Game of Thrones Episode 8.02: “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”

[chavalah]

Another strong episode, I think. It’s very character focused, and it hearkens back, in a whole lot of different storylines, to the Game of Thrones of old. We have capital built up with all of these people who now find themselves at Winterfell; when they interact with each other, often nostalgically about the past, we the viewers feel those connections, too, from watching earlier seasons.

Of course, this episode leads up to a precipice. Most imminently, the fight with the dead (but there’s also that big reveal about kingship and ownership of the seven kingdoms. :o) For me, as a snooty book reader, I have the most difficulty squaring the circle when it comes to the battle with the White Walkers happening so early in the season. I’m still fairly convinced that in the (written and unwritten) books, the fight against the dead is far more important than the fight for the Iron Throne. Here, even though characters like Jon pay lip service to the idea that the dead are more important than the throne, the season itself says that the fight against Cersei is more significant than the fight against the Night King, because the story won’t be over after episode three. Spoiler alert, I guess, but this season is over three episodes long. :P I mean, when I first watched it, I had fantasies about an elongated fight. Maybe the Night King making his way to King’s Landing in order to challenge Cersei directly, er, once he’s done with Winterfell. *gulp*

But I suppose in looking back, I can label myself as a Tyrion? :P Too taken with my own cleverness to realize when I’ve been outplayed, heh. Speaking of which, I come down on the side of the fandom, if there is one, that likes the idea that Tyrion isn’t perfect, at least. His mistakes on the show are often borne out of a sense of idealism, which doesn’t necessarily go punished, either. Because if there’s anything that the first two episodes of season 8 can teach us, it’s that human camaraderie is something to be treasured.

So yeah, there’s a lot going on in this episode, even if we don’t leave the one location (to be fair, most of the characters have now convened there.) There’s a lot to comment on, but I think the last thing I’ll ramble about over the cut pertains to the title. To be pedantic, perhaps, it certainly refers to Jamie bestowing upon Brienne a knighthood. This hearkens back to some of the most medieval-styled lore of Game of Thrones (granted, it turns it on its head by including a woman in this military order.) As a fan, I don’t usually get too swept away by GoT/ASOIAF’s obsession with fighting valor. But it was a nice moment here. Nice, because it was something that Brienne desired and deserved since she was first introduced on the show. Nice because it was Jamie, someone with whom she has a deep and respectful (if complicated) relationship with, who recognized and rewarded her worth. Nice to see the expression on Gwendolyn Christie’s face during that scene, and the support from the rest of the cast present. It gave a human purpose to all of this ritual. It was a character moment. And that remains the strength of the show.

Plus, if I might extrapolate thematically, Brienne was a woman fighting the odds against a system that didn’t want her to be her true self. Now, everyone at Winterfell is fighting the odds against the White Walkers, who want to annihilate them completely. The cards are now stacked! Though we’ll have to wait another episode before we see how it all plays out.


Summary:

WINTERFELL

Jamie receives a less than warm welcome from Daenerys and Sansa; Tyrion, of course, stands up for him, but it is Brienne’s testimony that wins her lady over. Daenerys, also rebuffed by Jon, takes her frustration out on Tyrion. Arya and Gendry continue their flirtation, and Arya gains intel on the Walkers. Jamie apologizes to Bran, confused why the boy didn’t disclose what happened between them in season one; the Raven Formerly Known as Brandon Stark of course is more focused on the battle to come. Tyrion and Jamie bond over the futility of their situation, but Jamie soon tires of this and goes to place himself under Brienne’s command.

Jorah talks Dany into forgiving Tyrion, and to into trying to make inroads with Sansa. The female rulers briefly bond over their love of Jon, but Sansa still wants northern autonomy. Theon, freshly arrived, is another interesting wedge between the two women, as it’s uncertain whom he’s more loyal to. Ser Davos tries to rally the male non-soldier troops, and Gilly sends the women to the crypts, most touchingly a young girl who wants to avenge her brothers. Dolorus Ed, Tormund et al arrive at Winterfell; happy reunions with bad news. Montage to fight prep time!

