are both Stannis’s prisoners in the north.
Braavos—Linda from westeros.org thinks it’s unlikely that Arya will attempt to escape the Faceless Men in Braavos, only to be attacked by them. One popular theory is that she will be sent on assignment to Westeros, where it will be easier for her to reclaim her Stark identity. But at the moment, although I still doubt that Arya has truly given up her sense of self, considering that she still finds time to kill her own enemies, she’s not in a big hurry to go home. The whole reason she came to Braavos is because she thinks her entire family is dead.
The Riverlands—Ian McShane’s septon is loosely adapted from a couple of book characters. One of these characters is believed to have saved the Hound’s life, and later Brienne glimpsed him acting as a gravedigger but didn’t recognize him as the Hound. (She's never officially met him in the books.) It’s less definite in the books that an attack would lead the former Hound, now Sandor, to abandon his new, peaceful identity. There’s a decent chance that he’ll rejoin the broader story, but in giving up the Hound moniker, he’s supposed to be a very changed man. Also, the Brotherhood Without Banners, under the direction of Lady Stoneheart, is brutally murdering Freys and Lannisters, but no one seems to be terrorizing the peasants.
Thoughts
I know it’s canon (maybe second-hand canon but generally thought to be accurate) and that the Hound technically never died, but his shocking proverbial return to the living is a little grating. With Dany, Jon and others connected to R’hloor defying death at every turn, it almost feels like the show is saying now this is normal for everyone.
But I’m glad to have him back and intrigued to see where his path might lead him. I still don’t really like how his “frame plot,” as it were, was resolved. With the noble houses continuing to tear each other apart, it’d be nice to think that some peasants could ultimately have a go at peace. Granted, there’s more to the brotherhood without banners story than meets the eye this hour. Still, I would have preferred Sandor being moved to action by news of Sansa or something. I’m keeping my eye out for whether or not he’s reunited with the Stark girls next season!
I enjoy that Rory McCann is definitely playing a more thoughtful, if just, version of the man. And for all his scoffing about Game of Thrones being a show of “tits and dragons,” Ian McShane got a very empathetic role to play! It’s nice to realize that not all religious leaders are fanatics—in contrast to the High Sparrow’s gluttony leading him to hate all sin, Ian McShane’s character eschews violence by embracing peace and openness. Guess it would have all gone down better if he’d have lived. :/ Was a compelling performance.
I’m slightly more amenable to the Braavos subplot upon reflection. I love Arya’s sass with the ship captain and that beautiful view of the Titan of Braavos. But then the damn waif had to ruin it all! I mean, her character is defined by now, but talk about carrying a personal grudge. Not only attempting to kill her, but twisting the knife for maximum pain! I think this is a big problem with depicting the Faceless Men; there’s not a lot of drama between “no ones,” so everyone has to feel like a someone!
I love Maisie as an actress and care about Arya as a character enough to be a bit alarmed to see her stabbed, at the very least. But once my heart beat settles, I know she’s going to survive this. There’s not a lot of tension here. Still, I’ll leave the rest of my Faceless Men plot kvetching for another episode and end on a good note. No matter Arya’s ultimate fate, it’s pretty chilling to see how the city people gawk at her stumbling and bleeding through the street, and no one stops to help. Game of Thrones is not showing the best of humanity this hour. Maisie’s depiction of pain and fear is palpable. I’m glad she could bring some vulnerability to this character.
Some people don’t like vulnerability, however…like Yara. I’m continually frustrated by how much I kinda like the character but kinda haaate her worldview. I don’t even think she’s attracted to the same sex; it’s just that she’s a pillaging viking and women are meant to be conquered. Maybe Theon needed this “tough love” and maybe he didn’t, but as an empathetic viewer, I feel the need to point out that he’s dealing with the after effects of physical and sexual abuse, abuse which his sister, uncles and others continue to deride him for. That’s the patriarchy for you…the weak are meat and the strong do eat.
Man, do I continue to love Alfie Allen’s acting, though. He brings enough subtle nuance to the role to show that he’s on the mend, but not without still having to deal with the past. Meanwhile, of course, we get an update on the Greyjoy plot—brief pit stop before Daenerys! Understandable…and Yara is certainly more likely to have a better shot with the Dragon Queen than Euron is.
