(This
review contains spoilers for episode 3)
This
week on Game of Thrones, Littlefinger returns Sansa to
Winterfell to marry Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), Cersei feels more and
more threatened by Margaery, Arya impatiently waits to begin her
training to become a Faceless Man, and Tyrion Lannister picks the
wrong brothel in Volantis.
The
Winterfell subplot was definitely my favourite part of this episode,
as it continues to bring various characters together, setting the
stage for some nail-biting future confrontations. We see more of
Sansa's duplicitousness as she graciously meets Ramsay, showing that
she's becoming better at masking her inner feelings. Like I said
about Margaery, Sansa is becoming one of the more fascinating
characters as her motivations are becoming more obscure. She's
clearly horrified that she's been made to marry the family that
murdered hers, but she decides to play along for strategic purposes.
There's no doubt she resents Littlefinger for putting her in this
position, and surely will come to hate him when she finds out what
Ramsay is really like. Given how much colder she's become over the
last two seasons, I wouldn't be surprised if Sansa decides she's had
enough of this shit and plunges a dagger in Ramsay's heart. It would
definitely be nice to show her have some proper agency for a change.
Sophie
Turner is given a lot more to do here than just look stoic and speak
in monotone all the time. Her dignity at meeting the Boltons is a
great contrast with her anguish at learning of Littlefinger's plan,
but both scenes are equally convincing. Alas, Aidan Gillen is less
impressive here. While he nails the character, the accent is more
than a bit jarring, growling “Sansa Ssshtarrrk” like a half-assed
Robert Newton impersonator
The
other character worth mentioning is “Reek” (Alfie Allen), once
Theon Greyjoy, now Ramsay's slave. It's fascinating how the series
can have characters that start off as absolutely repulsive, but later
you can't help but sympathise with. Allen's gaunt figure and
twitching dead-eyed stare is both pitiable and somehow frightening.
He's like a frightened animal but one you're afraid get to close to.
In a way, Theon's like Sansa, in that the Boltons underestimate the
threat he poses. He may be their servant but there's a clear battle
going on beneath the surface, and his guilt for betraying the Starks
could spurn him to try and overthrow his masters.
Or
else, maybe Theon's just a red herring. The show has diverged so much
from the books there's really no point making assumptions based on
the source material anymore. Maybe Theon will finally side with the
Boltons. Maybe Sansa will stick a dagger in him, or else leave
him as he is as a living punishment.
In
King's Landing, we see Margaery become more of a threat to Cersei as
she steps up her manipulation of Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman), a guy
so trusting and idealistic you wonder how he's lasted this long. We
also meet the Sparrows, who take some of the focus away from the
nobility and show what life's like for the commonfolk. They're led by
the pious High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) who's tempted by Cersei with
the position of High Septon. Pryce plays his role with a calm
dignity, giving his character not just compassion but also wisdom.
He's seen the recklessness of the nobility firsthand as they cause
their people to suffer for their own glory, so it will be interesting
to watch him clash with the petty King's Landing administration.
At
the Wall, Jon is still caught between his duties to the Watch, and
the realm. This is the third week we've seen this so he'd better make
up his mind soon, because this hmming and hawing is getting a bit
tiresome. We do however get the execution of Janos Slynt (Dominic
Carter) so it's not all bad.
The
House of Black and White was very well realised. The darkness and the
looming, gothic architecture gave it a very eerie feel.
Unfortunately, the human side of it was a bit of a letdown. I was
disappointed to see Jaqen H'gar (Tom Wlaschiha) here, and especially
shown so prominently. While the performance is still great, I felt it
detracted from the mystery of the character somewhat. Jaqen was so
memorable because he almost didn't seem like a person at all, which
was linked heavily with his disappearance from Harrenhal. After that
point, Arya (and the audience) have no idea where the hell he is, and
the fact that he can disguise himself so brilliantly means she could
walk past him on the street and never know it. It makes Jaqen seem
more like an element, and all the more frightening for it. Making him
the Faceless Mens' spokesperson diminishes a lot of his impact. I
feel it would have been stronger to never show him again, and forever
leave people wondering where he ended up.
I
could feel Arya's frustration that she wasn't getting to learn
anything this week, just a lot of weird stares and portentious
mystical gobbledegook. I admit I found this portion of the book to
drag a fair bit so I hope the show doesn't make the same mistake. We
did at least get a nice character moment where Arya can't bear to let
go of Needle, her one connection with her former life. Like Sansa,
we've gotten so used to seeing Arya as cold and hardened that you can
almost forget that she's still a real person who's driven not just by
anger, but by grief for those she's loved.
Meanwhile,
Tyrion's mouth gets him in trouble yet again when he gets noticed by
Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) in Volantis. Hopefully it will give the
both of them more to do than just mope all the time. Mormont wasn't
the most interesting character for me, since his character on the
show seemed to have two main purposes: give exposition and throw
Danaerys the puppy-eyes. Now he's clearly gone off the deep end and
seems to think giving the Dragon Queen a wine-soaked Lannister
fugitive will get him back into her good books. He's a tryer, I'll
give him that.
And
poor Varys is left with the bill ...
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