Bran wants to lure the Night King to him in the godswood, and as his penance Theon vows to defend him. Dany forgives Tyrion by sending him to the crypt to survive with his mind. Jon, however, treats Dany awkwardly. Everyone else hunkers down with whomever means most to them for what might be their final night. Tyrion settles down to hear Bran’s story, Grey Worm and Missandei discuss leaving xenophobic Westeros once Dany takes it back, our three remaining major Knights Watch members wax rhetoric about the past, Pod sings Jenny of Oldstones for Brienne, Davos, Tormund and the Lannister boys, Arya and the Hound share a drink, but when Beric arrives she decides she’d rather lose her virginity to Gendry (who also discloses his own parentage to her), Jamie knights Brienne, Jorah tries in vain to get Lyanna, the leader of his house, to stay in the crypts, Sam gives Jorah Heartsbane, and then takes a moment with Gilly and the baby, Sansa takes a moment with Theon, Missandei sees Grey Worm off to the front with a kiss, Jorah looks to the horizon where the Walkers will appear.

And finally, standing at the statue of his mother, Jon discloses the truth to Dany. Dun dun DUUUN. I mean, if they survive the night, that is. The episode ends with the three blasts of the horn: winter is indeed coming.

Thoughts:

Going back to analyzing things, basically, character by character, I feel I must begin with Bran. Or the Raven Formerly Known as Brandon Stark, because really, there’s no Bran anymore. The one moment where he accedes to any personal, human reaction is when he freaks Jamie out by obliquely and unnecessarily bringing up their shared history in public by uttering the line “the things we do for love.”

Later, when Jamie goes to apologize to Bran privately, he’s all Raven again. If anything, he takes Jamie’s first season act of violence as a necessary evil, for the role it played in altering both of their lives so that they’d be standing in the here and now, ready to fight the Walkers. (I suppose that, especially in the adaptation world, if Bran wasn’t the Raven, then they’d all be even more fucked. Who else can keep such close tabs on the Night King?)

The Night King doesn’t exist in the books; he feels like a very streamlined way to tackle this whole fight with the dead. I think I’ve written in other reviews about how I think it will be much more complicated in GRRM’s imagination. And that Bran, who is largely used as a deus ex machima device, will be more remote and folkloric in his supernatural elements. (Going back on record that I don’t think he’s ever going to leave the far North ever again! He’s becoming the tree! :P) I think the show did the best that it could, by way of Bran and Sam trying to explain the particular menace of the Walkers at the battle strategy scene. But I think it’s going to be more of an uncentered and aesthetic reality in the books. Then again, what do I know. :P

So Jamie and Bran’s beef, I think the earliest bit of unresolved business on the show, is now a thing of the past. Theon is able to make amends for his season two transgressions more actively, by promising to defend Bran in the godswood. Theon barely has time to ingratiate himself with the Winterfell cast before the madness starts, but he certainly makes an impression. It was good timing, I think, to match his arrival with Daenerys and Sansa’s failed attempt at common ground. Theon is officially loyal to Dany (and Dany, I think, sees herself as someone who showed particular care for this subject.) But it’s clear that he and Sansa share a deeper bond. One can tell how this is threatening to Dany, in the face of their previous conversation.

I liked the Sansa/Dany conversation. It humanized both characters; it covered their common ground with regards to their love for Jon and the complications of ruling as women. I think Dany made a good faith effort, but I also see where Sansa is coming from. I don’t think everyone bought what David and Dan said in interviews about how Sansa doesn’t trust people with too much aspiration for the Iron Throne, but I do. So much of her formative experiences revolve around being a pawn for the likes of the Lannisters or Littlefinger. More to the point, it’s part of Sansa’s character arc to reclaim her northern pride. She’s not only speaking for herself but for her people, who quite obviously still want independence from what they consider to be foreign rule. Poor Dany is taking a hit here. She’s never had to negotiate her way into being someone’s ruler, not without dragonfire. In her mind, I imagine she’s suffered a blow to her honor by allowing the Kingslayer to live at all. She’s able to make concessions; she’s no tyrant in this episode. I wonder, in my vantage point of hindsight, if we’re supposed to believe that Dany is completely led by her advisors. Jorah is also the one who tempers Dany with regards to Sansa and Tyrion. I dunno…I think what it comes down to is that Dany’s storyline this season is much too streamlined. I very much wish the show had taken more time to flesh things out. This will likely become a refrain in my remaining reviews. :P