In Riverrun, we see Edmure the hostage and Brynden the rebel…interesting to see how they both react to their former captive, Jaime. Always nice to remember that continuity from a few seasons back. The whole “let him hang” thing depresses me on a couple levels. First, it sucks that an uncle would sacrifice his nephew, even if he has just cause, but more importantly because their relationship was so stupid in season three. The Blackfish barely seemed to care about Edmure at all! The whole thing would be more heartbreaking if they were fully formed characters.
But then, like now, the character focus is on the Lannisters. Jaime in particular, as he gets to show off his siege smarts and smack some dumb Freys around. :P Of course it was also nice to get Bronn back, and witness their bro banter. But being Miss Vulnerable over here, my favorite part was that the Blackfish took him down to size. Jaime can boss a lot of people around, but not everyone.
All of my REAL feels are in the North, of course, where the Jon/Sansa campaign for Winterfell starts off strong, moves to mostly good, and then to mostly bad. :P The wildling loyalty is pretty understandable; they know that the northern lords who want to fight Jon also hate them, and Jon has done a whole lot for them! Of course he says it much better, coming off as an equal (or close to, anyway) fighting for a common purpose. The big reveal is that everyone—including Sansa—seems to know that he died and they’re all OK with it. :P Guess they have some mental fortitude. And I know we didn’t have time for this, but—man, Sansa is in an entirely different world here, surrounded by wildlings whom she was likely raised to fear on some level, and bantering about magical creatures who shouldn’t even exist. I sure hope that she never sees a White Walker. :/
But Sansa’s role came to the forefront with the northern houses. I love my girl, but even I have to say it’s pretty funny to see Lady Mormont bat her (and Jon) down for their inane small talk. :P And just like Jon is pretty much on equal terms with the wildlings, I get why Davos is pretty much on equal terms with Lyanna. They’re both basically outsiders to their positions, and Davos can talk some real talk. I totally get why Sansa distrusts him, but he’s a good egg.
And not to discount the amazing performance of the young Bella Ramsey, but my Sansa defenses went on high alert, as usual. “I did what I had to survive”—word up! Of course she’ll always be a Stark. Lady Mormont may grow to also be used as a marriage pawn, same as almost everyone of her sex. How easy it is to use patriarchal conventions strip a woman of her identity. Dammit, where is Dany and her magic fire walking ability. :P
The Lord Glover encounter, of course, is worse. Lady Mormont has reservations about keeping her people safe, but her allegiances are clear. Glover has allowed his to get clouded by some recent involvement with the Boltons, plus a negative reaction to Robb’s controversial marriage and all that followed. I have the Sansa feels to get angry when he spits in her face “House Stark is dead.”
But if anything, these losses brought Sansa more firmly into the Littlefinger camp. Remember, she was playing by Ned’s rules. She was banking on the fact that the northern houses swore loyalty to her father, and they’re the ones who betrayed her! Then Jon goes ahead and starts preparing for the battle with too few men, and…should she tell her brother of her plans? Probably. But she’s learned that playing her cards close to the vest is the best way to keep power. I’m ok with sibling tension so long as it feels genuine…this feels genuine to me. We’ve had six seasons of Jon and Sansa building up their respective worldviews. What worries me is simplifying disagreements into all out hatred. Don’t let me down, show. :/ Nuanced relationships are your friend.
So let’s get away from all of that and finally move to King’s Landing. Speaking of patriarchy and power plays, the High Sparrow wants to get his newly (supposedly) devout royal couple busy under the sheets! He was an empire! And lest you think this pious old man is above political machination, he threatens Olenna! Damn!
Luckily Margaery knows how to play the game—so well that her own grandmother, and teacher, doesn’t know she’s doing it until the end of their talk! I always enjoy these character-revealing scenes. So Olenna, rejuvenated by the fact that her granddaughter isn’t a zealot after all, takes her advice to leave, but not before getting a few jibes in at Cersei. Another character-defining scene—a reminder of how alone the Queen Mother is now that Jaime is gone and the tides have turned against her. Even contrition (contrition from Cersei!!!) doesn’t save her in the Queen of Thorn’s eyes. Olenna won’t forget, much less forgive, the joy Cersei took in bringing Margaery and Loras down. The problem, of course, is that this quest for revenge goes both ways. The more Olenna pokes Cersei now, the worse the retribution later will be. Cersei may be down, but like so many other characters in this episode, she’s in this to fight to the end.