Moving onto our remaining Stark! My quibble is how much the “many faces of death” stuff didn’t speak to me, because in general I feel that the show handled the Faceless Men plot poorly. Ah well. Maisie Williams can sell Arya’s stoicism. Perhaps more surprisingly, she can also sell Arya’s flirtation! At least for me. I very much enjoyed Arya’s scenes with Gendry (and was more than thrilled when she took her leave from Beric and the Hound’s usual griping. :P)

Other people were more freaked out by the loss of virginity thing. I get how weird it can be, since we’ve been following this character since she was young. Sansa’s sexual experiences have been far more traumatic, which in a way is easier to grapple with; she was a victim. Arya (now an adult) chooses to lose her virginity in a rare GoT feat of showing healthy, consensual sex. Even the nudity was tasteful for once. David and Dan would never think to dehumanize Arya. But relatedly, the cynic in me wonders if some of the fandom had trouble with Arya’s sex scene because female sexuality is often fetishized in the male gaze. Since most of the fandom respects Arya, they’d never understand her to be a sexual being. Am I being too hard on the GoT fandom? Probably. Don’t let me go on a tangent about my San Diego Comic-Con experiences. :/

Jamie is the last major character (I’m purposefully leaving Jon/Dany to the end, see,) who has to grapple with things beyond simply the threat of imminent doom. :P Maybe it’s a fan treat to hear him and his brother wax rhetoric about “how far they’ve come” and “remember the last time we were in Winterfell,” yadda yadda, but his true strength of character was with Brienne. Not just in knighting her, which I think was the culmination of him putting his bullshit behind him, and recognizing Brienne’s own personhood. But in placing himself under her command—and, as she says, not insulting her. :P It’s obvious that both of them are coming to terms with the truth of their relationship—so too with Brienne vouching for Jamie at the beginning of the episode. Which I also like for reminding us of the bond between Brienne and Sansa, of course. :P

The other characters provided good texture, too. Tormund doesn’t really do much for me, but he was very Tormund this episode. :P I suppose it’s interesting for Jamie to have a rival for Brienne’s attentions, heh, even though this quite obviously isn’t a love triangle in Ser Brienne’s estimation. Tyrion, also, is mostly quips this episode. *shrug* I’ll give him a pass. For the sake of nostalgia, I appreciated the scene with Jon, Sam and Ed. I also like the lip service the show paid to Jorah and Lyanna’s relationship (and man, can Bella Ramsey hold her own!) I suppose I also appreciate the fact that Sam hasn’t let his dislike for Dany sour his relationship with Jorah, yay. He’s not a vengeful person. Really, he’s a bit of a family man. Just look at him snuggling with Gilly and Little Sam *swoon* Speaking of Gilly, I also appreciate the moment she shared with Davos. It’s just one of those things where two characters who are mostly strangers find some common ground. Plus, their work with the extras leads to the whole war preparation montage. The show isn’t just a bunch of main characters sitting in rooms and going through their issues (not that I’m complaining!) But one thing season eight has done right is portray the scope of what is to come.

Finally, I like that Pod got to sing “Jenny of Oldstones,” because otherwise he didn’t have much to do, other than lend his silent support to Brienne during her knighting ceremony. I mostly associate that song with Catelyn in the books, but it really fits here. The last stand of humans, dealing with their ghosts, not wanting to leave this earth even with death coming for them. Plus, it’s just a really beautiful song.

OK, so I lied; I obviously have one very important piece left! After an entire episode of awkwardly avoiding his now former lover, Jon finally has to break the news to her. I mean, in one way, I feel like Dany accepted the truth of this too easily, but Jon, after all, is an honorable man. Plus, any claim from a male so-called relative would be a threat to her in patriarchal Westeros. And plus, Emilia and Kit are just good actors. But oy, Jon, what type of timing is this? (Speaking of his Stark sense of bad timing! Ned is still his uncle, after all.) What if Dany takes her dragons and runs before the Walkers come? To be fair, I don’t think that’s an option by this point. :P But I also think Dany wouldn’t be cruel enough to abandon the north for this fight. But in writing this review, I do think my trust has been shaken by way of how the show handled Dany’s arc over all. Earlier seasons gave characters such complicated political arcs. Dany deserved one, too.